10 Tips to Improve your Professional Photography Website
Whether you’re a wedding photographer, nature photographer, portrait photographer, or another type of professional photographer, having a great website is the best way to showcase your portfolio, and it's also the best way to attract new clients and land more work.
But there are a ton of photographers out there, so you need to make sure that you stand out from the crowd. Therefore, in this article, we will go over ten ways that you can take your photography website to the next level, which will result in you generating way more business and earning more money.
1. Ensure that your site is optimized for mobile devices
These days the majority of internet traffic comes from mobile devices, and so when designing your website, you want to make sure that you have a mobile-friendly design. Most modern website-building platforms will feature responsive designs, but if you're building your site manually or coding the old-fashioned way, make sure to include media queries so that your site will display correctly on smartphones and tablets. Remember, if your site doesn't look good on somebody's phone, they will leave and go to one of your competitors.
2. Only showcase your very best work
It can be easy to fall into the trap of uploading every photo you've ever taken to your photography website, but this is a huge mistake. Less is more when it comes to showcasing your work, and so the trick is to only include your very best photos. Ten excellent photos will make a much better impression than having 500 average photos on your site. You never want to give people a reason to doubt you, so feature your very best work, and you'll get the very best results. You can also include photos of your work printed; this will give clients an idea of how their future photos may look printed. Acrylic PRO and Metal Prints MAX are great options when it comes to featuring printed work.
3. Keep things brief but interesting
Another thing to avoid is having lengthy paragraphs on your website. You definitely want to include an about me section that gives a brief overview of who you are as a person, but this should not be an autobiography. People on the internet have short attention spans, and so you want to pique their interest and then encourage them to contact you for more details. If people have more questions for you, then they can ask you on the phone, or even better, during a face-to-face consultation where you'll be able to close the deal and actually make some money.
4. Include testimonials and reviews from past clients
Social proof is the name of the game with any business website. People are often hesitant to part with their money, and so by showing them that others who hired you had a great experience, you can lower their defenses and make them feel good about parting with their hard-earned cash. So, always ask your past clients if they can write a brief review or testimonial for you; in most cases, they'll be more than happy to oblige, then upload those rave reviews to your site so that future clients can see how great you are. For example, check out our Testimonials page.
5. Make sure that you have an SEO optimized blog
You could have the best website in the world, but if nobody ever finds it, then it won't be much use to you. In order to actually make money and generate new business from your site, people need to be able to find out when they search for a photographer on Google, and the best way to ensure you rank highly in search results is by having an SEO optimized blog that includes relevant keywords and valuable content.
Now, that doesn't mean you need to publish a new blog post every day or even every week but try to publish some keyword enhanced content from time to time so that you can generate organic traffic to your site; this will make a huge difference in terms of the amount of traffic you receive, and it’s a numbers game more traffic means more money. Explore our Blog here.
6. Include a couple of videos on your website
Adding videos to your website is a great way to make it look more interesting and professional. Websites that don't have any videos are boring and feel like work to scroll through. So, break up your content with a couple of videos that showcase who you are, what you do, and most importantly, what you can do for your customers. If you don't specialize in making videos, then don't fret; there are plenty of inexpensive online services that can put together a quick video for you that features your photos either as a slideshow or otherwise.
7. Don’t deviate from navigation conventions
One mistake that many photographers make with their website is trying to be too fancy. Your professional photography website should not be trying to reinvent the wheel with some crazy new design that’s never been seen before. When people come to your website, they want to know four things: who you are, what you do, how much you charge, and how to reach you. So, make sure that it's easy for them to find that information. Keep your menu at the top right of the site, which is where it belongs, and avoid overcomplicating things because if people can't find the information they're looking for immediately, they'll just leave.
8. You should have multiple calls to action
The most important aspect of any business website is the call to action or CTA. A call to action is a button that tells people to do something such as "get a free quote" or "contact me." The worst mistake you could ever make with a business website would be to not have a call to action because, without one, you won't make any money. The trick to having a great site is to give people all the information they want and provide them with a CTA; if you only do these two things, then you'll have a great and profitable website.
9. Attach watermarks to all of your photos
Another mistake that many photographers make with their websites is failing to watermark their photos. Sadly, the truth is that there are plenty of people out there who would be happy to steal your work and pass it off as their own, but by watermarking your images, you can deter them from doing this as it takes a ton of time, effort, and skill to be able to remove watermarks from images and in most cases, this simply won't be practical.
Make sure that your watermark isn't obnoxious or subtracting from your photos, as this can subtract from your visitor's experience. Just a small, transparent, tasteful watermark in the lower corner of each photo should be more than enough to do the trick and prevent would-be thieves from passing your work off as their own.
10. Add links to all of your social media
Finally, you need to make sure that you include links to all of your social media on your photography website. As mentioned, social proof is everything in this day and age, and in most cases, people won't hire you if they can't find you online on social media. As a photographer, you should have an Instagram, at the very least, which is a great place to showcase your work and find new business. Check out @ProPrintsLab on Instagram.
That said, the more social media you have, the better you'll do. Being active on a number of different social platforms helps you in a number of different ways. First, it lets you build up a following of interested potential customers. Secondly, it lets you showcase your work and keep a backup of your photos, and finally, it allows you to engage with people and show off your personality and who you are as an individual, which is just as important as the photos you take.
Your social media should always link to your website, and your website should always link to your social media; the two really do go hand in hand and are both equally important when it comes to generating revenue for your photography business online.
Summary
Having a great website is a huge asset for any photographer, and there are a few things you can do to make your website stand out from the crowd. By ensuring your site is optimized for mobile devices, highlights only your best work, includes video elements, features a blog, has a few prominent calls to action, is easy to navigate, and links out to your social media, you can make a website that truly works for you and generates a steady stream of new clients.
At the end of the day, a photography website should be very simple. It should let people see your work, give them a little info about who you are and what you do, and provide them with your contact information. If you can manage to do these things, you'll have a great site that will be an excellent asset for many years to come.
If you’re looking for a few more tips on how to improve your Instagram take a look at our article The Instagram Guide for Professional Photographers