Photography Website

[SCoell]

Hi all, just wondering if anyone had any advice on how to improve my photography website? It's a little different as it's laid out as a ECom store.

Any quick tips would be much appreciated.

Kind Regards
Seb

 

[finleydesign]

The whole premise of your site is to sell photography, yet almost all images are of such low quality i wouldn't explore further than the home page

 

[fisicx]

There are ton of things you can do to improve the site. @finleydesign has given you one. Getting rid of shopify is another (it's the wrong platform for your business).

The whole point of the site is to sell prints of your work. Get rid of all the guff on the homepage and just show me the pictures. On the actual product pages I want to see BIG images. And don't photoshop them onto clearly fake backgrounds.

Why do some images have 'fine art america'? That suggests they aren't yours.

Header says Early 2022 sale. It's August - that's not Early 2022.

Got to go out now but the key takeaway right now is to change the site structure to make the images the focus.

 

[SCoell]

Thanks for the feedback, it's a personal brand site so I try and put that across, but yes I tend to agree. I do need to work on images and make them have a bigger impact, currently on mobile they are shown as a single row, maybe thay will work better on desktop as well, I went the shopify approach as I do sell a lot of framed options, so wanted them listed as more of a product.

Would you recommend the image just being the picture without the frame?

Will impliment a few if the changes, fine art america watermarks can be removed as well.

Thanks

 

[antropy]

Any quick tips would be much appreciated.

Currently it looks like someone has vomited widgets, popups, banners, and random pictures on the screen.

Probably get it in to a better state and ask again.

Paul.

 

[Fagin2021]

Currently it looks like someone has vomited widgets, popups, banners, and random pictures on the screen.

Probably get it in to a better state and ask again.

Paul.

That's a bit strong but not completely unjustified !

My recommendation would be....

1. Ask a couple of people on mobiles to go from the home page to British prints, select a print they like, view the various shots of that print, choose a size and frame. Place the selection in the shopping cart.
2. See if they get lost, confused, return to the home page to re-orientate.
3. When you've got the UX right you can work on image quality.

 

[Fagin2021]

addendum...

..and on the desktop version, dump most of the reviews. There are too many, they're too much the same and they look fake.

 

[fisicx]

@SCoell - The website is the end point in your marketing plan. It where potential customers will be after they have seem your marketing matertial (adverts, SM posts, SEO etc).

The only reason they will ever be on the site is because they want to buy a print. You don't matter. Nobody cares about you. All that matters to the potential customer is finding the right picture to hang on their wall.

This means your site needs to focus on guiding your visitors to the right picture.

Put the categories on the homepage using one of the set as the featured image. Each category then leads to the actual product. Your images need to be as big as you can make them. The descriptions need to tell a story. The options need to be simple. And each needs to show a variant image.

Agree about the reviews - they almost all look fake.

 

[Andraz]

On first look, it's a little confusing - too much of everything. Clean it visual!

 

[learnerg]

I agree with @Andraz. There's too much cluster and doesn't really tell me what the site is about once I landed on the homepage.
I will recommend finding the top photography websites that are well designed in your area and studying what they are doing right and emulating some of it.

 

[Simon.P]

hi,
Might be an idea to change the colour of the hover text here:

Screen Record

 

[forevergroup]

Hi all, just wondering if anyone had any advice on how to improve my photography website? It's a little different as it's laid out as a ECom store.

Any quick tips would be much appreciated.

Kind Regards
Seb

It’s quite busy on mobile if I’m honest. Scrolling from top to bottom was quite an endeavour on my iPhone. I know that some platforms let you exclude / hide certain content on certain platforms which may be something to consider.

 

[JamaC]

Go take a look at 20 of your competitors websites.

That will help you come up with a better layout

 

[fisicx]

As @SCoell hasnt been back since this thread started and there have been no apparent changes to the site we can assume they aren’t interested our opinions.

 

[Gyumri]

As Mr Goldwyn once said to his secretary: "if I want your opinion I'll give it to you."

 

[ukuwi]

Whilst everyone has their own perspective and you may have already made changes to your website and from an ex-photographer's perspective, my initial impression was good, I am viewing on a desktop which probably makes quite a big difference, but I liked seeing the images in there intended setting, navigation is straightforward, image quality is fine, my only (small gripe) is the white borders on the wall around the prints, remember that you will never satisfy everyone ad the only ones who truly count are your customers, there is always room for improvement but more important is to constantly adding new images and stories to keep your site relevant for search engines

 

[Nicola78]

I can't pass comment on website design because I am not a web designer, But as a SEO expert I notice you need to do lot of work on SEO for improve ranking on Search Engines.
Hire a good SEO agency if you have budget, otherwise try to increase backlinks and start social media marketing for increase revenue.

 

[fisicx]

Hire a good SEO agency if you have budget, otherwise try to increase backlinks…

Sorry to be so negative but that’s terrible advice.

 

[Glen Wheeler]

I would suggest getting the basics right first. If you're selling your photography then Shopify is a great option to do so, however, it's the content that needs focus. When you visit the site you can't see the wood for trees. There is irrelevant content everywhere. Strip it right back. Focus on what you are selling, photography. As people have suggested, nice high res images would benefit you massively, make sure you Watermark them when presenting if you are going to upload in high resolution.

Come back and take a look at some of the above comments, they are valuable.

 

[fisicx]

@SCoell hasn’t been seen since august and hasn’t made any changes to the site so I suspect they ain’t coming back.

 

[Deleted member 352941]

Hi Seb

I was excited to review your website as I see quite a few photography sites in my line of business. First things first well done! I know how massively hard it is to design your own website. Been there bought the t-shirt!

First things first I noticed that the logo on the site is a bit small, making it hard to read. Additionally, I think the grey banner image could be replaced with something more personalized and specific to your brand.

On the other hand, I think your photos are absolutely gorgeous! I would suggest making them a bit bigger on the site so they can really shine.

I also noticed that the font choices on the site might be a bit too masculine and outdated for my taste. However, I know that this is a personal preference and many people might like it.

Lastly, I noticed that some of the content on the site seemed repetitive and the font size for the paragraph text is a bit small. I would recommend setting it at 20px for better readability.

All in all, it's a good start and I can see that you have a great eye for photography. I would suggest looking into some photography templates that can help you create a more professional-looking site.

Keep up the good work!

 

[devaro]

Here are a few tips to improve your photography website:

1. Clearly state what you do: Visitors should be able to tell what services or products you offer within seconds of landing on your site.
2. Showcase your work: Use high-quality images and videos to showcase your photography skills and portfolio.
3. Optimize for mobile: Make sure your website is mobile-friendly, as more and more people are using their smartphones to browse the web.
4. Make it easy to navigate: Ensure that visitors can easily find what they are looking for, with a clear and concise navigation menu.
5. Use clear calls to action: Encourage visitors to take action, such as contacting you or making a purchase, by using clear and noticeable calls to action.
6. Improve website speed: A slow website can negatively impact user experience and drive visitors away. Optimize your site for speed to keep visitors engaged.
7. Focus on user experience: Make sure that your website is user-friendly, with intuitive design and easy-to-use functionality.
8. Add customer reviews: Display customer reviews and testimonials to build trust and credibility with visitors.

I hope these tips help improve your photography website.

Good luck!

 

[SCoell]

Hi Seb

I was excited to review your website as I see quite a few photography sites in my line of business. First things first well done! I know how massively hard it is to design your own website. Been there bought the t-shirt!

First things first I noticed that the logo on the site is a bit small, making it hard to read. Additionally, I think the grey banner image could be replaced with something more personalized and specific to your brand.

On the other hand, I think your photos are absolutely gorgeous! I would suggest making them a bit bigger on the site so they can really shine.

I also noticed that the font choices on the site might be a bit too masculine and outdated for my taste. However, I know that this is a personal preference and many people might like it.

Lastly, I noticed that some of the content on the site seemed repetitive and the font size for the paragraph text is a bit small. I would recommend setting it at 20px for better readability.

All in all, it's a good start and I can see that you have a great eye for photography. I would suggest looking into some photography templates that can help you create a more professional-looking site.

Keep up the good work!

Thank you very much for the review..

Yes it seems hard to get the aesthetics of a photography site whilst incorporating an Ecomm store but I'm happy so far how it's performing and with some adjustments on what you have said I'm sure I can continue to improve it..

Thanks for taking the time to give me some things to do through.

Kind Regards
Seb

 

[SCoell]

I would suggest getting the basics right first. If you're selling your photography then Shopify is a great option to do so, however, it's the content that needs focus. When you visit the site you can't see the wood for trees. There is irrelevant content everywhere. Strip it right back. Focus on what you are selling, photography. As people have suggested, nice high res images would benefit you massively, make sure you Watermark them when presenting if you are going to upload in high resolution.

Come back and take a look at some of the above comments, they are valuable.

Thanks Glen yes I certainly need to work on removing the complexity, something I'm going to focus on over the next few months

 

[SCoell]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, I have tried to take it in and improve the look of the desktop site, I still need to do a lot of work on the mobile site and remove a lot of the complexity in general, but feel its going in the right direction.

SEO wise the site seems to have an OK amount of traffic for the size just need to increase the conversion rate.

 

[fisicx]

Might be an idea to remove the Christmas offer….

Still way too busy on a desktop. And shopify is still the wrong platform for your products.

 

[annabelleme]

It is a pretty website! Love the logo, font and colours.

I would add some text to the images on the first page, or an indicator to scroll down, just because when I clicked from a user experience and user journey point of view, I thought the site was broken and wouldn't know to scroll, so the bounce rates will be high on your home page which won't be good for organic rankings

Also, make sure you implement SEO such as keyword assignments, internal linking, etc.; hopefully, that will help increase traffic!

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

@annabelleme Why are you responding to year old+ topics?

Our moderators will start to think that you are post-building for some unknown reason!!!

 

[annabelleme]

@annabelleme Why are you responding to year old+ topics?

Our moderators will start to think that you are post-building for some unknown reason!!!

Sorry I didn't check the dates, I just enjoy commenting and providing advice!

 

[antropy]

I just enjoy commenting and providing advice!

Nah, I've been getting spammed by notifications about your posts, you're post building.

Paul.

 

[Mark T Jones]

TBH I'd assumed it was automated/AI

 

[annabelleme]

Nah, I've been getting spammed by notifications about your posts, you're post building.

Paul.

I'm new to this, never really joined forums before and was having fun as I enjoy my digital marketing role, my bad.

 

[fisicx]

I'm new to this, never really joined forums before and was having fun as I enjoy my digital marketing role, my bad.

Always look at the date the thread started and if the OP has responded to posts. If they haven’t it’s probably not worth posting a review.

 

[antropy]

my digital marketing role

Ahh so you're not taking part as a business owner who's looking for advice from peers and to help other businesses, you *are* in fact marketing as we thought

Paul.