I have a website!

ScarySquirrel

ScarySquirrel

ScarySquirrel

Soldato
Joined
13 Jan 2004
Posts
23,897
Location
South East
A little bit of shameless self promotion, but also looking for a bit of QA, comments, and feedback :)

I've had a lot of interest recently in my photography, I've got weddings booked and enquiries continuing to come in, as well as a charity event to cover later this month and a few 'family portraits' having been requested from friends of Helen.

I decided about 3 weeks ago that I would have a proper crack at the wedding photography game, with events and portraits also being an offering, but certainly not the core offering. I've had a wedding (the one this Saturday) booked in for 6 months now, and I've been dreading it. However, now that I am fully committed to this idea I am EXTREMELY excited, even more so after the wedding reception I covered last Saturday.

So, before you click on the link, a few points to note:

  • Imagery is all placeholder at the moment, some images will remain, some will change
  • I've not fully proof read everything
  • The packages are not 100%, neither is the pricing
  • The wedding gallery and events gallery is currently 'Coming Soon'
  • Yes, I know there are A LOT of pictures of Helen and I know this probably doesn't do me any favours, but it's all I have to work with right now :)

Here is the website - www.nicholasbenson.co.uk
The blog - http://www.nicholasbenson.co.uk/category/blog/
and my Facebook page - www.facebook.com/nicholasbensonphotography (feel free to 'like' :))

Look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts :)
 
Oh, and some business cards (shocking mobile phone quality pictures, they are actually black!)

photo2si.jpg


photo1mc.jpg


I know my mobile number is on show there, but it's all over the website anyway, so never mind!
 
Very nice I like it :) simple to use and navigate!
Have liked you FB page too.

Only issue I can see is this, using a mac and Latest Firefox version the lines are off?
layout.jpg
 
i know its not very constructive feedback but i really like the website. easy navigation and very straight forward information.

my only criticism, and it is really small, is maybe have some different people in the portaits gallery.
im using firefox 3.6.8 and everything lines up ok

overall very nice though.
 
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I like the design but I find it distracting that the text under the pictures in your blog section is left-hand justified and not fully justified - it just looks a little ragged and IMO would look better fully-justified (there may well be other text where the same would apply but I need to do some work so no time to check).

It does look p[retty slick though, hope it goes well for you.
 
Thanks for the positive comments so far everyone :)

Fireskull said:
Very nice I like it :) simple to use and navigate!
Have liked you FB page too.

Only issue I can see is this, using a mac and Latest Firefox version the lines are off?
layout.jpg
Click to expand...

Hmmm, that's odd. Despite working for a high profile web design agency I have no clue how to go about fixing that!! I work in sales and account management, ha!

I'll ask some of the guys here to look at it!

clintham said:
i know its not very constructive feedback but i really like the website. easy navigation and very straight forward information.

my only criticism, and it is really small, is maybe have some different people in the portaits gallery.
im using firefox 3.6.8 and everything lines up ok

overall very nice though.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much :)

I agree about the portraits thing. I'll certainly look to remove some of the pictures of Helen, and maybe limit it to 5 tops, but I need some more portfolio stuff before I can do that. Will look to do some shoots over the next couple of months with other models.

AtticusFinch said:
I like the design but I find it distracting that the text under the pictures in your blog section is left-hand justified and not fully justified - it just looks a little ragged and IMO would look better fully-justified (there may well be other text where the same would apply but I need to do some work so no time to check).

It does look p[retty slick though, hope it goes well for you.
Click to expand...

I should probably know what you mean, but do you mind explaining what you mean by fully-justified? Is this something I could fix quite easily do you think?

EDIT: Just Googled it, will look into fixing.

EDIT: Fixed it, nice and easy, just need to go through and apply to all pages.

Just need to use < p align="justify">

EDIT (again): Strangely, it works on one post, but not on any others. Odd!
 
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Paul11 said:
i really like it

is that wordpress?
Click to expand...

It is indeed. It's using a premium theme though, cost about £20 from ThemeForest. It took AGES to get it working how I wanted, and a fair amount of messing around with various PHP files (mostly just deleting stuff, or hard coding links and copy), but it's pretty much where I want it now, with the exception of the lack of photos in the portfolio!
 
I love it! Took me ages to find anything to find to complain about :p
On this page, it has a search box but its kind of impossible to see its a text input as its just all white :)

But everything else is amazing and professional :)
 
Like what others have said, nice and simple yet stylish and easy to navigate website.
I like the business cards :)

Grammar mistake? in the 'Your Wedding' bit, under 'Venue Visits'

Should it not be: These visits ensure that I am prepared for the day and allow me to start thinking about possible photos ideas and locations.
 
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Can I first say congratulations. I feel jealous of this website. Its soo easy and most importantly rapid to load and navigate.
Did you have this designed for you or did you make it yourself. It really functions well. Looks visually striking and the work is top dollar!

Johnny
 
Wow, thanks everyone. I was worried about posting this as I thought it would be torn apart, but I'm glad it's gone down well.

When I started setting this up I was very clear about what I wanted, and needed. Fortunately for me I do work in web design, albeit in sales, however I work very closely with our user experience guys, strategy guys, etc. So I have a good understanding of what makes a clear, functional, and most importantly, a user friendly website.

That said, I know nothing about the actual development work (well, how to do it anyway). So that is why I decided on WordPress, as it's so easy to work with and customise.

I wanted a simple website, with a nice banner image scroller on the homepage, simple navigation allowing people to find the important info (about me, my photos, pricing, and contact).

I did a lot of research, looking at local wedding photographer's websites and 90% of them are TERRIBLE! They completely miss the point of what they are trying to do. One in particular made me laugh, it had a Flash intro which you couldn't skip, and last about a minute, the VERY FIRST PHOTOS you saw were of some half naked woman in some Viking style costume, very very odd, and definitely not meeting the target audience's needs and expectations.

I know that most of the people viewing my site will likely be the bride to be, or possibly the parents (who might be paying for it). They want a easily navigable website, clear, concise information, with a professional, but also slightly personable tone of voice, and they want to feel reassured. I hope that what I have here does all of that.

Razor-BladE said:
Like what others have said, nice and simple yet stylish and easy to navigate website.
I like the business cards :)

Grammar mistake? in the 'Your Wedding' bit, under 'Venue Visits'

Should it not be: These visits ensure that I am prepared for the day and allow me to start thinking about possible photos ideas and locations.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, I'm not sure it should have an S on the end. I'm not sure that sentence is particularly well written though so I'll review it. Cheers.

Johnny|lucidcomposure said:
Can I first say congratulations. I feel jealous of this website. Its soo easy and most importantly rapid to load and navigate.
Did you have this designed for you or did you make it yourself. It really functions well. Looks visually striking and the work is top dollar!

Johnny
Click to expand...

Thanks Johnny. It's built using WordPress, and is simply using a premium theme I bought and downloaded. It required a lot of tweaking to get it working how I wanted, but I feel it was worth it :)
 
ScarySquirrel said:
Thanks Johnny. It's built using WordPress, and is simply using a premium theme I bought and downloaded. It required a lot of tweaking to get it working how I wanted, but I feel it was worth it :)
Click to expand...
Duuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!! Course its wordpress! How stupid am I!!

Really really nice. I think thats easily the nicest wordpress driven website I have come across.
 
ScarySquirrel said:
Hmmm, I'm not sure it should have an S on the end. I'm not sure that sentence is particularly well written though so I'll review it. Cheers.
Click to expand...

Sorry, should have clarified! The sentence WITH the s is what is typed on the website. I was showing what it should be in red (so letting the s slip from the sentence). So at least we're thinking the same thing. :D
 
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