Website

[Halliday]

I am in the cusp of going out full force with my photo business.
Please take a look at my website

www.lanceshuey.com (http://www.lanceshuey.com)

Be free to be honest about anything that you feel might need to be changed.

Thanks :)

[teya]

I would certainly change the front image - take a look at other photographer websites to see how they handle things...you need a more professional look.

Some quick pointers:
Use simpleviewer or some non smugmug platform for your galleries.
Don't include a "links" section on a business site.

I wrote this for another board, perhaps you can use some of the tips (http://twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&thread_id=1483903).

[Halliday]

Updated.

[willg]

hire someone to make a website for you

[Halliday]

hire someone to make a website for you
Ok. Feel free to PM me with any specifics.

[Radtech1]

Since this is going to be your *business*, I am not going to sugar-coat it.

You should keep only 1 of the 4 shots on your welcome page. That is the child reading a book. What makes that worth keeping is the use of an interesting light source. (Not sure if it is a spot light, or a reflection from the book, but it is nicely done. - Still, I wish that you had gotten down to his level as looking down onto children is the POV we always have.)

Moving clockwise. The flowers shot is bland and uninteresting both in color, tone and composition. My grandmother could have taken it with her Kodak Instamatic.

Next, the model in the doorway (or window, as the case may be) is an extremely journeyman level competent shot. Nothing outstanding.

Next, that child shot is a just plain lousy shot. I mean awful. Not a very good looking kid to look at and on top of that, the pose looks pained (oooh! I want lance to take my picture so I can look that uncomfortable!), and your white balance looks tremendously skewed to the cyan. Is this REALLY the shot you want people to judge you by.

Ok, does your computer not have capitol letters? The no-caps style makes me think of high school kid who knows nothing about photography, and the shots that you represent yourself with verify that.

I would not even think of you to shoot something that was important to me and that is without ever hitting the -enter- link.

Recomendation: Start Over.

Rad

[Halliday]

Wow. Ok. Interesting view on things there Rad. I'll take it into consideration.

[OceanRider]

hire someone to make a website for you

I agree, I have seen much better web sites. Something just not right about yours. Your shots are fine!!

Joel

[Halliday]

I agree, I have seen much better web sites. Something just not right about yours. Your shots are fine!!

Joel
It it the "non-flashy-ness" of it? I did try to keep it simple for dial-up users.

Thanks for saying my shots are fine :)

[rab3rd]

I wont comment on your photos as I am still a beginner photographer, you website however is very lacking. I understand trying to keep load times down for dialup users. The photos are what will cause the long load time much worse than site content (unless you load it down woth flash apps). If this were your personal website I would say its "ok" just to have a place to store and display your work. As a marketing tool, it doesnt work. There is no zip and no professionalism in the content at all. The trick is to have a front page that draws people in. Since it is the "first impression" put your single best photo with a nice simple frame and a obvious way to enter the site. Keep a few of your next best pictures on the site as thumbnails with links to the full size image. Dont offsite link. Keep the content simple and elegant, not to much info on any one page and as few pages as possible, two or three at the most (this will help you with search engines). Get away from the black back ground unless you cover most of it with content and watch out for high contrasting colors against your background (example: red text against blue background) it is very distracting and you want people to look at your photos, not your website construction techniques. The website itself should really be almost invisable in relation to the photos. Thats the product, not the website.

[Halliday]

Thank you everyone for the comments. Keep them coming.
Can anyone give an example of a simple photo biz website that they like?

[Radtech1]

Here (http://www.timstonephoto.com/) is one that would get me in past the first page, and it does not rely on any flashmedia or scripst that suck up bandwidth. Just an attractive presentation with shots that want me to look further.

No relation at all, in fact when I was googling it, I was looking for an example of what NOT to do, by someone else with the same name (tim stone).

Rad

[rab3rd]

Here (http://www.timstonephoto.com/) is one that would get me in past the first page, and it does not rely on any flashmedia or scripst that suck up bandwidth. Just an attractive presentation with shots that want me to look further.

No relation at all, in fact when I was googling it, I was looking for an example of what NOT to do, by someone else with the same name (tim stone).

Rad


Thats a good example even though he has a lot of dead black back ground, it works well to make those VERY colorful pictures pop. Good front page (although maybe just a little busy, my opinion).

[teya]

Did you read that list I posted of dos and don'ts? That should get you in the right direction if you want to do the page yourself...

[photohungry]

I am a programmer, and I have been building websites for 7 years now. I have some advice for you - Business websites are truly a dicy type of proposition becaus there is so muh that needs to balance out.

1. Use correct english at all times,meaning punctuation, capitalization and grammar.

2. Do NOT use a black background. Colors on a website follow the same rules as when entering a lobby or foyer - if it is dark, the mood is now dark, not bright and cheerful like you want it to be. Use color schemes that compliment each other, such as red and green, blue and yellow, and the like.

3. Use a normal font. Times New Roman is available on most computers, and is widely acceptable, however Arial and Arial Black are perfect alternatives.

4. Do NOT use a splash screen. When people show up, the less they have to do see content the better. Putting a <ENTER> link on a page (to me) is not very appealing.

5. Navigation is the key to success for any website. Sidebar naviation is the best, followed closely by top bar navigation.

6. Never lead your audience to another website. You want them to stay at your site. What if they discover that they like the other site more than yours? They forgot about your site.

7. Do NOT use flash - ever. Flash websites require your auience to have the flash media player - which if they don't have it already, then they must download it...from another site. This is bad practice. I also do not agree with flash, well because it sucks up bandwidth, it is proprietary, it is most annoying to have to sit through a presentation to get to what you are looking for (Example- Nasa's Shuttle website went flash - they saw a 40% drop in visitors).

8. Use photoshop to create a logo that incorporates one of your images.

9. Each page should clearly state what it is about - such as a heading or logo that states "Customer Service" or "Contact Us".

- I hope that my comments help you out. If you need any specific help, let me know.

[Halliday]

photohungry, thanks. Very useful.

[dandan]

Im a semi-pro webdesigner, give me a PM if you would want me to make you one.

[VegasGeorge]

1. That black background is depressing! You want to create a happy, upbeat mood.

2. That first image (young girl upper left) has to go. There is something unsettling about it.

3. Your opening page is WAY to wordy. Show your work before you make them read the "fine print." In fact, even on a separate contract terms page, I'd reduce the information to a simple 1 to 10 bullet list.

4. You are trying to show too much! Pick four of your best photos in each major category and display those. Don't ask your visitors to hunt through menus and sub-menus to find the stuff.

[Halliday]

Major update today using smugmug.