A website serves as a central place to showcase your work to clients, gain exposure, and share it with the world. Not to mention, a website also gives you a professional look.
Most photographers take a while to create their website because it’s technical and, honestly, who has the time?
To make it easier for you, we’ve cut through all the fluff and boiled it down to 5 simple steps you need to follow to get your website up and running quickly.
By the end of this guide, you will have an impressive photography website of your own.
Types of Photography Websites You Can Create
There are different types of photography websites you can create. Let’s mention the most popular ones:
Portfolio Website: Create a website where you can display a gallery of your photos in carousels or lightboxes. This will give you a professional space to showcase your photos to clients and the world.
Such a website will also give you more exposure and allow interested people to find you.
Affiliate site: Create a platform where photographers can sign up as members to contribute their photos to a public gallery or sell them for a fee. You could create a free space for photography, or even charge a membership fee or commission for each photo.
With membership sites, you can also build a community of photographers interested in being hired. Photographers can then sign up based on the type of photography they specialize in. Potential clients can then search by style and location to find the right photographer for them.
Online Photography Store: List your photos and artwork for sale on your own website. This will help you avoid the high fees and commissions you would be charged if you joined popular stock websites. To do this, you will need an e-commerce setup or payment gateway on your site to sell your photos.
Online Course Website: If you want to share your knowledge, an online course website is perfect for you. You could add course materials, eBooks, quizzes, tools, and more. You can also allow members to chat on forums to ask questions and discuss topics.
No matter what kind of photo site you want to create, ecuador phone number library this tutorial will help you get there.
Getting started with a photography website
You can build a website in a number of different ways, top 11 gdpr wordpress plugins to create a gdpr compliant site but we’re not going to confuse you with too many options. Instead, we’ll tell you right off the bat that our number 1 recommendation is WordPress.
It is the most flexible and affordable platform that allows you to customize and scale your business the way you want at a low cost. It has a bit of a learning curve, but it is easy for anyone to use.
We highly recommend WordPress.org because it allows you to maintain control over your site. Plus, there are over 10,000 themes to choose from. You can even import demo websites and change the content and photos to make them your own.
Plus, there are over 55,000 tools and plugins built for WordPress. This allows you to add all kinds of features and functionality to your site. You’ll be able to create any kind of photography website you want.
So, for example, if you want to create a membership platform, we recommend using your WordPress site in conjunction with MemberPress . It’s the #1 membership plugin for WordPress that will allow you to set up tiered membership plans and grant access based on membership level. The platform also allows you to set up one-time or recurring payments.
Next, if you want to sell your prints online, we recommend using WordPress and the Easy Digital Downloads plugin . It allows you to sell any type of digital file, such as photos, videos, music, pdfs, etc.
To give you an idea, WordPress is all about you. Whatever you want to do with your website, if the feature isn’t already built in, you’ll find a third-party tool to do it.
That being said, let’s look at what you need to create your find list photography website with WordPress.
What you need to create your photography website
To create any type of website, you will need 2 things:
- The web hosting plan gives you access to a server where your website will live. This is where all your files and database will be stored.
- The domain name is the address of your website, such as www.isitwp.com.
The best deal out there is Bluehost’s plan, with which you get a reliable web hosting service + a free domain registration for 1 year starting at just $2.75 per month . You also get a free SSL certificate to make your site secure and a free CDN (content delivery network) to make your site fast.
The best thing is that with this plan, you can install WordPress in just 1 click. So you won’t have to do anything technical to get started.
Click here to get the exclusive BlueHost offer
If you want to explore other options, check out our list of the 11 best web hosting companies . Our top picks are Hostinger and SiteGround .
Below, we’ll show you how to sign up for a web hosting plan and set up your site.
How to create a photography website
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a website with stunning photos. And since photos are often large files, we’ll pay special attention to make sure your website loads lightning fast for the best user experience. Here are the steps you’ll need to follow:
- Sign up for BlueHost
- Laying down the basics
- Customize your website
- Adding useful WordPress plugins
- Optimize speed and performance
Step 1: Sign up for Bluehost
The first thing you need to do is sign up for a Bluehost plan. If you want the cheapest web hosting plan, check out our Bluehost exclusive deals page which lets you get started for $2.75 per month.
You will need to click the Start Now button , select your plan and follow the on-screen instructions.
On the next page, you will see the different plans available along with the prices and features of each.
The 36-month plan offers you the most savings, but if you’re just starting out, the 12-month plan is also an affordable option with a deep discount.
Next, you’ll see an option to set up your domain. You can either create a new domain or use an existing one. If you don’t have one, search for the name you want under “Create a new domain.”
What you need to know is that there are millions of domains already registered. The best way to find available domain names is to use our free domain name generator tool . It will take your keywords and find domain names that you can register right away.
Once you have found your domain name, you will need to enter your details, such as your name and address.
Bluehost allows you to view the details of your plan selection and make changes if you wish.
Now, there is a section called Extras Package below this. These are tools that you may find useful while building and managing your website. But we recommend that you uncheck all of these here. This will help you save on your hosting plan and you can purchase them later if you want.
That’s it! You have purchased a domain and a hosting plan.
Step 2: Set up the basics
In this step, we will cover the following:
- Setting up WordPress
- Configure SSL
1. Configure WordPress
When you sign up with Bluehost, WordPress is automatically added to your plan. You just need to install it by clicking a few buttons.
Log into your Bluehost account, and you will see a menu on the left where you can navigate to the ‘My Sites’ tab.