Maximising Your Wedding Photography Website: A Guide to Boosting Bookings
A website is one of the main connections to clients for any wedding photographer, its importance in this digital world is paramount. Granted couples may find you via google, a blog or directory, Instagram and social media or even a forum, but they are more than likely to end up on your own website, where an instant impression will be formed.
Photography Website Design Ideas & Tips
Once potential couples are on your website you want to show off your best work to them, engage them, show your personality, and make it easy and simple for them to get in touch with you.
The Homepage, the wow page
The homepage is your wow page and likely to be your most viewed page. It is common to have a large photo that is of high quality and reflects your photography style and the types of couples you work with. If you can’t choose just one photo, include a little slideshow of a few of your best photos.
Ensure your menu is clear and obvious, and make sure there is a clear call to action on how to get in touch with you.
Perhaps include a brief overview about yourself with a link to your about page, and the same with your packages and services you offer.
Keep it simple, don’t overload the page, instead of trying to include everything think about changing images or links regularly to keep it fresh.
Creating an Engaging Portfolio
Large high quality images are a must, this is what you do, to ensure you show them in the best light. A large hero style image on your homepage can showcase a photo that captures your style and personality. From a fine art light and airy photo, to a bright and quirky couple depending on your photographer style.
Large images are great, however do ensure they are also optimised for use online, a 5mb image won’t help your page load speed or your Google ranking, so make sure that they are sized correctly, and optimised. If you use WordPress plugins such as Smush and Autoptimize are certainly worth having installed.
Effective Call-to-actions
When on your website how easy is it to get in touch? Is it obvious where to click, does it stand out on your menu, do you have a big button on different pages to get in touch? You can have a beautiful website showcasing your amazing work, but if it is difficult to navigate, and not obvious how to get in touch then you are potentially losing out on bookings.
We would advise having a clear call to action, on your menu have a link that says ‘contact’ or ‘get in touch’. Don’t hide it away on your about page, ensure your contact form has its own page.
Showing Prices
In our industry survey, 59% show prices on their website and there are many benefits of doing so. Firstly it reduces the amount of enquires asking for a price when they can now find it on your website, couples getting in touch are therefore likely to be looking to hire you, know the cost and want to check your availability.
Showing your prices also builds trust and keeps it all transparent, the price is the price, couples are reassured every couples receives the same like for like quote. Explaining what packages include and what is involved is also advantageous.
In a day and age where people want things instantly, couples don’t want to have to fill in forms to find things out, so being able to see your pricing easily allows them to make a decision. If you don’t show your prices and have your own reason for not, then perhaps showing a starting price is a good balance.
Add an FAQ page
An FAQ page is a great way to easily help potential couples find answers to question they may have, costs, what is included in your packages, do you travel abroad, can you provide an album, a second shooter or take some engagement photos.
Think about the questions your couples have asked you, think about what services you also offer that could be included here, couples looking for an answer to a question they may have will look here, they may also find answers to other things they haven’t considered.
There is no better recommendation than a testimonial from your happy couples, so if you have them get them on your site. Ensure you ask your couples to leave a review on your Facebook page, Google reviews and post it on your site.
Full Weddings
Throughout your website you want to show your best work, however it is important to also share full weddings too. This allows couples to see what they would get and the quality of work throughout, photos from getting ready right through to the first dance. This could be included in a blog section on your site or a dedicated special wedding section.
Get Personal
As a photographer you will know that the more relaxed a couple feel, the more fun they have and the better the photos, so it is important that they get to know you before you get to know them. Introduce yourself, tell them about yourself, your family life, your pet dog and what interests you outside of photography.
We are not taking your life history or your CV, but an interesting overview of yourself, how you got into photography, a quick fire list of fun facts about yourself, your first car, favourite band, holiday bucket list. Keep it fun, honest and authentic. Show some photos of yourself, don’t hide behind the camera, put yourself in front of it, show images of yourself and family, you and your dog, again show your personality through these shots.
Leveraging SEO Strategies
When designing or reviewing your website, consider it from an SEO perspective too. Ensure your title tags are well thought out, instead of ‘John Smith Photography Homepage’ in the title, how about ‘John Smith London Wedding Photographer’ or ‘London Wedding Photographer John Smith’. Here you are including key terms such as London for location and wedding photographer.
Other quick wins is to ensure your images have an alt tag that includes keywords and describes the image. Make sure your photos are sized for how they display on your website, large photos will slow your site and effect your site speed and google ranking.
Finally make sure your website looks and works well on mobile, another important ranking factor and also how your website will be viewed most. So make sure you can easily navigate on your phone and access your contact page.
WordPress Themes
Redesigning your website can be very time consuming and hiring a web designer isn’t cheap, however if you use WordPress you have access to thousands of themes specifically for photographers at a relevantly low cost allowing you to quickly redesign your site.
Companies such as FloThemes (If you are a member you can get a discount code via your account dashboard) have a stylish selection of WordPress themes that are easily customisable, allowing you to change fonts, colours and layout sections with ease, they are also designed for photographers so they show off your work in the best light possible.
If you are looking at redesigning your site or changing your WordPress theme make sure you pick a theme that matches you and your work, if you are a fine art photographer then a light minimal theme that is white and spacious would match this beautifully. If you are an alternative photographer then you can have a bit more fun and having something a little different and quirky.
If you need further help and guidance with your own photography website then we would be more than happy to offer our advice. Get in touch with us here.
Link to your Social Accounts
Make sure your website has links to your social media account, in particular Facebook and Instagram, if you post your latest work on these platforms then couples can view your latest work. It also helps build trust as it shows that you are actively working and this is your full time job.
Do you update your social media platforms? If you click to your Instagram from your website and the last post was from Feb 2019 it doesn’t give a great impression. So if you have them make sure you use them.
Check out our guide on which social media platforms to focus your time on – Social Media Guide for Wedding Photographers
Reviewing your website
You may have set up your website, spent hours on it, editing, tweaking and uploading photos, however sometimes it is good to ask someone to review it, someone that can be impartial and give some constructive feedback to improve it if needed.
You can review some great examples of site designs for photographers in our post 15 Stunning Wedding Photographer Websites For Inspiration.
Fresh eyes from a couples point of view could really make a difference, you may think your menu is obvious but someone else may struggle to find out how to get in touch. This feedback can make a huge difference and increase your enquiries and potential bookings.