Setting up your own photography website may seem like a daunting task.  Many photographers are intimidated by the thought of doing this and rely on Instagram as their web presence.  But websites will always outlive social media platforms and have tremendous marketing benefits.  Here’s how you can set up your own photography website in just one day using WordPress.

Pick a Hosting Plan

Start by going to WordPress.com and choosing a package. There are several hosting packages available. Your hosting package is an investment.  You may be tempted to pick the cheapest package, but this can harm your marketing reach. 

Take these into consideration:

• Speed – photography websites are already handicapped with the amount of large, high-quality images served to viewers.  Your host should be able to counter this with fast servers.
• Expansion – it’s essential to look at a host that has numerous packages available with upgrade options.  You can start with a small hosting package, and as your business grows, seamlessly upgrade your plan.
• Customer service – websites can go down for many reasons.  It’s essential to choose a host with outstanding customer service so your business doesn’t take a hit if this happens.

I would highly recommend starting with the Business plan because it includes SEO tools, plug ins, custom themes, google analytics integration, live support and more! 

For $25 a month you will have an incredible website with unlimited storage, all the marketing tools to grow your business and hundreds of free themes and plug ins to customize your site!

Pick a domain

The first step to creating your own photography website is to choose your domain (the web address).  Here are some characteristics of a good photography website domain name:

• Easy for other people to remember.
• It should be related to your business (named after your business if possible).
• It shouldn’t be too long (think of how it would appear on a business card).

Don’t rush this step.  Your domain can’t be changed once it’s set without massive headaches!

When you’re ready, purchase the domain (if it’s available) from a registrar like BlueHost or GoDaddy.

Find a theme

A theme is the template that controls how your website looks.  Remember the following points when choosing a theme:

• Your theme should be responsive for mobile devices.  The majority of web traffic is from mobile devices, so make sure your template is easy to use and looks great on a phone.
• Less is more.  You want to highlight your photography, so stay away from themes with a lot of clutter in the margins.  Many are optimized for photography.
• The ideal photography theme should offer you easy customization options so that your website doesn’t look like everybody else’s.

There are SO many FREE themes with WordPress.com!

Customize your theme

You’ll initially want to add a color scheme, logo, and change the font in your theme.  Make it unique to match your brand.  Theme customization will always be an evolving process, so don’t feel pressured to get it perfect on the first day.

Add content to your website

There are a few pages you’ll need to add when you set up your website, and it won’t take long.

• Portfolio – add images to a portfolio page or link to an external portfolio site.
• About – tell your readers who you are and why they should choose you!
• Services – let your readers know what kind of photography services you offer.
• Contact – you won’t convert any leads without an easy way for them to contact you, so add a contact form page and provide a phone number.
• Privacy Policy – search engines will look for this page, and it’s essential to have one after recent Internet privacy laws.
• Blog – make your first post!  Introduce yourself and tell your readers what makes you passionate about photography.

You can find examples of all of these pages online. Just Google!

Making a photography website with WordPress.com is fast and easy 

As you can see, there aren’t a lot of steps to get it done!  So what are you waiting for?  Increase your visibility and reach by making a photography website with WordPress today.

Kylee Maughan

Kylee started Kylee Ann Photography 9 years ago, and has since grown from a one woman amateur show to a full associate team. We shoot 50-75 weddings a year, and thrive on kindness and service. After a year of teaching Intro to Photography at the local technical college, she discovered that helping other entrepreneurs create thriving businesses is what fires her up! She hosts semi-annual Kylee Ann Sleepovers all over the US, speak at conferences and teach online courses about running a small business and marketing.

kyleeannphotography.com/kylee