FAQ: Website Design with ShowIt Sites

One thing that used to be a constant source of frustration for us in our business was our website, and my hunch is that if you're a photographer (or other creative who uses a website to display their portfolio) you know exactly what I mean. The two biggest issues we encountered with the different websites we've had over the years were 1) the difficulty of updating them with current work and 2) the fact that our website looked just like everybody else's websites.

Enter ShowIt Sites.

About two years ago when our friends DJ and Todd came to us and started talking about this new idea they had for creating an easy, straight forward platform for photographers and creatives to build custom websites that would be easy to update and even simpler to customize, our ears perked up - to say the least! What the team over at ShowIt has created is truly remarkable, and we're thrilled with how our website turned out and we're even more thrilled that we can change it at any time, with a few mouse clicks.

We launched our ShowIt Website back in February of this year, and I thought that for this FAQ post it might be helpful to go through my top 5 tips & tricks we learned along the way while we were creating our site, which might help you create yours.

1. Start with a plan. I guarantee that your website will turn out much better if you start with a plan outside of the ShowIt software first. It's tempting to just start "winging it" within ShowIt - especially because the software is so easy to use - but ShowIt is not meant to be used as a design tool. Have your branding already designed and then build your website. Start with sketching some concepts on paper, and design the layout of your website in Photoshop first. You'll be able to build a fully functioning site much quicker if you have an end goal in mind.
2. Be unique. When you're creating your plan for your site, don't try to copy something else you've seen or do a site exactly like someone else. There's always going to be similar elements and layouts between your site and other photographer's sites, but try your best to just let the creativity flow and create something that's unique to you.
3. Make it about what it should be about. Your website should be about you, what you do, and what you uniquely bring to the table. So take time to personalize it with not only your branding but also with a bio page all about you - complete with pictures showcasing who you are. In most cases, your clients are hiring you 1) for your talent in photography and 2) for who you are. I'm constantly surprised by how many photographers have no bio page on their sites and no pictures of themselves. You're awesome & unique and YOU have something unique to offer. So talk about it.
4. Don't go crazy with transitions and text. There's a ton of awesome tools you can use in ShowIt Sites to create neat transitions, cool text effects, and some pretty crazy layouts. Don't let these options & ideas take center stage on your site and overshadow your personality and your photographic work. Pick a few elements and use them in a controlled manner; you don't want your clients to get a headache with a crazy website!
5. Test drive it on a "normal" computer. As photographers, most of us have GIANT screens and super fast computers, so it's important to test drive your creation on computers that more normal people use (ie your clients), and realize that not everybody will be viewing your site on a 30" display. View your site on Mac's, PC's, Safari, Firefox - and yes, even Internet Explorer (shudder). Since ShowIt is all Flash based, it'll work on any system, but what you want to pay attention to is how the layout changes on different screens in different environments. One of the coolest things about ShowIt is that it will actually scale to different sizes based on the screen on which its displayed, so make sure you've laid out your site with this in mind.

If it's simply too intimidating to do all of this on your own, never fear - there's help! There's a handful of design firms who specialize in creating ShowIt sites for some pretty reasonable fees. When you download the software and log in, you'll be presented with links to these companies and the list is always updated. We did our website ourselves, so I can't personally recommend any of the companies out there simply because we haven't used them.

The cost for a PRO ShowIt Sites account is $39/month, but if you use the promo code "THEYOUNGRENS" or use this link the guys over at ShowIt will give you the first two months of your account for free! This makes it effectively $32/month for the first year, which is a total steal. Big thanks goes to the ShowIt crew for hooking you all up!

For those of you out there who already use ShowIt Sites, would you add any other big tips to this? If so, drop them in the comments, and if anybody has any questions, leave those in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them!

Be sure to check out our other FAQ Posts by clicking here.