1. Keep it clean
Not every inch of your website should to be filled with photos, text or background images. Minimalist websites are popular right now because of their clean look and emphasis on the photos themselves. Stick to design layouts that offer white space as it helps your images stand out and better tell the story of who you are as a photographer. You have less than half of a second – yes, half of a second! – to make your first online impression and you want it to be one of thoughtful composition and gorgeous imagery. Display your best work, with ample white space and clean fonts for a visually appealing website.
2. Keep it simple
Steer clear of overly flowery words or redundant phrases. We all want to have great SEO so that people can find us, but using the same keywords over and over, in an unnatural way, confuses your viewers and makes them more likely to click off of your site. “Minneapolis Family Photography” is much easier to read and digest on a homepage tagline than, “Rebeccah Parks Photography photographs families, newborn and maternity clients in her Minneapolis, MN studio and also on-location throughout Minneapolis, MN.”
3. Be clear
Consider how someone who might not be very familiar with the current photography industry would interact with your site. As much as we want to infuse a sense of value and worth into our offerings, doing things such as calling your pricing page “Investment” – instead of a much more widely understood “Pricing” – might actually deter clients. When in doubt, use plain language and simple sentences for a best first impression.
4. Keep it concise
I photograph families, children, newborns and maternity clients, so I put those categories front and center on my home page. You don’t want to confuse viewers on what your target market is or what kind of images they can expect to get with you. If you shoot newborns, put your best newborn work on your homepage; if you shoot weddings, put wedding images on your main image. You can always fill your blog – which should be separate from your static homepage – with posts from all of the varied sessions you might take on, but for your first impression you want to be concise about what you specialize in. Be a master of one to three types of work, and do them well, instead of trying to be the best family-child-senior-boudoir-lifestyle-wedding-newborn-toddler-maternity-documentary-fine art photographer around. You will seem indecisive by trying to cram your homepage with too much; be focused and purposeful in your offerings and display that work proudly on your website.
I have just start a mini blog on tumblr, I will try all of your methods. I see it is very helpful, thank you for spending time to write this awesome guide
I don’t have a photo website yet but I plan to have one eventually. Saving this post for when I finally get to making it 🙂
Such good advice!