Comments | twain: Working the Web

twain

Working the Web

Jul 20, 2009 14:14

This web stuff's funny. I haven't built sites since - oooh, way back in the early 2000s. Things sure have changed since then. Yes sir. Now it's all keywords and analytics and SEO. Whatever happened to "build it and they will come"? Oh, right - that was just a terrible Kevin Costner movie ( Read more... )

Comments 11

bart_calendar July 20 2009, 15:14:12 UTC

You know, funny you should ask. About half my time spent with clients is creating copy for "split tests." In other words, I'll write three different versions of the same page and then they will run each for a week, track the google anylytics and then pick one as the permanent page. It's slightly, but not much more complicated than that. But the goal is to get the conversion rate up to at least 1 percent (though I'm able to get most of my clients up to the 5 to 7 percent range ( ... )

vintagehandbag July 20 2009, 15:24:11 UTC

Yes on the outrageous expense. A lot of the artists whose sites I look at regularly list some prices, but not general prices -- they list prices on the works in the gallery. So, if she has some commissioned pieces she can add to the gallery, she could put the price on those, and then put "sold!" with the price crossed out. It gives people an idea of what the piece was (16"X20" custom oil portrait for commission) and how much it cost ($475, for exmaple) without necessarily implying that all pieces of that size or in that medium cost the same ( ... )

twain July 20 2009, 15:47:55 UTC

I think Ruth will definitely go for the children's gallery idea - when she has enough images of kids.

monkey1976 July 20 2009, 15:23:40 UTC

My feedback ( ... )

vintagehandbag July 20 2009, 15:25:05 UTC

I agree with these things.

twain July 20 2009, 15:51:17 UTC

So do I. I'm changing the link to "Get an Estimate" right now...

The credentials side is funny. Ruth's exhibited a lot - but the work she exhibited was not portraiture, it was conceptual art. She's had artist-residence positions too. Perhaps a sort of resume section might work though.

monkey1976 July 20 2009, 16:22:14 UTC

"Ruth's exhibited a lot - but the work she exhibited was not portraiture, it was conceptual art. She's had artist-residence positions too. Perhaps a sort of resume section might work though."

you'd make a lousy politician, my man.

remember, the truth is FLEXIBLE.

you can say she exhibited at blah blah blah. you don't have to say that it was in a different category. that's being overly honest. plus, it's not like you're talking about 2 completely different fields. it's not much of a stretch.

Thread 5

bart_calendar July 20 2009, 15:31:06 UTC

I'd also change the homepage around a bit. A lot of people who web surf through Firefox have Flash blocker activated because it keeps Firefox from eating memory and slowing your computer down. With your site that would end up negating out the center of the home page.

I'd also include some text about Ruth and what you are selling on the home page. A lot of the information on the Commission page could be used here. It shows a process that the reader can become engaged in.

twain July 20 2009, 15:52:17 UTC

Yep - I think that'll help it do better on Google too. I've been thinking about making the front page images static with some embedded text.

bart_calendar July 20 2009, 15:55:19 UTC

It will make it much more google friendly and static images with text tend to sell better.

I know it sounds counterintuative but even when it comes to art, it's words, not images that make the sale.