Congrats to Lou!

thesupe87 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-03-2008, 05:29 PM

YAY Micro | News

I just noticed Lou's image of the prisoner in the prison cell is currently featured on the homepage of YAYmicro. Nice work & congrats

louoates · #2 (**permalink**) 05-03-2008, 06:32 PM

Thanks Sup for letting me know. I don't usually review that home page. Yep, that's me behind bars.

Hopefully Yay will become what so many newbie sites promise. They are certainly there now with the tech side in my experience. I've got 200+ there now and have great hopes. Let's see what their marketing can do next month when they kick off the introduction. Yea, I know I take folks to task about wasting time with beginning sites but this one has felt much better than anything that's come up in a while, especially compared to the ill-fated, marketing-deficient LO. Besides, my son-in-law Olav is from Norway. Tromso. And they have the exceedingly good taste to select one of my images on the home page. Two good omens for the site?

helix7 · #3 (**permalink**) 05-04-2008, 05:25 PM

Congrats Lou. Nice placement.

I'm also hopeful about YayMicro, but not yet convinced enough to join. I have a much more skeptical view of new sites after spending a lot of time uploading at SV only to see a full month of no sales in March and 4 sales in April. For being backed by such a big name in stock, it's a huge disappointment. So I'm not likely to jump on any new sites just yet without seeing some real sales potential.

With YayMicro, maybe the tech stuff is there, but again, show me the money. And quite honestly, the name is ridiculous. I know I shouldn't judge a site by its name alone, but I just can't help it with this one. I'm looking at it from a buyer's perspective. Imagine you're a graphic designer, and you find an image you want at YayMicro. How silly are you going to feel walking into your Art Director's office and asking for approval to go and buy an image from there?

Designer: "Hey Gary, I need approval to buy an image from a new stock site."
AD: "Ok, what company?"
Designer: "Um, it's called YayMicro."
[AD proceeds to fall on floor laughing]
[Upon regaining composure, he replies]
AD: "How about you go and find an image from a real stock site."

I'd be happy to see them prove me wrong though. If sales take off, I will gladly say that I was wrong, and promptly sign up as a contributor.

sharpshot · #4 (**permalink**) 05-04-2008, 05:47 PM

Congrats Lou. I agree with helix7 about Yaymicro. I have joined but I don't like the name. Having micro in the name could be limiting. I prefer the name snapvillage to yaymicro as snaps can be sold for any price. Perhaps they will see sense and change the name before marketing?

None of the sites launched in the past 2 years have had much success. It is hard to see how another one can make it when we upload the same images to all of them. New sites need to think of something different.

louoates · #5 (**permalink**) 05-04-2008, 07:43 PM

I don't have a problem with the name so much. After all what was a Kodak, a Microsoft, a Coke at one time?

What troubles me more is this answer from their FAQ (Quotes mine):
-----------------------
"What is your marketing strategy?

Targeted marketing. Forget traditional ads in newspapers, photo journals and designer magazines. Internet marketing (e-WoM, google ads, blogs), direct marketing (b2b) and direct sales (b2b) is the way to go. "

--------------------
Isn't this the new-age marketing trumpeted by Lucky Oliver? Shunning traditional user publications, in my opinion, is a big mistake. Frankly, had I read this comment from their CEO I doubt I would have uploaded. Just too much speculation. Especially when seeing the big hitters regularly in the Photoshop user publications.

But now since I've got 205+ images there already I guess I'll keep on keeping on.

thesupe87 · #6 (**permalink**) 05-05-2008, 03:08 AM

I was on the site one day, and my wife actually asked me, "hey, what's that site you're on?" I told her its a new stock site I had just joined. She goes, "What a great name for a stock site, I really like it." She's a non-photographer, who only recognizes a few of the names of the sites I blab to her about...like when I tell her, "guess what honey the photo of the dog sold 3 times today on Shutterstock". I don't know. Not that it means much, but I just thought I'd share her opinion.

I can understand what Mike's saying, about pitching the name of the agency to your boss. But then again, what's the difference between a name like "Yaymicro" and "Dreamstime", or even "Fotolia". Google and Yahoo are among the internet's biggests names. You could name your business something riciculous like "POOPtropolis" or "dingledongle"...as long as it does what people need it to do, and you have good marketing - it just might catch on. Who knows, nowadays.

sjlocke · #7 (**permalink**) 05-05-2008, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thesupe87

what's the difference between a name like "Yaymicro" and "Dreamstime", or even "Fotolia".

"Yay" = Childish expression of excitement
"Micro" = Small

YayMicro = small time silly immature image portal. That's what I get from the name. They'd be better off with a non-word, like Fotolia.

RacePhoto · #8 (**permalink**) 05-05-2008, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sjlocke

"Yay" = Childish expression of excitement
"Micro" = Small

YayMicro = small time silly immature image portal. That's what I get from the name. They'd be better off with a non-word, like Fotolia.

Darn I thought you were actually going to write something nice for a change, like congratulating louoates for getting his image on the front page of a stock site. But I was wrong.

Nice going Lou!

On the other hand. I agree with you about the name of the site. It's lame and weak.

Sure it could be called PoopSpectacular Images and what's in a name? Well the fact that aside from the people who could care less and aren't easily offended (which I'm one) the image of the site to the rest of the world, with a name like YayMicro lacks attraction and could potentially make people disinterested before they ever get to it.

As much as I liked the concept of Lucky Oliver, the organization, ftp ease and the way the site functioned and all that. Someone coming from a business background, may have had a problem with the abstract quirky carny theme.

Good luck YayMicro, you are going to need it to overcome a weak initial image. That's the negative first impression people will get from the name of the site, before they ever see the front page.