I need some Opinions about my site my work

stlphotoart

Im new to the industry looking for credible opinions on my web site and work . I wanna take this to the next level and possibly over time branch out into various aspects of the industry thanks in advance . The site is www.stlphotoart.com regards Brian

Cygnus Studios

stlphotoart wrote: »

I wanna take this to the next level and possibly over time branch out into various aspects of the industry thanks in advance .

The red on black really doesn't work for me. Your landscapes and St Louis pages don't allow me to navigate back.

Your prices are darn cheap so they may appeal to some people, but I have found most buyers steer away from things that look too cheap. Paying $5 tells me that I can do it myself. Paying $100 I may see the value.

You also allow anyone to share the images (get a link). Why pay when I can post in facebook or forums or whatever? No watermarks will encourage this behavior even more.

From what I can tell, it looks like you want to move into the "art" or "print" side of the photography business. This is a huge market and you aren't even a minnow in this pond.

It can be done, but it will take quite a bit of marketing effort on your end and a lot of shooting.

stlphotoart

Great Points Steve Ill look into the navigating back from Saint Louis and Landscapes. I'm still figuring out my niche as far what area I would like to land . Explain what you mean about the "print" side the art side I get and yeas I feel like I lean towards the nostalgia type subjects . The Pricing I am still tweaking. The black and red I like it may not appeal to all though . Great critique thank you.

pilotdave

stlphotoart wrote: »

Im new to the industry looking for credible opinions on my web site and work . I wanna take this to the next level and possibly over time branch out into various aspects of the industry thanks in advance . The site is www.stlphotoart.com regards Brian

Your landscapes and st. louis galleries have breadcrumbs disabled (hide owner set to yes most likely). There's no easy way back to your homepage. After browsing through a gallery, it takes many back button clicks to get to any other gallery. I'd close that site and move on instead of going through the effort to see more of it.

Dave

stlphotoart

Thanks Dave One Question

pilotdave wrote: »

Your landscapes and st. louis galleries have breadcrumbs disabled (hide owner set to yes most likely). There's no easy way back to your homepage. After browsing through a gallery, it takes many back button clicks to get to any other gallery. I'd close that site and move on instead of going through the effort to see more of it.

Dave

So Im sorry Dave what do you mean By Breadcrumbs being disabled ??? Great input you guys thanks anything else I welcome the ctitiques I have already made some recommended changes from a previous post .

stlphotoart

Dave that explains why according to google analytics that most visitors aree on the site a very short time frustration on there part . Nav tabs will be added today to all pages.thanks again.

denisegoldberg

I believe the two galleries that show without your heading are set to hide owner = yes in the gallery settings. You have instructed smug to show those pages without any link back to you.

Why the large space below your banner? Your site looks fine on a large screen monitor but on a laptop the height of your banner and nav takes away from the available viewing space. You should look at your site on a laptop - or in a browser window sized to mimic the size of a laptop screen.

--- Denise

stlphotoart

Thanks Denise I just fixed the hide owner issues and now are Nav tabs on each page you guys have been great in pointing this stuff out again thanks for all the input check back to the site if you would and see if I got all of it . www.stlphotoart.com I took the suggestions to heart and obviously missed some things when I put it together.

stlphotoart

Denise I will work on the banner tonight it was a photoshop creation that I uploaded.

denisegoldberg

stlphotoart wrote: »

Thanks Denise I just fixed the hide owner issues.

Your Landscapes gallery is only partially fixed. Make sure hide owner is set to no and appearance is set to custom.

By the way, you should always check your site in a browser where you are not logged in to smug - that way you will see it as your viewers see it.

--- Denise

Cygnus Studios

stlphotoart wrote: »

Explain what you mean about the "print" side the art side I get and yeas I feel like I lean towards the nostalgia type subjects.

It looks as if you are only selling prints, not a service like weddings or portraits or commercial work.

There is nothing wrong with that, it is just one of the toughest ways to make a living with a camera.

stlphotoart wrote: »

The black and red I like it may not appeal to all though.

The first rule of business is "It's not about you." You really have to separate the personal from the business.

If you want the greatest number of people searching your site and spending time on it, I would recommend that you consider a color that appeals to the widest audience.

stlphotoart

Denise thanks for the heads up I will fix that . And Steve I have had people asking me to shoot for them thats the next aspect of this and what I plan to market next are services . Ive taken your advise so far my friend I plan on doing research on web site colors that are the best . Again thanks Steve your right its all about the customer.

cb4photo

I agree with everyone about the red & black.... But if you do decide to keep that color combo, at least change the color of your watermark on your photos. The red watermark makes looking at your photos not enjoyable.

Also, You have your logo and "tag" line as a header, Using it as a footer also is a little repetitive and a bit much in my opinion.

Good Luck in your new photography passion...

stlphotoart

Thanks Cb4 well I have to reconsider the layout and scheme of the site which I will do this weekend this Forum like the smug mug site is an amazing tool . Great suggestions you guys . The reason I choose the Red and Black is I thought the images would pop more . But I will research what the best colrs for a sit are, or simply go to some of the biggest and best companys sites and see what they area doing on their pages.

stlphotoart

Great site btw Cb4 . Less is better you guys are right Illl rework my site tonight .

Cygnus Studios

stlphotoart wrote: »

your right its all about the customer.

In a perfect world it would all be about us (the photographer).

Putting aside our wishes for the clients can be a very taxing thing for some people. Trust me, that doesn't change with time. The money made helps...

stlphotoart

Yeah Great Point Steve >>>> My background has been in retail sales and managment for over 20 years so I know all about seperating what I like from what the customer likes . Thats why with my background Im also spending alot of time Branding and doing alot of SEO stuff for my site while making time to shoot , which I plan to do tonight and Sunday to take advantage of a sping snow we have on the way here in Saint Louis . The idea for this is to see what I can capture with the snow and some of the flowers that have bloomed already at our Botanical Garden here in St.Louis

Jamesbjenkins

stlphotoart wrote: »

Im new to the industry looking for credible opinions on my web site and work . I wanna take this to the next level and possibly over time branch out into various aspects of the industry thanks in advance . The site is www.stlphotoart.com regards Brian

Your site is off to a great start! You might want to look at threads HERE, HERE and HERE for help taking your customization to the next level.

I found JFriend's HTML5 slideshow to be a drastic improvement over the native Smugmug slider...you can much more control over everything.

Good luck!