You want your website to wow potential clients enough that they either book immediately or want to hop on a call with you to learn more asap.
But how do you create a website that gets people to take action now?
There are several proven strategies you can use to increase the number of people who visit your site and book with you.
This is also known as your conversion rate and can be calculated using this super easy formula: number of sales / number of unique website visitors *100
In order to boost your conversion (aka the # of people who book with you), let’s change some elements on your website to make it irresistible to your ideal buyer.
Let’s explore 4 ways you can increase conversions on your photography website.
1. Implement a clear call to action “before the scroll”
The header on your homepage before a visitor scrolls is the most viewed section of a website. In order to optimize this prime real estate, be sure to include a “call to action” that clearly explains where to go to book with you. We suggest a button at the top right of your website that says “book now” and links to your contact form, booking page, or consult sign-up.
Failing to include calls to action on your website almost always affects conversions. You cannot assume your audience knows where to look or how to navigate throughout your website. The calls to action are there to guide them seamlessly throughout your website and leave a stellar impression.
In addition to including a call to action on the homepage before your audience scrolls, we recommend adding them in intentional spots throughout your website. Other examples of calls to actions include:
- Wanna see my portfolio? Right this way →
- Ready to seal the deal? Reach out now!
- Scope out behind-the-scenes by following me on IG!
2. Make your location obvious in multiple locations
It should be very obvious to your audience where you are located. This is so often overlooked and results in your audience frantically clicking throughout your site looking for clues. Not only is failing to include your location awful for SEO, it also leaves a weak impression.
Let’s ensure it’s easy for your audience to find exactly what they’re looking for by listing your location on your homepage, in your footer, and in any other relevant spots on your site.
This is true even if you are a traveling photographer. People still want to know where you are from: they’re curious & they want to know how far they are paying for you to travel. Something along the lines of: “A traveling elopement photographer based in Arizona” would do the trick.
If, for example, you’re a Massachusetts photographer who serves all of New England, you might choose to write:
- Based in Massachusetts & serving all of New England
- Serving Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, & New Jersey
- Massachuetts Photographers serving RI, CT, NJ, NH and beyond
Including your location is a great way to boost your SEO. Google wants to give visitors the most accurate search results. That’s their whole MO. So if you can make it easier for them to classify your website and promote it to the right people, you’ll be rewarded.
Including your location is an incredibly important way to boost SEO for your website.
3. Include starting prices
No one wants to feel totally in the dark. Clients shouldn’t have to get on a call with you to get a general idea of what you charge.
Keep them in the loop by including at least starting prices on your website. We’ve seen conversion rates go up from this alone!
Providing clients with this information ensures they feel educated and informed to make the best decision.
This is also an incredible way to stop price-shoppers from reaching out, because your rates are very clear.
4. Shorten testimonials
If the testimonials on your website are looking a little more like novels, it’s a great idea to shorten them.
Most people think if the paragraphs on their website are too long people will only read part of them. The truth is, if people see giant blocks of text they are actually more likely to scroll right on past and read none of it.
Pull out the most relevant information from their testimonial and shorten it to no more than 2 sentences.
For example, let’s say you have a testimonial that says:
“We hired Jordan as our wedding photographer after a family-friend referred us. We were so pleased with the entire experience and the final images. She is a very attentive person who will go the extra mile to make your day special. Aside from marrying my husband, Jordan was the best part of my wedding day. I would recommend her to absolutely anyone.”
That’s a big chunk of text that most people wouldn’t bother to read on a website.
Instead, it would be way more powerful to pull out this show-stopper sentence: “Aside from marrying my husband, Jordan was the best part of my wedding day.”
Now, it’s brief enough to be eye-catching and easily digestible.
This ensures potential clients will actually read the kind words people have written about you. After all, if they don’t read the testimonials, how can they be persuaded by them?
Some photographers opt to bold or change the font of the most important part of the testimonial in order to draw attention to it while keeping the full length.
For our example, that would look like:
“We hired Jordan as our wedding photographer after a family-friend referred us. We were so pleased with the entire experience and the final images. She is a very attentive person who will go the extra mile to make your day special. Aside from marrying my husband, Jordan was the best part of my wedding day. I would recommend her to absolutely anyone.”
If you’re ever concerned about shortening a past client’s testimonial or taking something they’ve said out of context, ask them! You can’t go wrong, but we find most clients want you to share whatever is going to help you most.
Implementing these four tips will increase the number of website visitors who become paying, raving fans.
