John Riley Photography

[John]

I have just launched a totally new website that is a combination of personal stuff and also Photography Services that I hope people will pay me for...we shall see how it goes but please have a look and let me know what you think.

Both these web addresses will take you to the same place:

www.johnriley1uk.org

www.johnrileyphotography.co.uk

[Theo Dibbits]

John
You asked for feedback so here we go. The problem is that the site is no longer a personal show case but instead should attract/support new customers. Hence the following comments are made from the view point of a potential customer, not a member of ADAPS.

1 I am not sure about the nude on the home page. If you intend to offer family portrait services it may put the grandmother looking for pics of her grand daughter off.
2 Why welcome to 2 URLs when I have already found your site. Why not "Welcome to John and Sue Riley Photography."
This would also solve the problem of who Sue is when mentioned further down the page. (remember I am a stranger)
3 Your services should stand out more. Bigger, boxed, italics what ever it takes. Maybe move them higher up on the page.
4 Should the preparation of a photobook not be on the home page?

I like the restoration page. Good examples and easy to follow.
The two teaching pages and ebay page are fine. On the articles page why is the "Images of England" picture clearly showing your name at the bottom?

Portfolio development
The slideshow is great but would it be better to rotate them a little quicker? There are so many pictures to look at.
To my eyes the portfolio banner looks unbalanced. 2xBW,1xColour,1xBW, 1xColour, 1xBW I think putting 2 BW in the middle would look more balanced.

Are you intending to offer family portrait services etc.?

Hope this helps

Theo

[oakeycoke]

Hi John,

Personally I'm not sure whether its a good thing to have a commercial and family site together, its probably a good idea to have some sort of limited bio of yourself on a commercial site, but not all the family history.

Who-is quotes

Registrant's address:
The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their
address omitted from the WHOIS service

for John Riley Photography and your .org address gives an American I.P. address. So 'Who-i's says you are a non trading individual, admittedly not that important, but from a business point of view a bit iffy? Also the new site is actually the .org one http://johnriley1uk.org/c5/ where .org domains are usually not profit organisations or individuals.

You have no address listed on your contacts page and a virgin email address, hmmm I think business wise that you should have your domain email and I know that placing your home address on the internet is somewhat fraught with danger, so I put in john riley 1 in 'Google' and find that you have asked the same question on the pentax forum. No problems with that, but reading through have noted similar comments re the business/family thing and email etc. All the family details on the site and links tie you to the leigh-manchester area, and it wouldn't take long for someone to find your home address via the internet anyway.

I cant see any meta-tags on your home page though they are there on the services one, I know that that isn't the only way of google etc finding you, but if you are hopefully going to get business via the net, then the seo needs some work, though if the site is just for reference then its not a problem. Likewise a 'blog' is apparently a good way to increase traffic to a site probably better than your forum which appears to be family orientated at the present. In fact I reckon if you tied in a commercial site to a photography blog, you would have a good chance of getting business as you are a regular poster on the net in various forums etc. Personally I couldn't upkeep a blog on a regular basis (nothing to write about), but I don't think you would have a problem.

The site is clean and works quite well, but I haven't found any slide show of photos----oops found the flash restoration one which is cool, but the before and after would work better side by side rather than underneath as they are not that wide and would fit together. Likewise the couple beneath, 406 pixels wide would work better side by side. 95+% of web viewers are on 1024x768 or greater and all the major sites work on around 960ish pixels.

Its a bit like photo competitions this, easy to pick faults or problems in other peoples work but not your own, lol.

Oh nearly forgot, as its Sue and you maybe a joint domain of jands riley photography or similar might be more appropriate.

Phil
(will keep the ear muffs on for the back-lash)

[sunsworth]

One thing I noticed was that if you click on the 'Cherished Poems' link the screen that appears says...

"I have been writing poetry since I was a little girl "

Maybe change the text associated with the link on your website indicating whose site the link transfers to? Unless of course you started life as... I'll stop there <grin>.

[Lee Bold]

Hi John and sue glad to see your venturing into the world of proffessional photographers, Have to agree with the above comments though about having the two sites running together, i'd rather keep them seperate and then your personal life is kept personal.
Who is that good looking chap on the banner, i've seen him somewhere before.
Lee

[John]

Thanks everyone, that's all been very helpful.

I will be updating and modifying the site on a continuous basis and will be taking on board everyhting you've said.