Newly Set Up Business, could you guys rate my website

[lester2705]

Hi everybody. I'm only a newcomer here at Photocamel and glad to be onboard a forum that is the best I've come across yet for the modern day photographer.
I have recently decided to go it alone after a couple of years of illness, and after the way my illness severely disadvantaged my employers I came to the conclusion i'd had enough of yes sir no sir three bags full sir! So, why not put my passion into practice?

I've now gone into the deep end, but I'd be very happy if some of you guys could give me a little feedback on the website

www.simply-portraits.co.uk

I'd be most appreciative of any pointers towards what could be wrong or distracting, just so I could possibly fine tune it a little.
Many thanks all, and have a nice weekend.

[grsphoto]

I just read the first page, and I suspect you will not do very well.

> 3 times you mentioned that you are cheap

Several time you mentioned negatives about picture taking experiences "screaming kids", "city centre parking".

People don't read, they skim

Your opening blurb should be all positives, feel good, warm and happy words and phrases. You should be selling yourself on your experinece and fresh approach, not that you are so desperate for bookings you will do it for beer money.

my 2 cents

Glenn

[Waleed]

Hi and welcome to photocamel...

- First thing I noticed, I couldn't see many portraits in "Simply Portraits". Perhaps 2..
- I like your slogan "Keep It Simple", I would apply that onthe wealth of text on your website.. Keep it simple, the fewer the words, the better. I 2nd Glenn's suggestions.
- The colors and navigation are easy on the eyes and intuitive. However, I felt the thumbnails were a bit heavy to load.

I think you did a good job, and you just need to fine tune it.. Best of luck

[lester2705]

Ouch! I'm a big boy and I did ask for honesty! Seriously though, I fully understand where you are coming from Glenn, and I do think that there is too much text in there. At least now I can trim it based on honest to God input from an outsiders point of view, and I am fully appreciative of that. I'll get to work right away on it, and thank you guys so much.

[grsphoto]

Photography is easy...business is not.

You are competing for disposable income with 1000's of other people who are after the same $ £

Marketing is more important then f stops

Good luck

[Mark McCall]

I agree with Glen wholeheartedly.
Drop the part about keeping overhead low, and portraying youself as cheap.
Once you get known for cheap, it's too hard to move out of that market.

Glen's also right about your marketing.

The beauty of Marketing is that it requires -0- talent. There's no learning curve.
Good luck.

[jfrancho]

Interesting. I'd think you could charge a premium for house calls.

[lester2705]

I'd like to say a big thanks to everyone for their input, it is highly appreciated and most welcome. I'm now working on the fine tuning and dropping much of those negatives and text - thanks for your observation on that gprs - and i'm seeing where your all coming from!!! Yep, it's too cheesy, but good to catch the mistakes early on.

[guaranine]

i'd like to see more people shots. honestly, if i'm hiring you to take pics of my kids then i'd like to see more shots of kids. maybe you should offer a discount for a few clients to show their kids on your website.
beth