Effective Photographer Websites
In your absence, your website is your greatest advocate. At best, it is the most important tool you have to comprehensively express yourself and your work. It is effectively your brand ambassador and a window into your world.
These days success is more than a matter of your talent. It is also a matter of doing a better job of communicating and presenting it than your competitor.
I encounter many photographers who mistakenly swamp their website with far too much content making it feel more of a dumping ground than a carefully organised and curated arena to show off their best work. Using it as a sort of filing system that works for you may not be attractive or user-friendly to prospective clients and can be confusing and off-putting; your expertise and value can easily get lost.
While many photographers have a comprehensive social media presence on platforms such as Instagram, which undoubtedly provide valuable additional breadth to your practice and approach, a website provides a whole other level of experience, enabling you to carefully position yourself and artfully present your brand. Social media can be thought of as an invaluable tool to market your website.
There are many portfolio templates available specifically aimed at photographers which have been developed with enhanced Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and offer well-considered structural features and smooth functionality. That said, not all are designed equal so it is worth reviewing them in detail so that the one you choose is best for presenting your work and approach. You may also want to consider working closely with a designer to create something a bit different that closely aligns with your philosophy and approach or indeed design your own within a platform such as WordPress. A word of caution here: take care that the design doesn’t overwhelm your content and obscure your essential strengths and uniqueness.
Here are a few thoughts to consider when creating or revamping your website:
These days success is more than a matter of your talent. It is also a matter of doing a better job of communicating and presenting it than your competitor.
I encounter many photographers who mistakenly swamp their website with far too much content making it feel more of a dumping ground than a carefully organised and curated arena to show off their best work. Using it as a sort of filing system that works for you may not be attractive or user-friendly to prospective clients and can be confusing and off-putting; your expertise and value can easily get lost.
While many photographers have a comprehensive social media presence on platforms such as Instagram, which undoubtedly provide valuable additional breadth to your practice and approach, a website provides a whole other level of experience, enabling you to carefully position yourself and artfully present your brand. Social media can be thought of as an invaluable tool to market your website.
There are many portfolio templates available specifically aimed at photographers which have been developed with enhanced Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and offer well-considered structural features and smooth functionality. That said, not all are designed equal so it is worth reviewing them in detail so that the one you choose is best for presenting your work and approach. You may also want to consider working closely with a designer to create something a bit different that closely aligns with your philosophy and approach or indeed design your own within a platform such as WordPress. A word of caution here: take care that the design doesn’t overwhelm your content and obscure your essential strengths and uniqueness.
Here are a few thoughts to consider when creating or revamping your website:
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GRAPHIC IDENTITY : |
- Most professional photographers don’t use a logo but if you do, keep it simple and ensure it reflects the spirit of you and your values and try to avoid the clichés. Many will use a type treatment that has a resonance with their style and brand. Whichever you use, it should appear on all your points of contact with prospective clients (from your website to invoices, email signature and all marketing materials) to build name recognition.
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IMAGE GALLERIES : |
A pivotal question to ask yourself is: what type of work do I want to get hired to shoot? This is the work you need to highlight in your galleries so that potential clients can quickly assess whether their project would suit your approach, style and/or specialty.
- Focus: as you develop your business as a photographer, being a jack-of-all-trades doesn’t work in an intensively competitive arena; you’ll end up being relevant to no one and compete on price alone.
- One to three theme-based image galleries work well where you can showcase your best work with additional ones for motion and commissions if appropriate. Try not to overload these beyond around 25-30 images each and ensure the work is carefully sequenced so that the flow feels effortless and connected. Random images or those which don’t have some relationship with those before and after can be distracting and jarring. A good web gallery will leave the viewer wanting more.
- If you work mostly with stories or projects, a well-edited and sequenced ‘Overview’ can work well, pulling out the strongest shots alongside a section where you show the well-edited and sequenced individual stories themselves.
- Consider keeping the menu options always visible – it can be frustrating when deep within a body of work for them to disappear and for the user to be unclear where they are within the website’s structure or indeed where they might want to explore next.
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JOURNAL/NEWS/BLOG : |
- If you enjoy writing, this can be a great opportunity to give further insight into your approach, ideas or recent jobs using a combination of text and a select number of images.
- Behind the scenes posts can give prospective clients a sense of your professionalism (for example you might want to talk about a large shoot in which you had to juggle a large team) and gauge whether you might be a good fit for their project and what you’re like to work with.
- Try to keep a rhythm – bi-monthly, monthly, quarterly, etc rather than posting randomly.
- Blogging can enhance your SEO.
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ABOUT : |
- Clients will often go to your ‘About’ page moments after they have landed on your site. Keep it short, using language authentic to you and avoid lengthy discussions about your life-long journey to photography. Instead use the precious time someone will be there to explain your areas of expertise, knowledge and approach. This is another opportunity for you to express your brand values and for prospective clients to get a sense of who you are and what you’re like.
- Getting hired is as much about you as it is your work.
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REFRESH AND UPDATE : |
- To help with SEO and to demonstrate to your clients that you are busy and creating new work, refresh your website several times a year weeding out older work and bringing new ideas to the fore.