Anyone want to check out my Mom's site?

Chichimoge · Aug 18, 2009

You see... my Mom got this photography site a few Months ago, she is really excited about it... I help her build it all the time, and she thanks me for it. But I feel really bad... I mean REALLY bad that she hasn't really got any viewers, let alone sales. I almost cried the other day. Sorry if I sound stupid :lol:

this just means a lot to her. So if you could, could you check out here site?

Creative Images By Dorann

I would really appreciate it

tell me if there is anything to the site that you do not like. The layout, the prices. I could help fix it. (btw, I'm not teller her I'm advertising for her, I don't want to hurt her feelings).

Thank you so much! :hugs:

mooimeisie · Aug 18, 2009

The website is very easy to navigate and see the photos. I like that.

Chichimoge · Aug 18, 2009

mooimeisie said:
The website is very easy to navigate and see the photos. I like that.

What's your site? Is it This?

mooimeisie · Aug 18, 2009

Yes, that's my blog. Just a little space where I can post some of the photos I take.

dizzyg44 · Aug 18, 2009

First off....

1. (keep in mind I'm using Safari) the galleries are painfully slow to load 15+ seconds.
2. It's called Creative Images by Dorann, so I would expect to see a creative and finished site.
3. The majority of the images are mediocre at best (but there are a few nice gems in there). In one gallery you have over 600 images, the viewer would get really bored digging through all of them looking for that special image that grabs them. Exposure wise, most are technically correct but not creatively correct. There are many where you have a series of similar images with slight various like the photog can decide which they think is best. 600+ images is way too many images for a single online gallery for previews.

Bottom line from a customers perspective is that "you are judged on your best work, not your worst"

Chichimoge · Aug 18, 2009

dizzyg44 said:
First off....

1. (keep in mind I'm using Safari) the galleries are painfully slow to load 15+ seconds.
2. It's called Creative Images by Dorann, so I would expect to see a creative and finished site.
3. The majority of the images are mediocre at best (but there are a few nice gems in there). In one gallery you have over 600 images, the viewer would get really bored digging through all of them looking for that special image that grabs them. Exposure wise, most are technically correct but not creatively correct. There are many where you have a series of similar images with slight various like the photog can decide which they think is best. 600+ images is way too many images for a single online gallery for previews.

Bottom line from a customers perspective is that "you are judged on your best work, not your worst"

Thanks for the criticism.

gpimages · Aug 19, 2009

I agree with dizzy. The one wedding gallery with over 600 photos (6 of the shoes alone) is just too many. There looks to be some good shots in there. I don't mean to sound harsh but if your mom is disappointed already then she is in the wrong business. It takes a long time to really understand photography and to get your name out there to where you get a bunch of hits and sell many photos from an online gallery. I get the most hits from High School basketball and football games and that's only because I promote it and have been doing this for several years now in the same town and word of mouth has spread. It takes time.
Good luck!
Glynn

c.cloudwalker · Aug 19, 2009

I use Safari too and had no problem. It loaded right up.

As far as sales are concerned, I skipped the two wedding galleries since I would not buy wedding photos of someone I don't know.

I went very quickly through the parade gallery for the same kind of reason. Not my town and wasn't there. To be honest I don't think parade photos are going to be exciting for anyone unless they have a family member or friend in the photos. Also the photos themselves are not that great. Your mom needs to learn to use fill flash. And some of the captions are wrong.

So it leaves the meetinghouses. And in a way, it is the same problem. Most of those buildings are not very interesting (either inside or outside) so the only buyers I can imagine are the people who go there.

last, why do you have an empty gallery?

As far as traffic is concerned, there's is way more to do to a site than just build it and put some content in to get traffic. Do you have any idea how many websites there are out there? And most of them are never visited because they are not designed by people who know how to get them to the top of searches.

First I would work on the photo technique and creative vision. Two, I would get some content that can be of interest to more people. And three, I would get a pro to help with the website. But honestly, until there's a lot of improvement on the technical/creative side, I wouldn't worry too much about the site.

As someone else said, your mom needs to understand that you don't become a selling photographer overnight.