Whether you’re an up-and-coming photographer or just a casual one, you may have considered setting up a website that showcases your work at one point in your life. If you’re wondering where and how to get things started, here are five tips you need to remember when setting up your website.
1. What You Need To Build a Photography Business?
Setting up your website as a hub for your photography business carries almost the same principles as establishing an actual brick-and-mortar store. First, you need to come up with a marketing plan. This plan should include information about the following:
- A unique selling proposition (USP)
- Know your target market
- Establish your Ideal client
Your unique selling proposition or USP should establish your specialty, what makes you stand out from the competition, and what makes you different. For your target market, you need to specify the sector or group of people you want to target. Be sure to get details like their age, gender, and demographic. Understanding them will make it easier for you to market your business to them. Finally, establish your ideal client. By creating one, you can fine-tune the people you want to target making it easier for you to get clients and connect with them.
Aside from a sound marketing plan, make sure you invest in high-quality photography equipment. Since you’ll be using your website to market your service, you need to be able to deliver the best images possible to entice your target audience to hire you. Equipment includes having a set of good cameras, lenses, lighting, tripods, and filters just to name a few.
Lastly, be sure to secure the necessary business permits. This will ensure that everything you do is legal. After all, the last thing you want is for your business to get shut down because you lacked the necessary permits.
2. Maintain A Set Of Cohesive Galleries
Since your photographs will take center stage once your website is up, one of the main things you need to focus on is your gallery section. Being your bread and butter, make it a point to put only the best images from your collection. Gather the photographs that best showcase your knack for image composition and if possible, try to put a description for each one. This will give your audience an idea of what you were thinking of or what you were trying to achieve when you were taking the photo.
Another thing you should consider is the categorization of your images. One of the things that can irk visitors is a gallery section that showcases a mish-mash of images. A chaotic layout can make it difficult for them to go through your images and will ultimately turn them away from your site. So make it a point to organize your gallery by albums to make it easier for your visitors to search for what they’re looking for, be it a particular image or category.
Finally, be sure to use high-resolution images. Even though the file size may end up being too big than the standard web format, it will allow your visitors to see the finer details of your images.
3. Have A Well-Written Bio (or Bio Video)
If you’re able to provide high-quality photographs, people would want to get to know the person behind these images. So don’t settle for just putting your name and address on your website’s “About” section. Try to come up with a more detailed description about yourself like what inspired you to dabble into photography or things that you look for when you taking photos. While it may come off as too long for some, the fact that you’re opening yourself will be appreciated by your audience since it will come off that you’re willing to establish a connection with them. It’s that connection that will keep them coming back to you for more.
4. Your Contact Info - Be Sure They’re Clear and Up To Date
The moment your audience start to appreciate your work and have gotten to know you a bit more, the next step would be for them to get in touch with you. This is why keeping your contact information updated and easy to read is a must. If you end up leaving a contact number that’s incorrect or an email address that you’ve decided not to use anymore, people won’t be able to get in touch with you. Worse, you run the risk of turning away a potential client.
In your Contact page, make sure that you put all necessary information such as your landline, mobile number, e-mail address, and even your fax number if you have any. The more ways people can contact you, the better it will be for you to get feedback about your images.
5. Leave room for content for SEO purposes
Even though the highlight of your website are your images, don’t limit it to just that. With SEO (Search Engine Optimization) being one of the top methods of increasing online exposure, you may want to consider adding a blog to your website which you can use for SEO purposes.
Since SEO relies on fresh content sprinkled with the right set of keywords, you can use this blog to increase your visibility online. Should you find the idea of having to update a blog regularly to taxing, you could consider optimizing the content found in your website’s pages such as your Home, Gallery, Contact, or About section. Adding keyword, meta tags, or meta descriptions to these pages can greatly improve your website’s ranking and increase your chances of reaching a wider audience.
