Business Websites For Photographers
A website is a necessity for the photographer who is
thinking about extending his hobby into a photographic business.
A website is a necessity for the photographer who is
thinking about extending his hobby into a photographic
business. Even if this is a part time foot in the water
start to greater things you are missing out on one of the
most useful selling and marketing tools that is available to
you if you do not have a website. A website gives you a shop
window to show off your goods, to show potential customers
just what you can do for them. The problem is that just
about every photographer and his dog thinks the same. If you
ask Google about "photographers websites" you will get thousands of
answers – the competition is high.
It is beyond the space that I have available here to help
you design a website, just to make you think about it if you
are contemplating the freelance road to fame and fortune.
Website design takes a lot of thought and a lot of time and
experimentation to get right. The first website that I made
took forever to design, and when I was finished it was far too
complicated. Website design goes a lot further than what we
see on the surface. We have to consider "key words," where
we put these words, the domain name, the title of your site,
who is going to host your site. The list goes on and on.
If you have spare time on your hands and web design
interests you then by all means design your own site from
scratch. My advice to you is keep it simple. You are not
trying to impress with the design of your site, but trying
to design a shop window for your goods. People don’t surf
the web to look for all dancing web pages that turn
somersaults and take for ever to show. They go on the web
for information. Give them the information as quickly and
simply as possible.
If you want to make a good but quick website, so that you
can spend the rest of your time actually taking the
photographs to put on your site you could look for a website
design firm that specializes in sites for artists and
photographers. Here again you must do your research. Some
firms are better than others, and cost is not always an
indicator of quality. I have one of my sites hosted by a
firm called "Clikpic." You don’t need any technical
expertise, but you still get complete control over your
site. There is a choice of templates that were designed
especially for artists and photographers, and it is easy to
create and edit your own website. Clikpic also make it
simple to link up to Pay Pal to sell your work online. There
is also a free seven day trial. All of this for only £35.00
per year. Incidentally, I am not being paid by Clikpic. I
use them for one of my websites and have found them reliable
and helpful.
There are lots of other solutions out there. You could have
your site incorporated into a print ordering system. These
systems can either be incorporated into a website being
created from scratch or it can be added to an existing site.
Working in this way means that you don’t have to bother with
the printing, and you can concentrate more on the actual
photography. I’ve never worked this way, but I know those
that do and they are very happy with the system. Ask Google search
to find you firms that offer this system.
Most importantly take your time, research your subject. Look
at what others have done. If you see a site that excites you
give the owner an email asking about it. Photographers rarely
mind giving advice to other photographers. Remember
that you, as a professional, will be judged by the public on
what they first see. Make sure that it is a good impression.
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