How to make a photography website?

photographyAs a photographer, having your own website is really a must. There simply is no better way to advertise your services and show off your skills.

Once your website is up and running it takes care of the job of finding new clients for you, while you’re out and about taking beautiful photographs.

And setting up your own professional website is easier than you might think, especially if using an online website builder. This short video shows you how it works:



 
By the way, this is the site that was being created in the video.
 

A photographer website
Your requirements
  • The site can be updated without any programming skills
  • Relatively small site (about 5 to 20 pages)
  • Photo gallery or portfolio feature
  • Plenty of storage space for high-quality image files
  • Social media integration (e.g. Facebook, Flickr,…)
  • Option for password-protected client access
  • Domain name and email account included
  • Attractive design templates
  • Blog option
  • Technical support offered by the provider
  • Cost: US $5–12 per month (without adverts)
You don't need
  • Membership pages with login and different levels of access for different user groups
  • Managing hundreds of individual pages
  • Forum integration
Recommendations

jimdowix.comFor photographers we recommend either of the three website builders Jimdo, Wix.com or Squarespace.

Two different technologies are involved here: Squarespace and Jimdo are HTML-based, the standard code used by most websites, whereas Wix uses Flash for its websites. The main difference is in the presentation. Flash enables amazing interactive animations and very attractive designs for your portfolio. Aspects that are clearly important for photographers.

But there are drawbacks too: Flash websites are more difficult to optimize for search engines. And they are also slower to load. Our Wix test report explains this in more detail.

Jimdo places much emphasis on being easy to use, but without compromising on functionality. It offers a vast range of design templates as well as a neat photo gallery and blog function. Be sure to check out our Jimdo video review.

squarespaceSquarespace is slightly more expensive, but in return offers greater flexibility in its design options. A professional blog is also included in the package. Here's our detailed Squarespace test report.
 
 Examples of photographer websites

fotografenhomepage
 

 Image credits: PNetzer / photocase.com, Felix Jork - Fotolia.com

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