Why I had to change my portfolio website AGAIN
Just last August, I changed my website from Squarespace to another provider called Fotomat. I liked the seamless integration of video and still photography content in Fotomat. Nevertheless, in December, I switched back to Squarespace again. Several reasons came together to make me go through this exercise once again within just a couple of months:
My impressions, the times my website appears in Google Search results, dropped to 1/10th of pre-August numbers. I basically disappeared from search results after the change. I assume that one reason was that the new website provider didn't have a blog section, and Google didn't like its code when it comes to search. With Squarespace and the blog section alive again, impressions increased by 400% within the first month after the switch. Still not where it was before, but I am on the right path. Search results are pretty relevant for my business. Many of my out of state clients found me initially through Google search because they needed a photographer for a NY project and wanted to hire locally. Therefore I just had to make a change to my website again. A nice visual design is worthless, if nobody can find you.
I also wanted to consolidate my portfolio and print shop, which was living on Shopify. I decided to drop Shopify and integrate the print shop into Squarespace because Shopify turned out to be overkill for my needs. One less piece of software to keep up with.
And then I volunteered to design the website of my wife's new project, Move With Ease Pilates. Squarespace better covered her needs and is more efficient for me to manage. One login, one dashboard, and the same backend save me a lot of time when it comes to making updates. And as we know, it's all about updates to please the Google search gods.
During the last couple of months, I added more motion, video, animated visuals, gifs, whatever you want to call it, to my services.
Video as part of long-form content is better in SEO terms.
Users spend more time on websites with video. Some studies say that the time spent more than doubles. Since I launched the new motion part of my website, the duration on my website tripled. And yes, I filter out my IPs in Google Analytics.
Motion content also increases social engagement. Twitter says their motion posts have 55% higher engagement.
Some studies say social video shares are 1200% higher than text and images alone.
My goal for 2021 is to do more motion work, and I needed a way to display it better as part of my portfolio. I started to use Vimeo as a platform for my motion work and also added a newly upgraded motion section to my website with
video testimonials
product videos
aerial/drone video for architects and landscape designer, and
motion graphics, gifs, whatever-you-want-to-call-its
2021, I am ready, let's do this.
