Feedback and help with links

[CanonFodder]

Hi

I've recently put a website online and wanted help with a couple of things.

Firstly - feedback:
www.jd-photographs.com

The purpose of the site is a bit of a photo-blog so it is relatively simple and only a few pages at the moment - it will grow as time goes on and I take more pictures. I want my friends and family to be able to see my pictures, and read about them. I've also been asked to do a few things for friends/family (sisters wedding, newborn shoots etc) so I am looking to build up my portfolio a bit over the next few months/year and then if people like what they see (friends of friends etc) then I can make it more professional.

Any comments welcome.

Secondly I'd really like to know how I can get the site to return on search engines if anyone knows?

I've read all about SEO and Googles crawlers, and I understand how it works (I've submitted my site to Google etc), but it seems to be that I need other sites (preferably photo sites) to link to mine, however I'm not sure exactly how to make that happen - anyone want to link to me?

So any help with either people being able to link to me or tips/hints on how I can get the site to return on search engines?

Thanks in advance for any input

Dave

 

[Craikeybaby]

Seeing as there hasn't been any comments so far, I'll add some. The lack of comments is probably because there isn't anything seriously wrong with your site, it seems to do what you say you want it to. The only two nit picks are that it seems very top heavy, with the logo, navigation and 4 top images, on a lot of monitors you will need to scroll of the content. I also think that the 4 images at the top could do with a border between the image and the edges of the site, kind of like the white border in between the images.

With regards to SEO, first of all have you read the Google SEO PDF? If not it is well worth reading. Links to your website really need to be relevant, linking for the sake of linking is not worth it. Don't expect your site to rank highly on Google straight away, it is an organic process.

 

[CanonFodder]

Thanks Craikeybaby, I was beginning to think nobody cared!

Definitely take the point about it being top heavy - the wife (Jo) said the same thing - I ignored her because I was working on a 23" and 27" screen, then when I looked at it on my laptop screen I totally understood! I'll look into changing that and I like the idea of adding a border too.

I didn't read a PDF, but did read lots of Google SEO documentation online so I guess it may be the same? I'm just not sure how I'd ever get relevant links to my site from anyone if it's primarily aimed at friends and family.

My concern is that I may want to turn it professional, and then maybe this site isn't good enough for that?

 

[Craikeybaby]

The Google PDF is pretty much Google telling you exactly how to get a good ranking, but if your site is aimed at friends and family, is being at the top of Google worth worrying about?

 

[CanonFodder]

I guess not, maybe I need to think a bit about what I want from the site.

Originally I do just want to show friends and family pictures and our blog, but in the longer run I'd love it if people liked what they saw so much they would want us to capture their moments too. I guess I wasn't sure if a completely different site was required if I wanted to turn it professional.