Are you struggling to find that exact right brand voice for your photography business? Do you feel like your website copy isn’t bringing in the kind of clients you want to work with, if any at all? If so, this is the episode for you! I had the privilege of speaking with Rachel Greiman about all things copywriting for photographers!
Rachel is a copywriter and documentary family photographer in Denver, CO. She owns Green Chair Stories, a company committed to writing websites that get photographers booked. She believes cookies are a perfectly acceptable breakfast food, as long as you eat some salad later. Rachel lives with her giant dog (an 80-pound bernedoodle named Bernadette), her giant husband (a 6’6″ man named Travis), and her currently little (but probably soon-to-be giant) babies in a bungalow in the city.
I actually purchased Rachel’s DIY Guide to Writing Your Site Right last fall and it was so helpful when I completely redid my website. She’s giving my amazing listeners a discount code, ANGLES15. So make sure to go grab that guide in the links at the end of these show notes! She’s always offering so much value in her email marketing and that’s how we ended up chatting about doing a live audit of my site on this podcast episode! So let’s dig in to this Copywriting for Photographers episode of All Angles Photography Podcast.
To start off this episode, we chat all about Rachel’s background and how she got into copywriting. She was a photo journalist in college, where she started to put together the connection between photos and writing. After college, she started taking family photos of people from her church. That really took off and she was able to take her family photography business full time. She quit her other full time job and dove into the world of photography.
After a few months, she started having tons of photographer friends asking her for help with their website copy. She did a little trade of services and asked for their help with other things in her business while she did their copy. After a year of that, her copywriting business kind of took off and she formally added copywriting to her business. Now she has a whole team and mostly does copywriting with a side of photography.
She’s able to bring a special view to website copy and copywriting as a whole coming from a photographer’s background. Which is why I am so excited to have her on this episode of All Angles about copywriting for photographers.
According to Rachel, copy gets confused a lot with content. She chats about how content is more so what you create with social media captions and email newsletters. It’s the words that build up who you are and get potential clients to know, like, and trust you. While copy is more so your website and ads. Copy’s job is to convert for you, to persuade people to inquire that are going to be your favorite clients.
There has started to be a little bit of a grey area between content and copywriting because viral reels and really good content can sell for you. BUT for the most part the main difference is the converting and selling aspect. To discover why copy, great copy, is a necessity for any modern day photographer’s website, tune in to this episode.
As photographers, we have an abundance of images and photos that we could put on our websites. BUT words don’t always come that easy. According to Rachel, there are are some people who can throw up a gallery or two on their websites and get inquiries. That’s a very limited number of people though. If you’re in a super saturated field or area of photography, you need to be unique. Your copy is what does that! Rachel gives us the low down on why our images can’t speak for themselves. She says that your copy is what sets you apart and what people can connect to when they come to your website.
Your copy needs to put words in peoples’ mouths about why they are drawn to you without explicitly coming out and saying “I’m better because…”. Rachel’s tip on how to do this is to capture their connection. Define their relationship for them so that when they read your copy next to your gorgeous images, they think “OMG that’s me!”. This connection does a lot of the heavy lifting for you and is what gets people to convert. Once you get into the details like cost and packages, you have that initial connection formed through your website to fall back on.
While all of this is essential for your website copy, we also chat a little about how your images and words flow. They need to be aligned and support each other. For a more in depth chat on this, listen in!
I wanted to know what the most common mistakes Rachel see photographers make, so we chatted about it! “There are so many!”, Rachel says. She continues with, “The thing is it’s always changing.” A few years ago, as a photographer, you shouldn’t be caught dead with words on your website. You’re a photographer, so there should only be images! That isn’t the case anymore. Rachel continues going into more detail about mistakes she’s seeing at the moment. Let’s chat about a few. To hear all the mistakes we chat about. listen in!
“Video is more powerful than ever.” According to Rachel, it’s a huge mistake to not have motion on your website. People are so used to consuming content in that form so play to that! I personally don’t have videos on my website, but I have an aspect of motion. If you don’t shoot professional videos, then brainstorm how you can bring motion to your site.
“Not having something below the fold.” People are so used to scrolling these days. They scroll through all social medias! She says a lot of times she finds people will scroll to the bottom of her site, and any site, to see how long it is and then scroll back up to read. If you don’t have something below the fold, on your homepage especially, you’re missing so much opportunity.
“Wasting your contact page.” Rachel says that she sees a lot of people, not just photographers, waste the space that is their contact page. According to her, it’s a big missed opportunity. That page is your last opportunity to build a connection with them and get them excited before they inquire. That page is the beginning of their selling journey with you, as their photographer. The more excited you get them on this page, the more likely they are to buy what you’re selling. What’s the best converter to have on you contact page, you ask? Great question, go listen to this episode to find out! (We even do a little live audit of my site.)
Rachel’s main point she wants you to take away is to build YOUR OWN business, not anyone else’s. Someone else’s dream business isn’t your’s. You’re never going to make space for yourself in this industry if you’re constantly looking at what other people are doing. Everyone’s definition of success is different. So don’t measure your success off of others, and don’t model your business after their’s. Your life, personality, and experiences are what make you unique. Play to those and create a unique space in this industry for yourself.
Once you’re true to who you are in your business and on your website, you’ll attract clients who you WANT to work with and make the money YOU need. Someone may get more clients than you or make more money than you, but at the end of the day they don’t live your life. Only you can know what you need to be successful in this industry. Don’t dull your shine to fit in someone else’s box.
We go into SO much more detail in this episode on all things copywriting for photographers and content. You’ll find more on finding your brand voice, more common mistakes Rachel sees photographers making both on their website and in social media, talking to past clients, how to talk to potential clients on your website to capture them, and even a little on marketing and how to do it well. We cover it all and more on copywriting for photographers! You aren’t going to want to miss a second of it. Go listen for yourself to see how you can transform your website copy into an inquiry grabbing machine!
A client inquiring with you is the beginning of your selling journey. They’ve gotten to the point of trusting you enough to reach out, so now you have a big role to play because this is the start of their journey with you. I’ve created a freebie for you to start hooking inquiries from the very beginning. These are the exact email templates I use for every inquiring couple. I just know they’ll help you get ghosted less and truly serve these couples once they land in your inbox. Go to the link below to get your free email templates!
Hook Inquiries with These Freebie Email Templates
The Top 10 Resources You Need for Your Business Freebie
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