Just finished a store for my photo site. Opinions?

[michelsondl]

I've been wanting to get a way for people to purchase prints directly from my site for a while, but most of the software and services for this were either geared toward someone selling a lot more than me, or just didn't have the look I wanted. I ended up finally sitting down to do it myself last night. I wanted a really simple layout, which I think I achieved. I ended up using the Paypal shopping cart since I will only have to worry about fees as I sell something, and I don't have to worry about the cc gateway and all that mess. I also used Shadowbox to be able to see a larger version. I had thought about having links from my gallery pages to a where they could buy the print, but for now decided to keep it separate because I'm using Autoviewer for my galleries, and haven't quite figured out how to do what I want. I might be changing the galleries over to JAlbum sometime in the near future anyway.

It would be great to get some opinions on it, or let me know if stuff is showing up weird for you. I used Dreamweaver to build it, and haven't cleaned up the code yet, so if you like to look at the HTML, you have been warned that it doesn't look pretty.

Anyway here is the link.

[OsmosisStudios]

Site looks and works great. This is a first: Dont change a thing.*

*Except your prices. They're... high.

[kuvahmagh]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Site looks and works great. This is a first: Dont change a thing.*

*Except your prices. They're... high.

I agree on both points, a great site, simple design that doesn't take 3 loading bars to view as well as great photos. A 5x7 at $30, seems a bit much to me but if your selling, which it seems like you are based on your bio, then who am I to say.

[Jim Bryant]

Yup...this is a first. Normally we have to tell folks to get rid of the hokey music and flash, which takes too damn long for photos to download, but this site is clean and simple. DO lower your prices somewhat a tad. After you establish a client base, then raise them.

[Nekrose]

I love this! It is simple and fast to load. It looks great.

[michelsondl]

Thanks for the feedback. I've been selling my matted 5x7 photos for $25, so I decided to raise them a bit. I think I might stay where I'm at with the larger ones, and just lower the 5x7 down to $20-25. As for all the extra stuff that my site doesn't have, I can't stand the flash and music junk either. I'm of the school of thought that a simple, clean design with good content will get you much further than a flashy, over-the-top site will with mediocre content. I'm not saying my photos are the best in the world, but I hoped to layout the site so that it lets the viewer focus on the photos instead of being distracted by the site's design.

Does anyone have experience using the Paypal shopping cart in their store? The only real qualm I have with it right now is that when you hit one of the buttons, it makes the browser window leave it's maximized state and it moves partially off screen. The only other site that I've noticed that uses the Paypal cart and does this same thing is Flashzebra.com. Does anyone else have this problem or know a solution to it?

Also, one of the things I got a lot when I was getting into selling my work is that many photogs don't like 5x7. What I found is that they do sell well, so of course I have been keeping them in my price list. The thing is, I would really hate to sell a 5x7 w/o a mat, something about it just doesn't feel right, too much like a minilab print. I was thinking about putting in there that all 5x7 prints come with a free mat, which is the way I've been displaying/selling them at my booth.

[Peter Ahrens]

I think your site looks really neat and simple.

Is there any way to change the look of the PayPal buttons. I think they sort of stick out from the simplicity of your website.

All the photos are set out really well. Nice work

[Stirlingdesigns]

Love the site - nice and clean and easy to view. Not sure you can do much about the buttons - you do want them to stick out a bit so people can make their purchase easily.

[michelsondl]

I think I can change the button, but I still haven't decided if I want to yet. I know there are a few other Paypal buttons that are gray, so I might try one of those out at some point.