Hi
have this day joined the forum and want to say hello first and then to ask question.

So, Hello Everyone, my name is Terry and I am an alcoholi...Oh, wrong forum.

Just kidding:)

I have been a contributor to microstock for a while and make sales, take the rejections on the chin when they come and when one of the stock sites does somethng I don't like I stop loading and start deleting images. So have no real issues as such as I knew what I was getting into when I started using them a couple of years ago.
In addition to this, I have for sometime had a couple of my own websites and one was for selling my own stock images cheap just like the main sites and have since added a couple of colleagues to it.
I am not going to name the site here or link to it as it is not in the spirit of the forum, but my question is this.
If you came across a site that was new only had a few photogs and less than 1000 images, what would make you want to sign up? Or would you just walk on by and not be interested?
Thanks for your thoughts
Terry

It would have to look very professional. I think the biggest hurtle is people don't trust a small site as it can look shady.

Hi Moonb007
That's certainly got me thinking, and looking at the site from a 'suspicious' view point.
Must say though, one of the things I did was personalize the sites 'about us' page with a picture of me, the reasons I started the site and a link to my personal art and photography site so people can check me out and my history.
I still don't know if that decision gives an air of the site being created by a genuine person or simply makes it amateurish

Terry, welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing your story. I sell more photos than I buy, so my opinion may not be the best "sample". The only readon I would buy from a small site is if they had the right picture and no-one else did. If you sell the same photos on sites like Dreamstime, then it would do much for me.

Cost can also be a factor, most of the other Microstock agencies have raised their prices a lot over the last two years.

The biggest issue I think you will find is attracting new visitors. All the search engines are packed with stock photo results. If you find a way to get thousands of visitors to the site, you will probably be successful.

Good luck and thank you for posting. And please share the URL with us. I don't like it when people just drop a URL and run. I appreciate the consideration and the questions that help stir up some conversation.

Hi Stockman
thanks for the welcome and for your comments.
The pricing issue is one of the hardest to get right, I thought long and hard about how to strike the balance between the buyers and the image makers.
I have opted to have what is probably around the market average for the none subscription prices and quite possibly the same ball park figure for the subscriptions too.
On the costing side I also had a very long hard think about the margins I can work with financially in terms of running the site, the software and the hosting in addition to the all important promotion, advertising etc. The main reaason for my starting the site was the commission levels. How much commission to charge for each sale of an image file and keep the site going and make a profit, was a hard one and to make a commotment to myself as well as any contributors that I would stick to it I really did have to get my sums right. I have, essentially, reversed the standard ratio of the other sites, which does concern me in terms of the impression this will give to potential contributors that I could be a 'fly by night' operator.
Attracting the buyers is, as you so clearly know, going to be another issue, it needs much more than just a couple of Google ads and good SEO.
My approach so far has been direct contact with companies I have worked with in the past and getting them to pass the word which is okay, the steps to take when the image file count is sufficient, will be the trade shows, exhibtions and trade journals, all of which I am lucky enough to have the contacts with in and experience of so that will be reasonably easy but in some cases costly which is why it needs the site content to be at a justifiable level.
I've just noticed I am writing a darn book here so I'll shut up for now.
The link to the site is now in next post
Any thoughts etc are welcomed
terry

I am wondering if the silence in responses is because I have presented my myself in such a way as for you all to think, "OH dear, sad case, smile at him and move on" Or because I waffle so much, the link got lost at the bottom of my last post and you slipped in to a coma before you got there!
Here it is again http://www.tops-image-library.com

Will delete it out of the previous post so it isn't spammed if I can't maybe admin would do that for me.

Can I ask directly for feed back on the site please from both sides of the fence, it would be much appreciated, thanks