My new website... there is so much to do!

Recently, I have asked a few of my Google+ friends to visit my blog & website to do a critic. I've explained to them that the blog is meant to be a way for me to share my personal thoughts and reflections, whereas my intention for the website is to turn it into a "dollar-making" site in the future (I feel that it is at least a year before I am ready to advertise and showcase it). There are some tweaks that I still want to make to both the blog and website. What I felt was missing from theHumanCamera.com is the depth of content (or coverage of photography-related topics) - right now theHumanCamera.com is still a very "shallow" site that does not have enough interesting stuff or article to make people come back for another visit. 

The critics I have received were very balanced and useful. The most common comments I have received are: 

(a) Interesting and relevant content - It’s natural to want a website to be well designed and professional looking. However, it’s far more important that valuable content that promote the site effectively. some folks suggested that I do some product or software reviews. It's a good idea which, I intend to... but it is not easy to write up a product or software review. Apart from the monetary outlay, it takes a lot of time and energy to put together a review that is both useful and relevant.  In addition, I am cognizant that it is useless doing just one or two reviews... to get a critical crowd, you'll need to keep writing, or look for new perspective that is not already covered in other websites. To keep a steady flow of new reviews would certainly be challenging for someone who only do photography on weekends. 

(b) Navigation and layout of my website - Ok, I anticipated this comment. While this would be an easy fix for someone who is well versed in CCS, Java and HTML... for a complete newbie like me, to even add a simple Navbar can be a grueling experience. I have something in mind and it will take a few weekends to complete. I need my homepage to be clear about what’s on my site, where to find it (clear links and easy to navigate), how to contact me; and appeal - why they should explore further or even return. Step one is to create a seamless look between my blog and my website - this is an area that I am still working on. I think I am about 80% there... just need to put in a few more hours of website development time. 

(b) Lack of a central theme to the website - this is so true! I think this is a result of me being a new photographer who is still experimenting with the many forms of photography. Ultimately, I think I am a travel and landscape photographer at heart and I think that this will be the direction which I am heading. Even then, those are big areas to explore and I don't feel that after just over one year of photography I have found my niche yet... I guess I'll have to take my time with this area as this is an area that I am still developing.

Hopefully, when I look at my site 365 days later... things would have improved. Fingers crossed.