Is your website a reflection of you?

Photography sites are all over the place. The creativity needle is spinning all around when it comes to the styles of sites that photographers are using to display their work. However, our sites may be revealing more than we realize.

The biggest problem with websites right now is that as photographers, our sites are a direct reflection of our level of confidence in our work. Think of it like this: when you come to a Flash-heavy site, your browser slows down, your computer speeds up, everything takes a big inhale. It’s almost as if the site itself is gearing up to make a big sales pitch. There’s music playing, colors splashing, maybe even some animated birds flying by or some flowers sprouting up. All in all, it’s a big production.

But what about the images? So much creativity has gone into building the site itself. However, does the same level of creativity in the site equal the amount of effort in the photos. Does it surpass them? Maybe you were in a hurry and posted some older photos just to get your flashy new site up and running. Did you build a fancy kit car with a shiny exterior, but put a tiny engine in it?

Offbeat Bride, a wedding blog, posted a great article about photographers and their websites. It basically hits all the points that many brides must deal with when they search across the wide expanse of photographer sites. It discourages the use of music on a photography site and flash heavy sites. It goes on to talk about the lack on information posted on sites such as pricing and location, however that’s more about open information than the tech side of the site.

The argument is that brides have only so much time in the day to browse websites for wedding photographers. Many of them are doing this during their lunch break, or god-forbid during work hours. Therefore, the longer your site takes to load, the less likely she is going to stick around. Plus, most of the time there aren’t any speakers on their computers at work, or they have the sound muted.

My question is this: Why are you hiding behind all of this fluff?

Everyday, I get questions about pricing, packages, albums, prints, websites, etc. And it all shows me a lingering problem in the photography industry… a lack of confidence.

Confidence in your work affects everything. It affects how you price yourself, how you package your weddings, how you negotiate the sale. It affects how flexible you are when people question your numbers. Do you stand firm, give a little, or completely bend over backwards. And honestly, do you want to work with someone who has little to no respect for your actual photography?

So why dress up your site with all the bells and whistles? Stand behind your work, put it out front for everyone to see. Let the image be what brings in clients or turns them away. It’s the image they’ll have after everything is said and done. You may have a great personality, but your personality isn’t going to be with them long after the wedding is done. It’s the image.

Be proud of your work. Take out all the distractions on your site and let brides see what they came to see. Be confident in your images and it will show through your site, your prices, everything.

Take care and be good to one another :)

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