Website and Sample Clips
 

Hi,

This is my first posting and I'm looking for some constructive feedback on my website and sample clips. I have just completed my first year as wedding videographer and I had enjoyed every moment of it. However I don't seem to be getting level enquiries or bookings as expected, i have attend lot of wedding fairs and linked my website on a lot directories but a I get very little calls or emails.

Website: www.zten.co.uk

Appreciate any comments

Shane

your samples are taking a very long time to load on a 5Mbps DSL line. I click to start playing the partially downloaded clip, but the player just reloads. I have been waiting 5 minutes and still haven't been able to play anything.

currently using a Macbook Pro with Leopard 10.5.1 / QT 7.3

I was finally able to view the first clip on your site (Ben and Kate). I thought you did a very nice job. Did the couple request that the entire highlight be in black and white? I would have liked to see a few color shots mixed in to give the clip some warmth. All the black and white with that particular song seemed a bit somber. The music and lyrics at the beginning of the song worked very well with the footage, but not so well when you get into the ceremony footage with the bride coming down the aisle.

My first impression is very professional.
BUT im using a bog standard pc (pentium3 512mb) to browse the net and your
quicktime movies dont play smoothly on it. Saying that most quicktime movies dont on it. So its up to you to use it or not. I realise the quality is great with QT but you have to consider what some people may be using to view your site.
Your work is excellent. I know the scenario of an english wedding, and like Ireland, theres very little room, or time for getting creative, yet you manage to do so. All you have to do now is make sure they can see how good you are.
The flash video on the opening page played perfectly on this piece of crap machine!

You should buy a pc (Just kidding, couldn't resist with all the pc bashing commercials you find on the apple.com site lately :D)

Shane, it can't be your website nor your samples because both looked really great. the quicktime samples loaded very quickly here and were of great quality. Think it might be a bit too early to panic, I get most of my requests in Januari/februari every year so it might as well be that requests start pooring in from next month. Here it has to do with the fact that brides visit weddingfairs first at the end of the year but not many actually book then, afterwards (from januari on) they start looking on the web and compare more. Also bear in mind that it takes years before people start recognizing you or that they have heared from you. A good reputation takes quite some time to build.

Just a remark, I saw in the source code of your site that the description and keywords metadata was not filled out, I"m not a webexpert but think that keywords help google categorize your website better.

Hi Shane,

Your work is good. If anything you are undervalueing your services. Don't be afraid to put your prices up! you know how long it can take to film and edit a professional wedding film.

By the time you have counted for the second camera operator and expenses and time editing you will be short changed.

I know others in your area who charge substantially more! and they get bookings. Bride's don't always go for better value.

Even if you put your prices up and find you don't get the clients you can always drop them again. Most brides will only visit your site once!

remember clients are paying for your creative ability. If they like your work they will pay.

Just my two pence worth.

Cheers,
John De Rienzo

Your videos loaded slow for me as well ... is your site hosted on an ADSL connection or some other internet connection with a slower upload speed? I noticed the transfer rate while I was streaming your videos was only in the 400-500K range. Also, I think you might have a typo in this section:

"These are Quicktime Movie and a broadband internet conection is required to view them."

Shouldn't it read (making the word movie plural):

"These are Quicktime Movies and a broadband internet conection is required to view them."

BTW, I enjoyed your work ... I envy many of your shots :-)

I suspect we might be experiencing slower download speeds because we are quite far away here in the US.

Shane there is nothing wrong with your website or your videos. They're both fantastic.

I think the biggest question is how are you directing people to your website?

If someone is online looking for a wedding photographer, how easily will they find your site? I know you said you've linked your website to a lot of directories but IMO Google is King. If you don't appear high up in a Google search it's going to be difficult to get the web traffic you're after.

Incidentally, I did a Google search for "Wedding Photographers Nottinghamshire" and neither your name or your business name appeared in the first 100 results.

Totally. My day job is a web copywriter, so I've got some input for you.

SEO 101: Keywords.

It would be great to have a page on your site talking about the areas in which you provide the service.

So if you have a page with lots of different England city and town names on it (like "Nottinghamshire") and someone searches for "wedding videographer Nottinghamshire", then Google hopefully will return your web page that contains those three terms.

I'm sure your site is riddled with the words "wedding", "video" or "Videography", and "Photo" or "Photography", now you just need to add the local flavor of some specific city names and you're golden.

Example:

We provide wedding videography services in the following cities and surrounding areas:
Nottinghamshire
Sherwood Forest
Rotterdam
Skywillingham
Pigswollen
Pithyburg
Lancastershirehamburg
(big long list)

Sorry for the fake city names, I'm in the U.S. and don't know any cities or towns in England. Just London and the above-mentioned Nottinghamshire. Oh, and Sherwood Forest... :)

Shane

The clips played fine for me. I thought your website is very good. It's clean, easy to navigate and the samples are very good.

As has already been mentioned, if your samples are indicative of your DVDs then your prices, especially package 1 are very low and I really would consider increasing them significantly.

I haven't got my website up yet - but if it's as clear as yours I'll be happy!

Ian

Thank you all for the positive / constructive feedback, I'm going to amend some of the website content and meta tag over the next couple of days (as suggested), hopefully improving my Google rating.

I do agree with Matt about the poor download speeds in states is probably due to the site being hosted here in the UK.

Once again thank all for taking the time to check my site and post your comments

Shane