Grade my Website

[asdisc]

Well its about time I threw up my website to see what everyone else thinks of it. Don't hold back I want to hear the good the bad and the ugly about it, TIA.

[Dchemist]

Nice... on my screen there is a lot of empty black space although it is classy. My screen is set for 1280x1024. I wonder if you could not make better use of the real estate on the screen. I would personally prefer a bit more content and variety. You also might add "story" of who you are, where you came from and why you photograph. Good luck, Dennis

[HaroldC3]

The 4 menu images are broken for me.

[asdisc]

The 4 menu images are broken for me.



What browser are you using?

[bwolford]

I - Incomplete.

I'll give you an extension, but if you don't have it finished by Friday you'll write 100 lines of "Don't present a web site as done when it isn't." :)

BTW, you need consider more than one browser when composing your images. Find the big 2 or 3 and support them.

[HaroldC3]

What browser are you using?

Firefox 2.0.0.6

[Megapixle]

No menu images for me either.

And to be honest, pregnant, bulging bellies creep me out.

~mp

[B3SEO]

I'll be brutally honest. Okay. You asked for it. Read closely.

There are two webs out there. The visible web and the invisible web. Ahh, you say, no way. Well, there is. The visible web is where 90% of ALL internet users go and find information, find products, find services. You visit the invisible web rarely, perhaps never.

What's in the invisible web? Billions of web sites that never get found.

When someone searches for a photographer in your town, or near you, you obviously want them to a) type something into Google, b) find you, and c) call you, d) make an appointment with them. And, e) you sell your product or service.

So unless you have established some brand identity with your name over the years, like Taco Bell has, or Dairy Queen, or Pepsi, or Nike, then no one is going to search for you by your name. That makes sense, doesn't it? Don't feel bad. You are not alone.

There are certain very important factors on a web site that Google considers important when ranking a page. Now we talk about the visible web again. The first three pages of the search results are known as the visible web. We know the the first three pages are important from researching it. We also know that 90% of most all internet users aren't going to bother going past page three in the search engine results. Why? Because we live in a society that want's information NOW. The internet also has another name - the superinformation highway. Get on, find your information, and move on. 90% of users just don't have the patience to go to page four, five, six, twelve, twenty or page sixty. They will generally refine their keywords, and start searching all over again.

I hate to tell you this, but your web site is headed for the invisible web.

You need to organically redo your site, for the READER, and the search engines. What this all boils down is something called SEO, or search engine optimization. It's a science dedicated to taking a poorly done web site, and optimizing for the search engines, so when people type in something that matches your niche (photography), you come up on the first page, or at least somewhere on the first three pages of Google results.

For starters, on your web site, you can at least put your phone number on the home page so people can call you without hunting for it.

I hope I didn't come across hard. That's just the facts. SEO is a billion dollar industry, but consider the real estate on the first three pages. You want your web site to live there, not in invisible webland.

[souporman]

The 4 menu images are broken for me.

For some reason the links to those images are "http://www.cameronstudio.net/images%5Cgallery.jpg", which IE interperets ok but firefox chokes on (as it should). Just swap out that %5c for a / and you'll be golden. For the broken images at least.

As for the site itself, it feels very early 90's to me and nothing about it says "professional". I didn't even get around to checking out your gallery images as I lost interest after checking out the other pages.

It may be time to bite the bullet and pay a design company to overhaul your site.

If I had to grade it (and I have graded websites in the past :)) I would give it a passing grade for a first attempt, but a fail as a professional site. Oh, and B3SEO makes some great points as well about the findability (is that a word?) of your site as well.

[Bobster]

grade? FAIL! ;)

[asdisc]

grade? FAIL! ;)



Thanks for the insight... ;) any other pointers there?

[B3SEO]

Who built your website?

[asdisc]

Who built your website?



I did

[B3SEO]

Did you build that web site because you wanted it to look a certain way? If you did, that's the worst mistake you can make. Did you READ my post above? You have to design a site for the visitor. Bullet lists. Paragraph headers... Your phone number on every page. That's just for starters.

[asdisc]

Did you build that web site because you wanted it to look a certain way? If you did, that's the worst mistake you can make. Did you READ my post above? You have to design a site for the visitor. Bullet lists. Paragraph headers... Your phone number on every page. That's just for starters.


Ok I read you post, but I'm not going to drop everything to revamp a web site that is showing the results I am looking for. Will I change things around, Yes, when I get the time.

Now whether it looks the way I want it to, or should I make it look the way YOU want it to? I'm going to have it reflect what my business protrays. If the person's or business website doesn't reflect a least a hint of they own personality then what's the point? I know the whole SEO, which is underlying mostly. Now to you with you "wealth" of experience you say it looks terrible but for anyone that is looking for a photographer in my area they see a website that is "professionally" done and easily navagated.

Yes I know I need to work on the SEO part, but just like everyone else you have to have a site to get noticed because that's the portal to your advertising, such as flyers, business cards, etc...and the SEO will come.

I'm not knocking what you said, but it takes time to perfect a website before it is "SEO"ed enough to make a orgnaic impact.


Could I see your website? I would like to have an idea of what it should look like, in generic terms at least.

[B3SEO]

My web site is not oriented for photography, but when I find build a web site for photography, you'll be one of the first to know about it.

You need to take some constructive criticism from a professional who designs web sites for a living, and does search engine optimization for companies and businesses that have given up trying to do it themselves. I'm a CSEO, a certified search engine optimization professional.

If you don't mind me asking, what to you makes you think that web site of yours is giving you the results you are looking for? The look of it? How about down the road, how many visitors come to the site? How long they spend on your site? What page they come in on? What page they exit? All important stuff. More importantly, where'd they come from? These are things you are going to have to know, when you start tweaking the web site in the future.

You need to learn about incoming links, how people view a web page, where they look on the page. What information they are looking for. Don't design for what YOU think looks nice and pretty. Design it as though you were a reader, or a visitor looking for information about YOU and your business.

One more thing - anyone looking for a photographer in your area will never find your web site the way it is, if they are cold searching for a photographer in the search engines. So you better spend lots of time (and money) off-net advertising it.

I'm just trying to help. I know people have told you the site looks bad, without giving you any pointers. And I know that pissed you off. But here is my second pointer to you - take the time to learn about what search engines do and look for when they look at a site. They're looking for something on the page, first off.

Remember this about great web sites - Pictures are pretty. But CONTENT is King.

B3SEO

[ibdb]

I'd give it an incomplete at best, and a failing grade at worst.

Using the latest Firefox build. No where on your home page did I find the name of your business, or any way of contacting you.

On all other pages, there is apparently supposed to be some sort of banner, but I didn't see it, just a link that said there was a banner. I couldn't tell you what your company name is, or what area you serve, or even if you provided services I'd like to use because the information wasn't quickly and easily available to me in the browser of my choice.

All I saw were four black and white shots on your home page, and broken image links everywhere else. If I were a consumer, I'd look VERY briefly, then leave with no intention of ever returning.

[souporman]

Just commenting on the technical aspects at this point. The home page link images are now working for firefox, but nothing else is.

Having a quick look at the html, you're using the wrong slash for that header image as well as the menu images on the inner pages. Here's one of your image tags:

<img src="images\maternity.jpg"border="0">For that to work in firefox it should look like this:

<img src="images/maternity.jpg" border=0>Having some alt text in there wouldn't hurt either, but that's more or less been covered (and seemingly discounted) by B3SEO already.

[asdisc]

My web site is not oriented for photography, but when I find build a web site for photography, you'll be one of the first to know about it.

I'd still like to take a look at your site since it is truly relative to the conversation.

You need to take some constructive criticism from a professional who designs web sites for a living, and does search engine optimization for companies and businesses that have given up trying to do it themselves. I'm a CSEO, a certified search engine optimization professional.

My tone my just be taken wrong on here, I appreciate the criticism from you, I was just giving you some flak for making it sound like I was suppose to already have updated my site for better SEO. :)




If you don't mind me asking, what to you makes you think that web site of yours is giving you the results you are looking for? The look of it? How about down the road, how many visitors come to the site? How long they spend on your site? What page they come in on? What page they exit? All important stuff. More importantly, where'd they come from? These are things you are going to have to know, when you start tweaking the web site in the future.

Nothing in particular, other then we have tripled our daily traffic in the last 3 days, and have started to receive appointments due to it. I understand it needs work but for my current situation and timeline I'm working with it will do fine as of now.


You need to learn about incoming links, how people view a web page, where they look on the page. What information they are looking for. Don't design for what YOU think looks nice and pretty. Design it as though you were a reader, or a visitor looking for information about YOU and your business.

I know I have a lot to learn about websites, I'm a application programmer and never had to design a website, outside of one other one that actually when I look at makes me :( sad.


One more thing - anyone looking for a photographer in your area will never find your web site the way it is, if they are cold searching for a photographer in the search engines. So you better spend lots of time (and money) off-net advertising it.


Yes I understand that, and over time when I've researched it and found the best way to SEO it, it will get improved. Unless your offering up your services for free, I'll have to do it the hard way... :D


I'm just trying to help. I know people have told you the site looks bad, without giving you any pointers. And I know that pissed you off. But here is my second pointer to you - take the time to learn about what search engines do and look for when they look at a site. They're looking for something on the page, first off.


That's the plan, thanks for the pointers, I do actually appreciate them, and I am working on researching these items, but as of right now I can't spend all that much time researching this, but will soon enough




Remember this about great web sites - Pictures are pretty. But CONTENT is King.

B3SEO


Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. Do you have any reccomended reads/websites that allow me to research SEO myself and not have to pay someone to do it for me?

Thanks

[asdisc]

Just commenting on the technical aspects at this point. The home page link images are now working for firefox, but nothing else is.

Having a quick look at the html, you're using the wrong slash for that header image as well as the menu images on the inner pages. Here's one of your image tags:

<img src="images\maternity.jpg"border="0">For that to work in firefox it should look like this:

<img src="images/maternity.jpg" border=0>Having some alt text in there wouldn't hurt either, but that's more or less been covered (and seemingly discounted) by B3SEO already.



Thanks for the heads up, and no it was discounted by B3SEO, but his commented was made yesterday and I haven't got around to updating the site yet. Thanks.

[Picture North Carolina]

I am still getting broken images everywhere. I am using firefox, but that is actually irrelevant because if your cross-platform funtionality isn't good, the enrire website should be redone.

[asdisc]

I am still getting broken images everywhere. I am using firefox, but that is actually irrelevant because if your cross-platform funtionality isn't good, the enrire website should be redone.



I know I will correct that first before heading off into other areas. Thanks

[AussieCat]

i really need help in how to opitimize my web site

its flash

im told thats a problem for starters///?


how do i advertise best with google?

I'll be brutally honest. Okay. You asked for it. Read closely.

There are two webs out there. The visible web and the invisible web. Ahh, you say, no way. Well, there is. The visible web is where 90% of ALL internet users go and find information, find products, find services. You visit the invisible web rarely, perhaps never.

What's in the invisible web? Billions of web sites that never get found.

When someone searches for a photographer in your town, or near you, you obviously want them to a) type something into Google, b) find you, and c) call you, d) make an appointment with them. And, e) you sell your product or service.

So unless you have established some brand identity with your name over the years, like Taco Bell has, or Dairy Queen, or Pepsi, or Nike, then no one is going to search for you by your name. That makes sense, doesn't it? Don't feel bad. You are not alone.

There are certain very important factors on a web site that Google considers important when ranking a page. Now we talk about the visible web again. The first three pages of the search results are known as the visible web. We know the the first three pages are important from researching it. We also know that 90% of most all internet users aren't going to bother going past page three in the search engine results. Why? Because we live in a society that want's information NOW. The internet also has another name - the superinformation highway. Get on, find your information, and move on. 90% of users just don't have the patience to go to page four, five, six, twelve, twenty or page sixty. They will generally refine their keywords, and start searching all over again.

I hate to tell you this, but your web site is headed for the invisible web.

You need to organically redo your site, for the READER, and the search engines. What this all boils down is something called SEO, or search engine optimization. It's a science dedicated to taking a poorly done web site, and optimizing for the search engines, so when people type in something that matches your niche (photography), you come up on the first page, or at least somewhere on the first three pages of Google results.

For starters, on your web site, you can at least put your phone number on the home page so people can call you without hunting for it.

I hope I didn't come across hard. That's just the facts. SEO is a billion dollar industry, but consider the real estate on the first three pages. You want your web site to live there, not in invisible webland.

[B3SEO]

i really need help in how to opitimize my web site

its flash

im told thats a problem for starters///?


how do i advertise best with google?

That is a huge problem for starters. Until you get into the search engines, and get visibility, I strongly, strongly recommend not using a flash based home page. That's not to say that you can't have flash though.

Search engines look for content, and keywords. Period. And unless you have a huge following and have established BRAND IDENTITY and do off net advertising (like tv ads, radio, print) you need to concentrate on the elements that make a web page (specifically the HOME PAGE) visible, and ranked favorably with the search engines.

Proper design of a well created HTML page is important to. Don't let anyone tell you it isn't. You need to learn about linking to external javascript files (there's a reason for that), parts of a web site that not only keep your readers happy, but the search engines too, ie (site navigation). File naming conventions, how you name your files.. All secrets to good search engine optimization.

I recommend staying away from ppc. Pay per click. A majority (but not the whole) will not click on the top sites in google (usually highlighted in a pale yellow box), because they feel if they are buying something either a product or service, they are apt to pay more. Think about it, how many times do you "hit" one of those web sites?

Not to mention the fact that PPC can be costly. I have not done the research for the niche "photography", but I have for other industries. The highest I have ever seen is $42 per click. That's not .42 cents per click. That's forty two dollars per click. The industry? Rubber keypads, and touch screens. Forty Two dollars per click. Just for the right to be up there at the top.

Think organic search engine placement. It might take longer, but it will be far less inexpensive.

I know a company that spent $6000 dollars in pay per click, in six months. They ferried new planes from the Boeing plant all over the world to different countries. How much business did they get from the PPC? Z E R O.

I would suggest looking into a professional CSEO for getting visibility on the web. And stay away from the flash. Search engines do not read flash. And they don't read image maps. Or JPEGS.

Pictures and flash are pretty. But content is KING.

[asdisc]

I recommend staying away from ppc. Pay per click. A majority (but not the whole) will not click on the top sites in google (usually highlighted in a pale yellow box), because they feel if they are buying something either a product or service, they are apt to pay more. Think about it, how many times do you "hit" one of those web sites?


Everything else you said is great info, but the PPC for photography keywords (at least around here) averages around 60ish cents a click.

Now this isn't an end all to marketing, but its not even close to the high dollar ones you are talking about. Now, I'm not an expert on this by any means, but my few dollars that I have spent has returned to me 10 fold already.

[Picture North Carolina]

Search engines look for content, and keywords. Period.

I'm not going to disagree with that, just add a little to it.

Not just "keywords", but rather relative keyword density. And I might add NOT with keyword stuffing. That's bad.

But that's not all they look for. Another factor is keywords relative to the title tag and especially the domain name. As to the domain name, keyword matching helps SE heirchy. E.G., Your name is fred and you have a photography business in Kalamazoo. You can have a domain fredsphotography.com or fredscaptures.com. When a user searches for photography businesses in Kalamazoo, they are more than likely to enter search arguments such as "photographers in kalamazoo" or "kalamazoo photography." That keyword match between the search argument "photography" that is also contained in the domain name will help bring the domain containing "photography" closer to the top that the one containing "captures."

Also, one of the newest things in search algorithms is links. The more external, unrelated domains that link to your domain, the higher you can go.

[B3SEO]

LInks are not new. They've been in the mix for three years. Link farms are BAD. But unrelated? I'm not sure. They should be related to your business, in some way. But bottom line, incoming links are just ONE of the many factors, and it's an important one.

You are correct about keyword density. That is very true. Done correctly, excellent content borders on redundant. That's why there's a huge niche out there for content copywriters. Those that can write professional content that not only "hook", but satisfy the search engines.

Title tag, domain name, Even more than those :D

Proof in the pudding - go and do a search on "home" in Google. Look at the results. Mind blowing. Because everyone has a "home page", right? In a way, to me, that is sickening.

You are on the right track!!

[B3SEO]

Everything else you said is great info, but the PPC for photography keywords (at least around here) averages around 60ish cents a click.

Now this isn't an end all to marketing, but its not even close to the high dollar ones you are talking about. Now, I'm not an expert on this by any means, but my few dollars that I have spent has returned to me 10 fold already.

I searched for you in Google, three different ways. Photographer, Live Oak, TX. Couldn't find you. :eek:

That dog don't HUNT!

[asdisc]

I searched for you in Google, three different ways. Photographer, Live Oak, TX. Couldn't find you. :eek:

That dog don't HUNT!


Yes because you are in Washington State, it will only show up for people in San Antonio, yes I know my Organic search needs work but my sponsored links from Adwords is spot on for my local area.


It would be a total waste of my money if you were able to click on one of my sponsored links all the way from Washington state.

[Picture North Carolina]

LInks are not new. They've been in the mix for three years. Link farms are BAD. But unrelated? I'm not sure.

I did not mean "new" and in yesterday, I meant "new" as in one of the more recent trends. Actually, they've been around for longer than three years. It's just that people were unaware at first that it had been added to Google's highly secret algorithm. And it should be noted that other search engines added the link algorithm after google did, meaning more recently.

As to link farms, don't quite know what you mean here, but I think you misunderstood my original meaning. I meant that having a thousand other websites that are linking back to yours, not at the same IP address (same host, as in link stuffing) or sister domians, etc. By "unrealated" I meant genuine links from other websites that are not obviously connected to the site being linked to. (I don't think that made sense either.)

[B3SEO]

A link farm, by defintion is a page with nothing but links to other web sites listed on it. I'm guilty of those for my clients.

An unrelated link would be - www.billsdiscountcigarcity.com - linking to you! A related link would be www.canogacamera.com - linking to you. A little more weight there.

The best links come from sites that are related to your niche, with a high GPR.

[Picture North Carolina]

A link farm, by defintion is a page with nothing but links to other web sites listed on it. I'm guilty of those for my clients.

An unrelated link would be - www.billsdiscountcigarcity.com (http://www.billsdiscountcigarcity.com) - linking to you! A related link would be www.canogacamera.com (http://www.canogacamera.com) - linking to you. A little more weight there.

The best links come from sites that are related to your niche, with a high GPR.

Yes, and that's exactly what I meant. Thank you! By "unrelated" what I meant was some yahoo purchasing 25 domain names, putting them on the same server with the same IP, and all containing links to the target website. THAT's what I meant by related. The engines know full well what is going on there. I did not mean unrelated as not in the same sector. Although it is wholly arguable that 1,000 links coming from shoe sites would weight more than a single link from canoga camera.

[B3SEO]

Yes, and that's exactly what I meant. Thank you! By "unrelated" what I meant was some yahoo purchasing 25 domain names, putting them on the same server with the same IP, and all containing links to the target website. THAT's what I meant by related. The engines know full well what is going on there. I did not mean unrelated as not in the same sector. Although it is wholly arguable that 1,000 links coming from shoe sites would weight more than a single link from canoga camera.

I had a client once, who purchased 199 domain names. BEFORE HE called me. That's what godaddy does to someone who is not "informed" !!

[HaroldC3]

Your banner and menu links are now showing up for me and the images are rotating. After the front page the top banner goes away and a link is displayed (except on the contact page).

I must say it is simple and I'm not going to rehash anything anyone has said so far.

Also, on the gallery section, I can't read your company name at the top. Either darken the background or the text.

One last thing, I didn't know they made a simple viewer template for CS2! I having been trying to decide on a photo gallery script/package and was looking at simple viewer but passed on it. I wanted something with slideshow capabilities and decided on JAlbum with the BananAlbum skin.

Keep working, keep improving your site. I'm sure you will be fine.

[MichaelAlan_Photo]

I am on a high speed internet connection and the home page graphics were really lagging. My flash website already would have its second image displayed in the splash intro already...

Shrink or chop your graphics into smaller blocks or sizes and you should be better off in that department.

I would suggest getting a more modern website. Your site conveys what you want but seems a bit outdated for the times. People who are getting married and having kids now are younger or from the tech age and know how to navigate the web like it is nothing to them. They will want to see some eye candy!

[Bobster]

Thanks for the insight... ;) any other pointers there? oh sorry u want more than a grade ;)

just on your home page -

line 2 column 1 - Warning: missing <!DOCTYPE> declaration
line 2 column 1 - Warning: <meta> isn't allowed in <html> elements
line 2 column 1 - Warning: <meta> isn't allowed in <html> elements
line 53 column 5 - Warning: entity "&nbsp" doesn't end in ';'
line 53 column 10 - Warning: entity "&nbsp" doesn't end in ';'
line 53 column 15 - Warning: entity "&nbsp" doesn't end in ';'
line 53 column 20 - Warning: entity "&nbsp" doesn't end in ';'
line 53 column 25 - Warning: entity "&nbsp" doesn't end in ';'
line 53 column 30 - Warning: entity "&nbsp" doesn't end in ';'
line 29 column 1 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 35 column 1 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 41 column 1 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 48 column 1 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 56 column 1 - Warning: <script> inserting "type" attribute
line 124 column 33 - Warning: <img> lacks "alt" attribute
line 127 column 1 - Warning: <script> inserting "type" attribute


good use of a non-flash slideshow ;)

i find the buttons too big - badly placed, they seem float without having anything holding them there, you need to have a basic site outline to help draw the eye towards the information you're giving.

the same for your banner/header, its just floating in space..

take a look at some sites, find the ones you like and then try and get a feel for how the sites work, then try and apply them to your own..

good place to start - try www.templatemonster.com 1,000's of sites there :)