Do you know that your photography website can actually be damaging your business?
Image by: Greg Mason
Google tells us that there are almost one million photography websites on the web right now. This is bad news for you.
The good news is that most of these websites suck.
Photographers keep making the same mistakes over and over again, never getting the best out of their websites.
This post will show you what are these deadly mistakes and how you can fix them in order to get ahead of your competition.
1. Your Photos Have Low Quality Or Low Resolution
This one is a killer and also surprisingly common. Some photographers are afraid to upload high quality images to their portfolio because they think it increases the chances of unauthorized usage. Forget about this!
Use only a few of your best quality images and make sure that they’re shown on your website with an height or width of at least 800px. If you’re worried about copyright use a watermark.
Image by: Chris Blakeley
2. You’re Not Saying Where You’re Located
The first thing an interested prospect wants to know when he arrives to your website is almost always: “where’s this guy located?”. The second being how much do you charge.
Don’t just say where you’re located, advertise it! It’s one of the things that makes you different from your competition so show it on every single page of your website. Of course this tip is only useful to businesses that rely on location-based services, like wedding photography.
3. You’re Using Flash
Flash is a technology that allows web developers to create some impressive looking websites but it has a big disadvantage, search engines can’t read text inside a Flash website.
For a search engine, a Flash website is just like a gigantic blank page without any text at all. Text is king in the search engine world and therefore this makes it much harder to rank high on search engines, which is not good for your business.
4. You Don’t Have A Contact Page
Image by: Storebukkebruse
This is one deadly mistake that is more common than you think! You must have a dedicated contact page with at least an e-mail address and a phone number but the more information the better.
Also, try to set up an e-mail contact form because it increases the amount of people contacting you. Make sure you show it on every page!
5. You Don’t Have A Blog
A portfolio-only website is just not enough nowadays. The web is now more dynamic than ever and the photography website with 3 or 4 pages and little text doesn’t stand a chance!
The solution is to create a blog. Blogs are dynamic by nature and give a breath of fresh air to any stale photography website. They’re also great for SEO and people love them.
Image by: Timothy K. Hamilton
Now, don’t use your blog as a portfolio by posting image after image. Use it in a unique and personal way by telling stories, helping other photographers or sharing new ideas. Also make sure your blog and portfolio is under the same domain because it’s better for SEO.
6. Your Website Is Slow
I personally hate this one! A slow loading time is one of the main reasons why people leave a website. Search engines also dislike slow websites, it’s been proved that Google gives lower rankings to slow websites.
The solution is to get a fast and optimized web server for photography websites, avoiding Flash and other fluffy effects. Also, don’t upload super high resolution 10MP images if your website only displays them at 800×600! And remember, use .JPG for photos.
7. Your Portfolio Is Hard To Navigate
Image by: Charlton Clemens
Sometimes it almost feels like I have to re-learn the web with each photography website I visit. I know that all photographers like to have a visually impressive and unique website but please make it usable!
Again, avoid using Flash. Flash usually means a complex site. People like simple! Don’t try to be unique with the navigation or design of your website, be unique with your content.
Now be honest, are you making any of these mistakes? Let me know in the comments.
Peter Almeida is a web designer, treehugger and photography lover that specializes in SEO Photography Websites. You can read more about this in his free e-book, SEO for Photographers.
Some Older Comments