Six Goals Photographers Should Pursue To Write Effective Homepages For Their Websites
Six Goals Photographers Should Pursue To Write Effective Homepages For Their Websites
HOMEPAGES PT. 1 | Did you know visitors make their first judgement of your website in just .05 seconds?! Let's improve it by bringing intention and value back to your site's homepage!
After the wildest three months ever—illness, travel, busy season, raising a one-year-old, and creating another—we’re back from hiatus! As all of you know, running a small business (particularly if you have just a one-or-few-woman crew) becomes next to impossible when life gets wild.
A simple cold can turn into weeks of downtime and delays, and the struggle to catch up again requires a recovery period all its own!
But I’m so grateful for a team, husband, and client roster overflowing with endless empathy and grace! I’m so grateful to be surrounded by people who make heavy seasons a little lighter just by being around. And now, I’m relieved to return to the work I love so much: empowering photographers like you to unleash their unique voices as we build their dream businesses!
So, thank you all for your patience. And now let’s get back to your regularly scheduled programming and reveal the overarching topic for June!
Our conversation topic for June 2023 is…
At The Write Lens, we’ve shared tips surrounding specific pages of a photographer’s website on the blog and email list for years. But we’ve never gone systematically through each one. Let’s fix that, shall we? I’ve decided to create a comprehensive resource you can easily return to over and over again that makes it easier to tackle each piece of your website.
For the next few months, we are going to be digging deeply into the pillar pages of your websites—the pages that escort first-time site visitors through the booking journey. With that said, where else could we start but on…
Your homepage!
But why do website homepages matter so much? Couldn’t they just be static landing pages filled with beautiful photography and do the trick? Isn’t this just an overcomplication of a simple concept?
Oh man, don’t get me started! Well, I guess do get me started because it’s time to strap in for a ride through the philosophy and approach to creating captivating photography homepages!
Why does your homepage even matter anyway?
I’m sure you’ve seen the static landing homepages just like I have—no text, no welcome, just images and links sending visitors off into the site. And when you’ve seen them in the past (or used them yourself), you might have even thought that approach was just fine. I mean, as long as potential clients can find service information and see sample work, that should be fine for a photographer, right?
Nah, girl. Nah.
No matter what you charge, professional photography is a luxury service. As much as we emphasize its importance, when you get right down to it, it’s an inessential service—an add-on. People can actually get by without it. I wouldn’t recommend it…but they can. And that means you have to do a little more than just, ya know, be there to sell your services. This simple fact completely alters the way we approach your marketing!
Think of your website as a luxury storefront. For example, imagine a boutique wedding gown shop. Now compare these two hypothetical experiences to see what I mean:
The first hypothetical wedding gown shop is filled with breathtaking gowns. But no one greets you at the door. No one celebrates your arrival or assures you that you’re in the right place. No one is ready with a helpful questionnaire to guide you toward unexpected styles or fits. No one offers to gather up gowns for you. And no one is there to offer encouragement and feedback as you try on your gowns, recommending similar options as you go. You’re just alone.
Now, let’s head into the second imaginary shop. Here, you are greeted at the door by a smiling associate who learns your name as they pass you a glass of champagne. They make casual conversation that helps you settle in and feel comfortable as they gather information about what you’re specifically looking for. After hearing about struggles you’ve had in the past finding gowns, they empathize, telling you they totally get it and explain why this experience will be different. They expertly gather styles matching your Pinterest vision board and even include a few surprises they suspect would look amazing on you. And then they help you see the special details and unique qualities of each gown as you try them on.
See the difference?
Sure, you’re going to a wedding gown shop either way, and you might even buy a gown in either shop. But the experience couldn’t be more different! The way you feel while you’re there is as opposite as opposite can be, and the way you talk about it later will be, too! Whether or not you return to make another purchase (you’ve got to get bridesmaid dresses, too, ya know!) and recommend them to friends all depends on that experience. And if you’re a person who’s super relational, you might just walk out of the first shop without even trying on a dress!
One shop feels like a luxurious treat handcrafted by an individual who loves what they do and one feels like a big box store experience guided by nameless, faceless corporate suits who only care about making a buck.
Which one do you prefer? I know which one I love more! And I believe you can recreate an experience like that luxury gown shop on the homepage of your website!
By infusing your homepage with humanity and empathy, you build a bond with your potential clients before you even know they exist! That takes a little more than a tired, cliche tagline and a few of your best images.
So, what should an effective homepage do?
It’s always easier to create content when you have firm, clear goals in mind! It keeps you from rambling, diving down rabbit holes that don’t actually serve the intended purpose.
So, what should your goals be when creating the homepage of your website? Let’s dig in…
1. Assure first-time visitors that they are in the right place right away
The first thing your homepage should do is tell first-time visitors what you do, where you do it, and who you do it for. Without that, even an otherwise incredible homepage is absolutely worthless.
Why? Because people who visit service provider websites want something! They have a specific need—they aren’t just here to browse the way they might wander off the street into a physical shop to kill some time. On top of that, the people who visit photography websites are always very, very busy. Brides, moms-to-be, moms, business owners…they don’t have time to play detective on your website, looking to see if you offer what they need. If they can’t find that information quickly, they’ll just leave!
To avoid losing a site visitor right away, make sure the first sentence of your website—preferably above the fold a.k.a. in the little rectangle they see the moment your site loads—is a tagline that clearly states your location, the services you provide, and a taste of your uniqueness. For best results, make this sentence so clear that the dumbest person in the room can understand it! Save the artsy turns of phrase for other headlines, OK?
2. Share that you truly understand the visitor and their wishes
Now that the visitor knows you offer the service they’re looking for, they need to know if you offer it in a way that will suit them—a way that centers their unique wishes and embraces their vision.
This is where a clearly defined ideal client becomes essential!
You just can’t express that you deeply value a particular potential client’s needs if you don’t even know what they are. If you’re beyond the earliest beginner phase in your professional photography journey, it’s time to narrow your focus and work to attract a group of clients you are uniquely designed to serve, whether that’s type A brides with a vision and no free time or free-spirited creative solopreneurs with whimsical styles and off-the-wall personalities.
By understanding who your ideal client is, what they desire, and what they fear, you can speak directly to those points, addressing them early and sharing why you are uniquely positioned to serve them!
3. Keep the visitor engaged in the content
According to a Feb. 14, 2023 article in Forbes, users form an opinion about a website in just .05 seconds! I can’t even imagine such a short amount of time, but apparently that’s all it takes for my brain to decide if a website has value! Who knew?! That means first impressions are everything, and you have a fraction of a second to convince a first-time visitor that your site is worth their time.
Even after forming that initial opinion on your value, the average site visitor only spends a whopping 54 seconds on a page of a website. That means even if they do decide you’re worth their time, you have less than a minute to convince them to go deeper!
Because of these tight timelines, you have to really invest in creating captivating, engaging content! Don’t waste the ticking clock on rambles that mean nothing to your client or boring paragraphs that could be plucked from the website of any old photogarpher! Use your 54 seconds wisely.
4. Express your uniqueness, convincing them you aren’t just another photographer
The best use of that 54 seconds is to spend it expressing what makes you truly unique! Whether that’s your personality, style, or client experience, identify what makes you a truly stand-out photographer for your unique ideal client. How do you serve them in a way others can’t or don’t? How do you bring them an experience they won’t find anywhere else? How does who you are contribute to a client journey they’ll treasure?
Spend time diving deeply into these questions and drawing the line that connects who you are to your ideal client. Then, express that on your website! And while you’ll dive more deeply into these concepts on the about page and details page, don’t wait to introduce them because you just might lose a massive crew of potential clients before they make it to the page where these essential subjects are covered!
5. Showcase value to lay the groundwork for a positive response to your prices
You and I both know the average person wouldn’t know a high-quality photographer from a hobbiest with an iPhone if they tapdanced across their car hood. Show the average person two images by artists of wildly different talent, and they’ll be pressed to identify the differences. Sure, they’ll probably notice one is better than the other if the talent difference is extreme, but they more than likely won’t be able to point out specifics.
And most people sure as heck don’t know photographers do so much more than just show up on a wedding or session day and snap some photos. They just don’t know, and they’ve never bothered to think about it. So, when they see your prices without context, that number is going to look extreme!
Do yourself a favor by laying the value groundwork now. Through an experience teaser, feature some of the most impactful, special features of your experience and why they matter to this particular ideal client. This way, by the time they make it to your details page—and especially to the prices listed there—they’ll have an initial understanding of what more you bring to your clients beyond camera clicks.
6. Intrige them enough to draw them deeper into your site
And finally, the primary goal of your homepage is to give them just enough to irresistibly draw them deeper into your website!
You don’t need to give them all the information about your services or tell your entire story or even convince them to book. You only need to tell juuuuust enough to convince them to take the most basic action—clicking another link. That’s it! Just convince them to stay and invest at least another 54 seconds in your business.
And with that, you have six primary goals to keep in mind while revamping your homepage. But we aren’t just going to drop you off here! Next week, we’ll continue the adventure into photography website homepages with a breakdown of the biggest mistakes we see photographers making on their homepages.
Can you guess any of them? And which of these homepage goals are you going to keep at the top of mind as you revamp your site? Tell us in the comments below!
I’m so excited to be back talking photography marketing with you, and I look forward to adventuring with you through Busy Season 2023!
