New Website: Critique?

[Destin]

Alright so I was inspired by @DGMPhotography's recent new site post, and I'd been considering doing this for some time myself. Basically I was tired of my old site being a combination of portrait/wedding/landscape and it just didn't feel very professional or specialized.

So I'm making a new site dedicated to my landscape and travel photography. Not really sure what the point is because driving enough traffic to it to be profitable is going to be very difficult. But I can't get my name out there if I don't have an online presence and instagram alone doesn't scream professionalism. I'm working hard to build my landscape portfolio and improve my work because it's what I enjoy shooting the most.

I don't yet have my FAA Part 107, so the drone photos won't be legally sellable until I get it. There is no shopping cart built on the site yet whatsoever, but will be in the future. Currently this is a rough draft of the site. A new domain name will be made for it, and I'm debating a new logo for it possible to differentiate the branding from my professional.

Let me know what you think:

New Website - Now Old/Scrapped - left visible for comparison

**Actual New Website**

 

[sunwear255]

The images are so cool.
My personal thought : the home page should say something , text .......Google like text.
In this case, homepage is similar to Galleries page,

 

[Destin]

The images are soo cool.
My personal thought : the home page should say something , text .......Google like text.
In this case, homepage is similar to Galleries page,

Thanks! But what would it say? I’m not sure.

 

[Destin]

New Logo for my landscape/adventure "brand." It'll mostly be displayed as a square crop as seen on the website. I can't take credit for the design, pulled it from adobe stock images and added my name to it. But it'll do for now.

 

[smoke665]

You've grown by leaps and bounds in the time I've followed you, so it's no wonder you have some fabulous images for a page. However I see your page more as a gallery page not the home landing page. That first page needs to be the hook that draws them to click on the links. The logo is fine though on your page it's not that prominent.

From my old days of ad layout. Your most important points should fall on a gentle upwards curve, starting at the top left corner and reaching to the bottom right corner, because that's the part the eye normally follows.

 

[Destin]

You've grown by leaps and bounds in the time I've followed you, so it's no wonder you have some fabulous images for a page. However I see your page more as a gallery page not the home landing page. That first page needs to be the hook that draws them to click on the links. The logo is fine though on your page it's not that prominent.

From my old days of ad layout. Your most important points should fall on a gentle upwards curve, starting at the top left corner and reaching to the bottom right corner, because that's the part the eye normally follows.

Thank you!

Any advice for improving the landing page? Single image with text overlay? Something else? Just the large version of the logo?

 

[smoke665]

You've grown by leaps and bounds in the time I've followed you, so it's no wonder you have some fabulous images for a page. However I see your page more as a gallery page not the home landing page. That first page needs to be the hook that draws them to click on the links. The logo is fine though on your page it's not that prominent.

From my old days of ad layout. Your most important points should fall on a gentle upwards curve, starting at the top left corner and reaching to the bottom right corner, because that's the part the eye normally follows.

Thank you!

Any advice for improving the landing page? Single image with text overlay? Something else? Just the large version of the logo?

Don't overwhelm them with information, you want your landing page to be the spot where they can quickly and easily navigate to what they want to see. I've read that 55% of the people who land on a site stay less than 15 seconds, but if you can hold them for 30 seconds, they're more likely to stay fro 2 mins or longer. That's why it's important to lead them in a logical manner. So think of the most important points you want to say about yourself, who you are, what you do, images, how to contact, and most important how to buy, and organize that in way that they can find it and click through.

 

[Destin]

You've grown by leaps and bounds in the time I've followed you, so it's no wonder you have some fabulous images for a page. However I see your page more as a gallery page not the home landing page. That first page needs to be the hook that draws them to click on the links. The logo is fine though on your page it's not that prominent.

From my old days of ad layout. Your most important points should fall on a gentle upwards curve, starting at the top left corner and reaching to the bottom right corner, because that's the part the eye normally follows.

Thank you!

Any advice for improving the landing page? Single image with text overlay? Something else? Just the large version of the logo?

Don't overwhelm them with information, you want your landing page to be the spot where they can quickly and easily navigate to what they want to see. I've read that 55% of the people who land on a site stay less than 15 seconds, but if you can hold them for 30 seconds, they're more likely to stay fro 2 mins or longer. That's why it's important to lead them in a logical manner. So think of the most important points you want to say about yourself, who you are, what you do, images, how to contact, and most important how to buy, and organize that in way that they can find it and click through.

Thanks!

 

[smoke665]

@Destin I'm hesitant to post this link lest some think I'm trying to draw away from your thread, but I wanted to show you an example of a work in process. I still have some things to work on before I actually publish, but this might help you. One thing I didn't mention earlier is I've added a page just for family that is password entry only. I guess you could add an unlimited number of these password protected pages, though it would get cumbersome as the number increased. william-raber-photo

 

[Destin]

@Destin I'm hesitant to post this link lest some think I'm trying to draw away from your thread, but I wanted to show you an example of a work in process. I still have some things to work on before I actually publish, but this might help you. One thing I didn't mention earlier is I've added a page just for family that is password entry only. I guess you could add an unlimited number of these password protected pages, though it would get cumbersome as the number increased. william-raber-photo

Thanks! I’ll check it out when I get home! Shooting a wedding today.

 

[sunwear255]

The images are soo cool.
My personal thought : the home page should say something , text .......Google like text.
In this case, homepage is similar to Galleries page,

Thanks! But what would it say? I’m not sure.

Your introduction, expertise ... to draw people to click on other pages.

 

[robinchun]

Nice site and images, minimal and clean, but please change the home page image, I wouldn't mind betting that a lot of visitors are put off and skip your site because of that first impression

Robin

 

[Destin]

Nice site and images, minimal and clean, but please change the home page image, I wouldn't mind betting that a lot of visitors are put off and skip your site because of that first impression

Robin

Yeah, I’ve been experimenting with different options this week. What’s visible now isn’t final.. just a place holder while I consider options.

I’m also considering abandoning smugmug and choosing another option. It’s been pretty limiting.

 

[Destin]

Update: I completely scrapped smugmug and moved to Weebly.

So far this is what I've got for the new website as a rough draft, still needs some polishing and editing/adding of content.

Can you guys take a look and let me know what you think of it now? I think it's a big improvement over what I presented in this thread originally.

NY_Adventure_Photog