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website Maryland's Best Photographer

sfoster

sfoster

Staff Member
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Best Top Quality Professional Headshots for actors, models, and business professionals.

www.marylandsbestphotographer.com

Maryland's Best Photographer | Top Quality Professional Headshots

Everyone has a good side. See yourself in the best light, studio located in Gambrills, MD 21054
www.marylandsbestphotographer.com www.marylandsbestphotographer.com

Regulars here are welcome to critique the site design with feedback, I'm not a web designer and I always keep an open mind.
 
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Looks really good. Much more impact in this version, though you might consider shortening the vertical on the front page centerpiece carousel. Rule of thumb is that if you want people to scroll down to see what's underneath an image, they need to be able to see on load that there is something underneath the image to scroll for. I had this issue with my early site attempts, where I looked at the analytics, and only 3% of people ever saw anything on my page below what was visible on load.

I'd move the "studio experience" section between photographer and email. I was reading left to right, and got information about how the studio was likely to smell before I found out about your experience, equipment, or portfolio. Attention spans are short these days, so it's typically preferable to get them the most impactful information first when possible.

Might want to outline some standard packages, offers, discounts, etc. A "sales" page. This can save you a lot of time, and allows front end psychological tactics, such as, "our standard 800 dollar 2 hour shoot is on sale for $380, for our summer deal" Then just have a fall deal, a winter sale, etc. This seems to work well for Steam, and other large stores. For many, when a page has no price, they think it means "if you have to ask you can't afford it".

Looks good though, I'm tire kicking to try and be helpful, but there is nothing bad about this site, and I think people can navigate it pretty easily.
 
That's interesting about the 3% scrolling down.

Nate North said:
I'd move the "studio experience" section between photographer and email. I was reading left to right, and got information about how the studio was likely to smell before I found out about your experience, equipment, or portfolio. Attention spans are short these days, so it's typically preferable to get them the most impactful information first when possible.
Click to expand...

You know what the worst part is... I spent all that time taking the damn candle photo, and getting it just right...
And then I found out about these fragrance warmers! I picked one up, they melt the wax without any soot or combustion, no indoor pollution.

They're so much better than candles. I'm gonna have to break out the damn smoke machine again and redo my picture.
How the studio smells is a part of the experience! You're making a good point though.

My tidbit about cinematic lighting is more inspirational than a scented candle.

re: package prices i wanted to talk with people for market research, see if my rates are too much for them, how many customers I'm losing, etc it will be good for my business to learn the local market. But yeah if my brand is being the best and I list no price, people could assume its too high. I'm gonna think on that.
 
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Looks great!

I love "everyone has a good side."
True story: I remember my dad telling me at 80+ that one unexpected benefit of running for public office decades earlier was that he learned which was his good side :)
 
mlesemann said:
Looks great!

I love "everyone has a good side."
True story: I remember my dad telling me at 80+ that one unexpected benefit of running for public office decades earlier was that he learned which was his good side :)
Click to expand...
Thanks! Based on your comment I deleted the second sentence, now "Everyone has a good side." can shine brighter with singular attention
 
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Looking good.

I'm inclined to agree with Nate about the order of presentation - first and foremost, people will be coming to you for their photos, not the studio.

On that point, though, in the "studio experience" tab you have a mix of hard-core technical info and softer abstract concepts that don't really fit together. Think about separating out the technical stuff (lights, monitors, in-camera review) from the description of the studio environment. And if the sight/smell/sound is that important to you, move it all up to the top of the page where it'll be seen (same "below the fold" problem as cited by Nate re the landing page).

Also, go easy on the negative comparisons. I can see you're trying to explain why you/your studio is different to others, but that's a dodgy line to take. Dissing flash, for example, immediately means you're turning away anyone who might want the kind of dynamic image that only second-curtain synch can achieve. Maybe you don't want to take pictures like that - fine, but don't announce it to the world! :director:

Suggestion:
Replace this
Flash photography is obtrustive and awkward.

You stand there with a forced smile on your face, waiting for a flash instead of being present in the moment.

It’s uncomfortable, and unnecessary!

Cinematic lighting - like in Hollywood - doesn’t rely on flash photography to create beautiful images.

Instead they use continuous light - it’s natural feeling and unobtrustive - allowing us to laugh or smile in the moment and capture those genuine expressions as they happen.
Click to expand...
with this (or similar)
Flash photography can feel uncomfortable and awkward, as you stand there waiting with a frozen smile on your face instead of being present in the moment.

Cinematic lighting is more natural and unobtrustive, allowing us to capture beautiful, unforced images - genuine expressions of emotion as they happen spontaneously.
Click to expand...
 
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Nate North said:
I got information about how the studio was likely to smell before I found out about your experience, equipment, or portfolio.
Click to expand...

Okay so this is literally a picture of my studio.
The hardwood floors, the backdrop, 2 separate umbrella lights for a backdrop, smoke machine running to create a beam of light from upper right with another light on a boom arm using drop down baby pin adaptor and a snoot attachment.

I mounted a block of wood onto another stand, used adhesive vinyl on top to make it look like granite, and then lit the candle.

You said all you got was information about the smell but my studio is right there in wideshot
Does it come across a stock image photo or something

LevelCandle.jpg
 
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To remove all doubt, put a small watermark with your logo in the corner. Or next time get a custom etched candle with your logo. 😂
 
The blogs are a good idea, from a google visibility perspective. SEO is kind of a big deal. Bad side, you have to do a bunch of extra stuff to become visible, good side, it's not that bad, and you can get half way there by just optimizing the page itself for SEO and then doing a few backlinks and blogs.

I'd advise against the use of cheap, quick fix SEO services, since google is pretty wise to backlink schemes. If you can get a few legitimate friends or sources to give you backlinks, it's worth it's weight in gold.

Something that can be kind of an easy sell is localized affiliate marketing. What I mean is actually the inverse of what it sounds like. Go to the local camera store, local theater group, or similar business that's at least tertiarily related to your offerings, and offer them an affiliate link for your site.

So let's say I'm in Chicago, and I want to offer headshots. I'd go straight to second city, or similar theatrical workshops, offer a discount and a kickback (let's say 15/15) for them to add a small ad or link to your site for members wanting headshots. So if you charged 300 for a standard session, you would loose 90 in discounts and kickbacks, but you'd gain customers and backlinks, and you'd only pay the full 30% to members of that particular org. Starting word of mouth in theatrical communities could easily be worth the discounts offered.

"15% off for anyone with a Second City enrollment card"

Now they have a good reason to add you to their page, and it's potential income for them as well. Not too much downside. Like I said, should be an easy sell, and you can get your SEO going, and get some well placed ads in the process.
 
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I would offer a package deal for additional photos, but keep it simple. So you say $60 each additional photo. You might want to add, or $100 for 3. That's quite a good savings and a nice round number that is still affordable, not going over the $100 mark. IF and only if you think it's worth the time to do the extra work. But it's like how the streaming apps get you with the yearly plans. You crunch the numbers and you basically just say fuck it, you got me, lol. Of course you could also say 2, and they still save $20, but it's not as enticing.
 
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