Be brutally honest

I need to fix me site. My SEO seems lack luster and looking at my analytics people are not feeling the need to explore my site. How can I make it more welcoming and interesting? Looking for more of a critique of the layout. I am in the middle of removing and adding new images so some of the galleries may not have a lot of content at this exact moment.

Personally, if I was looking at you for a photographer, you have so many photos on the front page that I can can see what "style" you shoot without having to explore the rest of your website.

Everything just looks the same to me. I don't see any WOW photos.
Apart from SEO and all the key words, I think you need to introduce visitors slowly to any site.
Like your landing page, (IMO) should be either 1 main image (or a 3-4 image slider).
Honestly, I just felt like I was slapped in the head with a mass amount of images and there was nothing to say "wow, this guy has a great image on his landing page, let's see what else he has"
And there doesn't seem to be any logical or progressive structure. I caught myself saying, "did I actually move to a new page from the navigation or is this still the same page"

Hope this is a start.

I agree with the two above me. You lack a main page. When I got to the site I saw that I was already looking at the portraits page. many of them look kind of dull and don't strike me as a wow image. To be really honest, compared with what I have seen from others here, the only image on your wedding page that I would continue to use there is the one with the rings in the dress laces. Many of the others don't look right because they are off center. For example, the one with the girl twisting so that her dress flings out some looks like you wanted to take a photo of her dancing with the streetpost?? Others that would be nice have someone in the background that look to be yawning. One one of the nicer ones where the girl is doing her makeup, it looks like there is a gas station outside. Fix that window in the computer so it looks like it is clear sky on all the panes. I'd also be wondering why my wedding photographer has pictures of a mazda in a parking garage on his site. Yeah it is nice that you take other pictures of things you like, but it seems out of place on a site that seems to be mostly about photos of people. Perhaps a page with "other published works" would be better than a transportation and walking around age.

The nicest looking sites that I have seen have large photos that rotate through with the rest being small thumbnails that you can click on to view more full page. This leaves for a minimum of scrolling and less page load time for people who don't have super high speed connections or computers. They have at most a dozen photos on a page which are stunning to me normally.

I know you were only looking at a layout critique, but the actual images need to be incorporated as part of the layout because the best layout won't keep someone's attention without exceptional images.

As you asked what's wrong:
Everything.

Start from scratch with this question: What's the site for?
You need to really look at your SEO strategy, what is it you're trying to sell, I had to look at your 'about me' to find out where you are, do you think customers in your vicinity are going to search for a 'portrait photographer' then go through the 16million hits before they find one locally, no they're not. Your SEO strategy should start from 'type of photography mytown'.

The images have been discussed - so I'll leave that with you.

The text is awful, if you don't know it is, get someone else to write it. You switch from 3rd person to 1st person, there are spelling errors, repeated words and out and out stuff no-one needs to know.

Every 2nd rate photographer in the world thinks customers want to know when and why they picked up a camera, think about this from a customers perspective; does it matter? Sell customers what they want to buy, entice them in, intrigue them. Sit and watch TV tonight, I'll buy you a beer for every commercial selling bland and obvious, you buy me one for every commercial selling, quirky, thought provoking, engaging. We'll party all year if you find one selling:

"My interest in *** started as a curiosity with little toy *** as a child. That grew into to wondering about the stories behind the *** in my mothers. When I got older I decided I wanted to ***. My dad bought me an *** he got from my uncle second hand. Several dozen *** later I was hooked. I took a long time off from **** and now I have comeback to it and want to share my passion for ***. My focus is *** and I also share my passion with something unrelated to what you want to buy.

I'll try to be as specific as possible:

- You don't sell yourself AT all. You are making the classic mistake where you think people will see your pictures and decide they have to have you That sadly almost never happens.
- You have one page of text and it's full of typos. I stopped reading after the second which only took 2 sentences to find.
- I'd back out of weddings if you only have two weddings to show. And overall I'd concentrate on one or two areas.

Pretty much agree with previous posters. What is the site "for"? Is it just personal photo sharing site? or is it a site you intend to sell your services with? If it's with the later, then ditch things like your around town/misc section.

Also, no info about you, as the photographer. That sort of leaves the current landing page sort of a "that's all I needed to know, I guess" feeling to it, and it doesn't show off particularly outstanding work.

The existing about me page needs a good proofread, and your description should not swap between third and first person. Pick one or the other; my general preference for a self-run site would be first person...third person makes more sense when the site is part of a business or gallery where the photographer's work is basically being presented by another party (seller, owner, etc).

Home page visual chaos in some regards. Not clear what you sell.

1st image on left, if you were obviously selling seniors or sports this would fit in but as you don't have them listed this image leaves me confused as to why it is the first image people see on your site.

1st image on right, looks like street/personal photography

2nd image on left, looks like he's squinting, not well lit

2nd image on right, she doesn't appear to have feet and it seems more about the graffiti than her

3rd image on left, 4th image on right, seem underexposed and not particularly appealing

3rd image on right, stranger at a bus stop?

4th image on left, your girlfriend on a bench? It has that iPhone snap look to it. (Same for
5th on right)

5th image on left, horrible processing, bad pose.

All in all visual chaos with most images seeming to not fit with what you actually sell. Every gallery is visual chaos. I honestly see nothing in some of the images that would appeal to someone wanting to hire you. It is almost as if they are the only images you have and have just filled in content.

No text as to what you services are. You're trying to sell right? But you aren't telling people what is for sale.

About page. Terribly written.

pretty much everything that has been said is accurate.

you need to define your services on the home page. you should pick a specialty ... the lack of a definite specialty makes me think you haven't decided yourself.

one more comment about the About page, are you the dude or chick? :P No really, I honestly don't know, sure Corey is usually a guy's name, but you are leaving it up for debate. Why in the world would you want your spouse/girl friend/whatever on your business page anyway?

I think your best bet is to hire a professional. I'm not talking about just someone who does websites, if you really want your website to bring you business, you need some good planning and copywriting.

I agree with the above comments and don't have anything more to add regarding the pages with images.

You also need to improve your "about-me" page:

1. Agree with LHB ... are you the man or the woman in the image (Corey and Chris are names used by both men and women)?
2. The first paragraph is written in a different narrative form than the last paragraph. I suggest picking one (I prefer first person for something like this) and sticking with it
3. First and second sentence should be combined
4. "that not dependent on fads" should be "that is not dependent on fads"
5. "Corey's am is to provide you with photos that you would be happy to hang as art" --- am should be aim
6. You should use the same size font for the first and second paragraph
7. Your story is fine, but the sentences are really fragmented

On your "Contact" page: "Form not necessary feel free to drop me a line or call for more information." isn't written well and doesn't add anything. I'd delete it.

Why do you have such an atomic number?

One last thing i had thought about for a while...

" I took a long time off from photography and now I have comeback to it and want to share my passion for story telling through this medium with the world."

To me this sounds like photography really isn't a passion or a business you care about much at all. Almsot like a part time gig to fill your time. get rid of the I took a long time off part because it doesn't really sell you in any positive light.

And what the others said about not knowing who you were. I assumed you were the male in the photo, but after reading what others said, who knows. Best to just have a good photo of yourself. if you want to discuss your family then perhaps place a smaller photo in with the story.