Another New Website to critique!!

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pablob

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Name
Paul
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Hi guys,

Sorry I know this is a common occurance at the moment but I'm keen to get feedback on my little site. www.paulbeggyphotography.co.uk

Yes I know the pics are pretty crap but I'm after more feedback about how you think the site works overall as in function look etc etc.

This has taken me and a pal a little while as i've been busy with work and getting ready to get married (3 weeks time gulp!!).

Purpose of the site is really just to show work and if people like it hopefully they might fancy buying some - clearly this is thinking into the future although I've already sold a couple of the London Eye on canvas!

Hopefully when my life has quietened down a bit I can make some more pictures!!! As I know it's a bit lacking in the content at the mo!

I'd also like to add a blog bit but I haven't got a clue about setting that up so if anyone had any tips for that I'd appreciate it!! Any pointers to good guides or something would be good!

Look forward to hearing from you

Cheers

Paul
 
Just checked out your website.

On the positive side, everything loaded quickly and the gallery works well.

Unfortunately, on the "about" page the white text over the washed out picture is an instant put off. Maybe it's a personal thing, but I immediately think I can't be bothered to read it. It is not easy on the eye.
Having perservered and read the text, shorten your sentences, it seems a bit rambling.
Also, put in the missing words ie "I only picked camera in mid November".

Sorry if this sounds a little harsh, but a website makes an immediate impression, good or bad. If the impressoion is bad, people won't linger.

Overall, I think your site has a lot of potential with just a few tweaks.
 
That is one of the better sites on here, a few issues though, text over images, as mentioned above, it makes it hard to read. I would lose the bit about only being an amateur, especially if you are then advertising that you sell prints etc.

The image sizes are spot on for my laptop, but looked too small on my external monitor, with a lot of empty space.
 
I agree with Craikey in that I think it's one of the better sites on here. I've just looked at someone elses on here (no names) and they are apparently a 'proffessional [sic] photographer'!

The main thing I noticed was the choice of portrait shot on the gallery home. It has a non vertical 'vertical' that is upsetting the balance. The white text on the 'about' isn't great, but simply darkening the background slightly would correct that very easily. (y)
 
Cheers Guys - Great Feedback(y)

I'll have a go at redoing the about page and thanks for comments about the content on the about page- it's so hard evaluating what you've written yourself!! The other thing I find hard is describing myself -I'm a clear amateur but clearly I'd like to sell stuff, but I'd feel like I'm cheating people if I allude to being a prefessional which I'm clearly not - Yet!!

I think having a pic and text side my side might work nicely on the about me!

I do think the text over picture works ok on the contact me page works ok though. Hope others agree

68lbs said:
It has a non vertical 'vertical' that is upsetting the balance.
Click to expand...

Good lord never would have seen that!! But thanks!:)


Keep it coming and thanks for the positive comments too
 
OK, as a semi-pro web guy, THE number one mess-up is the fact that your text on the 'about' page is an image.

That's really bad news for search engines.

You really should have text as text so that Google can index your site properly.

Furthermore, your 'meta-description' tags, another important thing for Google, just say 'glassworks'. Google will hate this.

Using Go-live is fine I'm sure, but get a proper description in there and then use Google Webmaster tools to submit your site. Include a sitemap when you do it. There are plenty of sitemap generators out there.

Style wise, it's fine, but that's no good if nobody ever finds it.

Sorry to be a little harsh, as I'm sure you've put a lot of effort in.
 
Paul,

The sit looks good; snappy, clean and the use of black as the base helps give emphasis tot he images when you look at them on screen. As a template I like it....

...but, to fully critique a photographer's website the content also has to be factored in and for me, there's too much samey stuff; shots of rapeseed fields, the girl in the white shirt etc. I think once there's more variation in the images then it'll be a solid, slick site that will do you a good job of showcasing your talents. :)
 
Cheers again for the feedback! Totally agree about the content but that's just me not having time to get out with d700 :( . This will change once life has settled down a bit!

Budfox - great pointers! I hadn't thought too much about that or google analitics yet. My goal was to get working site and build on that thinking about this kind of stuff!


Thanks again guys n girls and keep the feedback coming!(y)
 
budfox said:
OK, as a semi-pro web guy, THE number one mess-up is the fact that your text on the 'about' page is an image.

That's really bad news for search engines.

You really should have text as text so that Google can index your site properly.

Furthermore, your 'meta-description' tags, another important thing for Google, just say 'glassworks'. Google will hate this.

Using Go-live is fine I'm sure, but get a proper description in there and then use Google Webmaster tools to submit your site. Include a sitemap when you do it. There are plenty of sitemap generators out there.

Style wise, it's fine, but that's no good if nobody ever finds it.

Sorry to be a little harsh, as I'm sure you've put a lot of effort in.
Click to expand...

You beat me to it :)

You just need to make the site a lot more search engine friendly, other than that it looks good mate (y)
 
Looks good - although your "about" description is an image, it should be text - what happens if for some reason the image doesn't load? As mentioned this is also really bad for search engines as they can't read/index your site properly. The image behind it doesn't do the page any favours either (imo). You can still have the text overlaid on the image if you want, but it's best to separate them.
 
Nice layout, simple and easy to navigate. When I click between the various sections though, the title and page jump a little (only a couple of pixels) so I'd try and get all the pages to be in the exact same place on the page so there is no movement between page navigating :)
 
Richard Peters said:
Nice layout, simple and easy to navigate. When I click between the various sections though, the title and page jump a little (only a couple of pixels) so I'd try and get all the pages to be in the exact same place on the page so there is no movement between page navigating :)
Click to expand...

Cheers Richard something else I hadn't noticed! :)
 
Chaz Photos said:
All the above info text and meta info
Tel me what is your web site intended to do for you?
Are you wishing it to be a business? if so you need to comply with UK law re Contact info
Click to expand...

...because every other website out there does :LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL:
 
Chaz Photos said:
All the above info text and meta info
Tel me what is your web site intended to do for you?
Are you wishing it to be a business? if so you need to comply with UK law re Contact info
Click to expand...

Chaz - Can you expand on this please - this is something I didn't even know about /consider? It's not a business as such it's a hobby at the moment!

Cheers

Paul
 
Looks good but I would have liked to see thumbnails for your images. That way I can see quicker what there is and then I can jump to that picture.
 
I've done a lot of fairly big name web design so hopefully I can be of some help.

Really not big on the about page, text over image. Regardless of SEO reasons, which is of course a huge reason to make that all text anyway, my eyes just didn't want to read the page, which is of course not good. It's too busy an image for text to be on.

Other thoughts. Not all that obvious what you have to do on the gallery page, maybe leave the text on and the hover could pull the opacity up or something. In the gallery themselves, urban needs more than two images. Landscape has too many from the same sets, pick out your best. Sport only has one but has a button to scroll though - need more here. Portrait again, too many from one set. Just seems like you haven't taken that many awesome photos, which I'm sure isn't the case so get them on there.

It's a nice looking site though, I just think it'll need those touches to complete it. The innards don't live up to the impression the homepage leaves.
 
Evening Guys and Girls!

Thanks for the feedback it really is very welcome and all of it was great to hear. I've had some time to make a couple of changes - to the about page mainly which I hope is now a vast improvement! No text over image and I've re written parts of it.

I've also added a couple more images to the Portrait Section(which I think will be changes to 'People'). Yes I know there is still far too many of the same girl. We are reshooting soon so hopefully these images will be replaced with better images shortly!

I haven't yet had a chance to correct the issues raised by Budfox - these are extremely valid but this is a bit more complex and I need to get my head around this! Yes I want people to find the site!!

Hopefully whilst travelling to Dubai and Mauritius on honeymoon I'll have some decent images to mix things up a bit.

Please do keep the feedback coming! (y)

Cheers Again

Paul
 
rgrebby said:
Looks good but I would have liked to see thumbnails for your images. That way I can see quicker what there is and then I can jump to that picture.
Click to expand...
I'd second that, first thing I noticed was the lack of thumnails I guess I like to be more selective over the images I look at instead of having to scroll through them one at a time.
 
Hi Paul

Typo in the first line "i'm an amateur vphotographer"

TTFN

Barney
 
stormcrow said:
I'd second that, first thing I noticed was the lack of thumnails I guess I like to be more selective over the images I look at instead of having to scroll through them one at a time.
Click to expand...

Point taken guys. My thoughts are I see a lot of websites that use simpleviewer or similar and was trying to get away from that- however that said I guess the fact so many people have these type of sites is a good indication that they're successful! I really like gianni's site and how that functions.

overall I understand people may not wish to go through all the images and this is a valid point, food for thought moving forward!


Oh and barney thanks for the typo advice!(y)
 
Yep, nice and simple, a bit too simple though I think...

It's hard for me to find what you're selling - yes, I can go to contact to find out but users shouldn't have to (and so probably won't). Don't worry, it seems a common occurance.

Also, do you only do protrait sessions? If so then that's fine, but if not then you need to think about adding details of exactly what you do.

I'm glad your logo returns me to the home page and all tabs are static, it makes me trust the site, like I know I won't get lost!

Also, only a slight niggle but one that could be annoying for you - the enquiry section is not denoted as mandatory.

Hope that helps :)
 
DTM said:
Yep, nice and simple, a bit too simple though I think...:)
Click to expand...

Hmm ok - I like simple but respect your view

DTM said:
It's hard for me to find what you're selling - yes, I can go to contact to find out but users shouldn't have to (and so probably won't). Don't worry, it seems a common occurance.
Click to expand...

I'm not really selling anything yet - this site is just the basis of something that might be of use when I'm at a decent standard with my photos. I guess the prupose currently is more as a showcase/viewer type thing if that makes sense. I have sold a few bits and pieces but that's luck more than anything else. I'm hoping to have a mini exhibition in Lloyds of London where I work around Xmas that'll hopefully earn me some pocket money.


DTM said:
Also, do you only do protrait sessions? If so then that's fine, but if not then you need to think about adding details of exactly what you do.
Click to expand...

This was geared at getting models off Purestorm and MM and to a degree this has been a success as severall people have got in touch and when I'm back of honeymoon I should have a couple of decent shoot in the pipeline. Good for practice and all - I sill have a long way to go. I really need to focus on my photography the tail end of this year and into 2010. I've had a DSLR since Nov 08 and I still have only used it a handful of times - this needs to change!

DTM said:
I'm glad your logo returns me to the home page and all tabs are static, it makes me trust the site, like I know I won't get lost!
Click to expand...
Good good! (y)



DTM said:
Also, only a slight niggle but one that could be annoying for you - the enquiry section is not denoted as mandatory.
Click to expand...

That's a good point actually - I worked under the assumption that if you completed the form then you'd fill in that bit too with some details!!

DTM said:
Hope that helps :)
Click to expand...

All feedback is helpful so many thanks for yours (y)
 
Hey Paul,

Your site looks great- I really like the big images in the gallery pages instead of thumbnails- I did the same on my site, and the slick and simple navigation.

There's something very strange happening with the font rendering, though. The fonts in the header look a little rough, and the about page text (which shouldn't be an image ;) ) seems a little blurry in places.
 
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