Not Marketing

Mark Hendren · November 18th, 2009, 12:26 PM

Hey folks,

We just launched a new website with a new logo. I would love to hear any feedback about it that you can give. I'm not trying to market to folks here, I just want to give my clients the best possible site and the best possible product I can.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Mark

Matthew Craggs · November 18th, 2009, 03:34 PM

It looks like a Blu Domain site so I don't know how much I can say about the design, but I can say that I really like your logo.

The music playing in the background is something that half of visitors don't mind and the other half hate. I'm not a fan of it, myself, but that's the personal preference of someone who is always playing his own music when he's surfing the web.

Nicholas de Kock · November 18th, 2009, 03:42 PM

Looks great!

Dimitris Mantalias · November 18th, 2009, 03:55 PM

Very professional look Mark. I really enjoy browsing pages like this one.

Tim Polster · November 18th, 2009, 09:51 PM

Very nice.

I am sure your customers will feel comfortable on the site as well as a sense of getting to know you.

Higher level web design, not just cool effects and pages.

Roger Van Duyn · November 20th, 2009, 03:37 PM

Your site looks great, and is easy to navigate. I especially like your logo. Very professional. I'm jealous!

Jeff Kellam · November 23rd, 2009, 02:34 PM

Good logo & nice site.

I would get rid of the radio button text scrolls and stretch the text boxes a bit to fit the text.

I would change the tab labeled investment to costs/prices or some other term. I have seen a few sites using the term investment. It seems to me that the term is somewhat pretentious and also seems to infer this is going to be expensive. It also gives a little over-the-top-marketing feel. But what really bugs me, is that in accordance with the dictionary, the definition of investment is not applicable in any way to the costs of a wedding video, although I understand the inferred meaning.

Im gonna have to get a site some day now.

Pablo Montano · November 26th, 2009, 04:50 PM

You have a nice web site. Professional. Cool pictures.
When I read the "Who we are" I could feel that you really love shooting weddings, and that is a great selling point. I agree with Jeff, it would be better to "get rid of the radio button text scrolls and stretch the text boxes a bit to fit the text."

Also, change the "Investment" part. When I read that page I felt as if you were trying to hide something. By now probably you have an "average" price for shooting weddings, maybe you should write it down. Your customer will feel safer contacting you knowing that the "average price" is within their budget. You don't have to change the explanation you give as "budget-friendly..."

Your logo... it is a really cool logo, BUT, it doesn't tell me that you are shooting wedding videos. Keep the logo if in the future you plan to expand it to a bigger video production company, it IS a nice logo.

At the very bottom you say that "All images are copyright..." How about the music? do you have the rights for it too? (just wondering)

Feel free to ask more questions. I particularly don't like shooting weddings, I do it very rarely, only for friends, but, I love TV production and all the basics apply to what I do and to what you do.

Bill Grant · November 30th, 2009, 08:16 AM

Hey Mark,
Good looking site... are the images photos or video stills? and also how effective are you finding the facebook page. I do believe no matter what our web designer friends will tell us, a flash page like that is sort of a minimum requirement for wedding imaging companies nowadays. Brides can't tell they all look the same... :) What cams, video looks great.
Bill

Mark Hendren · November 30th, 2009, 03:15 PM

Thanks to all of you for the great comments! Keep em' coming!

As for the logo, I don't just do weddings, so I wanted one that would indicate video, but not tie me to weddings. Plus, that one has a back story. It is similar to a shirt I had once for the place where I got started, Channel Five.

And yes, I do have the rights to the music. I got it off of Triple Scoop. The whole music copyright thing scares the mess out of me. I don't want myself or my clients to get busted by the music police. I know the chances are slim, but if they start cracking down, I'll be in the clear.

Facebook is absolutely the way to go! On the day I launched this site, I put out notes and tagged as many people as I could. When you do a note, it goes on their wall, so everyone who looks at their site sees it. Viral marketing that costs nothing!

All pics on the site are screen grabs from my weddings, except the one of me. Had a photographer friend shoot that. I use a Sony Z5 and a Canon HV20 for now. Hope to build that list in the next year or so.

Again, thanks to everybody for the feedback. Always a big help. Keep it coming!

Mark

Jeff Kellam · November 30th, 2009, 04:01 PM

Mark:

The TV set part of the logo looks familiar. Is that an original piece of artwork or a piece of clipart?

Jeff

Mark Hendren · November 30th, 2009, 07:16 PM

Nope, not clipart. Made on a Mac, as they say.

Nate Haustein · November 30th, 2009, 07:51 PM

I like the site. Very sleek, and the style I would like to move towards in the near future.

I also agree with Jeff and Pablo. On the "About" and "Investment" pages. I had to scroll down just a little bit within the page to read all of the text. I can see some people finding this annoying or a little confusing since it scrolls in an internal window instead of the whole page. Perhaps you can edit your text to be a little shorter, eliminating that need to scroll down - makes the whole thing more of a fluid "experience." :)

Looks good though, keep up the good work.

November 18th, 2009, 12:26 PM	#1
Mark Hendren Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Birmingham, AL Posts: 70	Not Marketing - Honest Opinions Wanted Hey folks, We just launched a new website with a new logo. I would love to hear any feedback about it that you can give. I'm not trying to market to folks here, I just want to give my clients the best possible site and the best possible product I can. Thanks in advance for your help! Mark __________________ Mark Hendren, Mark Five Productions www.markfiveproductions.com

November 18th, 2009, 03:55 PM	#4
Dimitris Mantalias Major Player Join Date: May 2009 Location: Arta, Greece Posts: 342	Very professional look Mark. I really enjoy browsing pages like this one. __________________ "A successful wedding videographer is the one that offers for viewing some excellent videos and some boring videos, and gets positive reviews for both".

November 20th, 2009, 03:37 PM	#6
Roger Van Duyn Major Player Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Lakeland Florida Posts: 690	Your site looks great, and is easy to navigate. I especially like your logo. Very professional. I'm jealous! __________________ Roger My YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAp...2AHr_pHFID5LDA

November 23rd, 2009, 02:34 PM	#7
Jeff Kellam Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 656	Good logo & nice site. I would get rid of the radio button text scrolls and stretch the text boxes a bit to fit the text. I would change the tab labeled investment to costs/prices or some other term. I have seen a few sites using the term investment. It seems to me that the term is somewhat pretentious and also seems to infer this is going to be expensive. It also gives a little over-the-top-marketing feel. But what really bugs me, is that in accordance with the dictionary, the definition of investment is not applicable in any way to the costs of a wedding video, although I understand the inferred meaning. Im gonna have to get a site some day now. __________________ Panasonic HMC150/Canon A1/JVC HD1/Sony Vegas 8.0c Last edited by Jeff Kellam; November 24th, 2009 at 07:42 AM.

November 26th, 2009, 04:50 PM	#8
Pablo Montano New Boot Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Warsaw, Poland Posts: 18	Good web site Mark You have a nice web site. Professional. Cool pictures. When I read the "Who we are" I could feel that you really love shooting weddings, and that is a great selling point. I agree with Jeff, it would be better to "get rid of the radio button text scrolls and stretch the text boxes a bit to fit the text." Also, change the "Investment" part. When I read that page I felt as if you were trying to hide something. By now probably you have an "average" price for shooting weddings, maybe you should write it down. Your customer will feel safer contacting you knowing that the "average price" is within their budget. You don't have to change the explanation you give as "budget-friendly..." Your logo... it is a really cool logo, BUT, it doesn't tell me that you are shooting wedding videos. Keep the logo if in the future you plan to expand it to a bigger video production company, it IS a nice logo. At the very bottom you say that "All images are copyright..." How about the music? do you have the rights for it too? (just wondering) Feel free to ask more questions. I particularly don't like shooting weddings, I do it very rarely, only for friends, but, I love TV production and all the basics apply to what I do and to what you do.

November 18th, 2009, 03:34 PM	#2
Matthew Craggs Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Welland, Ontario Posts: 311	It looks like a Blu Domain site so I don't know how much I can say about the design, but I can say that I really like your logo. The music playing in the background is something that half of visitors don't mind and the other half hate. I'm not a fan of it, myself, but that's the personal preference of someone who is always playing his own music when he's surfing the web.

November 18th, 2009, 03:42 PM	#3
Nicholas de Kock Major Player Join Date: May 2007 Location: KLD, South Africa Posts: 983	Looks great!

November 18th, 2009, 09:51 PM	#5
Tim Polster Inner Circle Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Arlington, TX Posts: 2,231	Very nice. I am sure your customers will feel comfortable on the site as well as a sense of getting to know you. Higher level web design, not just cool effects and pages.

November 30th, 2009, 08:16 AM	#9
Bill Grant Major Player Join Date: May 2005 Location: Columbia,SC Posts: 806	Hey Mark, Good looking site... are the images photos or video stills? and also how effective are you finding the facebook page. I do believe no matter what our web designer friends will tell us, a flash page like that is sort of a minimum requirement for wedding imaging companies nowadays. Brides can't tell they all look the same... :) What cams, video looks great. Bill __________________ Cinema Couture www.cinemacouture.com

November 30th, 2009, 03:15 PM	#10
Mark Hendren Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Birmingham, AL Posts: 70	Thanks! Thanks to all of you for the great comments! Keep em' coming! As for the logo, I don't just do weddings, so I wanted one that would indicate video, but not tie me to weddings. Plus, that one has a back story. It is similar to a shirt I had once for the place where I got started, Channel Five. And yes, I do have the rights to the music. I got it off of Triple Scoop. The whole music copyright thing scares the mess out of me. I don't want myself or my clients to get busted by the music police. I know the chances are slim, but if they start cracking down, I'll be in the clear. Facebook is absolutely the way to go! On the day I launched this site, I put out notes and tagged as many people as I could. When you do a note, it goes on their wall, so everyone who looks at their site sees it. Viral marketing that costs nothing! All pics on the site are screen grabs from my weddings, except the one of me. Had a photographer friend shoot that. I use a Sony Z5 and a Canon HV20 for now. Hope to build that list in the next year or so. Again, thanks to everybody for the feedback. Always a big help. Keep it coming! Mark __________________ Mark Hendren, Mark Five Productions www.markfiveproductions.com

November 30th, 2009, 04:01 PM	#11
Jeff Kellam Major Player Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Posts: 656	Mark: The TV set part of the logo looks familiar. Is that an original piece of artwork or a piece of clipart? Jeff __________________ Panasonic HMC150/Canon A1/JVC HD1/Sony Vegas 8.0c

November 30th, 2009, 07:16 PM	#12
Mark Hendren Regular Crew Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Birmingham, AL Posts: 70	Nope, not clipart. Made on a Mac, as they say. __________________ Mark Hendren, Mark Five Productions www.markfiveproductions.com

November 30th, 2009, 07:51 PM	#13
Nate Haustein Trustee Join Date: May 2007 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 1,313	I like the site. Very sleek, and the style I would like to move towards in the near future. I also agree with Jeff and Pablo. On the "About" and "Investment" pages. I had to scroll down just a little bit within the page to read all of the text. I can see some people finding this annoying or a little confusing since it scrolls in an internal window instead of the whole page. Perhaps you can edit your text to be a little shorter, eliminating that need to scroll down - makes the whole thing more of a fluid "experience." :) Looks good though, keep up the good work. __________________ Nate Haustein PXW-FX9 / FCPX www.flightcreativemedia.com