Critique of my website

[tracey_kidston]

<p>I would appreciate any and all feedback on my website. Critiques would be appreciated in both content and quality of photographs and information.<br>

I am looking to see if I have enough or not enough photos and information. Is it easily navigable? Should there be more galleries? Less galleries etc. I truly would appreciate all feedback, its' the only way to improve.<br>

<a href="http://www.traceykidstonphotography.com">www.traceykidstonphotography.com</a><br>

Many thanks in advance,<br>

Tracey</p>

[hughes]

<p>Tracey<br>

your homepage lets you down I nearly didn't bother going any further, what's the point of 3 frankly obscure images. The images on your home page are not compelling at all but inside your gallery was a pleasant surprise nothing flashy but some good images. Why not have a picture of the month on your homepage with an interesting and compelling caption if the story is strong the image doesn't have to be and vice versa. Remember your homepage is like your shop window it has to attract people, you also could have a blog and even a photo equipment section. It's good but to attract people it has to be great, good photography alone is not going to cut it.<br>

Steve </p>

 

[tracey_kidston]

<p>Steve,<br>

Thank you very much for your honest response. I will take your critique under consideration, knowing that we photograph very different subjects. I truly appreciate your thoughtful comment it is exactly what I am looking for, again thank you for taking the time to look and most importantly comment!<br>

Tracey</p>

[photomark]

I actually like the opening page, but I don't think it projects the right feel for your work. In the end I have to agree with

Steve about the image selection on the front. You have some photos that would really encourage people to click in to the

site and look around. Give us a splash of color and a promise of what's inside to make us click.

 

A few other points:

 

Using italic type everywhere is not a really good typographic practice. You might get a better feel to the type of you gave

it a little less contrast—pick and off-white or very light grey color. This will be a little easier to read and won't compete

with your photos, while still being readable. Having italics everywhere makes the page look a little messy and unsettled.

 

You will get better search engine traffic if you add captions to your images. You have a couple nice Rupicola shots in

your Mindo gallery, for instance, but people will never find them because the only text is an abstract image number and

that is embedded in a flash file. There is nothing the simpleviewer template is doing that can't be done in DHTML and you

will gain a much better place in search engines. This shouldn't be underestimates, traffic from search engines equals

new eyes seeing your work.

 

The anti-aliasing on your logo is messed up. It looks very jagged and pixelated. I'm not sure how you made the logo, but

if you used the text tool in photoshop, there are some aliasing settings that will smooth it out for you. Bumpy text and

jagged logos really scream, 'I don't know much about digital imaging' which I imagine is not true, but damaging

nonetheless especially in a first impression.

 

You should triple check you text. You have some run-ons (the first sentence in you bio and purchase sections) and

some typos like "animals" instead of "animal's"

 

When I click on a link like 'Biography' the text disappears and is replaced by something else. I understand that since I'm

on the Biography page I no longer need a link to it, but it would be less confusing if you left the text there with some

indication like a new color or heavier typeface to indicate where I am in the site. As it is the menu changes with every

page making navigation less intuitive than it could be. Navigation elements should be very predictable unless you have a

great reason to do otherwise.

 

I don't want to sound too negative, you have some good work and it's well organized. I think you could take the design

up to another level with a bit more time, though. Good luck.

[tracey_kidston]

<p >Mark,</p>

<p >Thank you very much for taking the time to comment. Your thoughts and critique are excellent and I will do some work on my site. I especially appreciate how thorough you were in looking at every aspect of my site, you certainly made me think of things I had not thought of.</p>

<p >I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the feedback!</p>

<p > </p>

<p >Tracey</p>

 

[rosehill]

Navigation was OK, but personally I think it is better to fall in line with the most used website navigation and have a navi bar up top.

 

Because you have such fabulous images, I'd say go with the suggestions above and choose one photo as a lead in.

 

In the purchase section, the text reverted to show "link" and the wording left me wondering - it was so unclear. I'm not a fan of extra steps and having to wonder how I can pay or what I can expect, shipping, national - international. It's nice to know "Prints are available in ... sizes ....paper ... matted ... pmt method. - ...contact me for special requests and sizes ...Thank you's are more appropriate at the end, not the beginning.

 

Same with the bio, tighten the wording to immediately refer to your strong interest in wildlife protection and preservation. It's quite obvious in your photographic passion (loved all those mama bird and baby shots)

I'd even suggest that you might begin with saying - perhaps in the purchasing section - that most of the proceeds will be used for a good cause, state the exact percentage and a link to where the money goes. It will make the buyer feel like they are also supporting a good cause.

 

In fact I'd suggest you come up with one sentence to say on the home page that X amt of every picture sale is donated to ... .. if you are active with the organization they may allow you to put a link to your website on their site as well. Links can be great for business.

 

Loved your work and I agree the galleries are well organized.If you want traffic to your website, you really need to take the time and not just title each photo but give it several tags so people and of course google will find your images on the web.

 

Good Luck to you, Tracey!

[bryce_covey1]

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I have never commented, but here's my take. <br>

I was rather unimpressed by the layout, but after clicking through to your photos you get to see that they are stunning. Nice work on the photos. Great work. The site is user-friendly, but the style is very dated. The fonts and presentation could be tighter. <br>

Nice work though, you are a very good photographer.</p>

[jason_dimichele1]

<p>Tracey,<br /><br />I think your photos are very good. I enjoyed looking at them. I find your home page a little confusing since all three photo links go to the same place. Maybe join the photos into a larger collage or just have one larger photo for your main page?<br>

I like the site design as it is simple, timeless and will be easy to maintain and add content. I might suggest that you make it look a little bit more custom and not so pre-fabricated but take this with a grain of salt. It is far too common that people over-design their site and it starts getting confusing and hard to maintain. The other thing you may want to consider is allowing people to purchase your prints via PayPal or another provider. This might help you drum up sales, especially with impulse buyers. If you decide to keep your site as-is, I think it looks nice; except for the confusing home page.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />Jay<br />></p>