The Easy Guide to Creating Your Photography Website

Congratulations! You are taking the first step tcreating your photography website! In this guide to creating your photography website, you will learn step by step how to set up your photography website the easiest way possible. I know it might seem like a good idea to set up through a free platform, and there are many out there. BUT, in the long run, those free sites, will not rank you high in the Google rankings which is where the most potential customers will find you. The good news is, it is pretty easy if you know what steps to take. Follow the steps to create your best photography website that will bring you lots of new clients!

Get an Internet Host

This is the very first thing you need to do. Without a host, there is no site for you to build. This can be super intimidating because?you are probably not sure what to look for. I get it. This is how I felt too. There are many different hosts out there. You can spend hours or days researching and trying to find the one that’s the best. Don’t overthink it. Take a look at 2 or 3 hosts at the most and then pick one you feel most comfortable with.  My recommendation for website hosting is iPage.  This is the host that I have used for many years now with great results! Their service and helpfulness whenever I was confused or needed help was outstanding.  Check it out below and you also get $200 in advertising credits and bonuses!

Find a Template

This can be confusing too.  But I’m going to make it super easy for you!  If you are a photographer and want? create a photography website, choose a template that is meant for photographers! I learned this the hard way by trying to google search “website templates” or “free website templates”. I downloaded a few of them (both free and paid) only to get super frustrated because they just weren’t photography friendly.  Then I came across Pro Photo Blog. This is a life saver.  It will create your site, portfolio and /or blog all in one. And just like the name says, it’s for pro photographers. It is super customizable too, so your site won’t look like all the rest. ?It is the template I have been using now for years, after trying out so many others. ?Don’t try to go free on your template. Pro Photo Blog is well worth the investment.

Decide on Client Galleries

If your site will include a place to display client galleries for purchasing or download you will want to include a link to that on your site. There are several options available and many are even free to try out, or free for life with the basic packages. I like and use Shoot Proof. (You can click here for a free trial!)  But there are others gallery sites out there too.  Pixieset, Smugmug and Shoot and Share are some of the wider known ones.

Added Features

To get creative and really streamline your website experience, there are a few other add ons you might want to consider. These aren’t necessary at first, but you may want to consider adding them on as you get more comfortable creating your site.

Mach Form – This add on will allow you to add digital contacts and forms to your site. There are also some options to do this through the Pro Photo Blog template.

Pay Pal– This is a great way to accept payments for retainers beforehand and invoice clients later.

This guide should give you a great start to creating your photography website! It is intimidating and time consuming, but you can do it! Show your photography off to the world!

Thanks for reading!

(Check out more of my photography business tips here!)

Emily

*This post does contain affiliate links, however, I recommend and use most of the products listed in the article!