SEO Tycoon

**ForrestCroce** · 07-08-2007, 03:53 AM

Content is king, and, unfortunately, this is probably the best photo I'll ever shoot in my life. I'm pushing myself a lot harder trying to make that not true, but, still, this is really good content.

Lesli With Hummingbird Moth

I see a lot of traffic to this site, usually from search engines about the creatures themselves. It's not one of my top 10 entry pages, but it gets its share of traffic, from searches, a few referrals, and some direct, which probably means a local bookmark. Which probably pulls up my average. For this page, my bounce rate is 84 %, and my exit rate is 74 %. Average time on the page is 41 seconds. Analytics says it's had 421 unique visitors in the past 30 days.

So ... how do I improve the page? The photo is superb, so either it's the presentation or the text. Or people think it's a mediocre Photoshop job? I got two photos like this, using manual focus ... they're common in the desert, especially in parts of Utah.

I just added a thumbnail to the text beneath the photo, of another hummingbird moth, and I'm planning to write up a page for that one, maybe include a few more shots on that one, and talk about them on the new page. That might lend this one a little more credible, but what can I do on this page to get people to stick around and look at some more photos?

Here's a teaser - the photo the page I'm trying to improve is about:

**potchie** · 07-10-2007, 06:05 AM

i like the photo i sense peaceful and joy... thats all i can say

**sheena24** · 07-10-2007, 06:11 AM

I love it.good creativity

**psylocke** · 07-10-2007, 06:56 AM

it's lovely already.. yes content is king but you don't have to improve or make changes of it all the time.

**gringo** · 07-10-2007, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ForrestCroce

...but what can I do on this page to get people to stick around and look at some more photos?

At least you are getting people to an entry point to your site. So they are on your site but they aren't exploring. I'd ask questions like this:

- is the navigation prominent enough? Maybe it's not saying "look around" as emphatically as it could. Just a question.
- what about appealing to the interest you've already established the visitor has, by adding a section to the right of the photo: "More Woman in Nature Photos"

, or "More Photos In This Category"
- Is it obvious that your site has some sort of hierarchy and that this photo is only one of many in a particular category. I found it a little confusing but maybe that's just me

- I'm probably getting a little too carried away now, but dare you include some kind of facility for visitors to leave feedback about each photo? Maybe this is going to far, or moving away from what you really want the site to do. User participation can arouse interest, but is it appropriate here?

Rambling now.

**willcode4beer** · 07-10-2007, 08:49 AM

I know I'm not really answering anything but, that is an amazing photo.

BTW, I like the use of the definition list (dl/dt/dd) for the photo info details.

I was wondering if there might be a micro-format around photography, it seems like a good case for it. I did some searching around, unfortunately, I came up empty.

**ADAM Web Design** · 07-10-2007, 11:58 AM

You're right. It probably isn't the photo. If it's anything, it's the presentation...your layout tends to take away from the photo somewhat (particularly the header). You've been talking about sprucing up your layout for a while now, and this may well be the catalytic event that inspires you.

The only other possibility that I can come up with is that people are looking for a really pretty nature photo, see the photo, and move on. If it's bookmarked, that's certainly a possibility.

**Learning Newbie** · 07-10-2007, 02:30 PM

I'm gonna agree with Adam and Gringo, and say if it's "your fault" it's the site layout. It has all the parts of a new site, bar across the top, stuff like that, but it's just kind of ugly. I don't think you're going to take that personally, so I'm not sugar coating it. Your site is ugly. Photos are wonderful, especially knowing this one isn't fake, but site is ugly.

Your navigation is annoying. Once I touch the mouse, everything changes, and it looks like going near your "home" link just clears everything?

Gringo had good advice about trying to show users similar photos, or essays, or whatever might continue to hold their interest.

Maybe people really like the image, but it's what they're looking for and they just don't feel the need to look at anything else. Okay, I liked about sugar coating things.

**ForrestCroce** · 07-10-2007, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gringo

- what about appealing to the interest you've already established the visitor has, by adding a section to the right of the photo: "More Woman in Nature Photos"

, or "More Photos In This Category"

Do you think "See Also" is a good idea? I haven't gone looking through my stats to see if people follow these links, but I've tried the idea before.

And this is a funny question, but since you mentioned putting it to the right, is there a better way to handle that than the quote on this page? It's a little cheesy, but it expresses why I pick up the camera pretty well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gringo

- Is it obvious that your site has some sort of hierarchy and that this photo is only one of many in a particular category. I found it a little confusing but maybe that's just me

It's not just you. This one really belongs in some kind of wildlife gallery, but I really don't have enough wildlife photos for that, so I put it in Portraits instead. Those are pretty tough to get a release for, so it's doing some good there ... but it sounds like if I at least highlighted where you are in the navigation it would at least be a little better?

That's an interesting idea about letting people leave comments, I have mixed feelings on that one. But it could attract repeat visitors, and more loyal ones, as long as I keep up with the spam. I'd be worried about taking off for a week and allowing someone to publish something that could get me in trouble, but blogs seem to handle that, so I need to give it some thought.

**ADAM Web Design** · 07-10-2007, 11:01 PM

Three words, Forrest: Akismet Spam Filter. That thing catches about 99% of comment spam in WP. Not sure if that helps your thought process any, but it's a kickass filter.

**ForrestCroce** · 02:13 AM

Well, my site runs on an Apache server, so I have full access to PHP and MySQL. I've just been foolish enough thus far to hand code everything. Made some changes to the layout as suggested here, and it was like the straw that broke the camel's back. I need to move to a "CMS" pronto.

Any thoughts on the direction I'm going with the layout?

Photo Page - Hummingbird Moth
Mountain Lake Scene

**pirates** · 07-11-2007, 04:10 AM

amazing photo wow is all i can say

**ForrestCroce** · 07-12-2007, 04:19 AM

Thanks! Yeah, I gotta admit, it's a lot better than the rest of my stuff. Just one of those perfect time and place things. It was the lady in the photo's birthday no less.

Most of what I shoot are landscapes, cities, and portraits. I'm looking through Analytics, and everybody who found my portraits page from a search engine, and under some keywords you wouldn't think of, stuck around. Bounce rate is 0 % for text search, 20 % for images search, and 10 % from direct traffic to the gallery page.

I've made some progress on a "CMS" app, and I'm considering to write something like comments into the system. It would be a lot more work ... how exactly would that help?

Portraits is the portion of my site that can generate immediate revenue, at least when I get local visitors. Any thoughts on how I could improve the portrait gallery, or the individual pages? It's pretty obvious I'm not a graphic designer ... but I'm trying to figure out what I need to know here.

Nally in Black and White - 50 % Bounce, 24 % Exit, 0:36 sec on page

Daddy's Little Girl - 70 % Bounce, 40 % Exit, 1:34 avg time on page

And I'm sure the same will apply for the landscapes, which are a longer term goal.

Canyon View, Ouray, Colorado - 73 % Bounce, 53 % exit, 0:40 sec avg

**telesale** · 07-13-2007, 11:50 AM

Wow! nice pic! I don't see how you can improve on this!

**Chronicle** · 07-13-2007, 01:21 PM

The pictures are already nice, visitors will naturally be attracted to them and will come back for more...

**Learning Newbie** · 07-13-2007, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by telesale

Wow! nice pic! I don't see how you can improve on this!

I don't think he's trying to figure out how to improve the pic (at least not on this forum). He's asking how to make the page better. And I say a better template.