Website Essentials: The Importance of Curating Your Portfolio And Sharing Your Testimonials
This month has been all about WEBSITE ESSENTIALS. Our websites are a reflection of who we are and what our businesses can offer the world. We want our websites to be thoughtfully designed and structured in ways that shines you in your best light! It’s important that we provide you with meaningful content and quality education on this topic as a means to help you improve your business and grow your opportunities.
As we wrap up this month’s topic of website essentials we wanted to leave you with the knowledge on how important it is to curate your portfolios for your website and share those client testimonials. Dive in with us this week as we share the inside scoop and more!
CHANGE IS GOOD
Don’t be afraid of taking time to really look over your website and change what needs to be changed. Evolving our website’s so they better meet our wants and needs and portray what we need them for our ideal clients is a part of our evolution as business owners.
It’s important that we take in valuable feedback and constructive criticism and use that to our benefit. We are so passionate about educating our viewers with powerful information that will help transform their websites and businesses into bigger, better and stronger ones. Whether you are already starting to make adjustments and tweak things on your website or you are just beginning, we want to guide you away from the “should not’s” for your sites and lead you to the “should do’s”.
Our journey of creation and change is never ending. Allow yourself the time and space to evolve your website whenever and where ever you deem necessary. Change is good! Grant yourself the permission to continue moving onto bigger and better things for yourself and your business!
“Becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. I see it instead as forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end. ”
QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT…
Curating Your Portfolio:
How Do You Feel About The Images On Your Website?
Do You Love Everything You Have Going On?
Do Your Website Images Need Work?
Sharing Testimonials:
How Do You Feel About Testimonials On Your Website Currently?
Are You Showcasing Your Work?
Are You Showcasing Social Proofing On Your Website?
We want this content on your website to showcase the quality of your work and all that you are! Narrowing in on imagery that conveys the experience you provide and sharing testimonials that rave all about you will provide your viewers with proof and credibility of all you can offer to them.
4 TIPS TO KEEP IN MIND FOR CURATING YOUR PORTFOLIO
TIP #1: PICK YOUR VERY BEST
As simple as it sounds, you need to pick your very best. Whether it be your portfolio, journal, imagery, gallery, etc., whatever you may call this portion of your work, find your best work and showcase it! Work to narrow it down to a limited number of galleries you are going to share on your website.
If you currently share a ton of imagery with no real categorization or event titles and it is all over the place then it’s time to figure out what to keep, what to ditch, and what categorization, if any, you will follow.
We strive to attract our ideal clients in these moments of content sharing. It is important that you share and post the imagery that will speak to your prospects and gain their interest and attention as a result of knowing what transformation and experience is possible with you through your portfolio.
It’s helpful to pick around top 8 photos for your website. We want quality over quantity. Showcase the designs you like to do! Showcase the talent you have in floral making and creation! We want your viewers to be in awe!
TIP #2: SIZE YOUR IMAGES APPROPRIATELY
It is very important that you size your images properly for your website. We want your website to run swiftly and smoothly so alleviate any slow load times and resize your images to fit your website specifications. Often times this other little detail gets overlooked but also work to rename your images with a title that is related to your business and work.
This will help boost your content’s reach within a google search. Renaming your images so that they are keyword specific to your work will help boost your SEO and allow your website to be higher ranked in google search. Actually rename your images with a title. This will help you with a google search. Rename your titles so that they are keyword specific to boost your SEO. SEO is key!
TIP #3: LIMIT THE IMAGES YOU USE IN EACH GALLERY
Narrow in on the images you’re using on your gallery and try to use no more than 20 images per gallery. When there is an overabundance of photos and content, viewers can get easily overwhelmed and lose interest. Make sure you paint the picture you want your ideal clients to see as you intentionally pick the content that matters. Make sure you have images that show the work you’ve done and want to portray for your viewers.
Highlight your work! Figure out a layout that works for you but highlight your work. Showcase your clients and their incredible experience while with you.
TIP #4: ALWAYS GIVE CREDIT TO THE PHOTOGRAPHER
Are you using professional photos on your website? If you answered yes then make sure to give them credit. This is a community that is all about networking and building connections. As you promote your work you can also take this opportunity to provide leads for the photographers content you are using.
This is a really nice thing to incorporate into your website so that your prospects can also check out the work they see in your photos and find photographers that may fit there needs.
Think of this as a partnership. These photographers are providing you with great quality photos. Many will allow you to use images for publication and marketing purpose so give credit to them on your website whenever possible. Its only fair. :) Giving credit where credit is due is a great way to stay connected and network.
Be sure to always get permission from the photographer first, then credit, credit and credit them some more!
“You never lose in business, either you win or you learn. ”
TESTIMONIALS ARE GOLD
Testimonials are GOLD. Work to pick your very best testimonials that showcase all the areas in which you exceed excellence! Some great sources to gather your testimonials can be found through website like Yelp, TheKnot, WeddingWire, FaceBook and even Google+.
When going through and selecting your testimonials, pick the pieces that highlight you, your services, the work you’ve done and what you provided that created a transformation for your clients. Testimonials that offer those wow factor moments should be the ones that are featured on your website.
We like to reference selecting testimonials as offering up bite sized pieces that can be consumed very quickly.
In the first few words, your testimonials should provide social proof. Have them highlight immediately the main point you can deliver for your prospects. We want our testimonials to allow our viewers to gain the trust and confidence to work with you.
Do not limit your testimonials to just your home page. Don’t be afraid to sprinkle them throughout your entire website. Give your prospective client the opportunity to read over and come across social proof immediately. Often times viewers might never even see your testimonial page. Do not miss out on the opportunity to share all of your greatness throughout your website wherever you can without going overboard.
NEXT STEPS…
The topics and points we discussed today are simple and quick fixes you can make on your website that will yield tremendous results!
Take your time, create a plan of action and make those necessary adjustments. We promise it will make all the difference. We want you building trust for your viewers and new potential clients right from the very start of the process! Testimonials are so important to provide that social proof and your portfolios show the quality and professionalism of your work. Don’t be afraid of evolving your business to allow yourself more room to grow.
We want you to build your business and grow your endeavors!
We are rooting for you, always!
XOXO, Fleursociety Team