Posted by Mark Seaver on January 19, 2014 at 10:08 AM
I've finally gotten around to setting up a photo web site. I'd sure appreciate it if folks would take a look and let me know what works and doesn't work for them. The site is:
Posted by gary phillips on January 19, 2014 at 11:15 AM
Hi Mark,
Really enjoyed the site. Especially the shots of Yellowstone and Paradise valley. I lived in the Tetons (Idaho side) for nearly 30 years and used to fly fish many of the rivers around Yellowstone and Montana. still try to visit a couple times a year. Your photos are beautiful and I hope the site is a success for you. Navigating the site was easy and intuitive and I'm sure as you add more photos the galleries will fill with quality work.
Looking very nice overall, Mark. I did not detect any errors or failures of operation while poking around. You've got some truly wonderful work on display too. Thanks for sharing this announcement, good luck with your future additions also.
However (LOL!) you've got the wrong web address for NPN! The one you have (www.npn.org) goes to a new parent site.
NPN's is : http://www.naturephotographers.net/.
Good luck with the site - I'm sure it will get lots of views, especially if you add a link below your name on NPN.
Cheers -
Sandy
Posted by Mark Seaver on January 19, 2014 at 12:38 PM
Oops, Sandy thanks for the heads up, definitely want folks going to NPN. How cool that when I made the change it showed up as a hot link.
Posted by Mike Ramy on January 19, 2014 at 3:04 PM
Mark,
I am assuming you are with Zenfolio with your new site from the features and lay-out you have. These are great people to work with and I started my new site with Zenfolio back last April. As you play around with their features (a bunch of new ones just added) you will get a feel for the default and customizable features to fit your own style and create a unique product for yourself and your outstanding images. If you have any questions, let me know and my site is http://www.mikieproductions.com/ to see what I have done so far.
Mike
Posted by John Mumaw on January 19, 2014 at 6:48 PM
Your site looks real good, and all spelling and punctuation is in order (former proofreader here).
However, the link to NPN has a " ) " appended to the URL which then returns a Not Found page.
Posted by Eva McDermott on January 19, 2014 at 8:04 PM
Looks great Mark. The gray background works well and your images really jump off the screen. I am on Zenfolio as well and like their options a lot..
Posted by Wesley Picotte on January 27, 2014 at 11:09 AM
Mark, great job on the new site! Zenfolio should suit you well.
I love the site's layout and the ease of getting from the homepage to your images. The site really showcases your photography nicely, too.
Couple ideas to share that you can tuck away and think about as time allows. These come out of more than 15 years of web marketing experience with digital agencies.
"Responsive" web design is becoming very important as we shift towards a mobile web. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it describes sites that present content based on the viewing device. A responsive website shows content differently for people on desktop, tablets, and mobile phones.
My site's an example -- www.wesleypicotte.com. Open it at full width in your desktop browser and then gradually narrow the browser. You'll see how browser width (which in this case represents device width) influences content. I just launched this site, so you might find a few presentation issues -- getting to these as time allows!
Responsive is important for photographers using social media because so many people visit social via mobile. For example, 78% of Facebook's 128 million daily US users see the site via mobile. This means the effort and money put towards promoting on social is diminished if what people see doesn't put our proverbial best foot forward.
Zenfolio may have responsive templates available--it's something you can inquire about.
Also, SEO may not be a main consideration (or a consideration at all), but there are a couple of things you can do to help people and search engines find and understand your site.
Ask Zenfolio how to set "friendly" URLs and customize the page title for each page of your website. Using Abstracts In Nature as an example, the page URL is http://seaverphotos.zenfolio.com/p143736942, and the page title is Seaverphotos | Abstracts in Nature (you can see this at the very top of the bowser window, or in the browser tab).
For the URL, it's most likely a system setting within Zenfolio that once flipped, voila, friendly URLs. At that point, the page URL would be http://seaverphotos.zenfolio.com/abstracts-in-nature. This URL will be more meaningful both for people and machines (i.e. search engines), and they look a lot better when being shared on a blog or in social media.
Regarding the page title, this is an important SEO element. In reality, most portfolio websites are ill-equipped to perform in search, and site optimization takes time and knowledge. Most photographers therefore don't have search-optimized websites. However, the page title is usually very easy to customize (via your site manager interface), and while putting paint on the car (your photos), you may as well strap on the wheels, as well.
Super fast page title guidelines: keep them to 60 characters or fewer, and make the title tightly related to the page content. For your Abstracts in Nature page, your page title might be: Abstracts In Nature - Nature Photographs from Mark Seaver.
Ultimately, what and how you invest into your site is tied to what you want out of it. If you're serious about trying to promote your work online, what I share here represents goals you can work towards over coming months. If you simply want a place to showcase your work, you've created a site that does this well.
Discussion
8 replieshere
Thanks in advance.
Mark
Really enjoyed the site. Especially the shots of Yellowstone and Paradise valley. I lived in the Tetons (Idaho side) for nearly 30 years and used to fly fish many of the rivers around Yellowstone and Montana. still try to visit a couple times a year. Your photos are beautiful and I hope the site is a success for you. Navigating the site was easy and intuitive and I'm sure as you add more photos the galleries will fill with quality work.
However (LOL!) you've got the wrong web address for NPN! The one you have (www.npn.org) goes to a new parent site.
NPN's is : http://www.naturephotographers.net/.
Good luck with the site - I'm sure it will get lots of views, especially if you add a link below your name on NPN.
Cheers -
Sandy
I am assuming you are with Zenfolio with your new site from the features and lay-out you have. These are great people to work with and I started my new site with Zenfolio back last April. As you play around with their features (a bunch of new ones just added) you will get a feel for the default and customizable features to fit your own style and create a unique product for yourself and your outstanding images. If you have any questions, let me know and my site is http://www.mikieproductions.com/ to see what I have done so far.
Mike
However, the link to NPN has a " ) " appended to the URL which then returns a Not Found page.
I love the site's layout and the ease of getting from the homepage to your images. The site really showcases your photography nicely, too.
Couple ideas to share that you can tuck away and think about as time allows. These come out of more than 15 years of web marketing experience with digital agencies.
"Responsive" web design is becoming very important as we shift towards a mobile web. If you're unfamiliar with the term, it describes sites that present content based on the viewing device. A responsive website shows content differently for people on desktop, tablets, and mobile phones.
My site's an example -- www.wesleypicotte.com. Open it at full width in your desktop browser and then gradually narrow the browser. You'll see how browser width (which in this case represents device width) influences content. I just launched this site, so you might find a few presentation issues -- getting to these as time allows!
Responsive is important for photographers using social media because so many people visit social via mobile. For example, 78% of Facebook's 128 million daily US users see the site via mobile. This means the effort and money put towards promoting on social is diminished if what people see doesn't put our proverbial best foot forward.
Zenfolio may have responsive templates available--it's something you can inquire about.
Also, SEO may not be a main consideration (or a consideration at all), but there are a couple of things you can do to help people and search engines find and understand your site.
Ask Zenfolio how to set "friendly" URLs and customize the page title for each page of your website. Using Abstracts In Nature as an example, the page URL is http://seaverphotos.zenfolio.com/p143736942, and the page title is Seaverphotos | Abstracts in Nature (you can see this at the very top of the bowser window, or in the browser tab).
For the URL, it's most likely a system setting within Zenfolio that once flipped, voila, friendly URLs. At that point, the page URL would be http://seaverphotos.zenfolio.com/abstracts-in-nature. This URL will be more meaningful both for people and machines (i.e. search engines), and they look a lot better when being shared on a blog or in social media.
Regarding the page title, this is an important SEO element. In reality, most portfolio websites are ill-equipped to perform in search, and site optimization takes time and knowledge. Most photographers therefore don't have search-optimized websites. However, the page title is usually very easy to customize (via your site manager interface), and while putting paint on the car (your photos), you may as well strap on the wheels, as well.
Super fast page title guidelines: keep them to 60 characters or fewer, and make the title tightly related to the page content. For your Abstracts in Nature page, your page title might be: Abstracts In Nature - Nature Photographs from Mark Seaver.
Ultimately, what and how you invest into your site is tied to what you want out of it. If you're serious about trying to promote your work online, what I share here represents goals you can work towards over coming months. If you simply want a place to showcase your work, you've created a site that does this well.
Cheers,
Wesley