Hey gang, I was looking at PDN online the other day and noticed an article from the previous issue about how they talked to several "real" brides to get their opinion on photographers websites as far as music, slide shows, etc.... Of course I'm not a subscriber and my local bookstore doesn't have back issues so.....

I thought I'd see if anyone here read it and if so, was it any good, and if so, what do real brides think.....

thanks!

Dan

Hi Dan,

I have the article, I think it's only mildly useful...
There are obvious comments by the brides on things like ease of navigation making them like the sites. There were critiques of font and music, they all liked one site's introduction video so they could 'meet' the photographer. But so much of it is just up to personal taste.

They all seemed to prefer more naturalistic lighting, posing and photoshopping in the images.

Thanks! That's pretty much what I thought!

Dan

If I remember correctly, an OSPer or two were some of the photographers for that article... do a search here & I bet you can find it...

Are you kidding me? A bride says what she likes and dislikes about a site and you simply dismiss it? Pay attention. This is important stuff.

Calm down.

First off, the "likes" were all pretty obvious things: ease of navigation, clean design, lots of pictures, great captures, etc.

Second, comments on music and things like that varied according to personal taste, so yeah, that's pretty useless. You make a judgement call on your design/mood/music depending on who you are as a photographer and what kind of bride you're trying to attract.
One bride didn't like the font and music used on one site. If you were that photographer, and got that feedback from one random bride, would you change it? Doubtful. So it's really not all that helpful unless you'd never before considered the fact that someone might not have the same taste as you.

So yes, mildly helpful at best.

huh?

Calm down?

Are you kidding me?

OSP is a place lots of new photographers come to test the waters. To some people this kind of stuff is obvious, to others not so much.

Show me a survey of 1500 brides that 85% hate music and I'll take it off my site. Show me one bride saying "I hate this song" and I'm going to leave it.

If 76% of 500 brides say they prefer natural images to PS, I'll do it natural like spring water. If one random bride says she wants 'more natural' images but Gino makes more than most of us giving them art, I'm going to decide for myself what to offer.

Exactly.

Eric, yes, calm down. Dan asked about the article, I gave my opinion on it. That's fine if you disagree, but no need to be rude.

I wouldn't change what I'm doing even if an article claimed that 90% of the brides thought a certain way.

It's one article. It's one point reference. Even reviewed journals have published bogus articles. It's worse in the main stream press.

I have yet to see an article in the main stream press get everything correct when dealing in areas of which I am extremely knowledgeable. I'm talking about indisputable facts. Not opinions.

This is talking about opinions. It's even less of a basis for changing your behavior.

Even if we make the assumption that what this one author writes is accurate and reflects what *all* brides say they think, the other problem is that it is just that. What people say they like and what actually affects buying decisions are rarely the same.


Eric

The article was thought provoking. Got some things out of it that I never considered in the past.

Elaborate?

Photography spans so many styles that it's hard to get one conclusive statistic. Other than the normal marketing tips like navigation, easy to find info, etc, you can't really get too much real info. I, personally, have not been a fan of music so I leave it off of mine. But I'm also not a fan of other things that lot's of people love. Each photographer is marketing to a group and their sites reflect that.

Agreed! I am not a fan of music, either, simply because I am almost always listening to music on my computer anyway, so when I open up a site and get assaulted by someone's music, they're both playing at the same time until I can find the "stop music" button on the site. Hate that!