improving my website

[Rhys]

I'm looking into improving my website.
I'm not into spending money on my website though - whatever it is has to be free - my budget is nil for websites.
So... How would you improve the site? I'm limited to free templates. I'm kinda happy with the template although I might change the image at the top (which shows 4 images) to something more corporate although I'm not sure what yet.
I might change the start page to be the portfolio since that's what people need to see.
I'm also thinking of putting in several different slideshows along the lines of:
Product, Wedding, Event, Brochures, Catalogues etc.
I'm not quite sure how to do the different slideshows however, I could have several on the lines of the one that I have on my portfolio page - all running simulteneously or I could have a simple menu on the portfolio page or I could have them as separate portfolio pages.
I am quite restricted by what I can do with website baker BUT it works and I want to make the best I can with it, not having the money to pay for websites. I am trying to get my business more on word of mouth than on webvertising.
My website is www.sagephotoworld.com

 

[anubis404]

I would try to learn dreamweaver (if you have it). I have heard its pretty easy. If you want my opinion, the website looks a little bit like the websites that pop up when you type in random words into the address bar. The search/advertisements websites.

 

[tirediron]

Well... since you asked...

1. On your packages page, you give costs for 'X' hours of coverage for a given event, but don't mention prints. Especially in wedding photography where budget is often a major concern, people would like an idea of what they get for their money. If prints are over and above the coverage charge, perhaps a link to a price schedule?

Your gallery page doesn't display correctly on my browser, most likely an issue with the firewall, however something to consider, check it against as many browers/firewall setups as possible to ensure you get through to the greatest number of potential customers

As far as applications like Dreamweaver and Website Baker and all the rest go, IMHO, they're not worth the time or effort. You're best off with Notepad (or any other ASCII based text-editor). If you want a semi-WYSIWYG HTML authoring application, try First Page 2000 by Evrsoft - free, very powerful, and doesn't bloat your pages with a lot of useless code.

Just my $00.02 worth - your opinion may vary.
~John

 

[dslrchat]

My recommendations;
Search for a Free template you like;
If the one you have now is what you want, thats fine. It does however look like a free template, that is not a bad thing, it just means you now need to add your personal touch.

Keep all text unified, not one size/font on one page and a different on another.

I would change your portfolio to a picture gallery, what you have now will load slow on some computers.

The menu on the side needs a personal touch, buttons maybe.

Dreamweaver is handy if you can get it.

Once you find what you want to use, then start making a page, that is not linked to your site (index2.htm) and you keep changing it till you have what you are happy with, then rename it to index.htm.

I can help out if you like, once you find what you want, if you need help just pm me and I will help you customize it.

 

[Rhys]

I had noticed that the slideshow doesn't work well. I had assumed it was because the computer I use for web usage is a bit past its best. Actually, I might even end up with Linux on it rather than Windows (which seems to get more bogged down the more updates it has). That's actualkly rather strange as the slideshow worked better when there were fewer photos. Not sure why that would be.

The gallery idea is one well worth pursuing.

 

[3of11]

One quick thing, on your main page you say specialise, and it should be specialize.

 

[dslrchat]

copy and paste all text from each page into a word document, then use the spelling and grammar tool.

This is what I usually do.

 

[Rhys]

I use British spellings since I'm British.

I was looking at slideshows today and have not been at all impressed by any of them. Thus my latest idea was to put the slideshow as a series of html pages into a wrapper. That seems so far to work well enough under a test environment.

My next issue is to modify the template as it just doesn't look that great. I'm NOT keen on the 4 photos at the top. I want to get rid of that banner and replace it with something else. Trouble is whatever I try I end up disliking.

 

[EricBrian]

I like the site. Nice and simple. But yes, I would do something with the portfolio. It should be broken down into more sections.

Also, I understand that you are British... but, when I go to your home page and see that you are in Columbia, South Carolina, I assume you are US American. Then, I see you use 's' instead of 'z' in specialized. That makes me think that you are not a professional. I think you might reconsider that. Else, say something like "SagePhotoWorld is located in Columbia, South Carolina and operated by a bunch of Brits."

Well, maybe not. But, you get what I am trying to say.

 

[Rhys]

Ok. I see what you mean. I could plaster the site with Union Jacks although that would be a little pointless since in many ways I'm trying to get away from Britain.

My test portfolio works nicely in its wrapper. I'm now working on extra sections.

The Landzilla template isn't too bad BUT I think I can improve it some. I did have a go but the changes never showed up! I can't understand that one!