New website

[tom_waits]

<p>Hi guys<br>

I'd appreciate it if you could take a look at my new website and tell me what you think.<br>

www.jonmcgovern.co.uk <br>

Thanks :)<br />Jon</p>

 

[peter_cohen]

<p>Your work is wonderful. To me, you have many images that are stronger than the one you use on your home page. And on my monitor, the current home page appears a bit washed out. More opinion -- I wouldn't restrict myself to 553 pixels in width. You images are so great, you should show them larger.</p>

[richardsnow]

<p>Jon -</p>

<p>First of all, welcome to Photo.net There's a wealth of information and assistance here when you need it.</p>

<p>I had a look at your web site and it leaves me with several questions and I'll provide comments as well.</p>

<p>Questions first:<br>

What awards have you won?</p>

<p>Who are you marketing to?</p>

<p>How long have you been shooting?</p>

<p>Comments:<br>

Your home page is just one photo...and a wedding photo at that. Are you primarily a wedding photographer? Are you marketing yourself as a wedding photographer? The site looks like you are marketing yourself as a wedding photographer with the primarily black and white color scheme, but your portfolio says differently.</p>

<p>Your bio is not a bio. It's you telling people what you think they need from a photographer. Why not tell people about you, your business, and your experience. That's what a bio is there for.</p>

<p>Your wedding portfolio looks like a few choice shots from ONE wedding. Considering your site looks like you are marketing yourself as a wedding photographer, I'd assume you would have multiple weddings under your belt so seeing photos from multiple weddings would be nice.</p>

<p>Your portraits section doesn't really look like it's portraits...except maybe the first one. They look like random photos of people...not portraits. I'd eliminate the photo of the singer since you can't see his face...something that is generally expected out of a portrait. It's really odd that your site is depicted as a wedding photographer site yet there are no bridal portraits, which is what I expected to see.</p>

<p>Your portfolio section is interesting, but confuses the concept...are you a wedding photographer or a landscape/fine are photographer? It adds little to your site except to show people that you do more than weddings. As a site marketing yourself as a wedding photographer your portfolio should be set up with either individual weddings so people can see full event coverage or categories such as environmental, bridal, getting ready, family, engagements, etc. If you insist on showing people your other work, I'd have it as a separate category within your portfolio.</p>

<p>I don't know anything about you or your experience so I won't comment on pricing other than to suggest that you offer more than one base price and one option for a photo book. This is so basic that I'd rather see a "Contact me to arrange a personalized package for your special day" type of message.</p>

<p>Your contact page is crisp and clean. I assume that the code all works.</p>

<p>That's it...hopefully this gives you some direction to go in. The layout is clean, it's the message that's confusing.</p>

<p>Hope this helps<br>

RS</p>

 

[tom_waits]

<p>That helps a lot - thanks!</p>

[frank_mcconnaughey1]

<p>I like the simplicity of the website, without flash, music, and slow-loading slide shows. I think that's a big positive!<br>

The simplicity carries over to the photographs, which I think are wonderful.<br>

I agree with RS's comments too, about marketing and message. Let's say that you want to market your services as a wedding and portrait photographer, I would for example exclude the portfolio section which has good images, but unrelated to weddings. Also, as you gain more experience in weddings, I would add more wedding portfolios from a number of distinct weddings, so people can be confident in the kind of images and style they can expect.<br>

A number of the images under the portrait section seem to be more photo reportage, street photography, or candid photographs. This may dilute the marketing or message. Perhaps you could include portraits that are more formally portraits, or perhaps head shots, as for actors or performers or business people (as portraits for corporate reports).</p>

<p>Take care and happy holidays!</p>

[lindsay_dobson]

<p>Jon, I have no idea who you are, as a photographer. I have no idea who your target client base might be. But in order to gain interest from potential customers you will need a credible body of work in the genre you decide to market yourself in, currently you only have a handful of images on each page which do not show any definable style. I would go back to the drawing board and think hard about what you want to be, and how you feel you can achieve that goal - and build up a portfolio which reflects that. I will also say that your product/pricing page is very generic and will almost certainly completely confuse your audience. </p>

<p>Not sure what your work schedule is, but in January the SWPP/BPPA conference is held in London each year - it's the biggest photographic event in the world and runs over about a week - with virtually every famous name speaking and heading seminars and masterclasses in every subject from portraiture, boudoir, architectural photography and more importantly photography as a business. </p>

[wedding-photography-denver]

<p>I like the simplicity of the navigation, but feel like the images are not the best you have, nor are they shown large enough.. IMO.</p>

[ianivey]

<p>Jon,</p>

<p>Kill the black border around the outside of your pages. On a large monitor, it makes you look tiny. Let the entire page just be white, outside of the elements you want the viewer to interact with (images, links, text). </p>

<p>Your bio tells me you're a wedding photographer. You posted this request in the wedding photography forum. Your home page has a wedding photograph. You have a "Weddings" link with fewer than 10 images (not a bad thing, by the way -- a simple sample is digestible). </p>

<p>But then you have a "Portfolio" that has nothing whatsoever to do with weddings, and makes me think you have no idea what you want to do with your photography. If you want to be a wedding photographer, then be one. Show me that. If you need to keep other stuff active on your site, marginalize it somehow -- make it smaller, or "other," in a way that says you've got skill, but you still identify as a wedding photographer.</p>

<p>Your prices, combined with the lack of focus on your site, tell me you are brand new, and maybe you've never shot a wedding as a paid primary. If that's true, fine. If not, then change something, because that's a bad message to send if it's incorrect.</p>

[frolickingbits]

<p>I would second pretty much everything that has been said here. I'm looking at your site on a 15" laptop, and even on that small screen it really doesn't fill the page at all. On my 22" monitor, it's going to look pretty lost. I do appreciate the simplicity of it, and I'm glad there aren't all sorts of flashy effects. <br>

You do have some really great work, but I agree that your site is rather unfocused. If you want to do weddings, I would suggest making your site really focus on that, and open with your best photograph, as large as you can get them. Brides and grooms are looking at tons of sites, and you really only have a very small window of time to impress them.<br>

The photo of the house at the end of your wedding section kind of throws me for a loop-there isn't anything that really says wedding about that, although it is a nice photo.<br>

I personally don't really like the award-winning tagline. You have what looks like some impressive awards, but seeing the phrase 'award-winning' used by people that got third place at a county fair for a landscape photo has made me a bit cynical.<br>

I think you really do have some gorgeous work, so my primary suggestion is to make your photos nice and big, and put up plenty of them, and if you want to do weddings, make your site all about wedding photography.</p>