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7 minutes
You are a photographer, whether professional or amateur, the internet is an excellent way to share your passion, and make your work known.
But from a more personal point of view, creating a photo website is also a very good way to post your news and your memories, so that your friends and family can see them.
Anyway, whether your motivation is personal or professional, you can create a photography website, in just a few clicks, with an online software.
... So, why deprive yourself? Let’s zoom on photo website design!
Nowadays, website design has been democratized and has become accessible to everyone: there is no need to use an expensive digital agency, in order to make the most of the incredible benefits (interaction, exchange, visibility…) of the internet.
With an online software, it is now possible, to make a photo website, for free, or at low cost:
Whether for private usage, to exchange with your family
Or to build an online presence, as a professional photographer
→ If you have computer skills, you can use a CMS (Content Management System), that will give you great creative freedom. But only select that option, if you are sure of your abilities, because you will manage the technical aspects of your website (including security and data protection) entirely by yourself.
→ If your computer skills are not that important, you should know that you still can create your own photography website, using a new generation of software, like ours. The tool we offer is called a website builder. It allows you to make your own web pages, simply using your mouse. We will take charge of the technical part of your website. If you have any questions, you will be accompanied by our team.
Whoever you choose as a provider, here are our tips to achieve your website goals.
More than for any other topic, a photography website requires and benefits from a beautiful design.
Since your website’s main goal is promoting your photos, its appearance should be a visual argument.
There exist several ways to emphasize your photos:
You can use a photo gallery: depending on the website builder you use, you will have more or less options. On our platform, you can customize your gallery style, the mouse-over effects, the spacing and size of your photos...
You can also use a photo as a background, in full screen, to create sections. With our tool, you have the possibility to individually change the background of each page.
It can be useful to enable zoom on click, in order to allow visitors to see the details of the images.
The Parallax option or the ability to crop an image to a shape are digital effects that you can use to emphasize your images, in a unique way.
It is also possible to edit your images directly in our tool: you can add special effects: black and white, blur, saturation…, as well as create rounded corners.Thus you can easily and quickly customize your photos, without using a specific software.
Of course, as far as design is concerned, you can also emphasize your images by using shapes, lines, stripes… Or by changing your website colors...
Don’t hesitate to modify the style sheet, to get more customization options, if you have some computer skills.
As a photo professional, or if you are an amateur and use photography extensively, you’ll find it useful to create a digital portfolio.
A digital portfolio is a website made for promoting your photos. As we have just seen, you should pay attention to its design, but not only... You should also focus on interactivity, and protect your data as well. Don’t forget SEO either.
On the internet, protection of intellectual property rights is central: it is easy for any internet user, to copy text or images, and to use them illegally, often without being aware of breaking the law.
In this context, it is thus essential, when starting a photography website, to pay attention to security and image protection:
First make sure that your pages are protected through HTTPS protocol. This system allows to encrypt all data transfers between your website and the server.
Then, even though we can’t guarantee a total protection against copy, it is nevertheless possible to discourage it, by preventing right click, and access to the page source code.
Lastly, you can also add a digital watermark on your photos, if you want to (your name or website address).
On SiteW, every website created is automatically protected, and you can check the appropriate box in our tool, in order to discourage copycats, in just one click. The option applies to the whole website.
Interactivity is one of the main benefits of the internet. It may particularly interest you, as an artist.
Make the most of this aspect, by using tools that allow you to exchange with your visitors. For example:
An agenda with your schedule
A contact form or an online quote request
A comment section, allowing your customers to leave their opinion.
A blog where you can share your techniques, and tell about your creative process.
A forum about photography...
Of course, your job is visual, but to build your photo website, you have to pay attention to your text too.
If you only add images to your website, you won't have enough visibility. Indeed, search engine crawlers use text to browse and classify your website.
To make the most of your photo website, as far as SEO is concerned, you should:
Define your keywords, according to your professional field, your specializations, and your geographic area.
Register a domain name
Make sure that your website is responsive and secure (if you make your website on our platform, it will automatically be the case :-) ).
Customize the metadata of your web pages and website.
Regularly update your contents (a blog or a forum can be useful for this purpose).
Work on your digital reputation, by using social networks and creating links to your pages on other websites about photography.
Don’t hesitate to read our SEO guide, to get additional tips.
Build a photo website and make your photos visible on Google
Describing your images with text will please search engines. But it will also allow you to tell your visitors about your artistic process, your technique and your personal story.
Remember to describe your images (title and alt tag) with keywords.
Make sure that your images are not too heavy. But they must still be qualitative.
If you want to sell photos online, make sure that your provider allows you to sell digital products (if you want to sell your photos digitally).
Créer un site de vente en ligne
By building a photography website, you may want to share images with friends and family, in an easy, interactive and instantaneous way.
To create a photo website dedicated to your private networks, you need to find a provider that gives you specific options, regarding your website management and the privacy of your data.
To manage a photo album, you need to have easy access to your website. With our software, you just need an internet connection to access your website dashboard, anytime, and anywhere you are.
You will also be able to manage your website with others. For example, to allow your friends and family members to add their own pictures to your album.
Make sure you have access to a management system for your photos: with sufficient storage, and the ability to add, delete, and order your files, with easy access to the cloud.
Lastly, confidentiality is a major aspect for private websites. For a maximum security, you need to have the possibility to:
Disable indexation of your website, so that it doesn't appear in search engine results.
Create pages with restricted access
On our platform, you can restrict access to your pages, either with a password, or to members. Your website’s indexation can be disabled in one click.
Creating a photo website or making an online photo album: you now know all the tips to build a successful photography website.
Don’t hide your talent anymore, reveal yourself, move from darkness to light and create your photo website!
Last update: August 22, 2024
