Most of these case studies come from emails my readers send me. With their permission, I share them with the names changed. I do this so that others can learn from what worked and what didn't. Have a story of your own? Share it with me.
- 2 to 9inquiries a month
- 11 to 7pages on her site
- 9 to 3fields in her form
From 11 pages to 7, and from 2 inquiries a month to 9.
That’s Laurel’s story, and it started with a site she had built herself.
Laurel shoots brand photos in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and she’d built the site herself over two proud winters.
It showed everything she did.
But her personal branding photographer website design was getting two inquiries a month.
Visitors came, looked around for about 20 seconds and left.
Eight weeks after she cut it down to seven pages, the same site was bringing in nine inquiries a month.
The problem
Laurel photographs coaches, artists and small shop owners. Her photos are rich and warm, and her clients say they feel seen.
She’d copied the idea from other photographers’ sites, where big menus and big slideshows looked normal.
But a menu that feels rich to the owner can feel like a puzzle to a new visitor.
Her website, however, felt like a maze. She’d added pages every time she had a new idea, and she never took any away.
When she looked at it through a stranger’s eyes, three things stood out.
The menu
The menu had 11 items. Home, About, Portfolio, Galleries, Weddings, Brand, Headshots, Blog, Pricing, Contact and Press.
A new visitor didn’t know where to start. Several clients later told her they’d clicked two or three items and then given up.
The home page
A large slideshow opened the page, with five photos and no words. The first sentence appeared far below, in small gray type.
The slideshow was pretty, but it didn’t say who she helped or what changed for them. It also took a few seconds to load on a phone.
The form
The contact form had nine fields.
Name, email, phone, address, date, budget, event type, how they heard about her and a long message box.
A coach told her she’d started filling it in, then closed the page. “It felt like applying for a loan.”
The solution
Laurel didn’t need a new design. She needed fewer pages, clearer words and a form that felt like a friendly note.
She made three changes.
None of it needed new photos or a new theme. It needed the same photos, with fewer things around them.
Seven pages
She cut the 11 pages down to seven. Home, Services, Work, About, Prices, FAQ and Contact.
Wedding and headshot pages moved to a small note, because she’d stopped taking those jobs. That left the site focused on brand photos.
One question per page
She gave each page a single question to answer. The home page answered, “Is this for me?”
The services page answered, “What do I get?”
It made every page easier to write, and easier to read.
A three-field form
She cut the form to three fields. Name, email and one question, “What are the photos for?”
She added a note below the button. “I answer within a day.”
The process that worked
Laurel did the work over a weekend and a few evenings. She kept it simple, and she tested each change.
Saturday morning
She wrote the five-part plan on a sheet of paper. Who she helps, what changes, her three offers, her proof and her one next step.
She followed the seven page plan for the structure, and she wrote every line in her own voice.
Saturday afternoon
She rewrote the home page. The new headline said, “Brand photos for artists and coaches who hate being photographed.”
She replaced the slideshow with one big photo of a potter laughing in her studio.
One short line of proof and one button sat beside it.
Sunday
She built the services page with three offers, each with a starting price.
She wrote two short client stories for the work page and moved her old galleries to a quiet archive.
She also wrote six answers for the FAQ, using the real questions people had asked on calls.
She used her real words, like “I’ll guide you the whole time,” because she’d said them to clients a hundred times.
The following week
She compressed her photos, which made her pages feel snappier. That fits with how search engines think about page experience.
Then she tested the site on her phone, and on her sister’s older one. She fixed two buttons that were too small.
She also set up an automatic reply that thanked each person and said when to expect an answer.
The personal branding photographer website design, week eight
After eight weeks, Laurel checked her numbers. Inquiries had gone from 2 a month to 9.
People who wrote to her sounded different, too.
They said things like, “I felt like I knew you already,” and “I loved how clear the prices were.”
What we learned from here
A personal branding photographer website design works when each page answers one question, in plain words, with one clear step.
Laurel’s old site wasn’t bad. It was big, and big sites ask visitors to do a lot of sorting.
Once she did the sorting for them, they could say yes.
| Move | Made visitors stay | Made visitors leave |
|---|---|---|
| Menu | Five or six plain words | Eleven mixed items |
| Home page | One headline for one person | A slideshow with no words |
| Pages | One question each | Everything on every page |
| Form | Three easy fields | Nine boxes, like a loan |
| Speed | Compressed photos | Huge, slow files |
The form surprised her most. Most of the new inquiries came through the one she’d feared was too short to be taken seriously.
Short wasn’t rude. It was kind.
She also felt calmer about her site. She no longer worried about whether she’d forgotten a page, because every page had a clear job.
And she made a rule for herself. Before adding anything new, she asks what question it answers. If she can’t say, it stays out.
Her advice to other photographers is simple. Count the pages on your site, and ask if a stranger could tell which one to open first.
If the answer is no, start cutting.
Her last tip is to put a reminder in your calendar twice a year. Look at your site the way a stranger would, and cut one thing.
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