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What are the best photography website designs?

Female photographer in front of waterfall - Iceland thinking of the best photography website designs

Designing a website for a photography business can be an exciting process; there are so many options in terms of layout, design and types of content that you could include. 

Building the right website for your business can be difficult, and with so many options you may fall into some bad web design habits, such as creating an overcrowded website. However, at Go SiteBuilder our ready made templates are designed to guide you every step of the way to help you create a professional and stylish website.

In a creative industry such as photography, showing creativity and flair in your web design is incredibly important. Without a well-conceived web design visitors may be discouraged from using your services or browsing through your work. Creating a website that displays your photographs beautifully and gives the visitors all the relevant information is vital. 

Key aspects to consider:

Web design can be confusing and overwhelming, especially if this is the first website you have designed. When designing a website, there are some key elements which you must think about before designing your website. The best photography businesses carefully consider these key components when designing their websites:

  • Web design – does your web design really reflect your business and your aesthetic?
  • Layout – is your website easy to use and navigate?
  • Portraying your business model – does your website show what kind of photography you offer?
  • Showing your work – what type of gallery layout do you want? For more inspiration read our blog on how to create a photo gallery.

For more information on what to include in your website check out our blog on what features you should include in your photography website. Below we are going to give some examples of the best examples of photography websites in different styles to help you design the best website for your business. 

Landscape Photography Website: Colin Prior Photography

Source: Colin Prior

This website is a stunning example of how great web design can show your photographs in their best light. The large header photograph is part of a slideshow that changes between equally beautiful landscape pictures. The layout is simple yet effective, with a clean minimalist aesthetic allowing the photographs to shine. 

Portrait Photography: Joe McNally

Source: Joe McNally Photography

This photography website clearly shows the type of photography that the company specialises in. There is a range of photographs on the homepage, immediately exposing visitors to the photographers style. The sidebar menu shows the various styles of photography that they specialise in. Although this layout may not be an option with many website builders, there are more simple ways to achieve the same look. For example using a collection of photographs in a gallery on your homepage will give a similar effect. 

Fashion Photography: The Fashion Camera

Source: The Fashion Camera

This fashion photographer has taken a slightly different approach to her website, by focusing on her personal connection to her work. This creates a connection between the visitor and the website owner. Certainly not a strategy every business may want to use but for this type of photography using your point of view can be useful. The muted colours and font create a stylish website with an effective design and layout. 

Art/Concept Photography: Shaw and Shaw

Source: Shaw and Shaw Photography

Shaw and Shaw’s photography website is a great example of how colours and unique design can elevate a website. This is particularly effective in this photography style of art or concept work, where aesthetic is so important. The multicolored menu draws the eye but doesn’t detract from the photograph above. The website mostly operates on a slideshow with a page of information at the end. Although not the most informative, the unique elements of this website make it memorable and successful. 

Wedding Photography: Holly Rose Weddings

wedding photography site homepage with married couple

Source: Holly Rose Weddings

The design for this wedding photography website is very effective. The colour scheme is muted and the design is minimalist. These soft design decisions create a beautiful wedding website which ties in with the photo shoot chosen as the header. The menu is simple and easy to navigate as a header menu. 

If you’re ready to build an amazing website for your photography business, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range of features, including multiple gallery options our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!

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What is the difference between offline and online business?

Female Inventory Manager Shows Digital Tablet Information on difference between offline and online business

You might think the difference between online and offline businesses is obvious, but if you’re starting a new business or looking to move your business from one to another, it’s important to understand the opportunities and possible pitfalls of each one. 

In 2020, an offline business doesn’t mean a business that doesn’t have a website; on the contrary, it’s crucial for all businesses (online or offline) to have a functioning website that acts as a marketing tool. This helps you gain more visibility and attract more customers to your business. Try a simple website builder like Go Sitebuilder; you can have a website up and running in minutes just by uploading your images and content into our ready made professional web designs. 

There are some businesses that thrive online and others that can only really be carried out on an offline basis, so let’s have a look at the differences between them. 

Online Business

An online business is one that carries out its services entirely online and gets its revenue from selling products and services that are either digital or shipped to the customer’s home. 

Always open

An online business doesn’t adhere to opening hours, which means that customers can browse their products or services at any time. According to Workarea ecommerce research, the primetime for online shopping starts at 8 p.m. when the majority of physical shops are already closed. 

Less expensive to establish and operate

Setting up an online business does require some capital, but only the amount you need to pay for a good quality website builder with an ecommerce platform. As it is always online and can take payments autonomously, you don’t need to hire extra staff to supervise the website. 

Harder to gain trust and reputation

Competition is fierce in the ecommerce business world, and you need to find a way to stand out to your customers and persuade them that your products or services are superior. This means you need much more detailed product descriptions and multiple high quality product photos. It’s also vital to include reviews and testimonials so that potential customers can see that others have been happy with your services. 

Growth opportunities

If you start your online business on a small local scale and it picks up traction quickly, growing your business can be fast and efficient. If you are online then you automatically have a global reach, so just by offering worldwide delivery you can exponentially increase your target audience. 

Offline Business 

An offline business either sells physical products in a store, or services that are limited to a geographical location. An electrician or a plumber, for example, has to travel to visit their customers’ homes in person, rather than offering online services. 

Limited hours

A physical store will be limited to their opening hours, and will not be able to sell their products outside of this time, in the same way an electrician will have specific working hours. This limits the amount of revenue you can receive in a given time frame.

Easier to persuade customers to buy

Once you have a customer in your shop, you are much more likely to get them to buy something, in comparison to having a visitor searching on an ecommerce website. Sales are much easier to achieve with face to face interaction, and you are also helped by the fact the customer can physically touch and hold your product. 

The way you interact with your customers will also help you gain a good reputation; if you are helpful and friendly, people are more likely to recommend you to others. 

Easier to tap into local demand

If you are opening an offline business in your area, you understand exactly what people need and what the gap in the market is. If you are providing products or services that weren’t previously available in the area, then you are likely to start seeing revenue immediately, whereas it can take longer for an online business to gain a loyal following. 

More expensive to set up and run

If you have a physical store, then you will have to factor in the price of renting and insuring a space, as well as paying for running costs such as utilities and staff salaries. If you visit other people’s houses to provide a service, then you will have to pay for your own transport. This can significantly add up, and you might have to raise your prices in order to ensure your offline business turns a profit. 

Choosing whether to run an online or offline business depends on the amount of capital you have to start your company, and the type of product or service you provide. Regardless of which one you choose, you will need a website to either function as your online business, or to market and provide visibility for your offline business. 

Go Sitebuilder is a simple website builder with ready to go templates tailored to your industry. We have an integrated ecommerce platform that allows you to easily sell your products with no limitations, and our responsive design means that potential customers can visit your website from any device. Try our 14-day free trial today and see where a website can take your business. 

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How do you design a website layout?

Parents sit on sofa resting using pc online researching how do you design a website layout?

You might think you need to be a professional graphic designer to build a site with an eye catching and unique web design. However, nowadays this is simply not the case; there are numerous website builders out there which offer ready to go sites and pre-made web designs so that you can build a site which looks great, but doesn’t take up endless amounts of time. 

That being said, whilst website builders do all the tricky stuff for you, you still need to have some sort of plan to ensure your web layout looks smooth and site users can navigate themselves around easily. We’ve put together a list to make the web design process all the simpler, so that you can build a website that looks like it was designed by an expert!

  1.  Stick to simple 

Not only does a minimalist web design look smooth and sophisticated, but there is also a scientific theory behind it in the form of Hick’s law. According to this law of attraction, the more decisions people are forced to make on your site, the longer they take to make a decision. 

So, if you have multiple images of your products on the landing page of your site, you might confuse users as they won’t immediately know which product they prefer. Whilst this does keep people on your site for longer, it can also frustrate them and cause them to delay their decision over whether or not they want to explore your products or services further, leading to a potential decline in site conversions. 

Instead, when building your website, use the best picture you have to either characterise your site, or to show off your best selling product; this will engage site traffic and capture their interest. 

  1. Don’t ignore negative space 

Yes, it’s important to keep your web design simple. However, this doesn’t mean that you should ignore any negative space (space which isn’t filled with a picture or text). Blank spaces between different sections on your web pages are important, as they help to direct the attention of site visitors to the key messages you want to get across, and they also prevent the overcrowding of your web design. 

Instead of simply using negative space as a way to break up different components of your web design, use it as a way to boost conversions. Focus negative space around a call to action to prompt users to consider purchasing your products or enquiring into your services. Google’s homepage is a great example of this: there’s little clutter, and you know exactly what to do. 

  1. Focus on a colour scheme 

The methodology of choosing a colour scheme isn’t as black and white as it might seem: colours can evoke emotions and trigger memories. This is key for your brand: to keep your image as a brand memorable, a strong colour scheme is important, as it means customers are more likely to associate a colour with your business. 

When building your website, picking an appealing colour scheme is also paramount to keep potential customers onto your site. According to Mallee Blue Media, 85% of shoppers claim that colour plays a big role in their buying decisions: choosing colours which clash, or aren’t visually appealing, can cause site visitors to leave your website as they aren’t attracted to your web design.

Although website builders offer customisable colour palettes for you to choose from when building your site, don’t just pick the prettiest colour, close your eyes and hope for the best. Conduct market research into your target market: see what colours they’re most likely to associate with your brand. Below are some businesses which have effectively utilised colour to correlate with their brand. 

  1. Responsive works best 

Building a website with a responsive web design is crucial in keeping site traffic on your site: as most people now visit a website on their mobiles, you’ll need to make sure your website is easy to navigate around on any device. Not only does a responsive website increase chances of conversions, but it’s also important for SEO. 

Considering that site traffic from mobile devices is five times more likely to bounce-off your site if it isn’t responsive, this could negatively impact your ranking on Google’s search engines. If people are clicking off your site at a rapid speed, this could tell Google’s algorithms that your site is of low-value, meaning Google ranks you lower on its search engine results page. 

Luckily, some website builders will offer a responsive website so that traffic to your website can access your page from any device. With Go Sitebuilder, this is included in our package, along with all the other necessary features for you to build your own website at a bargain price, but with premium results. We believe quality shouldn’t be overcomplicated, which is why our simple ready to go sites are perfect for those who want to build a website in a few clicks.

Our 14-day free trial lets you explore all we have to offer and more, completely obligation-free – try it today!

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How do I attract customers to my website?

Shot of happy and successful business colleagues giving high five in office after attracting customers to their website

Every burgeoning business needs an online presence. Bringing your business online means you can massively grow your potential customer base, as well as giving you the opportunity to stand out amongst your competitors with a slick website. Already got your website made? Then you’re halfway there! The next step is attracting customers to your site, and we have some useful tips for you on how to do just that.

Not got your website made yet? Visit our site builder here and get started! 

Design the perfect site

One of the most important aspects of your website will be the web design. A well laid-out, easy to navigate online store demonstrates professionalism and reliability to your visitors. You don’t have to be a web design pro to help your online business flourish. Go Sitebuilder boasts a huge library of website designs that help you easily build your website exactly the way you want it.

High quality descriptions of your product will also convey professionalism to potential customers visiting your eCommerce site. Sprinkle some key words and phrases that people would search for in your product descriptions to ensure that visitors stumble upon your website. 

Product photos are just as important as product descriptions; professional-looking photos of your products show a degree of credibility to your online store’s visitors. Make sure they show all aspects of your product and that you have at least two or three images for each one. 

When creating a website for your business, it is important to create a domain name that reflects your brand. Ideally, you want your domain to match the name of your company. This reinforces your brand and makes it easier for customers to find you and return to your online store. 

Understand the power of social media

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest. The list of possible social media platforms available is exhaustive. Share a link to your new website across all of your personal social media accounts to increase traffic to your store. Networking on LinkedIn, at both a personal and company level, will also be a valuable tool in promoting your business.

Don’t just rely on personal accounts, as it can look unprofessional. Create social media accounts for your business as well – social media is a great way for your business to interact with potential customers online. Maintaining a regular flow of updates helps to keep followers informed about your business, as well as bringing a sense of personality and approachability to your brand. As many as 80% of users on Instagram alone follow at least one business, so this is a channel you should definitely be exploring. 

For each of your business social media accounts, make sure you have a link to your website in your bio, as well as sharing it in individual posts.  That way, every time someone visits your page, they will always see a link to your eCommerce site first.

As well as helping your customers stay abreast of your business, social media is a great tool for learning about your customers. Using analytics (usually built into the platform) to stay informed of your customer base’s interests, demographics and what time they are online, can help you to create content valuable to them at times they’re most likely to see it.

A blog is a great platform to allow customers to keep up to date with any news or updates from your business. Sharing a link to your online store throughout your blog is an absolute must if you want to drive up clicks. Remember to keep up a steady stream of updates in order to build a bigger following. With Go Sitebuilder’s fully integrated blog platform you can get started on yours right away.

Promote your business everywhere

A bulletproof way of ensuring people hear about your new online business is to tell them about it. Simple, right? Tell your friends, tell your family, tell anyone who’ll listen. As long as you keep talking about your online store, people will keep hearing about it.

Post in local groups to get your website in front of a relevant audience. Most towns and communities have dedicated Facebook groups for their residents to post in. Utilise these to keep everyone in your area informed about your business.

If you’re using Facebook as part of your social media strategy, then you can reach potential customers through Facebook’s targeted advertising, where adverts for your website will appear in front of your target audience. You can apply the same principle to Instagram, who are also under the Facebook umbrella, but you’ll have to do some research to work out who is more likely to buy your products.  

For local businesses, registering your business with Google Places is really handy as it means it can be found more easily with Google searches, as well as ensuring it appears on Google Maps. Yahoo! and Bing have similar business databases which are also well worth signing up to.

The only thing left to do…

…is get your website started! We hope you’ve found this blog helpful. Make sure to let everyone know that your website is up and running and your online business will be flying!

Get your website set up now – Register for a 14 day trial today and see how our website builder can help you create a beautiful, professional blog hassle-free. 

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What are the most important elements of an amateur sports club website?

People doing yoga stretching to be added to a sports club website using Go Sitebuilder

Designing a website for an amateur sports club can be overwhelming if you don’t know where to start. With so many different website builders offering a range of features, figuring out what you need for your sports club can be difficult. At Go Sitebuilder we aim to make website building as simple as possible, by having an easy-to-use interface and giving helpful hints and tips in our blog. 

Whether you are building a website for a football club or a boxing school, showcasing your best assets is vital in attracting new talent and sponsorship. In the UK there are over 6,000 amateur sports clubs, which means whatever sport you are working in, there is plenty of competition around you. In this blog we are going to talk you through the most important elements of a sports club website. If you use clever web design and a great website builder you can create the best website for your sports club. 

Clear Information

This may seem obvious but ensuring your website shows all key information is vital to attracting visitors. All information regarding your club should be easy to find on your website, for more help with navigation tips, check out our blog on why navigation is so important. Your website should also be up to date with all recent news and events. 

Make sure you include contact information, location (whether this is your offices or where you train) and office hours. Additionally, as there are specific types of sports clubs and levels for different sports, including detailed information is also important. Consider the following questions when writing about your sports club:

  • What level do you play/train at? 
  • Is there a specific age group you are targeting?
  • Do you have any special awards or trainers that you can mention? 
  • Mention the type of club and ethos you have. For example, are you more focused on development or competitions? 

Photographs and Videos

Your main selling point is how good your team/players are at their sport, so make sure you show them off! Have a range of photographs showing members at their best. If you have photographs from events such as  regional matches or  tournaments include them, especially if a member or team was placed top in the competition. 

Depending on the type of club and your ethos, consider including photographs from more social gatherings. Many new members will look for the spirit of the community they are looking to join, so whether your socials are a curry night or an awards ceremony at the end of the year, ensure to include photographs of them. 

Team or Coaches page

Whether you have a team or coaches page is dependent on whether the focus of your sports club is on the performance of your team or the development led by your coaches. Having this page is a great way to show visitors the people involved in your club. This  personal touch to your website is great in making your community feel more involved in your activities. Ensure you include photographs of your team or coaches, so that visitors can connect more with your website. 

Recent News and Matches

If you want fans to stay updated on your team, having a news page is vital. Including a range of news stories about your club will ensure that visitors stay engaged with your website. Consider the following topics when writing news bulletins:

  • Recent matches or competitions and their outcomes 
  • League table updates 
  • New player/team member/coach updates
  • Tips and advice on how to get involved 
  • News about training sessions or community activities
  • Fundraising events or targets 
  • Updates on alumni if they go on to be more successful in the sport 

With many website builders, visitors can leave a comment on your news stories. This is a great way of keeping fans feeling engaged with your news and getting a feel for their opinion on developments in your sports club. Keeping visitor engagement up is seen to have positive effects for your website and your business. One study showed that if visitors are encouraged to engage with a website, it fosters the idea of a partial owning of the product and therefore an increased attachment to the product. 

Eye Catching Web Design

As with any website, having effective website design is key in creating a standout website. Make sure you think about aspects such as colour, font and layout when designing your site. The design you choose should reflect the type of club you are and be easy for visitors to use. For more inspiration take a look at our blog on the best designed football websites.

If you need a great website builder for your sports club, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range features, our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!