p.2 #2 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
Having a website. Honestly, I don't think websites are all that important in marketing. I had one 10 years and rarely got any business from it. My competitors don't have websites at all, and they get more work than I got when I was doing weddings. It all comes down to who you know, your price fitting the market and being aggressive.
p.2 #3 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
Flash is a mistake.
Music is a mistake.
Not considering SEO from step 1 is a mistake (for me atleast).
Extras:
Consider workflow - how you get photos online, how people view photos, how people order photos/checkout. Make sure you can do this as fluently as possible, as otherwise it can become very time consuming.
Contact: Use multiple options, and make them simple/easy to access.
Rates: I think potential clients will always want a ball-figure.
Bio: Opinions differ so not really sure what to suggest. For simple artist bios you might use at a display I think keeping it simple (200-300 characters) works best. Some say the same for website bio, but if someone is really interested in your work they often like to know much more about you - I've seen many good examples of quite long bios... but choice is yours ultimately.
Testimonials: You don't need 5000 testimonials from 1843 to 2012. 3-4 good ones are enough.
Portfolio: Don't just link to your old website, that would be counter productive. Just get a good selection up of what you're capable of - that should be pretty simple?
p.2 #4 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
Carl Feather wrote:
Having a website. Honestly, I don't think websites are all that important in marketing. I had one 10 years and rarely got any business from it. My competitors don't have websites at all, and they get more work than I got when I was doing weddings. It all comes down to who you know, your price fitting the market and being aggressive.
Now that's a "stand out" set of comments in this world where "Web presence" seems to be everything. Don't know that I buy it, but suspect there maybe something to it.
p.2 #5 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
swoop wrote:
About page is more of a life story than the gist of your qualifications and experience. It's nice your wife bought you a camera and you have discovered a passion for photography. But do you have any qualifications. Do you have a degree in photography? Have you done a workshop? How long have you been a working professional? Are you a professional or are you just hoping your eagerness will get you a job? Inquiring minds want to know.
+1
I don't want to hear about your wife, your kids, your dog. And don't tell me about your PASSION; every "About Me" section says how PASSIONATE they are about photography. What are your professional qualifications? What is your experience working in the profession?
p.2 #6 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
Looking at the posters above I am presuming most are male gender. I am curious to know the opinion from females. After all, we know that it is the bride that makes the decision on all things wedding related.
p.2 #8 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
Trying to blog like J*
Having families, pets, weddings, events, portraits and lord knows what else all on the same site, it makes people look like a desperate amateur who will shoot anything for a bit of cash.
p.2 #9 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
Wow, quite a bit of pertinent insight here- too much to thank each post individually.
My personal impressions are:
-No flash, no flash, no flash.
-No music.
-No splash pages.
Not quite sure what to make on the "List a ballpark figure for rates"- some photo sales/marketing gurus say that doing so lets clients roll on to the lowest bidder without them contacting you first to see what level of quality is like. Of course, perhaps that's a topic worthy of its own thread.
Same for listing the area- some people might eliminate me based upon how far I am from them, when in reality I might be willing to travel further than most if the #'s are right, since I have friends from when I used to live in NC and family in PA.
p.2 #11 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
I think we will be in the "Flash is dead" path for a long time. Android based devices has not just caught up but it has surpassed i-devices and continue to do so.
I'm not a proponent of flash tech but I no longer think that if you have a flash website you are gonna lose out.
Feb 06, 2012 at 07:07 PM
marti.g3 Offline • • • • [X]
p.2 #12 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
"Sundays are my favorite day of the week as I relax from a hectic saturday with my clients. Im a huge fan of fruit drinks and pastel colors as they bring to the forefront
my views on life".........bleechhhhh.........
p.2 #13 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
If the main purpose is to draw in clients, I can't see how I would want Flash. Well, maybe if the bride worked in IT, perhaps, but still...
Just like building a portfolio, where if it doesn't add, then it subtracts.
Ghost wrote:
I think we will be in the "Flash is dead" path for a long time. Android based devices has not just caught up but it has surpassed i-devices and continue to do so.
I'm not a proponent of flash tech but I no longer think that if you have a flash website you are gonna lose out.
p.2 #14 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
How is Flash subtracting? Are we talking about a flash component or an all-flash website? The latter is dead in the water, IMO, but the former is useful.
The one big thing that's keeping me with flash right now is SlideShowPro + SlideShowPro Director. It makes updating my portfolio super easy. Not that I do it often anyways, but it's really easy to customize and update. The rest of my site is HTML and the whole site is mobile-friendly as well.
p.2 #16 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
Gotta confess, I know rather little about website design (that's why I'm currently w/ SmugMug). My understanding is that Flash is kind of like a splash page, w/ techno swirly-twirly effects that distract from the portfolio.
Of course, the fact that I could be wrong is why I'm trying to learn more.
TTLKurtis wrote:
How is Flash subtracting? Are we talking about a flash component or an all-flash website? The latter is dead in the water, IMO, but the former is useful.
The one big thing that's keeping me with flash right now is SlideShowPro + SlideShowPro Director. It makes updating my portfolio super easy. Not that I do it often anyways, but it's really easy to customize and update. The rest of my site is HTML and the whole site is mobile-friendly as well.
p.2 #17 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
lol... Yeah what you're thinking of is the old-school all-Flash websites with animated intro pages and crazy buttons and overlaid screens with semi-transparency and stuff. Flash itself is just a technology like HTML, PHP, etc... It can certainly be used for evil. It does have its disadvantages. But it can be useful for specific applications. (i.e. displaying images) One of the shortcomings of Flash is that Google can't crawl it and so it's bad for SEO purposes, but if you're not using it for textual content then it's a non-issue.
Music is one of those controversial things I've flip-flopped a few times on. I feel like it is a nuisance often enough that it can be a problem. But it also really makes the viewing experience a bit more interesting as well.
p.2 #18 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
Ghost wrote:
Looking at the posters above I am presuming most are male gender. I am curious to know the opinion from females. After all, we know that it is the bride that makes the decision on all things wedding related.
Males who have been in the game a while for the most part who have all asked themselves what is it that females want.
I'm sure you don't think you are the only one here who has ever thought of that
p.2 #19 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
Nikon_14 wrote:
Great source for cheesy lines to say to put clients at ease. It must work, apparently...
If you read her post she actually reveals something about each couple. Clearly she has been listening to those who matter, her clients.Most who try to emulate her just pick up on the saying something positive so end up having almost identical looking post for each clients.
So on the contrary take a look at her blog and ask why it is she connects.
But ask yourself what is the form and what is the substance. The latter should be able to allow you to keep your own style.
p.2 #20 · Top 3 Mistakes in Wedding Photography Websites
I see your point. Find a way to connect with each couple that matches their unique personality, etc. Then they feel at ease with you and it'll come out in their expressions.
Marcus Watts wrote:
If you read her post she actually reveals something about each couple. Clearly she has been listening to those who matter, her clients.Most who try to emulate her just pick up on the saying something positive so end up having almost identical looking post for each clients.
So on the contrary take a look at her blog and ask why it is she connects.
