With the year fresh and full of possibilities, it’s the perfect time to take a critical look at your online presence, specifically your website. Today, we’re diving into the top three updates every photographer and creative business owner needs to make in the new year to keep your site up to date, fresh from an SEO perspective, make sure it’s attracting new clients and ensuring it works properly.
1. Update the Copyright in Your Footer
If you have the © in your website’s footer, you likely had last year’s date on it. So, you’ll want to update this to the current year (and make sure your starting year is included too!). For example, mine says: COPYRIGHT © 2010-2024 – LORI PICKENS PHOTOGRAPHY
This is one of the easiest new year website updates you can make and trust me – it has a huge impact on your conversion with cold traffic (nobody wants to buy from you if they aren’t sure if you are still in business!) This update is important because it communicates to viewers that you regularly update your website.
Plus – on most sites this is something you change in ONE PLACE and then it’ll update everywhere (because your footer is usually a site canvas if you use Showit!).
2. Update Any Dates on Your Website That Have Changed Because of The New Year
Your “About Me” page is your personal story, connecting you with your audience. Give it a refresh to spark genuine connections:
Many of these date descriptions can be found all over your about page. Anything from, “I’ve been in business for 10 years” or “I have a two year old and a five year old”. You’ll want to skim through these sections of your website and look for any dates that need updating. This might also be a good time to consider using years instead of a specific number.
For instance, you could say I’ve been in business since 2010, instead of I’ve been in business 14 years. Same thing with your kids: you could say I have toddlers or I have teenagers, as opposed to specific numbers that you have to update every single year.
Update your bio: Share your latest achievements and projects.
- So, for example, you might mention on your website that you’ve taught over a hundred students. and maybe now that’s 300 students. Anything like that, that has a specific number. You just want to make sure it’s up-to-date and reflects you and your business currently.
Update 3: Refresh Your Portfolio
The new year is a great time to really look at your website and say, what is out of date? What does not reflect my current working standard? Your portfolio is your storefront showcasing your best work and attracting potential clients. So you want to make sure that it reflects your current style and skill level.
Cull ruthlessly: Remove outdated or irrelevant work.
If you have work on there that you do not want to do anymore, or just isn’t your style or isn’t what you’re wanting to shoot, take it off your site. What you show is what you will book! You really want to look and consider:
Would someone want to book you based on the worst image you are showing?
- Organize beautifully: Group similar projects for a cohesive flow.
- Possibly sort by season – moving current season to the top
One thing I do usually recommend as part of your client workflow is taking images that are your favorites from each session and just dropping them into a folder. Then at this time of year, you go through those and ask yourself: which of these do I want to add? Which images do I need to replace?
Maybe it’s the time to look at where you feel like you want to do more work and do a couple of model calls that will get you the work that you want to show that you have more creative control over.
- Optimize for mobile: Ensure your portfolio is mobile-friendly for seamless viewing on any device. GT Metrix is a great, free tool to check your site speed.
If you have a little extra time and want to make more updates to your website, consider things like: adding more testimonials, and just spend some time clicking around on the main pages of your website to make sure that all your links are working properly.
Overall, updating should only take a few minutes of your time, but it will give your website a fresh and nice feel for the upcoming year.
Photo Goals with Lori Pickens
Thank you for tuning in to Photo Goals with Lori Pickens. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d be thrilled if you could take a moment to leave a review on the podcast. Your feedback helps me continue to deliver content that you love and helps others discover the podcast too. For more behind-the-scenes and daily inspiration, don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Pinterest. But that’s not all – if you want to be the first to get updates on upcoming podcasts, tutorials, and all things photography, make sure to join our mailing list. It’s the best way to stay connected and catch all the latest from Photo Goals. I’m excited to have you as part of our community and can’t wait to bring you more engaging and educational content. Thanks again for listening and supporting Photo Goals with Lori Pickens.
MEET LORI PICKENS, PARKERSBURG, WV PHOTOGRAPHER
Lori Pickens is a Mother, Wife, Tech Geek from Parkersburg, WV, and the podcast host of Photo Goals. She is a true lifelong local and has been photographing in the area for over a decade. She serves families from Parkersburg, WV to Marietta, OH. Lori is also a Click Pro Elite and Click Community Mentor. When she’s not capturing pictures or spending time with her kids, she enjoys organizing her lists and spending time on her family farm.
