Honest feedback on my site

[clairemackaness]

Hi Guys,

Seeing as everyone seems so friendly round here, I've decided to open the floor for criticism.

After hours of jigging and re-jigging my website and still not being 100% happy with it, my hubby suggested asking for opinions from strangers. Well.......here goes.

What do you think of my site www.clairemackaness.co.uk and be honest.

Hopefully I might be able to get it right.

That is assuming I havn't already! (LOL)

[Alpha]

Claire

Apart from the two broken images on the front page.

I'm not sure that the wedding section really belongs on this website which after all is supposed to promote your art.

There is a lack of pices in the corporate section which is currently what you are trying to promote.

Those are my humble first impressions.

i'm sure there will be many more qualified people than me along over the next few days who will give you more technical appraisals.

(oh and since you asked for honest opinion get ready to hide in a corner when Silly Jokes gets her false teeth into your website :D :D :D )

But rest asssured they will all be honest appraisals and advice not personal attacks.

[Jayne]

As a none techy...I loved your site, very easy to use..I liked your wave painting, full of movement, felt like I was at the sea side :D would look great in a large bathroom.

Best Wishes

Jayne

[clairemackaness]

Thanks Alpha. What images are broken I can see them ok?

I know what you mean about the corporate stuff but I dont want to make anything up! I've just finished another project which I'm going to hang in a salon at the weekend so I can put that on next week.

The wedding stuff probably does need a site of it's own, but I cant afford two sites at the moment.

Thanks for your opinions though I'll take it all on board

[clairemackaness]

As a none techy...I loved your site, very easy to use..I liked your wave painting, full of movement, felt like I was at the sea side :D would look great in a large bathroom.

Best Wishes

Jayne

It's for sale (LOL) that reminds me, currently selling off old stock on eBay http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZartyfartymack

Thanks for the feedback Jayne

[Alpha]

Claire

The 2 images to the right of the very attractive looking girl show as broken when viewed using firefox.

just looked at it using IE and they are ok.

Obviously can't please everyone :D

[clairemackaness]

Thanks my dear.....RUS? only kidding I'm married!!

Dont panic about that image it's only google ad words, wouldn't want you snooping off to the competition anyhow!

[Alpha]

Its the bit about your exhibition at Witham


Sort of single :oops:

:D

[clairemackaness]

oh that, probably the moving text bit that firefox doesn't like.

No need to blush, I can take a compliment, in fact my heads swellign a bit now, I might not be able to get out of the room!

Thanks Alpha

[TWD-Tony]

In my humble opinion you should loose the google ads, they look okay on certain sites - but sites like yours shouldn't be cluttered with distractions :wink:

The thing about design (as I am sure you well know) is that everybody has their own taste so you will find that some people like it and some don't...
Try and keep the design un-cluttered and the naviagation simple and you are on a winner :D

[clairemackaness]

I hate the google ads. I'd heard I could make a mint on them so I decided to try it for a month. So far I've made $0.84 in two weeks, so I think they may be going shortly!!

Thanks for the feedback....keep it coming

[TWD-Tony]

I hate the google ads. I'd heard I could make a mint on them so I decided to try it for a month. So far I've made $0.84 in two weeks, so I think they may be going shortly!!

Thanks for the feedback....keep it coming

You could always charge people to download your photo!
You would probably make a lot more than $0.84!

Looks like me and Alpha are in for a $1 each :lol:

[Jayne]

Hi Claire.

I was wondering if you did any other style of art, more like fine art..older people are not into the contemp' style, maybe a though to atract a wider range of customer :D

Jayne

[clairemackaness]

I can paint, but I cant draw for toffee!!

I think people who can do fine art are really talented.

Besides I'm young so I get on better with younger people!! Only kidding.

I'm assuming you mean that you'd like to download the ocean wave picture, where as Alpha just wants to admire my facial features!! LOL

[TWD-Tony]

I can paint, but I cant draw for toffee!!

I think people who can do fine art are really talented.

Besides I'm young so I get on better with younger people!! Only kidding.

I'm assuming you mean that you'd like to download the ocean wave picture, where as Alpha just wants to admire my facial features!! LOL

Actually I was talking about the same picture Alpha was! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Ravenfire]

Claire I have had google ads on my site for months and made hardly anything and I have quite a lot of traffic through my site.

Unfortunately two images were broken for me in Firefox as well, otherwise the site looks good.

[clairemackaness]

I'm going mad, I thought it was Jayne that wrote that!! (LOL) sorry....panicked there for a bit.


No offence Jayne, I'm sure your lovely! LOL

[SillyJokes]

You could make your top left logo a link to the home page.

The links at the top right are not obviously clickable and look a bit untidy. Plus visited links do not colour up.

Your homepage copy is all about you when most people are only interested in themselves - write about what you can do for them here and about yourself somewhere else.

What about something like, "Let me create a one off work of art for you and enrich your environment," or similar. .

You should put your picture at the top - it's a great shot and is lost down below the fold.

In fact the space at the top of the page is wasted in my view. It should have you and an example of your work and some clear things to click which are designed to answer any questions I may have about what the site does.

I agree that the wedding stuff does not belong on your site. You need to focus in on what you do and poor Dad will have to shift for himself. It will not impress corporations to see this.

I don't like scrolling text which is distracting.

I do like your tagline Contemporary Artist as it says exactly what it is you are for those who don't know.

Your email newsletter is nice and clear, your info on recent exhibitions is good.

I do wonder if some of your other work devalues what you are trying to achieve in attracting corporate clients.

[clairemackaness]

Thanks for that, I'll have another play I think tonight. I'm also going to really focus on the buy online page. I do agree with the wedding stuff and would really like to do a completly seperate site but I need to shift some more work too.

I would love it if you cuold get really critical here, you mention that some of my work devalues my site. Can you be specifica as I agree, some of my stuff is S**t. Unfortunatly as an artist, it's often the paintings you dont like that others love, so i need an unbiased opinion here.

I have played around with my links/buttons till I'm blue in the face ansd just cant get a format that I like. Will have to try a bit harder.

[SillyJokes]

Ok as you asked I don't like the pebbles or any of the wedding stuff. I think this distracts from what you are doing with the painting.

I think you should distinguish yourself from the myriad of people who make greetings cards and concentrate on what makes you stand out from the crowd.

(I personally don't like the Clarice Cliff paintings, but I conceed that it could be a good earner for you and only you know your sales rates.)

[William Wilson]

I think your art images should be pushed more, make them the subject website with just a little text, obviously a bio is good and any background on events etc but keep these on a separate page.

[clairemackaness]

Thanks silly, I agree totally with the wedding stuff and will be moving it to a sperate site eventually. Just cant afford it at the moment and I have a steady hit rate and revenue comign from it at the moment.

I think as a temporary measure I will probably make a smaller deal of the wedding stuff. The pages will still exist but I will make the links from my home page and art related pages much smaller and a bit tucked out of the way.

Clarice Cliff is again very different to my contemporary stuff, but it's my bread and Butter. I'm one of the few who actually reproduce her work and I have a huuge clientele of Clarice collectors who order regular commissions.

Is there anything in the Gallery that you think should go?

I also freely admit that the corporate art page is rubbish, i need more images, service prices and testimonials here. Something I can do a bit of work on but I need some more work so as to add to the page. (THATS A HINT EVERYONE!!)

[Steve Colegate]

Hi Claire.. Nice picture of you however if I was looking to buy a piece of art I would want to see your artwork asap.. Too much going on on the home page for me. I guess I would want to be led to what you are selling and some examples asap.

Steve

[clairemackaness]

Thanks for all your feedback. Check back tomorrow or later this evening, when I will launch Claire Mackaness - Contemporary Artist to a new level!

[Jayne]

I'm going mad, I thought it was Jayne that wrote that!! (LOL) sorry....panicked there for a bit.


No offence Jayne, I'm sure your lovely! LOL


I'll not be lovely if you don't lay off the sarci comments, I haven't said anything wrong to you, only tried to help.

Jayne

[multilingual]

Quite a lot of testosterone flying around on this thread, I thought we were supposed to be looking at the site! :wink:

JB

[Jayne]

Quite a lot of testosterone flying around on this thread, I thought we were supposed to be looking at the site! :wink:

JB


Do women have that :lol:

Jayne

[clairemackaness]

Ooooh Jayne sorry I didn't mean to offend. When I read the thread about my piccy I had caught site of your name from the thread above. For a minute I thought you may have an interest (if you know what I mean) certainly didn't want to appear rude, just wanted to let the board know I'm happily married if you know what I mean.

Sorry...

[Jayne]

OK then, all forgotten....and by the way Ravenfire is a lady. :D

Jayne

[clairemackaness]

Thats ok, she's not looking to download my photo! LOL

Glad alls ok, I hate threads, they can be so easily miss read.

I decided to downsize my piccy this time as I have been getting far too many comments and PMs about it and as it's all about MY ART I thought I'd better do something about it.

[babybiz]

First thing I thought was that you are promoting your art work but your gallery link shows no more importance than any other, I think it should.

When I click on the gallery link I'm offered two choices but no explanation about what those choices are, a quick brower could even think that was your gallery (just the two images). I would give some sort of tempting indication what you've got in store if you click through either one.

If I was being picky i would say that larger images need to be of a consistant size, at the moment i open one and it's tiny the next takes ages to load and I'm on a very fast connection.

I think on the buy online section I also would like to see prices or have next/previous buttons so I can browse through without having to yoyo back and forth.

Everything else is great, the site is very easy to use, loads pretty quickly for me and is fun to browse. :)

HTH
Tashxx

[clairemackaness]

Thanks Tash, I'll take your comments on board