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Family Photographer Marketing Podcast
Weekly marketing tips for Family Photographers hosted by Fiona Margo of Fiona Margo Photography! Fiona has been a family photographer for the last 13 years and a marketing educator since 2017.
The most common praise the podcast receives is "no fluff, solid advice". So if you are feeling stuck or overwhelmed with marketing, tune in!
https://www.fionamargo.com
Family Photographer Marketing Podcast
97: Spring Marketing Reviews: Part One
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Brough to you by the 90 Minute Marketing Intensive
We audit real photographer Instagrams and websites to find where spring offers (or main offers) get lost and how to fix trust holes.
If you're interested in me looking through your brand, we can work together for 90 minutes and go through ONE offer, ONE booking path and make sure your website supports both.
Spring Reviews And New 1:1 Offer
SPEAKER_00Hello, everybody. Okay, so we're doing spring reviews today's spring marketing reviews. So I opened up in my stories and I said, does anybody have a website or an Instagram that they want reviewed in view through the lens of like what are you booking right now slash what is your spring offer? So these sort of reviews are sponsored by my one-on-one that I just opened up. I was doing in the beginning of the year when things are quiet quieter for me, I was doing a three-part call. So like a one-hour Zoom that we talked about, kind of where that photographer was. The second hour was like refining the marketing so make sure it matched. And the third hour was implementing some sort of booking plan. So now because I am close to my own busy season, I don't have three individual hours per photographer to give, uh, but I do have a 90-minute call available, and that's the new offer that's gonna run through the end of the year if you want one-on-one support. So what we're talking about in that is one offer, one booking path, and making sure that your website matches both. And then from there, you can take what we talked about to like take that process and and and tap it onto your other offers or try other booking strategies. But the goal is I want every photographer to leave those calls with clarity around one offer, clarity around one booking call, and making sure that their website is trust building. So if you're interested in snagging one of those, they'll be in the show notes. Okay, so the first photographer, now in the past, what I've done is pre-research the photographers and then just sort of shared my notes. And this is different. I'm gonna go be going through, like I have not looked at these Instagram and websites yet. So I'm pretending
The One Offer, One Path Framework
SPEAKER_00to be a local Cordelane mom who's interested in booking a session in the next six weeks. That's kind of how I'm gonna be doing this for all of these. Okay, so Brittany Barb Photographer, Cordelaine Family Photographer is the next line of her Instagram bio. So where I am right now, starting on Instagram, finishing on the website. Please have your location. This person does, but you would be shocked at the number of times that I cannot figure out where a photographer is located. Okay, so her um bio here says helping moms see themselves the way their kids do, timeless, honest portraits designed for your home, now booking spring petite sessions in the studio. So if I'm a mom and I read that, then I'm like, okay, she is kind of uh not superposed, relaxed photographer, and we're talking about spring petite sessions in the studio. She has three print pin posts that go through the artist, the process, and the art. So love those. It's very fun. If I was trying to build trust with her brand, it would be really nice for me to see that. As I scroll through, there's nothing that has text on the Instagram that talks particularly about these spring petite sessions. So if I'm just trying to figure out where I can learn more about those on the Instagram, it's not clear. There's a maternity shoot, there's a mom and her baby, there's an in-home session, there's a little boy who appears to be in a studio, another family in the studio, um, and that's the one that says spring petites are now available for March and April, comment studio, and wheel DMU. So the fact that this person is dipping their toe into the mini chat world is great.
Method: Live, Unscripted Site Reviews
SPEAKER_00Um, I just simply because it is really good to be brave and try new things. The only issue here is like from the outside looking in, that doesn't have any text on it. So I wouldn't necessarily know that that uh particular feed was or that particular post on the Instagram was about these petites. And I might just be like, okay, I'm not quite sure where they are. So that's why I think it's really helpful if you can have text on your informational type reels or carousels that if you're talking about a specific thing. I'm gonna check on my phone really quick to make sure that come on, little phone. So these are the types of pauses that you'll hear throughout these because I just want it to be really clear. I just want to make sure, yeah. So there's no I would just have text overlays just so someone can easily find out. Okay, so let's say that I that at that reel is what I came in through, right? So studio petites now available, March and April. So I'm gonna go and find out more about those. From what I can tell just at a glance through, that appears to be the first time that these have been mentioned on the Instagram. So in the chat, I did this thing where I'm kind of like knowing that
Review 1: Instagram Clarity Gaps
SPEAKER_00the average person will need to see that this particular offer that I'm doing 15 times, I'm I mentally take note of how often I'm talking about it. Okay. So I go up into her stories and let's see, no nothing in you, me in this light. So she looks like she made another reel about uh petite studio sessions. So it looks like that is a reel. Where is it? Okay, so it's the the oh the cover photo is like a maternity photo. So I wouldn't, if I was just looking at this and I wasn't and and I wasn't opening each each um image, I wouldn't know each reel. I wouldn't know that that was. So I would rather have this this um text that says now booking petite studio sessions. I would rather have that be the cover image so I would know that that's where I could learn more about that, if that makes sense. So we've got two on the post on the main feed, which is great. So now we are going to go to her links. So the website links are her main website and then the studio petites. Okay, so here's where we're gonna get into a little bit of trouble. All right, so the trust that I'm if I'm a court lane mom and I found this account on Instagram and I found those two posts about the studio petites, here's my options, right? So in the links, I can go to the first link is studio petite sessions, and that goes to oh wait, never mind, I was wrong. When I came in before, it was like a it was like a um, I might have had because I've looked at this person's website before, I think it opened up a previous page. So never mind, she fixed this, okay. I take it back. Okay, so it goes somewhere good. It says spring in the studio, petite sessions, it's an info page, March and April only, and then it breaks down everything about these sessions. So basically, if you were to go through this info page, and this is what this photographer is booking right now, I would love if the Instagram looked like this page in terms of of these images that are all sort of studio, so that she has quite a big studio gallery, but there on her main Instagram, there's not really that. It's like this these in-home photos and other things. Let's see if this one is two-da-day. No, this one's just a studio one. So I feel like we could do a better job of making it feel like this is what we're booking, like, like this is all we're talking about. Because, I mean, obviously, she may be booking other things like in-home
Review 1: The Studio Petites Info Page
SPEAKER_00and newborn and stuff. Um, but I just want to even a pinned post about this particular session would be really helpful. Okay, hold on. Let me go back to where we were. Nope, that's not it. Okay, so I'm on the studio page. So here's the information that I'm getting. It says there is something about spring that feels like a warm, welcome reset. Love that. Perfect for families wanting updated portraits, motherhood moments, headshots with personality. Um, so then go down and there's a portfolio, and then you have a little bit about her, which is great. Now, here's here's kind of a dangerous move. So the link that we have available. So I always think as the person, you know, we talked about before in these website reviews, like if you picture someone in a little car and they're driving around this page, so the first link off of this page goes to the Pixie Set page, which is where I ended up before. So this is like a Pixie set booking page, studio petite sessions, and it it's the availability to book here. So that is the first link that is presented to us. So if I had built trust from this page and I was ready to book with her, I would link and I would be able to book. If I scroll down, because I'm picturing myself as a quarterline mom and I'm still building trust. I go down and I see a picture of her, and then I there's a button that says meet Britney. And that takes me to her about me page. But then the about me page is very, very simple. It's one image of her and it says contact me, let's start your journey, and then it's a contact form. So you can see how we've taken this mom and she might be like, oh, okay, I'll contact her here then about something. But what we really want them to do, I'm assuming what Britney really wants them to do, is book online. So already we've given them an alternative way because we've taken their attention from this info page to an about me page that encourages them to write in on a contact form. So those are the types of little pathways that you have to be aware that someone might get kind of stuck in. The the also the about me page is not meaty enough to continue to build trust. So it's not actually like I build more trust with her in this little snippet that she has here, as opposed to whatever's on the about me page. Okay, so scrolling down, we have more images. So then we talk about this. Is my favorite thing that people do, we talk about the process because we understand the process like the back of our hand. The average person does not understand the process. So she says streamline booking and pre-session uh planning. After your retainer secures your date, the remaining balance of 450 is due prior to your session, and then she says exactly what'll happen. The 30-minute studio session, she talks about like why it's good and what to what to be prepared for. Then she talks about how the gallery will be delivered, and then she talks about how they're gonna chat about artwork perfectly. I mean, I meant to say perfectly perfect. Okay, so then I'm going down and it says let's talk investment. So I go down and I thought it was gonna take me away, so I'm glad that it doesn't because if it had, I would be on an investment page, and this happens to a lot of people. I'm now on an investment page or a pricing page that has nothing in particular to do with the exact session that I'm trying to book. Okay, so spring in this studio, it talks about everything that's included and the investment of what it is. So the total investment's 800. It talks about what's due at booking, when when the rema the when the remaining is due,
Fixing Confusing Links And CTAs
SPEAKER_00how long it's gonna be, out for outfit coordination, all of that is listed here. And then the next step we have is book a studio session, which links back to the online booking page. So perfect. So most of the links here are directing people along the path, minus the Meet Brittany one, which I would say is not necessary. We already we met you there. If you want to make it more meaty, you can, but I don't think we should take people away from this page just for that about me. Okay, and then we scroll down and it says for extended families, uh, and it says every so often, uh, and it seems to be about extended families. So then when I click schedule your session, it goes to the contact form. So I'm uh so this is I'm just being honest about any point of confusion. So this seems like a separate offer than this studio. It's like for extended families, and then it takes me to the contact form page, and then it has reviews, and then it says your family should be on the wall, learn more about the art. Now, before I click that button, I would what is the name of this page? Spring in the studio. Okay, so I don't feel like there's any particular reason to have this extended family information here because I from what I can see, it is not in the studio. So I don't think that that needs to be there for this particular page if you're trying to build trust around this one offer. Then down here she has these reviews that are kind of like rolling through with images. I would move those up. I would move those towards the top of the page because that because what we're trying to do on this page is build trust. So then she says, your family should be on your wall. Because obviously, this is a photographer who's interested in selling prints, which is awesome. Um, so she says, you know, my gr going up, my grandma's house is covered in photos. That's a really good pull to be like, hey, we've kind of gotten away from this really unique tradition of making sure that every single session results in printed images. And I might, you might be like, what are you talking about? Unique tradition. Absolutely, hardly any one of my 175 families that I photograph every year, at least they're not printing from me. So they're not printing high quality photos. Some of them are, um, but I would say that not as many people are printing as they used to. So tugging on that little nostalgic thread is really important. Okay, so then there's a link under here that says learn more about the art. And it takes us to the contact page again. So this isn't a helpful button. So I would get rid of it. Because do you want me to write in about the art? You know what I mean? Like if it if you wanted to add more information here about your process of supporting people through getting prints, perfect. Add that in there, but don't take me away to the contact page again with that button. Okay, um, FAQs for the court d'ane petite session. So it says how many images, what should we wear? What's the difference between a petite and a standard session set uh session? Sorry, how long is a session? What should we expect? And then it says, Let's capture this, and there's like a picture, an outdoor picture of like a family, and then it says, Let's do this, and then when I click the let's do this page, it sends me to the contact form again. Okay, so what we can do with this particular page because this person has online booking, is let that be the main option that people use because this page should be literally all about the mom who wants to book these exact
Homepage Placement For Seasonal Offers
SPEAKER_00sessions. I mean, the name of the page is spring in the studio. The subheading is petite sessions March and April only. So there's no reason to have this extended family chunk in there, and there's no reason to keep directing people to the contact form because the the book studio session button is is only on there. Let me count. So it's on there, it's on there at the top, says step, wait, hold on, let me check this one. Okay, so it's on the top where it says let step into this season. I would change that button to be extremely clear. Book here. Um, because you just want people to be like, you have to assume that people are, I always assume that people have just met a computer yesterday and they're 89 years old, even though they look like a 35-year-old mom. I just assume when I'm building out these processes that that's who I'm building for, you want to make it as clear as possible. Okay, and then I would take away this Meet Brittany thing because we don't, if you want to add even more pictures of you or you doing things or anything else, I would definitely move that button away because we don't need it. And then you have this little bit of client review here. I would just move that up because we have the sessions, the portfolio, meet you. I would just sprinkle the reviews in a little higher just because people do get very connected to reviews, and I love the idea of sprinkling in sprinkling them in. I love that you're you have this booking process and the investment just takes you further down the page to this information and then they go to the book studio session. But then as we scroll down, that's where we get a little lost because we are not quite the buttons, don't quite make sense. Schedule your session, which is actually the clearest call to action, goes to the contact form on the about me page instead of to the pixie set booking page. So um that's what I would do for sure. I would make sure that you fix these little buttons that can cause any sort of confusion. And basically throughout the trust building process of this page, you are just making sure that the person is aware that the next step that they're going to take is going to the Pixie Set booking page. Okay, so now I'm gonna come into the home page of this photographer. So I see they have like a rolling set of images at the top, they're indoor and outdoor. Okay, I scroll down and it has more images, really cute. Obviously, this person has no problem with producing consistent imagery, which will always help her. Then she has this snippet about herself right on the about me page, and then we have your chaos is your chaos is my canvas. That's very cute. Love that. Um, we have reviews, we have your session. Um, let's see, we have Cordelaine maternity session, Spokane newborn photographer, spoke hand family photographer, and then we talk about her experience. Um, and then we talk about artwork. Let me see if this artwork goes. Nope. The artwork go, the artwork is going, the artwork button is continuing to go to the contact form. I would make an artwork page if you don't have one already that breaks down your entire process of art. Now, what is missing from the top half of this page? Like the if we're thinking about a newspaper, these spring sessions. So the first I hear about them, so now I've gone all the way down, I've learned about her process, I've learned about the prints and notes from mom, and then it says quarterline photography session resources, tips from one mom to another. So there's a
Review 2: Finding Motherhood Minis
SPEAKER_00blog post here at the bottom, and it says quarterline studio petite sessions, a beautiful experience, and that takes us to this. Oh, it takes us to a blog post that's all about the studio sessions. So what I would do is move this blog post up or have at the top now booking and a link to the studio petites right at the top of the page, like right after, right after your your intro. Just be like have it, since it's a seasonal offer, have a spot on your homepage that's near the top four seasonal offers, because that'll really help people to get here. Because if I'm looking for that, I have to go all the way to this blog post at the bottom. And it looks like it might be that these are the last three blog posts you book that you wrote. Let me see if that's true. If that's true, then the second, yeah, it is. So if the second you write another blog post, that cord lane one's gonna bump down and down and down. So you want to make sure that the seasonal image, the seasonal sessions that you're offering have a permanent place right on your homepage where someone who's looking for that particular thing can help. Now, the importance of this info page, which I'm so glad that she has. However, let me see if I can get to the info page anywhere else. Okay, so it's not in any of the drop downs. Newborn family is not in there, at least as far as I can tell. Um oh, your investment page is a 404. Um, okay, let me go to the about. You seem to have two different about me pages. So when you go on the info page, the about me when it says when it says about, it's going to like a um it's going to the contact form a lot of times. Like it on on one on your on your info page, it says meet Brittany, but it's actually going to the contact page. Your about me is actually much meatier um and helpful. So that is good. But anyway, either way, I can't find a linkable way to get back to that info page that I found in the um links for Instagram. So I would have that be the page. So you could have on the home page, now booking petite spring sessions, and it goes right to that info page. And then I would also have like I love instead of a I love having things structured with the info pages easily found. So because you have multiple session types, um, let me see if you've made okay. So you're you're you have it named portfolio, but they're really info pages because your your maternity page is an info page, it's not necessarily a portfolio page. It has a portfolio embedded, but it also has everything you would want to know. So you could turn this menu item into session types, and then you could have the spring minis listed there under like uh BrittanyBarb for dot photography slash seasonal sessions. And then every time you have a new seasonal session, you can just replace that page with whatever it is you're booking. Um, but I can't like get to that info page as far as I can tell from the um website if I wasn't linking directly over from Instagram. Okay, so I hope that that was helpful. Uh, I definitely think that you can clear things up a little bit by just having the text overlays on any time you're talking about the spring sessions and then just going through with that eye and making sure that those links that you have on the info page are going where you want them to go. Okay, we're gonna go to our next person. So let me clear out these links because otherwise I will get myself very lost.
Streamlining Links And Direct Booking
SPEAKER_00Okay, next we have okay. Next we have Karis Elizabeth Photography. So we have Oklahoma City newborn and family photographer, yay for the location. Then she said baby maternity family fresh 48, uh, natural joy-filled photos, free Oklahoma City pregnancy and postpartum guide. Since she has a little like arrow down, like that's where you can get that resource. Okay, so right off the bat, obviously another photographer who has no issue with consistency. So if you're thinking that that's the problem, if you're not that anyone's having a problem, but that is not the problem. Okay, so it looks like what she if I had to guess what she's looking, what she's booking right now is. Is maternity, but let me feature through. So she's thinking of flowers. So she has one kind of flower post. Before that, the rest of them. Oh, let's see if this is an event. Motherhood minis April 25th. So we're gonna go with this particular offer because it's easier to look at it. And the I I'm thinking of these as spring offerings. So this is what we're gonna go for. So February 17th, we have a mom with flowers in a studio, and she says Motherhood Mini's April 25th. So that's what we're going with. Let me see. Let me scroll back and see if they're mentioned and okay. We have on January 26th, Motherhood Mini's April 25th. Booking opens February 2nd. Okay, let me see if there's any more. Um looks like that's it for the uh feed. So I would love to have, she has three pin posts. It's a newborn session, or a little bit baby's a little bit older than newborn. Second one is baby's a little bit older than newborn as well. Um, and then this one is at home photo session. So I would love to have one of these pin posts be the seasonal offering, the other pin post be your year-round offer or your artist process, and the third pin post be like an about me of your face, just so you're consistently showing up at the top of your feed with your face. Okay, so so far we have two of these posts. So let's say that I came in, I'm a mom, I'm an Oklahoma City mom. I've never met a computer before, but I'm super excited about these images. Okay, so let's see what the direction was given in the caption. So it says uh the first time they appear, Motherhood Minis on April 25th, booking details will open on April on February 2nd, and then it says, like, moms, you deserve to be seen, grandmas are welcome. Perfect. So I'm like, okay, there's no direct information except that booking is coming on the way. So I'm assuming that it is. So Motherhood Minis, and this is when they show up the second time, uh, April 25th. So then it says, Yes year setup will be a beautiful pink floral installation, basic white floor and beigewall photos from last these photos are from last year.
Strengthening The Minis Info Page
SPEAKER_00So they'll be April 25th at this particular studio, 10 minutes, 10 images. Okay, so I would always add like what is the next step? Like, where do I book? Okay, just because we're assuming that this Oklahoma mom has just emerged from a cave and she's like, How does the internet work? Okay, so we're gonna go the links. There's let's see, one, one, two, three, four. Okay, one, two, three, four, five. Okay, the first one is the Oklahoma City pregnancy and new no newborn sorry, the Oklahoma City Pregnancy and Postpartum Guide is the first one. Second one is cozy at home newborn sessions, third one is her website, but it's slash links. Fourth one is sign up for my newsletter, and then fifth one is short sessions. So in these links, there's not a direct link to these motherhood sessions. So I'm already because I just emerged from my cave and I don't know what's going on and I can't find the link. So what am I to do? What is what is a what is a newborn 25-year-old mom from Oklahoma City supposed to do with this? So let's assume that she's like, okay, maybe it's short sessions, so that's where I'm gonna go. Open up. It's not, it's short sessions, which is nothing wrong with short sessions, but I'm still not where I want to go. Okay. So I go back because I'm like, oh, wrong. Let's go to links. Okay, so here we have a links page. So I'm wondering if you could choose one or the other, because I don't think we need to have a link tree and links, a links page on the website, but either way, short session. I cannot say that together. Short session info is one newborn session, family session, nurture fest, what to pack in your hospital bag, uh, pregnancy and postpartum resources, or click. So guess what? I'm so lost. I can't find my way. I can't find my way to the motherhood. Okay, so I'm going back again. And now I'm just gonna go to newborn session because I'm just trying to get to the website. That's what I'm trying to do. So here I am on the website, but I'm on the newborn page, which is not where I want to go. There's nothing wrong with the newborn page. It's actually very well done, but it's not where I want to be. So let's go home. So we're going home and it says uh Oklahoma City photographer telling the story of home through newborn and family photography. Okay, I'm on the hunt. I'm hunting for these sessions. Okay, I'm going down baby photography, family photos, fresh 48. She has got an embedded behind-the-scenes video. We absolutely love to see it. She's got a how it works. Uh part one, get acquainted. Part two, session planning, part three, photo day, part four, gallery delivery. Perfect. More images, we're scrolling down, we're on the hunt, we're searching. We're devastated. We can't find I can't find any. I can't find. Let's see. Let's see. No, no. I can't find anything about it. Minis and shorts. We're gonna go there. This is the page I think I was already on. Shorts. Oh, here it is. Okay, so it's under the minis and shorts page. So
Review 3: Many Services, Scattered Paths
SPEAKER_00we need to make it more clear. So we could have minis and shorts, we could have we could have short sessions. I'm just wondering, like a way that you could categorize seasonal or something. I'm not sure how you run your minis and shorts, and then have these motherhood minis be a drop down. Okay, so then it says motherhood minis April 25th, details and booking here. Okay, so we do have an info page. So it says has all the images, it has all the information, um, it shows where it is. Let's see, the it shows the background. First of all, here's an example of this particular page should be over the next couple weeks broken down and turned into Instagram posts because it's so helpful. It shows the actual studio where they're taking place, it shows the set, it shows the rolling wall, it shows the flowers that are gonna be there, it shows everything you'd want to know, it talks about what to wear. Super helpful. Okay, so we're just gonna go through this particular page really quickly and see if we can beef it up a little bit because we're we're going back to this Oklahoma City mom. She has found the page. Okay, it was a little bit hidden. We had to dig it out, but we got it. It needs to be directly linked on the Instagram in either the it probably in the if you're gonna use a link tree, do link tree. If you're gonna do a link page, do link page, but I don't think you need both because I think it's just too much clicking around for one person. The other thing we have to keep in mind is majority of the moms are doing this on their phone. So they're trying to see a lot of small text. Okay, so if we click book our spot here, it goes to Iris app, which is like an online booking app, and then she gives some little like disclaimers, and then you can choose your dates. It looks like she has one, two, three left. Okay, so I would say that from what I would assume as a person who is learning about this brand who came along on this path with me as somebody who's newer to the brand or maybe heard of this photographer but never worked with them. That's kind of who we're assuming that we are. I would want your photo on this page. I would want it to be like, hi, this is me. I'm so excited for these sessions. This is why they matter, and have some information about you because if I am building trust, if I'm in trust building mode and I don't see anything about you, I've come from the Instagram and then I've landed up here. I'm gonna go to your about page. I'm just gonna, you're gonna lose me over on that page. And on that page, I have you have linked cozy at home sessions, bumped a baby, and sentimental family sentimental baby pictures. So I kind of have like lost the thread again of these particular sessions. So you want that info page to be pretty much everything that someone could want to know about you, your process, and these particular sessions so they don't go looking for anything else. Okay. So the main change is really make it clear what you're booking. If pin a post at the top so that it's it's a seasonal offering, it's happening on this day. There's a text overlay that they don't even have to open it before they can see what the post is about. I know a lot of you guys are really afraid of text overlays because you don't want them to mess up what your grid looks like. I'm gonna just whack that out of your head. That does not matter anymore. If you want to see the most chaotic grid you've ever met, you can look at mine. It's my face ranting, it's random stuff. There's text overlays all over the place. It's not hurting me. I'm building trust all the time. So you want to be helpful. So we need some clarity on the Instagram. We need the links to be more clear because we are operating with the idea that this person who is potentially trying to book has fingers that are actually massive hot dogs and they barely know how to use a computer. Okay. All right, we're moving on to the next one. Clicking out, clicking out. You'll have to put up with me clicking here. Okay, next one
Building Meatier, Trust-First Pages
SPEAKER_00is Iola Jade images. So we have Washington State photographer. It says Olympia, Washington, Pacific Northwest photographer, weddings, families, couples, portraits now booking 2026 and 2027 website or weddings. Okay, so I'm peeking through here and I'm gonna see if she has uh let's see, she last family post I see was in um December. So I'm assuming, let me go here to so I don't see a seasonal offering that she has right now. It looks like she's working on some senior work or some family work in her stories. What's this one? Okay, so this isn't so the top photos are event, fam event, wedding, and then branding season. So I'm gonna go to her page and I'm gonna see if she has an seasonal event. Okay, it looks like here's some friend here's some um babies, a cute baby in a basket. Let me just peek around here. Family Okay, so I don't see a seasonal event. So I'm just going to go off the bat, like give some some re some basic overview of this person's uh presence. So if you were in the you were in the category that you are not doing a particular event and you are not doing a seasonal offering, um, then this particular chunk might be helpful for you. So this photographer has taken on a lot of different types of sessions, which we know I do that as well. It is a big undertaking. Okay, so we because we're splitting attention across the board from newborn to events to uh weddings to it looks like she also does branding to out to outdoor family. So that's kind of what we're what we're working with. If I arrived on this site, so that's how we're gonna look at it through, because I teach, I don't, I can't help anybody with weddings because it's not seasonal and I'm and it's a whole nother ballgame. But since she says she books families, we're gonna assume I'm an Olympia area mom. Okay, so right off the bat, I would love again to see some pin posts at the top, especially since you offer multiple types. I would say like 2026 offerings and have a pin post going through all the different sessions that you offer. If you are offering something seasonal or something that you're working on right now, that would be the next pin post. And then the final pin post would be about you, a picture of you, and your artistic process. So right off the bat, I would love to see that. Okay, so I go into her links and it's taking me to her website. Now, right off the bat, the first thing that I see is it says her name and then it says weddings and elopements, and it's a big banner image black and white of a wedding couple. This is a uh this isn't a flip-through banner. This is one where I click through. So the next one I get to is lifestyle newborn, and the next one I get to is maternity, families, childhood, branding, and seniors. So we're working with a lot of different types of trust that we are trying to build. Um, scrolling down, we have we have her hello, where she like introduced herself, what she specializes in, and then we have
Review 4: Aligning Homepage And Offers
SPEAKER_00some reviews, which is great because we want to see reviews right off the top. We have a really, really cute gallery of this blonde little girl in this flower field, which is amazing. And then at the bottom is her Instagram. And then at the beyond that, wait, let me see what at the top we have contact, home, weddings, allotment, family, seniors, branding, bump, baby, childhood, and couples. I would, if I were you, if this was my website, I would try to make little snippets of all of those session types throughout the home page. Just because, again, going back to the idea of someone encountering this brand on their phone, it's hard to make people rely on uh menus and menu drop-downs because they can often be absolutely teensy weensy tiny. Okay. So if we click family, because remember, I'm now I'm now an Olympia area mom who you know hasn't ever done anything, was just born yesterday. Okay, so I'm on the family page and it's uh the first thing I'm hit with is very consistent gallery of a bunch of family work that she's done. So if I have found this photographer on Instagram or on SEO or whatever, and I've come to the family page, I'm excited because I'm like, sweet, she knows how to consistently produce images because we're gonna go back to the number one fear of every potential client, which is that she did it for them, but she won't be able to do it for me. Consistent imagery helps quell that fear. Then we jump into family session pricing and packages. So she talks about mini standard and extended family. There's a book now button, which I'm not gonna click yet, but I will come back back to. Then we have another scrollable gallery and then nothing else. So, in my opinion, this page needs to be much meatier because I do not have enough information at this time to build enough trust to click that about me button. I mean, sorry, to click the book now button. Really quick, I'm gonna go to her about me page and I want to see how meaty that is. Okay, so it's a very cute photo of her. Hi there, I'm Chelsea. I am, and she talks about herself and then she and then that and then there's a few, there's one review. So the whole situation I feel like needs to be a little bit more meaty. So I would say pictures of her and her process need to show up on this family page because this is really our main opportunity to build trust as a mom with this particular photographer. So let's say that I was able to build enough trust just by the images, even though my instinct would be to go to her about me page that doesn't have any links, so I would get kind of stuck over there. So I would go to her links and the only thing linked is her Instagram. Let me see if it's linkable. Okay, so your Instagram isn't linked, which is actually better. Um, I don't want to be able to go back to someone's Instagram on their website as one of the only options on the page because it just breaks up where we want them to be, which is staying on these pages that we strategically sent them to. Okay, so if I click the book, oh okay, so if I click the book now button on your family page, it just bounces me back up to the top of the page. So if I'm an Olympia area mom, I have now not been able to book with you because they're the book for for it might just be a link problem, but for whatever reason, the booking button is shooting back up to the top of the page. So so then I say let's go to my contact form. So then I go to your contact form, which is there's nothing wrong with a contact form, but you could, I don't know if you have the ability to do online booking, but if you did, you've sort of lost me because I I bounced out to go to the this contact form page. And I'd rather, if you have the opportunity to do online booking, I'd rather just be able to have that person book online. So my advice would be have the home page broken out in a way that with images where it's like maternity, and there's a picture of a maternity and it says maternity, and it's a big image that someone on their phone could easily click to the info page for maternity, info page for seniors, the info page for family,
Turn Portfolios Into Info Hubs
SPEAKER_00and each of those pages be super duper trust building for those individual session types that will help people from getting kind of spun around and lost on your particular website or Instagram. So that would be my advice to that. Also in the links, unless you want people going to your Facebook page, I would just take that link out of there. And then if you don't need that link, you just have a straight link. Like you could have one link straight to your website if you don't have anything else that you're doing for them. Um that would be my advice to Chelsea. Okay, now let me get to the next one. Okay, so next we have Lin Lee photography out of Orange County, and she says, Lin Lee, Orange County photographer. Super clear. Maternity, newborn, family book now, and then it has a little arrow pointing down to her links. So we're gonna take a peek through and see if we can figure out what she is currently booking. Okay, so the first page is about styled sessions in the studio. Um, the next one is about an unscripted feature. Um, and the next one is another in-home session that's maternity. All very cute, all very consistent. No worries here with consistency. Okay, so she says, I'm gonna go with what she says. She says, in-home newborn sessions are currently booking. I'm just gonna peek through a few more. Looks like she just did a giveaway, and as of February 19th, she was doing cake smash minis, but those just those happen, those are happening tomorrow. Um, let me just go through. I'm just peeking. Okay, so we're gonna go with in-home newborn sessions because that's what she told me that she was focused on in her on her own Instagram. Okay, so Instagram looking through, there's nothing that is like off, like it's definitely a family maternity newborn brand. So we don't have any sort of trust issue on the inst on the on the Instagram. I would love to maybe see let's see, style. Sorry, I'm just reading. I feel like I would love to see her face again pinned at the top. Um, and you could even do a combination pin post where it's like what I'm offering and about me. I just feel like that would be really helpful. Okay, going away from her Instagram to her link. So first one is website, second one is cake smash. So, really quickly, cake smash. I'm gonna go to cake smash, and this is a common issue, so I'm gonna call it out just for everybody. So the cake smash, which assuming let's say because those are happening like tomorrow, I'm not really gonna talk too much about them. But let's say that she had a longer runway. If I came from the post and I came to the cake smash, I would it's going to the Pixie Set booking page. Have it go to a blog post, if nothing else, because so often what happens when people get to this page and they click back out is because they just haven't built enough trust yet to go from Instagram to direct booking link. It makes more sense to go from Instagram to a even if it's a blog post about cake smash sessions that walks through your process. Where do you get the cake? Who brings the cake? What do you wear? Where do they take place? There's so many questions about around a session like that, and you need more time to build trust. Okay, so real quickly, I'm just gonna talk about that. Okay, so let's say we are in Home Newborn, so we are going to her website. Okay, so right off the bat, it's an artistic take on your love stories. Ooh, this is a little bit hold on. Okay, I think it's not the the first image the first image makes me think you're a wedding photographer. So if you're and then the next ones are more like um maternity, but the first one that's there, that black and white one, it makes it look like you're a wedding photographer. So I might, just because that hero slash banner image is so important, I might just switch that out to be something that is features, a bump, a baby, or a family, just to avoid any sort of confusion, because I'm always just thinking about that. Okay, so it says about her, it has a picture, great, we love to see it. It bumps right into a gallery again. Beautiful imagery, no issue there. Let's connect and get to know each other is my first available link. So we're gonna click it just because I want to see where it goes. Okay, so it takes us to a contact form. I would rather it takes me somewhere else. Um, I'm trying to think. I just feel like let's connect and get to know each other. I would almost rather it go to an about me because the inquiry here is like, are we ready to inquire? Maybe, maybe not. I would just rather the first link away from this trust building page be to another trust building page. Then we have testimonials, which is great. And then we have four or three boxes at the bottom, testimonials, inquire, and packages. So I
The Kindergarten-Clear Booking Path
SPEAKER_00feel like the um this homepage could be a little more meaty, just a little bit. I think part of the problem is that the gallery is a horizontal scroll. And I would almost, because I'm trying to think about how someone will experience that on their phone, I would almost rather there just be a grander landscape of imagery altogether. So I could kind of get lost on it and build trust with you on the homepage. Okay, so let's say I'm looking for, um, let's say I'm looking for newborns. So I haven't I haven't seen anything particularly about just newborns until I go up to her portfolio tab and I click newborn. So I'm gonna see if this is actually a portfolio page or if it's an info page. So it's a it's there's like a banner images across the top, beautiful, very pretty. I'm going down. Okay, so it's a A lot. It's um it's a it's a gallery of I I can't do math, but maybe 20-ish images. Okay. And then it says, what are you waiting for? Say hello. And then there's if I click the say hello, I go to the inquiry button. Um, so I'm gonna go back out of that because I'm I'm not ready yet. I don't know anything yet. If I go to experience, which is one of the options, so it says five curios steps to your dream session. Say hello, officially book, planning it, your photo shoot, your photograph, and then it kind of goes through those steps and then it it directs me back to the uh is in current form. So I feel like what I want to do is kind of add in these particular steps, but for newborns, on this info page. So I want the majority of you guys listening to stop thinking about portfolio pages and switch it in your mind to be portfolio pages that are really info pages. So what you would want to think is like, I'm a mom, I don't know what the heck I'm doing. I don't know, like you have you have some helpful stuff. Like on this thing that's that's going on its own at the top, I just saw that it says recommended to book in the two in the first two weeks. That's really the only info that I have about these sessions in particular. If I didn't catch that, which I might not because it's rotating automatically through the banner image, I would much rather you break it down for me on this page. Like exactly when do you want to shoot? What should I wear? What do I need to know about light? How do I prepare? All of those things can be on this page because the goal is we want as much trust building to happen here instead of through the inquiry form, which means that first of all, if people don't have high enough trust and they're not peaked, their interest isn't peaked enough about the offering, they just won't go to that page. And so we're kind of losing that. It's sometimes people have this misconception that, like, if you if you put too much on your website, then people won't reach out to you and ask you questions. I just have not found that to be true. The goal would be to build as much trust as possible on this particular info or this particular session type. So I would restructure this. All these portfolio images are great. They're very consistent, there's no issue. It's just that if I am trying to learn about what you are doing and what you offer, I'm a little bit lost because I I'm I'm like, okay, my my option now, the only option, the only next step I take is if I go to say hello, I give you my first and last name, my email, my phone number, which work of mine gained your interest? Have you viewed my investment page? Shoot type, session month, what's your vision, other details? Uh what do you plan? What do you plan on? How do you plan on enjoying the photographs? And then it gives me a bunch of options. What's your Instagram handle? How did you hear about me? So right now, you're almost asking the person for more information than they've then you've given them about your work, your process, who you are as an artist, and what to expect. So if you're having issues with people actually filling
Final Takeaways And Coaching CTA
SPEAKER_00out your contact form, I would simplify the form down and add a lot of this information onto your page. So when you say like, what's your vision for the photo shoot? What's your vision as an artist? Like, what is your ideal session? What, what is your process? How do we, what can we expect? Like, if I'm doing an inborn, in-home newborn session, tell me about you and why you love them and why you're the best choice. Because sometimes I I know we kind of get scared of like sales or sales language or sales psychology, but at the end of the day, what these pages, Instagram and our website and our booking pages, everything, is we're trying to tip someone off the fence from being up on the fence. I don't really actually understand that phrase. They're on the fence, and they're about to what? I've never thought of the next step. Fall off the fence into the yard. But anyway, we're gonna go with it. So they're on the fence, and we're like, now I'm gonna have to do a deep dive on the history of that. You some of you know, and I know you're like shouting into the void at me, but we're trying to get them to go from like, ooh, I love her work, ooh, she's in my area, ooh, she doesn't seem like a weirdo. Like that's what the about me page is about. Like, there's definitely photographers who I'm like, oh, I would not connect with her because she seems like very stiff and posed, but not to say that's weird. I shouldn't have said the word weirdo. I mean, she's aligned. She's aligned with what I want, right? So I want lifestyle newborn, her work is really good and professional to the point where I know that it's consistent. Like whatever she's produced for other families, she's going to be producing for me. The style is what I want. I love the light. She is the one who can help me, but we haven't done enough to tell people about how we're going to get them from that point to actually booking with us on these info pages. So that's why these sort of walkthroughs are so helpful. Because I know I know that probably all the photographers that I have reviewed for this section have probably thought that they were being extremely clear and that the booking path was set. And that's the crazy thing about marketing and the importance of looking at it like this. Because if we pretend we're somebody who has who is lost in the world and looking for the solution that you offer, the path from discovery to getting on the calendar has to be more than clear. It has to be like made for a kindergartner type clear. So again, I hope that this was helpful. I want to acknowledge that redoing and reworking and fixing website pages and websites and those sort of things can be really complicated. Um, but it is well worth your effort to have a container for your traffic that you're working so hard, your visibility that you're working so hard to obtain in all your marketing endeavors. If they're landing in a place that doesn't continue to build trust, then the the horrifying thing is that all of the visibility work, which is truly emotional and truly difficult, can be sort of sabotaged by not having a storefront online where that person walks through the door from the storm outside and is like, this is exactly where I need to be. I can find everything I need to know. I can build trust with this store, and they have the product that I want. As much as we don't maybe want to think about it like that, that is the way to think about our websites. So I will be back. I'm thinking of doing these just every day this week. I'm also tantalizingly close to a hundred episodes. I haven't said the word tantalizing maybe ever, but it's kind of fun. Um, I don't even know if that's an appropriate word for that sentence. Okay, so I kind of want to hit that number um after doing these. So we have probably one, two, maybe three more through three episodes total, I think, of these reviews. So by the end, you should have a good idea of things you can update, change, and look for clarity. And if you need help doing that, um, I can help you. We can work together for 90 minutes and it's $300 to do that. And you should come away with some real clarity. It's $275 for members. So um, if you're interested, take a peek at that. If you don't have that in your budget, join the membership. It's super helpful just for $35 a month. Okay, hope you guys have a good week.
