Along with things that are good, there are definitely some things to avoid when setting up your website. Here are a few that I think top the list:
Auto Play Music
Music is a fantastic addition to the mood and experience of viewing photos, but the option to listen is better than blasting your viewer from the get-go. People might be in a quiet place, at work, etc. and if your site launches into a rock ballad at full volume, your potential client is going leave, and fast.
Long slideshows
Avoid slideshows that are SUPER long. Say, more than 15 images. You want to entice folks to seek out more of your work rather than have to wait through a timed slideshow for more than 30 seconds or so. Building momentum and excitement is an important part of walking your client through your site without them losing interest.
Typos
We already covered this, and it’s definitely a big one to avoid.
Important things that are hard to find
Make the things you want people to see EASY TO FIND. If you’re highlighting a particular product, make sure it’s front and center, not at the bottom of the second page or in tiny print somewhere.
Brand inconsistency
Also covered above, avoid continuity errors with style, tone and the general feel of your site. One great way to do this is to pick one or two fonts ONLY and one or two colors and build from there. It’s easy to get too busy, or font-y, or colorful. Limiting yourself is a great way to dial things in and keep things simple. There’s a lot of variation you can achieve with just a couple of fonts, including side, lowercase, all caps, italic, bold, etc. and still remain on-brand.
Okay, that was the big five. As promised I thought of a HUGE one after this was all put together, so I’m adding it on as a bonus.
Number 6: Avoid doing all of your edits in desktop or laptop mode!!
Every year the percentage of mobile usage increases, and that means more and more people are finding you from their phones or tablets. That’s why it’s imperative that you not only have a responsive site (this means that it automatically adjusts to whatever format the user is on, and don’t worry, most templates have this built in these days) but it’s super important that everything looks the way you want it to on your phone. So if you’re making adjustments to your website, be sure to check mobile and avoid doing everything on desktop only.
Okay, that’s it for this episode! Thanks, as always, for tuning in. If you’d like a copy of these items to revisit later, head to photobizhelp.com/sixfixes
Catch you next time. And remember, in all you want to achieve, consistence is key.
