Marketing Tip 6th Week

Abbie, thank you for this!! I cannot get my "Contact Me" back on my Premium Website and finally put my email address on, which I am not comfortable with. I have tried when I edit over and over to get it to work. Some people have contacted me but through Fineartamerica.

Thank you, Abbie! I appreciate all your tips on this subject.

Cookie Notice - I assume every site has cookies so I personally don't care to see the warning :/

If you are showing in the EU then you should show a cookie warning, and if you are collecting any data then you really should show something

I suggest reading this https://www.blackboxdesign.co.uk/gdpr-do-i-need-a-cookie-warning-on-my-small-business-website/ where it is explained who may not need to. This is mainly the EU but if selling there then you all need to take note

Sandi,

If anyone who shared their link is okay with me giving the review here in public, please let me know. It was pointed out how helpful it has been for someone.

Thank you for taking the time to share these tips. I really NEED to get my own website. I really have grown to dislike Etsy for numerous reasons. I don't like sending people there.

I have to second the NO MUSIC part! Drives me nuts.

I vote YES to sharing the reviews off the websites you critiqued. I learn from my mistakes and I learn from mistakes others make. Having the websites as real life examples is a huge help.

Thank you :)

Hi Abbie,

Is there a way to put the contact form link on the main menu of a page?
What is meant by "drop the shopping cart widget on premium pages" do you mean place it or remove it?

Thanks Abbie.

drop the shopping cart means to add it.

What do you mean about the contact page?

"DO NOT ADD AUTOMATIC MUSIC TO YOUR SITE"

I think this should apply to Instagram posts as well.

Hi Abbie, great thread!! Thank you for pointing the way above! Took your suggestions and will be waiting on answer.

Hi Abbie, sure, you are welcome to use mine. I already caught a broken plugin that was printing a shortcode on the bottom of two interior pages - yikes. It's good to browse your own site every now and then and catch things like that! :)

Thanks, I'll get them up soon...

I have added the fast reviews I did... please note I only visited homepages and went for the first impression only.

I agree with all your points, Abbie! Especially the music and animation!

Even on my premium site I only have one stationary slide! I don't want any visitors to be distracted by any moving parts! Keep it simple!

https://jessicajenney.com/

Thank you for sharing these sites and what you saw and did not see, Abbie, very helpful. Jessica, I want to only do one image, not the slides. What size are the slides so I can add just one picture and fill the frame. Thanks so much, Abbie, need to work on my premium site and did not know how to do some things. Still no Contact button.

The link to the contact form is at the bottom of the page- Are we able to put that link on the main menu of our site at the top of the page?

Yes, it is easy to do really

<a href="https://yourlinkhere.com">Contact Me</a>

Swap out the link https://yourlinkhere.com for the one you want

add that to your announcement bar

Thank you so much for the kind review!
I'm always editing myself. I use Wix (the paid option) I chose them because they have phone support and it is very intuitive to work with.

I went over to check my cookies(not the chocolate kind)). This is really strange, when I clicked on them they didn't take me to the cookie policies. I recall I got those from Wix. I will need to investigate what's going on with that. It also took me a while to get my act together in that department.
I also have a privacy policy, there's a link there under the cookie banner.
I got that online somewhere for a reasonable price.

UPDATE: I figured out that I just needed to link that cookie sign to the actual privacy policy.

I have a newsletter sign-up and have not been able to figure out how to actually send newsletters and organize it. I see we also have a sign-up on FAA but no one has signed up.

I've learned it's really important to check on things, to make sure links work, etc.

Thanks again!

Carlin has changed her header since my fast review and the difference is staggering. MUCH better. Awesome, Carlin

A couple of you have now found things that needed tweaking and I am very glad you took the time to go through your sites to check

If anyone else wants a rapid review, please let me know

I think i missed a site off, so I will take a look and do that one very soon

Abbie, I just realized you did a quick review of my website, thank you. I should note that the cookie warning is not my doing, I think it's an automatic thing on Blogger.

I thought it may be, but it is a good thing

Abbie, here's the link to my website for your perusal:

https://hudsonvalleylandscapephotos.com/

Very nice

I could see exactly what you did and who you were, immediately.

You have no privacy page and you have an email in plain view (on the contact link) which is a shame and not a good idea as I wrote above.

Some people say they do not mind people having the email etc but, imagine that IS your work email and you are looking for commissions, work, sales queries. An email scraper hits the site and adds you to a list that is then sold to many hundreds, if not thousands of people who use it for nefarious reasons. You now have to worry about scammers, phishers and other 'ers that you just do not need to if you use a contact page.

You have no cookie warning

But apart from that it is in the top 3 of sites I have looked at for clarity, call to actions etc. Very nice

Change to a contact page, and add a privacy page and cookie warning if advertising internationally, and you have a perfect site homepage

8/10

EDIT I actually did click on the contact page and I am seeing not only the email address but a contact form also. Lose the email, it is unecessary

Thank you for the feedback Abbie, greatly appreciated!

Abbie, please do a review for me, thank you!!! I took off my email address, but cannot seem to make the Contact Me work and some other things need to do I am sure. Thank you!!! https://sandi-oreilly.pixels.com/

Great tip as always Abbie! I have a domain with my business name and the page sends people directly to my pixels premium page:

https://karenllargentimages.com/

It's also a secure page and I think it's simple and sends everyone where I want them to go. It also has a form to contact me.

I think it does what you have suggested Abbie!

Sandi

Take off your email address from your About

SEE SOMETHING YOU LIKE, BUT WANT A DIFFERENT COLOR OR SOMETHING SIMILAR. <a href="https://sandi-oreilly.pixels.com/contact.html">CONTACT ME</a>



Your Social addresses are;

<a href="https://www.facebook.com/SandiOReillyFineArt/">https://www.facebook.com/SandiOReillyFineArt/</a>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/sandi.oreilly.7">https://www.facebook.com/sandi.oreilly.7</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/SandiOPhoto">https://twitter.com/SandiOPhoto</a>
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandi-o-reilly-615a1a25/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandi-o-reilly-615a1a25/</a>

Karen

Overall not bad. Couple of issues

It is re-enactment, not reenactment

You are linking to Pixels but you say you are with Fine Art America. Choose one and make them both match

The Call to Action button is great. In your face and clear. However, you do need to tell people what they are clicking for. Click Here to....?

A call to action is

Click To Subscribe
Click Here To Contact Me
Click Here to.....

I see you do have a privacy page linked on the contact page (Yes, I did hunt for it) so that is a plus, at least you have one where they will add details. However, you have your name in the Name area of the contact form.

You need to take that out and have the words, 'Your Name' so you don't confuse people

8/10

Abbie, you are the best, I will make those chances right away. I've seen re-enactment spelled both ways but I will go with yours.

And now it's fixed. I Thank You so much Abbie! Now I'm very happy!!!

Karen... I forgot one thing

(I wrote out a whole post before that one and it was removed and I was logged out)

This is being pernickety, but it would complete the site for me.... With many years under her belt, she inspires others with her drive for photography that pleases the eye.

With many years of what under your belt? coffee? doughnuts? money belts?..... experience?

Apart from that, 10/10

Well now Abbie, you make good sense, Right now I'm getting over a virus so there's not much under my belt right now!!! Just to be thorough, are you able to make my Fine Art America page title Karen L Largent Images instead of Karen Largent Art? If so, then whoopee!!!

You are my new bestie!!

Abbie, it seems you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!!

Great information and tips, Abbie! I very much appreciate your time and the review, it's always great to have fresh eyes look over things and now that you have, I have spent quite a bit of time scanning everything top to bottom, again :-)) it seems that no matter how many times I look, there is always some little thing I pick up that's not working or should be different.
I also note that I have my email mentioned on a few pages, even though I have the contact form so I will have to remove that.
Thanks again.

Abbie, thank you so very much for your help to me and to everyone!!. This is an amazing undertaking of your time and effort here and gives me lots to think about for my site reading your comments. Hope you can now rest your eyes!!!

Art is on all pages. We can't change that unfortunately. Show your shop page first if you don't like 'art' and it will show 'Karen Largent Shop' instead

(Default Settings)

Well, I edited my Etsy announcement to include my Facebook url, but discovered Etsy doesn't allow for clickable links, per their user agreement.

According to Etsy's Terms of Use, you can only have hyperlinks to other Etsy pages in your shop announcements.

Pooh on Etsy. And I'm technically not even supposed to have the url to my Pixels site, since I sell the same prints at both places.

https://frankjcasella.crevado.com "Clean, simple. Image of the artist, contact page and About. What you do very clearly explained BUT you have a contact page and an email? Scrap the email"

Thank you again, Abbie for this review and your valuable time to do so! An update:

The platform, Crevado Portfolios, does not seem to allow me to remove the email address (at least I've not found a way yet). But, the address there is a forwarding one, where I reply with a different address with the same domain. So if someone spams it, which is the main reason for a contact form, I just change it .. as this address is exclusive to this page so I know where it came from when I get the email.

Thank you, Abbie, I changed my Etsy cover photo right away since I totally agreed with your input. I'm glad you like the change too!!

I enjoy seeing your reviews & visiting the sites.

edited to add Abbies reviews of my Etsy shop:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/CarlinArtWatercolor Lovely cover image but had to scroll to see what it was all about. Very friendly note on the front page explaining about commissions and I liked the fact that if there is not something there, it will be painted for me. Nice touch. With perhaps an addition to the cover image this is pretty good.

9/10

Carlin has changed her header since my fast review and the difference is staggering. MUCH better. Awesome, Carlin

Thank you, Abbie!! I now have the right Contact Me in place and right links to social media!!

Hi Abbie, 👋 my site is getting pretty busy so you might have to take a number. 😀

Jeff-foliage.com is getting a lot of traffic as people from around the country, if not the world really missed their dose of fall colors.

Travel numbers are way up so if I can do something with the site to improve the experience all the better...

Jeff, you are not going to like me

Nice site but...

...again with the white on black writing. People think it's great but a lot of us cannot read it. Sorry. My eyes fuzz when I am reading white on black and it makes me feel quite sick. My fella cannot read it at all as he is dyslexic and this does not work for him. You are missing out on some readers but I understand photographers like black as they think it makes the images pop.

See the image of what I see when people visit. The top is missing half of it. (laptop)



Your privacy and Cookie notice is excellent, except when I click on it to close....it will not disappear. Just keeps coming back.

I see a call to action (newsletter/updates) and I can see what you do and why I am there

Great but for those two issues, one quite major (header) and one annoying (cookie notice).

I think the header may be fixed by removing that posts read thing top left

7/10

Delete

"You have no privacy page. You have no cookie warning."

Waiting to hear back from my website developers on how to add them...


"EDIT I actually did click on the contact page and I am seeing not only the email address but a contact form also. Lose the email, it is unnecessary."

DONE

https://hudsonvalleylandscapephotos.com/contact-hudson-valley-landscape-photos-angelo-marcialis-photography/

Thanks again for the feedback....

Much better!

9/10

Thank you for the lovely review, Abbie! My site used to be quite dated in appearance because I was always redesigning someone else’s and leaving mine for “one day, when I have free time” (which I never did.) I finally decided to invest in myself and devote the time to make it a professional, accessible reflection of me and the value I place in my art.

Thanks for the feedback, and for taking the time to advise so many of us. I appreciate you!

Thanks a lot....

That is the way I designed the banner at the top. So it's cut off by me. It's not meant to be a full image, just a attention getter.

I'm not sure I have any control on the cookie notice as that is either WordPress or jetpack to make sure I'm EU compliant.

The White on black is high contrast and to be honest you are the first person to tell me they had trouble with it....

I'll look into it and see if there is a way to let a reader choose black or white, like we do on our phones.

Jeff and others, what you do with the information I give is entirely up to you. It is not my site and you have total control over it as it should be. It's your vision, not mine. However, I will add that, people not telling you something doesn't mean they are not thinking it.

I'm not polite in this thread. As you asked for an opinion, that's what you got... Just an honest visitor's opinion.

I'm sorry if my tone sounds angry or worse... petulant... I quickly read (the first time) what you wrote and I did not see the image as I was on my phone so I assumed you didn't care for the crop of the image from Maine...

I reread your input and went to my wife's laptop and saw what you were referring to. The "widget" has been removed, thank you... Neither Lisa nor I caught that.

I take input seriously and I do stick with my color choice because with around 200,000 views per year and almost 2,500 comments. that is one thing that has not come up... I do stay away from reds and greens due to people with color blindness having trouble with those colors.
But what color should it be for those who are dyslexic? I didn't know they would prefer different colors. I don't know if I will change the color scheme but will think about it...

Thanks for the feedback

Well, black on white is easier than white on black but not perfect.

There is a reason FAA took away peoples use of black backgrounds here. It does, and did, help stop sales. More sales were coming from the white backgrounds. That was over many years and was tested before Sean changed it for good. A bit like people saying that watermarks cannot hurt sales as they still get them... sure, but how many would you have had without them?!

Black writing on a coloured pastel background is even better than white for people who have vision difficulties or dyslexia. White can appear dazzling.

White writing on black is just hard. I am not dyslexic but find it incredibly difficult to read without getting vertigo so do not even bother trying.

Wordpress for example have some amazing white themes you can colour, and do galleries for showing off art where you can have black backgrounds. But as I said, these are just opinions based on my experience. An opinion does not have to be listened to or followed.

Thank you Abby...Your tips are spot on and so helpful ...still working on week 2 tip #2 regarding key words..an arduous task as my initial attempts to enter them were lazy, at best; I really hadn't grasped this important concept, even though other kind artists made the suggestion to do so in the first place..now, about 1/4 way through 500 images to update...ugh...it was more fun seeing the increased # of images appear as a body of work then spending a lot of time entering descriptions and key words...Now redoing, catching spelling errors and finding omissions are filling my days. ..not as much fun.

Adding all your suggestions to the list of things to do...Prior to joining FAA, my official website was www.candidimages.com. FAA is now my one and official site but both appear in a search, hopefully soon there will be more hits on the new one. I did get business cards printed with both the FAA address listed on front and Pixel address on reverse with the lifestyle products. Would appreciate any critique and opinion. Thank you.

Bonnie, I suggest reading the reviews I have already done as some of those are covered on your site. Nice Logo

You need to choose one site and have that on your cards... not a choice. Next time you have some made, choose one site that you want people to go to.

I am glad to read all this insightful info you provided Abbie, thank you. Seems I am mostly on the right track and certainly I have some other things to consider now as well.

Thanks!

Abbie - are you recommending that we should get our own website and not rely on Pixels as our "one and only"? (which is what I do...)

I'm saying, whatever site you use should have the basics as above

Hi Abbie,

Would you mind adding my site to your list? I'd appreciate your input. https://twalshimages.com/

Thank you!

Hello Abbie,

Would you mind adding my site to your list? I'd appreciate your thoughts.
Thanking You in advance.
Lou

https://www.louisdallaraphotography.com/

Terry

I cannot say too much about yours as it is one of ours LOL. I like the About section. Not too long

9/10

Louis

You need a home button
You have allowed a spam comment on a contact page (turn off comments on pages)
I did not like the burgundy subtitle on the site. It looks tacky on some of the photography. Keep it white
No privacy link that I saw at a glance. Must have one if using a contact page or even getting emails of any kind

7/10

I would add one tip for website owners, which is to be aware of the risk of it being "infected" by some undesirable malware. The risk will vary depending on the host platform. I assume that Pixels / FAA sites are low risk - but sites that are self-managed are at a higher risk. When I visited the sites listed by Abbie, my browser (with the Norton Safeweb extension) would not let me visit the www.girlychecks.com site. It claims that "This is a known dangerous web page. It is highly recommended that you do NOT visit this page."

Of course there are false positives - Norton, despite being a reputable antivirus suite, does not always get it right. However you can use Norton's free tool at https://safeweb.norton.com/ to check your own site for possible problems and if it throws up a red flag, it might be worth investigating why.

Viola, Privacy/Cookie Policy has now been added! 10/10

https://hudsonvalleylandscapephotos.com/

I was looking for information about the Premium page in the discussion browser, the search engine brought me here. I read everything. I also read all the comments and I see that no one mentions anything like this that bothers me. But since I don’t know where else to go, I’ll ask here so please direct me if this question doesn’t belong here. I often upload two of the same photos to my gallery, for example I mention my last photo with a dinosaur. Same photo but on one the dinosaur is looking to the left and on the other to the right. I do this keeping in mind that someone can buy two pillows, towels, etc. that then fit great next to each other. The problem is that on the home page the photos are in the directions I uploaded them and when I go to open them both dinosaurs are looking in the same direction. This problem is not from yesterday, it has been a long time since it first happened to me. I’ve tried a million times to edit both photos by reloading them but the same thing happens all the time. I have screenshots but I see that there is no upload option. Does anyone have the same problems? How to solve it?



As soon as I open Canvas Print the photo is turned to the wrong side. So it turns out that I have two of the same photos and those who see it will be confused and will be absent from the purchase if they were interested, because it will not be clear to them which one they will get. The same thing happened when I changed the vertical to a square photo. Each device has a different shape and is displayed differently when the products are opened.

You're doubling something up

1 file name
2 title, or
3 browser tab when uploading

You need to update the second one using one window/tab open at a time, with a different filename and title

Abbie! I changed the file name, the problem remained the same. I changed the name, the problem remained the same. I deleted it and reloaded it. It’s not a problem if it happens in the beginning so I delete it and try again. The problem is when this happens after I have shared a photo countless times. I give links to photos that don't exist ... unprofessionally ... like I'm a little kid just playing. I will follow myself a little as I work to find out if there is a problem in me. I would ask other members if they have the same problem to give me a feedback.

Abbie thank you for answering!

Abbie, I am new to FAA I joined about 30 days ago. I have read all of your tips so far and I am trying to implement them. I am still going to make changes to my bio and other things you recommend. I really like the way you organize the tips needed for successful marketing. It seems like the simpler the better. Not sure I am going in the right direction. I think I am a bit overwelmed with too much information. My question is, do you do private mentoring? I am almost 83 and pretty savvy when it comes to technology and if I get stuck I have resources that help. I finally have the time to devote to this and I really want to succeed. I have started and run succesful businesses in the past and feel I can do the same here. Just need some informed direction. Thanks for your time. I appreciate your knowledge.