posted
Hire someone to write/proofread your ad copy. (In that copy, along with some typos, you mention an "Us" section on the top nav that does not exist.)
Given your location, you may also want to include a French-language version.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
I like the visual feel of the site. It is really attractive.
I agree with Tom on both points. Blayne, it needs a thorough proofreading; e.g., errors such as "... cups and plates that food can be safely ate off of" kill off any professional vibe that is created.
Posts: 831 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
I copied and pasted it from the previous iteration of the site so I didn't really read it...
Edit; gave it a quick read and made some changes.
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posted
I would also take better photos of the things you can paint, preferably before they've been painted. They should be in focus with decent lighting, and should be cropped so you can see the whole thing.
It wouldn't hurt to have contact information on the homepage, either.
Posts: 1925 | Registered: Apr 2001
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posted
Blayne, the copy and the quality of the photos is just as important to the web site as the functionality. Don't neglect those aspects. You're doing what I did in college, which is worry about functionality at the expense of anything else. But unless you're working as part of a team that will handle all these other aspects, you need to learn to do them yourself.
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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Blayne Bradley
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posted
The photos looked fine to me so I'm not sure what the problem is there.
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posted
Let me use the the red belly dragon picture as an example, then.
The dragon is cut off on the right when there is plenty of room in the middle of the picture. In addition, you have another creature on the far left that is cut off, indistinguisable and quite frankly I'm not even sure if that was an accidental addition or supposed to be there.
I would suggest that if both are to be in the same picture, to move them together. If not, then I would make sure you position the dragon so the entire piece can be viewed. I would also suggest a better camera angle lighting and general photo editing (levels, contrast, etc), but that's just my preference as a non professional. You'll probably get better advice.
Next, let's take a look at the kitten picture. Again, part of the work is cut off and it's blurred. Also, not a fan of the lighting/background (the basket and the odd light coming from it), but again, not a professional here.
Posts: 9754 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Blayne Bradley
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posted
I think whats to the left of the red belly dragon is just shadow from the environment.
But however though if you hover the mouse over the picture you can click a button that enlarges the image so its full screen so you can get a better look at it...
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posted
The "better pics" recommendation is a good one, though. You want to hire professionals to take pictures of the pieces that you expect are going to be most impressive, and you want to try to incorporate the best of those art pieces into the design of the site even outside of your gallery. After all, while the current design of the site is not unattractive, nothing about it suggests ceramics or relates in any way to the uniqueness of your family's business; you could use the same design for a hockey blog or a medical questions FAQ or a forum about slot car racing. But that's not a critical problem, IMO, and would be greatly ameliorated by slightly more professional input into the text and art assets.
If I had to make one change to the design, I would put some big-ass pictures of the ceramic pieces that you think best show your family's work in a good light, photographed in a manner and palette complimentary to your site design, right on the home page. You want people landing on that page without knowing who you are to know within moments that you're a boutique ceramics shop.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Blayne Bradley
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posted
I'll work on finding a picture to put on the main page, though really what I could and should do is replace the topmost banner with something ceramics related as its the last remaining element from when the site was a school project a few years back.
Change that and it's just about 'done' done.
Now, professional opinion what should I charge? I'ld say this was about a 'days' solid work spread out over a week, I'm doing the effort in finding all the photos to put into a folder, finding a good webhost for them and initially paying for it and configuring it, made the site and uploading it and while trying to make it as user friendly as possible will certainly be the one still maintaining it.
Currently I'm paying ~300$ rent, maybe 50$ a month subtracted from the rent I pay or 5% commission whichever is more?
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