I was honored to be interviewed on my new friend Leslie’s podcast this week! The content we covered was SO GOOD that I wanted to share it with you guys on my blog as well. We talk about things like how to improve your senior portrait website, the most important thing on your website as a photographer, and so much more!
Whether you are a senior photographer, wedding photographer, or anything in between this episode is FOR YOU! I love working with photographers, and it was super fun exploring the specific things photographers need on their website with Leslie.
Get ready to have a website that sets you up to attract your DREAM clients.
LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE NOW:
Here’s a little excerpt from part of our conversation…
If you had to choose one thing only that is the most important thing for a photographer to have on their website, what would that be?
I always tell people the makings of a great website are DESIGN, WORDS AND IMAGES. You need all 3 to really make it shine! And, hopefully as a photographer, you’re taking care of the images. I’d recommend trusting a designer or template to do the design well. And, then the copy … that’s on you unless you hire a copywriter. Your goal should be to speak TO the potential client in your website copy.
Talk about what they WANT through the lens of what you provide.
A great way to come up with what to say is to look at your testimonials and inquiries. Look at what past clients say you did for them and what people who want to work with you say the reason is. Focus on what the experience is like. Are you really organized and make things hassle free for seniors? Do you have a specific editing style that people really love? Do you help shy seniors feel confident?
Tell what it’s like to work with you and WHY you over someone else.
It’s also great to split text up, so not just super long chunks of text. No one wants to just read a giant paragraph after paragraph of text (especially high schoolers), so break it up to keep it engaging! Speaking with the ideal client in mind is KEY!
One thing I struggle with and I know others do too is how often should I be updating my website and how do I know when it is time to completely overhaul it?
For SEO purposes, you need to be consistently publishing new content and making updates to your site. It’s going to be REALLY HARD for a website to rank that hasn’t been updated in a long time. Google sees it as dead because of no new content. Blogging, podcasting, updating your portfolio, all of those things will help with SEO to get Google and other search engines to know that you ARE updating your site with valuable new content.
So, update often!
When it comes to a complete overhaul, we can certainly outgrow our website’s design. As your business grows, it makes total sense that you can outgrow a design.
I’m actually working with photographer now who I’m doing a custom site for and her reason for hiring me was that her old site aesthetic wasn’t matching up with the clientele she works with now. Her site was actually detracting from bookings because of the colors, fonts, and overall vibe.
So, after about 3 years since the last site, we are redoing it to be the RIGHT VIBE for her ideal client, and I’d expect her to see a huge return on investment in the update.
How to know if it's time to overhaul your website:
- Your website doesn’t match who you want to attract or your level of skills.
- If you don’t know how to update your website. You either need to learn the system or get a new website host/builder.
- If your service types have changed a lot. (For example, maybe you were a wedding photographer, but now a senior photographer.)
- It has been a long time since you got a redesign. I think in most cases every 2 to 4 years you could use an overhaul. Design standards change and your own skills and style change too.
Highlights from this podcast episode:
- My business story and how I got started in website design
- What highschoolers are paying attention to in your photography marketing
- Three important things that make a great website – great design, great copy and great imagery! You need all three to make your site work and grab potential clients attention
- How to write better website copy for your photography business — there are 2 places I like to look to get inspiration
- 5 mistakes you could be making on your website – there are several things you could be doing wrong but if you listen to this episode you will immediately know what these mistakes are and how to fix them
- Leslie’s experience with my EM Shop Showit website templates
Leslie just bought a website template from me this month for her photography business!
I cannot wait to show you guys her website soon when she launches.
If you want some insight from a template buyer who is in the editing process,
you’ll love what she has to say!
Thank you, Leslie Kerrigan for having me as a guest! It was an absolute blast!
I hope you guys enjoy this episode. You can click here to listen on Apple Podcasts, or just use the podcast player in this blog post to tune in!
Tune in now on Apple Podcasts!