Building a Photography Website

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Abinoone

Abinoone

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Do you have your own website to showcase your photography? If so, did you code it from scratch, use a website builder like Wix, or do you use a template for photographers like Zenfolio or Smugmug? What has your experience been using your particular method, and would you recommend it? Who is your target audience for your website, and have you had much use of it? Do you offer users the opportunity to purchase images from your site, and have you had many sales from it?

The reason for my questions is because I’m again considering building my own website. I once had a web presence through Zenfolio but abandoned it because it was receiving little use, and it was somewhat of a pain to maintain. Lately however, I’ve received a number of inquiries about buying some of my images, and I’m wondering if I should have a website available.
 
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Hosting sites like Zenfolio and SmugMug do not advertise for you. Any traffic to your website will be largely the result of your efforts to publicize it....and word of mouth.

I've had my website SmugMug for about 10-14 years. There is no "maintenance" for it other than renewing the annual subscription. I can sell if I want, but I choose not to. I don't do social media (Instagram, FB, etc.) It is my primary way to share photos with others, including private galleries for family photos.
 
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I used Adobe Portfolio to build my website….and I’m very pleased with it for my purposes. However, I’m not doing any sort of e-commerce (which I don’t think is possible with Adobe Portfolio). Plus, it’s free for anyone who already has an Adobe CC subscription (or rather it’s included in your monthly fee).

It was very simple to do, and there are quite a few templates and customizable features. I wanted a simple and clean layout, and I feel like I accomplished that. Feel free to check it out:

wildshotphoto.com

Wild Shot Photography

I am a nature photographer based in Texas, who can provide services for wildlife, ranching, real estate, and other outdoor photography-related needs.
wildshotphoto.com wildshotphoto.com
 
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I coded mine from scratch many years ago and changing would be a big PITA so that's where it will be. Some maintenance is involved especially since it's organized taxonomically and there are occasional changes in taxonomy beyond my control.

pixels.com is free for up to 25 photographs, simple to use and they do all the e-commerce on their end.
 
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I'm in a somewhat lengthy process of trying to establish something and after a lot of research my wife chose Pixieset. Part of this has been that it was free to very low cost to get something meaningfully useful set up. You can do a custom website design, which she has ready to go, but it costs more and I have been waiting to have a few other things ready (mainly another year or so of experience) before actually doing that. However, you can see what it looks like if you don't pay for that option, which may be just what you need if you're just looking to give people a place to buy photos sometimes. You can see what this looks like going to www.shanecoombs.com.
 
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Wade Abadie said:
I used Adobe Portfolio to build my website….and I’m very pleased with it for my purposes. However, I’m not doing any sort of e-commerce (which I don’t think is possible with Adobe Portfolio). Plus, it’s free for anyone who already has an Adobe CC subscription (or rather it’s included in your monthly fee).

It was very simple to do, and there are quite a few templates and customizable features. I wanted a simple and clean layout, and I feel like I accomplished that. Feel free to check it out:

wildshotphoto.com

Wild Shot Photography

I am a nature photographer based in Texas, who can provide services for wildlife, ranching, real estate, and other outdoor photography-related needs.
wildshotphoto.com wildshotphoto.com
Click to expand...
Same here. I figured I'm already paying for the Adobe photography package so I might as well take advantage of it.
 
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Wade Abadie said:
I used Adobe Portfolio to build my website….and I’m very pleased with it for my purposes. However, I’m not doing any sort of e-commerce (which I don’t think is possible with Adobe Portfolio). Plus, it’s free for anyone who already has an Adobe CC subscription (or rather it’s included in your monthly fee).

It was very simple to do, and there are quite a few templates and customizable features. I wanted a simple and clean layout, and I feel like I accomplished that. Feel free to check it out:

wildshotphoto.com

Wild Shot Photography

I am a nature photographer based in Texas, who can provide services for wildlife, ranching, real estate, and other outdoor photography-related needs.
wildshotphoto.com wildshotphoto.com
Click to expand...
Your site is lovely!
 
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I use Squarespace, which is the top dog for dedicated websites (as opposed to simplistic portfolio sites like Smugmug). Wix I have no experience with but I assume they are similar. If you want a complete website then those are the two best options I think. They have their act together in the sense that no matter what layout you choose it will look professional and will automatically format for the viewing device (phone or tablet or computer). I finally set up the sales option using Squarespace, which is a learning curve and more work, but I was able to do it. However, I have not sold anything (other than a test sale to myself) and am thinking of taking down that feature and going back to just showcasing images (and cancelling my city and state business license). I would heartily recommend Squarespace and if you want to see my site it is in my signature below.
 
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Abinoone said:
Do you have your own website to showcase your photography? If so, did you code it from scratch, use a website builder like Wix, or do you use a template for photographers like Zenfolio or Smugmug? What has your experience been using your particular method, and would you recommend it? Who is your target audience for your website, and have you had much use of it? Do you offer users the opportunity to purchase images from your site, and have you had many sales from it?

The reason for my questions is because I’m again considering building my own website. I once had a web presence through Zenfolio but abandoned it because it was receiving little use, and it was somewhat of a pain to maintain. Lately however, I’ve received a number of inquiries about buying some of my images, and I’m wondering if I should have a website available.
Click to expand...
I built my web site with Backlight (https://theturninggate.net/), a very friendly application with modules that allows you, among other things, to have a Cart Add-on and/or Client Add-on if you want to sell images: I don't....

agustinbolzan.com.ar

Home image

agustinbolzan.com.ar
 
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Abinoone said:
Do you have your own website to showcase your photography? If so, did you code it from scratch, use a website builder like Wix, or do you use a template for photographers like Zenfolio or Smugmug? What has your experience been using your particular method, and would you recommend it? Who is your target audience for your website, and have you had much use of it? Do you offer users the opportunity to purchase images from your site, and have you had many sales from it?

The reason for my questions is because I’m again considering building my own website. I once had a web presence through Zenfolio but abandoned it because it was receiving little use, and it was somewhat of a pain to maintain. Lately however, I’ve received a number of inquiries about buying some of my images, and I’m wondering if I should have a website available.
Click to expand...
I use Format.
 
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Abinoone said:
Do you have your own website to showcase your photography? If so, did you code it from scratch, use a website builder like Wix, or do you use a template for photographers like Zenfolio or Smugmug? What has your experience been using your particular method, and would you recommend it? Who is your target audience for your website, and have you had much use of it? Do you offer users the opportunity to purchase images from your site, and have you had many sales from it?

The reason for my questions is because I’m again considering building my own website. I once had a web presence through Zenfolio but abandoned it because it was receiving little use, and it was somewhat of a pain to maintain. Lately however, I’ve received a number of inquiries about buying some of my images, and I’m wondering if I should have a website available.
Click to expand...

Knowing nothing about website building I went with Website X5 after looking at several.

Create your website with WebSite X5, the #1 Site Builder in Italy

Create your website with WebSite X5, everything you need to create a website on your own without any programming skills and with no subscription fees. Start out now!
www.websitex5.com www.websitex5.com
 
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I used Smugmug up until recent. They take the highest percentage of any of these types of sites at 15% and their labs to have something printed and shipped for a sale was crazy expensive. So I am looking for a new hosting site. Currently looking at Zenfolio and Squarespace but I'm starting to feel that doing my own and having the prints done and shipped direct to the customer is a better option
 
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I started to build one, using Smugmug and I think Zefolio, but quickly got confused and made stupid errors which were hard to correct. Any good videos (either free or for a modest cost) that will help me get started
 
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Butlerkid said:
I've had my website SmugMug for about 10-14 years. There is no "maintenance" for it other than renewing the annual subscription. I can sell if I want, but I choose not to. I don't do social media (Instagram, FB, etc.) It is my primary way to share photos with others, including private galleries for family photos.
Click to expand...
I use Smugmug as well, for the same purposes. Mostly sharing with family, friends, and for projects that I may be involved with. I can set downloading rights, have a link-only or public access, etc. I find Smugmug's organizational structure not ideal, but I'm getting used to it. I've had it for a few years.
 
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AlanB313 said:
I use Smugmug as well, for the same purposes. Mostly sharing with family, friends, and for projects that I may be involved with. I can set downloading rights, have a link-only or public access, etc. I find Smugmug's organizational structure not ideal, but I'm getting used to it. I've had it for a few years.
Click to expand...
And there is almost limitless ways for customize the "look" of the website. SmugMug is almost never down. And when I have a question, SmugMug help almost always helps me within 24 hours! GREAT support.
 
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Like Karen and Alan, I use SmugMug and have for probably 5-10 years. I don't sell from it, just use it to showcase the photos I've captured of this beautiful marble we live on, rather than letting them die a quiet death on a hard drive. I also use it to share projects I've photographed - eyeglass missions, family or senior photos, etc. What I like is that I can lock the folders with my personal photos, with a warning that the photos are copyrighted, but not lock the project folders, so people can use them as they see fit. Makes sharing those project photos so much easier than the old days of saving to a USB drive...or burning to DVD! Yeah, dated myself a bit there...
 
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Just a heads up, and maybe you don't care. Many of the hosting companies have signed deals with AI companies, undisclosed terms, but understood that they are granting access to photos and videos being hosted. If you don't want your photos to feed AI models, spend some time to find out whether your host is allowing it and whether you're comfortable with the opt-out options (not all have opt-out). US copyright law, at this time, provides zero protection.
 
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Nimi said:
Just a heads up, and maybe you don't care. Many of the hosting companies have signed deals with AI companies, undisclosed terms, but understood that they are granting access to photos and videos being hosted. If you don't want your photos to feed AI models, spend some time to find out whether your host is allowing it and whether you're comfortable with the opt-out options (not all have opt-out). US copyright law, at this time, provides zero protection.
Click to expand...

I think you can put some code into your site to stop AI bots as Steve has done here.
 
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