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Hey I run a photo sharing site as well - http://Simplebucket.com and so here's my response from my experience.

1. How do you folks attract new members ?

Mostly from google search. When I started Simplebucket, I had the concept of making the simplest photo hosting, no registration, no login. And so I targeted the words "simple photo hosting" and now Simplebucket is #1 on google for those keywords. When we first launched, after RailsRumble 2007, the site had bare functionality and minimalistic design. I redesigned and added features to Simplebucket and relaunched in 2008. After the relaunch, I emailed blogs that wrote about photo sharing sites and tell them what is unique about simplebucket.

2. How often (if at all) do you interact with your members?

Not a whole lot and I know now that it was a huge mistake. I kind of neglected our community due to job commitment. Photo sharing is about building a community and interaction should be first, I was also too focused on features which I think should be secondary to building a community.

3. I recently tried to monetize my site with some ads. I regret doing this, it wasn't my idea, a friend recommended I try... it was a bad idea. But how do you folks monetize your sites ?

I'm not sure why ads turned out bad for you, but for me, it went neither way. There isn't a whole lot of ad revenue, enough to cover hosting cost in certain months but that was it. I did not receive any complaints from existing users so my perception was they are fine with it.

4. Should I Keep Going? With all the other photo sharing sites like google,flickr etc. Is it worth it for me to keep working on this ? Maybe I should focus my efforts on a niche? (now what niche do I focus on?)

I went through this same dilemma a year ago. Simplebucket wasn't growing like I had expected. It was very utilized by a small group of fans and I had decided to keep it going for them. Photo sharing is a very competitive arena, if that's one thing that I learned from the past year. In order to emerge from the noise, I knew from the start that the service had to provide something unique and niche. Simplicity was mine. I also thought about photos for Twitter in 2008 but did not implement that because I had too much on my plate from my day job. And look at Twitpic now and how several other photo sharing sites are going Twitter in 2009. So yes, going niche is necessary, but it does not guaranteed success.

Vivapixel appears functional and very fast but it doesn't arrest me as a visitor with a compelling argument on why I should sign up. If I were you I would work on storytelling then I would add pro subscriptions.

I would paint a better "you're stupid if you don't sign up" story, starting with the home page. Your focal point currently is a random image from one user's photos and after refreshing 10x I think maybe your ego is getting in the way of your argument; we should not see pictures of Dave's baby or his out-of-focus drunk friend, we should be thinking 'wow I need this' within 5 seconds. I would replace that random image div with a thoughtful, visual argument for why vivapixel is a brilliant photo and video product. This is your chance to convince and sell. I like how your artistic design is minimalistic but it appears so bare-bones and unopinionated that as a visitor I'm just not confident you care much about user experience or celebrating my handiwork. Like a gourmet meal, presentation is key and IMO some elements of your design aren't paired well. Think of your customers as artists - they need to believe their gallery's curator has exquisite taste and appreciates the visual zeitgeist. If your marketing even hints that you're cheap or that you cut corners we won't proceed to Page 2, we'll be off to flickr.

I love your logo!

Your visitors subconsciously nitpick, so get into their heads. The dialog boxes are all highlighted red - that makes visitors think they've made 6 errors just by opening the homepage. The buttons should all be beautiful images - not the browser default or a graded blue. Treat your canvas as a masterpiece, something that elevates and makes us want to play with your toys. Visitors secretly resent the fact most of your language is boilerplate - would you rather spend their visual energy covering your own ass or convincing them that you've got something worth using?

Finally I think you could eventually monetize Vivapixel with a subscription model. I might make public libraries free and for users who wanted privacy I'd charge them - like Github does. Another option that might work: charge users for large filesize libraries, or for transcoding services. At any rate, great job so far - you might have a super business if you keep at it.

Neat site,

I'll give my answers based on my own experience.

1. How do you folks attract new members ? - The best way to attract new members is for it to be an integral part of your service.So friends can show friends, without that even being the goal. User's trust the whole WOM (word of mouth) over anything else, so to see that their friends are using something will be the most powerful aspect. This means, focus on the users you currently have!

2. How often (if at all) do you interact with your members? As much as possible. Don't fill their inbox with spam. But make sure they know the site isn't just a rotting corpse. Make sure they can easily provide feedback, and make sure there is a blog (didnt check if you had one) so you can post about new updates and announcements.

3. I recently tried to monetize my site with some ads. I regret doing this, it wasn't my idea, a friend recommended I try... it was a bad idea. But how do you folks monetize your sites ? - There are only a few ways to monetize a site. You can post ads, sell a product, or sell services (such as a membership). Your site, as you're clearly aware, isn't the first of its kind. Look at how the other's monetize and follow lead. No point in reinventing the wheel.

4. Should I Keep Going? With all the other photo sharing sites like google,flickr etc. Is it worth it for me to keep working on this ? Maybe I should focus my efforts on a niche? (now what niche do I focus on?) - Of course you should keep going, even if the site doesn't become what you'd like it to, it'll always be nice to have in your portfolio. And yea, a niche would be great. You should consider the following when deciding your niche: "What AM I passionate about?" - and obviously, "what niche needs this, that doesn't yet have it." It's important for you to be passionate about it, because you want to know the niche & market better than anyone else, so you can really dominate it. There is nothing more unfortunate than when someone has a good idea for a business for a market they know nothing about. This is where execution comes into play.

Hope my comments helped! Good luck!

I don't think most people mind advertising. It's the ads that force videos and sound and blatent distractions that they don't like. But for the most part, it is a reality of how these sites make money and if it keeps things free, it is an inarguable benefit to all.

The site doesn't answer, "Why should I use this instead of Flickr?"

I hate to pull an MBA-term on you, but, "What is your unique selling point?"

Figure that out and then hammer it home.

Hi there, just checked out your site, a few questions for you:

1. When did you launch the site? 2. and you mentioned the traffic is growing, can you share more about the rate on how it's growing, 3. and where does the growth come from (referal, direct or google search)? 4. Do you use google analytics and analyze the data it showed you?

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