# What content do you like at a personal site?



## PixelRabbit (Jul 22, 2013)

Hey all, I can't recall a thread like this in recent memory so in the interest of getting current likes and dislikes I thought I'd pick your brains a bit   I'm sure all of this information is scattered about in threads critiquing websites but it would be cool to have it in one place.

I'm back to working on my website and I'm working on content and I'm trying to figure out how much or how little of what to do.  Mostly I'm asking about content but all suggestions and input on what you like or dislike about personal sites are very welcome!


When you are looking at someone's site is there somewhere you go first from the homepage every time ? Gallery, About Me, Blog etc...

What things do you always look for/at? 

What things do you never/rarely look at or dislike when it's included?

Is content important to you or do you just want to see the pictures?

Pet peeves in general? What turns you off?

Things you love to find? What turns you on?

What makes you bookmark someone's site and revisit?

Those are just some of my thoughts so please answer any or all or anything I've missed! 
Thanks in advance!


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## tirediron (Jul 22, 2013)

For a strictly personal 'site, I always go to the images first.  If it's a business 'site, to the 'About' and 'Pricing' pages. 

I am always looking at both image quality and text.  There's nothing that says 'lame' more loudly to me than mis-spelled words, bad grammar (or bad grampa).  I despise music on websites, and dislike Flash-based sites.

The thing that will make me come back is work that I like.  You can be the best darn infant/newborn shooter in the world, but I'm unlikely to return to his/her 'site simply because I have zero interest in that sort of work.

I like to see a variety of images.  Billing yourself as a senior portrait photographer and having a gallery full of only one client tells me that you're really not quite on the level you might want visitors to think you are.

A simple, clean, and quick 'site with fewer top-notch images rather than lots of mediocre ones, minimal text, but enough to tell me who & where you are, and what you do (and, if applicable) how much you cost.


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## runnah (Jul 22, 2013)

I never look at "About" sections cause most are BS fluff. It's not like people are going to say bad things about themselves.

Galleries are much more important for creative businesses than some blurb.


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## 12sndsgood (Jul 23, 2013)

business i'll genereally look at the about me page and gallery, and likely the pricing to compare. Right now i'm trying to figure out what I want to do with my gallery. wether to just keep it simple with a couple photos or to do whole sections of photos from let's say an event where I think I may possibly get photo sales from.


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## pixmedic (Jul 23, 2013)

I like to check their "boudoir" section first.


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## Derrel (Jul 23, 2013)

I think the "about me" section has potential to actually be of interest, provided the writer has an actual philosophy that he/she can elucidate. The best "about me" sections make the viewer aware of something meaningful about the creator, or the photos, or both. The worst sections of this type are not very good at all.

One thing I think that reflects poorly on many peoples' personal sites is a listing of equipment, down to the last details of small items. I think it's okay to make at least some mention of one's equipment list, but people who list minor pieces of equipment, just look desperate, or newb-ish to me. I think many times,instead of building confidence, or establishing reputation or credibility, a list of equipment that's heavy on entry-level stuff just makes the site's creator look,like,well, a newbie. Ownership of a body, and an 18-55, and a 55-200, for example, is not a "plus", but rather a minus, IMHO.

I usually look at whatever might appear to be the site owner's main emphasis. What's bad is a site that has no emphasis of any kind, or which has mis-categorized photos. If a person has no photos of a specific category, then it's best just not to show that category. Just skip it.


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 23, 2013)

Great responses everyone! Thanks !


I'm taking it all in and plugging away


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## KmH (Jul 23, 2013)

To me, a personal site would have nothing to do with business.


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 23, 2013)

KmH said:


> To me, a personal site would have nothing to do with business.



Ultimately the site will be my best work and info etc about prints.

Ok, question about the About Me, what the hell do I write about????  I'm lost here, I have no idea, I have no formal ed. not much time under my belt, I'm not really a gear geek, just a personal story like everyone else does...ARGH!


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## orljustin (Jul 23, 2013)

Why would I want to look at your site in the first place?  You've provided no impetus for the question...


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 23, 2013)

I would have to say people would visit my site to see more of my artwork and possibly price and purchase prints.


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## kundalini (Jul 23, 2013)

I look at the galleries first and foremost, that's why I went there. I'll usually go to the Portrait/People section first out of interest and see how they make use of light. If the photos intrigue me, I try to deconstruct the lighting setup. That's my main interest along with poses, props and environments.

I look for consistency of execution, regardless of genre.

If the galleries capture my attention, I'll go to the "About Me". 

Pricing pages really do not interest me. I'd rather try to emulate a certain characteristic that inspires me in my own work than buy a print.

Regardless of their talent, any music on the site will make me hit the Back button real quick like.


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## Derrel (Jul 23, 2013)

PixelRabbit said:


> KmH said:
> 
> 
> > To me, a personal site would have nothing to do with business.
> ...



Well, a lot of people expect the "artist's statement". Alain Briot has written some articles about this and had them published on The Luminous Landscape website recently. A search on those two terms brings up some examples.

AS with many things, if there's not much to say about a particular issue, then skip over it. Who cares how long you've been shooting...we don't need to know that...length of experience is something a lot of people today do not care about. Okay, some people do, but others feel it's of no importance. How long have you been married? How long have you had a driver's license? NOBODY CARES!


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## Overread (Jul 23, 2013)

First decide what the primary focus(es) for the site will be. It's sounding like you're aiming to make a website for display, promotion and selling of your photos.

With that in mind you want to keep words and distractions to a minimum - the real focus you want people looking at is the galleries; about me I'd expect to be informative but also short - just like most of the other text regions of the site. Keep the words clear, simple concise and let the galleries be the main focus.

Adding more description tends to go hand in hand with building a more informative or social based site; where the words, articles and discussion are the core elements you want to promote.


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 24, 2013)

Thanks so much everyone!  While I work on the bones of the site and getting the galleries ready I'm plugging away at the content.  I like the way you all are leading me, it looks like less words more pictures which fits best with my habits.  

I have great intentions to write flowing descriptions and a blog but alas out of the gate I'm wonderful then after a bit of time I fall off the horse and it feels like it becomes a chore and I avoid doing it like the plague, I was prepared to try to tackle that demon IF it was going to be a benefit to my site, it's looking like that is not the case.  I will definitely look up the artist statements Derrel, I did do a bunch of research on about me's and I couldn't get myself to fit into any of them, perhaps I can make that work!


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## Overread (Jul 24, 2013)

Blogs are great as personal online diaries whilst your active in something, however if its "I'm writing a blog for my website" then chances are most people are all fire and energy - then a month later give up. The blogs that work tend to be joined to ongoing external influences and the blog just documents their activities - at which point the activity itself promotes the blog activity - when its more hobbyist without direct focus maintaining a blog is hard


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 24, 2013)

Overread said:


> Blogs are great as personal online diaries whilst your active in something, however if its "I'm writing a blog for my website" then chances are most people are all fire and energy - then a month later give up. The blogs that work tend to be joined to ongoing external influences and the blog just documents their activities - at which point the activity itself promotes the blog activity - when its more hobbyist without direct focus maintaining a blog is hard



True!! The road to hell is paved with good intentions!

Derrel, I read Alain's article, thanks for the suggestion, I'm a little closer to figuring it out.  Unfortunately he iksnayed the idea of a ghost writer lol!!


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 24, 2013)

Ok it took me all day with pen and paper to free write this, a little bit of editing as I typed it up but this is my jumping off point.
Now I'm going to find my happy place and let this stew a while!  

My Story Long Version
(scroll down for the short version!)
It's funny how life can lead you back again and again to a certain theme, for me it is art and creativity.  When I was very young my inspiritation was my Dad, he was a very creative man who loved being outdooors, he carved wood, designed and built our cottage, drew a bit here and there but best of all Dad was always the one behind the camera, thanks to this we have many albums of great memories, a wonderful record of our lives and the world around us through his beautiful eyes. 

Some of my fondest memories of Dad are of getting up early to check if he was home, he worked snow removal and other odd jobs that often required him to leave in the middle of the night,  if he was I would draw while he slept and  when he woke we would cuddle up in bed and I would show him what I did, we would talk about the pictures and he would make suggestions on how to make them better and send me away to do another to discuss at the kitchen table over cereal for me and coffee for him.  Unfortunately we lost Dad to a stroke way too early when I was 11, I stopped drawing.

Fast forward to high school, by this time I was ready to be creative again, I was so excited to have art as part of my curriculum but alas by this time my unique traits were starting to show.  I loved art class and some things really twirled my beanie but when it came down to the structured schoolwork part of it I failed miserably.  Assignments didn`t get turned in, I couldn`t get organized in art class just as I couldn`t in ANY class, grade 9 art was a complete and utter failure beyond a painting of a Common Loon that still hangs in my stepfather`s house.  I gave up on art again and trudged through highschool and early adulthood trying to figure out what I wanted to do with myself.

Here and there I would pick up the pencil and draw something but life has a way of sweeping you along at it`s own pace and I didn`t persue anything, as most people will tell you art is no career anyway.  Eventually I ended up in the boring dry insurance industry when life dealt us another card, I found myself without a job, with a special needs child that needed more of my time and failing health.  The family couldn`t survive on one salary in the city so we found our silver lining and moved to a wee town up north in cottage country and life carried on.

The kids grew up, I taught myself jewelry making, graphic design and how to play poker online along the way.  I did pretty well at all of them, I was even a profitable poker player!  I did freelance graphic design for a couple of years and thought that might be ``it`` but as time went on I came to realize I couldn`t compete with online prices and eventually my business shut down.  Jewelry making came at a time when money was low and I couldn`t afford to continue and then came online poker, and I was good at it!  Alas the poker world got turned upside down by one of the major sites shutting down and life once again took a turn.

You will notice that everything I`ve done since my early 20`s has been an effort from home, partly because of raising the family, partly health issues, and partly because I to this day struggle with pulling off daily working life in a conventional sense.  Structured daily life escapes me, it always has but boy oh boy can I obsess over an interst once I latch onto it.  I`m the proverbial square peg trying to fit into that damn round hole and I`m finally at a point in my life when I`m done trying to figure that out, some people are just simply not cut out to be in that round hole and I`m one of them.  You have no idea how liberating it is to finally accept that about myself!  I learned so much teaching myself these different things along the way, I`ve always enjoyed being creative but none of it ever make me feel like photography has since I started to obsess over it.

Ah finally we are to recent times and we have found photography!  This part of my journey started a few years ago with my husbandy innocently saying `lets find our land and move out of town``.  We had always daydreamed about owning some land and living in the country self sufficiently.  We found the most amazing place, 20 acres of certified organic land on the river with an amazing ``house within a house`` (click to learn more).  As many of you kow buying a house is expensive!  We had a lot of work to do on our 100 year old house that we were selling to maximize our profits so in the interest of savign money I did all of the renovations (self taught of course, my favourite phrase is ``Google is your friend``)  My only request and my extra inspiration to bust my butt and do an awesome job was if we made a profit on the house sale I would get a camera, obviously we made a profit!

I know I didn`t include it but at all times in my life I`ve always had a camera, I`ve enjoyed taking pictures and bought my parents old Canon AE1 many years ago, ran maybe 5 films through it then life happened and it got put away.  I`m not even sure what made me choose a camera as my personal reward for a job well done, sure it was an interest but I hadn`t persued it over the years.  None the less I got my Canon 60D and cried like a girl as we walked out to the parking lot, I still have no clue where that came from!

I immediately jumped in with both feet, I shot for two days on auto, found an amazing photography forum thephotoforum.com , turned the dial to M and never looked back.

How I Approach Learning

I learned the basics pretty uickly, I`m a hands on learner, great for an obsessive personality.  I would say that my creativity drives my learning.  As with school book learning doesn`t work for me on the whole, everything has pretty much evolved so far from book learning a basic principal or concept andplaying with the the entire spectrum to the extremes like exposure, shutter speed, aperatures all with marea in hand.

My knowledge on art genres is layman at best, I`ve seen the stuff everyone has, Picasso, Rembrandt, Dahli etc... but I`m being led to learn what is out there by people making comment on my work and labelling them as impressionistic, cubist, abstract etc...

With the advent of modern day DSLRs I think there are two equally valid inexpensive routes to explore the creative possibilities, look at what`s been done and create your own version, and explore the entire range of possibilities of the tool (camera) with camera in hand which is how I learn best.

What`s my style?
I would call my photography style as eclectic evolving fine art, how`s that for a moniker?   Right now I'm early in my journey and I'm exploring so many differnt things from macro to abstract.  I learn every day and I feel like there is so much new and exciting waiting just around the corner for me to play with.  I love photographs that blur the line and look more like pencil drawings or paintings.  There is a perfection in the shape, lines, and form of nature I am now able to capture in ways I was neer able to translate when I put pencil to paper or brush to canvas.

Post Processing
As my Achilles Heel,you would think that having done graphic design that the processing part and programs would be a breeze, I actually fully expected to catch on and enjoy working with Photoshop but no, that is not the case.  I started shooting RAW right at the start and learned the basics, white balance, shaprening, saturation, curves but the whole process feels like a chore to me now.  I know it's cliche but I try to do it in camera, all of my work has very minimal processing unless otherwise stated, I can't see that changing in the forseeable future.

In a Nutshell

So there you have it, it is way longer than I expected this section to be, I toiled over what to write and share for a long time and I think I may have finally slayed that dragon.  In a nutshell I'm an Evolving Eclectic Fine Art photographer who dislikes post processing, learning my way into the art world and loving every second behind the lens.


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 24, 2013)

Please ignore spelling, Mr Rabbit got home from work and I rushed the end.


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## Ilovemycam (Jul 24, 2013)

Gallery 1
About you 2
Blog...Seldom unless I adore you
If it is slow loading and hard to use.... forget it. The world is polluted with pix, I don't have time to waste on problem childs.


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 24, 2013)

Thanks Ilovemycam.


As for the about me I posted, now that I've read it again, and it's pretty quiet since I posted it..I will enquire before bed.... TMI?


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 25, 2013)

What the heck, morning bump to make it current and hopefully get some feedback on the about me I posted a few up, probably should have made a new thread with it.


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## runnah (Jul 25, 2013)

I think you did a good job of expressing your feelings on the subject. 
How do you feel about it? 
Do you like the length and the way you share so much about yourself? 
Would you buy services from someone if they had this as their information?


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 25, 2013)

runnah said:


> I think you did a good job of expressing your feelings on the subject.
> How do you feel about it?
> Do you like the length and the way you share so much about yourself?
> Would you buy services from someone if they had this as their information?



Thanks Runnah, good questions that I've been asking myself after reading it again this morning.

I feel a bit exposed and I'm not sure if that is good or bad.  I will say I found some peace writing it and no matter how much or how little ultimately hits my site it was good for my mental health 

I'm not sure how I feel about the length and using it in its entirety, I worry that it is TMI but at the same time I think that it is a common enough story to resonate with some who will find a connection, but, who will it turn off?

Would I personally buy this persons art? I'm not a good measure because I can TOTALLY relate with her and I love her work, I would buy it in a heartbeat


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 25, 2013)

Would YOU buy her work?


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## runnah (Jul 25, 2013)

PixelRabbit said:


> Would YOU buy her work?



I only buy American. 

I am probably not your target demographic, but I feel it's a bit TMI. I would talk to your strengths and to your potential market. Doing baby photos? State how you are a mother of X and you are great with kids and this helps you to do X. Nature photos? Talkabout your love of nature and gardening. You want to be identifiable with your target customers. "Hey She likes X and I like X so lets be friends!"

*Everything* in this text should be selling me on your services. I noticed at times you talked down on yourself which is bad, you don't want to sound too arrogant but you want to sound confident in your abilities.


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## amolitor (Jul 25, 2013)

I think you've done a fine first draft, and that now you can edit it down to a fierce, tight little document about half that long that hits the really important parts. Writing down that Dad did odd jobs and worked at night is important to you and getting that story onto the page, but it's not important to the reader, just as a for instance. You can probably drop much of that kind of detail, now that you've worked out how those details mattered to you and changed you.

Chop out anything that apologizes for anything, or describes your failings or weaknesses. Chop out technical detail - the words RAW, Photoshop, DSLR, and Processing have no place in a personal statement. This is about you, and you are awesome. It's your web site, after all


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## gsgary (Jul 25, 2013)

A nude self potrait would be nice


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## runnah (Jul 25, 2013)

amolitor said:


> Chop out technical detail - the words RAW, Photoshop, DSLR, and Processing have no place in a personal statement.



I'd agree if it weren't for search engines loving tech words.


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## leeroix (Jul 25, 2013)

I dont like when some lame ass music starts blasting...


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 26, 2013)

I assure you there will be no music on my site , it is one of my pet peeves also, mostly because it usually scares me and I get mad and close the page lol

Thanks so much for the feedback Runnah and Andrew.  I figured it would be edited down and you guys have given me good direction, I will tackle this again tomorrow while it rains


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## PixelRabbit (Jul 26, 2013)

gsgary said:


> A nude self potrait would be nice



Ugh you just reminded me that I have to take another self portrait for the site *sigh*


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