Website critique

becksphoto · Feb 1, 2011

I am new to this forum, but it seems everyone here has great feedback and suggestions to improve your business. I have operated my home studio on a part-time basis, and looking to make the leap to full-time. I would appreciate positve/negative feedback on how I can improve my site. I am currently using flash/HTML with photobiz. Thank you, Mike

becknerphoto.com

tirediron · Feb 1, 2011

Some thoughts per req:

-Even on a commercial, high-speed connection this 'site seems VERY slow to load (Non-flash version)

-Text is too large; I don't like only being able to see a few lines and continually scroll down to read ('About us'). As well, the black text scrolling over the black shirts in the family photo is all but impossible to read.

-Your line about photography having been a hobby and now a business doesn't read well. I take that to mean that you had a camera and suddenly decided to go into business (Not saying that is the case; that's just the way it reads to me)

-Not really sure that your family dynamic is relevant.

-You may want to re-evaluate your procedure for compressing and displaying images, many of them seem very soft.

becksphoto · Feb 1, 2011

Thank you for the suggestions and comments. I had changed the font size earlier, but it only changed on the flash side. I agree, I need to change the verbage and tweak it. I usually do not compress the photos when I upload them to the website, Photobiz has always compressed them to their required size. Do you have any recommendations for another host/web template company? Again, I really appreciate your suggestions.

tirediron · Feb 1, 2011

My suggestion would be to bin the whole template plan, and just go with a local hosting company who will give you webspace and build your own 'site. Basic HTML is straight-forward. I'm really not a fan of Flash, since even on fast connections it can take a long time to load.

HikinMike · Feb 1, 2011

I agree with 'tirediron'....not a fan of Flash (I usually leave) so I looked at your HTML-version. The text is way too big and I can't read half of the content.

SEO-wise, you need a better <title> tag than 'Beckner Photography'. You should include your location and what you do. Read my SEO for the Photography link in my sig.