Whether you are a new photographer or have been around the block and need a website, I’ve got all the tips and resources for you and will help you to get a gorgeous website fast!
If you are in the process of taking your hobby and turning it into a career, a website is a must have! True, the very first thing you’ll be inclined to do is start a Facebook or Instagram account (yep, I’m looking at you). Let me tell you, hold the scroll and start to think of a website as the first step you take. Websites offer tons of perks for your business that social media accounts don’t.
- The quicker you have a website lingering in the interworld of the world wide web, the more authority and search engine ability you bring to the table (we’re talking “SEO” baby!)..
- A website is essentially a fancy resume. You want to book clients that will actually pay you…right? Let me guess, you’ve been invited to one too many kids birthday parties with the line “feel free to bring your camera” tacked onto the invite. I’ll roll my eyes with you. You’re ready to make some moolah (finally!!) and have your business treated with respect. My guess is that you want others to treat your business professionally, you need to do the same. A website is the best way to showcase your work, who you are, what you do, what you want to accomplish and, of course, provide potential clients a way to get in touch with you.
- Having a website creates an immense amount of excitement for your clients! Imagine this; you finish editing a client’s session and post some of the sneak peaks on your website. Your clients are SO pumped that they got featured on a WEBSITE…like a real, fully functioning WEBSITE! They are practically movie stars now and share that sneak peak like it’s going outta style! Now your clients feel extra special, which makes you look extra awesome!
We’ve gone over why you need a website and you totally agree with me (I knew you were wicked smart!). Let’s talk about how you can get a website up and running in no time, with no design or coding experience!
CUE THE FIREWORKS!!!
Showit Showit Showit Showit!
Show what?! Showit is a wonderful mix of ease, top notch design, DIY friendliness, and community you never knew you needed. Showit is a website builder made for creatives just like you. It is NOT made for professional coders that speak an entirely different (and kinda nerdy) language. It’s made for you, me, and photographers that want to focus and hone their photography skills without needing to learn an entirely new skillset.
Showit’s incredibly DIY friendly, allowing you to build a beautiful, eye-catching website practically overnight!
I’ll admit, I didn’t start my first website with Showit. In fact, I used another platform called Squarespace – it worked just fine but I could never get it to look exactly the way I envisioned. (If I had a nickle for every night I stayed up late trying to hunt down the code to make the ONE CHANGE I needed…). When Squarespace released their 7.1 version update, I decided it was time to find something new that really worked for me.
Enter ShowIt. I fell in love! The creative control and freedom you have with designing a ShowIt website make it my number one recommendation for creatives. One of my favorite features they offer (that you won’t really find anywhere else) is the ability to drag & drop. The freedom with this is unreal! You have so much control over how your page looks, can easily update colors and fonts, and the constraints of platforms like Squarespace are gone.
I also love all the template options and affordability. ShowIt works with a ton of designers to create templates that are gorgeous out of the gate so you never have to start from scratch. What’s super cool is that one designer may offer two templates (that cost anywhere from $200-$1,000), but for every template they sell, they also have to provide a free template.
In my opinion, the free templates are where it’s at! A lot of them are only a one page design, but they still have all the pages or sections you need. This means if you’re starting from scratch and only need one page, you could have it up in less than a week.
When it comes to narrowing down the templates you like, it’s important to know the specific pages and functionality you’re looking for. Do NOT, I repeat, do NOT base your design around the images that are shown on the templates. Functionality should be your focus. That is what matters. I know it’s hard to not take the photos into consideration…they make the templates look great! But it’s not going to matter if the template doesn’t have the functionality you need.
For example, a lot of designs have blog post templates. Is this something you’re looking for? Some may or may not come with a sidebar. These are some of the things you have to think through to make sure your site functions how you would like it to. And remember – you can change, add, or remove things from your website anytime you want (the Google overlords even reward you for updating your website!).
When you’re thinking about the functionality of your site, you may also begin to think about the sections you’ll want to have. Here’s a simple list of the sections I think are important to think about when designing your website:
- A beautiful image
- Your logo
- Banner tagline (think about keywords here – it’s important for SEO)
- About page (with more details on who you are and what your photography business is all about)
- Examples of what you do
- Sessions you offer (if you have different categories, you can break it down)
- Information about your pricing
- Two testimonials (at least, the more the better. Social proof, am I right?)
- Your contact information in the footer
- Anything special you want to add (recent IG posts, fun facts, etc.)
All in all, having a website is crucial for your business. I highly recommend starting with ShowIt! It’s very user intuitive, and when launching a business, you have enough other things to worry about and spend your money on! Have questions? Reach out to me!
If your brain just said, ‘Heck yeah, Kara!’ but then instantly went into panic mode, book a discovery call with me. I’ll answer any lingering questions you have. I’ll even walk you through my coaching process in case you need an accountability-buddy to get this party started (and finished)!’
Book a Discovery Call Here: https://calendly.com/karachappellphotography/grove-coaching-sesson
xo Kara
