Over the past year I've made a lot of changes to my website, enlarged the photos, added a shopping cart, etc. but I'm still getting very few internet orders. Any suggestions welcome. I created the website myself but my knowledge of how to do things is limited.
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I just took a quick look, Alison. Of course the work is beautiful -- no doubt about that. I can see you've put a lot of work into it, but have you put thought and planning on how not just to "show" your images, but how to "sell" them. This site should not be a gallery, but a sales tool, right? and that is, of course, what you are asking us.
Front and center for me is always the email sign up, capturing people's addresses so you can alert them to your new work and where they can meet you.
My son, Scott Fox, has worked with me on my sites and has also done a bunch of artist website redesigns with this specific idea in mind. His knowledge of our business in invaluable.
I like the final purchasing page on your website Bill, especially the part where your next show shows up on the right side. And unlike Etsy it looks like it is part of your site. I'm going to look into this woocommerce. I do have to be careful to keep the maintenance to a minimum though since I have that pesky job. And yes I have IT background but it is unix and batch processing.
Hi Alison! First of all, congratulations on the site, and on the work you've been able to put into it. Your photos are gorgeous.
OK. One issue I see is that I have to scroll down, on my laptop, to see your photographs. I find it unsettling that before I get to the art, I get to the purchasing information. I would move that to the bottom or to the side, so that I can see the full length of your photographs first.
Then, get them in some better, tighter sort of grid. Think of your booth, and how you display your work there. I think your site should have the same clean, sharp feeling that your display has. So line the tall pieces up, or at least line the tops of the pieces up, no matter their length or size.
I think you might be better off centering everything, or, if you don't like it all centered, make the alignment more definite.
The Facebook slideshow is particularly distracting. Maybe put it at the bottom of the page, near the footer?
And let your index do the work, I think. Maybe make the photos link to the places you've linked them to, but leave the words out?
And move the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote up to the top. Basically, flop it and the payment info. Make the quote big! Use a color or a pretty font or something.
I've been using Wix recently for my website, since a computer crash took out what was possibly the final remaining working version of iWeb in the entire world. Wix can be free, and it is easy easy to work. Drag and Drop.
I hope this is helpful. My outside email is carrieBjacobson@gmail.com, and you have my phone number, I think. I am not a web wizard, but I worked as a page designer for years, and have a pretty good idea about how people's eyes and brains take in images. Of course, I could be entirely wrong, but it seems to work for me.
Hope your summer is doing well. Your photographs look fantastic.
Okay Carrie, so here is what I'm thinking:
Take the original fine art etc. and limited edition etc. and make them part of the header at the top.
Take out the paypal thing, if I am changing my purchasing that should go away anyway.
Move the quote to the top.
Change the facebook feed to a simple like button with a link to the facebook page.
Now I'm wondering about the whole gallery thing. I used to have one big picture on the main page with a link to the gallery page with links to the various sections. I think that is too much work for someone to get to the actual purchasing pages. I'm wondering if I should go back to a single picture or a couple and then put something like "click on the topics above to see more"
I think you both have a good point. When I'm at art festivals I often think - how would I want my experience to be? And that has worked well for me. I don't think I would like my ordering process. I have an Etsy shop and I've seen websites linked to Etsy shops for purchasing. Doesn't a person have to register on Etsy in order to buy? I wonder if that would be a deterent?
I'm heading over to your site now Scott to check it out.
And now another question I just thought of - I have many options (thinking of the non-panos here) print in several sizes, on metal in several sizes, and framed. I wonder if it would be overwhelming to offer all those options at the purchase point?
Alison - here is our site: mcldfa.com We don't have a lot of work here right now but what we have done is split the substrates for a given piece but offered size options at the point of purchase. I'm not sure if that's the right way to handle this, especially given your point about it being overwhelming. I'm always tweaking the thing and second guessing! Bill
Hi Alison,
Beautiful work, and nice looking new site, but why aren't you using a store platform?
You're making it much harder on yourself and your customers than necessary.
If you'd like a bunch of free website design advice, come post the same question over at http://www.ClickMillionaires.com. Our friendly forum there is full of people learning to build websites and make more money online, too.
We even run free "Website Tune-up Community Clinics".
We'd be happy to help you get your website and online sales up to the next level. (Just use "AFI" as your referral code and we'll let you in for free.)
Best,
Scott
p.s. Or if you're looking for professional redesign advice, try my http://www.ExpertWebsiteReviews.com. ; I've helped many AFI members improve their sites and online sales conversion with personalized site review videos. You can see examples here.
Hi Alison - We absolutely love your work, especially the new panoramas. The only suggestion I can offer is to "fix" your ordering process so the customer doesn't have to remember the title of the work. It's too easy to bail if you ask the potential customer to start remembering stuff from screen to screen.
We're using woocommerce with wordpress on our site and with your IT background it should be a snap to incorporate something similar.
See you at Sewall.