Reverse Engineering a Photography Services Website

The website chosen for this exercise is:

http://capecodwedding.com/

Also known as Richard Talmage Images

Preliminary Information about the Website:

Looking through the website, it appears that its main goal is to provide information and informational resources to people interested in obtaining photography services.

Photography services are provided for the following areas:

* Weddings
* Commercial (images used for business purposes)
* Family (gatherings and reunions)

Even though the website provides photography services in those areas, its main focus appears to be on providing wedding photography.

A person can take a look at the homepage, the videos provided on the website, and the resource page to see that this website is focused on wedding photography.

Also, the hyperlink itself (http://capecodwedding.com/) says that the website deals with weddings.

It’s safe to say that the website is not an e-commerce site since there is no shopping cart or any links to provide the company/website with any monetary transactions.

There are a total of 2 pages that lists the fees for the photography services, though there is no information on what forms of payment are accepted and how to provide that payment.

It is assumed that any payments to be made to the company (Richard Talmage) are made in person (whether by check, credit, or cash). It’s possible that the company accepts electronic forms of payment (credit cards over the phone, or even PayPal) though there is nothing on the website to suggest that this occurs.

There is contact form sheet where the user can input their contact information and any requests that the user has to pass along to the company (Richard Talmage). This contact form has the user specify their interest in wedding, commercial, or family photography services.

Improvements to the Website:

A. How to Better Focus the Photography Services

It’s possible to have 2 (or more) different websites, each one focused on a specific area of photography such as wedding photography, commercial photography, and family (gatherings and reunions) photography.

Being that family gathering and reunions are somewhat similar in nature to weddings, its reasonable to have a website dedicated to wedding photography and have family related photography placed in a smaller (less noticeable) area of the website, unless family related photography is a significant part of this company’s business (revenue).

Keep in mind when doing any type of SEO (search engine optimization) or activity involving keywords, that the website will probably “register” (come up on Google, Yahoo, etc.) as a website dealing with weddings and wedding photography and not so much as a website dealing with commercial or family photography.

By having a website totally dedicated to wedding photography services, the user is clear on the services being provided, and it might positively impact search results on search engines pointing users interested in wedding photography to this website.

This ultimately depends on whether or not the company (Richard Talmage) is willing to have 2 websites, each focused on a specific area.

Also it depends on how well the present website is doing in terms of its function, namely it appears to be a resource providing information on Richard Talmage’s photography services and selling him as a photographer.

If there’s room for improvement, and it makes sense from a monetary point of view, then consider going ahead with creating a site focused on only wedding photography services.

B. Create a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions):

The website can have a FAQ included at the top link bar of every webpage (and at the links at the bottom of page) and include the following information in the FAQ:

* Forms of payment accepted for the photography services

* How to “deliver” payment (physically, electronically, etc.)

* Contact information (including a phone number, address, and email)

* How to prepare for the wedding photography services (or other photography services i.e. commercial or family)

* Any information that a user interested in photography services would be interested in knowing

C. Create “Breadcrumbs” At The Top of a Webpage:

Presently the website doesn’t have any breadcrumbs to show the user where they are exactly on the website and how to go back to a specific section if they want to.

Breadcrumbs can also be useful to distinguish the wedding photography services from the other photography services provided. The user can look at the top of the webpage to see what section he/she is under.

D. Measurements or Metrics:

It would be somewhat of a challenge to perform a metric such as click-through rates being that there is nothing to actually “buy” (“click” and buy something) on the website, so this cannot be measured.

What could be measured is how many people call up or request information as a result of going to the website.

Also, the company could measure how many people buy the photography services as result of going to the website.

The website, from a direct marketing point of view, could serve as a “two-step”, where going the website is the first step in the process and the second step is calling up the company or filling out and sending in the inquiry form, and ultimately buying the services.

Hits to the website can also be measured, though hits alone don’t provide a lot of information on whether or not those hits brought in business (whether those hits turned into sales).

It’s also important to measure how well certain keywords used in the website have done towards attracting the target market(s) to the website. This aspect has to do with the copy on the website and what topics the copy focuses on (in this case, most of the copy has to do with wedding photography).

This is important when doing SEO (search engine optimization) and your objective is to have the targeted users to come to your website rather than a competitor’s website (or another website other than your own).

In a Nutshell:

* Create the website(s) in a way that will better target the services provided and make it clear to users as to what is being offered.

* Create “breadcrumbs” at the top of a webpage to help guide users better around the website.

* Create a FAQ to provide users with information, important and relevant to their needs.

* Use relevant metrics or measuring systems to determine how well the website is performing in regards to the website strategy’s objectives.