MicrostockGroup
Microstock Photography Forum - General => Symbiostock => Symbiostock - SEO & Marketing => Topic started by: grsphoto on April 17, 2013, 11:38
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Leo mentioned some hints in another thread http://www.microstockgroup.com/symbiostock-seo-marketing/before-you-upload-how-to-ensure-sales/ (http://www.microstockgroup.com/symbiostock-seo-marketing/before-you-upload-how-to-ensure-sales/) which I have been slowly working through.
I have been thinking of other things that might help.
Google like new content, and also likes links to and from web sites.
So what I was thinking in our blogs on our own site we should mention other sites...
for example:
I was just looking at the great snow monkey images at http://stockimages.glennspecht.com/wp/image-type/snow-monkeys/ (http://stockimages.glennspecht.com/wp/image-type/snow-monkeys/)
or
The Flower images on http://www.backyardstockphotos.com/search-images/flowers/ (http://www.backyardstockphotos.com/search-images/flowers/) are amazing.
Someone with more SEO experience may be able to help out with the wording and best layout.
Thoughts?
Glenn
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Good idea Glenn. I wrote a bit about the network on my blog yesterday, and I can add this sort of link. I think Google prefers to have the link embedded in a suitable phrase, rather than as a separate link - which I know you can't do on this site.
Just as a separate thing - thanks for commenting on my flowers - I tried the link and it took a good 30 seconds for the page to load, which is far too long. The snow monkeys came up within 5 seconds. Could I please ask a few others to test that link for me - I really think I may go to somewhere other than Bluehost if this continues - I may be sharing a server there with some heavyweight blogs I guess!
Steve
Just to add to the question: I noticed that the link to BackyardStock is a search-images link, which brings up the network results. The monkey link is a image-type, which doesnt. I wonder if the network search link is adding to my page load time? As a general rule, we should link to a particular image, which itself will show similars eg http://www.backyardstockphotos.com/image/single-red-rose-isolated-center-of-romantic-valentine-day-art-ph-2/ (http://www.backyardstockphotos.com/image/single-red-rose-isolated-center-of-romantic-valentine-day-art-ph-2/)
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I think Google prefers to have the link embedded in a suitable phrase, rather than as a separate link
smart guy
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Steve..good to know about the "search-Images" delay. I really can't tell about the time difference.... my internet is slow when ever it rains... and it rains a lot :-\
Also the embedded links tip is good.
Glenn
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Steve, the search time is the sum of search times for all sites you have in network. Your site may be fast (and I think is fast enough), but when other sites respond slowly, waiting time may be long.
Leo said that he will work on solution, so let's wait :)
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The Flower images on [url]http://www.backyardstockphotos.com/search-images/flowers/[/url] ([url]http://www.backyardstockphotos.com/search-images/flowers/[/url]) are amazing.
I just went there and it took 5 seconds to come up. I am on blue host also.
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a bit more than 10s for me from Asia (bluehost)
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Leo has done a great job, and has mentioned it will be a bit of time before the next up date.
So now is the time to work on getting our sites known!!
We can do this by mentioning with links, other sites in our blogs.
using the list at:
http://cascoly.com/symbiostock-network.asp (http://cascoly.com/symbiostock-network.asp)
I think if we all mentioned and linked to the site above us, and below us it would be a start. If you do more that is great.
There is also the use of comments, trackbacks and pingbacks ( which I don't understand) but if you other sites have comments enabled it is supposed to help them and you.
Glenn
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This is what I am talking about...
http://stockimages.glennspecht.com/wp/category/symbiostock-network-sites/ (http://stockimages.glennspecht.com/wp/category/symbiostock-network-sites/)
I am not sure if it will help, but from what I have read this is supposed to be good for both the destination as well as the source site.
Thoughts?
Glenn
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I think that links in and out are great for seo. Also the links in the blog. I have intentions of adding these to my site. Thanks for posting and reminding me.
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Just finish a page (picked from cascoly ;D ) with SY sites.
(http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/9516/sdfwi.png)
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Change travelling-light to www.picturemojo.co.nz (http://www.picturemojo.co.nz) :)
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Wow. I notice the list of SY sites grows longer every day. Great. I need to update my list, too :)
Could you please change "Pietzko Outdoor Photography" to "Imago Borealis"? - Thanks.
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Change travelling-light to [url=http://www.picturemojo.co.nz]www.picturemojo.co.nz[/url] ([url]http://www.picturemojo.co.nz[/url]) :)
Done!
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Wow. I notice the list of SY sites grows longer every day. Great. I need to update my list, too :)
Could you please change "Pietzko Outdoor Photography" to "Imago Borealis"? - Thanks.
Done!
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That was quick, Chico, Thank you.
I noticed there are a few links in the list that point to (photo-)sites that are technically no Symbiostock sites.
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That was quick, Chico, Thank you.
I noticed there are a few links in the list that point to (photo-)sites that are technically no Symbiostock sites.
Hum, list was picked from Cascoly site. Not my fault!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D
By the way, this list is a living organism and i will change it if and when necessary.
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It was just an observation, not to blame anyone. :)
I wonder if those plan to switch over to a SY site and that's how they got listed or they just want a share of SY network traffic and SEO...
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In some way, list increase my site traffic. It's a good pratice have one, i guess.
(http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6824/grerer.jpg)
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That was quick, Chico, Thank you.
I noticed there are a few links in the list that point to (photo-)sites that are technically no Symbiostock sites.
Hum, list was picked from Cascoly site. Not my fault!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D
By the way, this list is a living organism and i will change it if and when necessary.
Hi Chico,
Can you please list me as Symbiostock Network Members ?
MSG name: Chrisroll
Website: http://pixisland.com (http://pixisland.com)
Topics: Travel, Landscape, People, Lifestyle, Illustrations, 3d render.
Portfolio size: 5000 images, 260 online for the moment.
Would like to link with: Illustrators, Travel, Landscape and Lifestyle photographers.
Thanks for all :)
PS : I've added you to my network ;)
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It was just an observation, not to blame anyone. :)
I wonder if those plan to switch over to a SY site and that's how they got listed or they just want a share of SY network traffic and SEO...
I think some people are using it to point to other portfolios and yes, want to get in on the seo benefits. But i guess it doesnt really matter, as their being a part helps everyone else's seo too.
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That was quick, Chico, Thank you.
I noticed there are a few links in the list that point to (photo-)sites that are technically no Symbiostock sites.
Hum, list was picked from Cascoly site. Not my fault!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D
By the way, this list is a living organism and i will change it if and when necessary.
Hi Chico,
Can you please list me as Symbiostock Network Members ?
MSG name: Chrisroll
Website: [url]http://pixisland.com[/url] ([url]http://pixisland.com[/url])
Topics: Travel, Landscape, People, Lifestyle, Illustrations, 3d render.
Portfolio size: 5000 images, 260 online for the moment.
Would like to link with: Illustrators, Travel, Landscape and Lifestyle photographers.
Thanks for all :)
PS : I've added you to my network ;)
Done!
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That was quick, Chico, Thank you.
I noticed there are a few links in the list that point to (photo-)sites that are technically no Symbiostock sites.
Hum, list was picked from Cascoly site. Not my fault!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D
By the way, this list is a living organism and i will change it if and when necessary.
Hi Chico,
Can you please list me as Symbiostock Network Members ?
MSG name: Chrisroll
Website: [url]http://pixisland.com[/url] ([url]http://pixisland.com[/url])
Topics: Travel, Landscape, People, Lifestyle, Illustrations, 3d render.
Portfolio size: 5000 images, 260 online for the moment.
Would like to link with: Illustrators, Travel, Landscape and Lifestyle photographers.
Thanks for all :)
PS : I've added you to my network ;)
Done!
Thanks !
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Chico, with the new update to image upload and data (loads of "thank you's" to Leo), I may be able to go live very soon. Already uploading and processing! I'm already on the list - just need to update my numbers. I'll post update soon. *skips off all happy*
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Chico, with the new update to image upload and data (loads of "thank you's" to Leo), I may be able to go live very soon. Already uploading and processing! I'm already on the list - just need to update my numbers. I'll post update soon. *skips off all happy*
No problem. ;)
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That was quick, Chico, Thank you.
I noticed there are a few links in the list that point to (photo-)sites that are technically no Symbiostock sites.
let me know which sites those are & i' move them to the friends of symbio list -- all the sites on the network list should be functioning symbio sites, even if they're not fully up to speed yet
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dif parts of webmst tools give diff # for items indexed -- my latest index total under health is 1217 but from 300 2 wks ago
under optimization/sitmaps I have 1819 indexed out of 3806 submitted (LOTS OF OVERLAP) but only ONE out of 998 images submitted thru yoast pix/image-sitemap1.xml
anyone getting better results n getting image sitemaps accepted? I suspect these are mostly due to the same iimages are already indexed from the agencies, but google doesn't seem to casre where the image comes from - i'll be experimenting more with images unique to sym to see If the acceptance improves. meanwhile, at least the pages with these imasges are being indexed
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Chico - I see my topics field is blank. If you'd like to update that please list topics as: food & drink, lifestyle & objects, backgrounds & holiday.
Steve - please update my topics & "looking for" lists which are blank in your list too.
Topics: food & drink, lifestyle & objects, backgrounds & holiday.
Looking for: complimentary themes, especially with people, business, travel, landscape.
I'm also still listed in the "friends" group as klsbear - that can be removed since I'm up in the active section now.
Thanks!
Karen (KLSbear)
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Chico - I see my topics field is blank. If you'd like to update that please list topics as: food & drink, lifestyle & objects, backgrounds & holiday.
Thanks!
Karen (KLSbear)
Done!
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Chico - I see my topics field is blank. If you'd like to update that please list topics as: food & drink, lifestyle & objects, backgrounds & holiday.
Steve - please update my topics & "looking for" lists which are blank in your list too.
Topics: food & drink, lifestyle & objects, backgrounds & holiday.
Looking for: complimentary themes, especially with people, business, travel, landscape.
I'm also still listed in the "friends" group as klsbear - that can be removed since I'm up in the active section now.
Thanks!
Karen (KLSbear)
Thanks for posting that Karen. I was just working on my list also, so I added those in.
My list is at http://cathyslifestockphotos.com/what-is-symbiostock/ (http://cathyslifestockphotos.com/what-is-symbiostock/)
If anyone sees an error, please let me know. I have checked all the links, so those should be good.
I moved people who want in on the action of the SEO, but don't really have SY sites and don't have links to SY members sites down to the "Friends of Symbiostock" section. I am going to send emails, asking for linkbacks. It would be most appreciated.
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That was quick, Chico, Thank you.
I noticed there are a few links in the list that point to (photo-)sites that are technically no Symbiostock sites.
let me know which sites those are & i' move them to the friends of symbio list -- all the sites on the network list should be functioning symbio sites, even if they're not fully up to speed yet
OK, I PM you a list
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Now back to the original topic.... does anyone have other ideas to get our sites known?
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Now back to the original topic.... does anyone have other ideas to get our sites known?
Maybe a banner here in MSG? It's expensive? Maybe we can send some mails for our business friends. Some interview about SY could be helpful also.
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Now back to the original topic.... does anyone have other ideas to get our sites known?
keep adding content according to methods in help screen....ads are waste of money on our level
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[/quote]
Thanks for posting that Karen. I was just working on my list also, so I added those in.
My list is at http://cathyslifestockphotos.com/what-is-symbiostock/ (http://cathyslifestockphotos.com/what-is-symbiostock/)
If anyone sees an error, please let me know. I have checked all the links, so those should be good.
I moved people who want in on the action of the SEO, but don't really have SY sites and don't have links to SY members sites down to the "Friends of Symbiostock" section. I am going to send emails, asking for linkbacks. It would be most appreciated.
[/quote]
I have now done the same as Cathy (I copied from your list hope it is ok!) having a list of symbiostock sites on my own. Would it be an idea to have such list updated by each of us in a specific thread; so we could copy it on our site from time to time. It should be a simple copy/paste including the link. My knowledge is not sufissant to tell if it is possible, but it would be nice....
Jean
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Thanks for posting that Karen. I was just working on my list also, so I added those in.
My list is at [url]http://cathyslifestockphotos.com/what-is-symbiostock/[/url] ([url]http://cathyslifestockphotos.com/what-is-symbiostock/[/url])
If anyone sees an error, please let me know. I have checked all the links, so those should be good.
I moved people who want in on the action of the SEO, but don't really have SY sites and don't have links to SY members sites down to the "Friends of Symbiostock" section. I am going to send emails, asking for linkbacks. It would be most appreciated.
I have now done the same as Cathy (I copied from your list hope it is ok!) having a list of symbiostock sites on my own. Would it be an idea to have such list updated by each of us in a specific thread; so we could copy it on our site from time to time. It should be a simple copy/paste including the link. My knowledge is not sufissant to tell if it is possible, but it would be nice....
Jean
Not only that but the future part of Symbistock releases will make tracking very easy. Especially with Cascoly controlling a hub :D
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for now --
http://www.microstockgroup.com/symbiostock-network-building/networking-what-are-you-looking-for-in-a-match/msg315586 (http://www.microstockgroup.com/symbiostock-network-building/networking-what-are-you-looking-for-in-a-match/msg315586)
is where I gather info
and http://cascoly.com/symbiostock-network.asp (http://cascoly.com/symbiostock-network.asp) is my latest list, updated every few days if there are additions to that thread
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Now back to the original topic.... does anyone have other ideas to get our sites known?
Maybe a banner here in MSG? It's expensive? Maybe we can send some mails for our business friends. Some interview about SY could be helpful also.
MSG is not our target market. Posting on blogs and sites that potential purchasers go to is the place we should be hitting. But I don't have a clue which ones or where they are.
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>> http://stompstock.com/ (http://stompstock.com/)
Living proof you don't need to spend money on ads.
Also you will be able to "test" picturengine.com soon, since I'm giving the theme ability to interact with their site at your control (its an optional feature).
Before anyone slaps me, I'm aware of people's opinions. I'm rather hoping a few people can "give it a go" for a year and give us a good assessment. I think most of what people know around here is not based on the actual use of their system, but just a fall-out that happened quite some time ago.
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I just want to mention something about various types of ads -
Google and facebook ads:
ABSOLUTE rip-offs for our business. Unless you have some gigantic library and can shake hands with people on the golf-course, I just can't see how its practical on our scale.
Banner ads: Very hard to profit from at our scale unless the promotional investment is low.
One thing I can tell you (and can stand by it, stubbornly, arrogantly...well, just from experience) is you generally don't need most types of marketing out there so long as google remains a good search engine.
Also when Symbiostock gets big, I think it will be hard NOT to see some results.
For instance, without explaining much, I'm building in a feature than gives you advertising many jumps away from your site ... passively, and based on human traffic patterns.
I'm your friend - don't waste money on ads!!!!
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>> [url]http://stompstock.com/[/url] ([url]http://stompstock.com/[/url])
Living proof you don't need to spend money on ads.
Also you will be able to "test" picturengine.com soon, since I'm giving the theme ability to interact with their site at your control (its an optional feature).
Before anyone slaps me, I'm aware of people's opinions. I'm rather hoping a few people can "give it a go" for a year and give us a good assessment.
You can count on me Leo. Let me know what I need to do. I was in contact previously with Justin when Ktool option was in discussion and had a good impression. I'm ready...
Jean
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>> [url]http://stompstock.com/[/url] ([url]http://stompstock.com/[/url])
...
Also you will be able to "test" picturengine.com soon, since I'm giving the theme ability to interact with their site at your control (its an optional feature).
Before anyone slaps me, I'm aware of people's opinions. I'm rather hoping a few people can "give it a go" for a year and give us a good assessment. I think most of what people know around here is not based on the actual use of their system, but just a fall-out that happened quite some time ago.
no slap, I'm all for options, just a reminder that those who paid upfront for the privilege of testing their engine have seen NO results since the system is still in photo-only beta so you cant even see what it might look like. and they still haven't been truthful about who gets to benefit from the search - buyers getting the lowest price available, or photogs getting priority for their independent sites - you can't have it both ways but PE seems to think both groups are too stupid to realize this
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Thanks for all the suggestions. I have added the Symbiostock Network page to my web site. Hope I did it right as I am not a programmer. My site is up and running, I only have 20 images uploaded so far but am making progress.
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I finally hit the 400 mark for my mineral site today. Only another thousand or so to go (from my older collections). It's a bear because when I got into microstock I was only with one agency so I never keyed my photos as I went. I added them after the fact. So now I'm stuck re-keying all my older stuff. Ahh well. At least I can make it a little better and more relevant.
I'm trying to keep up with all the innovations posted here too, but that's a bit harder. Oh, and thanks to everyone linking to me, I'm getting lots of hits through your sites, hopefully the sales will come soon too. :)
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I too have just added a Symbiosotck Network page to my site If anyone would like to add me to the bottom of their list it would be greatly appreciated.
I'm up and running with 1500+ images uploaded.
I still have one slot open in my network it anyone is interested in adding me to theirs.
Steve
www.SoftLightStock.com (http://www.SoftLightStock.com)
edit:
added Tinny - Thanks
Looking forward to the next version when we can add more.
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I just added you SC & now Leo has to increase the available network slots number
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I just added you SC & now Leo has to increase the available network slots number
I agree! There is so much talent in the network, I already want to connect to about 8 more people!
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Had an interesting experience this evening. I created my twitter account so I could post photo links to it and posted about 20 tweets with links to that account. Hopped back over to Facebook and found that they had suspended my account. They now want a copy of a government photo id to release my account.
Wow, they sure are clamping down. I don't know what happens to my Symbiostock links to facebook while the account is suspended. I will keep you posted.
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Had an interesting experience this evening. I created my twitter account so I could post photo links to it and posted about 20 tweets with links to that account. Hopped back over to Facebook and found that they had suspended my account. They now want a copy of a government photo id to release my account.
Wow, they sure are clamping down. I don't know what happens to my Symbiostock links to facebook while the account is suspended. I will keep you posted.
I hate facebook. Sorry to be so negative. They are BAD. I deactivated my account with them a long time ago...and of course had to make sure it was actually deleted.
I think its funny (really really funny) how invasive they are to your privacy, how they market you behind your back, how they attempt to infringe on your content (you think getty/google was scary), and pretty much rape and abuse your identy...
...then slap you on the hand if your friend-add-methods or communication-rate (accidental or not) are not ethical in their eyes (/code).
They suspended you? Do yourself a favor and make sure you can *delete* your account :D. They will own you until you get them to delete you for real.
Edit: that silly suspension-add-your-id thing is probably just another way to get your info. Once you upload your id, along with your underwear drawer, I'm sure they will want to be friends again.
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It is very difficult to get yourself totally removed from facebook - they suspend your account instead of deleting it and if you happen to want to see someone's details, maybe to see if they are using one of your photos without permission you have to find a way of signing in and then, as if by magic, your account rises from the dead!
~~
I have been wondering about sending out a mass email to everyone in my address book and asking them to forward it (using a disposable email address of course) but have been wondering how to word it
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I just added you SC & now Leo has to increase the available network slots number
I agree! There is so much talent in the network, I already want to connect to about 8 more people!
that may be an option in the future -- there probably would still be a limit to how many sites could be searched in a reasonable amount of time, so how should the program decide?
* pick X of the Y sites networked randomly
* pick based on sites that have the most matches to current search (favors large sites)
* pick based on site with heaviest concentration in t that search (favors smaller sites)
* show first X of Y and let user ask for more (still need to decide which to show first)
other ideas?
these vary in difficulty of programming, especially if the search starts to also use desc / caption
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I don't think it will be possible to provide limitless search results at least for common keywords. So when searching for e.g. "flower" the program must decide. Now way around it.
How about a combined approach? Like
pick X of the Y sites networked partly based on sites that have the most matches (for "flower" in this case) and partly based on sites with heaviest concentration (which probably means they specialize in "flower" images). Then, if that's not enough, let user ask for more.
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I don't think it will be possible to provide limitless search results at least for common keywords. So when searching for e.g. "flower" the program must decide. Now way around it.
How about a combined approach? Like
pick X of the Y sites networked partly based on sites that have the most matches (for "flower" in this case) and partly based on sites with heaviest concentration (which probably means they specialize in "flower" images). Then, if that's not enough, let user ask for more.
definitely -- each site will be able to tinker with their searches; very general keywords are always going to be a problem - partly because anyone using them doesn't know yet what they really want!
right now's a time to think of what sort of info we might want, since it's a lot easier to start collecting now than to retrofit
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I don't think it will be possible to provide limitless search results at least for common keywords. So when searching for e.g. "flower" the program must decide. Now way around it.
How about a combined approach? Like
pick X of the Y sites networked partly based on sites that have the most matches (for "flower" in this case) and partly based on sites with heaviest concentration (which probably means they specialize in "flower" images). Then, if that's not enough, let user ask for more.
definitely -- each site will be able to tinker with their searches; very general keywords are always going to be a problem - partly because anyone using them doesn't know yet what they really want!
right now's a time to think of what sort of info we might want, since it's a lot easier to start collecting now than to retrofit
I like the idea of everyone of us being able to design their own searches very much, if that's what you mean by "tinker".
So are you asking us for more ideas/options how a search could work?
- The search could allow users to define price range/license options (e.g. editorial)/max available image size
- Some micro sites allow to limit search by main color(s) in images
- Other search criteria such as location of copy space might be relevant for image buyers. I have no idea, though, if code could locate those spots automatically. (Photocase for instance uses options for copyspace location in their controlled keyword system)
- X of Y sites could be picked by the search based on maximum variety in colors used/price range/license options/images sizes if users don't limit their searches. That might help those that don't know what they really want.
- Variety of search results could be optimized if search would pick X of Y sites that have the most non-matching keywords (beside the one(s) searched for). This might be tricky though as it could invite keyword spammers.
I have to quit brainstorming now as supper is served :)
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yep - that's the kind of brainstorming we need -- searching by colors or other image properties isn't handled at all by current captures, so if this is something we decide is important we need to discover how to capture & search ion that info
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Had an interesting experience this evening. I created my twitter account so I could post photo links to it and posted about 20 tweets with links to that account. Hopped back over to Facebook and found that they had suspended my account. They now want a copy of a government photo id to release my account.
Wow, they sure are clamping down. I don't know what happens to my Symbiostock links to facebook while the account is suspended. I will keep you posted.
I hate facebook. Sorry to be so negative. They are BAD. I deactivated my account with them a long time ago...and of course had to make sure it was actually deleted.
I think its funny (really really funny) how invasive they are to your privacy, how they market you behind your back, how they attempt to infringe on your content (you think getty/google was scary), and pretty much rape and abuse your identy...
...then slap you on the hand if your friend-add-methods or communication-rate (accidental or not) are not ethical in their eyes (/code).
They suspended you? Do yourself a favor and make sure you can *delete* your account :D. They will own you until you get them to delete you for real.
Edit: that silly suspension-add-your-id thing is probably just another way to get your info. Once you upload your id, along with your underwear drawer, I'm sure they will want to be friends again.
I eventually got my account back. I did NOT send my government photo id. Since I don't have txt on my cell phone I had to brought my grandsons phone to get the new pass code. Looking at the blogs out there it seems that a lot of people are unhappy with Facebook policy. I can see why now.