Image by Damien Milan

Building your wedding photography website is an exciting albeit daunting process. It’s likely you’ve got an idea of how you want your website to look—yay! But now,  where do you begin to bring that website to life? We’re here to answer your questions. And when it comes to your wedding photography website, first things first, the website you’re building is for your clients. We mean that. 

Your website showcases your work while describing your personality, your services, and what types of sessions you offer. Most importantly, it’s for your clients to determine if they want to hire you.

Potential clients having difficulty navigating your website to find the information they need is a serious problem. At the same time, you want to stand out from the other wedding photographers, so your website should be fun, interesting, and exciting while serving as a showcase for your work. Let’s dive in and discuss the five things every wedding photographer should do when building their website. 

1.  Make Your Photography Website User Friendly

The first question you should ask yourself is who are my clients? We suggest focusing on what is called the Ideal Client Profile (or ICP)—your ideal clients’ location, age, hobbies, movies they like, etc—and then work backwards to determine our voice and tone to speak to those clients. For instance, as a wedding photographer, ideal clients are couples getting engaged, getting married, eloping, or celebrating a wedding anniversary. 

The best way to figure out your ICP is to think about what kind of weddings you like to shoot, or your specialty. Your photography website should help those people—who match what your ICP—navigate through to find samples of your work, see your rates, your social media accounts, and how to contact you. 

If you’re choosing a specific theme of your website, keep it crisp, easy to read, and easy to navigate thoroughly. Try these 15 stunning website themes to get you started.

Image by Nikki Hollett Photography

2. Use Clear And Concise Language

When someone visits your photography website for the first time, you want it to show your brand. Showing off your brand on the homepage can feel like an easy win, but cluttering your homepage with lengthy sentences or too much information can overwhelm potential clients. You might also confuse them and they might leave your site. 

You want the language on your website to be clear, concise, and easy to understand.  When it comes to the specific words you use, you want to use SEO-friendly language. This means making sure your information is searchable and crystal clear, especially on your homepage. Keep in mind that when people search for wedding photographers, they use specific keywords like “best wedding photographer in San Francisco” or “top destination photographers New Zealand.”  You’ll want those phrases included on your homepage.

Of course, we’re not saying you should never use sophisticated language. Try setting up your homepage to show who you are, where you are located—even for destination photographers—and what services you offer.

Photobug Tip

Don’t forget to add your personality to your blog! You still want your wedding photography website to be relatable and to showcase who you are. Don’t get too caught up in using SEO-friendly language. 

3. Show Yourself In Your About Page

Let’s talk about your About Me page. We’ve seen many wedding photographers tell lengthy stories about becoming a visual storyteller. We love a good story, but you should put lengthy information in a blog post! Potential clients want to see what value you can offer, how you are different, and how you will deliver exactly what they want. Since the About Me page is one of the most viewed pages on your website, this is where you should add emotional hooks— experiences, feelings, beliefs, values, narratives, and passions—to captivate and entice your website visitors. 

Think of your About Me page as the second point of sale. They’ve landed on your homepage, and they want to learn more about who they’re interested in hiring. The About Me page is where they’ll learn about you and why you’re the perfect wedding photographer for them. Use the page to showcase exactly what you offer, how you fit their needs, and how you’ll connect to each other. Don’t forget to add a picture of yourself on your about page, either. 

Image by Earth Below Photo

4. Use Clear Navigation And Calls To Action

Think about your website and what action you want to be taken there. Your visitors should know what tabs or pages to click on to be taken to where they want to go. You’ll want to include a menu or clear tabs and buttons on the pages. Try organizing your website with a home page, an About Me page, your past work, your blog posts, and contact information. This will prompt your readers along an easy journey through your website. The easier you make it for your potential clients to navigate, the longer they’ll explore your site—that’s good. 

Along with simple navigation you should be including specific calls to action—especially on your contact forms. Keep the form short and to the point. If people want to contact you to ask questions, the last thing they want is a long-form with too many questions. Stick with basic details like their name, email, potential wedding date, and a short introduction paragraph. As you grow, you can implement a more complex contact form that will better detail your customers. 

Photobug Tip

Steer clear of language like “Begin This Journey With Me” or “Explore Client Memories” as your guiding navigation. Use clear, strong language that is easy to understand and straightforward. Opt for phrases like “View Galleries” or “My Process” that will also translate easily. 

5. Check Your Photography Website Metrics And SEO Keywords

As your business continues to grow,  stay up-to-date on how your website is performing. Two analytics tools that will help you understand how your website is doing are Google Analytics and Google Search Console. Both of these tools are free and offer in-depth data analytics about your site traffic, website performance, your visitors, and top-performing pages. 

SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization, is another important aspect of building your website and should be kept in mind during the building process. The five factors that impact your SEO the most are your website speed, mobile-friendliness, keyword usage, content strategy, and backlinks. You can learn more about them in our SEO for wedding photographers e-course.

Image by We Choose The Moon Photography

Whether you’re building your website for the first time or you’re fixing your current wedding photography website, you always want to keep your readers in mind. They are—of course—your potential customers. It’s worth the time, energy, and effort to make sure your website is in tip-top shape. Here at Photobug, we’re here to help you along the way. 

If your website is ready to go, but you’re stuck on what to post, check out these 25 blog post ideas that will give you a creative push. Then, check out our other website tools available on our business advice page.