12
March
2018
You’ve hired a photographer. You’ve got some lovely images. Now how do you use them? Making them the focus of your website might just be the answer… Take a moment to think about what you do when you buy something. As you research the process, whether that’s online or through the pages of a magazine, how do you do it? You look at an image. “I’m always looking at the pictures first,” says Geoff Ellis, of marketing, website design and photography firm Golfworking. “If I’m buying a coffee machine, or going on a holiday, I always look at the photographs first.” So why would golf be any different? If a potential visitor is looking to pay a green fee, or a prospective member’s thinking about signing up, the first place they’re going to go is that club’s website. The first thing they’re going to do is look at images of the course and the club. Ellis adds: “It’s really important that people are attracted to the website through the photographs. They look at the photographs and then they are going to read more. “So we have got to try and get those as prominent and in their face as possible.” Ellis has been building club websites for more than a decade. His clients range from the high profile – such as Lindrick, Royal Porthcawl and Notts – to your average run of the mill club. But while those clubs might be very different, and have very different aims, Golfworking’s approach doesn’t alter. Photographs are the central component of what he does. “The images are really the basis of the design,” Ellis explains. “Looking at our websites, you’ll see the images really make the most of them.” Golfworking uses photography as a design tool and Ellis is blunt about the impact “sub-standard” images can have on the work he does. “The websites we have produced, where the club have tried to cut a corner or they’ve got an enthusiastic member to do it, never look quite as good as they could if they had really strong photography. “You’ve got to have good text, and a good design, and an easy to use website that responds across all devices. But one of the best ingredients to get right is the photography because that will make or break it sometimes.” Ellis recently revamped Notts’ webpages – transforming their site from a text-heavy offering to pages laden with glorious images of the course and club at its finest. “If you were doing your research online of where next to play, you would say ‘wow, that looks nice we want to have our society day here’. ‘We want to play our next game here’. ‘We’re looking to join a golf club’. If you brought up their old website, it would be ‘what’s the hype about this place?’ Hopefully, you now think ‘wow, this is as good as they say it is’. “You go on their website now and think ‘I want to find out more’.”... Please LOGIN to read the full article.
Not a member? Please click here to join today.
