photofolio Photography Articles

7 Mistakes Photographers Make When Setting Up a Portfolio Website

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It's no secret that if you want to succeed in the photography business these days, you need a killer website. You need an online presence that not only presents your work to the public brilliantly, but also reflects your personal style and immediately engages your visitors. It also needs to encourage them to buy your works or services, since that's the reason for having an online portfolio in the first place. Unfortunately, many of the photographer's sites we see fall short, due to some common mistakes. This article will point out some of those errors and show you how to correct them.

Designing it Yourself
Now, I know some readers are going to take offense to that right away. After all, you're a photographer and you know all about composition and layout and color and... Granted, but that doesn't make you a website designer. Stick to what you know and leave the highly technical work of website design the the experts.

Limiting Your Content

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I'm not saying you should put everything you have out there. The concept of only showing your best work applies, always. But choosing a host that caps the number of galleries or videos or pages you can have on your site is a mistake that's going to cause you a lot of frustration as your portfolio grows – and it needsto grow.

Fixed Sizes

Yes, you want your photos to look good on a laptop screen, but for those visitors that have the capability, your photos – and the portfolio pages, too - should resize automatically to fit, without loss of quality. It's possible now with updated web technologies and you need to be taking advantage of that to impress your viewers with big, bold, sharp photos and a site that fits the viewing screen.

Poor Navigation

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Developers have been telling their customers since the early days of the Internet that navigation is everything. If visitors can't get to point B from anywherewithin your site, they're going to leave. The browser's “Back” button isn't the answer. Make sure your site is easy to navigate from one end to the other and at every step along the way.


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Slow Delivery

It doesn't matter how good your work or how dynamic your site, if it takes too long to load, online visitors won't wait for it. If your website isn't streaming to browsers smoothly and quickly, or your videos pause and reload constantly, you need to update the technology or find somewhere else to host the site.

Using the Same, Old Theme as the Other Guy/Gal

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Again, your site needs to be as unique as your work. You don't copy someone else when you shoot, right? Don't just choose a template or theme and run with it. Change things up. Move things around, Choose your own colors and fonts. Create new landing pages. Get your logo out there. Remember, this portfolio is about YOU.

No Sales or Licensing Outlet

Sure, showing your work is important, but isn't selling it the real point? Visitors should be able to purchase or license your work without any interaction needed other than a few clicks. If they can't you're losing sales and wasting your efforts.

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This is far from a complete list of mistakes we see on portfolio sites, but these are the most common. You may have gathered from the text above that where you decide to build your online portfolio can have a lot of impact on its success. Here at PhotographyTalk, we understand that there are a lot of websites and hosting services out there and we've done some serious legwork for you, with the help of our member photographers.

We highly recommend the portfolio sites and servers offered by PhotoFolio. Their hardware-accelerated, cloud-based, technology-rich servers, award-winning, fully customizable design templates, true WYSIWYG management interface give you everything you need to create a clean, fast, custom portfolio in no time. They provide sales and licensing services for your work, too. Their customer service is second to none and you can even customize your payment plan. Don't take our word for it, though – go visit their website right now to see for yourself.



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How to Build a Highly Effective Photography Website

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If you’re a budding photographer, one of the most critical tools you need is a gorgeous website to show off your work. More than ever before, people searching for products or services do so online, so the importance of having a solid web presence has never been greater.

Building a high-quality photography website has never been easier, assuming you have the right tools. But even with the right website building software, there are a number of critical steps you need to take to maximize your website’s effectiveness.

Use the Right Platform

If you search “photography website builder” online, you’ll find that there are dozens and dozens of companies that offer a variety of services for photographers. Some provide free templates that you can moderately customize for a website that looks okay, though looks like every other website out there at the same time. Other website building platforms are incredibly complex and require you to have an understanding of writing code. Still other photography website platforms are expensive, at least for most everyday photographers that don’t have thousands of dollars to spend on their website.

That’s why we recommend Photofolio as the go-to photography website platform. Not only was it designed by photographers for photographers, but it was also designed such that you don’t need a degree in website design to build yourself a stunning website. Photofolio makes use of large format photos, so when people view your site their screen is filled with your images regardless of the size of the device on which they view it. You can build a portfolio, create password-protected collections for clients, and customize virtually every aspect of the site from your logo to the fonts to the sizing and positioning of elements on the page.

Even better, Photofolio won’t cost you an arm and a leg. They have several plans, each with different levels of features, and all of which are friendly to your pocketbook. If you’re looking for a place to build yourself a gorgeous website and do so easily and without taking out a second mortgage to pay for it, Photofolio is it!

Keep It Simple

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One of the rules of thumb for photography is to keep the composition simple - have a clear subject with supporting elements that help the viewer more deeply engage with that subject. Avoid clutter, lest the viewer get confused about what to look at in the image.

The same guidelines apply to creating a photography website. The subject - your images - should take center stage. Even if you have a ton of images, keep the site simple with excellent organization. Make it easy to navigate around the site. Help viewers get the information they seek by making things like your contact information or your rates easy to find and see on the page. Keep graphics simple and minimal - choose a plain background like pure white or black, such that your images appear to leap off the screen. Remember, the point of your website is to hook potential clients. You can’t do that if your site is messy and cluttered!


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Make It Easy to Contact You

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Generating leads is a critical aspect of building your business, so naturally you need to give potential clients every opportunity to get in touch with you as they peruse your website.

The easiest way to do this is to have a well-designed and easily accessible contact page. Taking a cue from the tip above, keep your contact page clean and simple so it’s clear exactly what information visitors need to input to contact you. Even more important, make the contact page highly accessible. Include a link to your contact page on every page on the website. You can put it in the navigation bar at the top, in the footer at the bottom, or both. Also think about having your phone number or email address appear next to your logo or in the header or footer of the site as well. Accessibility is the key to drawing in more business.

Show Them (and Tell Them) Who You Are

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Your photos will say a lot to potential clients about who you are as a photographer. As noted above, having a gorgeous website from Photofolio that has large format images will help viewers get the visual information they need to help determine if you’re the right person for the job.

But beyond that, potential clients derive clues about you as a photographer from the things you write on your website. This isn’t limited to your about page or blog, either - even the boring details of pricing or photo packages can influence the manner in which customers perceive your work.

As a result, the copy on your website should ooze your personality. There should be no doubt about who you are and the type of work you do once someone reads what you have to say. Keep things conversational and warm - even if the topic doesn’t much lend itself to warmth (like the pricing information). Give viewers an idea of who you are by offering personal touches in your writing, be that an anecdote that describes your photography workflow, a favorite quote, or a story about a past client.

The point is that starting off with an excellent platform like Photofolio, keeping things simple, and making it easy for potential clients to contact you is a great start. What will really help you build an effective website is taking things just one step further and ensuring that the images you put on your site and the words you write give clients the clues they need to understand who you are as a photographer. If you can do these things, you should have a highly effective website that helps you draw in client after client!



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Photography Success Guide: Four Simple Tips to Help You Carve Out a Name for Yourself

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You’ve probably noticed that the marketplace is flooded with photographers. Where a photographer might have one or two colleagues to compete with a decade or two ago, today it’s more like half a dozen - or more - vying for a limited number of gigs in the area.

It can be disheartening, for sure, having such stiff competition, especially when you’re just starting out. But building a business is all about perseverance. It’s also about making smart decisions that further your success.

If you’re struggling to carve out a name for yourself, you’ll need to think strategically about how you’re going to convince potential clients to hire you instead of another photographer. With that in mind, consider these quick and easy tips to help you get started off on the right foot.

Invest in Yourself

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Unfortunately, a lot of beginning photographers think that if they spend their money on the biggest, best camera, lenses, and other accessories, that they will somehow magically become a photographer. But it doesn’t matter how expensive your gear is if you don’t have the chops to actually understand how to use it.

Where your biggest investment needs to be is in yourself. Pursue opportunities that allow you to learn about your craft and grow as a photographer. Whether that’s taking a photography class at a local college, participating in a photography workshop offered by a seasoned pro, attending trade shows, or simply reading articles like this, it’s imperative that you constantly sharpen that blade. It’s all about the skills and the knowledge you have, not the pricetag of your camera!

Have the Right Tools for the Job

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While skills and knowledge are vital, it’s still necessary to have the right tools for the job. After all, you can’t very well be a wedding photographer if all you have is your smartphone.

But having the right tools for the job still doesn’t require that you buy the most expensive gear you can find, nor does it mean you buy a bunch of stuff that you don’t actually need (like the ukelele shown in the image above!). In fact, you can often find quality used equipment online or at your local camera store for a steep discount.

When thinking about the gear you need, you’ll need to examine what sort of photographer you envision yourself to be. If you like to photograph landscapes, you aren’t going to need a studio lighting kit. Conversely, if you prefer to create portraits, a full studio setup with backgrounds and lighting might be needed. The key here is to do your due diligence, research what photographers in your niche have in their kits, and then begin creating a list of must-haves and like-to-haves so you can get the essentials first, then as your budget allows, fill in with the accessories you want.


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Dress the Part

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This is another one of those “it depends” categories. Just like the gear you need to do your job well depends on the type of photography you pursue, dressing the part will also depend on the direction you go. If you’re a wedding photographer, naturally you’ll need to invest in some nice dress clothes that will meet the dress code of the events you photograph. Of course, if you want to be a wildlife photographer, you’ll need to trade in your suit or dress for some hiking boots and comfortable jeans. Again, do your due diligence and see what photographers in your niche recommend in terms of how to best dress for the occasion.

Have a Website That Shines

Website builders are a dime a dozen these days, with a seemingly endless array of companies that proclaim to be the “best” or “easiest” way to get your website up and running fast. The problem with some of these companies is that their websites don’t look that great, are actually pretty difficult to create, and aren’t geared specifically towards creative professionals like you.

That is, except for Photofolio.

Photofolio was built with creative professionals in mind. Their what-you-see-is-what-you-get design interface is simple to understand and easy to use, even for novices. And though it’s easy to use, it’s a powerful design tool that has garnered dozens of awards over the years. In short, you’ll have a website in no time and within a very reasonable budget, but it will look like a site that took a lot of time and money to create.

What’s more, Photofolio is a cloud-based service, so you don’t have to worry about your website getting bogged down - it will load quickly so potential clients can see your incredible images without waiting around staring at the spinning wheel as your site loads. With huge photos, unlimited content, and the ability to customize just about every aspect of the site template, Photofolio is easily our top pick for creating a stunning website for your business.

Remember, you need to look the part. Photofolio will give you that professional online presence you need to get clients to pick up the phone and book a session with you!



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