Give me feedback on our new website!

[Sachphotography]

I think this is because the word "investment" says to me, "you will be paying a lot but let me take up some of your time telling you why you should still buy/use us and hopefully we can rope you in". Just my opinion though.

IE CUTCO...... LOL

 

[Tbini87]

I'm hung up on the last sentence of the 3rd paragraph in the about us section..."Having memories of special moments to look back on and cherish is why we love photography and being able to give that gift to others."

Here's my take - "We love photography because we are able to give you the gift of photos and memories that you will be able to cherish for years to come." Basically just rearranging the words to flow better.

-Grammar Nazi

But seriously, the blog looks better - it is no longer squished on my monitor as it was before, and this background is much less distracting.

I agree with previous posters about "investment" being overused..."Rates" or "Pricing" are what my eyes are usually looking for when I go to a website and plan to spend some money. I think this is because the word "investment" says to me, "you will be paying a lot but let me take up some of your time telling you why you should still buy/use us and hopefully we can rope you in". Just my opinion though.

Awesome, thanks for the input. Glad the blog is looking better.

I personally see Investment as a synonym for pricing, rates, etc. We don't take any time trying to "rope" anyone in, but maybe that is what you get from the term. We simply list our prices.

We will be taking a ton of these ideas and recommendations into consideration and improve the site asap. Thanks again.

 

[Sachphotography]

Investment and pricing are two different things completely. When you invest in something you expect to get a return and have more than you put in. Pricing is well pricing. You pay for something and you get something. Nothing more. Investment implies and opportunity for gain while pricing simply implies a loss. The word investment is by far the most confusing thing I have seen on photographers websites. It seems to be a growing trend. Why I dont know. I think its dumb. The photographs people paid for are not going to appreciate. You are not a famous fine art photographer and therefore your work is not an investment it is a loss. Im just saying. People see that word and a switch turns on that you are crap trying to sell for more than your are worth. There are certain thing that people key in on when some one is trying to sell something that is so so claiming it is superb! IE when JOE bloe tells me my knife purchase is an investment rather than a purchase. Like the guy at BEST BUY you tried to say the LED TV was an investment even though it went on sale the next week for 200 less. My point being you dont have a legit reason why that term should be used and by placing it there you think that people will key in on it as a good thing.... They wont. They will see it as a bad thing like you are a cheap craigslist photog that doesn't know what they are doing. I have been shooting since I was 13 and have owned 3 companies all of which turn a profit. Your ignorance lends itself to inexperience. The tried an true are willing to learn and only those willing to learn from there mistakes will learn and succeed but you keep telling yourself that investment is the right word and Einsteins definition of insanity will creep up on you.

AND JUST FYI I have owned a profitable INVESTMENT firm for 4 years.

Oh and I checked a thesaurus, pricing is NOT and synonym for investment

 

[Tbini87]

Investment and pricing are two different things completely. When you invest in something you expect to get a return and have more than you put in. Pricing is well pricing. You pay for something and you get something. Nothing more. Investment implies and opportunity for gain while pricing simply implies a loss. The word investment is by far the most confusing thing I have seen on photographers websites. It seems to be a growing trend. Why I dont know. I think its dumb. The photographs people paid for are not going to appreciate. You are not a famous fine art photographer and therefore your work is not an investment it is a loss. Im just saying. People see that word and a switch turns on that you are crap trying to sell for more than your are worth. There are certain thing that people key in on when some one is trying to sell something that is so so claiming it is superb! IE when JOE bloe tells me my knife purchase is an investment rather than a purchase. Like the guy at BEST BUY you tried to say the LED TV was an investment even though it went on sale the next week for 200 less. My point being you dont have a legit reason why that term should be used and by placing it there you think that people will key in on it as a good thing.... They wont. They will see it as a bad thing like you are a cheap craigslist photog that doesn't know what they are doing. I have been shooting since I was 13 and have owned 3 companies all of which turn a profit. Your ignorance lends itself to inexperience. The tried an true are willing to learn and only those willing to learn from there mistakes will learn and succeed but you keep telling yourself that investment is the right word and Einsteins definition of insanity will creep up on you.

AND JUST FYI I have owned a profitable INVESTMENT firm for 4 years.

Oh and I checked a thesaurus, pricing is NOT and synonym for investment

Don't really know how to respond to such a loaded post that goes all over the place. I would be willing to agree to disagree about the term, but you seem pretty adamant about the topic. You say these people aren't getting a return and are simply taking a loss. If you are talking about only financially then I agree, but I am not looking at it merely as a financial thing and I don't think clients are either. They are giving money in order to get a return on memories and art that they will cherish forever.

I don't know why a term like this turns into a personal attack on me being a cragislist photog who is unwilling to learn... but whatever. I am sure you have a long list of credentials and have been very successful, that is great! Why that matters in this thread I do not know, but thank you for sharing. I am not sure that the term "investment" on our site instead of "rates" or "pricing" is going to make or break our company. Maybe you disagree. I guess only time will tell.

 

[NikonNewbie]

I've seen Tons of websites that read "Investment" because face it...if your going to pay alot for a memory...is it not an investment?
when I buy CD's (certificate of Deposits) that is an investment...is it not? it's something that will last over time...which I believe a photo does....unless it's printed on pretty cheap paper.
Imo...which aint' worth squat@!

but I do agree that the word investment seems a bit scary to someone who would hire someone off Craigslist...the reason they are on CL is for a deal...so dont scare them away

 

[jdjen]

Investment should be changed to Session Rates or something of the sort. The word Investment, to me, sounds pricy.

And...

I honestly don't care who your are, how long you've been married. As a client all I would care about is getting good quality photos for the money I'm shelling out, and your appearance if it were a wedding or a shoot along those lines.

 

[jaymac]

Well....your gettin feedback huh...LOL

Personally...*puts on flame proof suit*...I like the word investment as well. I the pictures as investments (paying money and getting a return of memories). Either way though, I think you've made up your mind about it.

The blog looks much better!

I see where you've added your location, but it still needs to be a little more prominent in my opinion. People won't want to spend that much time looking for where you are only to find out you aren't anywhere near them.

 

[Tbini87]

Well....your gettin feedback huh...LOL

Personally...*puts on flame proof suit*...I like the word investment as well. I the pictures as investments (paying money and getting a return of memories). Either way though, I think you've made up your mind about it.

The blog looks much better!

I see where you've added your location, but it still needs to be a little more prominent in my opinion. People won't want to spend that much time looking for where you are only to find out you aren't anywhere near them.

Yeah we have been brainstorming ways of getting our location in a more obvious spot. Changes may take a while though since we won't be making many of the changes ourselves and will have to wait til the site designer can make them.

I actually would be totally fine with changes "investment" to "rates"... it wouldn't bother me at all. I guess that is what I find funny... that some people seem to be SUPER annoyed or turned off by "investment". I don't think one term is better than another so I will leave it Investment for now and might change it to Rates later if we feel like it. We aren't exactly going for clients off CL anyways so not really worried about "scaring people away", especially since we feel like we priced ourselves lower than much of the competition in the area while giving a decent product (always working on getting better and still have lots of room for improvement though).

 

[Tbini87]

Investment should be changed to Session Rates or something of the sort. The word Investment, to me, sounds pricy.

And...

I honestly don't care who your are, how long you've been married. As a client all I would care about is getting good quality photos for the money I'm shelling out, and your appearance if it were a wedding or a shoot along those lines.

You might not care who we are, etc, but some people might right? I don't think it hurts anything to have it in. I think many people may like to get a feel for a photog before just calling them up and setting up an appointment to meet. Knowing we are young, recent college grads (in 1 semester) might make it easier for young, recently engaged people give us a call to talk about their wedding that is coming up. Maybe it won't, but I personally like being able to read a little about a photog and kind of seeing if we might be a good match.

 

[NikonNewbie]

Investment should be changed to Session Rates or something of the sort. The word Investment, to me, sounds pricy.

And...

I honestly don't care who your are, how long you've been married. As a client all I would care about is getting good quality photos for the money I'm shelling out, and your appearance if it were a wedding or a shoot along those lines.

You might not care who we are, etc, but some people might right? I don't think it hurts anything to have it in. I think many people may like to get a feel for a photog before just calling them up and setting up an appointment to meet. Knowing we are young, recent college grads (in 1 semester) might make it easier for young, recently engaged people give us a call to talk about their wedding that is coming up. Maybe it won't, but I personally like being able to read a little about a photog and kind of seeing if we might be a good match.

i agree...I would totally care who you are...what if I want you in my house...beeyatch I"m gonna a background ck on yer ass...especially if your taking pics of my kids...no pedophiles!
so, yes def write a bio! and then if I think it's shady...i'll search ya out anyway!

 

[Sachphotography]

If it is any consolation, I like your blog.

A few things I would like to help you with:

1. Your whitebalance in your pictures seem to be very cold
2. Almost all of your pictures seem very soft. ( insert camera and lens here )
3. Coming from a customer standpoint, I would see the word Investment and not understand why it is there. I would think why does this guy want people to invest in his
company. It just does not make sense.
4. I would purchase a reflector to help with shadows. Will cost you maybe $40 but it will help tremendously.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

i agree...I would totally care who you are...what if I want you in my house...beeyatch I"m gonna a background ck on yer ass...especially if your taking pics of my kids...no pedophiles!
so, yes def write a bio! and then if I think it's shady...i'll search ya out anyway!

:roll:

 

[gsgary]

About Us: I would drop the "we are still learning, so feel free to share new ideas, locations, props, etc. with us."

People are coming to you for YOUR pro creativity.
Your website should exude confidence. If you're gonna walk the walk, talk the talk.

It says "we are CONSTANTLY learning...", which is much different. However, your point may still stand. What do others think about that part in the ABOUT US tab?

The first bit is a bit sloppy made me feel sick,

 

[Tbini87]

If it is any consolation, I like your blog.

A few things I would like to help you with:

1. Your whitebalance in your pictures seem to be very cold
2. Almost all of your pictures seem very soft. ( insert camera and lens here )
3. Coming from a customer standpoint, I would see the word Investment and not understand why it is there. I would think why does this guy want people to invest in his
company. It just does not make sense.
4. I would purchase a reflector to help with shadows. Will cost you maybe $40 but it will help tremendously.

1) We have gotten a few comments on bad WB and have been checking out some stuff this week on trying to fix it. Looks like we need to get a WB card, and can be using LR3 to be doing WAY more than we are using it for right now. Looking forward to getting WB down a little bit better.
2) We were noticing really bad softness in a lot of our pictures when we switched from our D40 and 35mm prime to our D90 and 50mm prime. It may have been due to shooting at way too low an f/stop... but we have been doing some other things like experimenting with AF-S, AF-C, etc. We also switched from JPEG to RAW when we switched cameras which may be part of it. Still need a lot of work here but have been making small improvements.
4) We have been using a reflector for a while but haven't really understood lighting until more recently. We have been getting a little bit better about it... but have some shoots coming up that we are looking forward to. We also are going to start experimenting with OCF since we recently picked up V4s and a light stand (in the mail right now).

We bought our D40 only a year and a half ago, and have gone from Auto to where we are today (M, reflectors, flash, etc) and are pretty excited about our progress. We still have a LONG way to go but are looking forward to making small improvements and steady progress. We have been shooting for friends and families we know and they have loved the images we have created so far. They say they are soo much better than Sears for a similar price... plus they get the CD to print off of and throw on Facebook for their friends. We don't plan on making a living with this business but have been enjoying it so far and don't mind some extra income. Thanks for all the crtitiques and help... this forum has been a huge help for us.

 

[Tbini87]

About Us: I would drop the "we are still learning, so feel free to share new ideas, locations, props, etc. with us."

People are coming to you for YOUR pro creativity.
Your website should exude confidence. If you're gonna walk the walk, talk the talk.

It says "we are CONSTANTLY learning...", which is much different. However, your point may still stand. What do others think about that part in the ABOUT US tab?

The first bit is a bit sloppy made me feel sick,

The first part of the About Us tab? Are you talking about the grammer, content, or overall sentence structure? Can't tell if your post was sarcastic or something, but I'm not sure that I understood what you were trying to say.