It seems like there are lots of members here who use SmugMug's Pro level service for their customized websites. I did mine a little over a year ago and am thinking of a remodel. I would love to see what others have done, and/or to get critiques on my site as well as the ones that are posted here. If you didn't do the actual customization yourself, that's fine too (give credit where due).
Ben...
Classy job overall. I would change the "contact" tab, or at least what happens after one clicks it. On my end, it tried to open up a Microsoft Email program that I don't currently use. Rather than force someone into their email program, there are other ways. Mine is a simple contact form that I think I got at mycontactform.com The client fills out a couple brief tidbits of info, and it lands in my regular email inbox. It's a free service if you only do up to (about) 50 contacts a month. Also, I'm not sure if you're tracking your site with something like Google Analytics, but it's pretty easy to set up. Once you do, you may find that a surprising number of people are only spending a few minutes on your site at a time. If this is true in your case, I would speed up the slideshow on your front page a little. That way, a casual viewer new to the site will see a few more frames before they dive in.
Now that I've picked on you, I'd love to hear any cc on mine too!
Adrian...
I think your site is excellent. It's very clean and easy to navigate. I can guess that your clients have no problem finding their images when they visit. The photos themselves are excellent! I would wonder what the front page looks like on an older monitor with your nav bar off to the right? On my widescreen it looks fantastic!
Here's my new website. Please critique! I've spent a lot of time trying to get the site indexed by search engines but, so far no luck. You may have to put the is link in the main address bar. Does anyone know if getting a Domain Name would help? Its cheap but, not sure it is needed to be found by Google or Yahoo. Smugmug has been great helping out with minor issues!
Several areas on my site need to be changed. Especially the Bio section. I'm not big on writing or taking photos of myself. I would appreciate any comments.
Your pics are fantastic. I've been in the Michigan towns you are showing and love the shots. Before I make any comments about the site, is this a smugMug Pro Account? Or is it the one in the middle (not pro, not basic) where you are limited on customization? Let me know... I have some ideas. And feel free to tear mine apart!
I love your site layout. Not sure how you set it up this way but, I'm jeaolous. The only thing I noticed is that the large picture on the main page loads slow. Especially, when I'm at work with only a T1 line. This is minor. Love your photos!
Thanks for checking out my website. I do have the pro account in which I hope to send customers to purchase additional small prints and trinkets. My biggest problem has been working on layout and optimizing the main page. My site has not been indexed, and I've spent a lot of time trying. A friend hooked me up with a link to check the site and found many things wrong, which were not cause by me, but from templates of smugmug. Any comments or help would be greatly appreciated!
I looked through your site some more and really like it. It is also really easy to navigate from one area to the next. Your images are awesome. I really enjoyed the wildlife sections. I could not really find anything that I would change so far.
On a side note would you mind if I borrowed some of the verbage you have on your Buy Prints page?
I like the start to your site but would suggest cleaning up the main page a lot. I would get rid of the top 100 keyword and Photo Communities sections. Also the popular photos only has 1 photo in it which seems unnecessary to have on your home page.
the photos in your Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chongqing China 2007 gallery are really nice.
I also noticed the email link does not work for me.
My first thought was, I am going to be hitting this person up for some info on how they did their site. I LOVE your banner. Your shots also look great.
For me your site is not easy to navigate. The navigation bar is duplicated which is kind of confusing. Also there are the photos by subject or location options but once I click there I was expecting to get a list of subject/location options to choose from.
That is just my first thoughts. The site has a LOT of potential with a little more work.
Jan...
Your site is about as close to perfect as I've seen! Very, very tastefully done with excellent work there as well. I wondered if you chose not to allow showing your images in large sizes to prevent unauthorized use or if there was another reason? Nice job!
This is another of the best ones out there! I love your Nav Bar with dropdown menus. This is something I would like to do on mine too. When I built mine it seemed as if there was a bit of controversy on the SM forum about doing this. Some members had a hard time getting it right. Your's is perfect. Your front page / banner is also very classy! Nice!
Ben- AHA! You are one of the elusive few who has that 'duplicated banner' problem. My brother, from his work computer, is another. They run IE there but he doesn't know which version. I have the newest IE and there's no problem. Also no reported problems with any firefox version.
I love your site layout. Not sure how you set it up this way but, I'm jeaolous. The only thing I noticed is that the large picture on the main page loads slow. Especially, when I'm at work with only a T1 line. This is minor. Love your photos!
Thanks! The speed of loading the slide show may be (partially) dependent on the size of either the first or all of the images. Since I try to upload my stuff in the original file size, the shots used in the invisible slide show gallery are probably large also. I think that once it gets going it's fine, but the initial shot may take a few seconds. I'm bouncing around the idea of just using a single (non-rotating) shot on the front page instead of the slide show. My fear is that a new visitor to the site will sit and watch the slide show and then never dive into the galleries thinking they've already seen everything.
Here's my new website. Please critique! I've spent a lot of time trying to get the site indexed by search engines but, so far no luck. You may have to put the is link in the main address bar. Does anyone know if getting a Domain Name would help? Its cheap but, not sure it is needed to be found by Google or Yahoo. Smugmug has been great helping out with minor issues!
Paul,
Ok, this is merely my .02 and I'm certainly no expert. A few opinions on what I've seen on yours so far.
1. The "search" feature on your front page is less than ideal use of space, since it basically searches your site (as far as I can tell) and you really have less than 100 public images that one might search for.
2. I remember reading that an ideally built website doesn't require the visitor to scroll down on (at least) the front page. Your page is long with a lot of content near the bottom.
3. Your keywords section doesn't have to be on the front page to be found by search engines. It seems as if common (homemade) Smug Mug sites are not easy to find on searches anyway (unless one searches for a specific website name).
4. Your email link doesn't go anywhere. There are companies (websites) out there that will provide a free template for a contact page and also the service to connect clients who may be on your site directly to the email address of your choice. Never set it up so that link triggers the person's own email software. Let them think they're sending something through your site directly. Check out mine. If you like it, I'll look up who I'm using.
5. Most importantly...(hope I don't get in trouble for this) join Smug Mug's online forum community and use it. There are people online 24/7 who (I believe) are paid to help you answer customization questions. Set up your account and user name and give them your website's address. Tell them what you're trying to do and they will tell you the codes you need to put in (and where) to get there.
