In today’s high-tech world, over 20 million people shop on the Internet. As a business owner, it is necessary for you to have a website to represent your wedding photography. The website you create should represent the important aspects of your business, drawing potential clients to you and your services.
By refining your website and only including the information that potential clients want to see, you will eliminate confusion and book more clients. Here are the four most important pages to include on your photography website.
1. Photo Gallery
Your business revolves around creating stunning images for your clients. An image gallery is an asset to your website for your business. Potential clients will see the work you have done in the past to help determine if your photographic style matches what they are looking for.
Journalist Nicole Fallen mentions a University study which states that: “it takes just 2.6 seconds from the time a page loads for a person’s eyes to focus on a specific element on it.”
With this in mind, choose images that will engage the visitor immediately upon arrival to your website, just like Emry Photography’s Emily and Ryan Burhop, San Diego Wedding Photographers, have on their homepage.
2. Bio
On your website, it is important to provide a page that offers specific information about you and your business. Clients want to know who you are and what your business is all about. A way to entice clients is to provide pictures of yourself – this way they see who they are working with. Don’t be afraid to include some fun facts about yourself here – those are sometimes the factors that clients can relate to the most and decide to book you for!
Photographer Jasmine Star writes:
“Studies have shown that humans create trust, firstly, on a visual level. We initially study a person’s eyes, then judge his/her overall demeanor. Because business is largely researched on the web, the best thing a business owner can do is create a peripheral layer of trust in a short amount of time. A photo does this in spades.”
For ShootDotEdit, since we are in the business of providing wedding photographer post processing services, we make sure to clearly communicate specific information right on our homepage!
3. Contact Info
Tammy Barbee, a blogger and teacher, writes about the importance of contact information on a website:
“The Contact Us page is one of the most important pages to have on your website and plays an integral part of a website allowing visitors, the press, bloggers, or even advertisers to get in contact with you. As a business owner, having a Contact Us page connects visitors into potential customers for your business website.”
Providing an easy to locate contact page shows visitors that your business is open to communication and meeting new clients. Be sure to add in relevant contact info, such as your email address and phone number for clients to reach out to you.
4. Pricing
Blogger Brynn Neilson writes:
“Your customer isn’t just looking for a good price, they’re looking for values that are important to them such as guarantee, ongoing friendly service, and affirmations that they are making the right decision to buy from you.”
A basic knowledge of the pricing you offer is helpful to encourage the client’s decisions. While it is not necessary to always include this page, by providing basic pricing list, it will help clients know whether or not you are within their budget.
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Bonus
5 Things Your Website Desperately Needs
Technology is notorious for constantly changing, and with your photography business, it is imperative to be as updated as possible. In today’s world, searching for products and vendors online has become the norm, meaning your photography business website needs to be updated as frequently as technology changes. If you keep your business updated and current, optimizing your business will be a smooth process. Here are five tips to ensure that your website stays up to date.
1. Create an Informative Bio
Your About Me page is one of the most important pages on your website. When potential clients read your About Me page, your content should answer any of their questions regarding you and your services. Photographer Mike Allebach provides some key questions to address in your bio:
- Who are you?
- How can you help me?
- How did you get here?
- Why should clients trust you?
- What do you share in common?
Include stats and reviews from previous clients and past projects as testimonies to promote your wedding photography. Also, a description of your photography style can help your potential clients become more familiar with your work. Remember to be relatable – share fun facts about yourself that potential clients could relate to and make them want to get to know you more. Be sure that your information is up-to-date and update it as frequently as needed. By the time clients finish reading your bio, they should have a good sense of who you are and if you will be a great fit as their wedding photographer.
2. Update to current technology
Technology is going to affect your business one way or another – that’s why keeping your technology as current as possible will help optimize your business. To keep your business up-to-date, avoid outdated technology. Technology such as Flash Video Player is not available on all platforms like it was five years ago. If you do use Flash on your website, you run the risk that not everyone who views your website will have the ability to see everything, and this may result in losing a potential client. Only use technology that is available on all platforms to ensure that as many people as possible can view your site.
Remember, wedding photography is a competitive market, meaning that brides have several choices when it comes to who they want to book as their wedding photographer. You want to keep everything as updated and simple as possible, because something as simple as having a website that is not using current technology may be enough to have the bride move from your website to another photographer’s.
3. Go mobile
Today, 42% of people in the U.S. own a smartphone, and 29% own a tablet. This gives your business the perfect opportunity for additional and fast exposure if you make it easily accessible on mobile devices. With the ease of accessing the Web on smartphones, it is important to consider that potential clients may only conduct searches through their phones.
Using the power of smartphones to optimize your business is one of the best ways to stay in the loop of updated technology. The average American spends 2.7 hours a day on the Web through their mobile device, so there is a good possibility that potential clients are viewing your site through their phones. If your website is not mobile friendly, there is a chance clients will not have the opportunity to learn about you and your business. Take the extra step to ensure your business is just as fully navigational on smartphones as it is on laptops and computers.
4. Blog more frequently
Blogging is another fast way to promote your business and stay current. When there is frequent blogging on your page, people anticipate the new and frequent content. This also increases your SEO and helps you rise to the top of Google searches.
One of the best platforms for blogging is WordPress, with more than 22% of all web pages using it as their platform. There is no HTML Editing or FTP software needed to manage your blog, which is one of the reasons why WordPress is efficient, easy, and free to use. You will have complete control and designing your website is 100% customizable. WordPress is also browser-based, so you can manage your blog and business from any computer.
Also, WordPress is immensely scalable, allowing you to have over thousands of blogs and pages without compromising the performance of your website. Thus, as your blog as frequently as possible, your site will grow as your business does. More importantly, obtaining a WordPress blogging platform is absolutely free.
Quick Tip
Don’t forget to share your images! Once you receive them back from your wedding photography editing service, share them on your blog and your website to attract ideal clients.
5. Rank higher using SEO
It is crucial to rank at the top on search engines such as Google or Bing, and this can be accomplished through search engine optimization or SEO. When people are looking for your site, 74% of all searches on the Internet are used with Google, while 33% are done through Bing. Imagine if 74% of all searches related to wedding photography targeted YOUR site? The more people who search and click through to your site, the higher your ratings go. Commit to sharing your website on social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook to help your rankings rise.
Commit to having a frequently updated website, and you will drive traffic to your website and gain new clients.
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Including clear and concise information within these four pages will make it simple for clients to get a good understanding of who you are and what you offer. For additional tips and tricks to help you reach out to your clients, click on the banner below to download our Guide to Marketing for Wedding Photographers!
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