A Perennial Question: Should You Redesign Your Website? The Answer is; Probably.

Things change. Things change even faster on the Internet. You know this.

Picketpost Mountain near Superior, Arizona. Photo by the author.

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I recently had a friend ask me to help him redesign his website. It was a little long in the tooth, and he realized it may be time to do it.

I may have helped that decision along by sending him emails every couple of weeks asking if he was ready to do something with it.

I had developed his first site, but that was back in 2016 and things have changed not only in what the sites should do and look like but also in how he is doing his work.

The first time I designed a website for Steve, he was teaching Photoshop and selling a book on learning Photoshop 6. We had several pages for the different classes and books for his business.

The second time, Steve had nearly inadvertently fallen into shooting architecture and interior design, and he loved it. No more teaching Photoshop-type site and welcome to a photography-oriented site.

We went from a twelve-page website to a one-page website.

And we only featured architectural photography.

Recently, Steve has been getting more and more commercial work, and I couldn’t be more excited. Instead of retiring—his plan in 2018—he is now as busy a photographer as I know.

So a new website is in order.

I noted that a fresher design would also include some copy for SEO, so I designed a very minimalist site with SEO running through every aspect of it. We have a bit more to do with file names and meta-text, but I want to slowly add it in so we can measure specific keywords.

The site is designed to give us plenty of room for SEO, as well as feature the various types of work Steve does.

Steve Burger (ProDigitalImage)

Steve is very picky about who he works with, and brings in a lot of work through word of mouth, so the client names on the home page will definitely be to his advantage.

Now for sure, this is a small website for a quiet photographer who is getting about as much work as he can handle or wants to do, but there are considerations for everyone wanting to redesign their site.

HOW DO YOU KNOW IF IT IS TIME TO REDESIGN YOUR SITE?

A redesign should take a while to prepare for, and I have a couple of indicators of when that process should begin.

So before we get to what to do to get started on your redesign, let’s look at if you need one at all.

Questions:

1. Have you had your current website for over 24 months?
   If yes, it’s time.

2. Is your website hosted on some template site you pay $5 a month for?
   If yes, it’s time.

3. Do you have a bunch of static images that are all hero images?
   If yes, it’s time.

4. Do your pages look more like a collection of random images than a book of work?
   If yes, it’s time.

5. Is your website boring, bland, unmemorable, or lacking any kind of personal brand?
   If yes, it’s time.

OK, so maybe it is time.

So what do we do first?

Good question; here’s part one of the answer.

Do you like tweaking and adjusting your website for maximum presentation, a more unique look or style, or do you prefer not having to think about how the site works, functions, and are perfectly happy with a good clean site that you can’t tweak all that much?

NOTE: There is no wrong answer here.

If you don’t want to mess with the website and can be happy with a template that looks like it looks, then I suggest SquareSpace, Format, or aPhotoFolio. All three are solid, professional, and hosted, so you don’t have to fuss with anything.

If you want to really dive into the creation, then there are Wordpress, Webflow, and Framer.

All three are basically “No-Code” formats that allow for drag-and-drop creation with full-bodied animation and creation tools.

Do some investigation to see which one you like the best.

Feel free to ask me questions as well.

Now… how we get started.

Today’s modern website is a necessity for photographers who want to stand out from the crowd.

Which is every photographer who is serious about making an incom in this business.

Remember that we are in a visual art space and what we show people lets them know what sort of visual person we are.

If our site is old, fuddy, hard to navigate, showing itty-bitty pictures, and looking like it was coded back when Clinton was in the White House, we are NOT putting our best foot forward.

And those big, full-page home page images are getting a bit passe.

Here is a checklist for your planning:

1. Three main portfolio settings.
   While this is a rule of thumb, it’s a bigass ol’ Sissy Hankshaw thumb. More than three looks desperate; less than three may seem a bit too focused.
   People/Places/Things.

2. A robust project listing.
   Here is where you get to show all the things that don’t fit into the three buckets at the top. You can have as many projects as you want under this button, but I would suggest that more than 25 may become a bit unwieldy.

3. Expand on your “hero” work.
   Show more than that one main shot. Make each of your hero images on the home page expand into its own ‘project’. Clients want to see you in action, how you think, what kind of approaches you take to the images.
   See Finn Beales for an example of what I am discussing.

4. Think of “sets” of images.
   Know that while you may not have shot images as sets before, you must start. Tomorrow. No exceptions. Shoot jewelry? Great, get more than one good shot of that bracelet and show the viewer at least three or four possibilities. This is important.

5. Less is more, more is imperative.
   No, that only sounds like an oxymoron. Think a well-manicured portfolio presentation with deep and long project presentations. A portfolio may have limited images, but when they are expanded into 3, 4, or even a dozen images, the number expands hugely. And projects are nearly limitless in image count.

6. How many do you show?
   I have a simple number that I want you to keep in mind; 32: Thirty-Two. 32 images in your food portfolio (main images), thirty-two images in each of your buckets, up to 32 in each project. It isn’t a rule, just something to think about.

7. How do you show the images?
   Right now, mosaic portfolios are everywhere. I think their time is waning. I cannot control the way my images get seen with a mosaic. Clients are asking for a more narrative approach to all they do. “Story” is the buzzword of the day. Start thinking of a linear presentation style rather than a mosaic of images where the art director can make out no story.

8. Words are your friend.
   SEO requires words. Photographers over the years have developed a phobia against using words. Bad phobia, die! We need words, wordsmithing, and a far more deliberate approach to our marketing efforts. Slapping up a bunch of images just ain’t gonna cut it in this massively competitive arena.

9. Ruthlessly shoot, ruthlessly edit.
   I use edit in the classical form to go through the images and choose keepers vs tossers. Be relentless in seeking the best. Hire a buddy to give you direction, and hire a portfolio consultant to help if you need it. And, with only a tiny few exceptions, you need it. My work improved greatly when I invested in a portfolio review by a professional.

10. Don’t be afraid to do something a little different than everyone else is doing.
    We have to stop copying every photographer out there who simply copied other photographers. It has gotten to the point that far too many photographers have websites that look like every other photographer. While there is a certain comfort in not going too far off the reservation, thinking outside the box is where the memorable stuff happens.

And being memorable is what it is all about.

Here are a few photographers with somewhat different-looking websites. They expand their brand by looking unique and bringing visual excitement to the simple portfolio presentation.

Paolo Veniziani
Jennifer Arce Photography
Levon Biss
Julia Johnson
Fall Min

I hope you enjoyed this In the Frame, and I hope that you think about your website and how much of your personal and professional brand it carries.

You are a visual expert, a visual powerhouse, a visual genius… in the eyes of your clients.

Ask yourself honestly if your website meets their expectations.

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How brand works:

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Announcing 40 New Discoveries in Art Photography

Lens Culture Award Winners.

Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and enjoy.

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I took a drive with my wife yesterday and we followed a snow storm in the desert. Here are a few images from the day. You can read the full article on Medium.

See you next time.

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