The world of photography, due to increasingly mainstream products, is richer with budding photographers trying to find their way into a fascinating but complicated industry. The love of photography drives many people to want to take the perfect photo or capture an unforgettable shot.
However, this considerably limits the potential of this new art; in fact, if this is nostalgically linked to the soul of the photographer, in practice it is among the most technical and external marketing activities like create an app like uber that can be found.
It is essential to create, in addition to an excellent basic technique, a path that aims at productivity and a well-targeted marketing project. This path usually starts from one’s own website, often left to itself and not very well cared for.
ways to make your photographic website effective and productive
1. Let your images speak in minimal but essential graphics
The continuous technical evolution of photography implies a constant change towards the subject to be immortalized, it is a constant mistake to take chaotic photographs full of figures ; this is because it greatly destabilizes the viewer, who is unable to focus well on the protagonist or protagonists of the scene.
The same rule applies to an influential website, you can fall into the error of wanting to create a Home Page or a Page Layout particularly rich in images, forgetting that the observer needs a few well-defined elements, to feel reassured and protected. .
In order for the observer to feel at ease on the website, it is advisable to let the images speak with minimal but essential graphics, which underline the strong points of one’s style but which are not trivial to a more expert eye.
In recent years, many photographers have used Gestalt Theory to greatly improve this aspect; we recommend that you deepen this issue, in order to combine your photography with the psychology of man, significantly increasing the empathy that must produce between a content creator and an end user.
2. Show only the best photos not the whole catalog
Those who design and then build their own photography website gradually fall into the mistake of publishing all or almost all of the material taken in their experience as a photographer. If on the one hand this behavior can be identified with an example of great productivity, on the other it can considerably affect the overall quality.
In one’s work the memorable photos are certainly fewer than those taken badly and with technical errors, it is therefore important to select the best photos and have the strength to discard the less qualitative photos.
A photographic website is a real business card, it is essential to offer the best of your catalog, always.
What are the criteria that distinguish a quality photo from an unwanted photo? The first step in choosing the best photos lies in the visual quality, that is, it is identified in a high resolution and through a well-defined and sharp focus.
Imagine a beautiful photo presented in low resolution and with a wrong focus, it would not be a shot that would highlight the qualities of the photographer, on the contrary.
Another criterion to focus on is background noise and technical errors; these two parameters are essential in a photographic website, the latter in fact must represent the sharpness and beauty of the colors, while a photo or a design full of background noise and technical errors inevitably alienates the observer.
3. Focus on the kind of photography you prefer
The third way to make your photography website effective and productive is to focus your forces on the kind of photography you prefer. As in any work, even in photography, it is possible to give the best of oneself when proposing the most congenial genre to one’s own strings.
Fortunately, the photography industry offers an infinite number of genres and categories, thus being able to specialize and improve in a specific genre.
We, therefore, advise you, before structuring the website with the best photos, to decide which your favorite genre is and focus on that.
Being particularly tied to landscape, design or pose photography does not make one photographer better than another; on the contrary, it underlines the latter’s ability to know that area well and to know how to untangle the thousands of potential problems during processing.
We, therefore, advise you to highlight the categories of your favorite genre and not to overdo it with those that stray too far from what you love; thus creating a unique empathy with the client and guaranteeing him professionalism and competence in specific work tasks.
This form of optimizing your website is often criticized due to a visual limitation of your work, but there is no bigger mistake; not all photographers are able to provide the same level of shots for all kinds of photography, a good photographer is one who knows his limits and focuses on what he is good at; ensuring a higher level visual level of the website.
It is essential to remember that, in this constant competition with the competition, what differentiates a high-level photographic website from a lower-level one is the overall quality of the services offered; you don’t have to leave anything to chance and hit the right target in the center.
4. Curate your brand to stand out from the competition
Another method to make your website effective and productive is to take care of your brand; the photographer has to stand out from the crowd, for this to happen you have to pay particular attention to the brand.
Simply leafing through the dictionary that the trademark is defined as: indelible sign of recognition; and it is here that the basis must be created in order to emerge.
How to take care of the brand in the best possible way? The first step can be taken towards the creation of a personalized logo that has the dual function of immediately recognizing the person who designed it and above all of remaining imprinted in the mind of the observer.
In these cases you can opt for a free solution, designing and digitizing the logo yourself, or rely on a designer, who can complete the job.
We recommend that you put your logo on your photos, so that we can advertise yourself as quickly and correctly as possible. The logo is not the only component for the care of the brand, in fact it can also be found in advertising.
Many underestimate the importance of advertising banners, these can be essential for the diffusion of the brand; through online or offline advertising, you can significantly increase the awareness of your brand.
Among the most important aspects of caring for your brand is that of standing out from the crowd at all costs; this is partly true but it depends a lot on your photographic style. When you decide to create a brand, there are usually two ways to go: by similarity or by contrast.
In fact, it is very important to be well aware of which of the two paths you want to take, this depends on your way of wanting to establish yourself on the market. Approaching the care of your brand for similarity can be more delicate and less invasive, but it can fall into the banal; a contrasting approach is in fact more aggressive but may not be understood by the masses.
5. Open an e-commerce section to sell online
The last method to make your photographic website more productive and effective in finding customers is to open e-commerce. When you design your own photographic website, you immediately imagine yourself on the crest of the wave, this clashes with the harsh reality, the latter made up of indexing and online compromises to look after. The solution in which photographers are investing a lot is the opening of personal e-commerce where they can sell their works.
When we read the word e-commerce it is identified with the sale of objects, this is because the large multinationals are imposing themselves considerably on the online market, but e-commerce is also ideal for those who want to sell digital services, the latter in fact fully embrace the world of photography.
But how is it possible to open e-commerce? Opening e-commerce is not as difficult as you can imagine, but it is important to understand if you want to invest a sum of money or create your own online store for free.
E-commerce is divided into two types: Open Source and paid. In the event that you do not have a capital to invest, there is the possibility of using Open Source software on which you can design and insert your works, and then sell them. If, on the other hand, you have the capital and do not want to waste time on a little manual programming, you can rely on paid e-commerce software, which guarantees in a few clicks: layout and services ready for use.
We recommend PrestaShop, OpenCart, and WooCommerce for Open Source; Magento and Shopify for paid platforms.
Conclusion
The five ways to make your photo website effective and productive, i.e.:
- Let the images speak with minimal and essential graphics;
- Highlight your best works and excluding less praiseworthy shots from the catalog;
- Direct your forces towards the kind of photography you prefer;
- Take care of your brand in detail;
- Open an e-commerce section on your website;
They are to be combined with the true Dogma that regulates the skill and professionalism of the photographer: the beauty of the photos.
