Any feedback you guys have would be killer. A few caveats tho

I built the site entirely by myself.
The site is still a work in progress.
Nothing on the site is set in stone.
The gallery is not separated out by genre yet. It's just like the last 24 photos I posted on my flickr. In fact im linking my gallery from my flickr just to test out the functionality. This will change later and I will host the images on my server.
My goal for the site was to be as simple as possible to use and as clean as possible but still visually appealing.
I have no flash for SEO purposes. However I "may" work on a flash logo and display it top left. I'm also working on a logo in illustrator.
The about page text was straight off the top of my head. I will be marketing this section later.
I still need to implement some type of feedback system for SEO purposes.
I do plan on running this as a business and a new career path OR supplemental career path. I'm just not ready yet. I am working on and have the site up the site now for SEO purposes.

Anyways let'r rip.

http://www.patrickbowman.com/

Have you given any thought on how you are going to position yourself for SEO purposes?

 

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Okay so real feedback now.

My very first impression was that the site felt very plain for an artist. It doesn't need to be a glittery mess, but it needs something to it. On my browser, the spacing between the 6 words isn't uniform either.

The first thing I tried to do was to click your name at the top, and nothing happened.

Then I clicked Portraits and ... hello Patrick! I vote sexy girl in bikini as first pic, but that is just me, lol.

I was able to click the top to go back to the main page, which wasn't really what I was expecting. I wasn't expecting to be able to click it at all. I think I'd put nav buttons on or near the bar at the bottom. You need a logo.

As far as the gallery portion, I do like how that functions and feels. It does need some way to comment on stuff in my opinion.

What backend did you use to build it or did you write the php/html?

 

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I'm targeting "Los Angeles Photographer" but also trying to sub target "Los Angeles Portrait Photographer", "Los Angeles Maternity Photographer", "Los Angeles Band Photographer", and "Los Angeles Engagement Photographer". I've still yet to go all out on the SEO. I have quite a bit of work to get to on that end lol.





Thanks for the feedback bro. Everyone tells me I need a logo lol but so far everything I have come up with I scrapped coz it was just bleh. Prolly going to ask a couple designer friends for some assistance.

I definitely want a comment system in place because that is pretty big for SEO. I'm going to be doing a redesign here shortly and going to host my own wordpress so I can have comments through them. I'll also make a new blog section that hooks into wordpress dynamic features.

The backend you are asking about... are you talking about the gallery? The entire site is html/css and the gallery is jquery. I knew next to nothing when I first built the site so I was looking for things that were not very code heavy. Since then I have learned quite a bit more Hence a redesign will be coming up soon. Well the beginning of a redesign that is