Critique my site!

[CCericola]

Now we get to be nit picky!!!

1. Home page: I like it, no comments.
2. About Page: Holy Bold letters Batman. Unbold the text or make it a tad smaller. It does not fit the feel of your home page. The facebook links and such at the bottom need to match the home page. They are too big. Your Picture needs to Line up with teh first line of text not above it.
3. Portfolio: I like the first page. The galleries are ok for now. I would look at other designs.
4. Services: Pictures need to be resized to fit the flow of text better. Spacing a position are all over the place. And stop with the bold text!!! I feel like you are talking very loud at us.
5. Clients: It's ok, not great, but ok. I think all the thumbnails should be uniform. Maybe make them all square.
6. Contact: Ahh, you are yelling again. Un bold! Red is a very aggressive/warning color. I may suggest you rethink the red link color.

Ok, I'm done for now. I may think of something else later.

 

[FattyMcJ]

The About page isn't working.- works now

And I for one, appreciate the email at the bottom. Its easier sometimes than digging through a bunch of pages, and doesn't take too much space.

Your pricing page looks amateur, if I was shopping around and saw that I'd immediately click out and keep searching. For one, there's a lot of words I'm not going to take the time to read, I scrolled down for the bottom line. All of the stuff included in the Asterisk should be on your contract and reviewed in person/on an email when someone expresses interest, rather than on your website.

I'm assuming you don't really give ALL of the images you take, so I would take that off or include a specific number (up to 50 images, ex), otherwise people think they are going to get 300 images. People assume prints can be made from CD's, so instead of mentioning it on your website, mention it in person or in email.

All the extra stuff you offer, modeling, automotive, etc, either take off, or add actual images to your portfolio. It just takes up space, and makes you seem like you're not specialized in portraiture and weddings.

Don't add extra for the studio rental fee. If you're going to offer it, it needs to be built in to your overall costs. Have you done the COGS thing?

Excellent feedback! The "CONTACT" button is now on the bottom, and takes you to the same page as the top link. I originally had the CONTACT button bring up a contact form, but I had a lot of people say that was annoying and they want to see multiple ways of getting a hold of me, so I changed it to only bring up a form when you click on my actual email address on the contact page. I have mixed feelings about the link on top and bottom of every page, but now that it's the same format as the above nav bar, I think it's better, even if redundant.

Pricing- Alright, so too much text/information. I'll work on that now. I wasn't sure how much information I should be giving to people upfront. I'm the type that hates "surprises" and wants to see everything on the table right away, but I see your point that somethings are better left to be said in person.

And, what's the "COGS" thing? Do you mean the Cost of Doing Business calculator? Yes, I've done that, and so far, I'm just above where I need to be to make a decent living. I heard somewhere, "If you're getting enough business, you're too cheap." So I went a bit above my actual CoDB, but not by much.

Thanks again for all the help folks, this is priceless feedback!

 

[FattyMcJ]

Now we get to be nit picky!!!

1. Home page: I like it, no comments.
2. About Page: Holy Bold letters Batman. Unbold the text or make it a tad smaller. It does not fit the feel of your home page. The facebook links and such at the bottom need to match the home page. They are too big. Your Picture needs to Line up with teh first line of text not above it.
3. Portfolio: I like the first page. The galleries are ok for now. I would look at other designs.
4. Services: Pictures need to be resized to fit the flow of text better. Spacing a position are all over the place. And stop with the bold text!!! I feel like you are talking very loud at us.
5. Clients: It's ok, not great, but ok. I think all the thumbnails should be uniform. Maybe make them all square.
6. Contact: Ahh, you are yelling again. Un bold! Red is a very aggressive/warning color. I may suggest you rethink the red link color.

Ok, I'm done for now. I may think of something else later.

#2, holy crap, you're right...why is my bottom nav bar so big ONLY on that page? Hmm...digging into it.
#3 I have a few choices for layout. That's the default SmugMug look and I don't mind it, but what would you suggest?
#4 Yeah, I'm getting the feeling I'll need to create a full HTML page for the services, instead of using the SmugMug "Old Journal" style gallery and using the "captions" for text. It offsets the pictures. Seems like folks don't like that. I'll look into it
#5 Square or original? Original would have some in portrait orientation and some in landscape...so true uniformity would be square. Seems boring though, no?
#6 LOL Alright, revamping text now!

Thanks for the laugh & great tips!

 

[MLeeK]

Nice, clean, WYSIWYG. easy to navigate.
your pricing page is kind of at odds with the rest of your feel. You have a nice, clean, refined feel until you get there and it kind of reads like an infomercial. Same with all of the colors on the contact page. You have a clean, black and white site that makes your photos the focus of everything. The bright red and blue lettering doesn't flow with it and kind of looks tacky.
The giant blue facebook button is another eyesore on a beautiful site. Downsize it to print? Something like a print across the bottom that includes your Blog*Facebook*YouTube*Twitter*Google+ and or any other web presence you may have.
The title/logo/name at the top of the page. I am on a fairly decent sized monitor and it's pushing your pics off the bottom edge of the page.
Your about page-lose the contact link and bio link. If I go to your about page I expect to learn about you. You have a contact page for the contact part. If I want to contact you, I click on the contact link to get that... Put your BIO on that About page.

It's truly a beautiful site.

Thank you for really digging deep! So on my pricing page, would you prefer me to get rid of the photos and have it all just text? Or less photos more text? Get rid of the first section? Maybe get rid of the "heading" for each section? What would make that better?

I'll make the header logo a bit narrower vertically so it doesn't push the bottom stuff so much. Hadn't thought of that before!

And I just fixed the About->Bio Contact->Contact links. No more interim gallery links to confuse people.

The pictures/links to different pricing are fine.
Lose any giant colored text. That screams BILLY RAY MAYS at me... A simple statement that says something to the effect that packages can be customized to fit your needs. the way you list pricing for a second photographer makes me feel like you are ordering off of a cheap diner menu. Something with your customized sstatement up there that says second shooter and other services are available starting at...
You are presenting a refined site, but that red and blue GIANT SCREAMING BILLBOARD KIND OF TEXT is NOT refined. Your prices are cheap as hell to begin with, don't cheapen yourself more with the billboard.
The "HOW IT WORKS heading does nothing for me, but my mind is a total blank right this moment... Smaller type-larger than your body, but not the huge type and something like
"Choosing Your Photographer" Days should be dates.
PRICING SIMPLIFIED also reads pretty cheap. Makes me think "... and for $19.95 plus shipping and handling YOU TOO can have a miracle suit! BUT WAIT!!! If you act now..."

From there on it becomes very run on and on and on... KISS-keep it simple stupid. Basic prices start at $800 for 4 hours of coverage... including cd... blah blah blah.
To create your own customized package today, contact me. [LINK]
You don't have to include your details on that page (those are things you cover in the meeting.) No need to scare them off with too much that you don't have control over the delivery of.
The same applies to your portrait and education page.

 

[jaxx419]

Ahh, so you'd prefer the About me to come before Portfolio? I read somewhere that you want people to go to your portfolio first and since we read left to right, it's logical to put that before. But looking at other sites, it's not that way. So...I'll swap it and see how that works.

As for the Facebook link, do you think I should get rid of the logo at the bottom for that? Or just leave it and take out the nav bar link? Maybe ad a small logo to the nav bar and get rid of the bottom button? What would you do?

Good catch! I'll fix that right now.

Thanks for ALL the comments so far guys! I really appreciate it!

Typically you want your customers to learn about you then view your product. For SEO purposes you want your about page to be up high in the navigation order and have at least 250 words so it shows up in google search. Google will see that link first because of the order (if u switch it). Google won't read a bunch of photos. You also want words on your home page but that would mean redesigning the homepage.

You can leave the Facebook logo, that is pretty standard. As someone else noted, I would unbold the font so it blends and doesn't stick out do much. You don't want it to overpower your logo at the top.

 

[jaxx419]

You could also use the square Facebook logo that just has the F and stack it next to the square twitter logo if you have a twitter account. These are more commonly used in websites.

 

[MLeeK]

Ahh, so you'd prefer the About me to come before Portfolio? I read somewhere that you want people to go to your portfolio first and since we read left to right, it's logical to put that before. But looking at other sites, it's not that way. So...I'll swap it and see how that works.

As for the Facebook link, do you think I should get rid of the logo at the bottom for that? Or just leave it and take out the nav bar link? Maybe ad a small logo to the nav bar and get rid of the bottom button? What would you do?

Good catch! I'll fix that right now.

Thanks for ALL the comments so far guys! I really appreciate it!

Typically you want your customers to learn about you then view your product. For SEO purposes you want your about page to be up high in the navigation order and have at least 250 words so it shows up in google search. Google will see that link first because of the order (if u switch it). Google won't read a bunch of photos. You also want words on your home page but that would mean redesigning the homepage.

You can leave the Facebook logo, that is pretty standard. As someone else noted, I would unbold the font so it blends and doesn't stick out do much. You don't want it to overpower your logo at the top.

Your homepage words can be "hidden" too. As in behind the slideshow or in white on white or keywording. NickA would have more tips on things like that. It's his area of expertise.

 

[jaxx419]

Your homepage words can be "hidden" too. As in behind the slideshow. NickA would have more tips on things like that. It's his area of expertise.

Hidden text is not a good idea, at least from what I have been told from our programmer.

 

[MLeeK]

Hmmmm... I dunno! I was just told that those critical keywords should be there even if they are only in the coding or they blend with the bg because the crawlers can see them, even though people can't.

 

[jaxx419]

Meta tags will help seo but rich content on the homepage that is visible to the visitor is better. Search engines frown upon actual hidden text and if found can be considered as spam.

SEO is a whole other topic though! That's not my area, just learn from others at work because I have to explain to clients.

OP-- I'd add more text to your about page and site in general. Try to use terms that you think people will use to search for you. Avoid fluff adjectives... Google doesn't care much about those.

 

[IByte]

IMO your website is clean, straight forward and easy to navigate all pluses. I will say the white background is kind of harsh on the eyes, if was looking at this site during the day I would get a tremendous amount of glare. I would try a more subtle background, like gray or black, darker colors are easier on the eyes, and your background should give your photos a little "pop". Consider about changing the font to what the other members say. Again great website, loving the photos and good luck my friend.

 

[Dillard]

Is this a smugmug pro account with custom page? Looks good

 

[FattyMcJ]

The pictures/links to different pricing are fine.
Lose any giant colored text. That screams BILLY RAY MAYS at me... A simple statement that says something to the effect that packages can be customized to fit your needs. the way you list pricing for a second photographer makes me feel like you are ordering off of a cheap diner menu. Something with your customized sstatement up there that says second shooter and other services are available starting at...
You are presenting a refined site, but that red and blue GIANT SCREAMING BILLBOARD KIND OF TEXT is NOT refined. Your prices are cheap as hell to begin with, don't cheapen yourself more with the billboard.
The "HOW IT WORKS heading does nothing for me, but my mind is a total blank right this moment... Smaller type-larger than your body, but not the huge type and something like
"Choosing Your Photographer" Days should be dates.
PRICING SIMPLIFIED also reads pretty cheap. Makes me think "... and for $19.95 plus shipping and handling YOU TOO can have a miracle suit! BUT WAIT!!! If you act now..."

From there on it becomes very run on and on and on... KISS-keep it simple stupid. Basic prices start at $800 for 4 hours of coverage... including cd... blah blah blah.
To create your own customized package today, contact me. [LINK]
You don't have to include your details on that page (those are things you cover in the meeting.) No need to scare them off with too much that you don't have control over the delivery of.
The same applies to your portrait and education page.

Alrighty, advice well received and I just finished redoing my Wedding Pricing page. Next will be my Portraits and then my Education pages. I think I'm getting closer to the overall "KISS" look that people really seem to want/like.

Meta tags will help seo but rich content on the homepage that is visible to the visitor is better. Search engines frown upon actual hidden text and if found can be considered as spam.

SEO is a whole other topic though! That's not my area, just learn from others at work because I have to explain to clients.

OP-- I'd add more text to your about page and site in general. Try to use terms that you think people will use to search for you. Avoid fluff adjectives... Google doesn't care much about those.

Ahh yes, SEO is always a concern. I don't want any text on the front page though. I prefer just the slideshow with my logo and nav bar(s). It's a photo site, the first thing I want people to see is nice big photos. However, I DO have meta tags/keywords built in to the header, as well as all the other SEO optimizations that SmugMug provides. So far, without paying, I've been up to #20 on a few relevant searches. Not bad for not having paid IMO. Eventually, when the budget grows, I'll be doing Google AdWords and more, but for now, it's not half bad. Any other SEO/Site optimization tricks you can think of are GREATLY appreciated though, so don't hesitate to suggest things!

IMO your website is clean, straight forward and easy to navigate all pluses. I will say the white background is kind of harsh on the eyes, if was looking at this site during the day I would get a tremendous amount of glare. I would try a more subtle background, like gray or black, darker colors are easier on the eyes, and your background should give your photos a little "pop". Again great website, loving the photos and good luck my friend.

See, I thought the same thing a few weeks ago. I had a mild gray sort of background/look to the site. It was dull and boring. Then I started looking at other photo sites. Some had really extravagant background images, others were on black, but most were on white. I chose not to use a crazy/fancy background image because I realized, when I looked at those sites...I was looking at the background more than the photos on them. The black sites were more for the fashion industry. Hard/Edgy photographs. VERY cool looking, no doubt, but not the overall style/feel that I'm going for. I want a clean/simple site that focuses on the images more than anything. Think of art galleries, the walls are white...for the most part...right? That's what I wanted.

But I thank you VERY much for taking a look and the time to give your point of view! It's all very much appreciated

 

[FattyMcJ]

Is this a smugmug pro account with custom page? Looks good

Indeed. I've removed all traces of SmugMug from my site (which the Pro account allows), so I can keep it clean and consistent branding. However I could not remove SmugMug & Bay Photo from my checkout process. They handle the e-commerce portion, so it is what it is lol

Overall, I'm VERY happy with SmugMug. Top notch customer service when I have a question, VERY easy to use back-office, and the customization is quite simple...and I knew NOTHING about HTML or CSS when I started it a year ago. I'm still learning, but it's getting better.

 

[ishootmuscles]

On a design note. I'm not liking the font on the about page. It weighs down the design. But otherwise, I think you are going in the right direction. As a guide, serif fonts are easier to read lots of copy on paper (books, newspapers), but a san serif font is easier to read a lot of copy on a monitor. I think a nice clean san serif font will work better.

Thanks! Fixed to Helvetica

Looks good. Any way to get your pictures to be larger when viewing? One thing I like when I look on peoples websites is for the picture to "pop" not have to get closer to my computer to view. Great photos by the way. Do you know Dawn Sparks from your town? She just did both my cousins weddings and is amazing! Would love to visit there someday! Also, think it is great you offer the "teach" people....I would take lessons if I lived closer...don't think you want to travel to NY!

The Slideshow, and Portfolio galleries are stretchy. On my 27" iMac I have my web browser (I use Firefox, Chrome, AND Safari to check things) open up pretty big, and the photos are VERY large, but when I shrink the window a wee bit, they automatically adjust in size to a normal web size. That way, anyone with any size browser window can see the full photo. Try stretching out your browser window and let me know if it changes/doesn't change. Also, what browser are you on?...maybe my code is messed up for that browser (please tell me you don't use IE lol).

my 1st view was people with very yellow teeth! nice site tho

Hmm, on my screen it looks pretty normal. The whole photo has a warm feel to it, but maybe I should go back in and whiten them up a bit. Thanks for noticing!

Concerning IE, I wouldn't laugh. It's still the No.1 browser worldwide. According to this article in wikipedia Usage share of web browsers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia IE owns almost 30% of the pie.
Do you want to exclude clients who use IE?