Would like website critique

Please help me with my site.
I have not filled out the "services" yet.

Right now it takes you down the page, and the "contact me" button will lead to the services page, which is blank now.
I'm still having a little hard time defining myself and I am going to wait until I go to a workshop here soon and then do that. But any suggestions until then are welcome.

Anything else is welcome.
I heard some comments elsewhere to do a rotating image for portfolio. I havent done that b/c those are not always optimized and this site is optimized for mobile. I feel I may have too many images in the portfilio but I guess I could narrow it down when I further narrow down my definition of myself.

You can also critique the images in my portfolio.

www.abbymalonephoto.co​m

I would like to start an advertising push this summer, after my workshop and I'm slowly putting things in place.

It looks OK to me. I can look at the home page & see if I'd want to hire you or not. But...
Mostly, I do wish that the images weren't cropped because it looks like you don't know how to frame if a person doesn't click on them to get the full frame. And the Rottweiler Portrait should be a vertical. ; )

Hmm, well that's a good point about the images. The template designs them to be that way but I can see the issue. But I'm not sure if I resized the thumbs in any manner if they'd work for all images (to display them all in a way that each individual image would look properly framed) Maybe I should have to make a custom thumb for each one then.

Or should I put something to say "click the thumb to see the entire image".. or is that too tacky?

Thanks for the suggestions.

I also looked at the Rottweiler and I can see what you are saying. I will revisit that tomorrow. I am too tired for editing now. I had that one printed in a "square" and the square actually came out ok too.

abbypanda wrote in post #15898557
I also looked at the Rottweiler and I can see what you are saying. I will revisit that tomorrow. I am too tired for editing now. I had that one printed in a "square" and the square actually came out ok too.

A square would work for me, too. The thing is, these are supposed to showcase your work & "vision", & shoehorning them into a fixed template just doesn't work for me. If you must use the template, maybe putting a border around the thumbs would force the full image.

Abby,

I was drinking my morning coffee when I wrote the below, hence the long, LONG, never-ending critique. I am not trying to nit-pik, or proof-read your stuff, just point out 'some' things that will hopefully help you out in the future, I think that your visual work speaks for itself, but some stuff may be not needed, or difficult for some to fully grasp.

I just looked at your website, and also your Facebook, and overall, I am really pretty impressed. Actually, I have seen many of your shots already and not posted any thoughts, because what I saw (possibly) was already said, and saying, "Ooooo!" one more time doesn't help too much.
I agree with what PhotosGuy said too, (he's a really good judge of things, VERY helpful, and an honest critique) so you should be O.K.
One thing I would suggest is to 'maybe' think about your thumbnails and crop them (the thumbnails only) so that it creates interest, not showing the entire shot, in other words, a minimalists crop. In your line, that may not be the correct thing, but on an average website, it helps to create some interest, and that tells anyone that you need to click on the thumbnail, rather than having to have a "Please click on thumbnail" to get attention to that.
One last thought on that... Maybe you could not have your thumbnails on the Index page, but rather have a link in a menu that will lead people to Babies & Children, etc. You could have one, or maybe more, (all depending on the design) large images that are what attracts people's attention. Hopefully that makes sense. That would at least eliminate the problem of making a special icon that says for them to CLICK HERE for more...

Also, I see some places that I saw that you made a compound word out what should've been two separate words, and I think, vice-versa. Making 100% sure that you spell everything perfect makes a huge difference in how your clients will perceive you, it's very important. I do realize that you will have mistakes like that when making a new site, or a blog, but I would take the time and go back and read it when you can, or better yet, have someone that would help you. You have done a very good job in showing what you can provide, but it can also be the little things too that help people perceive you as professional. Spell-Check alone can't give you 100% perfection, so you also have to go in and look to see what it may have missed.

"The Sun Sets, like a blaze of fire over the icy aftermath of Storm Euclid in Hot Springs Arkansas"
Here's an example of where the name, "The Sun Sets" should be either bold, or in quotes, because if that is the name of your shot, it needs to be done so people read it that way. If it is not the name of the photograph, it doesn't need to be in capital letters. Also you could call attention to it by calling it that, 'I call this one, The Sun Sets, it was like a blaze of fire over the icy aftermath of Storm Euclid in Hot Springs Arkansas'...
Hopefully that makes some sense.
If the name of the storm wasn't, "Storm Euclid", (I had to look that one up) it shouldn't be in capitals. There should be a comma after "Hot Springs, Arkansas". It's those little things that help you look good, and that is what you are after on a website.

One thing that may or may not be the thing to do is, you have your 'professional' stuff along with your personal stuff.
I am not sure on the 'rules' on that for someone that is a professional, or is trying to be, but for me, they should be separate. That doesn't mean I am right, I'm only bringing it up because it may be the right thing, and if not, just forget I mentioned it. What I mean is, your website is fine, but in your Facebook icon it takes you to your personal Facebook, rather than your professional Facebook. To look professional, to me it should be completely separate from anything that has things of a personal nature on them, your thoughts, your dog's shots, and that sort of thing.
I may be way off here, it's just what I felt, maybe others will tell you completely different.

Maybe it 'might be' a good idea to not have a 'spider', or things of that nature because I sincerely doubt that anyone would want to hire anyone to take shots of a spider, or a bug. (I think that a ladybug is a positive thing though, and most that you will encounter will be female, and they mostly love them) Now a flower or a butterfly is a good thing, and that alone shows what you can do in the macro department. I will say that I have taken macro shots for many years and I believe that your 'jumping spider' has all of mine beat, you did an excellent job on that, I just think it could creep someone out possibly. You don't want any negative feelings/thoughts on a place that you are trying to sell yourself.

On your butterfly shot, that is a personal shot, if you are going to show that, it should be in an area that you have as your, "Personal Portfolio", that way you could show what you can do, but do it under a completely different area. If you feel it does belong on your site, then you should have more macro shots to show what you are capable of, a company 'may' need your services to shoot computer parts, (circuit boards, etc.) or some website may need you to take flower or butterfly shots for their site, or a brochure. If you are selling a service, nobody wants to buy a service that they can't see an example of. If you don't have that example, you may very well lose that prospective customer due to their lack of patience, it happens all day long, every day. So you really need to focus on 'each' area that you want to sell the idea of a potential client's needs, you need to grab them and keep them. Look at your site objectively as a customer. Do you see that you have what it takes for anyone to take notice and you hold their attention long enough so they will call on you?
If it makes you feel better, your site is really well done, but I am trying to look at it really close and see 'stuff' that might make a difference in your selling, or not. For me, I'm pretty sure that you will get enough work if you left it alone as it is, but, to make it extra special, it never hurts to really take the time to check out what I mention here. If you don't agree, that's fine, but at least look and 'see' if some may be something that needs special attention. Getting someone else to do this will greatly increase your chances of finding mistakes, or, things that you can't, or haven't seen.
(I know that websites that I have made in the past, there have been typos and 'little things' that are right there in front of me that I would not have seen if I didn't take the time, or get help)

That brings up something that I noticed too...
You mention "specializing" in more than one area, that is kind of confusing, if you "specialize", usually one only specializes in one area.
This is from my dictionary...
"Become more focused on an area of activity or field of study"
"Devote oneself to a special area of work"
You have, "I specialize in Babies & Children, Pets, Sports, and Nature"...
So, to me, that is confusing, and may be for some of your clients on down the road.

Really though, you definitely do have some real talent, and I can see you growing into a very good photographer, not that your aren't already, but professionally. I wouldn't take the time to bring all of this up if I didn't believe that.

For me, you don't have enough of what you can do to show your clients, I felt that I wanted to see 'more' of your talents. Meaning, I saw one shot of a pair of wrestlers, so I wonder, 'If she has these up, where are her others?'... (Baseball, Basketball, other types that they can see that you didn't just 'happen to' have a wrestling shot. If you have a shot of only one dog, maybe several of the same one, that shows (to me) that is is more than likely 'your dog', and that takes some of the professionalism out of it. If you showed other dogs that you have taken, I'd not think along those lines. The same goes for any of the other types of things that you want to 'sell' to your clients.
You don't go to Olan Mills and see that they have personal photos there. (Not that Olan Mills is a good example, that was the only studio that I could think of, maybe you have not heard of them at all)

Possibly just look at each group of shots you have and go over them and look for 'clean-up' areas that need attention, I know that's what I have to do, I always make mistakes like what I am telling you about.

Really, I am sorry that I went on so long, but I'm only trying to mention things that 'may' help you, and if they aren't what you're needing, that's O.K. too. I had time this morning, and I enjoyed looking at your website and your shots, and I do mean it when I say that you are definitely cut out for doing what you are striving for. You will do very well, I have no doubts.

Randy

Thank you very much. You have brought up some good points. I do need to recheck the spellings and such. I think on the caps: I went to some courses no writing blogs, copy etc for the mma gym... and they always talked about capitalizing the headline (every word). I think maybe I got in too much of a habit of using caps to emphasize things.

On the professional/ personal stuff I am guessing you are referring to my FB? I do need to clean that up and I didnt realize the site took you to a personal FB what the heck was I thinking when I set that up?? Anyway last night as I was thinking about this I was like "I really need to clean up my FB", so that's next on the list.

And this leads me into the whole rest of it about IDK what to "specialize in".

1. I like babies, but I feel the market is prob over saturated. I also dont have kids of my own (but hopefully will sooner rather than later), but with that said, I really dont hang out with all the moms in town for networking either, so that may be a tough area for me. Maybe not.

2. I like sports & children. pay seems to be few and far between on the sports but I do have access to network with little league, and am considering going to local teams and trying to get the "job" doing their sports photographs. The gym I have puts me in contact with kids and parents, who all play some other sport on the side. I could easily go to them and just "offer" to do it. Some of my parents are coaches. I have been very hesitant thus far to "cross promote" my photography with the gym. I have also shot for some international leagues (martial arts) as well as local fights, and some local sport agencies. Pay was good from the local stuff, but I have not much desire to do martial arts again on a large scale. Everyone steals your pics, they don't wanna pay, and I could go on and on, but suffice to say it didnt do anything for me locally (branding wise) so I prob wont do it much. My pics have ended up on over $10,000 worth of Tshirts with nothing for me.

I also did a preschool and some children. I have more access to this type stuff b/c of the gym I own and my mom has also run a church preschool for like 20 years. The last time I did a shoot at the preschool, I got all information to create an email list, and already had some inquiries from parents about doing more family shoots, etc. This may be my best option to focus. I really enjoyed that. I also watched a webinar on PPA about doing private school photos and I'd really like that.

3. Pets I love as much as I love children, but again I'm guessing that's a hard market to tap. I am putting some things together, though, to take to some local businesses. With that said I have a ton of pets lol. I am very good with animals, but I would prob need to go to a specific workshop to learn some ways to convince folks with $ to invest in a pet portrait.

Hopefully after my business workshop I can start to further refine what I want to do.
I did buy a separate domain awhile back and I am considering moving all my butterfly, macro, landscape, etc pics over to it. I'm still building it out, but I stopped to finish this first.

In the time that I made the first post last night, I took the portfolio from 12 to 6 pics. Not sure which one you saw.

Instead of making the thumbs of the pics clickable to just the photo, I made the page an "about" page for that type of photography, with more pics. I got this idea last night and it may work.

You can see the first example by clicking the baby. It should take you here
http://www.abbymalonep​hoto.com …r-benton-bryant-arkansas/. It's not near done, I just started.

Where I am currently putting information as well as "the rest of the pics".
the thing will be to just make sure people want to click the images on the front page. I am going to ask in a forum for the site about how to change the thumb sizes on the front page... maybe to a square.

What do you guys think of this option/ layout?

Abby:

There's a book called "What Color is Your Parachute" that is updated every year or so. It has helped me decide what I want to do when (or if) I grow up. [I'm retiring from my "first" career on October 1 this year, so I've employed the techniques of the book and learned that I DO NOT want to be a professional photographer.] You might find the book helpful to tease through your likes and preferences to help you learn about what connects with you. this could help decide what areas of photography drive you. I was surprised by what I learned.

I like the updates you've made on your site. I can see that you've been busy since last night!

abbypanda wrote in post #15900017
Thank you very much. You have brought up some good points. I do need to recheck the spellings and such. I think on the caps: I went to some courses no writing blogs, copy etc for the mma gym... and they always talked about capitalizing the headline (every word). I think maybe I got in too much of a habit of using caps to emphasize things.
Remember, I was only saying stuff about your typos and stuff to help fine tune it, you spell very well, and I can tell that you are articulate, so it's only the small oversights that I refer to. There are ways of making what you need noticed, and the way you do it may be correct, but for us that may not see it that way, we may need the bold type to make it stand out as a point. Since I have not taken a course on what is proper, I'll leave it up to those that actually do know.

On the professional/ personal stuff I am guessing you are referring to my FB? I do need to clean that up and I didnt realize the site took you to a personal FB what the heck was I thinking when I set that up?? Anyway last night as I was thinking about this I was like "I really need to clean up my FB", so that's next on the list.
Yes, your Facebook. I clicked on your Facebook logo on the bottom right (I believe) and it took me to your Facebook page. There's nothing horrible wrong with that at all, just my thinking. Personally, if I were in your position, (I am not professional, and I don't expect to ever do photography professionally) I would make a Facebook page about your professional site, and also have one that is your personal one too, that is, if they allow that. I would always have a link from your personal sites that lead to your professional site, but not the other way around. Really, I am only bringing all of this up 'in case' it would be the correct thing to do, I'm not trying to push my opinion on you, but make it to where you take a good look and see what you feel is right. Although I have had my own business, I have not ever once taken a course about how to do a business, and I am sure that people could've shown me a few things I was not aware of.

And this leads me into the whole rest of it about IDK what to "specialize in".

1. I like babies, but I feel the market is prob over saturated. I also dont have kids of my own (but hopefully will sooner rather than later), but with that said, I really dont hang out with all the moms in town for networking either, so that may be a tough area for me. Maybe not.
Going with the flow is what you may need to do, go with what you have available, then after you get more settled, you can start to concentrate on other areas, then flesh them out. If I went fishing and there was hardly any fish in the pond, I'd probably start to fish somewhere else, no matter how much I liked that pond. I really am not into babies at all, I have never had any children, so I am not 'into' babies, but I know what I like, and your baby shots are as good as the next photographer. So if it arises, do them, you don't have to "specialize" in babies to shoot them, you can do it all, and I know photographers that do, but they only specialize in one thing. Maybe right now don't put anything about specializing in anything, add that in a week, or a month, when you know for sure.

2. I like sports & children. pay seems to be few and far between on the sports but I do have access to network with little league, and am considering going to local teams and trying to get the "job" doing their sports photographs. The gym I have puts me in contact with kids and parents, who all play some other sport on the side. I could easily go to them and just "offer" to do it. Some of my parents are coaches. I have been very hesitant thus far to "cross promote" my photography with the gym. I have also shot for some international leagues (martial arts) as well as local fights, and some local sport agencies. Pay was good from the local stuff, but I have not much desire to do martial arts again on a large scale. Everyone steals your pics, they don't wanna pay, and I could go on and on, but suffice to say it didnt do anything for me locally (branding wise) so I prob wont do it much. My pics have ended up on over $10,000 worth of Tshirts with nothing for me.
Cross-promoting at your place of business probably is not a good idea like you say, I wholeheartedly agree with that. You could have flyers made up or a brochure that is available on a bulletin board, and place them in places that would allow that, getting the word out. Having your gym and a photographic place together though may not be the right thing, that is, until you have 'made it', then you want to expand. You may think then that you'd like an actual brick and mortar place other than the gym by then though. In other words right now, I'd try and get the same crowd by ways that don't involve your gym, but a flyer or a brochure that was on your gym's bulletin board wouldn't be a bad thing, I don't think.
I know what you mean about people stealing your work, I had my business logo stolen by an Australian, and as far as I know, he's still using it. heheh

I also did a preschool and some children. I have more access to this type stuff b/c of the gym I own and my mom has also run a church preschool for like 20 years. The last time I did a shoot at the preschool, I got all information to create an email list, and already had some inquiries from parents about doing more family shoots, etc. This may be my best option to focus. I really enjoyed that. I also watched a webinar on PPA about doing private school photos and I'd really like that.
I first saw your children shots, that is why I remember you, and I was impressed then. (Your school children shots with the "explosive" boxes in the shot) To me, that is what you excel in, I felt when I saw your work that you were doing really well, although there were tiny things that 'could be' done, nothing was so wrong that it wasn't fine as it was. If that is your best option, then maybe that is where you should go, test the waters more seriously. (Not that I know how hard you already have worked at this)

3. Pets I love as much as I love children, but again I'm guessing that's a hard market to tap. I am putting some things together, though, to take to some local businesses. With that said I have a ton of pets lol. I am very good with animals, but I would prob need to go to a specific workshop to learn some ways to convince folks with $ to invest in a pet portrait.
If I were to go into any kind of professional photography, I'd want to into animal photography, but only because I like them, a LOT! That doesn't mean that I know how to though, because I've tried it, I pretty much am not a dog photographer, that I know. heheh
You though, you'd know if that is something that you have the patience for, and if you do, I would imagine that you could master that. I will say though, honestly, on your site I don't see any animal shots (aside from the main sugar glider one) that is one that I would call it done by a animal photographer. I say that with all due respect too, you are good, but I don't see the shot that should be the one that would draw in prospective clients. The only advice I would, or could give it to work on that before you try to sell it, a lot of people throw pictures of all kinds of things on their sites and say they do that, but you can tell from their shots, they aren't not that experienced with it. That doesn't mean they can't be good at it though, it's just their inexperience, probably. I never, ever, like to say it this way, because I don't like hurting one's feelings, but for the life of me, I couldn't find the right way to tell you what I felt was maybe something that would help you eventually. I am good at a lot of things, but I am not good at others, I shoot birds mostly, quite a bit of macro (in season) and landscapes too, but I suck at dog shots, and I don't have an itch to shoot people... yet, so I only tell you this out of experience. Just because I like to shoot landscapes, I do pretty good, not great, but I like it, that doesn't mean I am good at architecture, I may be, I really haven't tried. I mean, I am not good 'across the board' when it comes to photography, which, is by the way, what makes my world go 'round.

Hopefully after my business workshop I can start to further refine what I want to do.
I did buy a separate domain awhile back and I am considering moving all my butterfly, macro, landscape, etc pics over to it. I'm still building it out, but I stopped to finish this first.
I have no doubt that the business workshop will give you pointers that you or I am not aware of, hopefully it's all you hope it will be.
What really, REALLY was confusing to me after I went back to your site and looked at it some more was... You have two almost identical names, it really confused me, although, that's not that hard to do. heheh
The www.abbymalonephoto.co​m and the www.abbymalonephotogra​phy.com should not be connected, it's too close in using the same almost identical name. I realize how you did it, and why, when starting out we rarely know what we want to be called, and later, you more than likely didn't want to give up the first. I did the same thing myself. Anyway, I am sure that you know what I mean, but if you don't, and want a more detailed explanation, let me know. (I ramble way too much as it is)

Personally, I like the layout of your first website compared to the new one, that's just more my tastes though. They both look professional, but I just like the older one's look best.

In the time that I made the first post last night, I took the portfolio from 12 to 6 pics. Not sure which one you saw.
I looked this morning, so my comment was made after you had already removed some. That just goes to show, we all have different tastes, and just because I like something, someone else will like another. Think about which way you feel is best, then base your decisions on that. You don't have to do all of the website in a week, just go in (when you have the time) and fine tune a piece of it and break it down into a smaller job. It's fine either way, but what is best if you to finally decide, which is easier said than done.

Instead of making the thumbs of the pics clickable to just the photo, I made the page an "about" page for that type of photography, with more pics. I got this idea last night and it may work.

You can see the first example by clicking the baby. It should take you here
http://www.abbymalonep​hoto.com …r-benton-bryant-arkansas/. It's not near done, I just started.
I actually really like the way the page above it now, that is a good way to do that. Even if it's not done, I can see where you are going with it, and I prefer that style to what was up before.

Where I am currently putting information as well as "the rest of the pics".
the thing will be to just make sure people want to click the images on the front page. I am going to ask in a forum for the site about how to change the thumb sizes on the front page... maybe to a square.
Having others analyze what you have and give their opinions is a good way to go, it can take a while for you to decipher afterwards. If you can read between the lines of all of the answers, you should find what you need.

What do you guys think of this option/ layout?

Randy (Again, I'm sorry to be so long, but that's the way I am)

Cpam thanks, I will get that book.

recrisp:
"Personally, I like the layout of your first website compared to the new one, that's just more my tastes though. They both look professional, but I just like the older one's look best."
which site are you referring to? Teh one that had the "bigger" image at the top? Before this template I had one that had a large image at the top, with 4 blog post options under it... is that the one? I had another before that but that was quite some time ago.

On the 2 sites, I started and got just a smugmug and made it to my name + photography. I realized later I didnt want just a smugmug to promote my business (not good seo, etc) and that main domain was taken so I got another and made a site. I took down the smugmug links from my photo site, but I see my smugmug still links to my main site. I am on the fence about making my smugmug totally private and just using it for hosting... that's pretty much what I'm using it for at this time.

I will probably stick to children mostly for now. I like that. On the pets you are probably right. I think I could make some nice pictures with dogs, but I admit I have not actively sought out other's pets to work with like I have with children, etc. My dogs aren't exactly well trained enough to sit still for me to work with. But I'll keep working at it on the side. The butterflies are absolutely my favorite, but I just dont think theres much to do with them other than have fun.

recrisp:
"Personally, I like the layout of your first website compared to the new one, that's just more my tastes though. They both look professional, but I just like the older one's look best."
which site are you referring to? Teh one that had the "bigger" image at the top? Before this template I had one that had a large image at the top, with 4 blog post options under it... is that the one? I had another before that but that was quite some time ago.

Abby,

This is the page I was referring to.
http://www.abbymalonep​hoto.com …r-benton-bryant-arkansas/

I like it that way because it is clean looking, and to the point, I just like it, that's all.
The Index page's icon that leads to this page though needs to be changed to Newborn though, right now it has the, "Newborn Photography : “Angel”" link, which is not really 'just about' Angel any longer. I'm sure that you know that, but I was trying to make sure that I wasn't too confusing, at this point, I'm almost lost. heheheh

If a person was to try and remember your website's name, www.abbymalonephotogra​phy.com works best, the www.abbymalonephoto.co​m also works, but it'd be my second choice. I only say this like a prospective customer might see it, really, neither bothers me, but I prefer the name with "photography" in it because that is how people remember you. A lot of people remember by word association, they may remember it either way, and more than likely they'd end up at your site anyway, it's only a safety precaution. Now though, I'm sure that you could do things in SEO that would make that work for you. You could use the one with "photography" in it as your main site's name, or, use it as a way to get people that remember it that way to draw them in a search. I don't know how important that site with the "photography" is to you for that reason though. This all may more confusing that helping really, I'm only thinking out loud, but it may be coming across as static noise. The scratchy kind... heheh
Maybe you could do a POLL here on POTN to see what people actually think about the name, which would they think works best...

Really, please do keep working on your animal shots, I say that only because I know you can do it, but like you were saying, you don't have enough 'models' to work with. Actually I saw the other Rottweiler shots you had, I saw one that had the background separated from the dog that looked good. If the shot that you show on your 'main' website had the background, that'd look a LOT better. Like you, I have a lot of pets, and none of them like their pictures taken, I have to sneak to get them, they will not pose. I can relate, but, sometimes it's easier to do someone's pet that you aren't familiar with. The reason I mention that is because when I take my dogs to the vet, they act perfect, they take their shots, samples, tests, trim nails, and all of that. When I attempt to mimic any of that, they act horrible to me, they are monsters, so maybe other dogs is where it's at for you. I'm really surprised that nobody has not called the police on me when I am cutting my dog's nails, they scream like they're being murdered! (I'm not hurting them, they just know they can get away with it) Of course, I know not of what I say on the serious parts about dog photography, if a dog photographer came in this thread they'd probably say I was crazy, and they could very well be right.

If butterflies are your favorite, that is macro, so showing that doesn't make it a bad thing, but show other things that are macro also. Doing it that way you can relay the softness of a butterfly shot, to the hard look of a static part, or something completely different. Watches could be tried, that could show a part of you that could be a way to show the people that you could do hardware type shots. Personally, I like spiders, I do a lot of butterflies too, wasps and bees, and bugs, but there's not much call for any of those. To show that you can though, that is the thing, whatever it is, a butterfly, a watch, a ring, cut stones/rocks, they all have their own place in websites, and business. If you have a way with macro, or whatever, show them that you can do it, that's all, but, you have to do it in a way that is attractive to a wide audience.

Maybe you could have a business portfolio and also a personal one that shows the things mentioned here, or whatever you feel you want to do. That shouldn't be against any rules of business, I wouldn't think. I like to know how a person thinks when I am doing any kind of business, it makes me feel safer as a consumer, if you had a link to a personal portfolio in you ABOUT page, that should be fine. That could show what you as a person likes, when you are not working, but it's still work related, but in a warm and friendly way.

Think hard about what you show people on your site. Try not to do any repetition, meaning, shots that are similar to the other, especially of the same subject, it's not only making a shot look less attractive to your viewers, it's completely not needed. I saw a few shots of a baby that was a very nice shot, then below it there were others that detracted from that one, they were also good, but they weren't needed. I have always felt that if you show you best, that speaks for itself, there's no reason to show your second best, that takes away rather than adds to the experience. On the other hand, you have a young boy that is throwing leaves into the air, that is also a very good shot, I also saw another shot of him (close-up) that showed him smiling with his glasses on, that looked REALLY good. So while most of the time repetition isn't a good thing, done right, and in moderation, it can enhance.

I know, that's probably comes off as a jumbled mess, but I am really writing my thoughts as I remember therm down, hopefully they not only make some sense, but you think it helps.

Randy

Your layout in #1 is pretty good. The one aspect of your site I noticed that bothers me is you say "specializing in babies & children, pets, sports & nature. IMHO too many separate & different disciplines to say specializing in. If you left it at babies & children, that would be acceptable and a case might be made for including pets, although in reality, pets do require a different understanding approach and skillset. But equipment and lighting technique can be similar, so I have less of a problem with including pets. It seems to me there is nothing wrong with a photographer having multiple interests, but there is a difference between having and shooting those interests and specializing.

Hi Abby.
I had a quick look. My thoughts:
1. Read More link turns to black and vanishes on the black background.
2. When I reduce the window size on my laptop, the text squeezes up to the margin.
3. Your 'portfolio' thumbnails are 3 on one line, 2 on another and 1 on the third line. Why?
4. Menu links just jump down the page. Are you going to build more pages?

Some really nice photos, by the way

Gizmo1137 wrote in post #15949836
Your layout in #1 is pretty good. The one aspect of your site I noticed that bothers me is you say "specializing in babies & children, pets, sports & nature. IMHO too many separate & different disciplines to say specializing in. If you left it at babies & children, that would be acceptable and a case might be made for including pets, although in reality, pets do require a different understanding approach and skillset. But equipment and lighting technique can be similar, so I have less of a problem with including pets. It seems to me there is nothing wrong with a photographer having multiple interests, but there is a difference between having and shooting those interests and specializing.

Thanks Bruce. I am finishing out all the "portfolio" sections this week. One thing I am doing is 99% sure I'm moving my landscapes, butterflies and all the nature stuff to a separate site. I say 99% b/c i already started building it but it had an installation issue that now I'm gonna have to go back and wipe it and restart. So I put that on the back burner temporarily. So right now the "nature" pics are there just as placeholders more than anything.

For the moment I would keep pets and kids together but ideally i may move the pets to a new site at some point. I searched my city and other surrounding cities on the pet niche... 1) there are not too many people I can find doing pets. When I say not too many I mean like 2 or so. I got some local critique that felt mine was on par with theirs, but I am going to keep working on it as well. 2) I wonder if the fact that theres only 1 or 2 doing it means it's not much a market at all.

The "About me" is the last thing I am going to edit. I have gotten the most comments on that and I go to a business workshop in 2 weeks. I am saving that for after that, and I am wavering the idea of taking it down all together.

Hannya wrote in post #15950065
Hi Abby.
I had a quick look. My thoughts:
1. Read More link turns to black and vanishes on the black background.
2. When I reduce the window size on my laptop, the text squeezes up to the margin.
3. Your 'portfolio' thumbnails are 3 on one line, 2 on another and 1 on the third line. Why?
4. Menu links just jump down the page. Are you going to build more pages?

Some really nice photos, by the way

Can I trouble you to send a screen shot of what you are seeing. It sounds like you see a lot of problems, but I really dont understand what you are seeing, especially regarding point 3. It should have the portfolio as 3 thumbs on one line and 3 on the next.

Menu links were made to jump down the page. That's how the template was designed. I have gotten some feedback that some dont like the template and suggested a flash site, but in terms of seo this site is killing it, and I only hear bad things about flash and seo.

Thanks all for taking the time to comment. I do really appreciate it. It's been a lot of work, but hopefully it'll pay off some day

Hi Abby.
Here's a screenshot, Firefox for Mac.

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com …/57712904@N00/8​759576220/