Suggestions for Website

[marcia_huebner]

I am almost finished building my website and would appreciate critque and suggestions before I go live. Any help or

comments would be appreciated. I am marketing to senior, events, and portraits. Sincerely

 

http://74.55.209.210/~marc

[geoffs1]

It looks OK to me.

 

The navigation is can be a bit in the "mystery meat" category (http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/mysterymeatnavigation.html)

 

I'm not such a big fan of 100% Flash sites, but that's just me. It doesn't intrude as much as some Flash interfaces.

 

It loaded reasonably quickly over my 10 Mps cable connection, but I'll bet it's pretty slow over a 512 Mbs DSL connection.

[davidsimageline]

It load ok on my 6Mps DSL connection. I just build mine as well and I try to keep the files small as possible with good quality images so it wont log on slow connection.

[marcia_huebner]

Geoff, Are you thinking that instead of client lounge, it should be client proof or proofing? Those type of things? "the 411" should simply be info? For marketing reasons, are you in the U.S.? Age group? I am really trying to market to 17- 35 year olds. If you fit this market and still think these are too vague of descriptions, I will change some of it.

Also, I tried it on another PC that did not give me the option to turn the music off. Did anyone have trouble with that? I am not sure if it is a website problem or the PC. Let me know and thanks for your help.

I am just starting out, so do any of you think that I should limit the pictures of the same clients and show less pictures? Also, are there any pictures that you think should not be shown because the quality is not good. I don't want any pictures that would turn clients away. Thx, Marci

[patrick_f]

Very nice design, but ditch the music! Not that I dislike the song, but I really do not understand why people add music to there

sites! From everyone I have polled, most find music very distracting and annoying. Especially me. Remember: Just because the

song may fit, or because you like it, does not necessary mean the everyone else will agree. It is just like putting ones prices on

there site - a huge blunder. Both are two of the biggest pitfalls to photo websites. Just my $.02

[patrick_f]

Case in point, from a posting a few down from this one:

Walt Flanagan , Sep 27, 2008; 08:19 a.m.

"Anytime I see a gallery that is all flash or has music I close the tab. It's not worth my time."

[michelle_carrillo]

I this it depends on your purposes and demographics. If you are trying to hit the 17-35 range, then I think music is perfectly fine. If the person doesn't want to hear it, they can flip a switch to turn the music off or down. I speak from recent client experience, as I was recently married and was searching a LONG time for the perfect photographer. And contrary to what the person previously wrote about prices on a website being a "huge blunder," since there are SO many choices out there for a photographer, I actually didn't spend much time on those that didn't provide prices. Yes, I did email some that I thought were quality (and DID end up going with one that didn't have prices displayed). But it was a huge nuisance for me, and made me instantly toss some choices out of the "maybe" pile. One more thing; I LIKE the titles like "411, " etc. Cute, catchy, and you get the point. (I am 30, by the way.)

[marcia_huebner]

Thanks for the suggestions and I am working on the mystery meat to display buttons for the individual portfolios

instead of the pictures. I understand what you are speaking of about the music; however, I am plugging for a family

members band for events and weddings. Networking and refferals- its on my blog.

Are you able to see the jukebox to turn it off?

I have a target audience of 17-35 year old middle class, so I am trying to keep up with their likes/dislikes. May I ask

if you fit that US demographics? That would give me some base to make changes.

thx for everyone's help

any suggestions on good meta tags?

[patrick_f]

I still disagree about the prices....in general, after you have stated your price what else do you have to talk about? Too many

people searching for "the cheapest" and could care less about the quality. Get them to call you on the phone and sell yourself,

your product, and the emotion. Then bring up the issue of price after they are already sold on YOU. Business/sales 101

[Stock-Photos]

Without text, and LOTS of it, it's likely you will not get much traffic from search engines, assuming that's what you seek. HTML page titles are most important, headings next. Your page title is: "Marcia Huebner Photography" People don't search for that term. I strongly urge you to change the page titles to the strings of text potential customers would use to find your service, include the location, city for example.

 

People search for strings of words and if your pages do not have those words,....

 

Too often, people are more concerned with the design or look of a site and don't focus on how people will FIND it.

[marcia_huebner]

The splash page is html, the other pages are splash with meta tags. I am not a web designer, so I am not positive how well this is going to work. I do want to make it the best with what I have to work with. The text at the bottom of the page describes my services and area. I didn't think the spyders went into splash, so I wasn't trying to optimize that section except for the meta tags.

Is it your experience that I should move my services or area up to the top of the title to help with searches?

[marcia_huebner]

Prices-

How many of you have been succesful at web searches without prices nor any referral/word of mouth sales? I am

already establishing the referrals on the word of mouth for family and children portraits. I am targeting the tech savy

middle class whom might be shopping on line. I am on a learning curve and beginning this business, so I doubt I will

establish a brand for some time.

With today's economy, most people are comparison shopping for those "extra" items such as photography. I too get

aggravated when I don't have prices to go along with the product. There are very few items that I buy on brand alone.

But, I am assuming you are the experts here with successful businesses, so I will consider taking prices off. Do you

have leading text or "beginning at" to snag them into calling you?

 

By the way, most referrals have commented on the customer service, price, and quality of the enlargements that I

provide. That is one reason I hate to take it off.

[marcia_huebner]

Let me reword this: The splash page is html, the other pages are FLASH with meta tags. I didn't think the spyders went into flash.

[bscphoto]

actually, i LIKE having the prices there too! i am not a photographer, but my husband is and I built his website.

We work together on the content, and we worked on downloadable price lists for everyone.

 

I agree too about the comparrison shopping online. We got married a year ago, and when it was time to pick a

photographer, I found the ones who's styles i liked, and then decided based on price (our budget was tight enough

as it was)

 

I really think that ESPECIALLY with the economy the way it is, people want to compare. That does not mean you

have to have the lowest prices on the web, but if you post prices that are equal to your skill level, then people

will not be turned off. Really, your photography should speak for itself, and if your prices are fair, then

theres no reason not to post them.

 

We ALWAYS, however, have a disclaimer that pricing is all relative and packages can be changed based on the

person's needs.

 

 

Some website tips..

 

why is there an ENTER SITE - NEWSROOM - CLIENT LOUNGE

i know this was covered, but technically, all of those parts you are still entering site. It seems like th eother

two will take you away from your site.

The BLANK boxes that pop up over your links made me think it was broken or your forgot, until i hovers.. Make it

so that you can see the text by using one color and have it change color on hover instead of appear.

 

Your text on the sessions page is way too pale. I was waiting for it to darken, thought it was another flash

effect, but nope.. You need to darken that

 

The other annoying thing about flash sites is that everything is hover which means using the back button when you

accidentally go over something (like over the wrong gallery int he galleria) you are brough back to the MAIN

page. i know all you have to do is hover, but its soo natural to hit the back button

 

I would be interested to see what the proofs section of your site looks like. Can customers purchase prints from

your site?

[Spearhead]

You don't have the right to use the music you're using unless you have a license for ASCAP music. What you are doing is violating copyright (which is mis-spelled on your site). Unless you think anyone should be able to appropriate your images for their own purposes, I would recommend removing the music immediately. The age of your target audience doesn't give you the right to use work without proper licensing.

[bscphoto]

I didnt even hear the music because i hate music on website so much i just keep my laptop sound on mute. I HATE music on websites. Not to mention the copyright infringements.

[davidsimageline]

Hay Marcia keep doing your thing your going to find a lot of haters here, they don't know how to give advise with out BASHING at the same time.

[kersta1]

I´m sorry, I don´t seen your pictures. When music starts I turned your page away, cause I´m listening my favorite music in hearphones, when I´m travelling on web. I think, your photos are maybe nice.. but this music is rejecting potential clients. Success!

[bscphoto]

why ask for feedback if you are going to ignore it and just "keep on doing what you're doing"

 

No one is "Hating" on the site, or the person who built it. I have seen only constructive criticism on here about the links, pricing, and music.

[marcia_huebner]

for the music: did you see the artist listed on the site or the previous post from me? This is my nephew and I have

the legal right to use his music. They are a cover band from the same area that I am serving and have been

successfully playing for large audiences such as the Republican Convention in Columbus. They are all music

graduates of Capital U and have already studied the legalities of PLAYING this music. They also own a professional

recording studio. Thanks for the compliment if you thought they were the real thing. We are trying to give referrals to

each other for weddings and events.

 

I have not ignored the feedback. Are you confusing whom is posting? I am working on the suggestions that were

made and taking all of them into consideration. I am extremly grateful for the help and haven't had time to change all

of them. Some of the changes will not be seen on the test site as it is in the middle of going live on my own domain.

 

These are the changes I am making:

music- remove the song from the home page and only play the first song on the senior gallery and purchasing more

appropriate music for the wedding gallery

price- leaving some prices and removing some. Perhaps leaving a leading or "packages begin at" to give them a bite

at what my prices start at for those comparison shoppers, but leave it open for the big sales

Font color- darkening the font color to make it easier to read

Hovering/buttons- I am working on the designer with this to make it more definitive.

 

Lindsay- when I get my domain up, I will give you a password to look in the client proofing. Yes it has a shopping

cart that is emailed to me. The prices can be set for each client. This is what sold me on this design. As for the

client lounge on the splash page- this is so that clients can go directly to their proofing without waiting on my site to

load. It's the same place as inside the site. I did this as a convenience to existing clients. You think I should remove

the link to my blog from the splash page?

[Spearhead]

<i>for the music: did you see the artist listed on the site or the previous post from me? This is my nephew and I have the legal right to use his music.</i><P>You don't have the rights to use songs by John Mayer and Clay Aiken without a license. It doesn't matter who performs it. You don't have the rights to it. The song is not in the public domain. You are using a song written by John Mayer and Clay Aiken that has copyrights all over it and they don't get royalties without you having a license. You say they know all the legalities - if that were true, they would tell you that you can't use it without licensing or sub-licensing from ASCAP. I recommend a lawyer rather than your relatives if you want to understand music licensing.

[Stock-Photos]

Hi Marcia, in regard to my prevois post, check this search:

 

http://www.google.com/search?q=Delaware+Ohio+Photographer&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS176US229

 

and then see who comes up and why. It has mostly to do with page titles.

 

Your page title is"Marcia Heubner Photography" Page titles appear in the very top edge of a browser, off the Web

page, in the top of the browser application frame. The also appear as the headings of pages listed on search

results.

 

I hope this helps Marcia!.

 

BTW, does copyright on songs apply to live performances Jeff? In other words if a band performs a song live (and

it's not recorded) is that a music copyright violation? I'm just asking.

[Spearhead]

<i>In other words if a band performs a song live (and it's not recorded) is that a music copyright violation? </i><p>That's a good question and it's a very complex issue. Generally speaking, larger venues where music is performed have what is called a blanket license for ASCAP and BMI performances, which means that the venue covers the performance of copyrighted music through payments to an agency collecting on behalf of ASCAP and BMI. Smaller venues ignore this and are almost always left alone. In the UK, there have been raids of smaller clubs that have DJs playing music without the club having the proper licensing. In the US, I don't think it has gotten to this point yet.<p>The issue really becomes serious when someone uses copyrighted music for a promotional purpose, like the website referenced here. This represents commercial use without a license. The website is, to some extent, just like the venue, it has to license the music because it is making money for a third party.<p>I used to sit in the office of a record label with which I had some association (I did web marketing for them) and could not believe how much time was spent on rights management. The complexity of paying everyone in the food chain was mind boggling.

[marcia_huebner]

Perhaps Jeff should not suggest those things for which he does not know either. They hold a mechanical rights to record under 2500 copies for which they did pay royalties. Not covered under ascap, but the licence is from the Fox agency.

J.- Live performances are covered by the licence of the venue.

 

This is not a garage band and have BS and BA in music and business from a University that also boasts a very good law school. As well, two members own a licenced recording studio.

I am a little offended that anyone would suggest that my family members are not educated professionals.

 

Thanks to everyone for your constructive suggestions.

[Spearhead]

If they have paid mechanical rights through Fox, then you are covered. However, that is a pretty unusual situation, most people ignore the mechanical rights.