Leveling Up My Website Game | Reflections
Squarespace has been a wonderful platform for my website.
Previous Website
I’ve hosted a few websites in my day- nothing serious, but everything made by me. I owned a website for my photography business way back in the day, Splendid Studios (thank God for the name change, right?!). The website was hosted on weebly.com and made by me on a Macbook Pro-late 2014 edition during the off time of printing t-shirts at Sun Gold Sports in Mitchell, SD.
My main thing at Sun Gold Sports was to print illustrations on t-shirts directly from a computer. The process involved a bit of prep work and a lot of waiting around for the printer to finish it’s job. I got bored wayy to easily. I asked my boss if I could work on my computer during this time and they said “yes.”
That website was wonderful and horrible. It was my first try at story telling, announcing my services and blogging about the experience. If by some terrible miracle someone finds an old version of that website, I don’t think I would want to see it. I’m so critical of myself that it would likely send me into a weeks worth of anxious thoughts like
“How did I ever put myself out into the world like that?”
“I can’t believe I was proud of my photography work back then.”
“Wow! I look like I’ve never taken an English or Grammar class in my life!”
But you know what? I don’t think I would have the bad ass website I have today without that shitty website from 2013. And you know what else? I might have those same thoughts about my website today in a decade. And that’s OK.
Current Website
I’m very happy with my current website, but I’ve had it for about a year and I know it’s time for a change. I’ve been taking notes, so I know what I want to add, take away, combine and renew. I have a long list! First I want to reflect on the things I have loved about my current website. AAAAAnd only the things I love- I don’t want to be critical here!
The landing page- I love my landing page. I change the background image frequently and often choose either a still image or a three frame GIF. I’m happy with the “greyed out” effect on the image that makes my brand name and categories pop out. I’m happy with the fonts, the spacing, the icons at the bottom of the screen, and my motto at the top. I think the landing page is crisp, clean and attractive.
Weddings- I love the photos that I have selected for my wedding page. I’m happy with the form that I have for couples to fill out (it get’s used very frequently!), and the blogs at the bottom are the icing on the cake for me. The forms are actually made in Honeybook (my client management system). Honeybook creates a unique code that I can paste into a code box in the Squarespace admin. The first time I did this, I felt super nerdy- but I’ve done so much more nerdy shit since then (like reinstalling windows on a hard drive that didn’t have a partition and was formatted incorrectly- all in the command prompt off of a USB thumb drive with a temporary copy of windows on it!! ***takes breath**) I’m also very happy with my pricing guide.
Seniors- Wow, my senior page looks so nice. I have tons of photos & GIFs across the page that I’m extremely proud of. I have no clue how the class of 2022 could be better. They are going to need to bring their A game!!! Again, the form on the senior tab is created with Honeybook. It gets used frequently and is a big help in the planning stage.
Families- I like the photos other than that- If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything. Where is my family form?! The page has loads of empty space on it!! Why did I only display photos from a few families? Why are there no GIFs?!!!! This page is the first to get some TLC.
Store - I’m happy I put our store together. Olivia and I are available for oil paintings and you can now order memento boxes through the website. This page has loads of potential and I’m excited to implement my new ideas.
Blog - I blogged the most in 2020 than I ever had. I had my first sponsored blog post and improved my tags, categories, SEO and other behind the scenes things. I’m changing up how I blog in 2021 and I’m looking forward to the change!
Home - This home page is pretty new. I think I made it around November. I love the vortex banner image and the experience, about and connect panels look swell. They contain loads of information and are a great place for anyone new to my brand to start. A very good first impression! The rest of the page has potential, but I’m not currently satisfied with it. I’m excited to see where this page goes!
Resources - This tab is full of information helpful to my clients and peers. The gear list is an up to date place of my equipment list. I’m frequently sending out the link to this page to photographers asking for my kit and is helpful for insurance purposes. The client experience page contains a series of videos I made describing the Brittanyography client experience.
Going through my website again gives me the chills. I made that. Myself. I’m going to make it again. Better. It’s only going up from here!
Next Website
With Squarespace, the pages I have made will transfer over to the next template that I choose or make.
Thanks to SkillShare and Christopher Dodd- I’m learning how to create or edit squarespace templates. I’m currently on lesson 5 of 16. Wish me luck!!!
However, I’m currently down the rabbit hole of installing Facebook Pixel to my current website and linking it to my Facebook Page.
There’s so much to be done.