Making Your Website a Great Experience

I wrote recently about cleaning up your galleries. Well, how about your complete website?

Many years ago, I was in a program sponsored by Marathon with Tim and Beverly Walden. I consider them two of the finest portrait photographers in our industry. They talked about something that’s stuck with me all these years: Your clients aren’t just paying for a stunning family heirloom portrait, but an incredible experience!

Think about that for just a second—The Walden’s comment isn’t just about the portrait sitting but the complete experience, which should include your website, social media presence, direct mail, customer service, conversations, etc. Your success is based on relationship building. You’re not just another retailer!

I know I’ve shared a lot about your website over the years. Here are some of my favorite suggestions to help you fine-tune your online presence.

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• Make your site easy to navigate! Don’t bury important information where people can’t find it. 
• Show things in logical order. Hook your client on your images first, then the “about” section, then information and how to contact you, etc.
• Don’t overload them with images!  You don’t need hundreds of photographs, but you do need to show only your very best work. 
• Be consistent with the look and feel of your site and your blog–even though they serve two different purposes, you still need continuity in the design and feel of both. And for those of you in the portrait/social specialties, your target audience is female, and most of the time, “Mom.” I’ve seen both male and female photographers go overboard with too much of a high-tech look.
• Let your site show your personality.
• Don’t bury clients in policies that might scare them away. For example, your policies on deposits and refunds should be discussed in the contract. They don’t belong on your website.
• Stay away from hard-to-read, artsy-fartsy fonts. 
• Be careful with reverse-type. Reverse-type is fine, but if it’s a page, you hope your client will download and print, then make it black type on a white background. The average client has a $59 printer at best, and trying to print an all-black page with white type is going to leave them with nothing more than a soggy sheet of paper!
• Keep it short where you do have text and proofread everything you put on your site. Plus, read it out loud several times and have a friend or family member check it over as well. Ask them to tell you what you just wrote to make sure it’s being understood. Check out grammarly.com to raise the bar on everything you put in print.
• Be careful what you show in pricing. Not everybody agrees with me on this one – I don’t think photographers should show their prices. I like having a statement like, “Wedding coverage starting at ___________,” or “Portrait sessions starting at ______________,” but just listing your prices doesn’t begin to give you a chance to sell yourself and what makes you the best choice.
• There’s no such thing as too much contact information. Most importantly, give people a phone number and email address. Many of you use email response templates, which are an excellent addition, but they don’t help if you take too long to answer!​

As you review your site, remember that it is about the products and services you sell, while your blog is about what’s in your heart. Having them both show the right appeal and compelling content is what creates two of my favorite original Internet marketing words: “sticky pages.” Your goal is to create a site so sticky that people don’t want to leave and share it with all their friends. Make yourself habit-forming and always exceed expectations.

You know where to find me if I can help you sort through the challenges of making your website a great shopping experience.