I’m betting the answer from almost everybody is, “Yes!” What’s so bizarre to me is that your galleries represent your most valuable piece of real estate in cyberspace, yet so many of you seem content with mediocrity.
I know I’ve written about this multiple times over the years, but it’s time to do a little more house-cleaning on your websites. Procrastination is NOT a marketing strategy.
- If it’s not your best work, DON’T SHOW IT!
- If it’s an image anybody’s Uncle Harry could have captured…again, DON’T SHOW IT!
- Limit the number of images you share. For most of you, there’s no need to go beyond 8-10 spectacular photographs per gallery/topic. This is all about quality, NOT quantity.
- Set up your galleries and show logical connections to each topic. For example, a wedding photographer who not only photographs weddings and events but has an interest in building tabletop product/commercial work is in trouble if both types of work are on the same website. The target audiences are two utterly different buying groups. An ad agency looking for a commercial shooter will go right by wedding images if they hit those first.
- Keep your galleries diverse in showing different techniques and your skillset.
- Don’t be a filter-junkie! You know if it’s a bad image to start…all the filters in the world won’t necessarily save it. Years ago, I was on a podcast in the Panasonic booth, and we were talking about fine art photography and people who overdid it with filters. My comment? “You can’t buff a turd!” While we all laughed, a few weeks later, somebody sent me the link to a Mythbusters episode on YouTube showing that you can buff a turd!
Don’t know if you want to use this – but it’s a classic…
- Don’t bury your galleries in your website. Your galleries should be the first thing people see when they visit your site. Your About section should be your next tab, and then everything else. Your galleries hook the potential client into wanting to learn more about you.
- Check your load times – don’t let a slow website stall potential business.
Here’s the bottom line – Your home page and galleries are the two most valuable pieces of cyberspace real estate you own! Don’t waste the opportunity for new clients when somebody walks by and looks in the “window!” It’s all about the experience of visiting your business and liking what they see.
