My webpage

[Photolistic]

I am going to change my web site to cater more to weddings and portraits. I am not sure what will work best for potential customers and would like some help. I am not sure what I should take off, and what I should put on. I do know I am going to list my prices. Any advice or comments would be great.

www.somethingforever.com

[Photolistic]

Anyone?

[cosworth]

It just needs to look more slick. Keep the gallery images you like but put more emphasis on the weddings and portraits.

I used porta to quicken up my site. I can compile the gallery fast and add new imges quickly. Looks good,loads fast.

Try to "hook" people going to your site. You gotta get them in the first 3 seconds or you're done. Get a quick loading splash/enter page that pulls them in. Once there it has to look high end.

My site certainly could afford some $$$ thrown at it or just plain time. But I don't have either right now. It a good balance between trendy enough and mainstream for MY targets.

Define your clientele, then pick images that will nab them and keep their attention.

Your #1 goal is to keep website visitors away from the browser back or home button.

[Dajuan]

Cosworth, what's "porta"?

[sblais]

Make it like mine :p

Seriously, there are a few points that I, personally, je, moi am not fond of. It is a personal opinion and you'll probably get tons of different ones around here!

To start on a positive note, here are my pros:

I like a dark background (black even better). Professional, emptiness, mysterious.
No Flash, only javascript: more reach. Not all people have flash players in their old computers!
Simple design, not tacky.
Easy to navigate
Supports 800*600 resolution (although the menu bar gets a bit of a distortion)
Galleries are fine. Load fast.


Now, here are my cons:

Overall feel. It looks home made.
Menu bar: change those link buttons. The plain fonts and rectangle buttons that change color when the mouse passes over looks a bit outdated. Use CSS to change the color of the letters as the mouse passes over if necessary. It's very simple to use and takes may be 30 minutes to get familiar with. It will save you a lot of time and assure that you have consistent formatting throughout your site.
I don't like your title strip. Too busy. You want people to be able to read your studio name very easily. Also, a shot of a city like that looks cold. To add a warm feeling to it, shoot the city from indoors and include window framing, a pretty lady and her reflection perhaps, etc. It will leave a sensation of warmth and calm associated with the end of the day.
In your "About" section, you use a completely black background and I don't mind it at all.


To let you go with a better feeling in your mouth, another positive note:

Overall, the site is getting there. Don't be afraid to be creative, browse other sites and see the styles that you like for your own and then create from there.

How's that for feedback? Not too harsh I hope? :oops: Keep in mind that this is my humble opining and you can go have a laugh at my web site if you want! ;)

[Photolistic]

Thanks guys... this is helping. I may have to get a whole new site.... I dont think smugmug can do it for me.

[Philco]

It looks like Porta is not for Mac's based on what I'm seeing on their site...it would be cool if I was wrong cause I *heart* my Mac too.

[cosworth]

I see PC guy and Mac guy, "Oh so Porta doesn't run on your machine? Too bad? Oh and installing your new Pixma printer required 7 more steps and a reboot? Too bad!"

"Dare to dream Arnold, dare to dream. "

[Photolistic]

I can run windows on my machine on TOP of OSX. What is Porta?

[david lee]

So this Porta.... It looks good. What else do we need? I mean do we have to get a web site set up and the use Porta to design the pages?
Its all new to me

[MrsOpie]

The background on the homepage is rather busy. I would make it black, grey, or white. For your contact link dont do a pop up email just have it be a page with your contact info like phone and email. You dont have to have a fancy flash website for it to be clean and nice. For most customers when they are shopping for a photographer they expect the website to be just as amamzing as the photos. Its all about eye candy.

Here's a website I really like:

http://www.theimageisfound.com/