Looking for feedback on a new web service

[wmrcomputers]

Hi guys & girls.

Once again I'm looking for feedback on a new website I have launched. This time though, I don't just want someone to proof read for spelling mistakes, but rather give their thoughts about what is on offer. There's only really a homepage of info to read.

Be REALLY brutal with me please. Pick faults, tell me what I should do differently etc. For example...
What do you think is off-putting?
Do you think the price is reasonable?
Do you think it should be free and if so can you suggest other ways of making it viable to operate?
Would you add something to it and charge differently?

Anyone who gives their time can use of the service in the future free-of charge - message me for a free access link.
Thanks in advance!

www.guestphotos.co.uk

 

[age'd parent]

Only one thing strikes me, "we send you all the the full resolution images
that your guests uploaded on DVD disc," is this free or is there a charge?

PS this grandad has a 3 DSLR s, not a point and shoot

edit.. and a dual screen wizzy PC.

 

[PeterD]

in the sentence age'd parent mentions, the is repeated twice.

Looking through it,

"A problem faced by many brides after the big day is chasing up their guests", I suggest couples, not every wedding has a bride and sometimes it isn't the brides job.

"print on table cards or share via your guests online", "share with" unless you want your guest to share to others.

"we send you all the the full resolution images that your guests uploaded on DVD disc", I would put a comma after uploaded as well as remove the second the.

"All we need is a few details such as your names and the date." I would put a comma after details.

Otherwise all good, and may I say an excellent idea.

 

[number9]

I wasn't sure if this service would be wanted, but reading it and seeing its aimed at weddings...
at £10 for the wedding market its a good thing at low cost (wedding wise) £20 i'm not so sure, see how it goes, or offer discounts.
it also depends on how the photos are presented on their personal web page, and disc. are you having a plain background with a thumbnail or list of jpegs or will it be personalized with one of their images or other wedding type picture. are you offering a slideshow for people to stick in a dvd player. i think you need to get a couple of examples for people to view what they will be getting. discs are on their way out, offer an alternative media file and send it by link so everyone can view them on their devices, that might be bumping up costs with time and effort along with hosting it tho.
the logo wants to be larger and clearer, my eyes it just looks a smudge
good luck

 

[proactive]

Is this something you could also target at the school prom/big birthday/big anniversary market?

Was at a Diamond Wedding celebration last month and something like this would have been ideal.

 

[highguyuk]

I haven't gone through the text in detail as others have done, although I suggest removing stereotypes.

My comments:

1. Why not just make it £9.90 and advertise at half price instead of almost?
2. Remove "can sometimes" from the header - guests DO capture great pictures (it's just not all of them, all of the time).
3. You need to show an example on the website of the final product. That includes an image of the presentation of the final DVD disk, couples will keep this as a memory so it also needs to look the part (presentation box etc.).
4. You were suggesting other payment mechanisms. Our wedding photographer provided this service to us FOC to showcase all of our wedding photographs to our guests that she took. However the website had the option of requesting prints at a higher than ASDA/Truprint etc. price which she took a commission from. Something to look at?

You're obviously competing against potentially free options including Facebook Groups, Dropbox, Google Drive - but it appears a low cost solution that ALL guests can contribute to.

Good luck!

 

[wmrcomputers]

First of all, WOW... huge thanks for your time - each and every one of you.

Only one thing strikes me, "we send you all the the full resolution images
that your guests uploaded on DVD disc," is this free or is there a charge?
PS this grandad has a 3 DSLR s, not a point and shoot

All included - but I have just added "at no extra charge" to clarify that. Thanks.

in the sentence age'd parent mentions, the is repeated twice.
"A problem faced by many brides after the big day is chasing up their guests", I suggest couples, not every wedding has a bride and sometimes it isn't the brides job.
"print on table cards or share via your guests online", "share with" unless you want your guest to share to others.
"we send you all the the full resolution images that your guests uploaded on DVD disc", I would put a comma after uploaded as well as remove the second the.
"All we need is a few details such as your names and the date." I would put a comma after details.

Some excellent points all of which I've ammended. Thank you sir!

I wasn't sure if this service would be wanted, but reading it and seeing its aimed at weddings...
at £10 for the wedding market its a good thing at low cost (wedding wise) £20 i'm not so sure, see how it goes, or offer discounts.
it also depends on how the photos are presented on their personal web page, and disc. are you having a plain background with a thumbnail or list of jpegs or will it be personalized with one of their images or other wedding type picture. are you offering a slideshow for people to stick in a dvd player. i think you need to get a couple of examples for people to view what they will be getting. discs are on their way out, offer an alternative media file and send it by link so everyone can view them on their devices, that might be bumping up costs with time and effort along with hosting it tho.
the logo wants to be larger and clearer, my eyes it just looks a smudge
good luck

Thanks for the feedback. I'm currently offering the service free to a few weddings in the near future in exchange (hopefully) for agreement to use some page images as examples.
Regarding DVD discs - I do appreciate what you are saying but there are reasons for DVD suiting this kind of thing. USB can be too easily erased is just the first that I think of. It's aimed at being more of a free bonus that they get a hard copy, although a digital download could be done as well.
Logo - unfortunately it's a limitation of the theme I have used with the host. Looking into making a clearer one.
Great points, and many thanks!

Is this something you could also target at the school prom/big birthday/big anniversary market?
Was at a Diamond Wedding celebration last month and something like this would have been ideal.

You are correct that it would suit any of those occasions, but I need to have a think on how to include that without taking away from weddings which of course is likely to be the biggest target.
Thanks for taking a look

Why not just make it £9.90 and advertise at half price instead of almost?

1. Remove "can sometimes" from the header - guests DO capture great pictures (it's just not all of them, all of the time).
2. You need to show an example on the website of the final product. That includes an image of the presentation of the final DVD disk, couples will keep this as a memory so it also needs to look the part (presentation box etc.).
3. You were suggesting other payment mechanisms. Our wedding photographer provided this service to us FOC to showcase all of our wedding photographs to our guests that she took. However the website had the option of requesting prints at a higher than ASDA/Truprint etc. price which she took a commission from. Something to look at?

You're obviously competing against potentially free options including Facebook Groups, Dropbox, Google Drive - but it appears a low cost solution that ALL guests can contribute to.
Good luck!

1. Very nicely spotted, and amended - thanks.
2. At the £10 price point for the entire service, I didn't intend to supply presentation boxed discs as it just wouldn't be viable. A disc labelled using one of their images as a background, yes. Good thought though and I'll definitely have to sort this when I have the time
3. Good thinking, but the opposite of what I'm aiming to achieve. The way mine will work, a guest will just download any pictures they appeared in and upload / print or do with them as they please. Also, it's a sad reality that nobody prints pictures!! I used to offer reprints from my photobooth service via customers galleries at the start. Not expensive either.... 20p per print. I did this for 18 months / around 28 bookings, and didn't sell a single print - so I gave up. Since I gave up not one person has asked if they can buy prints.

Thanks again to you all for your thoughts, kind comments and constructive criticisms. You're a fab bunch!!

 

[PeterD]

Hope this is a success. As I said I think its a great idea.

 

[number9]

Regarding DVD discs - I do appreciate what you are saying but there are reasons for DVD suiting this kind of thing. USB can be too easily erased is just the first that I think of. It's aimed at being more of a free bonus that they get a hard copy, although a digital download could be done as well.

I didn't intend to supply presentation boxed discs as it just wouldn't be viable. A disc labelled using one of their images as a background, yes. Good thought though and I'll definitely have to sort this when I have the time

I meant digital download rather than USB, USB is not cost effective anyway.

I'm sure I have plenty of rather nice DVD cases in white that would suit this. I'll get the loft checked out if you're interested

 

[YorkshirePud]

Dads DSRL" should be "Dad's DSLR"

A great idea - hope it goes well.

 

[Gramaisc]

It sounds good to me, not that I get involved in these sorts of things, but I do understand that there's a big, posh wedding coming up - maybe let them have a freebie as a launch effort?

 

[wmrcomputers]

I'm sure I have plenty of rather nice DVD cases in white that would suit this. I'll get the loft checked out if you're interested

I appreciate the kind offer, but already looking into a bulk personalised USB pen deal so I might be going that way instead, despite what I said above. I didn't even consider the fact tablets don't have DVD drives, and a lot of people don't own computers these days.
Once again though, huge thanks for the offer

Dads DSRL" should be "Dad's DSLR"
A great idea - hope it goes well.

Many thanks

It sounds good to me, not that I get involved in these sorts of things, but I do understand that there's a big, posh wedding coming up - maybe let them have a freebie as a launch effort?

 

[number9]

I appreciate the kind offer, but already looking into a bulk personalised USB pen deal so I might be going that way instead, despite what I said above. I didn't even consider the fact tablets don't have DVD drives, and a lot of people don't own computers these days.
Once again though, huge thanks for the offer

just send a link to a media file, you just need to host it. no physical copies needed to buy or send, can be viewed on phones too. USB won't work on tablets for USB sticks unless they have a OTG cable, and phones (which most use for internet now) don't have them. maybe offer a hard copy disc for a quid, useful for the older generation who'd like to see them.

 

[wmrcomputers]

just send a link to a media file, you just need to host it. no physical copies needed to buy or send, can be viewed on phones too. USB won't work on tablets for USB sticks unless they have a OTG cable, and phones (which most use for internet now) don't have them. maybe offer a hard copy disc for a quid, useful for the older generation who'd like to see them.

Good thinking

 

[Cloud Websites Ltd]

.

 

[Mikinton]

Quick question .... does the "happy couple" control the content of their web-page, and if so, how? You wouldn't want images that would embarrass the happy couple by someone being a bit mischievous or worse being loaded.

And if they are able to control the content, could you also offer a batch editing service that would automatically balance colours etc and sharpen edges. They could then choose between the original and the "digitally remastered". Here's one I took at a wedding last year, of the tog setting up the official photographs. The first is the original, and the second is with automatic colour balancing and edge sharpening ..... and cropped (but I guess cropping, though possible, would be a service too far).

 

[Thehooperman]

Quick question .... does the "happy couple" control the content of their web-page, and if so, how? You wouldn't want images that would embarrass the happy couple by someone being a bit mischievous or worse being loaded.

And if they are able to control the content, could you also offer a batch editing service that would automatically balance colours etc and sharpen edges. They could then choose between the original and the "digitally remastered". Here's one I took at a wedding last year, of the tog setting up the official photographs. The first is the original, and the second is with automatic colour balancing and edge sharpening ..... and cropped (but I guess cropping, though possible, would be a service too far).

Wouldn't cropping service be required pending the divorce proceedings several years (or in some cases months later)?

 

[Gramaisc]

Wouldn't cropping service be required pending the divorce proceedings several years (or in some cases months later)?

I had a lodger who lived here for a while, prior to getting married. Peter Rogers did the pictures and, eventually, they appeared in the window display - although, they were divorced by then.

 

[wmrcomputers]

@Cloud Websites Ltd - good points, thank you. Content-wise the idea was to progress it as I gain my own material to use and do so. The price lower down thought though is something that really wouldn't have occurred to me at all - thanks!

@Mikinton - thank you too for putting some great thought into this. I'm honestly now having second thoughts about this whole idea, as the only level of control that I could offer is for them to provide a list of names that are / are not allowed to upload. I was originally thinking that as their guests would need to have been given the page address, it would be a fairly safe process. However, I'm now thinking of what if's such as someone posting a picture of someone kissing someone they shouldn't have been etc. This could certainly become complex! I could set it up in a way that the bride or groom have to authorise pictures to be shown but then is that really a process that a newly married couple have time for?

I'm definitely going to be re-thinking this through!