At a loss...do a new site or improve on this?

wildviper

My wife has basically said my site sucks. haha

She wants me to get a new site with all the bells and whistles..like Flash/Animation/Cool effects type.

I like my creation cause it meets my 3 top requirements: Show big images but load fast, SEO friendly and Easy to use. Oh and it has to be simple but elegant.

Obviously we are on two different tracks here (wife and I), but I wanted the opinions of the pro photogs out here who have obviously dealt with this before.

My 4 target markets in Southern California:

1. Wedding photography
2. Portrait photography
3. High-End Real Estate photography
4. Product Photography

I realize I have to separate the "Business photography" from the "People photography". Am working on a plan on that one.

So please tell me what you think of my site: http://www.fotomango.com

Is it crap? :P

Angelo

OK here goes.

a) FOTOMANGO sounds and looks like a photo hosting site. I don't get the idea I'm visiting the proprietary site of a creative professional.
b) The site is SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWW. No one wants to wait 20 seconds for images to load and the lag time in your excessive slide shows is far too long.
c) You need easier navigation to your galleries and not so many layers of slide shows.
d) your gallery page needs to be inviting and creative rather than look like a user group page on Yahoo.
e) your pages need to match. Right now your gallery page looks like a totally different site than your home page.
f) get rid of or at least provide an easy "off" button for the music. No one wants to be forced to listen to someone else's choice of music.

That's the negative!

The positive?

You have a lot of really nice images

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Photog4Christ

Ditto

wildviper

Wow..ok..Glad I asked. and now have to go back to wife and say "You are right dear..AGAIN!" haha

Time for a revamp... Have to search dgrin to see where everyone gets their sites done.

Thanx for honest replies.

ColoradoSkier

wildviper wrote: »

Wow..ok..Glad I asked. and now have to go back to wife and say "You are right dear..AGAIN!" haha

Time for a revamp... Have to search dgrin to see where everyone gets their sites done.

Thanx for honest replies.

Your wife is partly correct. Your site does NOT need all the latest bells and whistles. Your goals of quick loading and SEO are valid and important. All that said, I used a simple wordpress template to create mine. Then I did what I could to get the Smug gallery to match it. I think it works pretty well. I rank well in searches, get traffic from the blog, and get bookings.

Angelo

ColoradoSkier wrote: »

Your wife is partly correct. Your site does NOT need all the latest bells and whistles. Your goals of quick loading and SEO are valid and important...

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chuckinsocal

I agree on everything that's been said. Fotomango sounds more like a 1 hour film processing kiosk in the mall or maybe a self service digital print machine in a super market. It just doesn't convey "Professional Photographer".

The one other thing that stood out to me was that the thumb nails were way to small to get a sense of what the full sized image was gonna look like. As nice as your photos are, I just didn't get the feeling that I wanted to click on any thumbnails. They're just not that inviting.

I'm not a really big fan of flash, animations, or other cool effects either. I think the object of the game is to keep your visitors focused on your images and "cool effects" will just distract them. I think simpler is better.

Just my nickel's worth.

wildviper

Thanx again. Appreciate the ongoing comments. I think I may just have to do livebooks or bludomain. Anyone know any others? I won't do Showit Sites since the owner had disrespected me once.

Angelo

How about SmugMug?

It's a great site with lots and lots of personalization options and great services.

Here's a discount code to save $5: WYaQX1K7RGp3I



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Photog4Christ

Ditto to what Angelo said.

Here's my SmugMug site.

But, if you really want a web site that is not integrated with SmugMug, then I highly recommend BigFolio.

chuckinsocal

Yeah ... and it's cheaper too plus the customer service is second to none .

wildviper

Well, I was concerned about the comment about the name "Fotomango" not sounding professional and what not. So I asked a lot of people that would potentially be my clients...they all pretty much said the same thing.."Its different and they like it".

While I agree the name may not be the typical " Joe & Jane Photography", I didn't want typical. Especially looking at names such as "Smugmug, Yahoo, Amazon, Google, Dgrin, Adorama and so on"; if they were not popular, I would be like what does "Yahooooo" do anyways?

The name has been a conversation starter (rapport building) many times..and has stuck with a lot of my clients. So the name stays. Really glad cause I really didn't want to start afresh with a new logo and all that! Phew!

As for the site...Smugmug is ok but I want something that is more crisp looking. All the sites I have seen on smugmug just doesn;t look like "livebooks" or Bigfolio. I think it is two different markets that are being targeted. My personal feelings.

Thanx for the Bigfolio link...that's looking promising. Bludomain was looking great, but is so sloooooooooooow.

Anand

Photog4Christ

wildviper wrote: »

Well, I was concerned about the comment about the name "Fotomango" not sounding professional and what not. So I asked a lot of people that would potentially be my clients...they all pretty much said the same thing..

Did they mention that it sounds like you take pictures of fruit?

While I agree the name may not be the typical " Joe & Jane Photography", I didn't want typical.

IMHO, Your name should be your brand. Why?

Think if it this way. If Bob at Acme Photo World takes your portrait, and you show off your photos to your friends and they say "Wow! Those are great photos! Who took them?" You're going to say "I had them done at Acme Photo".

Just recently (last month), I met a lady and introduced myself. She said to me "Oh! You're Neal Jacob?!..... You took my son's photo this year at such and such event." Guess what? I took photos at "Such and Such" event five years ago. I never took her son's photo. She insists that I did. If I was using "Acme Photo" instead of "Neal Jacob Photography" she would have never made the connection when I introduced myself to her.

Thanx for the Bigfolio link...that's looking promising. Bludomain was looking great, but is so sloooooooooooow.

You're welcome. You won't be disappointed with BigFolio. Tell them that I sent you. I am a former customer of BigFolio. The reason why I left? I closed my photography business.

I have nothing against SmugMug. But SmugMug and BigFolio target different customer bases.

FULL DISCLOSURE. I am a SMUG Leader.



*****

I'm editing this because I just re-read this and realized my comment about SmugMug and BigFolio could be taken the wrong way. What I mean is that SmugMug and BigFolio serve different purposes. I honestly think (and this has nothing to do with the fact that I lead a SMUG) that both SmugMug and BigFolio are excellent solutions. They are top-notch and they will do absolutely anything for their clients. You can't go wrong with either choice.

chrisjohnson

I would take a look at three aspects as a first step:
1) the speed. It works fast for me at the moment but Angelo had a 20 second response. Check it out and talk to whoever is hosting. It must be consistently fast at peak times. Change your hosting provider or upgrade your package
2) the first page needs sharpening up to get your main message over - what you do and where you are and what the viewer should do next. I manage 4 professional websites for services (not photography) and 95% of new traffic does not go further than the landing page and I think this is typical behavior and not my design. You have to get your main message across in 10 seconds viewing - this is my target. The 5% who stick around may then spend 5-10 minutes investigating the site but no more, so you need to be very well organized on the rest of the stuff too.
3) look at the way you structure your content. When I dive deeper in your site I find some pearls - wedding accessory sales, advice on planning a wedding, product shots. There is a lot of stuff going on here but it is well hidden.

Could be your wife is right and you need a completely different style of site for selling eg wedding accessories. Your "call to action" is then to hire a good photographer via a link to Fotomango. It can help to think of more than one domain that you then link together. So Fotomango weddings Fotomango real estate, etc. As long as you have a decent host it does not need to slow things down and you can even ask for your different domains to be colocated - depends on your traffic. There is also no performance problem to have a host for your accessory business link to eg Smugmug for photo portfolios and on-line image sales.

I rather like Fotomango and the style of your site, but this is personal taste. Be aware that every time you make bold stylistic choices you win some hearts and minds while turning others off. This is vital on the web to get right because people act very fast according to first impressions. Speed, Relevance, Action.

wildviper

Neal, you make a good point on the name and the chance of someone remembering you due to that. No arguments there. I did make the choice of the name as "Fotomango" based on several factors that were important to me. The point you raise was considered, but I figured that once I am known in my local market and if my work is good enough, people wouldn't have trouble linking me with Fotomango.

I will let Bigfolio know that you referred me. If you have a referral link, please message that to me.

Christopher, thank you for your opinions. In fact, thax to everyone again. I will take your advice and incorporate it in a new site.

Photog4Christ

wildviper wrote: »

Neal, you make a good point on the name and the chance of someone remembering you due to that. No arguments there. I did make the choice of the name as "Fotomango" based on several factors that were important to me. The point you raise was considered, but I figured that once I am known in my local market and if my work is good enough, people wouldn't have trouble linking me with Fotomango.

Okay, sounds like you really like that name.

I will let Bigfolio know that you referred me. If you have a referral link, please message that to me.

No referral link necessary. BigFolio doesn't use tracking codes, etc... If you use my name, they'll charge you more.

chuckinsocal

OK ... I take back all my comments about the name. It sounds like it's working well for you and that people are remembering you by it. Those are the most important things.