Blog critique

It's pretty image heavy so yeah, it does take a bit to load despite the images being optimised for web so I can live with that.

You're right about the 'about' section, I'm just trying to fill space where ever possible but I'm all out of ideas! :(

Is there a plugin available for archiving posts by month? That might fill up a bit of space on the side panel.
 
Cheers :) Just updated the side panel with a search function and monthly archive in the hope to fill it up a bit more.

I'll also be adding brush set downloads and possibly links.
 
Your work is amazing!

Only thing i don't like is the 'Digital Sketchbook' logo - i find it hard to read and dont feel it matches the rest of the site.

As for visitors go - what are you actually looking for? Do you want people to buy your work? comment on it? ask for help with their own?

From my point of view i find it amazing you have done these in such a quick period of time...but i only really need to spend a few seconds looking at each one. You're not really offering anything other than displaying your pictures so people aren't going to do much more than that...

I quite liked the one that appears to show a scene from star wars? Lots of people under a big walking machine - but there is no more info other than it took 30 minutes...if you want people to stay longer they need a reason to do so.
 
Yes, content is king, not only in quantity though the quality needs to be there aswell. As content builds up, you should get more visitors. However, just because results aren't fantastic visitor wise, don't stop posting! It may take a little longer than you wish...
 
shifty_uk said:
Cheers :) Just updated the side panel with a search function and monthly archive in the hope to fill it up a bit more.

I'll also be adding brush set downloads and possibly links.
Click to expand...

brush set downloads, and downloads in general always help.
I use a plugin called download monitor for my downloads, I'd check it out...
 
also, I have subscribed to the rss feed, and already it's 10+ items, so shows that you do have a bit of content...
Also, have you used a caching plugin? Wp-supercache is my favourite...or you could sign up for cloudflare....or both!
 
feedtheram said:
Only thing i don't like is the 'Digital Sketchbook' logo - i find it hard to read and dont feel it matches the rest of the site.

As for visitors go - what are you actually looking for? Do you want people to buy your work? comment on it? ask for help with their own?

From my point of view i find it amazing you have done these in such a quick period of time...but i only really need to spend a few seconds looking at each one. You're not really offering anything other than displaying your pictures so people aren't going to do much more than that...
Click to expand...

Cheers for the feedback. You're right, there's definitely not much that would keep people lingering. I'll try to expand more on reasoning behind images, processes and so on :)

You know what they say, the hardest thing to do is design for yourself and I've always been an absolute loser at designing my own sites(I got my start working in interactive design). The problem is, I don't think of myself as a client looking to sell, major downfall!

The idea behind the site is to gather interest from industry professionals "oo, look at this new kid on the block'' as it's a dream career route I'd love to pursue. Also interest from amateur artists and enthusiasts ''have you seen this fella, how'd he draw that, what software does he use'' and so forth. In return resulting in word of mouth spreading and the site gathering publicity.

At its current state, this wont be achieved so it definitely need work! :) Oh and I sat up until 3am last night editing the layout, hope the typography suits a little more!

3dcandy said:
brush set downloads, and downloads in general always help.
I use a plugin called download monitor for my downloads, I'd check it out...
Click to expand...

Excellent, I'll check it out! :) Anyone know the legalities of hosting free brush sets created by other artists? :p Obviously full recognition would be given to them!

3dcandy said:
also, I have subscribed to the rss feed, and already it's 10+ items, so shows that you do have a bit of content...
Also, have you used a caching plugin? Wp-supercache is my favourite...or you could sign up for cloudflare....or both!
Click to expand...

I had Hyper Cache installed, just activated it today :)
 
Really like the new title.

Will post some more thoughts tomorrow but just a quick note that on IE8 the links on the top right (contact and about) are overlapping - boring point but worth sorting out.
 
Cheers for the heads up! That menu has been an absolute nightmare! Since I floated them to the right hand side, the links were overlapping in Safari and firefox. Fixed them in Safari, they were still broken in Firefox. Now they work in Safari and Firefox but not IE. Jeez! :confused:
 
I think I might've fixed it, if someone could test in IE that would be great :)

Cheers for all your help Adrian, traffic from search engines seems to have improved a tiny bit already :)
 
try the yoast seo plugin instead of all-in-one. constructs a sitemap.xml file for you and pings the search engines....that should help you along.
 
Site is looking much better!

Still think the font size is way too small though. They say that 16px is the same size as the text in a book, so try 12-14.
 
I think the font size is set by the theme, but I also agree it should be changed...
Still not right in IE9, all the menu text is over each other....
Quick look at the source code and now you're using yoast and all-in-one. Don't use both, just use one. They both rewrite the title tags and will just cause a slowdown. IMHO yoast is the better, just because of the sitemap and se pinging
 
Yeah, I read your post and uploaded Yoast, it's much better, even interface and options wise. I only kept all in one installed because of the meta tag keywords but I found the enable option on Yoast and it's sorted now, no need for both :)

Is the font size really that bad? I can read it clearly but you're right, not everyone can! I made it smaller than the theme originally intended so it might need put up a few pixels.

Cheers for testing the site in IE. I'm running OSX so I'd need to wait and see my other halves laptop to test it. Damn!
 
IE is a pain in the proverbials...when I get a chance I'll have a look for you...
Regarding the font size, it's a subjective thing, but on my main display (1280*1024) 17" it looks a bit too small. It just looks tiny next to the size of the pictures it is describing. I know the pics are the main focus, but surely a bit bigger would look nicer?
 
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Could someone tell me how the new font size looks? I think it looks a bit off being so big but perhaps I'm bias!

Cheers!

edit: Still haven't got that menu working in IE, absolutely lost for ideas, asked on another forum and they don't seem to know either. :(
 
sorry, not really had a chance to take a look for you. I'd also increase the size of the font on the post titles too, aswell as the sidebar. still improving though...
 
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