[Closed] I done a photography website

You done it good (IMO) nice, clean and simple and shows off the pics well.

Dunno what you think but maybe too many photo's on the front page slide show? I skipped though them all (some great pics BTW) but a lot of them and it might put people off exploring the rest of the site.

Thanks j_me - someone else has suggested the same so I think I'll try and pick around 15 of my best ones for the home page slideshow, and maybe remove the watermark completely on those....

Looks good, but If you want people to find you via google the front page isn't very SEO friendly.

You need more descriptive text, mentioning areas your are prepared to work (towns in your area), what you do (commercial, private, studio). Address at the bottom in small text is useful too. Doesn't have to be loads. But some is better than nothing!

Put local towns in your home page description too (the bit that displays at the top of the browser window), and relevant keywords - look at CRCs as an example. So if someone searches for photographer in "Anytown" you are likely to show up.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/

Very nice mate. Would agree with the comment about the slideshow above.

The blog could maybe do with some categories, links, a subscription thing etc.

I'm currently working on something similar. Using a [url= http://edrollason.wordpress.com/ ]wordpress blog[/url] at the moment but would love to have something that looks as professional as yours.

Thanks - SEO is something I need to look into more. I included a blog as I believe that is meant to be good for SEO if I keep it updated with stuff about photography and the local area etc. but I will try and add some stuff to the home page as well.

Part of the trouble is I'm not sure what kind of work I am looking for - ideally I would like to just sell/license landscape/architecture etc pics but I don't know if there is really that big a market for that.

Handsomedog - cheers. Mine is also wordpress based - but I bought a template called photocrati which I have customised. It's early days but it seems to mostly do what I want and was pretty easy to set up. They are meant to be adding a cart system in their next revision.

You can subscribe to the blog with the rss button on the RHS but maybe I need to make that more clear. I will add some categories etc when I add some more posts, ta.

nice photos - clean looking site
dodgy logo - did a photographer design it? 😉

A Blog is good, but Google looks at a homepage first and spiders down from there.

If you want to keep it clean-looking the text needn't be intrusive, just small along the bottom is fine. Make sure its HTML though and not a graphic.

Part of the trouble is I'm not sure what kind of work I am looking for - ideally I would like to just sell/license landscape/architecture etc pics but I don't know if there is really that big a market for that.

SEO/Google wise, this is the problem with just having rotating galleries. If someone is searching for say 'Lancaster Scenery Print' they would never find images on your site as the photos don't have descriptions.

How complex you go obviously depends on how seriously you want to take it. If you only want to sell a few prints now and again it doesn't really matter, but if you are looking to turn it into a business its something you should look into.

Apologies if this sounds picky!

Yeah I know the logo isn't amazing - anyone want to design me one? For free obviously. 😛

Thanks muffin man - will sort that. I plan to add a function to buy directly, and the pics will have numbers/captions soon. Not sure yet whether this will be selling a few prints here and there or a proper business, but as things are not looking overly rosy at work I would like to try and make it do something, even if it's just a little extra income.

Picky is good btw, cheers.

I bought a template called photocrati which I have customised. It's early days but it seems to mostly do what I want and was pretty easy to set up. They are meant to be adding a cart system in their next revision.

That sounds ideal - I might have to check that out.

You might be interested in this website, I think its probably the way you might want to be heading: [url= http://www.landscapephotographyuk.com/index.html ]http://www.landscapephotographyuk.com/index.html[/url]

Having problems viewing in IE9, only pics I can see is on the galleries front page.

No techy knowledge here at all, but overall think it looks rather excellent. Nice one. 😀

Yup Handsomedog that is the kind of thing I am aiming towards. His section of published work gives a good idea of the kind of people I could be trying to sell to - nice one.

mossimus - use a better browser? 😛 Sorry, thanks for the info, will check it out on my gf's laptop.

Thanks very much ART, want to buy any more prints? 🙂

As a complete technophobe, I think its wonderful and am really interested in purchasing print No 3 on your home page.
I just have to convince hubby that having someone else's work on our wall is a good thing.

Cant see it at work as its saying its a risk?

Constructive criticism:
PRACTICAL STUFF (needs to be fixed)
Your graduated grey area (below the header) doesn't centre, stays ranged left.
The graduated grey area doesn't extend with content i.e. the blog extends beyond the containing area.

OPINIONATED STUFF (ignore if you like)
- No need for two contact email links throughout lose the vertical one on the left.
- The type used for the menu items looks too heavy, if it's 'bold' i'd drop it down to medium or regular.
- Logo: I can't place where I've seen it before but it's a rip off isn't it?
- Remove the watermarks, you might find that they occasionally get ripped off but they are overall I think they are detrimental to your work.
- Agree with the comment above about limiting the number of images on the home page, after all you want people to explore the site and find what they identify with. I wouldn't go for more than ten and might even be tempted to use just a single image.

REALLY OPINIONATED PERSONAL PREFERENCE STUFF (really ignore this it's just what i'd prefer)
- I'd lose the graduated area, it's unnecessary and adds nothing.
- The story about the hotel and being contacted via flickr is nice but it sounds amateurish. I think the photos are better than that and you could be aiming a bit higher.

Overall it's pretty good just needs polishing off.

The story about the hotel and being contacted via flickr is nice but it sounds amateurish. I think the photos are better than that and you could be aiming a bit higher.

I'd agree with that. I've already had this criticism of my blog. It needs to be more like a CV, demonstrating your prowess, and less "wow, someone actually wanted to use my images"!.

As I have so many of your pics saved into my favourites on Flickr you'll already know I really like them. Have you tried approaching any of the organisations who own the buildings that you've photographed (I'm thinking in particular stuff like your picture of the slug in newcastle) to see if they would be interested in buying/displaying your images? Might be a good source of cash and/or advertising.

Not much going on if you have got scripts blocked by default and nothing telling you why.

Thanks Bunnyhop - I will work out a few example prices for you if you like, with STW discount 🙂

scottyjohn - not sure if there's much I can do about that sorry. There's nothing dodgy on there.

Muppetwrangler - that's really useful thanks. I haven't consciously ripped off any logos but it's not the most original idea. 🙂

Will definitely lose the watermarks at least on the home page, and put less images in the slideshow. I've changed the gradient to just a grey body background, or do you reckon it would look better if all the bg was just plain white?

I know what you mean about the blog - tbh I wasn't expecting people to read it and just thought it would be good to get some relevant keywords in there. But I will try and make it more professional sounding 😉

Handsomedog - cheers - no not yet but that is on my list of things to do.

Doug - right clicking is disabled on the galleries by default to try and stop people saving pics - not sure if I can change that. I have turned it back on for the rest of the site though, thought I had done that already. Ta.

This is great stuff everyone.

Oh and assuming that you're keeping your Flickr account ensure that you disable downloading and add a link to your website from the description of each image!

Good luck with it. I'm going to have a browse later and may be in touch!

I've changed the gradient to just a grey body background, or do you reckon it would look better if all the bg was just plain white?

Just had a another look and for me the solid grey is better but I would probably go for the same pale grey as the background colour. It's only my preference but I would keep the site as visually uncomplicated as possible to allow the photography to dominate. Give it a go and see if you like it, you can always change it back.

Just noticed one other thing that I'm not keen on. The next/previous arrows on the gallery sometimes butt up against the edges of the images. Might be an idea to define a maximum size of image area and set the arrows a minimum distance outside of that. Currently when they fall within they look ok and when they fall well outside of the image they look ok but when they hover on or around the edge they are a bit jarring.

Again, comments are just opinion, feel free to ignore.

Looks good Grumm............

Just wondering whether you have considered Photium?

Dead easy to set-up including a shopping cart thing and there's news/blog sections etc.
The guy that runs it is very quick to respond to any queries you have and fix/resolve and problems you have.

Thanks Bunnyhop - I will work out a few example prices for you if you like, with STW discount

Cool.

A print on canvas sounds good, but if too expensive I'm happy with an ordinary print that can be framed.

I'm going to send this thread to mr bunnyhop now to see what he thinks.

Thanks - SEO is something I need to look into more. I included a blog as I believe that is meant to be good for SEO if I keep it updated with stuff about photography and the local area etc. but I will try and add some stuff to the home page as well.

Hmm, not quite - there's a fair bit more to it than that.

If you want to get known in online photography circles then you've got to get your name posted on similar blogs/article submission sites/forums etc. The better the reputation you build (on sites that are properly established and have high traffic), the more chance you have of driving people to your own site. Just get out there and post comments, articles, etc wherever you can - and include a link to your site (where appropriate of course).

+1 Photium

One of my friends has been using it for nearly 2 years now, and the guy behind it is very switched on and helpful. Plus he sorts out all the prints etc too.

Ah, Bunnyhop - your presence has reminded me that I need to ask you about your bags (Xmas present). Will PM you shortly.

* Sorry for the hijack Grumm

Bunnyhop, there is a cheap canvas option - it's not as good as the more expensive ones in terms of the 'build quality' but the print is good. How big were you thinking?

Someone else mentioned about the arrows - I think with this template the only way I can sort it is to crop the images differently, but I will have a go.

spacemonkey - I realise that's not all there is to SEO - I have a lot of reading to do on that subject.

Have looked at Photium but I already have some hosting so this worked out quite a bit cheaper. I will have a bit more of a look though, ta.

Spacemonkey - I'm sure grumm won't mind. Everyone tries to help each other out around here 🙂

grumm - The photo I love is No2 of 23 in the plant section. Can you change the colour of the orange flower to raspberry red? Odd ask I know, but I'm a complete novice when it comes to photography?

I'll try and P.M you later or tomorrow about size, colour and options.

can't open any pics on Mac os 10.3.9, but i guess that's my problem for being backwards! I'll just imagine pics of bikes on sofas or upside down, or in untidy garden patios with shonky fencing?

can't open any pics on safari Mac os 10.3.9, but i guess that's my problem for being backwards! I'll just imagine pics of bikes on sofas or upside down, or in untidy garden patios with shonky fencing?

Nice work Grumm, I think it looks really good. If I had to make a comment, it would be that I find the transitions on the homepage sideshow a little bit severe, and on a low spec. machine (Ion 330) they looked a little jerky. Other than that, looked really good.

Wish you all the best with the business, I'm sure it's going to do well.

Bunnyhop yup, I've had a go at changing the colour, looks quite nice I think. I'll send it over tomorrow for you to have a look at if that's ok. Got your email btw, sorry not replied yet.

Kevevs - I'm not sure why it would be doing that, bit concerning.

Anyone else tried the site on IE9 or Mac OS 10.3.9 and having issues?

Cheers lodious - I noticed it looked a bit jerky on Firefox for some reason - I've changed the transition style now, better?

Yeah...looking good!

On seo, as the muffin man says you need to add more descriptive text. Search engines can't do anything with a picture if they can't work out what it is.

Descriptive filenames would help a lot rather than the random series of characters

Blogs are shockingly effective at getting pictures indexed. It really helps to link further back into your galleries from the blog as that spreads search engine love straight deeper into the galleries rather than having to trickle down from the home page.

Use descriptive links such as [url= http://www.grahamwynnephoto.com/?page_id=53 ]see more of my landscapes here[/url] rather than see more of my landscapes [url= http://www.grahamwynnephoto.com/?page_id=53 ]here[/url] (one of our galleries that gets found a lot is simply called 'nice landscapes')

Your pictures are fantastic, they force me to keep my camera in may bag all the time now just in case :-).

And don't let the blog drop. I see lots of people start blogs on phot sites and give up after a month when it doesn't seem to work. It takes months but stick with it and remember to link back into galleries rather than adjust embedding photos in the blog

Thanks leffeboy. This is all really useful stuff, wasn't expecting such good feedback. 🙂

Dont take it personal just constructive crit - not reading the above comments but.

frame in a frame in a frame doesn't set the photo up in the best space - use of negative space is important but I feel this is too impacting

the grey is a bit too light for my liking and because of this looks a bit dated - a darker shade would look a lot cleaner and timeless

your logo using grey and black doesn't flow very well - id standardise the colour of think about how they are working with each other

not sure why photo and graphy need separating with a box? cliche logo thats been used the world over

have a look at these wordpress themes for inspiration - some are dire and some are good but all are customisable

http://themeforest.net/searches?term=photography&type=files

re seo-
have a read up google place marker helps and crudely choosing a relitive domain name will help ie "weddingphotographylondon.co.uk"
repeat the keywords and descriptive words as many times as possible on your site without just blagging text for the sake of it.. and make sure the coding is clean with few errors - submit sitemaps to search engines and try and get some referral links setup from other site to and from or just having your domain name in your signature of your forum posts or profile...

Question for you grumm. How much tweaking of the colours do you do post processing? Most of the pictures I take look quite flat in comparison.

I quite like it.

Bit grey IMO

The DOG is far to heavy and distracting.

Zone Alarm whines about this being suspicious site.

Are you using Word Press ?

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and I must get around to flogging some of my pix.

Thanks alexx, more good stuff. I've added some keyword stuff in the footer on the home page and had a play with the colours. I'm also trying out a logo a mate did for me but I can't decide if I like it. It does seem to say 'photography website' more somehow but is maybe a little cheesy? I know my logo is carp btw, just a stopgap really.

leffeboy - I often do a fair bit of tweaking I suppose - I find it very quick/easy to do in LIghtroom, it's actually one of my favourite bits of the process. I rarely open PS. Shooting in RAW gives you lots of leeway to boost contrast and bring out richer colours without making things look weird ime. I also tend to add a slight vignette in LR to pretty much everything - not sure why but I just like the look.

Might do a little blog post with some before/after shots on processing - not that I am an expert but I think I can improve pictures a lot with just a few simple tweaks.

Another print .. sucker for landscapes me, so keep putting stuff up! You have a big range on there now no 4. in misc, really like that - should be flogging it to a mag or specialised! Lots of brilliant comments from people above, and would agree with the blog points. It's always telling when a site has blog/news sections and they are months old. If you keep regular contributions going it brings some life and personality to a site that helps to connect you to potential buyers. IMH and completely lay O of course 🙂

Cracking pics and nice site.

The first time I look at each of the galleries the second image fails to show in the slideshow. Once I go and click on it it then works the next time I see the slideshow (as it's cached)- i reckon it is still loading the thumbnails of the other images before it has time to load the second pic. Increasing the time on each pics would prob fix.

For info using Safari on a fast connection.

Linking from this forum will boost your SEO.

Might do a little blog post with some before/after shots on processing - not that I am an expert but I think I can improve pictures a lot with just a few simple tweaks.

Thanks for that. Also that sort of thing on a blog, along with locations, info. about the ride is the sort of thing that makes a blog popular, increases it's rank and gets your photos found (plus it's the sort of thing I like to read). Just don't forget to link back into your galleries as well, not just your home page, or the effect can be lost.

I've added some keyword stuff in the footer on the home page

Brilliant, that will be the "Landscape, Scenic, Architectural Photography based in Lancashire - covering Lancaster, Morecambe, Arnside, Silverdale, Kendal..." stuff. To really make it work though you want each of those keywords to be clicky and link into photos deeper in. For extra points you want to get rid of the space between your email address and those keywords so they appear without scrolling down - it really makes a difference.

ok, off to find some info on Lightroom, see what you've started...

Don't like the logo tbh.

Your work on Flickr is great but somehow gets lost here. I'd ditch the watermark. It's such low res that you'd not get much out of each image.

Too much text on the homepage for me. I'd keep it as simple as possible and have any info on your about page. I also have to scroll down on my laptop to see the bottom of the page. It looks a bit cluttered.

I'd focus on displaying your work as well as possible and think about the business model after. Show your talents and I think you'll attract more people.

This is mine.. although I add too much to it I think. I change the landing image about once a month to try and keep it fresh as well as adding new content. I used indexhibit after finding Wordpress a bit limiting for a portfolio site - great for a blog though.
http://www.andymatthewsphotography.com/

This is a friends which is of higher quality..
http://www.garysmithphoto.com/

Also as part of research for mine I compiled a list of other Architectural Photographers. Might be useful to see some other layouts.
http://goo.gl/lists/LVKH

Thanks again everyone

sniff I'll have a play with that, ta

The logo I have up now is one a friend knocked up for me but I don't really like it - too cheesy I think.

I will certainly get rid of the watermark - just will take me a bit to reupload all the pics and remake the galleries.

leffeboy - think you can get a 30 day trial of LR.

Andy - thanks for the comments. I have to say I find your site a little too minimalist for my tastes, and I don't like having to scroll sideways. I think that stark kind of look probably suits architectural/design stuff - whereas mine is mainly landscapes which kind of seems to demand a 'friendlier' look, if you know what I mean. Pictures are excellent though.

[i]Andy - thanks for the comments. I have to say I find your site a little too minimalist for my tastes, and I don't like having to scroll sideways. Pictures are excellent though.[/i]

Yeah still undecided on the horizontal format but it's work in progress. It is very minimal but then that goes with the market I'm aiming at. Thanks.

If you have a little time check out Zack Arias' critique of some folks photo websites:

http://www.zarias.com/category/critique/

Its suprisingly helpful seeing what other folks haven't done particularly well and what they look for in a good website.

http://www.thephotoargus.com/inspiration/40-great-photographer-portfolio-websites-for-inspiration/

Neil - cheers - ploughing through them now.

Andy - you see to me a lot of those are overly flashy. Some of the photography is incredible, but a lot of them take a while to load and have confusing interfaces. IMHO.

I also sort of feel like my website shouldn't look too poncy, given that I am not a big time international photographer. Is that daft? 🙂

Agree 100% - keep the site simple and standard, let the pics do the talking.

BTW your site works from iPhone which most poncy sites don't. Too fancy means I just go somewhere else.

looks like a very profesional looking site, clear easy to navigate and some really good stuff on there

sniff - cheers, yeah just tried it on my ipod touch, not too bad at all really.

Thanks jacko 😀

Trying out a tweaked logo atm - slightly less cheesy? 🙂

[i]Andy - you see to me a lot of those are overly flashy. Some of the photography is incredible, but a lot of them take a while to load and have confusing interfaces. IMHO.[/i]

Totally agree. Not saying they're all good, just lots of other approaches which might help. Too many are done in Flash too.

Agree with other sentiments that photos should take centre stage and design should fade into background.

I've updated mine a little - got rid of the watermarks and slimmed down the homepage slideshow.

Looks good - I like the simple, clean layout and the logo is to the point.

In terms of getting yourself noticed by the search engines, it's worth making your user name a link to your site - I get about 50 hits a month from STW stalkers 🙂 Every hit counts!

Thanks - how do I go about doing that then? 😳

Hmmm. Can't remember 😳

I must have done it post-hack, but after a quick look at my profile, I've no idea. Quick email to STW maybe?

That logo looks fine. Who's going to be that bothered about a logo except people that have been asked to critique the site?
Some lovely photies, I must say.

By the way, you're probably aware, but the camp fella from Changing Rooms is the top Google result! But you do appear on the first page of results which has to be good.

OK no worries user-removed, will try that 🙂

Thanks Dezb - yup I'm aware of the camp guy, also someone from the RSPB. 🙂 But on the first page already isn't too bad. It's going to be getting anywhere near the first page of searches for 'lancashire photography' or whatever that's going to be the tricky part.

Don't forget to add your Google Analytics code to track where users came from, keywords etc.

Yup ta, done that.

712 visitors from STW! 🙂