Website critique

MrsW

MrsW

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39
Edit My Images
No
I would appreciate some feedback on my website, preferably from folks that are not my family!
I've been taking pictures, not seriously, for about 3 years. In December 2011 I decided I was going to try make a bit of money out of it. I've not charged anyone yet, I'm still building my portfolio. Though I have been getting enquiries about prices etc
Ive not had much feedback from people about my website apart from 'it's simple' - I have no idea if that's a good or bad thing!
www.andreawhelan.com
 
Hi and welcome to TP!!!

First off in my very very humble opinion if a webpage starts playing music at me I leave instantly. . .dont even get to the second line instantly. In this instance however i hit mute and reloaded the page :p

I generally like the layout, very clear and concise which I like. Seems everyone must have a blog, which on this site works well :)

Some of the photos in the portraits section look a bit over exposed but that might be intentional so that aside a nice collection of images.

Like the 'about me' and 'the experience' sections, gives it a personal touch. Personally I'm not a fan of the whole "so and so has been a photographer for so long bla bla bla" though I do see them a lot and they are obviously popular just my personal opinion. Though its all pretty well written :D

nothing in the 'prices and packages' section, maybe put a "coming soon" or something just so its not blank? maybe?

Other than that very nice website, hope that helps :D
 
The format of the website is fine imo, personally id get rid of the automatic music, people are going there to look at your photos not listen to music, i muted it straight away (but thats just me :).

Theres nothing in your prices section although im guessing your still working on that. And as you say you need a larger portfolio.

All in all its a decent site that just needs expanding.

Hope that was what you were after.
Andy.
 
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I like it. Although I don't like soundtracks, maybe that's just me. Took a short while to find out how to switch it off.

But (to me) it looks clean and laid out logically.

EDIT : Obviously it's not just me ! :lol:
 
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Cheers for that.

I'm really torn about the music. I like it (I realise this is not an excuse to keep it!) but its taking me time to get around the fact that something so personally appealing is a huge turn off for others!!
I'm in the business of keeping people in my site do the music will go off once I'm on the desktop.
 
Andrea,

Its hard to give feedback as your website seems very personal to you but on a buisiness level I had a look. I'm no website designer so my opinion is a laymans opinion.

For me simple is good. I like the simplicity of the presentation, its not to busy on the eye and you do have some nice images but I believe the initial image on home page not the best one to use out of your selection.

The constant music gets a bit irritating after a while and maybe not to everyone’s taste. This, along with the scrolling images can make your site slow to respond, which personally frustrates me.

I had a quick look at your Blog which has a lot of images distored in it, due to the aspect ration changing. I am not sure if this then gives the right message.

The layout and simplicity is a good foundation that needs tweaking, consider the need and size of scrolling images and maybe consider having more than one website, each very specific to its services, i.e wedding, portrait or event, if your are after those specific markets your are after.

I hope that is some help.
 
Obviously I'm on my phone hence all the typos!
 
I took a look. Simple is fine, makes it easy for people to negotiate.
I use online picture proofing also. Does an ok job as far as I'm concerned.
You maybe want to use your own domain in the address bar, check out the support section for how to.
Custom built sites are for later, when you're making decent money from it.

Keep going.....you'll get there.
 
I recently changed the first image - not sure why I've not changed it back again as I don't like this one either!
The one I had as my opening image was the girl sitting on the bed.

The blog has been the bain of my life in terms of image sizing and layouts. I thought combining the blog and website would give me a better 'footfall' (Right word?!)
 
Really appreciate the replies everyone - lots to think about!
 
Hi Andrea. I took a look earlier on and I think the layout works really well. I'm certainly no expert in web design, but viewed it as if I was a potential customer, and found the layout nice, simple and easy to negotiate.

As others have said I would lose the music, when I first went onto the site the music came on and I immediately came off the site, again it's down to personal preference but I generally won't stay long on a site that is playing music in the background.

I found also a lot of your images over exposed, and again thinking as a potential client, this may put a lot of people off and create the wrong impression. Composition wise the images on your site are excellent, but I'd certainly address the exposure problem which is highlighted even more in many of your b&w pics where there is a lot of blown out parts.

Like the blog and about me section, notice that in the weddings bit there's the "come back in March" message. Again this is probably me being picky, but maybe a little more of an explanation is needed why people need to come back in March, it just comes across as very dismissive.

Also nothing in the prices section, again maybe putting something rather than nothing at all is better, or even maybe for now taking the page out altogether till you have finalised your pricing, and let people contact you direct for prices. I know quite a few toggers who don't display their prices on their sites deliberately, their thinking is that if someone is willing to take the time to fill out a contact form, or send an email, then that tends to mean they are more serious about wanting to book them.

All in all, for me, it's what a website should be, easy layout, not too flashy and simple to negotiate. Just some tweaks here and there and you have the makings of a good site.
 
My other half is a website designer. She never builds a site with the music playing unless the client is really insistent.
By all means have it but have it turned off by default, with a button for the visitor to turn it on.

Me personally, if I hear music when the site opens I'm off.
 
One other thing, I will never do business with anyone that only has a mobile no. only as point of contact.

Also Google doesn't like hidden text on sites such as the faint text you have at the bottom of the pages. They may or may not (as it is just about readable)penalise you, but is it worth the risk.

Oops thats two.:)

Welcome to TP by the way:)
 
Ok, weddings, prices pages and music have gone!

I think I know which over exposed ones you are talking about. Will take those out too.

Oh and change the first image too!
 
Oh good point about the mobile number - I don't have a business line. WOuld i get away with my home number there instead? (I never use my house phone... I didn't think anyone did these days!)
 
The Blog is a bit weird - I appreciate it's a link - but links on the Blog ' Visit my Website' when we are already on your website - the oozlum bird springs to mind. I appreciate you are driving folks from your blog to the website, but it could be confusing if you didn't arrive that way. :shrug:
 
Hi. I seem to have seen this thread after you've made some of the changes suggested above. I like the layout, but agree some of the pics are a bit over-exposed, unless that's your 'style'. What is odd that when you go to the blog and click on 'visit my website' the site opens inside the blog - very confusing. I can understand you expect some people will find you via the blog, but I don't think it should open like that. And another vote for NO music!!

My only other comment is that since this is basically a flash site, there is precious little for Google to index.
 
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Right, I see what you mean. I'm not sure what to do about that though... I definitely don't want to presume that people on my blog know that I have a website. I think the blog is actually doing better in terms of SEO at the moment. So it might be found before the website if you know what I mean. (I'm not kidding myself, I know at the moment most of the traffic on my site is from referred visitors.

Maybe a link to my blog would be best?
 
A customer doesn't know it is your home number, just remember to answer it in a more professional manner all the time not "ello andy ere" :)

Also ensure your answer phone is a non descript, " I'm sorry there is no one here to take your call at the moment, please leave etc." type of thing
 
The site is nice and clean and unlike some sites fits neatly onto my browser with no need to scroll - a definite plus in my opinion!

I like the pictures on your site but I did find I kept getting the Flash download circle and arrow which became very annoying after a few times, especially since I do have the latest flash installed.

I'm not sure why you found it necessary to use the hidden text at the bottom as noted by another on here - it isn't out of place and it would help with Google and other SEs, since Flash cannot be indexed by Google and text related to the subject on the page is always relevant and can help with placement.

However I would dispense with the blog entirely because the layout seems very patchy after the other pages, and quite frankly the only reason to have a blog is if it used more as a news site etc giving regular updates on your work etc.

In your case there are simply a few bits of information scattered here and there.

You could also simply add the pictures to the main site.

And I would get rid of the Client Area for the time being - it needs to have quite a few subjects on there as opposed to the lone one there at the moment.

And, unfortunately the validation is pretty poor which means your site may not show properly across all media.

And there is no DOCTYPE declaration at the top of each page which means that browsers cannot determine the type of pages they are meant to be and will simply default to their default settings - not a good situation at all especially if it is going to be viewed on pads and phones etc.

Have you tested it in the main browswers - Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Opera ?

And using ALT tags really is a necessity since no tags can result in the photo showing something totally unrelated to the actual picture - a case in point is the "Serena's Birthday" picture - put the cursor on that and it shows "address: JavaScript" etc - much more professional if it said something like "Serena at (so many years)" etc.

These are just a few hints hope they help you.

BTW others have said that some of the photos look overexposed well on my monitor they all look OK apart from the blog pics some of which are slightly overdone.

.
 
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Ok, the blog will go in a link on the about me page. I am using for my personal 365 and monthly photo challenges.

As for the hidden text, my web host support advised that its handy to have on a flash site.

"I'm not sure why you found it necessary to use the hidden text at the bottom as noted by another on here - it isn't out of place and it would help with Google and other SEs, since Flash cannot be indexed by Google and text related to the subject on the page is always relevant and can help with placement".

I'm confused do you think it's a good or bad thing?!

When it comes to validation and DOCTYPE - I have no clue whatsoever. I am willing to learn what they are though, so thanks for pointing them out!

Client area will be gone soon too - see your point about that.

About the flash circle, is there anything that can be done about that? apart from NOT using a flash site?

Thanks again, finally feel like i'm getting somewhere with all this.
 
Which bits are flash because it all seems to work on my non flash enabled iPad :thinking:

Otherwise a few constancy issues, font size on the contact, experience and about pages is different and it's annoying lol. Why has blog wrapped around onto the second line of menu options, it looks odd.
 
MrsW said:
Ok, the blog will go in a link on the about me page. I am using for my personal 365 and monthly photo challenges.

As for the hidden text, my web host support advised that its handy to have on a flash site.

"I'm not sure why you found it necessary to use the hidden text at the bottom as noted by another on here - it isn't out of place and it would help with Google and other SEs, since Flash cannot be indexed by Google and text related to the subject on the page is always relevant and can help with placement".

I'm confused do you think it's a good or bad thing?!

When it comes to validation and DOCTYPE - I have no clue whatsoever. I am willing to learn what they are though, so thanks for pointing them out!

Client area will be gone soon too - see your point about that.

About the flash circle, is there anything that can be done about that? apart from NOT using a flash site?

Thanks again, finally feel like I'm getting somewhere with all this.
Click to expand...

The point I was making about the hidden text is that there is no point in making it hidden.

Although you can see it on your page there is no sign of it in the source code which is why I assumed it was hidden.

And if it's not in the source code then Google can't see it anyway unless they are using a technique known as "cloaking" which can get a site banned and is a definite NO-NO.

Oddly in your page "The experience" this text IS shown, so I can't see why it is hidden on other pages.

It's a minor point really but rather odd.

The DOCTYPE tells a browser the type of web page it is - as I said without this and adherence to the DOCTYPE standard for that particular page a browser simply does not know what it is dealing with and this can cause problems across different media.

Validation is the level to which a page adheres to the standard set out in the DOCTYPE which is why DOCTYPE is so important.

Again, oddly, the DOCTYPE is set up properly on "The experience" but not other pages so I'm assuming this is an oversight on the part of those who set up your site but even there the validation is not good.

If you download the Opera browser this is done automatically for you with a single right click.

Simply bring up a page of your site on Opera, right click then scroll down to "Validate" and click.

The page is then simply uploaded to W3.org, which sets the various standards for the internet, and checked.

It then gives an analysis of the page with any errors and warnings it has found about the coding.

This can then be used to correct these errors.

However even with all the errors and warnings on your site most browsers will show it OK as they are fairly lenient about such things but with more and more media now being used to view the 'net correct validation is becoming more and more important.

The problem with a great many people is that either don't know how to set a website up properly, or simply can't be bothered, counting upon the browsers to hide the errors.

Which is fine until lots of different media are used when the errors may cause problems.

Frankly I would still get rid of the blog completely, maybe set up an external blog like Google's Blogger:

https://accounts.google.com/Service...p=http://www.blogger.com/home&ltmpl=start#s01

with a link to that on your site and various (relevant) links back to your site from within Blogger.

Very easy to use and you can practice on it without causing problems to your main site.

About the flash circle I don't really know because I never use flash but maybe others on here can help.

It may not show up with other people


Hope that helps a bit.

.
 
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Ok I have passed on all the info to the web host as they are the ones that deal with the codes etc. I think I just have to rely on them to do the job for me...?

Will let you know when they get back to me.

many thanks!
 
Also, having looked at my website on a friends laptop. I just want everyone to note that there are some realy bizarre crops going on which are certaintly not how the original images were uploaded or hw they look on my screen at home!
 
MrsW said:
Also, having looked at my website on a friends laptop. I just want everyone to note that there are some really bizarre crops going on which are certainty not how the original images were uploaded or how they look on my screen at home!
Click to expand...

Well it looks OK on my net-book apart from the scroll bars obviously being a bit longer.

What browser is she using and what are the dimensions of her viewscreen?

What kind of crops are they?

.
 
She has Firefox and not sure of the sizes. For instance, the first picture is cropped half way up her arm! On my phone (safari) its not at all cropped.
 
What operating system is she running?

I'm using XP - Pro on my main computers and Home on my Netbook and they show nothing really bad just the things I would expect from the different sized screens.

Even when I put in some really odd sizes your site still looks good.

But I can't check it with either Vista or W7 because I don't have them.

Can you do a screen grab from her laptop and put it here to let us see?

BTW you really do have some great pictures on your site - if that's the usual standard of your work you should do very well, but definitely do not under-price yourself which is one of the easiest, and most disastrous, mistakes you can make.

.
 
I'm not sure what op system she has. Will try to ghent a screen shot of what I'm talking about though...

Thanks for all your help, it's much appreciated. Also, your kind words scouts my photos has made my day :)
 
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