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.
- 11contact form sends a month, up from 4
- 52%left after one page, down from 71%
- 7weddings booked in 12 weeks
Home. About. Portfolio. Contact.
Nearly every photographer’s menu says the same four words, and Elena’s did too.
Her photos were beautiful. Her words were vague. Visitors left without knowing where she worked or what she cost.
She didn’t buy a new theme. She rewrote five pages over two weekends and left every photo alone. That wedding photography website makeover took her from four messages a month to eleven.
The problem
Elena’s homepage opened with a full-screen photo and a small line.
Wedding and lifestyle photography
That line fit a hundred photographers. It did not say where she works or who she serves.
Her page title in Google read “Home”. Her About page told her life story from childhood.
Her contact page was a bare form with six required fields.
None of it was wrong. None of it helped either.
Here is how the site performed over three months.
| Measure | Before |
|---|---|
| Contact form sends a month | 4 |
| Visitors who left after one page | 71% |
| Visitors who reached the contact page | 3% |
| Weddings booked in 12 weeks | 3 |
She also had no page that explained how booking works or what a wedding costs.
Couples had to guess, and guessing is easy to postpone.
She also checked where visitors came from. Most arrived from Instagram, saw the homepage and had no clear next step.
Friends said the site “looked amazing.” That was true, and it was not the same as working.
The solution
Elena did not redesign anything. She rewrote five pages in order of how many visitors saw them.
She followed one idea. Answer a couple’s questions before they have to ask them.
What can you do, where, for how much, and what happens next? Every page had to answer at least one.
Here are the five questions she wrote on a sticky note.
- What do you do?
- Where do you work?
- What does it cost?
- Is this person right for us?
- What happens next?
Those five questions cover most of what to put on a wedding photography website.
The process that worked
Home page. One line, one button
She replaced the vague line with a plain one.
Portland wedding photography for couples who want to feel at ease.
She tested it on her sister. “What do you do?” “Weddings in Portland.” “Good, that is what it says.” That was enough.
Under it sat one button, “Check my date.” Her old menu had seven links, so she cut it to five.
She also placed one real review right under the button. It was short, specific and from a couple she had photographed.
Page titles. Say what you do
Each page needed a title that told Google and people what it held.
| Page | Old title | New title |
|---|---|---|
| Home | Home | Portland Wedding Photographer |
| About | About | About Elena, a Portland photographer |
| Services | Services | Wedding Packages and Pricing |
Clear titles also shape the title links Google shows in search results.
About page. Less résumé
She cut her childhood story and kept three things.
Who she works with, how a wedding day feels with her, and one personal detail that made people smile. Hers was her dog, who comes to every engagement shoot.
The page ended with a photo of her at work and the same “Check my date” button.
Services page. Names, price and a next step
She built a page that did not exist before. It listed three collections with what each included.
Each had a starting price in plain numbers. A short line said who it fit best, such as couples with a small ceremony and a big party. A short “how it works” followed in three steps.
She priced nothing new. She only wrote down the numbers she already quoted by email.
Gallery page. Add two lines to each wedding
Under each gallery she wrote the venue, the season and one detail that made the day unique.
It helped couples picture their own day. It also gave Google real words to read.
Contact page. Ask for less
She cut the form from six required fields to three. Name, email and wedding date.
An auto-reply thanked each couple and said she would write back within one day.
She also put that promise right above the button. “I answer within one day, usually sooner.” It made pressing send feel safe.
The wedding photography website makeover in numbers
Here are twelve weeks after the changes.
| Measure | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Contact form sends a month | 4 | 11 |
| Visitors who left after one page | 71% | 52% |
| Visitors who reached the contact page | 3% | 7% |
| Weddings booked in 12 weeks | 3 | 7 |
Four extra weddings is roughly $14,000, from a rewrite that took two weekends.
Her homepage also began showing up in Google for “Portland wedding photographer” within a month or two.
She did not rank first. But she appeared, and that was new.
Pages with the new titles also earned more clicks. People could finally tell what each page held.
What we learned from here
Pretty pages get a “wow.” Clear pages get a message.
The Portland photographer learned that a website mostly needs to say three things. What you do, where you do it, and what happens next.
Here is how she would sort the work, from fastest to slowest.
| Quick fix | Bigger project |
|---|---|
| Change page titles | Write a full services page |
| Shorten the contact form | Rewrite the About page |
| Add a button to the homepage | Add three local venue pages |
| Cut the menu to five links | Collect and place real reviews |
Short on time? Fix the page titles first. It takes about an hour in your site settings.
She also asks every new couple which page they read first. The answer tells her what to polish next.
A site is never finished. She rereads her homepage each quarter as if she were a stranger.
Her About page took two tries. The first rewrite was still too long, and visitors left halfway.
She also waited too long to add reviews. Couples told her they wanted to see them near the price.
Next on her list is a local venue page for the gardens near Mount Hood, written with real details.
Couples can now download a short PDF from the services page, built like a wedding photographer pricing guide. It saves her a lot of emails.
More case studies
Brand Photographer Bertrand Fixed 3 Hot Spots on His Website and Got 11 Messages a Month
- 3 to 11form messages a month
- 5shoots booked
- 14 to 5form fields
Marisol Rebuilds Her Site for Late-Night Phones, and This Newborn Photographer Gets 11 Inquiries a Month
- 11inquiries a month, up from 4
- 8sessions booked a month, up from 3
- 2 sechome page load time, down from 6
Gone in 9 Seconds. Headshot Photographer Bianca Rebuilds and Gets 15 Inquiries a Month
- 4 to 15form inquiries a month
- 6s to 2shomepage load on a phone
- 11 to 5form fields
Personal Branding Photographer Laurel Cut Her Website to 7 Pages
- 2 to 9inquiries a month
- 11 to 7pages on her site
- 9 to 3fields in her form
Parents Kept Asking Family Photographer Kelsey the Same 3 Questions. 4 New Pages Fixed It
- 9more bookings in 8 weeks
- 3price emails a week, down from 14
- 5pages, down from 11
Tamsin Changes 6 Menu Words and Gets 13 Inquiries a Month as a Maternity Photographer
- 5 to 13inquiries a month
- 3 to 8in 10 forms completed
- 9 to 21maternity sessions in a quarter
Noor’s Portrait Photographer Website Goes From 1 Message a Month to 11 With Plainer Words
- 1 to 11messages a month
- 6 to 190visits to the sessions page
- 6sessions booked
Wedding Planner Rosamund Added Starting Prices and Got 11 Good-Fit Inquiries a Month
- 3 to 11good-fit inquiries a month
- 3 to 0wrong guesses about her job
- 4boxes on the new form