Website critique

mbmmemories

Hello Everybody! We are a little ALL OVER THE PLACE! :dunno And we come to all of you photographer lovers for HELP!

Here's the problem...our website hits keep on growin'...but the phone ain't ringin'!!! So we are asking if you could visit our site at http://www.mbmmemories.com and critique us, bash us...and maybe even compliment us....

We thank you and please...have fun with it! You won't hurt our feelings!

D&M :ivar

Scott_Quier

Some things I see:

1. Fonts are a bit some in places. A prime example if you "Enter Site" then "Rates" then "For Wedding Packages, click here", that font is just toooooo small.
2. Your flash site might be taking too long to load. Can it be loaded in sections, maybe in the background so the user isn't presented with the "loading" thing for too long - a pet peeve of mine about flash sites.
3. Contrast between the fonts and the background - not enough. Many people have color perception issues and can not distinguish close shades or won't make the effort to do so.
4. Your flash app takes way to long to load.
5. The delay between photos - is there some way to load up the "next" photo in the background so that the chances of moving to the next photos is quicker?
6. Consistancy - the wedding packages are spelled out in one place (see #1, above), but not in the wedding site. Hmmmmm is this not just a bit backwards?
7. Might just be personal preference, but your site is a bit dark. Shades of red/orange on black?
8. "View your Photos" just to the homepage your SmugMug site, forcing your client's to figure out which category they need to look into to find their photos. The mapping between your SmugMug site and your flash site is not consistant:
   
   
   • Engagements
   • Portraits, Family, your boudoir - where's my photos?
   • Pop Warner Football, Sports, Little League All Stars - no mapping to this at all on your flash site. Should not all these be one category anyway, with sub-categories?
   • Candids - where's this in your flash site?
   
   No pun intended, but there seems to be a lack of focus and structure.
   
9. It appears, to a casual observer/viewer that you have your wedding portfolio scattered across two different sites. It that intended?
10. On your SmugMug site, clicking on the "mbmmemmories" link in the breadcrumbs does not bring one back to your "home" page, but to an empty page. Not a goodness.
11. Your three links at the bottom of your mbmmemories.com page open up new instances of the browswer. If you go to the SmugMug site and then click on "Back to Website" your viewer now has two browsers, both displaying the same page.

angevin1

Scott's assessment is very nicely detailed.

Flash loaded fast for me..but what killed it for me, was the initial page: I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to see. I saw images everywhere!

What is it you WANT me to see when I click on your site?

Otherwise, follow Scotts lead!

RicherSea

The index page you initially see is really not great. The three option links need to be higher up the page and really obvious. I'd also agree with the above comment regarding colour, de-saturated red is the worst possible colour to try to view for anyone with any perception problems (15% of US males). It's also very demanding to read, and makes people feel tired quickly.

met

Just as an initial reaction, I don't like having to scroll to the right on a webpage. The initial boxes feel like they are supposed to be links and I naturally wanted to click on them to try and get where I was going. I would almost totally skip the "intro" page (it doesn't feel like it really accomplishes any purpose) and just immediately open with the page that is after "Enter site". I agree with Scott about consolidating and changing the linking between some of the pages. People don't usually want to have to figure out websites - they are there for information and will almost always prefer substance and simplicity over style. As a personal preference I hate when music automatically starts playing on a website - I usually have my own music playing and don't want to try and find the little sound icon to turn off website "mood" music, so many times I'll just close the page. That's just my $.02.

smurfy

Sorry to say, but I'm with the others on that design. Hate the overall look of the dark brick wall...walls crashing and falling with each click are not the image to implant in a viewers mind. Familial or romatic love, beauty, peace, joy...what visually conveys those emotions you want your client to feel when looking at your work? And what is your primary specialty? The impression the site left was more about dark colors and a brick wall moving around, like a video game, than about great photography.

I clicked on "portfolio" but saw no wedding work. It's only after reading Scott's comment that I realized you had a separate wedding portfolio there somewhere. I'm using a laptop...is it perhaps off the screen of many of your users to enter the wedding portfolio?

The main portfolio images...are they very large files? Each takes forever to load. Perhaps smaller images would speed it up. I didn't have the patience to wait for more than a few...but of the ones that showed,
they are not likely your best. Perhaps we sometimes have our own faves based on the fact that we have an emotional attachment to the subject; we love these people! Maybe they're relatives or dear friends. But the shot of the cute little boys looks like a snapshot any parent could have taken, and the ones with the parents holding the kids and wearing sunglasses is hiding what most people want to see in family pics: the eyes. Hence, no emotion. I'm sure you have better representations of your work that would help people feel something powerful when viewing your images. Touch the heart with an undistracting presentation of excellent photography edited and presented in a way that no one they know can duplicate. Let the images speak for themselves.

Qarik

it's very slick looking but not entirely easy to navigate. As a "professional" web surfer I had to look around too much to figure out where to go. Also I am never a fan of music on websites.

Tim Kamppinen

Well, you have music on your site, so that's strike one... ; )

The splash page is too large. My screen resolution is 1152x921 (or something like that) and I had to scroll right to see it all. Either make it smaller (like the rest of the site) or make it "stretchy" so it fits any resolution.

When I clicked "enter site" the first thing I noticed was that I had to scroll down for the slideshow thumbnails. However, for some reason my scroll wheel on my mouse did not scroll up and down, so I had to click on the scroll bar on the side of the screen to scroll. This alone made me want to punch my monitor. I don't know why it happened, but FWIW I'm running vista and using firefox 3.5.

As others have said, the fonts are too small and they don't contrast enough with the background, causing eye strain. The whole color scheme of the site personally is unattractive to me as well. I don't have a problem with it being dark (my site is all black w/ white text and image borders) but brown on black doesn't seem like a great combo. I also don't care for the way site elements flop around and twirl and what not.

clemensphoto's

Your site is dark and on the initial flash page it help if you had hyperlinks on the pictures that direct the person to the appropriate website. While looking at your sports (football) when I was viewing the pictures the row of thumbnails covers a portion of the photo unless you are using the slide show. I would create a space between them, because initially I thought the photos had been poorly framed or you cut the players heads off.

zoomer

Clean off the pictures from the first page and just have enter site, which is kind of annoying to begin with I already went to the site then have to click to actually enter the site. Put all the info on what you do in the site somewhere, definitely change that text font, very hard to read, people are not going to put in the effort to do so.
I had to go back three times before I saw the wedding site link, I kept clicking on the enter site link and then couldn't find your wedding stuff.

What it boils down to is the work, if your work is really good the site isn't going to hurt you.
If your phone is not ringing then you are not getting good word of mouth from your previous customers, try to talk to a few of them and find out what they liked or didn't like about your service.
Looking at your pictures you have posted on your site the work is just OK. Some of the pictures you have posted are not good, only post your best work on your site.
To compete in a big market like where you are at with so many really great photographers your work will need to improve before your phone starts ringing off the hook.
Yes make the website easier to navigate and steer them to what you want to specialize in, but mainly improve your craft, if the photos and customer service are excellent the customers will find you regardless of your website.

Speaking from my own experience, 20% of my customers come from an internet add I have which puts me at the top of the page when looking for a photographer in my city. 75% come from word of mouth and 5% come from a local wedding book I advertise in.
Look at marketing to local wedding planners, they can really give you a boost if they like your work and start recommending you.
Best of luck to you!

chrisdg

The music on the sub-sites must go. I would say that an overwhelming majority of people do not want to hear music when they open a website. Further, it took me about 30 agonizing seconds to find the ultra-tiny speaker icon to turn off the music. The only reason I stayed on the site was to see if you had the ability to turn it off. Plus, it's a very repetitive piece.

Many brides are checking out wedding-oriented sites while at work and don't want music to blow their cover. Instead of hunting for the music controls, they will quickly close the browser to avoid being "caught" ...and then they are off to another photographer's site. I guarantee that no one is sticking around to listen to the music, so why have it?

Cosmetically, I agree with the folks above...it's a difficult and uncomfortable site to view and navigate. Sorry to say, but in my opinion, I don't think it's a matter of a tweak here and a tweak there. You need to have it rebuilt entirely using a more pleasant and simplified scheme. And then only post your best photos.

FedererPhoto

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

Well, you have music on your site, so that's strike one... ; )

chrisdg wrote:

The music on the sub-sites must go. I would say that an overwhelming majority of people do not want to hear music when they open a website.

Clients like music. I've done targeted market tests on this. (but can't get rights to enough songs I like to make it worth adding to my site just yet - I've got permission to use 1, but I don't want it to loop that fast)

Properly selected it helps create a more emotional response to the visual stimuli (which itself is supposed to be emotive)... try watching a tester movie before they add the musical soundtrack to get an idea of what it can add.

For some reason tech geeks and photographers (which is what you'll get on an internet message board about photography) hate music on sites... The same way 'photographers' hate photoshop-selective color, yet many clients absolutely love it.

Just a small aside... continue the regularly scheduled web-page pounding ....

Tim Kamppinen

Putting it in a wedding slideshow is one thing, but having it start as soon as you hit the website is just annoying. At least default it to off and have an obvious "music on" button for those people who actually want to hear it. I love music, which is why I am often listening to my own... and I'm sure "tech geeks and photographers" aren't the only people who do this. Besides, the music that pops up on a typical wedding photographer's site is usually bland, lame, and generic.

FedererPhoto

Tim Kamppinen wrote:

Putting it in a wedding slideshow is one thing, but having it start as soon as you hit the website is just annoying.

To you. You are (likely) not his target market. I've done research on MY target market (wedding-age non-traditional females), and it's clear - music makes a better impression.

...and I'm sure "tech geeks and photographers" aren't the only people who do this.

Agreed. But that's the makeup of this board and the makeup of those critiquing his site, so that's who I pointed out. I'm just saying that when you hear "get rid of that music" or "Don't go full-screen!!" or any other critique, you've got to look at who is giving said critique and view it through the appropriate lens.

If I went to a linux forum and asked about mac vs PC, I'm going to get a much-slanted viewpoint.

Besides, the music that pops up on a typical wedding photographer's site is usually bland, lame, and generic.

Agreed, which is why I said "well selected". Trouble is, most 'well selected' music is tough to get rights for.