Opinion on my website ?

I am going to do some changes to my website like one slideshow at top instead of the two. But I just wanted peoples opinions on the website now

My website


thanks

John

Simple and to the point. I like that. But it's a tad stretched out due to the menu being at the top with so many pages and so is the body text (at least for me).

The main page is to long. I worked at a webhosting and design firm for several years and one thing I learned is not to give to much information on a page. Give them a well design menu so they can pick what they want to see. Only give them a quick overview on the main page. If I have to scroll to much I go away to somebody else's page.

Very Nice John!

I agree with Tracsoft - Don Kuykendall.

I think you should only create an index page as a start page. Why got the Client Area Page a different menu on the top?

Overall it look beautiful the design. Simple but elegant.

Thanks everyone......I appreciate the nice comments

I asked as I got a LOT of comments on another forum that said it looked cheap and home made - it is home made by me but that means it cost me nothing (apart from time and learning) to make it myself. The bloke who said it looked cheap paid £800 for his.

I never used to have so much text on the home page, the reason I did was for the search engines as they seem to like lots of key words on the homepage and I cannot cram to many into the meta tabs

Drop some of the photos or make them smaller. Just link to galleries of different types of photography that you do. A page does not have to be long to get good SEO I have a web site for my genealogy that has maintained a #1 in Google for the name for several years. There is a lot of text on the first page but it is not a long page. Google My last name.

Thank you... yes I could shorten the page with less photos, but that was the reason for the text to help with SEO

I find it hard to get a good balance between smaller file size photos and good quality

Also speaking of SEO I understand that its good for your google rank if you are on Alexa - I am not on Alexa and not sure how to get on... any tips ?

I am not sure about Alexa but I don't think you can get on it. I think it just measure traffic of large websites. Again, I am not sure. I have never dealt with them. I just fine tuned keywords and links.

One thing I did notice about your site was "Where are you?" That is one thing I always noticed about sites. People would try to get high rankings but nationwide you don't stand a chance of getting anywhere near the top of Google with "wedding photographer" but you might stand a chance of getting on page one with "Wedding Photographer your location here" Even after looking around your site I can only guess that you are in England? just because your prices were in pounds it think.

I actually set my SEO for Durham Wedding photographer (on page 1 on Google with that) and North East Wedding Photographer (Page 2 I think)

On my first page I also say...

My name is John Young and I am an experienced, friendly North East Wedding Photographer based in Durham along with my wife Katie we are ‘John Young’s Photography’

Click to expand...

Yeah Alexa measures traffic but I have seen small local sites on there to

I had to check where Durham is (ie: New Hampshire).

I think it is pretty good if you are starting in the business. Some nice examples right on the front page. But I do agree that you could have a main page to get right to the essence of the service then link to galleries and testimonials.

John Young said:

I actually set my SEO for Durham Wedding photographer (on page 1 on Google with that) and North East Wedding Photographer (Page 2 I think)

On my first page I also say...



Yeah Alexa measures traffic but I have seen small local sites on there to

Click to expand...

Durham, North Carolina?

Got to be bold and give very specific location.

People do just like I do and scan a page. Unless it is obvious people and search engines will miss it.

crycocyon said:

I had to check where Durham is (ie: New Hampshire).

I think it is pretty good if you are starting in the business. Some nice examples right on the front page. But I do agree that you could have a main page to get right to the essence of the service then link to galleries and testimonials.

Click to expand...

Tracsoft - Don Kuykendall said:

Durham, North Carolina?

Got to be bold and give very specific location.

People do just like I do and scan a page. Unless it is obvious people and search engines will miss it.

Click to expand...

No I am talking the Original Durham But yes I see what you mean I maybe should mention the country somewhere for search engines etc but I am on first page for Durham wedding photographer when searching Google UK and that's the most important to me

Although I would not mind a few gigs abroad.....

I really like it , it worked well on my browser. What I liked most is that it DOES NOT appear to be a template type web site. Your site makes it clear that you are a photographer, with a style of photography. I spent a lot of time doing a new site for my business, its a very big job. I read some of the other comments and don't agree with the suggestion to make the photos smaller , your site will be viewed on different size monitors . I don't think people stay on any website too long . Good Job send me a message and I will send you my website address for your critique !

Thank you very much and interesting about the web template. On another forum they ripped into my website (and I did not ask for critique on my site like I have here) and one thing they said was use a web press template and they did not like my colours plus my site looked 'cheap' which is why I asked here.

My reply about the colour was that all wedding sites don't need to be white or pastel

I am changing some things like one horizontal slideshow at the top instead of two and a portfolio of past weddings

Great website, John. Definitely cut down on the length of your page. Cheers

ktan7 said:

Great website, John. Definitely cut down on the length of your page. Cheers

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot, I have actually just updated it and made the portfolio section with its long pages

I really like your website - very clean and simple. That is the way you want to present your images.

It's nice. I guess it serves the purpose of portraying your pics well.
If someone is really interested, they would dive into all the information you provided.
A suggestion - Maybe you could change the way the text on the front page is presented.. maybe the colors or font or something, cos for a nonchalant visitor, it would appear as a block of text.. to be skipped.
Did you design & code the site yourself?

ktan7 said:

I really like your website - very clean and simple. That is the way you want to present your images.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot, I appreciate that. I have been tinkering with it a bit more as I realized I had no portfolio section :distant:

WhiteLight said:

It's nice. I guess it serves the purpose of portraying your pics well.
If someone is really interested, they would dive into all the information you provided.
A suggestion - Maybe you could change the way the text on the front page is presented.. maybe the colors or font or something, cos for a nonchalant visitor, it would appear as a block of text.. to be skipped.
Did you design & code the site yourself?

Click to expand...

Thank you for the feedback. I will look again at that text and see what I can do.

Yes I did make the website myself but its always a work in progress. Some days I will do something and think "That looks great" I will then go back a few days later and think.. "Ohh dear that is horrible"