MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Selling Stock Direct => Topic started by: djpadavona on February 18, 2013, 17:40
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As I have been getting a lot of interest from contributors wanting to join Warmpicture lately, I wanted to announce that unfortunately I will be closing the site down in the near future.
The last 2 years have been extremely frustrating, culminating with the Google Images reorganization from last month which took away over 70% of our organic traffic. Ultimately there are no excuses. I did my best, but I was in over my head trying to run an agency on my own. We made a little money for contributors but in the end it just wasn't enough to be worthwhile.
My goal was to establish a solid sales base, and then open the doors to more contributors. Unfortunately I never achieved that goal. I wish everyone luck in their own ventures. I truly hoped to make a difference for all of us, but the project fell way short of expectations.
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Thanks for the honest update Dan. Microstock is certainly a crowded marketplace .. even those with millions in backing have a very hard time breaking any ground.
It's going to be very interesting to see how stocksy (http://www.microstockgroup.com/stocksy/) fares.
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Hey Dan,
Thanks for taking the initiative to even do this. I am sure you learned a lot through this process that will only help you out. Sorry it had to come to this.
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Sorry to hear that, Dan, it must be frustrating. :(
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Sorry to hear that Dan. I was rooting for the site. There aren't enough good sites out there, so I hate to see one close its doors. Are you going to keep it open for your own photos?
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Sorry to hear that Dan. I was rooting for the site. There aren't enough good sites out there, so I hate to see one close its doors. Are you going to keep it open for your own photos?
Maybe. If I can get KTools to lower me down to the base storage/traffic rate, I might try it for a few months. But probably not. If I were to sell my own images again, I would likely choose another solution. I'm sure we will be seeing more options in the coming year.
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Sorry to hear it Dan after all the hard work that you put into it. Must be very dissapointing for you. :(
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Sorry to hear about it, but all experience makes us each better, right?
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Maybe. If I can get KTools to lower me down to the base storage/traffic rate, I might try it for a few months. But probably not. If I were to sell my own images again, I would likely choose another solution. I'm sure we will be seeing more options in the coming year.
Makes sense. You'd think they'd do that. I guess you could switch over to Bluehost too. It just seems like you could at least salvage some of the work you did, and get your images running with minimal cost and additional effort. Regardless, best of luck with whatever you decide.
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Understandable, but sad. I'm certainly going to keep my eyes on solutions other than KTools as I can't find much good to say about it given your experiences with it. Perhaps Michael Jay will start selling his web site in addition to selling Stock?
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probably something is rotten there
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=orange+mold&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d&rls=en&biw=1097&bih=960&tbm=isch&tbnid=gySdhwQHopK5NM:&imgrefurl=http://www.warmpicture.com/stock-photos/food-beverages_g37~macro-image-of-orange-with-mold_p34535.html&docid=bU7JKFKQCcb-MM&imgurl=http://www.warmpicture.com/stock-photos/macro-image-of-orange-with-mold_sjpg34495.jpg&w=500&h=381&ei=RcwiUb7gGsSnhAfJ-IG4Ag&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:51,s:0,i:295&iact=rc&dur=16877&sig=115892385986638268665&page=3&tbnh=190&tbnw=221&start=37&ndsp=22&tx=101&ty=98 (http://www.google.com/imgres?q=orange+mold&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d&rls=en&biw=1097&bih=960&tbm=isch&tbnid=gySdhwQHopK5NM:&imgrefurl=http://www.warmpicture.com/stock-photos/food-beverages_g37~macro-image-of-orange-with-mold_p34535.html&docid=bU7JKFKQCcb-MM&imgurl=http://www.warmpicture.com/stock-photos/macro-image-of-orange-with-mold_sjpg34495.jpg&w=500&h=381&ei=RcwiUb7gGsSnhAfJ-IG4Ag&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:51,s:0,i:295&iact=rc&dur=16877&sig=115892385986638268665&page=3&tbnh=190&tbnw=221&start=37&ndsp=22&tx=101&ty=98)
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I'm so sorry to hear this Dan. Thanks very much for all the work, time, and money you put in. I know you gave it your very best. Google has hurt a lot of smaller sites and I don't think you'll be the last to throw in the towel.
I have very much enjoyed being a part of this project and wish you and all the other WP contributors the best going forward.
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So sorry to hear this. You did your best, and i appreciate all you did to make a go of it. It's a crime what these big companies are doing to people all in the name of money. :(
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I really appreciate the kind thoughts, and I had a great time representing the artists we had. So much talent!
I remember first starting the project 2 years ago, and wondering how I could ever convince a top contributor to give me a chance. And then out of the blue, I get an email from Mandy Godbehear wanting to join, and she was like a huge inspiration to me for years even though my style was totally different.
Then it was Lisa, Diego, Christian, Jo Ann, and so many others. Wow, what a lineup. I never would have believed it. It's a shame it didn't work. But maybe someone with a better grasp of promotion and SEO will undertake a new collective and give us all hope.
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Thank you for making the effort and for putting in all the hard work. I hope it pays off in some way.
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Dan, I was proud to be a part of Warmpicture and I appreciate the efforts you put into the site. I'm sorry to see it closing up shop. What a shame it is that Google has such power to manipulate search traffic with it's changes.
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Yes, Google's power is rather daunting. Almost every business in existence seems to live or die by Google's ranking system.
But I can't blame them for my own shortcomings. Their changes were the last straw, but I was struggling to get us a respectable RPI before it happened. Live and Learn. It's definitely the last time I try to run a stock agency, lol. 8)
I was proud to have all of you with me on this quest. Let's hope the next collective attempt works out a lot better.
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Sorry to hear that. At least you tried.
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Thank you Dan! For everything you did to try and make the site a success, I will be sorry to see it go. I really enjoyed being a small part of Warm Picture. Hugs and thanks again!
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sorry to hear it didn't work out.
Do you think chosing a specialised area for the agency to focus on might have turned out differently ?
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Thanks for all the time and energy you put in to this Dan. It will be sad to see WP go. I'd love to know how some of the sites near the lower end of the earnings poll keep going?
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I'm sorry to hear this, the site is plenty of cool stuff.
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Thanks Dan,
It was an honor to have had my work included in the collection. Sorry we couldn't make it work.
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I am very sorry to hear this. I hope the learning experience was worth your time and that your next project brings better results.
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Yes. sorry to hear this Dan. As Cobalt said, I hope that the experience and knowledge gained from it will pay dividends in some way further down the road.
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Sorry to hear that. At least you tried.
Sure wasn't for a lack of effort by Dan. The artists and selection wasn't a problem either.
I'd love to know how some of the sites near the lower end of the earnings poll keep going?
Me too! Maybe deep pockets would be a good first step.
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I'd love to know how some of the sites near the lower end of the earnings poll keep going?
Me too! Maybe deep pockets would be a good first step.
My theory would be that they just have more contributors than they do customers, so while they make enough to be profitable, that money is spread out over all their contributors.
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I keep hoping this won't have to happen but I know there's only so much that one person can do and Dan - you've done a lot for WarmPicture. It's not an easy challenge when fighting to be seen among the big microstock houses and the Google machine. You've really done so much that I can't express how honored I am to have been a part of WarmPicture. In my heart I keep hoping it will have a big turn around and stay alive but I know that you can't go on forever with so little to show for your hard efforts.
Thank you Dan!
-jami
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Were you relying on google alone for the marketing?
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Were you relying on google alone for the marketing?
I"m sure Dan will answer this more directly, but the answer, I believe, is no - - although Google is a big part of any marketing since a majority of traffic comes from there - and that is where WarmPicture got most of its sales - from direct links through from a google search. We tried blogs, guest blog posts, Facebook and Twitter. I believe Dan even had ads up on a few websites as well for a short time.
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With many attempts to start an agency more advantageous for us, Dan is a resource, a word from him is worth a hundred of our. I hope that in the future this effort, gain you some earning.