As photographers we tend to think that we know a lot about how to make things beautiful.  And to a large extent that is true. But sometimes that can actually hurt us with photography website design.  Too often photographers want to make a website for their business that is amazingly beautiful and captivating. Like the artwork that they produce with a camera. What they tend to forget is that the website should have one purpose and that is to get new clients. This is often at odds with what the photographer has in mind for their website.

Below are some of the problems that I often see with photographer’s websites.

-          Music.  Have you ever visited a website that immediately started playing a song that you hated and made you scrambling for the mute button on your speakers?  You may think that everyone will love that song you placed on the home page of your website as much as you do but don’t count your business on it.

-          Splash Pages.  Imagine how frustrating it is for your clients to make it to your homepage to find out that they have to click another link just to get the information they are after?  Why make it any harder than it has to be by adding just one more useless step?

-          Flash.  Many photographers love to use flash websites because they can include amazing beautiful transitions and effects.  But do your clients really want to wait 5 to 10 seconds between each photo to see that amazing transition again?  Not to mention that Flash websites are not indexed by Google well if at all. What this means is that if you are using Flash, don’t expect to compete in the search engine rankings.

-          No Call to Action.  Each page of your website should have a call to action for the visitor. Think about what action you want them to take. Do you want them to call you and schedule an appointment?  Do you want them to send you an email? This action should never be more than one click away.  Make it easy for them and you will greatly increase your new client list.

-          No Keyword Optimization.  You should have a list of keywords that you want to rank high for in the search engines. Beyond that, your WebPages should include these keywords in the proper places in order to be indexed by Google and show up in the top of the search engine rankings.

Those are just a few of the more common mistakes that I see when reviewing websites for fellow photographers.  All of these problems can be fixed relatively easily with the right knowledge and training so don’t worry if it seems overwhelming.  My Photography Internet Marketing Course is designed to help those who know nothing about the internet to get an effective website for their photography business built and working for them.  If I can be of any assistance to you in your own photography business endeavors, please let m e know and best wishes to you!

If you love photography and enjoy working with people then a home based photography business may bring you a lifetime of fulfillment and pleasure.  A photography business offers many advantages over traditional employment but can also be a very scary step for most budding photographers.   After all, no matter how good of a photographer you are, it is important to remember that a photography business is more than just taking photographs.  The key word to remember is that it is a BUSINESS.  Which means in order to be successful you have to be much more than just a great photographer. You also have to be a great business person.

One of the advantages of the photography business is the low barrier to entry. By that I mean that if you have a couple thousand dollars to spend on good equipment and have a place to start shooting you can be in business.  This however can also be a big downfall as there will be a lot of competition from others who enjoy photography as much as you do. So how do you get ahead?  Well it starts with being the better business person.  This may surprise you as you probably thought I would say to find a niche, improve your work, be the best photographer, etc.  Well those are good things as well but being a better business person is much more important than being a better photographer.

I know that last paragraph probably turned off most of the people reading this. That is because we all want to make the most stunning, amazing, creative, artistic images possible. Right?  Who want’s to worry about profit and loss, advertising, marketing, etc.  Doesn’t  that just dilute the art?  Well if you are of that mind set then I suggest you pursue a career outside photography that allows you to enjoy your hobby of creating beautiful pictures.  Because if you want a lifelong career in photography it will require much more than just an artistic eye.   It will require a lot of business sense.

So what do I mean by business sense?  Well I have spent a lot of time researching what makes a successful business.  I believe that just a few of the key traits are: Consistency, Personality, and Vision.

Consistency:  When a client comes to you they want to be 100% confident in the product that they will receive. They want to know that the pictures you take will be as wonderful and heartwarming as the ones they received last year. So how do you ensure this?  By #1 being capable with your equipment. And #2, being methodical in your processes. That means you should have a written workflow on how you setup for sessions and how you process them. Your client should know how long the session will be, how  long before they can see proofs, how long before they will get finished prints.  A steady and consistent experience breeds confidence in them of your abilities to deliver EVERY time.

Personality:  This is where you get to shine. Feel free to express yourself. If you are goofy, friendly, silly, let your clients know that. Don’t try to be someone you are not.  You won’t appeal to all people, but the ones you do appeal to will love you for live.  Photography is about personal interaction.  Let them feel connected to you.

Vision:  Have a purpose for your business.  Do you know where you want to be in five years? Do you know how many sessions you want to have this month?  If you don’t, it is time to start your plan. And that begins with a long term vision that is developed into a working plan.  This could be the form of a business plan or it could be as informal as a list of long and short term goals.  Do what works for you. But just do it.

In conclusion, I would like to encourage you in your dreams in starting a home based photography business.   I would like to help you along your way and I wish you much success!

Photography Website Creation Checklist

Congratulations for recognizing the importance of the internet in your marketing plan. As you requested, below is your Step-By-Step Checklist for building an effective, low cost, and efficient website for your business.

This checklist came about through years and years of building websites online. I firmly believe that the best option for marketing today is to use a WordPress foundation for your site. Consequently, this checklist uses WordPress. It offers a clean interface, highly advanced SEO features, and is free. It is hard to beat that!

If you are new to the internet or struggle with the technical aspects, then I encourage you to join my Photography Internet Marketing Schoolhouse for access to complete tutorials and a complete and detailed manual for each of the steps below.

• Before building your site, it is important to first define its purpose. Do you want your website to bring in new clients? Are you going to provide online proofing? Do you want to collect email addresses for a mailing list?Be descriptive on what you are trying to accomplish.
• Next build list of keywords based on your services and location (i.e. “Tucson Wedding Photographer”). Think about what phrases potential clients would use to search on the internet for your services. Be sure to write these keywords down. You will need them when choosing domains and providing content for your site.
• Now register one or more domain names for your business (I recommend Godaddy.com). Register your business name for main site at a minimum. So if your photography business is “Wilson Photography”, try to register “WilsonPhotography.com”. Also I recommend registering additional domains from the keywords in step 2 if they available. These extra domains can be used to enhance search engine rankings through mini-sites.
• You will now need to sign up for a webhost. I recommend using Bluehost.com or Hostgator.com. Both of these have the key factors I look for in a website which include unlimited add-on domains and Simple Scripts or Fantastico installations.
• Now you need to tell your domain registrar where you are going to host your site. You do this by setting the nameservers for your domain on Godaddy or whoever you used to register the domain to the nameservers provided to you by your webhost. If you use the same company for both your domain and webhost then this is usually done automatically.
• Now you need to tell your webhost about the new domain. You do this by adding the domain to your webhost account through the webhost control panel. Again if you registered the domain through your webhost then this is automatic.
• Now write down the categories you will use on your site based on the type of services you offer. (i.e. Babies, Weddings, Seniors, etc.) These categories will be used to organize your blog postings and are important for search engine optimization.
• Now get a blank sheet of paper and define the structure of your site. This can be a simple wire diagram. Include the pages you will include such as the Home page, information pages, galleries, etc.
• Finally it is time to install WordPress on your webhost. If your webhost supports Simple Scripts or Fantastico this is extremely easy!
• Once WordPress is installed, you have a generic basic theme included. But you want something snazzy. So look for a WordPress theme that fits your style. Many are free, but the best of course cost a bit of money. However, they are still much cheaper than hiring your own designer! Here are some of my favorite sources of WordPress themes:
  
  Prophoto2 Blog – Designed specifically for photographers. Very professional appearance. Designed primarily for “blog” sites, but pages can be added for full website.
  
  Studiopress – One of the original premium theme providers. I use the “Streamline” theme throughout this manual.

  Ithemes – Contains a large variety of full-featured themes suitable for business purposes.

  One-theme – I love the features included with this theme! More of a upbeat style.

  Woo Themes – I like the look of these themes, though I personally have not used them.

  WP-Remix – This theme offers a lot of customization and layout options. Not the prettiest out of the box, but I love the ability to change layout easily for pages.Login to WordPress and in the “Settings” area modify the Title, Tagline, Email, Timezone and date as desired.

• Once you have chosen your theme, upload it to WordPress and activate it in the “Appearance” section. It will now be your default theme.
• Login to your WordPress dashboard and edit the following settings:- Under “Users” click the “admin” profile and enter your name, email, website URL as desired. Change the password if needed to something you can remember.- Get an API key from WordPress.com and activate Akismet plugin- Set permalinks in WordPress Dashboard in the “Settings” area to: /%year%/%monthnum%/%category%/%postname%- Delete default blogroll items in “Links” area.- Add categories you wrote down earlier to “Categories” list.- Change logo as desired based on your selected theme

  - Customize widgets as desired

  - Add email subscription widget using Feedburner

  - Set Update Services under “Settings->Writing” link.

• With that done, it is time to start having fun with some very cool plugins. These will add some great functionality to your theme and come highly recommended: Headspace - Important for SEO. Allows you to set post and page meta tags such as titles and descriptions easily. Also includes functionality for Google Analytics.NexGen Gallery – A great gallery for showing off all your cool photos.EZ Backup - No one likes worrying about doing backups. This plugin does it automatically once setup.Fast and Secure Contact Form – Create a contact form so your website visitors can reach you (and schedule sessions).

  Google XML Sitemaps- Creates a Google compliant XML sitemap. Don’t worry what that means. Just do it. It is important!

• Alright those are the basics. You can now go ahead and start creating all those pages that you defined in the site structure. WordPress is easy to use so don’t be afraid! Keep in consideration your keywords for SEO purposes.
• With your site all populated with good content, start spreading the word. The most important factor in Google ranking is the number of inbound links. So start spreading your website URL around the web!

Well, that is my quick Website Creation Checklist. This is the procedure I use when building my websites and is a good flow to follow. If you have any comments or suggestions, be sure to leave them in the comment form below!