Today that downtown location of Jasper Avenue and (no longer existing) 98 Street is right across the street from the Edmonton Convention Centre which hosts all sorts of conventions and conferences.
What year is it, 2024? Web sites have been around for over 30 years. So why do some photographers not know how to make a decent web site?
Over the past two weeks, I’ve been trying to help a Toronto-based customer find a conference photographer in Edmonton. So I did a web search for “Edmonton conference photographer” and “Edmonton event photographer.”
A few web sites that I viewed had no information whatsoever about the photographer. In some cases, not even the photographer’s name was mentioned. Just a business name and a contact form. No thanks. Pass.
A couple sites made no mention of where the photographer is located. These sites apparently came up in the search results only because they stated that the photographer can work anywhere in Alberta and then listed every city in the province. Pass.
Two sites had dead links, empty pages and/or missing navigation menus. If a photographer couldn’t be bothered to look at their own web site, then why should I? Maybe the photographer is no longer in business? Pass.
One photographer had absurdly large photo galleries. One gallery had over 450 images, another had over 800 images, and one had over 1,300 pictures! These were not client galleries but portfolio galleries. It looked like the photographer posted every photo they’ve ever shot. Pass.
One photographer called themselves a “brandographer.” Pass.
Another photographer called themselves a “lens maestro.” Pass.
Why does a wedding/portrait/event photographer need a manifesto, a list of their favourite words, and stories about their pets? Pass.
Sell Yourself Not Your Photos
It shouldn’t be so hard to give away a $5,000 job.
I ended up with exactly one seemingly qualified conference photographer. Maybe that’s all there is in Edmonton and this guy has a monopoly on conference photography.
There was a second possible photographer who might be okay but their web site was disappointing. The fonts changed style, size and colour several times on many of the pages. Some photos were overexposed and out of focus. The About Us page had three pictures of the photographer who was wearing big sunglasses, a hat and a track suit. These photos looked like stills from a bad 1980s music video. Overall the site was dissuading when it should have been persuading.
Photographers, look at your own web site! More than once! Read every word out loud. Look at every photo, figure out what’s wrong with it and then either fix it or trash it.
It’s not just about pictures. You have to sell you. Customers do not hire a business. They hire a person they trust.
Try to be a person and not just a collection of galleries and a contact form.
Try to build trust. Use words. You do not need a manifesto, an artist statement, a cute life story, or photos of your spouse, children and pets. Tell potential customers why they should hire you. Hint: your favourite ice cream flavour is irrelevant.
Customers want to minimize risk. They don’t want to risk their money or their time on the wrong photographer. How do you minimize this risk for them?
Elevate Your Business
When dealing with corporate customers, you have to, as best you can, operate on their level. Business customers are not like brides (if you also do wedding photography) and they’re not like children (if you also do family portraits). Business customers are on the clock and they’re spending their company’s money. They always have to win the approval of their boss, their head office, or other higher ups.
All of us are amateurs. But some of us are just more professional about it.
– often attributed to George Carlin
Business customers don’t want to buy photos. They want to buy positive results for their project.
Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to be their business partner. You enter their world, not the other way around. You need to make a first impression that says, “trustworthy professional.”
As a professional photographer, you can’t afford to have a business-killing web site that makes you appear anonymous, sloppy, amateur or fly-by-night.
Your web site should make it look like you’re serious, you’ve done this before and you can be trusted to get the job done right. First impressions are important.
