These days, having a strong web presence is extremely important for keeping a successful business. When you make a photography website, it’s likely the first contact potential clients will have with your business, so it should be done the right way. Making sure to cover the following aspects will provide a thorough and presentable site clients will appreciate.
1. Pick a Site Name
Before you even offer information on your website, you should be decided on a website name. The name should be relevant to you or your business, but it should also be something not too far out there. The title of the site, as well as the web address or URL, should be easy to remember for clients with whom you’ve already worked. For clients you hope to attract, your site name and URL should be easy to find in a simple web search. Most visitors will respect you more as a business if the site is hosted on your own domain instead of a standard blog or media-sharing site.
2. Optimize Speed
If your website is slow to load, visitors are much more likely to pass it over for something else. Search engine optimization involves having a speedy site as search engines give lower page rankings to sites that are too slow. To help keep your site running quickly, use a web server optimized for photography sites, and avoid using unnecessary effects on your page. Keep image resolutions within the bounds of what your site can display.
3. Decide on Web Design
The look of your website can sometimes be as important as what it contains. If you don’t have experience or association with someone skilled in this area, you should hire a web designer to make a photography website that is appealing from top to bottom. You want a color scheme that is attractive and fitting for your business while also looking modern and pleasing to the eye. The layout should be easy to navigate through all sections of the site, and the overall theme and feel that the site provides should match well with the style of your business.
4. Tell Your Background
Informing visitors about your background is a good way to open yourself up to those who may be undecided. Provide details about all of the photography experience you’ve had, even that as just a hobbyist or from childhood. Also tell about any training you’ve taken to enhance your skill or gain new ones. You can mention some of the camera or lighting equipment you’ve used for certain environments or conditions, or you can explain why you keep the equipment you currently have. If possible, mention the type of locations or facilities in which you’ve worked to show the types of situations you can handle.
5. Reveal Your Expertise
Your client will only place as much trust in you as you give them reason to. If you’re attempting to attract new clients, they will usually not be familiar with your areas of photographic expertise. Even if your regular clients visit your site, you gain the benefit of informing them of skills they may not have known you had. Be sure to list the types of photography in which you have knowledge or experience such as portraits, babies, parties, weddings, business events, nature, sports or whatever niche you feel is relevant.
6. Provide Your Portfolio
For every photographer, their portfolio is arguably the strongest tool they have at their disposal to attract clients. It provides an accurate example of your abilities and experience as a skilled professional. Anyone can present a resume, but a picture speaks a thousand words, and it speaks even louder for those that create them. Plastic surgeons, contractors, caterers and other professionals provide photographs on their websites to show their capabilities because clients need the security of seeing skills firsthand. Your portfolio should have separate but well-organized classes of photos depending on the range of areas in which you perform.
7. Keep Your Photos Protected
Part of promoting your business also involves keeping it safe. Posting images online makes them available to everyone, including those that want to steal your work to pass as their own or use for commercial purposes. To prevent this from happening, you can disable right-clicking to stop visitors from being able to directly save your images. Even with this method, more knowledgeable visitors may be able to work around it, so you may want to consider watermarking. Embedding watermarks deters people from using your photos for their own businesses and ensures that others will be directed back to your business even if they’re stolen for personal purposes.
8. Give Contact Information
One of the most important pages you can have on your website is that with your contact information. The contact page places all of your most important information in one place, and it’s kept separate from other significant information. This makes it easy to get in touch with you as clients find necessary, and it allows clients to start the booking process on their own without having to wait for you to initiate the process. Make sure to provide multiple avenues through which you may be contacted such as a phone number, email and business address.
9. Use Social Links
In the world of modern technology and communication, sharing information online is essential to maintaining a successful business. When you post updates to your site, make sure to provide links on such pages that allow visitors to share the information. This allows your brand to be seen by many more people and allows your work to be noticed by relevant clients and their associates. You should also maintain social media pages to keep clients informed. Have logo links at the top of your site that allow visitors to easily find your social web pages.
Having an organized or good-looking site doesn’t guarantee that you’ll have clients knocking your door down, but it certainly is a good start. Taking the time to figure out what you want to include is a necessary part in creating a memorable and effective marketing tool.