Tweaking my website

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rocknrollron

rocknrollron

CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
Joined
Apr 25, 2008
Posts
197
Loc
near Washington, NJ 07882
Hi all;

2 months ago I took my framing business to a new level by going 'public' even though this is a part-time gig for me.
Right after my 'official' Grand Opening I put up a website through Zenfolio which caters to photographers like me.
(If you like their website designs you can get a discount using this referal code: 5K8-CQ1-2KB)

www.rondouros.com

Anyway, I got more than my sahre of framing work since going public and haven't done much to the website since I first posted it.
(I have lots of options I'm not using yet but there are some limitations.)

Can you Grumblers checkout my website and make suggestions on improvements?
Any feedback is cheerfully appreciated!

Thanks,
Ron
 
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The link isn't working. There is a message that says the site is undergoing maintenance and check back.
 
It has a nice appearance and seems to flow well even on our relatively slow connection.

The orange text looks nice against the black background.
The dark brown text against the black background is almost invisible and difficult to read.

I'm not a fan of black and dark backgrounds but that's just a personal preference issue.

Customer login, account creation raises a flag for me. The SSL url is a mile long and seems to belong to a different entity (possibly a shared certificate). Websites that save credit card info scare me to the point that I will not enter any credit card information for payment. I wonder if it is up to industry standards since the requirements for business' that save CC information is significant. This may be one of those built-in areas where you don't have much control over functionality.

PayPal payment screen seems to indicate that the money being paid is going to Zenfolio instead of you. Since there was no notice that the payment would be going elsewhere, my brain went into the "Get me outa here" mode. The "cancel and return to rondourdos.com" didn't have any functionality in the PP screen so I was forced to click through PP screens that I hadn't a clue where I was being taken.

You can delete the account that I created. It should be obvious which one that is.
 
I am not a fan of black background either and also know it is harder to read for my elderly customers. Not enough contrast in most cases.

It is a nice looking website but doesn't feel inviting to me to browse further. That's just me though.
 
Best feedback I've gotten so far!

I've asked friends and customers and all they say is it looks great!
Yes, Zenfolio collects the money for prints as they are the sister company to Mpix (a major photo processor). But some valid points were made which I will check into!!
I like the black with my work - which is generally on the dark side (tone wise) but great point made about visibility....fonts may be too small also so I need to streamline the text and go larger at the same time.

Any comments on the photographs? Were they too hard to notice at the bottom? Did anyone scroll through any photos? Comments?

Thanks!!!
Ron
 
Your photos and galleries look great! But your type and copy needs big improvements.

You shouldn't have to instruct people how to navigate your website -- navigation should be foolproof. Also your logo overlaps the top navigation on smaller screens.

I agree with everyone that the text is way too small. Plus I kept on trying to click on all the underlined phrases. :p

People are lazy. They are only going to read the first 5 sentences of your pages. Make sure those first five sentences are amazing! Tell them what you do, why you're better and then call to action.

Use big bold headlines,
  • bullet points, or
  • italics to add extra intrigue.


I hope this feedback helps. With these few little tweaks your website is going to be even better!
 
For a photographers website with some tweeking for text etc I think it if fine. Afterall it is built for photographers. As a custom framers sight I don't think it lends itself well to showing customers what you do. I think perhaps you should have a site built just for framing and then link the two.
 
Great, it gets the message out very well…

I agree with other you should work on the font and size of the type fonts you use…..

Verdana is possibly the best font you can use for a website or so I was advised by a website developer for one of the biggest computer companies in the world, who did huge research in this area of how websites work.
 
j Paul said:
For a photographers website with some tweeking for text etc I think it if fine. Afterall it is built for photographers. As a custom framers sight I don't think it lends itself well to showing customers what you do. I think perhaps you should have a site built just for framing and then link the two.
Click to expand...

That would be ideal and was actually my first paln, however, the business is a part-time gi for me and I decided to go with this 'packaged' webiste and tweak the heck out of it...it's very cost effective for my needs. I do appreciate the feedback though; great minds think alike! :-)

(PS- I am a Quality Assurance Director in a small pharma manufacturing company during the day.)
 
Framehouse Boutique said:
Your photos and galleries look great! But your type and copy needs big improvements.

You shouldn't have to instruct people how to navigate your website -- navigation should be foolproof. Also your logo overlaps the top navigation on smaller screens.

I agree with everyone that the text is way too small. Plus I kept on trying to click on all the underlined phrases. :p

People are lazy. They are only going to read the first 5 sentences of your pages. Make sure those first five sentences are amazing! Tell them what you do, why you're better and then call to action.

Use big bold headlines,
  • bullet points, or
  • italics to add extra intrigue.


I hope this feedback helps. With these few little tweaks your website is going to be even better!
Click to expand...



Great advise! Thanks!
I'm swamped with work now but will work to change some things you suggested as soon as I can....
 
I don't like the black background either. I had to look around for your phone number till I relized it was in the logo. You might want to add it to the address area too. When I go to web site I am looking for a few basic things, The Phone number, location, hours, information about what they do, price, and what products they carry. I get the feel it's more about the photography than the framing. I would seperate the two so one dosn't take away from the other. Just my two cents.
 
Hi folks...

I took ALL of your suggestions strongly and have been playing with some options; and I just made some of the changes suggested.
  • Edited my Welcome page to be brief, increased font sizes
  • Edited my About page, increased font sizes
  • Eliminated any underlining to eliminate confusion over any linking
  • Added some notes about my 'affiliate' Zenfolio so customers are aware they're not being hi-jacked

I am also looking into:
  • Reducing the Title logo size so it doesn't overlap on small pages/screens.
  • Changing the darker fonts to much lighter colors so they 'pop'

I played with the many different colored backgrounds and styles offered but I must say that my work tends to look best with a dark background ~ my preference. Many of you will disagree while some will agree....that's life.

I've been spending countless hours sifting through the thousands of images I have and what's posted there still is not the best of what I have nor is it my best foot forward yet. This will take time but in the meantime I have decent internet presence!

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions- it makes a big difference....keep 'em coming if you like!

Ron
 
A sampling of the many beautiful frame mouldings we carry and past framing jobs. Moulding brands include Roma, Studio Design, Nurre Caxton, and more.

Let us design a beautiful presentation for your art. We frame almost anything: posters, paintings, photos, sports memorabilia, you name it!

We do conservation framing, too. ("We also offer conservation framing" would be better, IMHO.)

I would lose 2/3rds the exclamation points. And use a larger font. And combine paragraph two and three. And use your spell check - you spelled paintings and memorabilia incorrectly.

Since you are a photographer, I would also recommend much better photos of framed work - no parallax, no backgrounds, etc -

But once again, your photographs are lovely!
 
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