Generic new website post! Lol

BKphotography

BKphotography

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Hi, TPer's!

Long time, no see.

Been busy updating my wedding & portrait website.

After countless late nights and many hours struggling with the dark arts of web design, my new wedding & portrait website is finally up and running.

It would be greatly appreciated if anyone can spot any mistakes or improvements to the site, I would love the feedback (good or bad!)

You can find it here ---> www.bkphotography.co.uk

Thanks in advance!
BK
 
Hi,

Tried in FireFox, IE and Chrome and nothing but a white screen.
 
Very nice and professional looking site.

My only criticisms (and I'm not sure if this is because I'm viewing it on my phone) would be the white text over the images on the main page can be quite hard to read. Particularly in the last image, which is mainly white with white text.

Another is the alignment of each of the headers, it looks as though they should be central, but they're off. Again, this could be because I'm viewing from mobile device.

I had these sorts of problems when creating my own website, with so many different resolutions and devices where sites are viewed from it can be a bit of a pain to get right. Everything looked great from my desktop pc, then asking people to test and it all seemed to fall apart.
 
Thanks Liz. It's been quite a steep learning curve... and I still don't know what I'm doing Lol

Looks like I have my work cut out for me, trying to fix all these bugs!
 
Nice site, keep at it and you'll get it right.
 
Not bad, but a few observations:
  • With a long page format website, put your phone number and email address in the header so it's visible as soon as the page loads - it's what most visitors will be looking for.
  • I haven't listened to the video, but visually it's quite jerky - I can't remember the terminology but there's a step required to finish a video for playback at a different frame rate from that it was shot in to smooth out the visuals and it looks like this was forgotten.
  • The logo at the top left caught my eye as it randomly disappeared and reappeared whilst I scrolled down the page.
  • The about me reads like it was written for SEO, seems a little stilted and repetitious. Might be a good thing is starting out and relying on Google for passing trade but worth making a note against to review once you get some natural ranking juice. The blog copy is also quite choppy and doesn't really flow. A professional copywriter could help.
  • On the Contact page.. use TEL and MAILTO to make it easier for visitors to get in touch. Use them wherever the phone number and email address are given.
 
Some great points Alastair, thanks. The logo was disappearing because I was messing around with it earlier Lol. I think I will need to revisit the video and see what can be done. At this point, I'm not looking to pay anyone for work on the site but you're right, the About Me could do with some work. The blog copy works quite well for SEO and I get booked for the venues so I don't want to mess with that.
 
Not sure whether you are just having server problems, but this was almost the slowest loading site I've ever tested. I test lots of sites - It's part of my job.
I ran Google Page Speed Insight to see where the block was and it timed out :(
"Timeout while fetching the main resource. Ensure that the page loads in a browser and try again."

After persisting it gave a score of 54% for mobile and 65% for desktop. Not good for a new site.

https://developers.google.com/speed...l=http://www.bkphotography.co.uk/&tab=desktop

Couldn't really run any more of my std tests because of the time outs.

Andy.

ps. You have a contact us form which allows people to send you a message, so the only reason you have publicly published your email address on your website is for bots to send you lots of spam!
 
BKphotography said:
At this point, I'm not looking to pay anyone for work on the site but you're right, the About Me could do with some work.
Click to expand...
This is a generic comment about photographer's websites in general, not yours specifically..

Somehow it's normal for a photographer to build their own website, write their own copy and develop their own marketing plans*. But if a website designer bought a camera and started advertising for wedding bookings.. ..

Professionals pay professionals.


* well, the 5% that understand having a website isn't the same as having a marketing plan..
 
BKphotography said:
Some great points Alastair, thanks. The logo was disappearing because I was messing around with it earlier Lol.
Click to expand...

My top tip would be 'Never develop on Live'.

If this site is for your business and you want to look professional then set up a test server, either on your home workstation or a cheap host (with password - easiest way of stopping the site being indexed) and do all your testing there. If you want anyone else to help with testing then give them the password.

Once all is tested and works, put it live in one hit with rsync or sftp.
 
Thanks, Andy. You've brought up some excellent points as well. I think I may kill two birds with one stone and move my "about me" video over to the about me page. It should bring down the loading time on the homepage by quite a bit. I'm taking down the email address.
 
Alastair, to be fair I pretty much designed my commercial page by myself and it has really paid off. It ranks quite well and brings in business. That was the main reason I wanted to try the same thing with my wedding site, which was performing well in Google. It's been quite a steep learning curve for me personally but I enjoy learning new skills. The professionals pay professional quote may ring true for some but others (like me) like to do as much as I can in-house.
 
BKphotography said:
I'm taking down the email address.
Click to expand...

Wherever you have the email address replace it with a 'contact us' link that take people straight to the contact form.
No harm in having the contact us link wherever you want. Get a link in the header menu of each page.

Strim down each page to the essentials of what you think each page's function is. Less is more. Everything on every page needs to carefully sell you and your skills to your target market, then the page needs to make it easy for your potential customer to contact you, do a deal and give you money.
It doesn't just need to make that process easy, it needs to make that process feel like it's something that NEEDS to happen. It needs to be a feckin' money funnel driving customers your way. Otherwise it's just a hobby.

<crappy photography comparison>
You frame your images. You include elements, you deliberately exclude elements. Every decision you make when you include or exclude delivers at least a part of the message that your images gives.
You like your images clean, no cluttered background messing with your main message, no extraneous elements creeping in and disrupting your composition.
</crappy photography comparison>

Go back. Look at each page on your website. Look at each paragraph. Look at each sentence.
If it doesn't add to your message remove it, otherwise it detracts from your message.

If you can't see it, if you don't get what I'm saying, then follow the advice of Alastair above. Pay someone to sort out the copy.

Andy.

ps. It's my job, but on a slightly larger scale than your site, so I'm not after your money. Just giving a fellow photographer a bit of free advice. :)
 
Brilliant, Andy. Thanks again. There has been some fantastic advice on here. Really appreciate everyone who took their time to help out.
 
Interdit
Interdit said:
My top tip would be 'Never develop on Live'.

If this site is for your business and you want to look professional then set up a test server, either on your home workstation or a cheap host (with password - easiest way of stopping the site being indexed) and do all your testing there. If you want anyone else to help with testing then give them the password.

Once all is tested and works, put it live in one hit with rsync or sftp.
Click to expand...

Hi, Andy

Happy New Year!

Hope you had a great time over the holidays.

I'm resurrecting this thread in the hope you can have another wee look at my website and give me your thoughts?

I've done quite a bit of work to it and I would love to hear what you think.

Cheers,
BK
 
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