I just love taking pictures, and there’s nothing more important to me than capturing the images of your wedding day, the most important day of your life. Blah, blah, blah.
I added the blah, blah, blah, part, but I think you get the point. I can’t tell you how many About pages I’ve read that all sound alike. I love what I do. I love your wedding day. I love you. I love love. Etc. An About page should make you stand OUT from the crowd, not sound like everyone else. Whenever I engage in business coaching with a photog or filmmaker, this is one of the first topics I address.
I recently finished up a round of business coaching for Becky Sharpe, a British photographer and filmmaker located in Spain who specializes in weddings. I’m so proud of how far she’s come and I wanted to share with you how her About page evolved. Hopefully you can be inspired.
The Original
Her original page was this one you see below (click image to enlarge it).
The problem with it? Too long and no photo of her. Becky is on the higher end of the fee spectrum, and when you get in that range, clients want to know the person they’re hiring. But even the photo she did include was not very appealing or intriguing. A silhouette of a women putting on mascara with rollers in her hair is not very interesting.
Round 2
After our first coaching call, I talked to her about her About page and gave some suggestions on improving it. The main suggestion was adding a photo of herself. This is what she came up with (click image to enlarge it).
This was better, but we still had work to do. The copy was still too long. Also, the photo really did not do her justice. First, it looked like a friend’s snap shot on holiday. Second, it didn’t illustrate her personality. Becky has this vibrant, energetic and rather irreverent and fun personality (made all the more charming by her British accent. I kept thinking I was talking to Minnie Driver from “Good Will Hunting”.) This photo makes her look like a soccer mom.
Third Time’s a Charm
This is what she finally ended up with (click image to enlarge it).
Bingo! IMHO she got it perfect. The copy is great. Short. Sweet. Interesting to read. Engaging. And the collage of photos from her life is perfect. This is an About page people will remember; one that illustrates Becky’s personality, charm, and gives a client the idea of what it may be like to work with her.
The other thing she got right was that she actually hired a designer (Jan Lewis) to make the page for her. As much as we creatives complain about clients trying to do things on their own and that they should be hiring a professional to do, it’s funny how many of us try to do web design on our own. Just because you’re creative and have an eye for photography don’t mean you can design a web page.
Great work Becky! I look forward to seeing how your studio continues to evolve as you rock the wedding market on the coast of Spain.