Hey Pat, I've put together this document to follow up from our call last week. It explains everything I can do to get your work out there and findable on the web. I hope I have explained it well enough in this but let me know if you have any questions.
Also don't take any of this as fixed, I'm more than happy to discuss anything on this and tailor a solution to exactly what you need. I've included my price list, however, if your needs don't seem to fit in any of them, I'm happy to work out something different :)
Your work, high def and fast
Not squeezed into a template that fights the shot.
Found on Google locally
When someone nearby searches for a videographer.
Every technical bit on me
Start to finish.
Completely Bespoke...
Basically, your site is written from scratch for your work. It is not a Wix or Squarespace theme, the key benefits to this are that I can practically create whatever you want on the site, it will also load much faster, and wont look like anyone else's site which I think is important for creatives showcasing their work.
What I handle for you
Video, done properly
Your films get encoded into modern web formats at several quality levels, so a phone on 4G gets a lighter version and a desktop gets the sharp one, automatically. Nothing autoplays with sound, nothing stutters, and a long film starts playing in a second or two instead of buffering.
Image optimisation
You send me full-resolution exports. I convert them to next-gen formats (WebP and AVIF) at the exact sizes the site actually displays, so a gallery of forty photos weighs less than one raw JPEG. This will make a super snappy website on even a poor internet connection.
SEO
Getting you to show up when someone nearby searches "wedding videographer" or "photographer near me". Proper page titles and descriptions, headings Google can read, image alt text, a sitemap submitted to Google Search Console, structured data marking you up as a local business, and speed, which is itself a ranking factor. I can also set up your Google Business Profile so you appear in the map results if needed.
Domain and hosting
I register your domain, point it at the server, and put the site live. Included in the monthly care fee below. There is a note on choosing a domain further on.
Security and server work
The padlock in the address bar (an SSL certificate, auto-renewing), a hardened server I administer directly over a secure connection, automated backups, and 99.9% uptime. If something breaks at 11pm, it is my phone that goes off, not yours.
Enquiries
A form that lands straight in your inbox with the details you actually need (date, location, type of shoot, budget range) so you are not going back and forth for three emails before you can quote.
Phones first
Most people will find you on a phone, usually from Instagram. The site is designed for that screen first and tested on real devices, not just shrunk down.
Pricing
Mates rates
Pick the tier you would like, part of my mates rates pricing is you can also pay the build cost monthly with 0% interest a set term (usually 3-6 months).
Services and package pages so people know what you offer
Local SEO: per-page optimisation, Google Business Profile, structured data
Two rounds of changes
Business+
£499£449
Unlimited pages and galleries, unlimited films
Booking flow: availability calendar, date enquiry, package selection
Client area for delivering galleries to the people you shoot
Testimonials, and a journal for ongoing SEO
Full SEO programme: keyword research, location pages, monthly ranking report
Unlimited rounds for 30 days after launch
Add-ons
Preview montages and bulk compression
Short silent loops of your best moments play in the grid before anyone clicks. Compressed hard, no visible quality loss.
£10 per 25 videos · £10 per 100 images
Logo design
A logo bank: different versions and formats ready for social profiles, watermarks and print.
£12
Custom email address
An inbox on your own domain, e.g. contact@patrickwhittaker.com. You can have more than one.
£10
After launch, monthly care
Keeping the site online is: domain renewal, hosting, the SSL certificate, security patches, backups. Cancel any time.
Care and changes
£24.99 /mo
Everything opposite, plus a set number of content changes each month: a new shoot added to the gallery, a film swapped in, prices updated. Best if you shoot regularly.
Care only
£19.99 /mo
Domain name, hosting with 99.9% uptime, SSL, security and backups. No free changes included, so updates are quoted as small jobs when you need them.
How it runs
Timeline
Day nought
You fill in the short brief on the next page and send me your files.
Day five
I send you a first working version on a private link: real site, real work in it, on your phone.
Week one/two
Your notes, my changes. Media compressed, preview loops cut if you have taken the add on.
Launch
Domain live, SSL on, submitted to Google, Business Profile set up. I walk you through it on a call.
What I need from you
Your best photos as full-size exports. Quality over quantity: 20 strong shots beat 100 average ones. I do all the resizing.
Your films, either the original files or links (YouTube, Vimeo, Drive).
A rough idea of what you shoot and who you want to shoot for.
Logo and any brand colours or fonts, if you have them. If not, I will design something.
A note on your domain
Your own name is usually the right call for freelance work: people search for you by name, and it still works if you change what you shoot. Something like patrickwhittaker.com, or .co.uk
if your work is mostly local. Short, spellable out loud, no hyphens. Tell me your first choice on the brief and I will check what is available and register it.
No obligation.
I build the first version before you pay anything. If you see it and it is not what you wanted, you walk away and owe me nothing.
Next step
Fill in the quick brief below (five minutes, skip anything) and I'll get started.
Tom
Website brief
Five minutes, skip anything
Tell me about you and the work
Rough answers are fine, I'll follow up on anything I need more on. Nothing here is technical.
