My Wedding Site at DVinfo.net

Nik Korablin · February 21st, 2007, 10:07 PM

I'm pretty new to the wedding video business and this website. I just finished my website and am looking for some critique.

eternalvideo.com

Dan Burnap · February 22nd, 2007, 05:01 AM

Hi Nik

I liked you website. It's clean and clear. Very minor points but using terms like: "We sort through all of our footage" and "sifting through the footage", it sounds as though it's a bit of a chore. Also, maybe it should be "your footage". Or maybe I'm just being very picky!

Roman Rowlands · February 22nd, 2007, 06:03 AM

It's nice, obviously a family business. Are you Russian? Because titles are in Russian you might lose the English speaking clientele. I agree it looks a clean site & not much wrong with it IMHO, but where is the passion? It lacks sentimental, romantic touches, more flowers, hats, rings, poems. Don't get me wrong I thought the video was pretty good, though marketing is 90% of success according to some people, presentation is key to potential clients that have never heard about you. I am not much of a sentimental person myself, but when my wife & I watched one of the promo videos from one of DVI's members we both shed a tear, it was a beautifully romantic video. So do not discount sentimental touches, you have to win their hearts first. All the best Nik!

Michael Nistler · February 22nd, 2007, 06:18 AM

Hi Nik,

Excellent website and video, and I'm sure others will testify I don't often begin my website feedback quite that flattering! You seem to have inate photographer skills (perhaps a second occupation?) - nice job on your embedded pictures. And again, the video was quite compelling, including nice music, good camera work, lighting, compostion, effects, and excellent edits and pacing. Let me also complement you on the great marketing focus on your homepage! Many vidoegraphers don't provide a compelling focus on their value proposition - your statements and supporting pictures provide a strong message on the benefit of doing business with you. Normally, it's advisable to have the "call to action" up front but your approach works fine. Okay, I've fluffed you too much, now for the "other" feedback... BTW, the personalization of your About page was a nice touch - selling yourself is key and your pictures illustrate that you are comfortable sharing of yourselves (a good way to build trust).

The homepage has an unfortunate problem - the first panel does not load correctly using Internet Explorer - the message at the bottom of the browser status message at bottom of screen says "(1 item remaining) Waiting for ... Yes, I realize it works find with Mozilla and other browser, but in the wedding business, more than 80% of your visitor can't see the Macromedia Flash slide show. You'll want to fix this, especially since that's the first thing the site visitor should see (a blank box for IE users) BTW, the box looks fine on using IE on the other pages, although I realize the other pages don't use Flash in that area.

The website structure and navigation is consistent with few suprises - the
only somewhat confusing element is in your gallery. Consider using color, fonts, dividers, etc to make it clear the video "Introduction" is a hyperlink to video while the "Wedding Invitations" are hyperlinks to still pictures (not a big deal but isn't intuitive).

On each page your visible header box has a lot of valuable prime real estate space above the navigation menu that's unused. Hopefully you have plans for this space in the future - 20% of the top of your screen is far to important an area not to use productively. At a minimum, increase the size of your slogan "capturing the most important day of your life". Or you might include a brand message, graphic, or perhaps a functional link, site search, etc. Or maybe you'll simply want to make a bigger font for your phone number and logo size.

This gets to the second issue. It's clear by your design that you're concerned about getting spam EMAIL. Your phone number is a JPEG and not a ASCII text font so a human must read it, apparently concerned a webbot will harvest your EMAIL address, sell it to others and generate spam mail (certainly you were comfortable using text for your slogan "capturing the most important day of your life"). With your brown lettering on black, the appx type 11 font will be hard for some to read, especially with periods delimiting the area code/prefix/number. On a simlar thought, your booking page requires the potential customer to use a form to contact you - no direct EMAIL is permitted. Hopefully you website form will always be working, but you may wish to test it every few days just in case. Anyway, the form method will be inconvenient for some (probably a limit on the message box, no local copy for the prospective client, etc), but that's your business decision if spam control is that important to you.

Personally, I'm not the best critique for color schemes but it seems as though your two-tone earth colors could be brightened up a bit. Actually the colors work fine on pages where you have color pix, yet the Services page isn't compelling, thrilling or sexy. On the other hand, I like your use of bold fonts to highlight key items on each package as well as the considerate write-up on your $500 Filming bare-bones package - very thoughtfully done. And I do agree with Roman's comments above that you may wish to consider adding more icons/pix representative of the wedding; the site is quite business-like which seems reasonable for us, yet we want to appeal to the emotions and feeling of couples in love that value us, our services and products to preserve their memories.

Like many, your meta tags are quite lengthy - the seach engines normally catch the first 5-6 of these on your site; I suggest to prioritize the first keywords on your list to 2-3 word phrases that pertain specifically to your company:

<meta name="keywords" content="wedding, video, videographer, photographer, photography, bridal, bride, planning, dvd, marraige, movie, pa wedding video, central pa wedding, lancaster pa wedding, pa wedding, wedding video, wedding DVD, wedding videography, video production, event video, corporate video, business video" />
<meta name="Classification" content="Regional: North America: United States: Pennsylvania: Regions: Susquehanna Valley" />

On that note, the website visitor has no clue that you provide services out of Lancaster, PA. Certainly you don't want to share this with the search engine yet keep it a secret from the human website visitor.

It's unlike me not to find more constructive feedback so forgive me about being picky on the final minor item. On your picture on the about page, consider retaking your pix. Rather than rely on one light which bounces off your glasses and casts shadows on the wall behind you, use a key and fill light at 45 degree angles. At a minimum, you could key from the right and get a whiteboard on the left side just outside your medium shot frame and bounce the light on the other side. Okay, while I'm being picky, since each of the subjects in the pix is slightly skewed off-center to the right, left justify everyone's names to the left side (balance).

Again, you've got a great site and I'm sure your clients will love it.

Warm Regards, Michael

Vince Lucena · February 22nd, 2007, 07:53 AM

Some things I noticed,,

In the meta keywords:: "marraige" should be spelled marriage.

There is a link for "Services" in the upper portion of the site, but is missing in the lower links area.

I use FireFox to browse, it appears that the page does not center, slightly off to the left.

Nice site

Michael Nistler · February 22nd, 2007, 06:55 PM

Vince,

Good point about the typo (marriage) in the meta tag, but the 8th tag phrase is unlikely to be picked up by the big boys anyway (google and Yahoo). Further, if I was to go to those search engines and type "marriage" as a criteria, certainly the results on the first 100 hits won't be on any videographer's website!

Nik, I forgot one additional point on my previous critique. While the Apple-encoded MOV videos are fine for us with those viewers, when you get the opportunity be sure to add a Macromedia Flash player so everyone can view the video (I realize you do provide a download link for the Quicktime player but casual viewers are not likely to take the time and effort to do so).

Regards, Michael

Waldemar Winkler · February 22nd, 2007, 09:16 PM

Consistent design.

Drop the references to cameras and such. You are expected to have quality equipment. Most viewers won't understand or care.

Vince Baker · February 23rd, 2007, 06:00 AM

http://www.eternalvideo.com/about.htm shows manager spelt incorrectly

February 21st, 2007, 10:07 PM	#1
Nik Korablin Tourist Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Lancaster, PA Posts: 1	My Wedding Site I'm pretty new to the wedding video business and this website. I just finished my website and am looking for some critique. eternalvideo.com

February 22nd, 2007, 06:18 AM	#4
Michael Nistler Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Petaluma, CA Posts: 456	Outstanding start! Hi Nik, Excellent website and video, and I'm sure others will testify I don't often begin my website feedback quite that flattering! You seem to have inate photographer skills (perhaps a second occupation?) - nice job on your embedded pictures. And again, the video was quite compelling, including nice music, good camera work, lighting, compostion, effects, and excellent edits and pacing. Let me also complement you on the great marketing focus on your homepage! Many vidoegraphers don't provide a compelling focus on their value proposition - your statements and supporting pictures provide a strong message on the benefit of doing business with you. Normally, it's advisable to have the "call to action" up front but your approach works fine. Okay, I've fluffed you too much, now for the "other" feedback... BTW, the personalization of your About page was a nice touch - selling yourself is key and your pictures illustrate that you are comfortable sharing of yourselves (a good way to build trust). The homepage has an unfortunate problem - the first panel does not load correctly using Internet Explorer - the message at the bottom of the browser status message at bottom of screen says "(1 item remaining) Waiting for ... Yes, I realize it works find with Mozilla and other browser, but in the wedding business, more than 80% of your visitor can't see the Macromedia Flash slide show. You'll want to fix this, especially since that's the first thing the site visitor should see (a blank box for IE users) BTW, the box looks fine on using IE on the other pages, although I realize the other pages don't use Flash in that area. The website structure and navigation is consistent with few suprises - the only somewhat confusing element is in your gallery. Consider using color, fonts, dividers, etc to make it clear the video "Introduction" is a hyperlink to video while the "Wedding Invitations" are hyperlinks to still pictures (not a big deal but isn't intuitive). On each page your visible header box has a lot of valuable prime real estate space above the navigation menu that's unused. Hopefully you have plans for this space in the future - 20% of the top of your screen is far to important an area not to use productively. At a minimum, increase the size of your slogan "capturing the most important day of your life". Or you might include a brand message, graphic, or perhaps a functional link, site search, etc. Or maybe you'll simply want to make a bigger font for your phone number and logo size. This gets to the second issue. It's clear by your design that you're concerned about getting spam EMAIL. Your phone number is a JPEG and not a ASCII text font so a human must read it, apparently concerned a webbot will harvest your EMAIL address, sell it to others and generate spam mail (certainly you were comfortable using text for your slogan "capturing the most important day of your life"). With your brown lettering on black, the appx type 11 font will be hard for some to read, especially with periods delimiting the area code/prefix/number. On a simlar thought, your booking page requires the potential customer to use a form to contact you - no direct EMAIL is permitted. Hopefully you website form will always be working, but you may wish to test it every few days just in case. Anyway, the form method will be inconvenient for some (probably a limit on the message box, no local copy for the prospective client, etc), but that's your business decision if spam control is that important to you. Personally, I'm not the best critique for color schemes but it seems as though your two-tone earth colors could be brightened up a bit. Actually the colors work fine on pages where you have color pix, yet the Services page isn't compelling, thrilling or sexy. On the other hand, I like your use of bold fonts to highlight key items on each package as well as the considerate write-up on your $500 Filming bare-bones package - very thoughtfully done. And I do agree with Roman's comments above that you may wish to consider adding more icons/pix representative of the wedding; the site is quite business-like which seems reasonable for us, yet we want to appeal to the emotions and feeling of couples in love that value us, our services and products to preserve their memories. Like many, your meta tags are quite lengthy - the seach engines normally catch the first 5-6 of these on your site; I suggest to prioritize the first keywords on your list to 2-3 word phrases that pertain specifically to your company: <meta name="keywords" content="wedding, video, videographer, photographer, photography, bridal, bride, planning, dvd, marraige, movie, pa wedding video, central pa wedding, lancaster pa wedding, pa wedding, wedding video, wedding DVD, wedding videography, video production, event video, corporate video, business video" /> <meta name="Classification" content="Regional: North America: United States: Pennsylvania: Regions: Susquehanna Valley" /> On that note, the website visitor has no clue that you provide services out of Lancaster, PA. Certainly you don't want to share this with the search engine yet keep it a secret from the human website visitor. It's unlike me not to find more constructive feedback so forgive me about being picky on the final minor item. On your picture on the about page, consider retaking your pix. Rather than rely on one light which bounces off your glasses and casts shadows on the wall behind you, use a key and fill light at 45 degree angles. At a minimum, you could key from the right and get a whiteboard on the left side just outside your medium shot frame and bounce the light on the other side. Okay, while I'm being picky, since each of the subjects in the pix is slightly skewed off-center to the right, left justify everyone's names to the left side (balance). Again, you've got a great site and I'm sure your clients will love it. Warm Regards, Michael

February 22nd, 2007, 07:53 AM	#5
Vince Lucena Regular Crew Join Date: May 2006 Location: Virginia Beach, Va Posts: 91	Some things I noticed,, In the meta keywords:: "marraige" should be spelled marriage. There is a link for "Services" in the upper portion of the site, but is missing in the lower links area. I use FireFox to browse, it appears that the page does not center, slightly off to the left. Nice site __________________ ......................... MotionOne Studios http://www.MotionOne.tv

February 22nd, 2007, 06:55 PM	#6
Michael Nistler Major Player Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Petaluma, CA Posts: 456	Meta tag keywords Vince, Good point about the typo (marriage) in the meta tag, but the 8th tag phrase is unlikely to be picked up by the big boys anyway (google and Yahoo). Further, if I was to go to those search engines and type "marriage" as a criteria, certainly the results on the first 100 hits won't be on any videographer's website! Nik, I forgot one additional point on my previous critique. While the Apple-encoded MOV videos are fine for us with those viewers, when you get the opportunity be sure to add a Macromedia Flash player so everyone can view the video (I realize you do provide a download link for the Quicktime player but casual viewers are not likely to take the time and effort to do so). Regards, Michael

February 22nd, 2007, 09:16 PM	#7
Waldemar Winkler Major Player Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Durango, Colorado, USA Posts: 711	Consistent design. Drop the references to cameras and such. You are expected to have quality equipment. Most viewers won't understand or care. __________________ Waldemar

February 22nd, 2007, 05:01 AM	#2
Dan Burnap Major Player Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Rio de Janeiro Posts: 335	Hi Nik I liked you website. It's clean and clear. Very minor points but using terms like: "We sort through all of our footage" and "sifting through the footage", it sounds as though it's a bit of a chore. Also, maybe it should be "your footage". Or maybe I'm just being very picky!

February 22nd, 2007, 06:03 AM	#3
Roman Rowlands Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: London UK Posts: 35	It's nice, obviously a family business. Are you Russian? Because titles are in Russian you might lose the English speaking clientele. I agree it looks a clean site & not much wrong with it IMHO, but where is the passion? It lacks sentimental, romantic touches, more flowers, hats, rings, poems. Don't get me wrong I thought the video was pretty good, though marketing is 90% of success according to some people, presentation is key to potential clients that have never heard about you. I am not much of a sentimental person myself, but when my wife & I watched one of the promo videos from one of DVI's members we both shed a tear, it was a beautifully romantic video. So do not discount sentimental touches, you have to win their hearts first. All the best Nik!

February 23rd, 2007, 06:00 AM	#8
Vince Baker Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Portsmouth, UK Posts: 118	http://www.eternalvideo.com/about.htm shows manager spelt incorrectly