3 easy tweaks that will make your photography brand more trustworthy

It may sound strange, but it is possible to get clients to trust you before they’ve ever even met you. Once you know how to do it, you’ll be booking clients for months in advance!  

But, how do you do it? Well, it’s actually a lot easier than you might think and there are things you can do today to change the way clients perceive your photography brand – for the better.  

It all starts when people first visit your website. You have an incredible opportunity (and a very small window of time before they click away to the next photographer’s website) to build trust and convince people to book you as their photographer.  Don’t squander it!

That means you have to get strategic about how you present your brand. I’ve got some simple questions below that will help you figure out what you need to tweak on your website so clients see you as more relatable, more likeable and a lot more trustworthy – and book a session without thinking twice.

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘NO’ then don’t worry, I’ve also got some tips for you so you can start building that all important trust factor right away:

Three things to check if you’re not booking clients

1. Is your website easy to navigate and does it showcase exactly what you do?

Don’t try to get too fancy here. The most important thing is to make sure clients can tell what you do right off the bat. Also, don’t overwhelm people with 100 menu tabs, tons of different offers, mismatching banners or way too much information. Same goes with your image galleries. Keep things simple, and to the point.  I recommend 10-15 images max in your galleries.  

2. Have you got a killer About page?

Get a leg up on your competition by putting yourself forward in a genuine and relatable way. Your about page is where you get to really showcase who you are and persuade people to choose you. Try to steer clear of talking about how passionate you are about photography or how many awards you have won. People want to feel comfortable with their photographer and they will choose you because they like you and can relate to you. While you don’t want to go on and on about yourself, don’t be afraid to show who you really are. If you’re struggling to write an about page and need some inspiration you can check out my About page here or download a copy of my About Page cheat sheet to help you.

3. Do you have testimonials from raving fans?

One of the best ways to gain credibility and build trust with potential clients is to provide ‘social proof’ by way of client testimonials. These help to backup your claims that you’re as good a photographer as you say you are and that you’re easy to work with, fun, reliable, and you get the picture. If you feel a bit awkward asking for testimonials read this fantastic article. It explains how to get testimonials easily from your clients and even helps you craft questions to get your client’s feedback. Once you have the testimonials make sure you put them up on your site (don’t leave them gathering digital dust in a folder on your desktop) and include a name and image from the actual client session. You want to provide as much information as you can about what people can expect when they book and have a session with you.

If you make sure these three elements on your site are working to your advantage you will be well on your way to gaining trust and credibility with potential clients so they not only want to book you, they’re happy to jump on your waitlist!  

The best part about all of the things I’ve listed above is that they are reasonably simple tweaks you can make yourself and won’t cost the earth! Yes, they may take you some time to write the copy, clean up any additional clutter on your site and publish the testimonials, but I can tell you that a testimonial from a past client will go a lot further than placing an expensive ad.  

We really don’t have to spend a bomb on our marketing or aim for some unrealistic ideal of perfection in our business, we can take things to the next level just by taking small, consistent action steps every day.

Now it’s your turn. Which of the three tweaks mentioned above do you need to implement in your business, or did you tick all of the boxes?

Let me know in the comments below which tweak you need to work on, and, if you want to be accountable, when you plan on making it happen 😉 I’d love to hear from you!

Kim xo