Understanding that as a model, your website can be the cornerstone of your marketing efforts to aid you in getting booked; here is a list of common website mistakes to avoid when it comes to launching your site.

1) Don’t List Your Location Anywhere
Your location should be visible on the site itself and would be great if it were placed into the page title as well. Not only is this helpful to prospective clients who are looking to book a model; it is also great for search engine optimization (SEO) to drive more relevant traffic to your site. Another suggestion would be to list the places you can accept work in. Are you available to travel? If so, state that. State where you can accept projects. Never assume that this information is obvious.

2) No Contact Information Anywhere
This point also applies to contact information that is buried in the site and is too hard to find. Make it visible (on every page if possible). Don’t simply rely on a “contact form” as being sufficient. It is not. Suppose a client wants to capture your information for the future; or they need to call you on the phone right now to talk about a potential job. Don’t risk losing the opportunity to convert a prospective client at this stage.

3) Having a Website Made Entirely in Flash
Yes it works decently on your computer and yes it is oftentimes a lot more affordable. But what’s the tradeoff? Well, for starters search engines cannot see it and thus cannot index it properly. Say goodbye to driving traffic through search engines. What if a prospective client is trying to view your site using mobile technology like an iPhone or an iPad? More often than not, will not load properly – if at all.

4) Having a Website You Never Update
Not updating your site will kill potential SEO. Also, it gives current and prospective clients no reason to ever return to your site. It would be beneficial to develop an update strategy. Perhaps it is through your blog, or updating photo galleries, revising the text on your pages, and so on.

5) Failing to Use Text At All
We’re in a visual-driven industry, this is true. However, search engines operate based off of text. It is how they see the websites and how they know how to index them. Without text (to a search engine) you essentially have an empty website. So develop some well-written sections of text throughout your website. Perhaps this could be descriptions of photos, behind the scenes of projects you worked on, details of services you offered, and so on.

6) Not Show Professional List of Work
Showing what you’ve been able to do can build a tremendous amount of credibility with prospective clients. It could be the final tipping point to drive a prospective client to hire you.

7) Have Music That Plays Automatically
Simply put; don’t do this. Survey after survey has shown that it is a top and continuous annoyance of web surfers (including your clients)? What is the result? They go elsewhere. And yet despite this fact, websites still pop up with unexpected and loud music that blares until the website window is quickly closed.

Hope this helps you structure a website which drives relevant traffic and enhances your bookings!

James Patrick
www.jamesmpatrick.com