My sites <URLs snipped> are not taking off so I am thinking that the best route may be to stop trying to create a destination and instead create a service/tool that other websites can incorporate.
Below are two examples of photo centric profiles that my web application provides that I think could be incorporated into other sites.

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The cool thing is that both of these sites are running off the same web application. I could easily additional sites with custom headers to match the look and feel of a partner site.

Has anyone tried this approach before? Any suggestions for making something like this work? Is anyone interested in adding photo sharing profiles to their forums?

While I have never tried this myself I have seen things similar that have worked. I have found it very useful to affiliate myself with other websites so that we can exchange information or resources that will help us to help each other grow. Good luck with you new idea.