New Website Layout- Suggestions, Comments CC all welcome!

[YoungPhotoGirl]

Would love CC on website and pricing.
Karissa Best Photography

Everything has been re-done (ew you should have seen my other one!)
Would love comments, suggestions - or even just to be told that it's fine.
Thanks!!!

 

[JimMcClain]

The font family you use in the body of your content should be consistent throughout. The home page content is difficult to read. The relaxed font family you are using on most other pages seems out of place for the high style, modern look of the rest of the design.

There are a few pages where you use an image with words on it. Google can't read pictures or even see them. If the content is words, use actual text. If you display pictures, make sure every picture uses a human readable file name, like crt-magazine-spead01.jpg, not 974a5a_fb6ef645128b48a3ab62f2588445932e.jpg_srz_p_600_400_75_22_0.50_1.20_0.00_jpg_srz, which has no relation to the content on your page. When you use your software to post an image, make sure you give it an alt and title attribute that uses even more relevant content, i.e.: alt="Need To Know Awards" and title="Magazine spread for CRT Award Show".

Unfortunately, you appear to be using a site-building software called Wix. I've never used it, but my guess is its claim to fame is ease of use for the website owner who has no experience with creating an effective, professional website. Your pages are pretty much all JavaScript code, which search engines can't read and won't index the way you'd like. The image below is a portion of what any search engine sees when they crawl your site.

Awful, ain't it? You will have to work very hard to get people to visit your site because you'll get very little help from Google and other search engines. I did a search on Google for all the best keywords you have on your site. The only time you landed on the first page (like most, I almost never go to page 2, 3, etc.) was when I used the term "karissa best photography." If I leave out "best" or "Karissa", you are nowhere to be found.

Although it is true that googlebots can crawl your content if the infrastructure follows specific guidelines - that would have to be done by Wix. But judging by the number of Wix websites that do not come up on the first page of search results, my guess is it doesn't work as well as they advertise.

I recommend WordPress. It's free software you install on your own server and is one of the most search engine-friendly products you can use. You can get very high quality themes, some made specifically for photographers, for less than $100. Most of the plugins you would want are free. There are a few very good hosting companies that specialize in WordPress sites and will manage everything for you except the adding of content.

Okay... that was a long winded reply. Well, you asked. I replied because I like your work and your style. I also have a very good friend who lives in Kiwi land.

Best R'gards,

Jim

 

[AceCo55]

As far as I can tell, your website is not optimised for different devices in that it doesn't resize to fit.
I used:
Screenfly Test Your Website at Different Screen Resolutions
... to simulate the look of your website on various devices and screen sizes ... and it doesn't look great. Just cuts off content and introduces scroll bars. It's like looking through a small window.

Given what Jim said, maybe you need to rethink using Wix.
I use Smugmug and it does change to suit mobile devices.
I have heard good things about Wordpress. Some people love Squarespace or Zenfolio or PhotoShelter. Smugmug used to include JavaScript elements but the NEW Smugmug overhaul does not allow the use of JavaScript. They and other specialist photography specialist website builders know websites must be geared to Googlebots, SEO and mobile devices.
Good luck with your deliberations.

 

[Designer]

Jim McClain's response is very informative, and I agree with everything he wrote.

To that I will add:

Homepage layout is confusing and cluttered.
Text box with your background should be written in first person, and skip the cello tape gimmick.
Two different logos, one of which is hard to read. Drop the extra one, and display the "KB" logo once per page.
If you think you must have a separate logo for the boudoir side, display that one on the boudoir page only.
IMO text should be black on white, not inverted.
Write your e-mail address in lower case, and make it a link.
The tab "Commercial Photography" should have at least one pull-down.
Tree shot background seems to have nothing to do with your area of specialization.

 

[Braineack]

It's so slow I can't even give critique.

 

[Braineack]

As far as I can tell, your website is not optimised for different devices in that it doesn't resize to fit.
I used:
Screenfly Test Your Website at Different Screen Resolutions
... to simulate the look of your website on various devices and screen sizes ... and it doesn't look great. Just cuts off content and introduces scroll bars. It's like looking through a small window.

hit F12 in chrome. click the Smartphone icon and you can simulate resolution sizes right in your browser.

Speaking to Jim's comment, a title like:

Karissa Best, Photographer - Cromwell, New Zealand | Portraits | Weddings | Commercial | Boudoir | Photgraphy

will do much better for search engine results, putting the most important keywords in your page title increases the importance of those results in the search algorithm.

Now if someone searches "Cromwell Wedding Photographer" a search engine will likely put you on the results page.

 

[chuasam]

The body text is kerned too tightly

 

[KmH]

You get what you pay for.
Free usually doesn't deliver anything approaching professional results.

 

[YoungPhotoGirl]

You get what you pay for.
Free usually doesn't deliver anything approaching professional results.

I pay for my services with wix. It certainly does the job for me. After using some suggestions and using an HTML5 based site, I am on the second page of google for my area, and I've only been living here two weeks! Very happy about that!

 

[Eventer]

I agree in change the font.
Also all of this "Cromwell Photographer | Otago Photographer | Affordable Photographer | Family Photographer | Pregnancy | Newborns | Babies | Children | Business Portfolio | Wedding Photographer | Small Weddings | Affordable Natural Photography | Boudoir Photography " makes you seem like a generalist rather than a specialist in your field - maybe shrink them down to about 3/4 headings!
Also I find there's ALOT of photos on your homepage and don't even know where to look initially - I'd simplify it and make it perhaps just one basic slide show

 

[Derrel]

My main bit of advice is something I learned in university journalism classes on typography and layout, which is to never have body copy done in all-caps. Never. All-caps is slow to read, and your self promo/intro is also in an awful format as well--reversed type! White type on black field (AKA reversed) AND all-caps....oh dear...I stopped reading after a few words, but did force myself to finish. All-caps is slooooooow to read,and the reverse makes it even less user friendly. And that font...oh...please change it.

 

[Didereaux]

The very first thing I would do to that site is go through and get rid of all the mediocre shots and ONLY leave the few good ones. Then I would start worrying about the chaotic layout.