Why Most Web Designers Mess Up Photography Websites

To have a great photography website, it’s not enough to have a jaw-dropping portfolio – you also have to present your work in the best possible way and collaborate with your designer to create a truly outstanding online presentation of your work.

Unfortunately, it happens quite often that photography websites are poorly designed and they don’t do any favor to the owner’s business.

If you’re wondering why various web designers tend to make similar mistakes when it comes to photography websites, check out the following list and make sure that your portfolio doesn’t suffer the same problems!

1. The Website Is Too Complex And Slow

Many designers, especially young ones, are very ambitious and creative and they want the websites they create to be quite complex and unconventional. While this kind of approach is surely exciting, it can result in an awkward website that isn’t user-friendly and that is too slow to load.

Slow loading time is the worst enemy of online portfolios, simply because it frustrates site visitors and affects conversion rate and brand perception. If you want people to stick around your website and eventually become your clients, you should make sure that your portfolio’s load performance is at the very top of your designer’s tasks.

2. No About Or Contact Page

Your web designer should know that About and Contact pages on a photography website are very important. After your potential clients have seen a couple of galleries, they will proceed to About and Contact pages to learn more about your business and find the best way to reach you.

Because of this, it’s crucial that these pages are simple and straightforward. You also have to make sure that these pages aren’t broken, because that will chase the client away – no one likes to deal with broken links! Many web designers don’t pay enough attention to the look of Contact and About pages, which can be quite detrimental to the photographer’s business. Remind your designer that these pages matter to you.

3. The Website Has Difficult Navigation

In addition to bad load performance, difficult navigation is another issue that can instantly repulse the website viewer. Your photography portfolio should definitely avoid fancy navigation structures and complex menus with many submenu items.

You should ask your designer to create simple and intuitive navigation that is easy to follow and to avoid obscure or overly innovative ways to display content. This will definitely help you convert your visitors into customers.

4. There Are Too Many Pop-Ups

Excessive pop-ups are the number one annoying occurrence when it comes to blogs and similar websites, including photography portfolios.

If you really need to have pop-ups on your website, discuss with your designer how to make them as subtle as possible. They shouldn’t disrupt the viewing experience of your portfolio because a typical client will leave the website immediately if a big and annoying pop-up covers the entire screen.

Small pop-ups that politely stick to the bottom of the page and are easy to close are probably the best option.

5. There Is Multimedia Content That Autoplays

This type of content is somewhat similar to pop-ups – it can be quite intrusive and irritating. You should discuss this with your designer and avoid using any content that autoplays. Even if you want to show some really amazing videos to your potential customers (for instance, if you do drone videography for weddings), you should be polite to your site visitors and avoid forcing your multimedia content on them.

If you still want your videos to autoplay, at least have them start with the sound off – that’s something that every web designer can help you with!

6. There Are No Social Sharing Buttons

Even if you’re not a big fan of social media, your potential customers might be. You can definitely lose some clients if you make your content difficult to share. Ultimately, not having social share buttons will affect your website traffic in a negative way. If your designer has forgotten to include these buttons on your website, you should ask him (or her) to do so.

Social share buttons are quite easy to install via various plugins if you’re using WordPress – you just need to discuss these options with your designer and choose what kind of buttons will match your website design in the best way.