Web 2.0 has brought an onslaught of change to our industry- including web portfolios and blogs!
Was your photography website built more than 18 months ago? Do you still break into hives when someone says the words “blog” and your “website” in the same breath? Does your site play music when it loads? Is your site still loading large images when your potential customer has lost interest and gone back to Facebook? Do you still have a splash page? And don’t even mention the words Social Media.
If you answered yes to any of these, then you need a website redesign. I know, it sucks. Some designer convinced you to spend alot of money on a Flash website and you don’t want to reinvest and embrace modernity. Or worse, you built your site for free with some bundled Windows software and you don’t want to make the investment. Too bad. Its time to evolve.
Working on Websites in a Walla Walla coffeshop.
The good news, the evolution of the Web and the methods in which your potential clients use the internet have come together to make your life easier. The shift in photography websites has moved towards blogs. Not the simple Blogger sites of yester-year, but fully integrated ezines and blogs that function as both portfolio sites and a direct studio news connection to your clients. Better still, these sites are fully loaded with all the wonderful video and multimedia gadgets, optimized and ready to capture your audience’s undivided attention.
Don’t just take my word for it, I have ulterior motives, read this. And this. And this.
There are two ways to achieve this evolution. If you have the time to devote to learning WordPress, minimal HTML (at least to the point of knowing how to change a few colors or names) and diving into social media networks, than a DIY approach is up your alley. Or, if you’re like me, sometimes the financial resources get allocated elsewhere (though the business woman in me says you need to have a marketing budget that’s solid- an argument for another day) and you have no choice but to teach yourself. If that’s the case, here are a few resources that have been helpful. For WordPress how to and such, check out this blog. For all things social media/marketing related, check out Mashable. Be prepared to lose at least a half day of your time- there’s so much information on this site! Also, find a few photo blogs devoted to marketing/websites. Livebooks and Photoshelter both have excellent blogs. Adbase also has an excellent resource for marketing photographers, though I haven’t signed up for their services yet, their information is excellent. Both of these services are excellent and I’ve used Livebooks EDU for my website while studying at UNC- a great deal! And I’ve been a member of Photoshelter for 4 years or so and they are also an excellent service, though a little different than Livebooks.
The other method of evolution is to hire someone with the specific skill set you need to take your site to the next level. And, I hate to say it, but finding someone younger or recently from an academic/learning environment might be ideal. Not for the money sake, but this technology changes over so rapidly, that most website skill sets are dated within 12-18 months. Be sure to talk with your designer or review their working portfolio and spend time on their existing sites and then ask questions about the functionality elements they created, the social media capabilities, RSS feeds, analytics software, SEO components and content management systems implemented on their sites. Be sure that you are able to add content to your site easily and on your own (unless you have large amounts of marketing cash). A static site that never receives new content is a thing of the past.
The point- you need to evolve with the times and that evolution is painless and fabulous. Do a little research, hire a WordPress friendly developer and start building that new site along with your new year’s resolutions.
A shameless plug for my Studio here…I understand all this shiny technical stuff and have been building websites and blogs for several years now. I had to evolve- I didn’t have a choice and couldn’t hire a fancy web developer-so I taught myself-with a little help from my University studies at UNC! So let me share my knowledge with you and save you months or years of learning. Let’s take your website into the new decade with style and pizazz.
Thanks for the blog post. I really enjoyed the read.
Thanks, Douglas! Glad you enjoyed it!
I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it.I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
Thanks so much for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it!
Like your blog
I’ll check your site later again.
Thanks for reading! Glad you liked the writing!