QUICK TIPS

1. 🔍 Your homepage isn’t a portfolio. It’s a filter.

Most photographers treat the homepage like a greatest-hits gallery.

But in a recent website review, this was the real issue:

Visitors couldn’t tell who the site was for, or what to do next.

A few fixes made a big difference:

• Rewrite the H1 to clearly name the audience and outcome

• Swap a single hero portrait for a collage that shows the actual service

• Change “Let’s chat” to “Learn more” and send people to the service page

Your homepage should qualify visitors, not entertain them.

If someone can’t answer “Is this for me?” in 5 seconds, they’ll bounce.

PhotoDeck’s custom metadata fields let you tag your photos with your own structured data, beyond the basic built-in fields like titles, captions, or keywords. You can add business-specific info — things like “Season,” “Client Project,” or “Usage Rights.” It’s metadata tailored exactly to your workflow.

🔍 Why it matters: Instead of relying on generic keywords that get messy fast, custom fields help you:

• Standardize tagging by enforcing a controlled list of values.

• Improve searchability by turning your custom fields into easy dropdown filters for visitors.

• Add internal context using free-text fields for notes you don’t need to display publicly.

🧰 How it works in practice:

• Create fields with predefined values (single-choice or multi-choice) so your tagging stays consistent.

• Use free-text fields for internal notes, project IDs, or anything not meant for the public.

• Choose where each field appears—internally, publicly on your website, or inside search filters.

Custom metadata fields turn a big, chaotic image library into a well-organized, searchable system that helps both you and your clients find exactly what they need. If your catalog is growing, this becomes a game-changer.