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Website: what did you do?


d_ponce

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<p>I am in the process of starting my own business as a commercial photographer. I have finished the contents of my website but think it might make sense to have someone review it, not only for grammar but also for 'advertising impact'. Of course the person would have to be familiar with the photography industry -- so I guess my question is, are there people who do this for a living? Where would I look? As pro's: what did you do?</p>
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<p>I asked friends, family and colleagues to have a look. Granted, my web site most definitely isn't very flashy but it gets the job done for me as an editorial stock photographer. All my clients care about is that the photo galleries work, that the search works and is fast, and that the researchers and editors can easily send copies of an image to authors etc.<br /><br />Find out what matters to your clients and do that. And no music!<br /><br />I'm just in the process of going over the responses from a large number of editorial photo buyers that were asked - among many other things - what their pet peeve on a photographer's web site is. Music/heavy flash use topped the list followed closely by search not working and too much info about the photographer, their religion, their political beliefs, their gear etc.<br /><br />Once you have the site ready for view you can always post it on the Website Creation Forum here at P.Net and request feedback, critique etc.</p>
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<p>The Website Creation Forum will give you FAST, brutal feedback if you ask for it. :)<br>

If you have flash, make sure you use a redirect for non-flash users (iPhone/iPad in particular). Better still, skip flash.<br>

Im not a fan of watermarks. All you are doing is insulting your real customers. Those who would steal your images are not going to buy anyway.<br>

I would not worry as much about the impact of the site as getting it up as soon as possible. It takes roughly 2 weeks to get fully indexed in a search engine and the reality is you need about 3 months to make sure you are updated everywhere. Google Analytics doesnt really give you "analytics" until you enter your second month. You can revise a website multiple times a day to better target but until you are in the search engines and getting crawled regularly, you will not get the hits.<br>

Im sure there is a consultant who can help you out on the advertising. I probably learned the most by conducting business intelligence - I looked at the web sites of other photographers in the area. Apparently lots of unnecessary flash is a requirement to be a wedding photographer and one of the shops doing the best in town has a site that looks like it was updated in the late 90's. Colors and fonts and frames, Oh My! It didnt change the basics of my site but I decided to promote the direct sales more because no one else seemed to be doing that (Of course maybe there is a reason for that!).</p>

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<p>I hired Suzanne Sease (suzannesease.com) she is a marketing and branding specialist. She chose the photos that made the most inpact for my target clienle, find a branding sceme that worked for us, and create a marketing attack for the next year. She's worth every penny we spent on her.<br>

Maybe start with her book (it focus's on commercial photography marketing, branding, sales, etc) "A photographers survival guide"</p>

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