Okay, look.
I've got nothing against the word "investment". We use it here in context all the time at 16 Hoops.
I don’t even have anything against the togs who use it in their site menus and nav bars.
However, I do have a bone to pick with the fact that EVERY SINGLE photographer website template out there blindly uses the word "investment" in exactly the same way because of some Patient Zero site design from 2004.
Do you think Apple looked at how Microsoft did its nav bar before they launched? No, they went back to the drawing board and said “Think different."
The word “investment” in the navigation bar is the poster child for mediocrity. It’s the most common “symptom" I see of a larger problem in the photography industry. And here at 16 Hoops, we're railing against that problem.
We're railing against blindly following the lemmings off the cliff.
I’m all for using language (copy) in a compelling way. The word “investment” sounds better than “pricing,” right? It must!
But in reality, it allows every photographer out there who is intimidated by or finds unpleasant the fact they have to actually sell their products and run a business to procrastinate even further.
Does Apple use the word “investment” as some secret way of saying “This is a good idea”?
NO. They very simply state what a product costs after showing off all its abilities.
Apple doesn't have to legitimize a product's price by sneakily calling it “an investment," and neither do you.
That is the systemic crisis our industry is facing right now. Too many photographers look (and present themselves as) exactly the same.
Ergo, too many photographers compete for all the same clients. Ergo, too many photographers (epidemic levels) compete on price and commoditize our amazing industry and talents. (iPhones aren't helping…but I have ideas on how the iPhone is THE BEST thing that ever happened to our industry.)
And using the same words, the same logos, the same structures, the same website templates ain’t helping us at all.
Think Different. Really examine what your website is doing for your business. And start by re-thinking the word “investment".