Photographer making his own website

Hey everyone,

Hope you all are doing well and having a wonderful Sunday. I have recently made a website for my photography business and was looking for some pointers. What is everyone's thoughts on the website and if I should add anything to it?

www.thurmanimages.com

Thanks again and have a nice weekend,

Rob

9 hours ago, Thurmod said:

I have recently made a website for my photography business and was looking for some pointers. 

Welcome to the forum Rob, and congrats on getting this far with your website.

As a next step, I recommend adding some more text-based content to the site, as it currently averages around 50 words per page, which makes it difficult to index.

I'd start by writing something that tells us more about the person behind the camera, appreciating that this is often the most challenging thing to do! You may also want to add some posts that demonstrate why people should hire you, your style, technique, preferred events. As you are hired, you can add more portfolios, but don't forget to include descriptions of each event, why they wanted it to be photographed, where it was, and so on, as this will help others to find you online.

Hey Rob,

Great to see fellow creatives putting their work out there! I took a look at your website and wanted to share a couple of thoughts that might help you enhance it.

1. Typography & Space: Your site's name and tagline pack a punch with their size, which is cool, but they're also eating up a lot of prime real estate. Maybe tone down the size a bit? This way, your stunning work can take more of the stage. Plus, adding a bit more space around your text can make it easier on the eyes.
2. Background Image: The cityscape is beautiful and sets a professional tone. However, if this is a photography site, showcasing a variety of your own work could be more impactful. Perhaps consider a carousel of your best shots that rotate? It'll give visitors an instant taste of your style and skills.
3. Call to Action (CTA): Right now, I'm not feeling a strong urge to click further into your site. A clear CTA, like 'View Portfolio' or 'Book a Session', placed prominently on that first page, could really guide visitors to engage more with your content and services.

Hope this helps! Keep snapping and showcasing your art.

On 12/4/2023 at 3:50 AM, paul2009 said:

Welcome to the forum Rob, and congrats on getting this far with your website.

As a next step, I recommend adding some more text-based content to the site, as it currently averages around 50 words per page, which makes it difficult to index.

I'd start by writing something that tells us more about the person behind the camera, appreciating that this is often the most challenging thing to do! You may also want to add some posts that demonstrate why people should hire you, your style, technique, preferred events. As you are hired, you can add more portfolios, but don't forget to include descriptions of each event, why they wanted it to be photographed, where it was, and so on, as this will help others to find you online.

Thank you for your input. I plan to maybe work on my home page a little bit and maybe instead make an About Me page that includes my hobbies and what I do for a living other than a photographer. I'm currently a full-time nurse hoping to make this more of a full-time thing if I get the ball rolling. 

On 12/4/2023 at 8:31 AM, Spark_Plugin said:

Hey Rob,

Great to see fellow creatives putting their work out there! I took a look at your website and wanted to share a couple of thoughts that might help you enhance it.

1. Typography & Space: Your site's name and tagline pack a punch with their size, which is cool, but they're also eating up a lot of prime real estate. Maybe tone down the size a bit? This way, your stunning work can take more of the stage. Plus, adding a bit more space around your text can make it easier on the eyes.
2. Background Image: The cityscape is beautiful and sets a professional tone. However, if this is a photography site, showcasing a variety of your own work could be more impactful. Perhaps consider a carousel of your best shots that rotate? It'll give visitors an instant taste of your style and skills.
3. Call to Action (CTA): Right now, I'm not feeling a strong urge to click further into your site. A clear CTA, like 'View Portfolio' or 'Book a Session', placed prominently on that first page, could really guide visitors to engage more with your content and services.

Hope this helps! Keep snapping and showcasing your art.

YES! I was think this stuff out when I was reading your message. These are great ideas. Time to get back to the grind stone and start working on it again. But I was looking at similar websites and was like man I need to work on some more stuff. Thank you for your input. 

Hey all,

I took your advice and updated my website. Let me know if you have any suggestions. I'm pretty happy with it. Let me know if the text helps with the content for indexing. I hope that helps.

@Thurmod,

Gonna give my two cents:

I'd like to see a lil more spacing on the navigation links, they feel a little cluttered, but got use to it pretty quick. Carousel looks good! I think the "View Portfolio" Button may be better placed somewhere on the Carousel. Most common is centered, but could look good elsewhere! The currently booking section text color doesn't contrast enough with the grey background it's on in my opinion. Rest of the pages look good!

I think it's very black and white, which isn't inherently a bad thing, but I think some color would be good, specially for photography. Think this might inspire you: https://www.petermckinnon.com/ I'm sure you've heard of him.