Please review and critique...

**wr1000** · 22 April 2005, 03:10 PM

Please review and critique my latest:

http://www.exchrome.com

**RTK** · 03 May 2005, 06:01 PM

I forgot to add - you have to find your niche! In addition to the many Stock Photo sites on the Web, there are also many Royalty Free collections out there - http://www.hemera.com is one. They sell 50000 professionally masked photos for $99. And 150000 pretty cool photos for $30...

Difficult to beat - unless you have something they (and many others) don't have.

**John Rayner** · 01 May 2005, 10:24 AM

Hi WR1000,

ummmm... what did you change? I still think you need to bring some sample closer to the top of the page, not scrolling towards the bottom.

**kriz10** · 23 April 2005, 12:45 PM

I agree with John that it needs more color.

There are plenty of color tools around on the web to help with these types of projects.

I really enjoy using this one: http://www.tlhouse.co.uk/ColorCache/

Here is an example of contrasting harmony with your baby blue as the main color.

**John Rayner** · 22 April 2005, 08:37 PM

Ummm... Not very colorful for a graphic site is it? I think having an example of your product where you can first see it would really help sell the product.

I could be wrong, but I have seen plenty of PHPnuke sites that look just like yours... Can you say cookie cutter websites? Kerchunk, another site, kerchunk, kerchunk... Dang.. they all look, Kerchunk, the same...

Hi I'm Erel scribe and I can build your website for $39.95...

**wr1000** · 03 May 2005, 03:26 PM

Thank you for noticing the content. I am pleased to say that this little project has been over ten years in the making, and it might take another five to get it right!

The answer to your question about the photos on the site is "yes," the photos that are for sale are "optimized for internet" (that is our pitch). They are all available for immediate download, and sized at no wider than 1024 pixels, and 96DPI, where applicable. The goal is to provide a reliable source of photographs to designers, that are to be used in web sites. The other use, of course, is in printed material. At the current resolution, designers could use the photos when completing comps and mock ups, and, as needed, I will provide full size images to those that need them for press. After spending a long time thinking about it, I decided that the web was the market that I wanted to pursue, and that having low res, quick loading graphics is more attractive than having huge files that are difficult to manage, in many ways. As far as development, there are a lot of aspects of the site that I want to follow up on.

A few of them are:

1) Keyword the database - there are many photos that are not keyworded yet. They are in the database, but you can not access them by keyword. This is very time consuming, but rewarding, too. I have considered paying some college students from the college fraternity I was in to do this type of work on an as-needed basis.

2) Graphic redesign - this will include many of the suggestions that I have gotten so far, including moving some photos up to the top. I am always looking for (and working with) designers in this field. Being a third generation photographer, and having parents in both art and advertising, I appreciate design ability when I see it! I would like to incorporate Flash graphics, too.

3) Re-write - I would like to re-write the copy, making it more "consumer oriented." I know that there are experts who are fluent ad writers. This is the type of material that I will be seeking.

4) Advertise - I would like to participate in an agressive email and banner ad campaign to promote the site, after the needed changes have been made to it. This will be "phase four" of the project.

This might sound like an ambitious list to you. I am not one who demands sweeping changes, though. I anticipate that it will take another five years before this project is close to complete. Having been in business for some time, though, I know that five years of diligent development can, and often, from my experience, does, pay off.

Meanwhile, it gives me something to work on, get feedback about, and, most of all, to talk about in the forums that I frequent. This all helps me to develop new creative relationships on the web, and to steer away from the brick and mortar setting that was the only thing around when I was starting up.

And frankly, it is mixed water for me. There are a lot more people to connect with on the internet, and the advertising costs less, but the production costs are still high. We used to be able to beat this in the brick and mortar world because it was all local, and close knit. We knew each other, and people knew who to call on for what.

**John Rayner** · 03 May 2005, 06:04 AM

Look is getting closer... still need to move the samples... Final product looks kind of small tho. Are these shots meant only for web/computer work?

**RTK** · 03 May 2005, 05:16 PM

Hello WR1000,

I think you should just run with it - you have nothing to lose. You seem to be passionate about this project of yours, and I bet you are enjoying the ride.

Personally, I would prefer the images a little bigger to give room for cropping. You can call it "greed" if you wish...

The imagery is quite affordable.

The price is also perhaps something you could play around with to get the ball rolling? So are freebies...

The competition on the web for stock photos/art is fierce, so do be patient. Reading up on marketing, and selling on the Web could be time well spent.

I have no idea how Frontpage yet again comes in to this... but spamming forums with ads, as John suggested, is generally frowned upon. If spamming is something you feel comfortable with - why limit yourself to Frontpage? Target all web design (and related) forums...

A good place to learn about the does and don'ts of ad campaigns, search engine optimization etc. is http://www.webmasterworld.com/ If you look around, I'm sure you will find plenty of other places to pick up usefull information.

When it comes to getting good results (and a good number of (targetted) visitors from search engines - you are in for a fight.

Good luck, and have fun!