by Jerry Roek
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In working with several photographers over the past year on the design and development of their web sites, I have discovered some “dos” or “do not dos” for photography web sites. I thought I would write an article for the wonderful shuttermom community on this topic.
I have asked two similar questions to a variety of photographers that photograph everything from portraits to weddings to events to sports to commercial work. I have received the same answers over and over.
1.What features do your current clients look for in your photography web site ?
Answer : “The ability to locate and order pictures easily”
2. What features do your future clients look for in your photography web site ?
Answer : “The ability to view sample work (aka – portfolios) and contact the photographer for more information (availability, prices, etc)”
Given these consistent answers, here is a list of some successful “to dos” for your photography web site :
Do: Make navigation throughout the web site consistent and easy. Make sure your navigation bar – whether a ‘top navigation bar’ or ‘left navigation bar’ is on every single page.
Do: Enable your visitors to get to galleries with a simple One or two clicks to the clients galleries. I came across a photographer web site that had five clicks to a gallery and it was for an event (play). Do you think potential customers gave up searching after the third click ? I would certainly say so.
Do: If you password protect the gallery, make sure the password is easy to remember for those who know it. Example – I attended a wedding in the spring as a guest. The password was the wedding date (ok) AND some birth date of someone in the bridal party (not ok – I can even remember my birth year sometimes!). Thus, a “DO NOT”. I am photographing a wedding in February and the bride and groom are moving out of state. Ok, simple enough – the password is where they are move too – everyone that is close family and friend knows it.
Do : Consistent look and feel – colors and fonts that are easy to read. Fonts that are ‘block letters’ such as Tahoma, Arial, Century Gothic are easy to read and are on every browser. Remember not all of the fonts you have everyone else has. There is a consistent 15 fonts on every browser no matter what the operating system – Windows or Mac – or the browser – IE, Firefox, Netscape, etc – stick with them…
Do : Be every detailed on ‘how to’ order pictures. I recently set up a gallery for a sporting event. A parent approached me on ‘how to’ order pictures. Unfortunately, she did not realize the shopping cart in the upper right corner. Hence, I authored some instructions quickly and placed them on-line – problem solved!
Do : Contact page. Make sure present and future know how to get in contact with you via e-mail (for sure) and perhaps telephone. A map to your studio is optional – more on external links later.
Do or Do Not: Show price lists. I have heard some many arguments on this one. “I want customers to see my prices but not my competitors” etc, etc. Bottomline – whether or not you do show a price list, keep it simple and updated. I always favored the photographers that show the prices of services such as weddings or portraits (sitting fee) rather than the prints themselves due to the fact that print prices can change based upon the amount ordered, etc.
Do: Pictures! Pictures! Pictures! Show a lot of pictures on your portfolio galleries, slideshows, etc, etc. The more pictures of work your ‘future customers’ see, the better. Of course, work out any legal agreements to pictures in your portfolio galleries, slideshows, etc. Make sure the pictures are a reflections of the services you provide. If you provide portraits of families and seniors as well as weddings, mix it up! The galleries and slideshows I like go along with the theme of the web site (the fonts are pink and there is a lot of pictures with pink colorized). Also, someone told me that “the pictures in the slideshows/portfolios are given purchases by the customer”. Every page on your web site should have pictures. DO NOT have the pictures of the same person/subject – boring!
Do: Be Prepared! That is, if you recently taken pictures of a wedding and are going to place the wedding pictures in galleries on your web site, make sure your web site is updated! Have the ‘latest and greatest’ pictures in your portfolio / slideshow. The visitors can become ‘future customers’. I spoke with a photographer the other day that indicated she wants to be ‘prepared’ for December/January since a lot of couples get engaged around the holiday season and will be looking for portraits and wedding photographers – smart move…
Do: If you develop your own web site or have control over changes to your web site, great! If you rely on the developer/design that created your web site for changes, have a clear understanding cost and turn-around-time. I had friend who purchased a photographers web site for $1200. A couple of months later, he wanted a simple change – a link a PDF file containing prices. He was quoted a price of $250! He had no idea that it would cost that much since he never inquired when he was shopping around. If you have someone else develop your web site, make sure you have control over your domain name. Again, a friend had a web site develop a few years ago. He wanted to have the domain name redirected to his ‘new site’. Since he did not buy the domain name and the web developer did it for him, he was charged $2000 to have the domain name signed off to him – a huge and costly DO NOT!
Do: If you belong to communities, like shuttermom, make sure there is a link on your web site to it. Great way to drive traffic – both to and from – your web site. Make sure your forum postings have your web site somewhere in it as well. Hey – free advisement – why not!
Do: If you have links on your web site to other web sites, make sure you open up a new browser window. DO NOT take visitors away from your web site – always keep your web site in a browser window.
Do: If your web site permits you, have as many keywords as you can think of. Keep in simple as well – I have visitors from other countries finding my web site using the keyword ‘football’. Cool stuff – an Example key words/phrases include ‘portrait photography in Michigan ’.
Do: Test your web site in its entirely. Make sure all links work correctly and it flows well. I came across a photographers web site where the navigation changed on every single page and I could not figure out how to get back to the initial page (yep, a DO NOT as mentioned above).
Do: Display announcements, events and specials you are having on your web site. Keeps the customers coming back to the site. If you have a blog web site, of course, link to it and from it. One photographer I knows has a ‘photo of the day’ – keeps her portfolio galleries ‘up to date’ .
I hope this is helpful information – questions? Please feel free to ask. Enjoy !
http://www.jrphotosandwebdesign.com
A little about me….
I have been doing systems design/development and technical team leadership for several years. A friend told that I am good at web design and enjoy digital photography, why not design and development photographer web sites – take something you enjoy doing and make it a part-time career. I have been creating small business and photographer web sites for about a year part-time and love it! You can see my site at http://www.jrphotosandwebdesign.com as well as photographer web site portfolio (http://jrphotos.smugmug.com/gallery/1448761). Brigid Kleber has design several graphics/logos/banners for clients and she is wonderful. Her work can be viewed at http://www.jrphotosandwebdesign.com/gallery/1442695