Tips by 9W Digital - Web consultant for pro cyclists, photographers and more

Get Serious About Password Security

I see the crazy-weak passwords every day. Otherwise perfectly smart photographers will pick the weakest passwords for their website admin logins. It baffles me every time. Please do it right. It is easy, I promise.

Photographers: Protect Your Archive Images With A Watermark

Remember when a photographer’s archives used to be their retirement plan? Those days are long gone but you should nonetheless protect your work from theft. And there is only one truly effective way to do that: embedding a watermark.

Make Your Website Mobile-Friendly (Or What Is Responsiveness?)

In 2015 all websites should be responsive. But what does responsive mean? Why is it so important? Will it affect my Google ranking? How do I go about making my photography site responsive? Here are some answers.

The Correct Copyright Notice on a Photographer’s Website

Under US law a copyright notice is no longer required to protect copyright. Yet it makes sense to include one. A copyright notice indicates that a work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright owner and shows the year of first publication. And it’s pretty simple to add one.

Recommendation: Switch Your Website to HTTPS Now

So what does HTTPS mean? HTTPS (or Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) is the secure version of HTTP, a protocol used by 2 computers communicating over the Internet. With HTTPS the communication is encrypted which prevents third-party eavesdropping and tampering, so-called man-in-the-middle attacks and attempts to spoof a trusted website. The TLS (or Transport Layer Security) […]

How Does a Photographer Find Her Blogging Voice?

Photographers often ask me if they should blog. Blogging is hard. It takes time. People will judge the result. And what will you write about anyway? Well there are several reasons for a photographer to have a blog and ways for her to find her voice.

Tools I Use: Managed WordPress Hosting by WPEngine

Choosing a hosting provider isn’t easy. They all claim you won’t find better. Here is my hosting recommendation for a WordPress-powered photography site based on personal experience and minimum requirements for a business setup.

Writing Your About Page On Your Photographer’s Website

Most photographers dread having to put their About page together. Not only do you have to go all metaphysical (Who are you? Really) but you have to do it in writing. Short or long text? Funny, factual or inspirational? First or third person voice? Modest or self-confident? Headshot or not? It makes editing your own […]

Use WordPress And PhotoShelter To Build Your Photographer Website

There are many ways to skin a cat. When it comes to websites for photographers my favorite setup is WordPress + PhotoShelter. That combo provides excellent design flexibility, more SEO options, good admin interfaces and e-commerce-enabled photo archive management.

Malware Hidden in the EXIF of a JPG Image

Have you ever thought of your images as potential vehicles to spread malware? Two months ago a security expert found malware hiding in the EXIF header of a JPG image. Using images to infect computers with malware isn’t new but the novelty here is the way the malicious code was hidden. Peter Gramantik, of Sucuri, […]

For or Against Blogrolls on a Website? Against.

Remember blogrolls? Those lists of recommended links to other websites usually placed in the sidebar used to be ubiquitous. You don’t see them as much nowadays. And that’s a good thing. They are bad for your website in many ways and should be left in the 1990s where they belong. Some argue that providing your […]

Recognize Fake Comments On a Website

FYI, those sweet-but-slightly-weird comments you get on your blog are fake. I see these comments on sites all the time and you probably have too but may not have noticed anything particular about them. They look more or less normal. They’re always positive, often enthusiastic even. And who doesn’t like to see that someone out […]

Easy Artist’s Statements For a Photography Website

Some photographers include an artist statement on their website, either a general one or project-specific ones. I’m no artist and I have never written one but I can imagine how painful it must be to formulate clearly in words the inspiration and ideas that drive a creative process. And quite frankly that difficulty often shows. […]

Stop Image Harvesters Like HyperImage From Downloading All Your Images

News flash: not everyone thinks they should have to pay to use the great images you have on your website. And to make it easier for them to grab your work there are tools that download all the images on a website at a click of a button. One such tool is HyperImage (H/T Steve […]

Clickable Website Addresses in Email Signatures

Too many photographers send out emails with footer signatures that don’t include a clickable link to their website. Learn how to get it right.