Tabs on my webpage, help and opinions needed

Eighth Avenue

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Iain
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Hi guys,

redesigning the website from scratch and I am having tabs that appear on every page in the top right hand corner, each with a menu appearing directly beneath them where needed. I can decide what to have on the tabs/sub menus and have played around with a few idea but have never settled.

We are probably going to drop our wedding service and will solely offer portrait photography, both in our studio and on location. Our main income comes from child and family portraits but have also done engagement, boudoir, couples and fashion.

The problem comes when I try to decide how to split the tabs and sub menus and whether to have different sections for kids, families etc with their own galleries, or whether to have just two galleries, in the studio and on location. I don't think we do enough work for fashion etc to warrant having one gallery each but some may not want to see baby shots if they are looking for fashion or portfolio shots.

I was originally going to go with the following:

Home
About > About Us, Studio (details etc), Testimonials
Gallery > In The Studio, On Location
Pricing (all in one place for different services)
Blog
Contract

or

Home
About > About Us, Studio (details etc), Testimonials
Kids > Gallery, Prices
Family > Gallery, Prices
Fashion > Gallery, Prices
Blog
Contact

Any suggestions on what you would have (for both the gallery side or if you would change anything else - about us etc) would be greatly appreciated. As the tabs are going on the top right hand corner we are limited on space so would preferably have 5 or 6, max 7 tabs.

Thanks in advance

Iain
 
I prefer the second option as it gives more scope for SEO. (Search Engine Optimisation)

It will be easier for the customer to find the option they require rather than having it lumped together.
 
second one definatly. It gets to the point of what you are selling, rather than burying it under a load of fluff. Draw people in with what they want - e.g. "pics of my kids", show them lots of nice pics, once they are sold, then they find the price. By that point, the actual price is almost irrelevant!

I'd keep navigation as simple and clear as possible. To stick to convention, I wouldn't bother with a "home" link if you have a logo/banner at the top, as that acts as a home link. Also put your products you are selling first, as that's the most important, and the "about us / contact us" stuff last, if you want a blog that could go in between. Remember people who are searching from google look at a website for seconds before hitting Back out of boredom.

I have a similiar layout on my website, and I've gone for 5 tabs across an 800px wide column. That seems to work well on everything from smartphones to 30" monitors...
 
I would personally go for 960px wide. 800px looks a bit narrow on todays bigger screens. This would also allow the option of two columns and the use of side menus and widgets.
 
Thanks guys, just what I was looking for

Thinking of:

Kids > Gallery, Prices
Family > Gallery, Prices
Fashion > Gallery, Prices
Blog
About > About Us, Studio (details etc), Testimonials
Contact

What do you think about tagging the contact under about or is it too important to not have its own link?
 
I always like to include "Home" as it is amazing how may can't get back to the front page when you expect them to click on a logo.
"About Us" Speaks for itself.
"Contact Us" This needs to be on a page by itself. This page is key for checking out the validity of your site. Dodgy sites hide their contact details or are only contactable by email/mobile phone.
If I find a site with no physical address on I click away!!!
 
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