I recently submitted a survey to the over 900 members of Brand-ography.com regarding their photography business website. There were some very interesting results.  Below is a sampling of the answers I received…

What type of website do you have for your business?

30% = I have a Flash Website and a separate WordPress Blog
28% = I have a fancy Flash Website
16% = My Website is made with WordPress
10% = My Website is made from HTML Website
10% = I have a Website, but I don’t know how it is made!
4% = I have a HTML Website and a separate WordPress Blog
2% = Website? I don’t have a website!

It is interesting that the majority of the photographers I polled had either a flash website or a wordpress blog in conjunction with a flash website. I understand the attraction with a flash website as they are usually quite visually beautiful, however there are sever limitations as we shall see later…

Who created your website?

72% = I did it myself
21% = I hired a professional
5% = A family member or friend made it for me

No big surprise here, the majority of photographers created their website themselves. This seems to be a growing trend as the tools are easier to use and the cost of a professional web designer increases.

Are you satisfied with your website?

41% = It is just okay
33% = Yes I am completely satisfied
25% = No it needs an overhaul

The majority of photographers felt their site was ‘just okay’ or needed an overhaul.  Only 1/3 of those polled were completely satisfied with their website.  Even more interesting are the comments received when asked what they would change about their website.  Below are the responses…

What would you like to change about your website? (expense, time, results, etc)

• My wordpress needs some help looking more professional
• Just updated it and it will be going live within 2 weeks
• My wordpess needs some help looking more professional
• Copywriting
• Results and more engaging
• Needs to be updated
• Easier to update , etc…
• I would like to move away from flash and go with a CMS site where everything is neatly in one place.
• I need to add a proofing section but they are soooooooooooooooooo expensive!
• Client viewing area and testimonial page
• Nothing, I just wish I had the time to update it as much as I’d like.
• I need a cheap, easy to manage site that looks like a million bucks!
• Look more professional.
• I would like to customize it a bit more and make it look less like a blog… but would still like to include a blog. I also would like to learn to make it more effective!
• Results
• I would like to integrate a self hosted shopping cart that I can control the product offering (prints, gift certificate redemption, promos).
• Copywriting
• More flash, easier simple navigation. One that works on all browsers.
• Able to get it pinged on search engines.
• Better SEO for the flash part
• More interaction
• More traffic
• Increase the number of visitors, increase the conversion rate
• Colours, look, content
• I am not sure! But I haven’t improved due to $.
• Just created it but will be looking for a more professional option
• I am not completely satisfied but I don’t need a complete overhaul
• I like it but want more flexibility and options for layout and content
• A comprehensive CMS so I don’t have to do everything with XML, a bit less flash so it has better SEO.
• Actually I just personalized my smugmug site a little and that is all I have.
• Results
• Mix Flash with HTML
• Need to hire to set a website up for me personally
• The client galleries, the speed at which it loads

I found it interesting that there were many repeated themes in the comments to include : Getting results, more traffic, increasing conversions, more professional appearance.

I found it interesting that there were many repeated themes in the comments to include : Getting results, more traffic, increasing conversions, more professional appearance.

Based on this survey, it is apparent that the majority of photographers want a professional appearing website that gets results!

If you are looking for help in setting up your photography website, be sure to join Photowebsitetutorials.com and get a free website building checklist.  Click here to join.

If you are a professional photographer with a staff of one person, it can be quite overwhelming to handle all of the marketing tasks in addition to your photography work.  More often than not, this leads to no marketing happening at all.  One solution to this problem is to purchase photography marketing templates rather than attempt to make them yourself.  It is too easy to believe that just because you have Photoshop you have to do all of your design materials. This is not true. There is a wealth of marketing materials out there that are available for use.  Some of it is even available for free.

If you are a baby photographer, then I highly suggest that you look at the free “Bella Baby Marketing System” created by Sandy Schurz.  She has graciously made this complete marketing system available to anyone for no cost.  It includes over 2 gigabytes of files with business cards, gift certificates, ads, promotional materials, punch cards, stickers and more.

The complete system is available for download at brand-ography.com.

In addition to the “Bella Baby Marketing System” there are also available complete branding packages.  These branding packages contain everything you need to establish a distinct look for you business.  Each branding package contains full PSD files for logos, banners, business cars, thank you cards, flyers, brochures and more.  There are a variety of colors and styles.  Each package can also be easily modified to fit your particular style.

There is also another free item at Brand-ography.com.  It is a complete Portrait Experience that you can offer to your clients to help prepare them for their sessions.  I highly suggest you take a look at this download.  Again it is offered with all of the high resolution PSD files that can easily be modified.

One other item available at Brand-ography.com (albeit for a nominal fee) is a complete marketing system called the “Fabulous Ten”.  This product shows you step by step how to establish you own marketing network among fellow small business owners in your town.  This network will provide discounts and specials to their clients for your business.   This is a great way to tap into the clientele of targeted business that match your target demographic. If all this sounds difficult to you, don’t worry as it is all spelled out completely in the “Fabulous Ten” guide.  As with all the products on this site, the full resolution PSD files are included to provide easy customization and modification.

So if you are looking for marketing templates for your photography business, I highly suggest that you checkout Brand-ography.com.  The free items are well worth the visit!

Are you a photography business owner looking for music to place on your photography business website?  Many photography website templates (especially flash ones) allow you to upload mp3 files that will play on your website pages.  This may sound like a great idea, especially if you like music and have some great songs that you would like to upload.  However, here are a few considerations to keep in mind before you upload…

Musical Tastes

Not everyone has the same musical taste as you.  In fact, it is highly likely that they don’t .  Consider all the types of music out there today from Top 40 to Hip Hop, to Country.  Now what do you like?  What are the chances that your website visitors will like the same thing?  It is highly unlikely.  The more likely response is that they will not appreciate the music near as much as you do.

Quiet is Bliss

When you are using the internet, what else are you often doing? For many people browsing the internet takes place in an office with other workers, at home with the TV or radio playing or maybe while you are talking with someone else or on the phone.  So if suddenly you are in one of these situations and a loud song starts emanating from your speakers it may surprise you, your co-workers, your friends, etc.  You will probably reach for the speaker mute button as soon as you can.  You might even close the website to quell the sudden noise. This is a natural reflex but it surely is not what you want to encourage from your website visitors.

Royalty Issues

Another item to consider is the legality of placing music on your website.  Most of the time this is actually outside your rights based on the license granted when you purchased the music.  If you just ripped the music from a CD, then in essence you are replaying the music for an audience which is an illegal use of the music.  In order to get around this, you must either purchase a license which enables you to play the music on your website or you must upload only royalty free music.  A google search can take you to many places where you can find royalty free music, but it will not include the popular tunes today and will likely consist mostly of instrumental tracks.  So while you will at least be legal, you probably won’t like the selection of music available.

The upside of music

Okay so we just went over some of the issues with using music on your photography website. So what is the upside? Well if your visitor likes the music, they may enjoy listening while they browse your picture gallery.  Will this make them more likely to book a session?  I have no proof that it will.  It may, but I wouldn’t bet my business on it.

The Bottom Line

So as you can probably guess, my recommendation is to avoid putting music on your photography business website.  There is just too much of a downside in lost or annoyed visitors to justify the few positive reactions that you may receive.

Something that almost all small business struggle with is marketing.  The photography business owner is no exception.  It can be very difficult at times to come up with fresh marketing ideas that will deliver the proper message to your customer.  Photography Marketing Templates can be a low cost alternative to hiring a graphic designer to create marketing pieces. They can also be much better than trying to create your own.

One popular method for finding marketing pieces for your photography business is to frequent the online forums for professional photographers. I have found that in certain forums photographers are much more willing to share information than others.  One forum in particular that I have quite enjoyed is the NoBSPhotoSuccess.com forum.  Here I have found many photographers willing to share their marketing tips and designs to assist their fellow photographers. Be advised that this is a paid forum however so there is some cost to joining.  I feel that it is worth it however and would recommend it to a new photography business owner.

One other solution is to purchase marketing pieces online from design stores.  A simple google search for photography marketing templates will result in many results.  There are many popular ones for wedding and senior photographers in particular.  They can be purchased individually or in sets with consistent themes and colors.

If you are looking for branding help, then I recommend you visit Brand-ography.com.  This website provides concise branding advice to help establish the personality of your business.  This is very important to building a rapport with your clientele which increases the number of repeat visitors.  Additionally, this site offers many free marketing pieces, especially for those who specialize in baby photography.

It is also important to remember that marketing your business doesn’t have to just mean flyers, posters and business cards.  It also includes items integrated into your website such as blog postings and email subscriptions.  Both of these are critical to building a large following of loyal fans.  My photography internet marketing manual goes into great detail on how to setup your own website with these marketing features built in.  I highly encourage you to sign up for my free marketing mini-course to test some of these techniques in your own business.

I have found that by allowing your clients to receive emails of your blog postings that this constant refresher of your great work helps them to think of you whenever the special events happen in their lives that they want to photograph.  Additionally, it enables you to provide them with information on when you will be holding special promotions that they may be interested in.

One last point to consider is that there are many opinions on marketing your business. But the one approach that is guaranteed to never work is to do no marketing at all.  Remember, that as a photography business owner, you are a business person first and a photographer second.  So budget time to your marketing efforts and always track your results to keep continually improving!