New Year. Old You?

Your 2025 was probably packed. New clients, new shoots, maybe a few creative risks that actually paid off. But here's the question: does your website know that?

If someone lands on your site right now, are they seeing the photographer you've become this year, or the one you were two years ago? If it's the latter, you’re saying goodbye to $$$ and premium clients.

Before the new year hits and the inquiry rush starts, let's fix that. Nothing crazy, just the handful of updates that'll help you show up stronger and book faster in 2026.

Your Homepage Needs More Than Just Pretty Pictures

Your homepage is doing a lot of heavy lifting. It's not just a gallery, it's your pitch, your proof, and your personality all rolled into one. Most photographers’ homepages fail because they're just a slideshow of images with zero context.

Here's what a great homepage actually needs:

A Clear Headline That Says What You Do
Not "Welcome" or "Hello." Tell people exactly what you do and where you do it.

Instead of: "Welcome to my site"
Try: "Wedding Photography in Portland, Oregon" or "Editorial Portraits for Creative Professionals"

Make it obvious. Don't make people hunt for what you offer.

Your Best Work Upfront (But Not All Of It)
Your hero gallery should be 8-10 of your absolute strongest images from 2025. Not your favorites, your strongest. The ones that make people stop scrolling. The shots clients would pay you to recreate.

Think about what you want to book more of in 2026. If you've been leaning into editorial-style portraits, show that. If you nailed moody, low-light wedding receptions, lead with those. Your homepage should reflect where your work is now, not where it was two years ago.

A Short Bio That Actually Sounds Like You
Right on your homepage, give people 2-3 sentences about who you are and what it's like to work with you. Save the long story for your About page. On your homepage, just be clear and human.

Example:
"I'm Alex, a wedding photographer based in Austin. I'm the one keeping your timeline on track, making your grandma laugh during family photos, and capturing the real, unscripted moments that make your day yours."

A Clear Next Step
Don't make people hunt for how to contact you. Big, obvious contact button. "Get in Touch," "Let's Talk," "Inquire About Your Date" whatever feels like you. Just make it easy.

What Not to Include on Your Homepage:

• Auto-playing music (please, no)

• A wall of text about your "passion for storytelling"

• Every single service you've ever offered

• Outdated testimonials from 2019

• Anything that slows down load time

Your homepage should feel current, clear, and confident.

Those Portfolio Galleries Need a Refresh

Your portfolio galleries have one job: proving you can deliver what your ideal client wants. If they're outdated, cluttered, or filled with work you're not even proud of anymore, they're actively working against you.

Go through each gallery. Weddings, portraits, engagements, whatever you shoot, and be honest. How many of these images would you still choose if you were curating this gallery today? How many are filler because you needed volume two years ago? How many are technically fine but don't represent where your work is now?

Swap out at least 30% of the images in each gallery. If you can do more, do more. Keep it tight, 12 to 20 strong images per gallery is plenty. Any more than that and you're just giving people a reason to find something they don't like. Curation matters. Show less, but make every image count.

Here's what to look for when you're updating your gallery:

• Consistency: Do the images in this gallery feel like they were shot by the same photographer with a cohesive style, or does it look like a mood board from five different people?

• Storytelling: Does the gallery show a range of moments (wide, medium, tight), or is it just 15 versions of the same shot?

• Technical quality: Is the focus sharp? Are the colors clean? Does the lighting look intentional? If you're squinting at an image trying to decide if it's "good enough," it's probably not.

If you shot a wedding this year with killer golden hour portraits, a beautifully styled reception, and genuine candid moments, replace the older, weaker versions in your wedding gallery. The same goes for portraits, if you nailed a session with perfect natural light and real expressions, that needs to be front and center.

Ask yourself: "Would I be thrilled if a client hired me based on this gallery?" If the answer's not a hard yes, keep editing.

Professional Photographer Jessica Whitaker is a queen at this. Check her out to get inspired.

Why Nobody's Reading Your About Page

Potential clients absolutely read About pages; they just don't read the boring ones.

If yours is a wall of text about "passion for storytelling" and "capturing authentic moments," congratulations, you sound like every other photographer on the internet. And that's a problem, because people aren't just hiring a photographer anymore, they're hiring you. The person they'll spend hours with on one of the most important days of their life. The person they're trusting to not make family photos awkward. The person who needs to make them feel comfortable enough to actually be themselves in front of a camera.

Your About page should answer three questions:
Who are you? What's it like to work with you? And why should they trust you?

Rewrite it like you're talking to a friend. Be specific. Be honest. Tell them what you're actually like on a shoot. Do you crack jokes to loosen people up? Do you bring a timeline and keep everything on track? Do you notice when someone's feeling self-conscious and know how to make them feel good again? That's the stuff that matters.

Here’s an example to give you a picture

Would you rather hire this photographer?
"I'm a passionate wedding photographer dedicated to capturing authentic moments and telling your unique love story through timeless images."

Or this?
"I'm Sarah, and I've been shooting weddings for 8 years because I genuinely love being part of your day. I'm the one making your grandma laugh during family photos and making sure your timeline doesn't fall apart when the ceremony runs 20 minutes late. My job is to capture the real stuff, the messy, beautiful, in-between moments that make your day yours. I'm probably going to cry during your vows. Fair warning."

See the difference?

Bonus Tip: Always include a recent photo of yourself that actually looks like you. Not a perfectly styled brand shoot from 2021,  just a good, clear photo where you look approachable. People want to know who's showing up.

Your Pricing Page Is Creating Friction

If your pricing is buried, vague, or outdated, you're making it harder for people to say yes.

Here's what happens when someone lands on your site: they look at your work, they vibe with your style, and then they immediately want to know if they can afford you. If they can't figure that out without sending an email and waiting two days for a response, a lot of them will just move on to the next photographer who makes it easier.

You don't have to list every detail and package option, but give people something to work with. A starting price. A range. Enough information so they know whether they're in the ballpark or not.

If you've raised your rates this year, update your site to reflect that. If your packages have changed, update those too. If you added a new service, like engagement sessions or branding shoots, make sure it's listed.

And if you're still doing the "email for pricing" thing, at least give them a starting point so they're not completely in the dark.

Instead of
"Contact me for pricing."

Go with

"Wedding collections start at $3,500 and include full-day coverage, an online gallery, and print rights. Every wedding is different, so let's chat about what works best for you."

Clear. Transparent. No guessing games. It respects their time and yours.

If you want to know more about how to do this like a pro, do check out professional photographer Sam Hurd’s dedicated FAQ pages that answer common pricing questions upfront.

That Contact Form Is Too Loooooong

If your contact form asks for their wedding date, venue, budget, how they found you, their favorite color, and a detailed breakdown of their entire day, people will bail before they hit send.

You're not trying to gather data. You're trying to start a conversation. Keep it simple.

Name, email, event date (if applicable), and a message box. That's it. You can ask follow-up questions once they've actually reached out. Right now, your only job is to make it as easy as possible for them to say "hey, I'm interested."

And while you're at it, make sure your contact form actually works. Test it. Fill it out yourself and see if you get the email. You'd be surprised how many photographers have broken contact forms and don't even know it.

Aftershoot Tip: Set up an automated thank-you email that sends immediately after someone fills out your contact form. Something simple like:

"Thanks for reaching out! I got your message and I'll get back to you within 24 hours. In the meantime, feel free to check out my recent work on < Your Instagram Handle>."

It reassures them their inquiry didn't disappear into the void and buys you time to respond thoughtfully.

Your Blog Looks Abandoned

If you have a blog and the last post is from 2022, it's not helping you. It's hurting you. A dead blog makes your site feel abandoned, like you're not actively working or don't care enough to update it.

Either delete the blog entirely or commit to posting recent work. You don't need to write novels. Just share 2-3 recent sessions with a handful of images and a quick story about the shoot.

Here's the thing: blog posts help with SEO, give potential clients more examples of your work, and show that you're active and booking. It's social proof. It's evidence that people are hiring you and you're delivering.

You don't have to post every week. Just aim for a few times a quarter. Pick your favorite recent sessions, the ones that represent your best work or the type of client you want to attract, and share them.

Example:
"Had the best time shooting Emma and Jake's fall engagement session last month. We chased golden hour through the vineyards and got some of my favorite couples' shots of the year. They're getting married next spring, and I already know their wedding day is going to be incredible."

Short. Sweet. Shows you're working. Gives potential clients another gallery to browse. Easy win.

Test It on Your Phone

Most people are browsing your site on their phone. If it's slow, broken, or images don't load right, they're gone. No second chances.

Pull up your site on your phone right now. Not on desktop, on your actual phone, the way a real person would find you. Click around. Does it load fast? Are the images sharp, or do they look pixelated and weird? Is the text readable, or is it tiny and awkward? Can you easily tap the contact button without zooming in?

If anything feels clunky, slow, or broken, fix it. This isn't optional. A broken mobile experience costs you bookings. Period.

Check your image file sizes, too. If your homepage is loading massive, uncompressed files, it's going to take forever to load on mobile, and people will bounce before they even see your work. Compress your images without losing quality. There are free tools that do this in seconds.

And while you're at it, make sure your site works across different browsers. Open it in Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. You'd be surprised how many sites look perfect in one browser and completely broken in another.

Don't Forget the SEO Basics

Your website can look amazing, but if Google can't understand it, you won't show up when clients start looking. And all the stunning galleries you just updated? Wasted if nobody can find you.

But here’s the good news, you don't need to become an SEO expert to get eyes. You just need to fix a handful of things that take about an hour total.

Update your page titles so they actually say what you do and where you do it.
"Seattle Wedding Photographer" beats "Home" every single time. Google has no idea what "Home" means. Be specific. If you shoot weddings in Portland, your homepage title should say that. The same goes for your about page, portfolio pages, and anywhere else it makes sense.

Add your city and services to key pages so Google knows where you work and what you offer.
If you're a Portland wedding photographer, those words should appear naturally on your homepage, about page, and portfolio pages. Not stuffed in awkwardly, just woven into the copy where it makes sense. "I'm a wedding photographer based in Portland, Oregon" does the job.

Refresh your image alt text so your photos are actually searchable.
Right now, your image files are probably named something like "IMG_1234.jpg." Google can't read images, but it can read alt text. So instead of leaving it blank or generic, describe what's in the photo: "bride and groom first look at Powell Butte" or "outdoor wedding reception at Oaks Pioneer Church." It helps Google understand your work and makes your site more accessible.

Compress large images so your site loads fast on mobile.
If your homepage is loading massive, uncompressed files, it's going to take forever on mobile, and people will bounce before they even see your work. Slow sites also get penalized by Google. There are free tools that compress images in seconds without losing quality. Use them.

Blog 1-2 recent sessions, so your site doesn't look abandoned.
Fresh content signals to Google (and potential clients) that you're active and booking. You don't have to write essays. Just share a handful of images with a quick story about the shoot. It helps with SEO and gives people more proof of what you can do.

Update the year everywhere: footer, blog titles, pricing pages.
Nothing says "I haven't touched my website in two years" like a lonely "© 2023" sitting at the bottom of your homepage. It's a small thing, but it matters. Do a quick sweep and update every place the year shows up.

That's it. Low effort, big difference. Your site will load faster, rank better, and actually show up when people search for photographers in your area.

Don't Overthink It

Your website is your storefront. If it doesn't reflect who you are right now and what you're capable of, you're making it harder for the right clients to find you and easier for them to move on to someone else.

You don't need to rebuild the whole thing from scratch. You don't need to hire a designer or rewrite every page. Just freshen it up. Swap in your best recent work. Tighten your copy so it sounds like you, not a corporate brochure. Make it easy for people to understand what you do, see that you're good at it, and reach out.

Do this before January hits and the inquiry rush starts. Because when people start searching for photographers in the new year, you want them to land on a site that makes them think "yes, this is exactly who I've been looking for," not "hmm, maybe I'll keep looking."

Future you will thank you.

Team Aftershoot