These days, it’s obvious that the next thing to do is to create your own website. And it’s easier than you think! You can find a few website builder companies like SITE123.com, that offer you an all-in-one solution.

They provide you website templates with full functionalities, containing pages to describe your company, services provided, and, of course, display your photography portfolio. But before choosing the first website builder company that you find, there are some things you need to be sure that they can give you, like a real free plan, mobile friendliness, SEO and more…

Although the internet has changed a lot, there are still many companies out there that sell you something and deliver something else that is completely different from what they sold you. Most of those old days Ponzi schemes are out of the internet but you don’t want to fall for the minimum scam or even for these cheap companies.

Related: What’s the best website builder for my small business?

In this article, you will see all the aspects you need to pay attention to when choosing a website builder. We can’t save your life or take you safely to a builder, but we can open your eyes to seeing reality as it is. And of course, prepare you to choose the best one according to your needs.

So here we go…

What do you need to check before choosing a website builder platform?

1. Freemium package – first thing to look at is if the website builder provides you a free package or not. Some may charge right up front, others may have a trial period and the best ones usually allow you to keep a free website for as long as you want. That is very important in case you are just starting your business or need more time to fully complete your website. In addition, what are the premium packages offered? Are they expensive? Do they provide interesting add-ons? Are they worth the prices?
2. No coding necessary – the most prominent website builders free their users from any kind of coding. Some old schools builders still have this open for users to code, and insert plugins using codes. But nowadays, the best option to go with are the ones that keep your mind free for what really matters. This way you don’t have to worry about copying and pasting stuff around and having page glitches all the time.
3. Easily move photos – to a photography business, one of the most important aspects is surely the ability to display your images in a nice fashion. The way your photos are showcased on your website will play a big role on convincing visitors of your company’s capabilities. A good website builder will allow you to easily move your photos around as well as provide nice image/video galleries so you can display them in an even more sophisticated way.
4. Mobile friendly – almost everyone uses smartphones nowadays. And there are high chances that many potential customers, if not most of them, will see your website on their phones. To match this reality, you want to make sure that your visitors will see a nice website when they browse yours using their smartphones. This will be possible if the website builder used provides mobile-friendly templates.
5. SEO friendly – there are lots of websites on the internet today, millions of them. And there might be millions of photography websites as well. So how do you stand out from the crowd? The answer is SEO (search engine optimisation). In easy vocabulary, it’s what makes a website rank high on Google and other search engines. The best website builders offer SEO friendly templates and they allow you to tweak the SEO features to their maximum according to your website’s information and content.
6. Enough storage – when it comes to high-quality photography, another important aspect is storage. Since you will be uploading many photos and videos to bolder your portfolio and form galleries for your clients, you will certainly need lots of space to store your files. Look for a website builder that provides enough storage for your needs.
7. Start selling online – as soon as you develop your online presence and customer base, you will see that these people somehow ask you to sell them stuff. They get engaged in your content, reach out to you to say they like your work and eagerly expect a way to interact with you businesswise. You can put together nice collections, fine art, and other material and start selling to them using a website builder that provides ecommerce tools.
8. Website design tools – last but definitely not least, website design tools are indispensable because, on top of everything else, you want to make sure that your website looks good. The first impression that a potential customer will have of your work is your website design. You have to make sure your design is modern and user-inclined and some website builders stand out in putting you in that direction

Now that we have gone through all the aspects you need to look at when choosing a website builder, there are some things you need to pay attention to afterwards, in the actual process of building your website. Think of it like a house: it does not need to be like a shopping mall, with all those lights,

Think of it like a house: it does not need to be like a shopping mall, with all those lights, decoration, and funky stuff, but it surely needs furniture and some decoration to make it pleasant. In this sense, your website has to contain some basic items to be pleasant and, most importantly, professional. Are you wondering what kind of furniture and decoration to use on your website?

5 things you must include on your photography business website

1. Your business name (personal domain, logo) and Contact Information – sounds basic, but anyone that has put together a contact list using the web has bumped into a website that didn’t have this kind of information. Don’t we all hate that? Your customers are included, so don’t make the mistake of missing out on that information.
2. Samples of your work – the absolute must for all photography businesses. As a visual art company, it is mandatory to have samples of the work on your website. Otherwise, why bother being in business at all if you don’t present your work?
3. An about page – the most underestimated page on many websites. Most people think this is boring. And they only think so because people involved in the process of writing about pages have made it boring. Help break this vicious chain by writing a friendly, out-of-the-box about page. Your visitors will thank you for that and they will see you with different eyes after that.
4. Fresh content – keep them coming by having fresh content always. Photography is great because photographers are always carrying their cameras and taking pictures. Take advantage of this habit by selecting some nice frames captured and uploading them to your website as a way of providing fresh content and keep visitors coming back to your website.
5. Advanced options like live-chat, smart calendar and more – use some turbo to bring in more business and establish a larger customer base. You can take advantage of live chats to talk to potential customers live and even close deals, use a calendar to allow customers to schedule shootings… There are many other possibilities and the right website builder will provide you the right apps and plugins to get ahead of the competition.

Conclusion

You need a website to go to next level! And you need to be smart with your choice! There are dozens of options and the choice you make will dictate the success of failure of your photography business. I can guess you want to be successful since you got to this article and read it up to the end. That’s a good start and you know there is much more to it, starting from choosing the website builder you will use.

See for yourself what other companies offer and then decide which one to use. Good luck on your journey to success!