Author Topic: Is there room for one more? (Read 6381 times)

richardh · « **on:** June 25, 2007, 17:07 »

I know what most of you are going to say, but I'm going to ask the question anyway. Is there room for one more micro stock site?

As a frustrated photographer who is fed up of the faceless micro stock sites out there and the unfriendly interfaces they have, I decided to search around for a new and friendly stock site out there, even if they are small and just starting up. Thats when I came across Raw-Stock-Images after hearing about the site and the friendly guy who was running it.

The site is outdated in design and a little hard to use, but it had lots of potential, and after emailing the guy running it with a list of improvements I could think of, I found out that he was looking for a partner. And thats how I got involved.

We eventually decided to completely re-design the website and re-brand it, taking along the existing members and their images.

The new site is ready to be launched on Saturday and is called www.GeckoStock.co.uk [nofollow]

It's been designed around the needs and requirements of the existing users as well as taking into consideration all of the things that annoy us about the other big micro stock sites out there.

I know that you're thinking "oh no....not another new stock site....it'll never last" but we're giving it a go and hope that you'll join us for the launch on Saturday evening and will at least take a look and see what you think. There are quite a few members on here who are members of our old site Raw Stock Images and I know that they are keen to see the new site. Hopefully they'll vouch for how friendly we are and how we are striving to create a great stock site which is focused at helping it's members grow and improve.

We have many plans for the future of the site and hope that you will help us realise these plans by taking the time to upload your images.

hatman12 · « **Reply #1 on:** June 25, 2007, 17:18 »

Good luck Richard.

Is there some logic behind the name Gecko?

madelaide · « **Reply #2 on:** June 25, 2007, 20:46 »

Hi Richard,

One aspect that got me interested in RSI (though I never joined) is the fact you would be accepting smaller images. I have tons of images from Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Guatemala, Argentina, Iceland and France that I took in 640x480 and 1280x960pix. Looking at Gecko I see the "web only" choice, but there is nothing there. Is it still part of the site?

Regards,
Adelaide

epixx · « **Reply #3 on:** June 25, 2007, 23:36 »

I like the design. I'll give it a try

thesentinel · « **Reply #4 on:** June 26, 2007, 00:59 »

Quote from: hatman12 on June 25, 2007, 17:18

Good luck Richard.

Is there some logic behind the name Gecko?

Maybe the same logic that has already been applied here? http://www.gekkoimages.com.au

richardh · « **Reply #5 on:** June 26, 2007, 02:50 »

In answer to your question madelaide, yes we are still accepting smaller images. The new web-only category is for images submitted which fall below our 2MP limit for standard licences. The web-only license will restrict usage to web display at a maximum of 640 x 480.

I've always loved Gecko's and when trying to come up with a new name for the site, we found that the market is saturated with names like bigstock, superstock, stockimages, worldofstock and we thought that a name like Gecko Stock would stick in peoples heads better, also the logo is instantly recognisable as our site. :-) The other site have even misspelt Gecko. lol

takestock · « **Reply #6 on:** June 26, 2007, 03:14 »

I closed my account (with confirmation) at Raw Stock recently and deleted pics.
However my account and a number of my images are now on the new upcoming Gecko site.
I have made contact.

richardh · « **Reply #7 on:** June 26, 2007, 06:09 »

The Gecko Stock website that you guys have been looking at is the one corrently under development, it shouldn't have been accessible to the open public until the launch on Saturday the 30th. It's not under lock and key again after we opened it up to a couple of beta testers.

My appologies Frame, you're account at RSI has been deleted, but Gecko Stock is using a test snapshot of data which is out of date. We've taken down the RSI site today so that we can copy across all of the up to date data and process it ready for the launch.

You'll find that Gecko Stock is a complete re-write, with the only thing in common with RSI being the loyal members who have stuck with RSI even though it never took off.

takestock · « **Reply #8 on:** June 26, 2007, 13:41 »

Thanks again Richard for dealing swiftly with the problem.

AdrianGecko · « **Reply #9 on:** June 27, 2007, 00:59 »

I am interested in this post... are you aware of the members based site called Geckoimages ( newbielink:http://www.gekkoimages.com [nonactive] newbielink:http://www.geckoimages.com.au [nonactive]). This site has been servicing members of over 3 years and is growing very strongly both locally and internationally. You might want to check it out.

Adrian

thesentinel · « **Reply #10 on:** June 27, 2007, 01:20 »

Yes indeed, I posted your website link above. Despite the different spellings I can see possible market confusion, even enough for the newcomer to be considered to be 'passing off'?

Quote from: AdrianGecko on June 27, 2007, 00:59

I am interested in this post... are you aware of the members based site called Geckoimages (www.gekkoimages.com www.geckoimages.com.au). This site has been servicing members of over 3 years and is growing very strongly both locally and internationally. You might want to check it out.

Adrian

Pixart · « **Reply #11 on:** June 27, 2007, 10:02 »

Oh, boy Richardh.... you better consider a new name fast, you may save yourself a headache/heartache in the long run. Someone pointed out the confusion factor, but such a similar domain business model is just BAD for your business... if they end up in some big scandal your name will also be smeared. If their product sucks, so does your name. If they want to start a smear campain... oh boy... and the clicks you may miss in the search engines. All they have to do is use your keywords to steal some traffic... buyers come looking for you, land there, it's not what they expect and so they go back to Istock.

Also... what's with the long domain extension? more important than a business name these days is getting a good .com address.... who (outside of Europe perhaps?) will remember .co.uk? Can you at least point a .com to this url?

Sorry if I sound blunt, I just wish you a successful start. It would be pretty hard to change names in a couple years.

hospitalera · « **Reply #12 on:** June 30, 2007, 09:12 »

Ok, less then three hours to go and the chatroom at www.GeckoStock.co.uk is open! Then you can discuss this and other matters with Richard Clark and Richard Hinton and me. So please join us from 6pm GMT at www.GeckoStock.co.uk ! As far as I know it is the first time that a microstock site was re-launched with a chat

SY

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Author Topic: Is there room for one more? (Read 6381 times)

richardh

hatman12

madelaide

epixx

thesentinel

richardh

takestock

richardh

takestock

AdrianGecko

thesentinel

Pixart

hospitalera

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