New 2024 Website Upgrades at DanielVining.com and DanielVining.photos
PENSACOLA, Florida (January 1, 2024) — Hello and Happy New Year! Now that 2023 is in the rearview and we “Focus Forward” into 2024, it’s time to address the user experience at DanielVining.com. I’ve updated the website’s key pages with a new asthetic featuring a renewed branding image. More importantly, I’ve undergone some critical upgrades on the backend that will result in a better experience for everyone that visits and/or downloads photos from DanielVining.photos.
The Problem
Last year, I debuted DanielVining.photos. There, customers can view, purchase, and download photos from the various events I’ve covered. I picked a photography service that provided a ton of great features and overall, I was quite pleased with my choice. However, there was a couple of details that proved near impossible to overcome.
The previous service offered many great design options, and for a photographer looking to create a new website, those options are great. For my situation, however, I already have a website, with the photo site working as a supplementary addition to the current setup. The previous service’s options never allowed me to truly integrate the look and feel of my main website, so it was always very clear that, as a user, you were going between two different places.
The other major issue of the previous service provider came in the way of content delivery. Under the old system, customers would receive a link coupled with a PIN or password. I had control over the passwords, but PIN numbers were randomly generated with each new gallery. Over the course of the long racing season, I had issued multiple links, pins and passwords to clients. If you’re one of my clients, you’ll immediately understand the rather unpleasant experience of going through your text messages to find the link and credentials in and among all of the other correspondence between us. Long term, that is not the kind of experience that is sustainable. Unfortunately, the previous service’s options to remedy this lacked the polish that I felt my customers would be looking for.
So, I began looking for a new way to achieve the experience I was after. It took longer than I expected, and is still far from perfect, but I feel that this upcoming season will be a bit smoother for both myself and more importantly, my clients and customers.
The Fix
Beginning now, clients will have a new experience at DanielVining.photos. Each client will have their own page; one link, and one password. Within that page clients will find all of their galleries available to view and download.
Now, when the race weekend’s photos are made available, you’ll simply go to the same page and enter in the same password as the week before.
This should prove to be a cleaner, more simple experience.
On the design side of things, the new photography service allows me to provide design elements that result in a more cohesive viewing experience between DanielVining.com and DanielVining.photos. While still two websites, and still not perfect, its a huge step forward.
Let’s take a few moments to look a little deeper at what’s new at DanielVining.com and DanielVining.photos.
Public Galleries Return
The Public Galleries page returns and is front and center at DanielVining.photos. The latest available event photos are seen first and over time, I will be implementing metadata and search features that will allow for an even better experience when finding your photos.
Client Galleries Revamped
The core section of DanielVining.photos are the Client Galleries, which now have their own home page at DanielVining.photos/Clients.
On the Client Galleries page, you can find your personal folder, which is password protected. Within that folder is your own page containing all of your galleries.
Simply bookmark the link associated with your folder/page, and reuse the one password each week.
I don’t think I can make it much more simple than that!
New Media Portal
Another key part of the services offered by DanielVining.com comes in the form of providing editorial content to the various media partners I work with each week. News outlets, racetracks, series promotional teams, and other media related partners can now find their content in the new Media Portal.
Following the same concept as the Client Galleries, the Media Portal will contain folders/pages for the various media partners, all password protected.
One of my 2024 goals is to expedite the uploading process to these galleries so that editors and PR reps have faster access to the hi-res files they need post race. This of course, is easier said than done, but nevertheless, is the goal.
Blogging is Back
I know. EVERYONE says this. “I’m going to get back into blogging,” “I’m going to be more consistent.” Okay. I’ll give in and say that I’m going to try to continually add more editorial content to my website in 2024.
Sharing photo stories, thoughts on various topics and my general at-track experiences. There is enough there to more than fill out a year. That said, it’s easy to say right now, when for most of us in the industry, it’s the “slow” time. Once the season really gets going, I know keeping up with the blogging content may prove to be difficult, but again, posting more content and achieving some form of consistency is the goal.
Details
And now, some more details and things to think about as we progress with the revamped website in 2024.
- Watermarks — Users will notice that all images on DanielVining.photos are watermarked. Those watermarks are removed when downloading the hi-res copies of your photos.
- Uploading — As of this post, I’ve uploaded 99% of the 2023 season. The 2022 season, and prior are coming in the next few weeks. The uploading process is the most time intensive part of this upgrade and there really is no way around it. It takes time, and patience.
- Media Portal — The new Media Portal has been built, and uploads are underway, but again, this takes time and patience.
- Passwords — Everyone is getting new passwords for the new version of the website, and I’ll be sending those out very soon. If you’re a current client, I’ll contact you using the method we most often communicate with the new information.
- Invoicing and Payments — With the new photography service comes a change in the invoicing system and payment structure. I am exploring a few options for this and will have details coming soon as to how I will issue invoices and collect payments.
- Patience — As I’ve mentioned several times now, completing the process of upgrading this website takes time and patience. Im only one man, and work a full-time job during the week. So, while I’m expediting this process as much as I can, I thank you all in advance for your patience as the end result is going to be awesome!
- Issues — If you encounter issues while exploring the websites, or trying to purchase or download your content, please reach out so those situations can be resolved as quickly as possible. DanielVining.com/contact.
Still to Come
The new upgrades to DanielVining.com and DanielVining.photos are more than enough for me to stay busy on top of my normal weekly photo editing and distribution, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t continue to look further down the road.
In the coming weeks, look for more pages to be added to the website, such as my 2024 racing schedule, which will be jam-packed!
In the coming months, I plan on beginning an email newsletter and rebuilding/reviving the Derby Download: The Officially Un-Official Home of Snowball Derby Awesomeness.
I also have other more long term content projects in the works to look forward to, centering around my (currently mothballed) Speed Historian brand.
I want to thank each and everyone of you for taking the time to follow along with me on my journey through the motorsports world. Last year was monumental, and with your support, this coming year looks to be epically huge. Thank you and remember to always “Focus Forward.”