One more question: it seems that people are not interested in voting or answering.
Could someone suggest, why? Saying "yes" or "no" is not a big deal, so there should be something wrong with the post itself.

This is a pretty quiet forum. You have to be happy with the responses that you get. In my opinion your problem is in your first paragraph:

NOTE: unlike in foto agencies, we do not keep your images, they remain on your site.

This works for photographers getting started but I have 2000 images. 2000 images * 6MB average size = ~ 12 GB. I can't get affordable hosting for this amount of space that works out if I am only selling 10-20 images/month @ microstock prices or 2-3 at standard prices. Can you see how this could be a problem? It sounds like a good system, but there are many people who have a workflow together already, sales channels are in place through microstock agencies. While I think there is a market for what you are doing it, people who are used to microstock may not see the value like others.

PS: Responses like this don't help people want to respond, as it sounds like an attack on intelligence:
54 people looked at this post so far, and none replied or voted.

Please. Is this so hard?

Thank you for a reply.

First of all, I have removed the post you mentioned. You are right, it serves no meaningfull purpose.

Second. About hosting. I think, the idea, that multy-gigabyte hosting is too expansive, is obsolete.

I use Dreamhost.com, for about 8 years. So far, I had no problems worth mentioning, though there may be other services, too.

Here is a fragment of their services (note: the cheapest one they provide. The rest has even more: http://dreamhost.com/hosting.html):
$7.95/month: 145.6 GB, Automatically Increases Weekly By: 1 Gb, Monthly Bandwidth at signup: 1.456 TB, Automatically Increases Weekly By:16 GB

Basically, it means, that you can host your 10000+ images for about $100/year.

One more thing.
This service is not to replace photo agencies, but to increase your visibility, if you already have a site.
Also, you don't have to register all your images. Register few Or, register your site info ONLY. If you do so, the site will show up in the listing (directory), but, of course, there will be no keyword search.
Unlike in photo agencies, the visitor that clicks on the thumbnail, will be taken to your site, as I do not host your images. It is just like in search engines, but this one is designed with stock photography in mind.

And one last thing. There will be an option to register your images, and then to add a search form on your site. It means, you will allow your visitors to search your site (and to see results for your site only). Just another feature.

Thank you for a reply.

First of all, I have removed the post you mentioned. You are right, it serves no meaningfull purpose.

Second. About hosting. I think, the idea, that multy-gigabyte hosting is too expansive, is obsolete.

I use Dreamhost.com, for about 8 years. So far, I had no problems worth mentioning, though there may be other services, too.

Here is a fragment of their services (note: the cheapest one they provide. The rest has even more: http://dreamhost.com/hosting.html):
$7.95/month: 145.6 GB, Automatically Increases Weekly By: 1 Gb, Monthly Bandwidth at signup: 1.456 TB, Automatically Increases Weekly By:16 GB

Basically, it means, that you can host your 10000+ images for about $100/year.

Thanks for the additional information. I agree that hosting images is becoming more affordable. I use HostGator and have only 10GB, but their new accounts are throwing around 200GB like its nothing. Someday they'll upgrade my server and I'll get more space. These additional details help to get more interest.

You stated earlier that traffic is your goal, what do you plan to do with it? Referrals, adsense, both. Don't share if its a secret 8)

Thanks for the additional information. I agree that hosting images is becoming more affordable. I use HostGator and have only 10GB, but their new accounts are throwing around 200GB like its nothing. Someday they'll upgrade my server and I'll get more space. These additional details help to get more interest.

You stated earlier that traffic is your goal, what do you plan to do with it? Referrals, adsense, both. Don't share if its a secret 8)

This is part of a question We, I mean, Internet-aware photographers, are approaching the point, where hosting becomes REALLY affordable. In the same time, there are stock photo agencies, and their services improve, too.

So it is a mater of personal choice, which way to go. One can have his own web site, or not, if stock agencies provide what he need. Or both.

Of course, having a web site requires some knowleges, but it is far from rocket science. The reward is quite obvious: you are in control of the look and feel of your little business...

So I decided to choose the second approach, mostly because I have a correspondng background, and I don't have to learn anything I know my English sucks a little, but fortunately, it does not affect my programming skills.

And then, after I have all the tools I need, I came to realize, that some of them can be made public. Why not?

Though, _base_d on the poll I run in this forum, people do not really want it

Services like that are not my invention, of course, but usually, they target a different group of users. For example, Google has an exellent image collection, and still, try to look there for a stock photo of given size, price and subject, and you'll have to deal with too much "junk". So, I believe, I have my niche.

As for your second question, I have some experience in creating small eBusinesses and SEO. This experience, together with businesses themselves, can be found at ecommerce.snowcron.com and snowcron.com, correspondingly. Technically speaking, it is (and my photo directory, that we are discussing in this forum, belongs to this category too) all about an idea of creating the "unmanaged" business. You create it, and you go to South pole. And when you are back, it still works.

The "automating sending PayPal 'thank you, here is your order' emails" tool is at snowcron.com/digital_sell.htm, and finally, the prototype of a service that this discussion is about, is not yet available. It will be, within 10 days, as photodir.snowcron.com

So, to your question: I use my sites to send visitors to my other sites. It works fine, so even if you do not use goods from one of them, you'll probably see the _link_ to something you like. A micro portal.