Have you ever heard about a great restaurant in town and wanted to check them out online before you headed out for dinner? Maybe you needed to know if they were open on Sundays or needed to glance over the menu. Since Google is your best friend you use that search bar to your advantage. Sadly you have to scroll a bit to even find it. Their facebook page seems to be showing up, but oh wait, there it is on down a few. You’re excited to see what’s on the other side of that click, and then all that excitement is gone when the first thing you see are their specials from Cinco De Mayo 2015. The menu is a small pdf that you can barely read, and the business hours are nowhere to be found. You probably went somewhere else for dinner that night, right?

So my sweet photographer friend, do you think any of your potential clients have had a similar experience when looking for your business online? It’s ok. You can cringe a little bit if you need to. We’ve all been there, myself included. After 16 years of running a photography studio I’ve learned a thing or two about attracting customers to my website and leading them through the process of booking a session. So I want to give you a little guidance and point out a few areas where you could easily make improvements that will have a big impact on your booking rate. Sound good? Let’s do this!

The Top 5 Mistakes Senior Photographers Should Avoid In Their Instastories

5 Mistakes To Avoid On Your Senior Photography Website:

Talking to everyone - I’m a HUGE fan of niching down and specializing in one area of photography (two, at most). Ok, I do a little personal branding and studio headshot work in the winter months to keep me fresh. But when it comes to websites we have to talk to ONE PERSON. Get that person in your head and talk to her like she’s sitting right next to you. Understand the emotions she’s going through and how you can be the solution for what she needs right now. That’s how you bring a person closer to choosing you over someone who just puts pretty pictures and pricing on their website. Trust me on this one ;)
Not readable - Have you ever actually taken a step back and looked at your website the way a potential client would? Is there enough contrast between the background color and the font colors to make it easy to read? Is the text too small and hard on the eyes? Is there enough negative space to let the words “breathe”? These sorts of things are so important. If someone is having a tough time reading your website I promise you they will hit that back button and go on down the list to the next photographer listed on Google.
Too many menus - I don’t like menus on a website. There, I said it. Here’s why: menus allow the person looking to be in control of the narrative and how they want to absorb the information. Where is the first place a potential customer is going to go on your website? You already know the answer, but I’ll tell ya anyway - THE INVESTMENT TAB. Right?! And guess what? They are going to get the information they THINK they need and hop off your website pretty fast to compare you to someone else. Now, if you are ok with being compared by price, then by all means, have that pricing or investment tab up top for all to see. But I want a potential photography client to get to know me, my heart, what they will experience in my studio and see a bit of my work long before we even scratch the surface of pricing. Without a menu a website visitor is essentially forced to scroll to find what they want. It’s our job to make them scroll slowly and take it all in. (How? See number 1.)
No location - I really don’t understand this one. But wow! It happens all the time. And not just on websites - instagram too! A person should not have to search and search to figure out where you are and if it’s even feasible for them to be a client of yours. Display your location on your home page and contact page at a bare minimum. Weaving the areas you serve into your website and blog text will up your SEO game too :)
Multiple contact options - This one may be a touchy subject, and that’s ok. It can’t be anymore touchy than politics, right?! Haha! By giving a potential client multiple ways to contact you - phone number, email address, contact form - you are confusing them. There is no clear path for them to take that next step to book a session with you. It also makes workflow extremely difficult for you. Let alone, dropping the ball when you forget to check one of the many ways a customer could possibly get in touch with you. Give them a clear call to action, tell them what the next step is and repeat it throughout your website. This will clear up some confusion, help a customer memorize what they are supposed to do next and streamline workflow in your studio.

BONUS! Not mobile friendly. How could I leave this one out?! Ok guys, let’s get rid of the old school websites and upgrade to something a little more modern, user friendly and definitely mobile friendly! In today’s digital world most of our clients are viewing our websites on their phones. We may love the way they look on our desktops (insert all the heart eyes), but we have to be realistic and think like our clients. Remember that one person I talked about earlier? Same applies here. She’s on her phone! Better make sure she can scroll through easily ;)

I absolutely LOVE my Photobiz website. And I love this company! They listen. They fix things. And they have the best customer support I’ve ever experienced with a company. So, if it’s time for a website upgrade I would highly recommend looking into Photobiz.

Tired of website visitors not taking that next step to call or book a session?

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