photo by ronstik via iStock
Your photography website is one of the most important marketing tools you own. The importance of photography websites cannot be overstated.
Unfortunately, if you aren’t accustomed to building websites, then learning how to create a truly wonderful photography website is a little overwhelming. People get paid thousands and thousands of dollars to build websites and if it’s just you and your free web host, it’s no wonder your photography website looks like it could use a little work.
However, you’re not the only one struggling to create a photography website that will bring in more clients. So, we created a photography website checklist to help out. Each of the items on this checklist are easy to implement so that you can try them out today.
An Easy-to-Find Contact Page
photo by Andres Victorero via iStock
One common problem I see on a ton of websites is that the contact information is put on the very bottom of the home page. I won’t fault you if this is how your photography website is currently set up, because this kind of setup was really popular for the first few decades of the internet. But, it isn’t ideal. You want your clients to be able to contact you as quickly as possible when they want to.
So, you need to make sure that your contact information is readily available the moment someone clicks onto your website. This means that you either need to have your contact information right on your home page or you need to have your contact page right on your home page. Make sure that there is no scrolling involved.
Potential clients should be able to find your phone number and your email address with only 1 click of their mouse.
A Simple Menu
photo by Bill Oxford via iStock
Crowded menus are another problem I see quite often. Your clients likely do not need ten tabs on your menu. In fact, it is recommended that you keep your menu to under five easy-to-navigate tabs.
It is also important to remember that one of those tabs needs to be to take your clients back to your home page, as there is nothing more frustrating than getting stuck in a website because you followed a rabbit hole to a blog and now you can’t get back out.
If your website is decades old and you really want as much information as you have on it, then you can have a second level of menus on your website. But, the first navigation menu that your client sees must have less than five tabs.
Learn More:
- 4 Business Tips for Photographers
- 5 Photography Decisions That Can Make or Break How Your Image Looks
Clean Pages
photo by NicoElNino via iStock
Your photography website is your first impression. Regardless of whether this is fair or not, potential clients are going to judge your capabilities as a photographer off of your capabilities as a web designer. Thank god we are in a creative industry because at least we know what looks good.
For this reason, it is extremely important for your website to look clean. What I mean by this is that it should not be overcrowded. Sometimes, in a bid to fit absolutely all of the information that they want on their website, people will create pages that are overfilled with options.
I’m sure you’ve been on a website like this before. You enter the page and are immediately inundated with multiple pop-up boxes asking for your email. You click out of those pop-up boxes just for there to be more social media widgets you have to click away, and this is all before you even see the homepage of the website.
While you are creating your pages, ask yourself whether every single piece of information you are adding is something your clients would care about. If the answer is no, then get rid of it.
An E-Commerce Page
photo by damircudic via iStock
E-commerce for photographers is a booming industry right now. While people may feel wary to go out and actually purchase a photoshoot for themselves, they still need holiday and birthday presents for their friends and family and nice, professionally-printed photos are so heartfelt.
So, if you don’t have an e-commerce page on your website, you are likely missing out on passive income.
The great thing about e-commerce pages is that it takes a few minutes to set up on your part and then it basically runs itself. You may need to troubleshoot some issues every now and again, but the time it takes you to set up your e-commerce page will pay for itself over and over.
photo by Blue Planet Studio via iStock
ArtBeat Studios features an e-commerce integration that works with many different website platforms that they essentially set up for you.
Once you have your website filled with options your customers can purchase, ArtBeat Studios handles it from there. They print all of your orders and ship them. You don’t need to worry about handling any more of the process.
Unlike other e-commerce websites that require you to still fulfill and ship the orders, the ArtBeat Studios integration ensures that your e-commerce page actually remains passive income so that you can focus on improving other aspects of your business.
If you think you may be interested in setting up an e-commerce integration through ArtBeat Studios, then you can reach out to them at 949-250-4117.