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February 23rd, 2009, 01:32 PM
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#1 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Dorset UK
Posts: 697
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Just launched my new website. Thoughts?
OK today I went live with my new website. The old one was a bit stale and old hat and I needed a major revamp to leap ahead of my local opposition. I think I have done that with the new look, but wouldn't mind a critical eye passed over it and would welcome constructive critisism.
There's a couple of glitches which will be sorted. the script isn't working yet on the PHP contacts form, so when a client fills in her details and presses send, it doesn't work. But it says there's a problem and to contact via email. i will have that sorted in the next day or so. Considering what was there before its better regardless of this glitch. Secondly when a client views the samples, the background music continues to play over the music of the clips, causing a musical soup. I can't fathom out how to stop this and have put up a warning text at the bottom of the flash animation asking viewers to turn off the sound button. Wessex Weddings Overall thoughts? |
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February 23rd, 2009, 02:04 PM
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#2 |
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Trustee
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Willmar, MN
Posts: 1,400
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I guess I'd completely remove the contact form for now. A big empty black box would look better than the text saying "don't use this contact form yet!" Just drag that form right off the stage in Flash, you can drag it back when you figure it out.
Some of your images are still showing up as links. I'm also not a big fan of background music on a website. People are often listening to music/internet radio while they're browsing so the music on a site just makes everything sound bad. But if you're determined to keep it, you can stop it when the user opens the portfolio page. It's been a few years since I've worked on one of these flash templates, but it was only one line of code to stop the music playback. I'd dump the equipment page and replace it with something more applicable to brides, such as an article about the benefits of video. |
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February 23rd, 2009, 02:09 PM
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#3 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 358
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I had a quick look first thing when i click on the video gallery your website music should turn off or when someone clicks on a video the music should turn off it doesn't
Second your flash files are too big i checked one clip and i think it was 28mb you should bring that down to about 6mb you need instant play nothing worse than people waiting for a clip to load Firefox browser back arrow button does not work with your website Overall very nice |
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February 23rd, 2009, 02:11 PM
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#4 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Welland, Ontario
Posts: 311
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Couple of minor comments:
In my humble opinion the site looks a little cluttered with the background of blurred images and company logo where it is. I would move the company logo to the navigation bar at the top and centre the videos in the Video Works section. As it stands I'm trying to watch your demos and my eye is distracted by the different images in the background, at least three thumbnails, and the big orange company logo, when it should be focussed on the video. Speaking of the videos, you are quite spirited in your explaining of how great your audio is but I can't find any realtime audio in the clips outside of a champagne bottle popping. I would suggest adding some of that good audio because we don't see enough of it on web demos. Text is a bit small for my taste, especially when there is so much of it. For example, the page about your equipment is quite hard to read, especially with the entire block of text being in capital letters. The images on the About page can be clicked but they don't lead anywhere, which seems a bit strange. I doubt any bride would notice or care, it's just me being picky. There is still placeholder text on the equipment page, which you probably already know and plan to get rid off. And I would definitely get on the contact form and sound turning off. But again, you already know that. I will say, though, that I very much enjoy reading your posts here because they are quite passionate, articulate and inspiring to read. Your wording on your website is just as strong and does a great job of selling your product. I haven't seen your old website but this one is certainly an improvement and attract a lot of clients. Great job. |
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February 23rd, 2009, 02:12 PM
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#5 |
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Regular Crew
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Worcester, Mass USA
Posts: 125
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I work in Web Design, so I'm probably going to be a lot more harsh than others - but here is my expert opinion. (I'm still a part-time wedding videographer)
100% Flash based websites may look nice, but: - They take too long to load (it took a few seconds on my computer, enough where I thought about clicking off of the site). - Horrible for Search Engine Optimization - Search Engines have a tough time indexing Flash sites and getting relative information. Even though Google now index's flash sites, Text-based sites do 10 times better in Search Engine Results. - Overall "poor" user experience when compared to basic text based sites. Your Sound button (at the bottom right hand corner) was a little bit hidden, I would put it in a better spot and make it bigger. I might also have the sound off by default (Although my page plays automatically too - something I might change soon!), and then allow the user to turn it on if they want. Usability Studies for web design list auto-playing music on a site as a turn off (mostly) but since we are in the world of video and audio - I can make the case that we should get a "pass" on this rule. . . . The Flash itself is very well done, I just want you to know of the drawbacks behind it. If you haven't noticed, a lot of corporate sites now use Flash as "Filler" and not as main content, mainly due to the usability issues and Search Engine issue. My site (Wedding Videography in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut by Lakota Den Productions) uses a HTML/CSS page with a flash movie contained in it - that way - I can still use some Search Engine Optimization techniques (such as using Heading tags) to improve my site ranking. My Links are also completely text based, allowing users who don't have flash to navigate through my site. It's not as eye-catching as your site, but I was more concerned about Search Engine Placement since it's "free advertising". Hope that helps, I do like the flash - but it has practical drawbacks. Ryan |
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February 23rd, 2009, 03:02 PM
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#6 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Dorset UK
Posts: 697
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OK thanks a lot for the constructive critisism. Some of it I will certainly take onboard during the next 48 hours as I hone the site to iron out the errors.
First and foremost I didn't design the site myself. And hearin lies a bit of a problem. I can't find out where that bloody music is to turn it off, and secondly I can't again find a switch to turn the music to off as a default! There just doesn't seem to be a sound file in the whole folder, so even renaming the file to stop it is not possible. Its embedded somewhere and damned if I can work it out. If someone could give me a pointer it would be appreciated because I would rather have it off than on. As for the size of the sample clips, they vary from 20-27 meg in size. Large but when you drop the bit rate the quality falls away and its a video site so high quality is extremely important. Perhaps I will go back and tweak that a bit. I have great Google ranking, on the first page or near the top of all searches in my area. As the site runs off only one HTML page, I have just copied all my titles, meta tags etc straight over.Idon't think it will have an affect to be honest as on my last site all the text was images. The clips shown are just a taster. Brides get sent a proper sample DVD which has a lot more on it including a 2 hour wedding concentrated down to 20 minutes. I do agree about the equipment page and it should go as Chris says in place of the benefits of video. Thanks for the feedback so far. |
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February 23rd, 2009, 03:16 PM
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#7 | |
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Trustee
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Bristol UK
Posts: 1,273
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Quote:
Nice site, i like it. Paul.
__________________
Round 2 GH5,FZ2000 |
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February 23rd, 2009, 03:16 PM
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#8 | |
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Regular Crew
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Worcester, Mass USA
Posts: 125
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Quote:
I would be interested (for my own insight) to hear if you continue to be near the top of your keyword list in the next couple of weeks or so. Maybe Google has improved in the way it handles Flash . . . . |
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February 23rd, 2009, 03:25 PM
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#9 | |
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Major Player
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Dorset UK
Posts: 697
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Quote:
Glad you like it thanks. |
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February 23rd, 2009, 03:28 PM
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#10 | |
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Major Player
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Dorset UK
Posts: 697
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February 23rd, 2009, 03:35 PM
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#11 | |
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Regular Crew
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Worcester, Mass USA
Posts: 125
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Quote:
The traditional issue with Flash pages is that the search engines can't read the text in flash because it's embedded in the SWF (Flash) file. META can usually only take you so far. In fact, a lot of search engines totally ignore the keywords and description meta tags now. That's why I am surprised that you are still ranked high. . . unless this is a brand new site and Google hasn't re-crawled the page yet (typically it takes a week or two for Google to pick up on website changes). Ryan |
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February 23rd, 2009, 04:20 PM
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#12 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Dorset UK
Posts: 697
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I understand. Yes if my rankings plummet I will change things pretty quickly. I have a HTML version of this site which I will configure in the next few days.
OK got rid of the music background. Much better. Music was hidden in the flash source file. got rid and it works much better now. I will change the equipment page so it is more the reasons why a videographer is so important, harping on about old grannies dying and your childrens children will see their great great grannie who died before they were born family social history etc etc etc. very good at that works a treat at fairs. Matthew Caggs, thanks for the compliment. People who know me think I should get involved in motivational speeches. I am a passionate person and when I find a market to exploit which in under developed I will move into it to make some money. There's always opportunities out there. Wedding videography has been the poor relation to photography but that shouldn't be the case, especially today with much better quality cameras. Trouble is there are a lot of old boys still in the game with their heart shaped balloons and mushy transitions! When a bride sees " filming weddings since 1983" they should run a mile! |
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February 23rd, 2009, 05:08 PM
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#13 | |
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Major Player
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Lyndhurst, NJ, USA
Posts: 408
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February 23rd, 2009, 06:58 PM
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#14 |
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Major Player
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Ohio USA
Posts: 222
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My opinion...
As cool as all that "jazzy" stuff is, I thought simply viewing the site was a pain. All the photos were cool on the front page but I had to wait and wait for the flash file to load. The text was too small and difficult to read. I had to use a magnifying glass. But the magnifying glass did help me to see you had some mispelled words and some repeat words. Examples: FILMING THE BRIDES PERPERATIONS. (Should be PREPARATIONS) YOU KNOW THAT WE LIKE TO BLOW OWN OWN TRUMPET (Should be OUR OWN ) And, I'm not knocking you specifically, but what is the importance of listing the gear you own? I don't get it. Seems as pointless to me as listing all the software you have at your disposal. Jeff |
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February 23rd, 2009, 08:29 PM
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#15 | |
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Trustee
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Willmar, MN
Posts: 1,400
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