Is every single part of your website talking directly with your ideal (AKA premium-paying) client?
A well-built website works like a magic funnel...
...a magic funnel at the end of which your ideal client is throwing money at you.
And this funnel is working 24/7--even while you're sleeping.
Your website is a living, breathing organism, and it's the best salesperson on your team. Every single comma, word, and visual should be chatting up your ideal client and asking for their business the second they land on your page.
But instead of tapping into this potential, most photographers throw up a gallery (Oh, good, you ARE a photographer. CHECK!), call their pricing page the ubiquitous "Investment," post a tab called "Information" in the nav, and call it a day. Some Patient Zero photographer made these decisions in a template back in 2004 and everyone has blindly copied it ever since.
I think a unicorn loses its wings (or is that a Pegasus?) every time a photographer uses "Investment" in their nav bar. Let's move on.
Some togs' websites don't even mention where their business is located. Imagine that.
Time for a gut check.
Go to your desktop or laptop and open up your current website in a separate window.
Seriously. Right now.
I'll wait.
Ok. Now start at the very beginning, like the song says.
Look at the top couple inches of your website and zoom in on every minute detail like an archaeologist.
Ask your website:
- What experience is my client having as they look at this?
- What is this image, word, widget, icon etc., doing to move the conversation with the reader forward?
- Is there a clear direction for the user to take? What's their next step?
If the answer to those question is nothing, or "not sure," keep asking and changing your site until you get to the right answer.
Avoid template temptation
For goodness' sake, please take our advice and nonchalantly (whistling, if you like) stroll right past those photographer template websites.
Templates may have worked circa 2005 when there were only 1,500 photographers on the whole dang Internet, but now there are over 1,500,000 of us worldwide! Imagine how cookie-cutter your website looks next to thousands of photography sites just like it.
The only people getting rich off template sites are the people making the templates.
With all these identical websites with no clear purpose, it's no wonder clients can't tell togs apart. It's no wonder they end up hiring your cheaper competitor down the block.
So strap your website into the hot seat.
Offer it a cup of fresh coffee, and make it spill all the beans.
Ask questions about every single page and part--and don't stop until your perfect client is banging down your door and throwing wads of cash at you!