My New Business Orientated website

[RichardtheSane]

OK, I'm after a bit of critique here

I have been getting approached by people I know asking for me to do photographic work for them, and they are now starting to pass my details onto frinds too. Mainly it is my hound photography but I have had a couple of requests for wildlife a and landscape/local interest work..

So I decided it was time to revamp my website... and point it more in a business direction at the same time.

http://www.richardlindley.co.uk

Any comments on what to include and what to cut are very welcome

Thanks for looking

[vfilby]

It is nice and clean, easy to use and aesthetically pleasing. Better than most I have seen.

[defordphoto]

I concur. This is what I personally like to see in a photo website. Quick loading, to the point, no crap. Nicely done.

[commando]

I agree too. Nice site :)

[bokeh]

I revamped mine yesterday... took about 4 hours. I really like it. I too like clean, fairly simple sites. Yours is nice. Here's mine: www.tracymilburn.com

[jgbeam]

I revamped mine yesterday... took about 4 hours. I really like it. I too like clean, fairly simple sites. Yours is nice. Here's mine: www.tracymilburn.com

Run your spell checker. You have photgraphs (sic) in a couple of places.

Jim

[fslshooter]

Outstanding! You have made yourself the kind of site that I hope to create for myself someday. Best of luck...Jerry

[dhbailey]

I really like the site, and I agree with all the comments so far. These next comments are intended to offer some insights gleaned over the years, and are offered in the spirit of kindness and help. If you don't like any of them, feel free to ignore them completely as the ramblings of a fool.

I'm not a professional photographer, nor a professional web-site designer, but here are a few suggestions I have gleaned in reading about web-site design and how to look professional:

1) don't tell people about how this is a newly redesigned web-site -- those who have visited before will realize it's redesigned and those who are visiting for the first time will wonder why you had to redesign it (what was wrong with your abilities with the original and will those flaws crop up in your photography work);

2) don't post revision history for your web-site;

3) revise your ABOUT page so as not to appear as if you are new to professional photography -- don' t mention how you were away from photography for such a long period, nor how recent your conversion to the digital realm is. Without lying, make it seem as if you have always been doing this sort of work.

As an example, don't speak about building your reputation with Dog lovers, speak as if it is already established. The following paragraph:
"I am also building a reputation within the dog lovers community as a photographer who likes to do things differently. I concentrate all my efforts on photographing dogs in natural surroundings and capturing the essence and character of the dogs."
I would rewrite it to be:
"My reputation within the dog lovers community is built on being a photographer who likes to do things differently from other photographers of animals. Dogs need to be photographed in natural surroundings in order to capture the essence and the character of the dogs."

It says the same thing but doesn't give the impression of how recently you have entered the field.

I realize my comments may be more specific than you wanted, and are offered only to give an alternate point of view. It has been my experience that the casual visitor to a website (or the potential new client for a person's services) usually don't want to risk hiring somebody new to the field, no matter how good you might be, because of the risk of total failure. Act on your 10th job as if it were your 1000th job, any new discoveries to improve your on-site photography should not be accompanied by remarks such as "gee I wish I had known that earlier" etc, etc, etc.

In the fields in which I am a professional (teaching music lessons, repairing instruments, conducting, performing and engraving music for publication) I have learned the hard way that when I have expressed anything that would show my newness in a field, many clients have opted to go with more long-established people. Not necessarily better, but with longer histories. Many have come back to me after learning that more-experienced doesn't equate to better, but I many don't come back.

And word spreads fast ("Oh, don't use him, he's just getting started.)

Congratulations on a great web-site design.

[RichardtheSane]

Thank you everyone for your comments

An thanks David for all that info! I'm going to take all the suggestions on board and do a bit of updating over the coming week, and hopefully I will have more professional wording soon.

Thanks again

[Conk]

I've looked through your site before and have said it is great. I love your dogs.