When a bride and groom take the time to search for a wedding photographer on the Internet, the first glimpse of your business they see is your website. As the couple browse through your website, they decide whether or not they want to choose you as their wedding photographer. How can you grab their attention and encourage them to work with you (and spread the word with their friends and family)? Website plugins are hacks to help you increase interaction from your clients, which invites them to learn more about you and your business.
Since there are so many ways you can use the technology available today and increase the traffic and bookings to your website, we decided to put a list together of helpful tools you can use. Here are the 6 plugins you need for your photography business to reach ideal clients.
1. OmniGallery
As a wedding photographer, you share content with your clients regularly. With the various social platforms available to you, there are plenty of opportunities for you to reach new audiences. Since it is important to get ideal clients to reach your website, it is necessary for you to use a tool that helps you connect the various channels.
Related: Don’t miss out on the nine time-saving tools you need in your business
OmniGallery is a WordPress plugin that helps you add your images from other social platforms, such as Pinterest and Instagram, to your website. If you decide to shoot an image on your iPhone and post it on a social network, visitors to your website cannot see this image. Using this plugin allows you to include your images on your website and blog from any platform and add them into the gallery of your choice. This is important because there are many times you share on one platform and not on any other. When you install this plugin into your website, your content is shared with your visitors on your website.
2. AddThis
After a client (whether past, present, or potential) views your website and blog, the best way to reach their friends and followers is to have them share your content on social media. The more your content is shared, the higher the chances are that you will reach new potential clients. The benefit of sharing content with your current and past clients is you can continue to build trust with them, and can create loyal fans who will be referral sources for years to come.
AddThis is a tool to encourage social interaction on your website. You can create custom social sharing buttons to invite visitors to share your content on certain social platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. Another benefit of this plugin is, if someone accesses your blog from one of your social networks, you can create a blog pop-up that invites them to sign up to receive your newsletter or additional content. Also, AddThis shares other content you have provided in the past if it relates to a certain page on your website.
3. W3 Total Cache
Because everyone is so busy today, the Internet is a quick way for them to get information on the go. If your website has loading troubles, it will set a negative first impression with clients. You want a website that will load quickly and provide visitors with exactly what they are looking for.
W3 Total Cache is a WordPress plugin to assist you in cutting down the load times for your website pages. When a potential client is visiting your website, they want to immediately see what you have to offer. If the load time on your website is too slow, they may click out of the window and move to someone else. This tool helps you reduce the load time for your pages, but also assists in images loading faster.
4. Image Widget
When you are uploading images to your website, you are showcasing the best photos you took from the wedding day. After your images are color corrected by a wedding photo editing company, you share them on your website and blog. These images show clients what type of photographer you are. Even though your images reach out to your ideal client, you want to add in tools that help them stay on your website and look through more pages.
Image Widget gives you the ability to add images to the sidebar on your blog. The reason to add a sidebar is to encourage visitors to access your other content. When you choose “Wow” images to place on the sidebar, visitors will be more likely to click on them and see more of your work. Another reason to use this plugin is so you can feature relevant content on your website. If you created a guide for your couples to help them plan their wedding day festivities, you can feature a thumbnail of the content on your website. When the couple clicks on the thumbnail, they will be directed to the content.
5. Pinterest Pin It Button for Images
With a higher percentage of women users, Pinterest is a helpful tool to use when reaching out to potential clients and connecting with past and current brides. Your clients spend a lot of their time pinning images on their Pinterest pages which represent what they would like their big day to look like. It is important to encourage visitors to your website to share your content on a social media platform such as Pinterest.
Related: Use your Pinterest page to book more weddings next year
Pinterest Pin It Button for Images adds the “Pin It” button to the images on your website. When a visitor accesses your website, they can click on the image and pin it to their Pinterest page. You can apply this to every image on your website so your chances of having your content shared are higher.
6. WordPress SEO by Yoast
Since there are many wedding photographers to compete with you in the industry, it is important to stand out on search engines. The higher you rank on a search engine, the more likely it is that potential clients will look at your website first. It is necessary to have a tool to help clients notice you and view your website as quickly as possible.
WordPress SEO by Yoast helps you rank higher on search engines by improving your SEO. This plugin creates traction for your blog through providing keywords that search engines, such as Google, look for when users are looking for content. Yoast SEO assists in connecting your SEO title, keywords, and Meta Description to reach couples searching for wedding photographers.
Bonus
There’s a free plugin, called NextGEN Gallery, that handles a lot of the tasks that fall on professional wedding photographers, like organizing, proofing, displaying, and selling. NextGEN Pro, the premium add-on to the free plugin, offers wedding photographers the ability to add ecommerce layers on top of the free gallery management and display plugin. Using the same methodology of many of the non-WordPress ecommerce systems for photographers, NextGEN Pro allows you to set up multiple pricelists. In the end, using a plugin like NextGEN gives you to sell photos with WordPress.
As your wedding photography business continues to grow, it can be necessary to rely on certain tools and plugins to help you reach your goals. The more work you put into your website, the higher chance potential clients will seek you out. Discover additional ways to improve and speed up your workflow with our Guide, 27 Simple Hacks to Transform your Wedding Photography Business!
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