Lack of inquries/bookings -- Website not converting?

glumpy wrote in post #15463265
It's NOT just about the pictures and that's what so many shooters can't comprehend.

If there is one piece of advice you should listen to in all this more than the rest of this thread it is this.

Wedding photography bookings generally have very little to do with the pictures (unless you are really bad or really good). In my book there are mainly three types of prospective wedding clients.

1) Price shoppers. These are generally bad news. When people are booking on price you know that both your photography ability and the service/experience that you offer is a secondary (or lower) concern for the couple. The lower down the market price wise you go the more likely you are to encounter this type of prospective client.

2) People who love your work above absolutely everything else you do (even if your service/experience suck). These folk are great however they are more likely to be in the minority.

3) Couples who hire you not just on the fact that your photos are good (which lets face it so many photographers out there have great work). But they hire you for YOU. For the experience/service that you bring to the table. If people feel comfortable with you they are way more likely to book. In my experience these make up more of the majority of couples in the mid range of the market and as you move higher up the market (price wise).

Take another look at your website and ask yourself what are your USP's (unique selling points). Why would a bride hire you over the next person? Take a look at your competition's websites and ask yourself would you hire you over them and if so why? What is your selling point?

Just some random thoughts.......
... the skin tones in your pictures seem all over the place, some quite orange or red. Maybe it's your processing, a lack of proper color management, or the hosting service; but it should be addressed. If the colors look bad on a screen they're going to look worse in print.

...as far as some people starting out in the business with "15k" in gear, it's likely because they were avid hobbyists for years before that. I do this as a hobby, but I have well over 30k in gear. It's really no different than any other hobby. This isn't something you just decide to go pro at because you bought a camera and like taking pictures; just as you wouldn't buy a motorcycle and try to be a pro racer, or buy a some wrenches and become a technician. Many vocational professionals will work for another company while they build up the experience and equipment to set out on their own.

.........I'm curious, before you hung your shingle and started taking clients, had you worked with or for any other photographers? Maybe you should find a successful local shooter who would be willing to take you on as a second shooter. Every profession/vocation starts with education, be that at a formal school or under the tutelage of an experienced expert.

Scatterbrained wrote in post #15463523
Every profession/vocation starts with education, be that at a formal school or under the tutelage of an experienced expert.

Or as in my case with the help of the Canon camera manual and the Internet

memoriesoftomorrow wrote in post #15463541
Or as in my case with the help of the Canon camera manual and the Internet

Ah, the modern age.....
I just bought a bunch of books and joined Kelby Training.
Granted I'm still trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing.

Wow Scatterbrained. Looked at your website and 500px....NICE WORK!

Site looks a lot better, but with all due respect the logo is still the biggest turnoff for me as a female when looking at hiring you for a wedding. It doesnt speak "wedding" or "elegance". If you like the lighthouse, maybe have someone do a "sketch" drawing of it that looks real nice, like someone hand drew or hand painted it, or something and snazz it up a bit and make it look a bit more artsy. It's not a bad concept, but It would turn me off.

With that said I do like the portfolio page, it's looking a lot better.

abbypanda wrote in post #15464237
Site looks a lot better, but with all due respect the logo is still the biggest turnoff for me as a female when looking at hiring you for a wedding. It doesnt speak "wedding" or "elegance". If you like the lighthouse, maybe have someone do a "sketch" drawing of it that looks real nice, like someone hand drew or hand painted it, or something and snazz it up a bit and make it look a bit more artsy. It's not a bad concept, but It would turn me off.

With that said I do like the portfolio page, it's looking a lot better.

Not trying to be funny but the logo is that significant to you that you would possibly dismiss the rest of the work because of that?

I find this really interesting as it's not something I would give a 2nd glance.
It's not offensive to me so it's a non consideration. I saw other comments about it but when I look at the site, I barely notice it and I don't think I actually really looked at it outside my peripheral Vision.

Id be interested for you to elaborate on your thoughts about this. It's not something I would have thought really mattered but clearly my thinking was wrong in that respect.

Perhaps the OP should be getting all the females he knows to look at his site and really encouraging them to tell him what is wrong with it, and only what is wrong so they have to tell him rather than give him the platitudes human nature would normally encourage.

I don't post pics on sites beause I don't care what other shooters think, I care what the clients think. Perhaps this also translates to the OP should not care too much what blokes think about his site and really get feedback off females especially in the target market age.

There is no doubt women and guys look at a site to do with weddings very differently and only one of them has about 95% of the influence and decision making.
That's definitely the one who's feedback you want and to keep happy!

To me the new site still seems rather sterile. Grey on grey doesn't help nor does the muted nature of the tones in many of the pictures.

I have to agree with Abby about the logo. It really doesn't work.

glumpy wrote in post #15464338
Not trying to be funny but the logo is that significant to you that you would possibly dismiss the rest of the work because of that?

I find this really interesting as it's not something I would give a 2nd glance.
It's not offensive to me so it's a non consideration. I saw other comments about it but when I look at the site, I barely notice it and I don't think I actually really looked at it outside my peripheral Vision.

Id be interested for you to elaborate on your thoughts about this. It's not something I would have thought really mattered but clearly my thinking was wrong in that respect.

Perhaps the OP should be getting all the females he knows to look at his site and really encouraging them to tell him what is wrong with it, and only what is wrong so they have to tell him rather than give him the platitudes human nature would normally encourage.

I don't post pics on sites beause I don't care what other shooters think, I care what the clients think. Perhaps this also translates to the OP should not care too much what blokes think about his site and really get feedback off females especially in the target market age.

There is no doubt women and guys look at a site to do with weddings very differently and only one of them has about 95% of the influence and decision making.
That's definitely the one who's feedback you want and to keep happy!

Honestly yes i wouldnt look further due to it. I dont mean to be critical only to help, but yes.

1. It looks manly.... and I am probably not the most feminine girl to be commenting on it, running 2 mma gyms and doing all sorts of martial arts competitions my whole life, but yes I find it manly to the point that it's a turnoff for weddings. I didn't even have that elegant of a wedding and am not usually turned off by "manly things"... so I'm not sure what my deal is with the logo. The lines of the text are very hard, and after looking again that might be the problem. To me hard lines signify masculine and soft curvy lines are more in tune to women. might wanna get other opinions on that.

2. It speaks nothing of weddings, so at first glance I think the following: beach, sun, The state of Maine, My grandfather (who collects lighthouse figurines). None of those make me think wedding, highclass, elegance, love. Now if it's specializing in weddings on a beach or something maybe putting a silhouette of a couple in front of the sun or something where you can see the girl has a dress or something that might work...

3. I thought about it after the post and I have looked at those "heat maps" of websites before and if I recall correctly the top left is the first point of entry to where folks look on a site. This means they are seeing the logo first. This logo will give the first impression of what his business is about. Since it's not just a text logo, the picture will mean something to the person who sees it, subconsciously. What thoughts does it evoke if you looked at the picture alone? If weddings or elegance doesnt come to mind... it might be a problem...

4. I do not like the colors of the logo so I looked up what they mean (It's the bright colors in contrast with other muted tones that draw my eyes to it and if I recall correctly women buy on color, men on performance, at least largely in part). According to my recent search: Blue signifies cleanliness and several of the top searches said orange signifies distrust. Maybe it's striking a nerve with me due to that. ON THE OTHER HAND... I've also been told that in internet marketing a blue and orange opt in button on your site has the HIGHEST RATE OF OPT IN over other colors (hint hint if you have opt ins on your site). I asked my husband why this might be... if orange signifies distrust that folks would opt in more... he didnt have a speculation. I may research this more, but I do know that I made all our opt in buttons blue and orange due to this statistic!

I think OP's site has improved over the initial for sure!

abbypanda wrote in post #15464416
Honestly yes i wouldnt look further due to it. I dont mean to be critical only to help, but yes.

1. It looks manly.... and I am probably not the most feminine girl to be commenting on it, running 2 mma gyms and doing all sorts of martial arts competitions my whole life, but yes I find it manly to the point that it's a turnoff for weddings. I didn't even have that elegant of a wedding and am not usually turned off by "manly things"... so I'm not sure what my deal is with the logo. The lines of the text are very hard, and after looking again that might be the problem. To me hard lines signify masculine and soft curvy lines are more in tune to women. might wanna get other opinions on that.

2. It speaks nothing of weddings, so at first glance I think the following: beach, sun, The state of Maine, My grandfather (who collects lighthouse figurines). None of those make me think wedding, highclass, elegance, love. Now if it's specializing in weddings on a beach or something maybe putting a silhouette of a couple in front of the sun or something where you can see the girl has a dress or something that might work...

3. I thought about it after the post and I have looked at those "heat maps" of websites before and if I recall correctly the top left is the first point of entry to where folks look on a site. This means they are seeing the logo first. This logo will give the first impression of what his business is about. Since it's not just a text logo, the picture will mean something to the person who sees it, subconsciously. What thoughts does it evoke if you looked at the picture alone? If weddings or elegance doesnt come to mind... it might be a problem...

4. I do not like the colors of the logo so I looked up what they mean (It's the bright colors in contrast with other muted tones that draw my eyes to it and if I recall correctly women buy on color, men on performance, at least largely in part). According to my recent search: Blue signifies cleanliness and several of the top searches said orange signifies distrust. Maybe it's striking a nerve with me due to that. ON THE OTHER HAND... I've also been told that in internet marketing a blue and orange opt in button on your site has the HIGHEST RATE OF OPT IN over other colors (hint hint if you have opt ins on your site). I asked my husband why this might be... if orange signifies distrust that folks would opt in more... he didnt have a speculation. I may research this more, but I do know that I made all our opt in buttons blue and orange due to this statistic!

I think OP's site has improved over the initial for sure!

Thanks for your very interesting thoughts. I think there is a lot there of value for people to consider.

I agree the logo does not tie in with the market very well. I do several different types of work and I set each avenue up to tie into the market I am addressing in name, Logo and overall look to the marketing.

I think having a name relative to the market is very important from a search engine POV alone.
It's going to take a lot for New Horizon Photography to Beat " Freds Wedding Photography Michigan" as lame a sounding name as that may be in a search of wedding photographers in that area.

Without being funny, perhaps the logo is a bit phallic and that's what doesn't sit right with you and would have the same response from other women?
There are all sorts of sub conscious things that trigger responses that we feel but don't know why, just like the colour thing.

Anyway, Thanks again for the insight. Definitely something to keep in mind.

No prob! Had my husb look at it, he's pretty creative when it comes to logos and such:

This was his first response to the site:

It's clean
He liked the bio
he liked the photo of the chair on the front page.
(not necessarily in any order, this is just what he mentioned upon first seeing it)

Oddly enough he didnt mention logo, so I specifically asked. He obviously glossed over it like glumpy.

I asked him what he thought about the logo:

he said it was ok, he did like the sun and name but not the lighthouse.
He suggested a more earth tone other than blue, and maybe keeping the sun and scratching the lighthouse, as it has nothing to do with weddings.
He suggested perhaps a more "desert" or 'earth" horizon and color scheme.
(these are merely suggestions, not sure if the LH is significant to OP)
He said the logo makes him think 2001 space odyssey.
He immediately looked for location to see if OP was on the beach.

He didnt like blog layout so much but liked the church picture and a few others.

He liked the option to send text and now wants to put that on the site for the mma gym.

he liked some of the write-ups

there's no call to action, OP is speaking of the benefits but no call to action, no sense of urgency, and OP should correct these 2 things first : deadline & call to action.

Of all this I think we might have suggested what is already known: women are more drawn to color than men, and it impacts women's buying decisions more than men. I'd ask more women in target market to review site as suggested before.

You have all confirmed what I already suspected -- the logo is off putting. It is on my radar of things to change, but probably wont see an update for several months. I want to spend my money right and get a well designed logo that can stick with me for many years. My focus right now is to continue to tweak the content of the site to best represent my business.

FYI - For those wondering (not that anyone is). The lighthouse does bear a major symbolism with me and the company in whole. A couple reasons why the lighthouse is part of the logo:

1) The birth of the business was based around an actual lighthouse that I photographed back in 2005 when photography was still just a hobby to me. The photo I captured became one of my all time favorites. Years later I was looking back through old pictures I had taken and found the lighthouse once again. It was that moment when I decided to turn my hobby into a business. That picture helped me discover the name of the business. It made sense on a deeper level as well because life can be viewed as a series of new horizons(big moments) in ones life.

2) The lighthouse became a part of my logo for the reason mentioned above. When I had the current logo designed I had the designer include a mock-up of the lighthouse. I read somewhere that when your business name and logo provide a strong visual, people are more likely to remember your business. Makes sense if you think about it. In my mind, "Starlight Photography" can be remembered much easier than "George Snifflebaum Photography" I played around with "My Name Photography" but I do not like the ring to my name or variations of it.

if you're going to keep the lighthouse, i'd suggest going for a much less literal iteration of it. that's the downside with logos, you want to keep it visually stimulating without having it be too much of conversation piece, you want your work to stand out in photography business, not necessarily your logo.

NewHorizonPhoto wrote in post #15467329
You have all confirmed what I already suspected -- the logo is off putting. It is on my radar of things to change, but probably wont see an update for several months. I want to spend my money right and get a well designed logo that can stick with me for many years. My focus right now is to continue to tweak the content of the site to best represent my business.

Then in the mean time just remove it from the site.
It appears to be doing more harm than good at the moment so you are better off withnothing than having it there.

Meaningful and relevant to YOU, but your not the clients who it means nothing and is likley off putting to.

I echo everyone above.

- Pictures need to be better. They are too point and shoot.
- Logo... well it is kinda cute as it reminds me of the company that makes frozen fish nuggets.
- Pictures need to be better.... and I don't mean applying Instagram filters.
- Opening images has to be your absolute best. It must capture your audience in the first 3 seconds are they will click away.
- Portfolio images need to be strong. Be judicious in what you want to put on the site. All it takes is 1 or 2 crappy image to turn off your viewers.

I checked out your blog. Uhm. 1 entry? It looks like you are new to this. I don't know. If so I would suggest that you not have a blog until you have a steady stream of work. 1 or 2 blog entries lead people to think you have no business. Empty restaurant draws no one.

Your About Me photo can be be better. So what differentiates you from other bazillion wedding photographers?