Going along with my photographer tips for Facebook and twitter I decided to talk about some website tips. By trade photographers are not web designers so every tip can help, right? These are my opinion so if you think I’m wrong then so be it but this is how I see it as a customer and a photographer.
My Tips:
- Flash is great for portfolios but not for an entire website. A lot of people use browsers without flash or use iPhones which can’t play flash. Until that changes websites should be designed for all people. Fortunately JQuery slide shows could be degraded to pure html when needed. I use the flash-based SlideShowPro specifically for my portfolio but use JQuery for my intro slide show. Use as little flash as possible!
- STOP THE MUSIC! This is very simple. If I am in a quiet room surfing the web I do not want to hear music playing as I browse websites. A great example. I’m at work and my brother asked me to help him find a wedding photographer. Yes I am not supposed to browse the web but it’s my brother and I want to help. My computer at work has speakers so when I watch webinars I can hear. I did not want to hear the music blast through the speakers when trying to view a wedding photographers portfolio. If I wanted music I would have went to Ryan Adams website or Sigur Ros. I mean come on people… show off your photos, not some other persons music. Seriously, it’s got to stop. If you really want music then so be it, but don’t make it auto play!
- The website should be clean, simple and photographic. Don’t clutter it with non-photography related stuff. Blogs can be used to show off photos, give tips (like this one) or share other great information but try to keep it somewhat related to photography.
- Use WordPress. It will make your life easier.
- I use the Canvas Theme for WordPress because of how customizable and SEO it is, but there are many great premium themes out there specifically for photographers.
- Link to your Twitter, Flickr & Facebook pages.
- Accept comments on your blog posts
- Interact with your viewers!
- Always change content. The best way to brainstorm ideas for blog posts is to read other photography blogs!
- If you really want to turn someone off then make sure their are pop-up ads, banners, etc. No one wants to hover over an image or link just to find a pop-up advertisement. Keep it clean! If you want to advertise then write about the company and place an ad in the blog post.
What tips do you have for photographers looking to design or redesign their websites?
Contributors Tips:
“I know it goes in line with the twitter/ flickr /facebook page but some easily identifiable way to contact the photographer would be good too. Not everyone is comfortable using social media so an email address or contact form is always nice to see.” – Ben Lee
“Don’t use BackType to integrate with Twitter or your comments will be filled with nothing but Retweets” – Matt
Now That You Understand, visit Offbeat Bride’s “An open letter to wedding photographers regarding their websites”
For more great ideas, visit Don GIannatti’s website for his series called “10 Web Site Strategies for Emerging Photographers”
Part 1, Part 2
Jeffro shares “A Few Website Pet Peeves I Have” on WP Tavern. One of which is Social Junk
Updated 8/17/2010
Don't use BackType to integrate with Twitter or your comments will be filled with nothing but Retweets :-)
Great tip. Disqus has an option to turn off their reactions as well
@Matt
I use the Lifestream plug-in http://bit.ly/cwOI75 which seems to do a pretty good job of displaying just my tweets.
The Lifestream plugin is nice and does a lot but seems to be a plugin that hogs a lot of php memory. In my opinion (and I could be wrong) you are better off sticking with a java script that is hosted from Google or Twitter themselves.
I know it goes in line with the twitter/ flickr /facebook page but some easily identifiable way to contact the photographer would be good too.
Not everyone is comfortable using social media so an email address or contact form is always nice to see.
Just a thought, Ben
I completely agree. Great tip Ben!
Thanks Scott. I've spent a lot of time on other photographers sites before I set up mine and it was always nice to be able to contact them quickly – esp. when they replied!
Totally! My favorite WordPress plugins for contact forms are: Gravity Forms (Paid), Contact Form 7 and CForms II. They make it easy to add a form to any WordPress website.
Hopefully all photographers reply to emailed they receive even if from another photographer. When they do reply, hopefully they use a legit email address as well.
I'm on squarespace and they have a decent contact form. I would like to make it a bit nice but not had the time to change it about just yet.
So far all the photographers I've been emailing me have been legit so all good. Always nice to converse with fellow photographers!
I've never used Squarespace. How is their backend system? Is it as easy as WordPress?
I've only briefly flirted with wordpress so I can't really compare too much. When I was looking round (Jan) I was after somewhere I could host simple gallery's without the need for any coding – at that time I wasn't after a blog. I'm a novice (read: absolute beginner) programmer and squarespace made things very easy for me so I went with them.
Also, community in the squarespace forums has been top notch and a great help to me getting everything going too.
From what I gather, the experienced web designer/ programmer really enjoys these guys as they have made everything very easy to manage. You should have a look; see what you think.
If they make it easy that is great. I would never switch away from WordPress myself but it's good to know that there are other companies making it simple for people. The one downside to WordPress is that since it is not designed specifically for photographers you need plugins to create portfolios.
Don't change it if it ain't broken! Squarespace advertised themselves towards the photographer and showed off a bunch of photographer's portfolios as examples. Guess, the marketing worked because I've signed up!
So very true! As long as you're happy with the service and system then it is worth it.
Like Ben Lee – my blog is hosted by Squarespace and it can be found at http://www.nolanstern.com. When I first started using SS, I found it easy to use and set up, however, I had to get some coding help for certain things. I was lucky enough to have found someone who was willing to help me out.
I am still trying to fix one issue but I am not worried about it at the moment as I am concentrating on getting new content on the blog on a consistent basis.
I intend to use the service for a year and plan to switch to Pro Photo Blogs via WordPress.
Very cool! The Pro Photo Blogs are great themes. Hopefully you get the last bit worked out without a problem.