Linkedin Tips for Photographers

LinkedIn stands out as a professional network that offers unique opportunities for photographers to connect, collaborate, and advance their careers.  In previous articles, we’ve covered Pinterest for Photographers, Instagram and Facebook for Photographers; and in this one, we’re going to provide essential tips on using Linkedin for Photographers to build their network and market their services.

Build a Strong Profile

Your LinkedIn profile is like your virtual business card in the professional world. Start with a profile picture that reflects your professionalism while showcasing your personality.  Keep the following in mind:

• Profile Picture – Choose a professional picture for your profile that your network can easily and quickly identify as you.
  Cover Photo – Choose a cover photo that resonates with your audience.  This can be a beautiful image, a team photo, or a graphic that showcases your style and brand.
• Headline – Craft a compelling headline that encapsulates your photography focus or lets the audience quickly understand what you do. Tell your story, highlight your skills, and share your passion for photography.
• Featured Section – Use the “Featured” section to exhibit your portfolio, giving visitors a glimpse into your creative world.

Network and Connect

LinkedIn for photographers is more than just a platform for digital connections – it’s a networking powerhouse for photographers. Start by connecting with colleagues, mentors, clients, and fellow photographers. Personalize your connection requests to show genuine interest in building meaningful relationships. Expand your network strategically to include professionals who align with your photography goals.

Showcase Your Work and Make Announcements

The “Posts” feature on LinkedIn serves as your personal blog space. Share your photography insights, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and tips on mastering the art. Visual content speaks volumes – utilize images to captivate your audience. Whether you’re discussing the latest photography trends or sharing your personal experiences, this platform lets you establish authority and engage with your audience on a deeper level.

Try to work this into your workflow, just as you would Facebook or Instagram.  For example, if you post a new blog entry to Facebook or a collage or images to Instagram, why not take the extra 5 minutes and post it to Linkedin as well?  Continue to track the effectiveness with the built in analytics and see if your content resonates with your network.

Consistency is key when it comes to personal branding. Ensure that your profile, posts, and interactions all reflect your unique style and creative vision. Through your content, demonstrate your expertise and perspective. A LinkedIn for photographers strategy is to use these posts to promote your photography services, workshops, and any special projects, reinforcing your position as a trusted photographer.

Join and Participate in Photography (and other related) Groups

LinkedIn Groups offer a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in specialized communities. Seek out photography-related groups to connect with like-minded individuals, engage in discussions, and learn from peers. Participating in conversations showcases your expertise and establishes you as an active contributor within the industry.

Try to join various groups based on the following characteristics:

• Your Location
• Your Photography Niche
• Your Larger Industry (Wedding, Newborn, Etc)

Find Photography Job Opportunities

The platform isn’t just about connections – it’s also a gateway to job opportunities. Explore job listings, freelance gigs, and photography projects tailored to your skills and aspirations. Customize your profile and messages when applying for positions to showcase your suitability. Recommendations and endorsements from your connections further enhance your credibility.

Get Testimonials and Recommendations

Client testimonials and recommendations from industry pros provide tangible proof of your skills and professionalism. Request recommendations from clients and colleagues who can vouch for your work. Don’t hesitate to endorse others as well – it often leads to mutual endorsements, bolstering your profile’s authenticity.

Use Analytics and Insights

LinkedIn’s analytics offer valuable insights into your profile’s performance and post engagement. Track views, likes, comments, and shares to refine your content strategy. Adjust your approach based on audience behavior to maximize your impact.

Linkedin provides information on the following:

• Page Views
• Visitor Demographics
• Follower metrics
• Follower Demographics
• Leads
• Content engagement
• Competitor Analytics

Use this information to gauge your success and adjust your strategy over time.

Conclusion

LinkedIn isn’t just a digital address book – it’s a dynamic space where photographers can showcase their talents, foster connections, and seize unique opportunities. By crafting a robust profile, actively engaging with others, and leveraging the platform’s features, photographers can elevate their careers, solidify their professional reputation, and open doors to a world of endless possibilities.

I’m willing to bet that many of you reading this probably have a LinkedIn account and like me, probably rarely use it for anything except to update your work history and accept ‘connections.’ We are missing out! If your target market are upper middle-class professionals, LinkedIn is a place to be. With LinkedIn, you’ll be immersed with millions of other professionally-minded people who are marketing themselves and networking with one another. Plus, if most of the photographers are on Facebook and Instagram (which they aren’t; many commercial photographers market themselves on LinkedIn), then wouldn’t it be a great place for you to differentiate yourself and your photography business?

In this article, we’ll give you our thoughts on the Pixieset Website Builder.  First, we’ll start with why photographers might choose to go with a Pixieset Website.  Then, we’ll review some “wishlist” items that we hope to see them add in the future.  And lastly, we’ll give you tips and hacks for creating a Pixieset website if you decide that it’s the right option for you.  If you’re interested in our review of the Pixieset Online Gallery, see our original Pixieset Review.

Pixieset Website Builder Pros

Let’s start with why photographers might want to use the Pixieset Website Builder.

Direct Integration with Your Photo Galleries

For photographers who use or want to use Pixieset as their online client gallery to deliver images to their clients, time saving is likely the primary, most beneficial reason for using their website builder.  Instead of searching for images in the cloud or on a server, downloading them, and then uploading images into a separate CMS, photographers can import images directly from their client galleries.

This massive workflow time saver is the primary reason we decided to use Pixieset for our blog.  In addition, photographers who don’t want to spend time or money managing, optimizing, and securing a website, like they would with a WordPress theme for example, will appreciate the hands-off, easy-to-manage system that Pixieset has created.

To Save Money

Saving money is the next reason photographers would consider using the website builder.  Instead of paying for an online gallery and then paying separately for a CMS, photographers can just pay for the entire suite of products with Pixieset for everything.

Beautiful Designs

Ever since its inception, Pixieset has prioritized aesthetics, with great designs and UX/UI.  Their website builder is no different, and their templates come with beautiful designs, font combinations, colors, spacing and more.  Of course, you can customize the look, but you likely won’t have to do much to get your work and your brand presented the way you want.

Intuitive Backend and Good Feature set

The backend is easy to navigate and intuitive to use, with a look and feel similar to the Squarespace backend.  In addition, the Pixieset Website Builder comes with all of the features you need to launch a legitimate, complete website such as contact forms, Instagram integration, blogging tools, SEO tools, Free Unlimited Hosting, SSL Certificate, Built-in Security, and more.

Wishlist (The Cons)

Of course, as with any product or service, there are features and improvements we hope to see.  Let’s review some of these suggestions, aka the cons of the Pixieset Website Builder.

Wishlist Item 1: Custom Layout Options for Galleries

The Pixieset website builder has 4 grid gallery options and 2 slider gallery options, which is enough for many photographers.  However, if we were to have a wishlist of additional features to add, we would love to see a drag and drop option or a custom resizing option to help in our storytelling.

For example, some images we might want to display large across both columns while some images we might want to display as three smaller images across.  These formats are currently achievable with the existing tools, but it requires us to create multiple separate galleries, which slows down the workflow.

It would be amazing to simply select all of our photos for the gallery and then be able to resize and reorder them as we see fit for optimal impact and storytelling.

Update, Pixieset will be releasing a drag and drop feature!

Based on a recent Instagram tease, Pixieset will be releasing drag and drop functionality, which will solve the issue that we listed above.  See the Instagram post below.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Pixieset (@pixieset)

Wishlist Item 2: Ability to add website to a subdirectory

The Pixieset website builder can be used on a primary domain, like www.sampledomain.com, or a subdomain, like www.blog.sampledomain.com.  However, it cannot be used with a subdirectory such as www.sampledomain.com/blog.

This is not an issue if you are using the Pixieset website builder as your main website.  However, if you already have an existing website and you just want to use the Pixieset website builder for your blog, then you can only choose the subdomain option.

For SEO purposes, this is not as ideal, as subdomains are treated like an entirely separate website in the eyes of Google, so all of the authority for the links you’ve driven to your main website won’t be passed onto the pages you create on your subdomain.  However this is a niche problem that only exists for those like us, who want to keep an old website and who rely on SEO as a primary lead acquisition strategy.

Tips and Hacks for Using the Pixieset Website Builder

If you decide that the Pixieset website builder is the right option for you, here are a few tips and hacks for setting up your site.

Try multiple themes to find the right one

While you can switch between themes for free with one click, setting up will be much faster if you invest the time upfront to choose the right theme. Find the theme that matches your overall brand and style and then build from there.

Personalize fonts and colors

Remember, you don’t have to stick to the fonts and colors that come by default with the theme, unless you really love them.   After you choose the right theme to best display your imagery, customize the theme with the exact fonts and colors for your brand.  These should match the fonts and colors of your other web assets, such as your logo or your existing website (if you have one).

Build a Bio Links Page

Set up a simple and elegant way of sharing your critical links, such as your portfolio, your booking site, print store, presets page, latest blogpost, etc, on all of your social channels.  Instead of having to use another service, such as linktree or hoobe, to display your “links in the bio,” this comes built in with the Pixieset Website Builder.  The integrated approach will help you track the traffic that comes from social media, which the third party apps don’t always allow.

Add a Pinterest button

In our education, we talk about the importance of using Pinterest as a marketing tool and as a way for clients to create moodboards to communicate their style preferences.  To add a pin to all of your gallery images, simply place the Pinterest code in the footer of your website in the “Advanced Settings.”

Add Google Analytics

Tracking your website data is critical to measuring your overall success.  Pixieset makes it easy to integrate Google Analytics with your website. See the detailed breakdown here.

Keep it Organized with Tags and Categories

Setting up a new website gives you a chance to categorize and tag your blog entries so that you can easily find them for any future purpose, such as the need to quickly access and display the work from a specific venue or culture.  Take the time to plan a bit and come up with a strategy to tag and categorize your blog entries.  Here are some possible tags to give you some ideas:

• Tag by Photographer
• Tag by Venue
• Tag by Ethnicity/Culture/Religion – Indian, Chinese, Catholic, Etc
• Tag by Style – Moody, Modern, Pastel, Light & Airy, Etc

Use the Set Focal Point

A neat feature that Pixieset designed is the ability to set the focal point for the wide banner images.  This ensures that your images display as intended for different devices and displays.  As the user resizes the window, the responsive design will still anchor to the correct part of the image.

Conclusion

Now that you know what to expect from the Pixieset Website builder and how it works, we hope you feel more confident to give it a try.  With the time-saving integration of the Pixieset Client Galleries, the beautiful presentation and design options, and the other intuitive features of the system, this could be a great option for your photography studio.

Of the hundreds of millions of searches that are done online each day, about 15% are exclusively for images. Think about that. If you are a painter, photographer, or other image based artist, your work could potentially be seen by hundreds, or thousands of people each day if you know what you’re doing. Copyright issues aside, you want your images to show up where people are looking, so you can attract more customers, gain notoriety, and make more money!  Here are 5 tips to improve your Image SEO

Note: This is a sample of the content we teach in our Photography Business Training System, available in SLR Lounge Premium.  For more complete education on marketing concepts like this (and much more), we invite you to explore our membership options.

How to Optimize Your Image SEO

While search engines are making progress, they are still not able to fully decipher the contents of an image without clues. These primary hints are the following:

1. The name of the image
2. The alt text and title tag
3. The surrounding text.

Let’s explore these in detail below.

Rename your image files

Most people save their images with file names like “photo1235.jpg.” When they upload the file to their website, whether it be a blog, Flickr, Etsy, Imagekind, or other site, the image file shows up as “www.site.com/photo1235.jpg,” which doesn’t tell the search engine anything about the photo. Name the file with descriptive text. If you are a wedding photographer, try something like “John-Smith-Wedding-Banquet-Hall-Name.jpg” and you will find your file being read and understood by the search engines.

Your image name should be your keyword separated by dashes. So, to continue with our example of Jennifer in San Francisco, if she wants to target the Fairmont hotel as a wedding venue, she might choose the following name: “fairmont-san-francisco-wedding.jpg.”

However, it is important to not name all images the same. For example, if there are 5 images in the blog post, the image names should NOT be the following:

• “fairmont-san-francisco-wedding-1.jpg”
• “fairmont-san-francisco-wedding-2.jpg”
• “fairmont-san-francisco-wedding-3.jpg”
• “fairmont-san-francisco-wedding-4.jpg”

Instead, be sure to do the following:

• Use variations of your keyword
• Change the order of the words used
• Include additional related words

Here is a sample of what to do instead:

• “fairmont-san-francisco-weddingphotography.jpg”
• “bride-fairmont-sf-wedding.jpg”
• “fairmont-bay-area -wedding-photographer.jpg”
• “wedding-ceremony-at-fairmont-sanfrancisco.jpg”

Use Alternative (Alt) Text for Better Image SEO

Most sites with a visual editor, like Flickr, WordPress, or Squarespace, allow you to plug Alt text into your photo. If you know what keywords you want to show up for online, then this is the place to plug those keywords. Again, similar to the file naming, you might try Alt=”Los Angeles Wedding Photography Bride & Groom Photo” Limit your description to 50 characters.

How to Insert Alt Text

In the following example, the words after the “title=” is the title of the image and the words after “alt=” is the alt text.

<img src=”https://www.domainname.com/fairmont-san-francisco-bride.jpg” title=”bride at the fairmont san francisco” alt=”bride at the fairmont san francisco”>

If you’re not familiar with HTML, do not worry. In content management systems like WordPress and Squarespace, the title and the alt text of an image can be assigned when you are inserting an image into a post, as you see in the following image:

While the illustration is a WordPress example, most content management systems have a similar system. If it doesn’t, then it’s certainly time to consider a different platform. We’ll get into the best content management systems in later chapters.

What text to use for Alt Text

For the text, insert a short description of the image consisting of around five words or so. A good rule of thumb is to not deviate much, if at all, from your image name since you have already considered your target keywords while naming your images. So using our example, a picture of a bride at the

Use Keyworded Surrounding Text

Search engines will often pull information on images from the text around the image. If you are posting an image, make sure you talk about it a little bit. For example, you might post a photo of a wedding dress on your blog, and in the blog post put a paragraph describing who wore the dress, who designed it, and how you shot it.

Instead of clumping your text together in the introduction of your post and then clumping your images together for the rest of the post, try intermingling your text and your images. Ideally, you would include keyworded text between all images.

Use Captions For Surrounding Text

A great way to insert text in between your images is to use captions. Captions are the text that appears directly after an image. In many content management systems, you can add captions when you insert your images. In the eyes of Google, captions are no different than any other text. So by simply describing the images within the captions with keywords, you will help your page and your images rank for those keywords.

Bigger & Better is better (But Not Too Big) for Image SEO

In general, larger images rank better than thumbnails. Google claims that they can check the quality of focus and exposure in photographs and scanned images. In other words, better quality work is recognized by Google. Remember to balance your file sizes. Larger images may rank better, but a slow load time will kill your rankings.

Have a social media presence

Sites like Flickr, Pinterest, Facebook, and others are huge sources of traffic by themselves. People search for images there. Pick one or two of these sites according to your style & genre and create a presence there. Make sure your social media pages point back to your main website so you can let people know you are a professional.

Image SEO Conclusion

Image SEO doesn’t have to be hard.  These are just simply workflow tips that will lead to long term traffic to your site and evergreen exposure for your work.  Leave questions or success stories related to image optimizing in the comments below. Have a great day!

• Site Management WordPress Plugins
• Workflow WordPress Plugins
• Social Media WordPress Plugins
• Photo Gallery WordPress Plugins

Note: This article was originally published in 2014 and updated in 2022.

Site Management WordPress Plugins

Here are the Best WordPress Plugins for Photographers when it comes to site management.  A few of these, such as Akismet, Yoast, and Broken Links Checker are considered must-haves, while others like Gravity Forms and Duplicate Page should be used when appropriate. If you feel that I’ve left out some important ones, feel free to comment with recommendations in the comment section of this article.

Auto Image Attributes From Filename With Bulk Updater

As we mentioned in our article on the top SEO mistakes photographers make, adding Alt text is an important part of image SEO.  Instead of having to type in specific alt text each time, this plugin automatically adds image attributes such as Image Title, Image Caption, Description And Alt Text from Image Filename. The plugin can update image attributes for both new images and existing images in the media library.

Aksimet

The Akismet WordPress plugin ships with WordPress 2.0 and later by default, but make sure you activate it and input your API Key. If you’re tired of all of that comment and trackback spam, Automatic Kismet (Akismet for short), is your no-brainer solution. If, for some reason, you don’t have the plugin, you can download it here

Yoast SEO Plugin

Workflow WordPress Plugins

Here are the WordPress Plugins for Photographers that can help you in your workflow.  However, they may not be necessary depending on your particular workflow and client management system.

Booking Calendar

Give your clients an easy way to see when you are available and to contact you about shooting. This plugin give your website a simple booking system that your clients can use to setup shoots with you.

Gravity Forms

This is actually a paid plugin, but Gravity Forms provides a look and feel that the other free form plugins just won’t provide. If you have any kind of form on your site, whether it be a contact form, an album order form, or any other form, Gravity Forms will give it sleek functionality and aesthetics. With conditional fields (fields that appear only when a certain other value in the form is selected) and validation (functionality that does not allow the form to be submitted unless certain forms are filled out correctly) these forms are worth the small price.

A functional alternative to this plugin is Contact Form 7, which is not as intuitive to set up but offers enough features and community support to get the job done.

Editorial Calendar

I don’t know about you but I am always starting new posts for my blog and scheduling them ahead of time. This plugin makes it easy to visually see when your posts are scheduled and drag-n-drop to make changes to your publishing schedule.

Social Media WordPress Plugins

Social Media is one of the most effective forms of marketing for photographers.  These plugins help you integrate your social media accounts with your website and make your content easier to share on different networks.

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed

Instagram is still a critical portfolio of a photographer’s work and an important marketing tool.  This plugin displays Instagram posts from your Instagram accounts, either in the same single feed or in multiple different ones.  Related Reading: How to Make Instagram Reels with Photos

Social Snap 

Social snap is a powerful WordPress plugin that helps make the sharing of your content easy.  Here are the primary features:

• Allow visitors to share your posts and pages.
• Display social links that automatically display followers counts.
• Automatically post on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn when you publish new posts.
• Analytics
• Automatically post old posts on social networks.
• Click to Tweet
• More

Remember to also read our article on how to How To Get Facebook Mobile To Upload Your Images In High Quality.

Weblizar Pin It Button On Image Hover And Post

Pinterest is a great platform for discovering the work of photographers.  This plugin makes it easy for your users to pin images from your website.  Read our article on Pinterest marketing for photographers for more information.

Photo Gallery and Slider WordPress Plugins

Below are the best WordPress Plugins for Photographers when it comes to photo galleries.  You likely won’t need more than one Photo Gallery WordPress Plugin.  So experiment with the following plugins and choose the one or two that you need for your blogging and content creation workflow.

Slider Revolution

Slider Revolution is a powerful and popular plugin for creating stunning and dynamic sliders, carousels, and other interactive content for websites. It offers a user-friendly interface that allows users to create and customize their own sliders and presentations with a wide range of features and options, including animations, transitions, and special effects. Slider Revolution is highly versatile and can be used for a variety of purposes, such as showcasing products, displaying images and videos, and highlighting key content on a website. It is compatible with various web platforms and has become a popular tool for web designers and developers who are looking to create engaging and visually appealing content for their websites.

Modula

The Modula Plugin checks all of our boxes for a photo gallery WordPress plugin in terms of aesthetics and options. It speeds up our blogging workflow by makes image spreads easy-to-create and modify. This ultimately results in a better overall display of our images and better storytelling. See our full Modula Review

NextGEN Gallery

NextGEN Gallery is a WordPress plugin that allows you to create lookbooks, image galleries, and slideshows. With this plugin, you can easily add images and videos to your website, and re-arrange them into albums. You can also customize the look and feel of your galleries, and add social sharing buttons to make it easy for visitors to share your content. NextGEN Gallery is a great way to showcase your photos and videos, and add some personality to your website.

Enviara Gallery

Envira Gallery is a responsive, user-friendly WordPress gallery plugin with the following features:

• Drag-and-Drop WordPress Gallery Builder
• Custom themes for each WordPress gallery
• Gallery Templates
• Responsive Mobile Friendly
• Albums & Tags
• Social Media Integration
• Ecommerce Store
• Watermark & Protection
• Slideshow & Fullscreen
• Deeplinking & Pagination
• Video Support

SlideDeck

This is the ultimate WordPress gallery/slideshow plugin. Not only is it completely SEO friendly, but it is also completely Responsive. That means that it will work on any sized screen. In the age of tablets and smartphones this is a must for photographer websites.

What do you guys think? What other great WordPress plugins did we leave out? Leave a comment and let us know about any plugins that you use on your photography website.

• Free or paid: Should you pay for a creative photography logo?
• Ordering a Custom Logo From 99 Designs
• Using Creative Market Templates
• DIY Photography Logo Options
• Free Photography Logo Options

Free or paid: Should you pay for a creative photography logo?

While you can find free logo options from logo generators, which we list at the end of the article, the quality and uniqueness of the designs will generally not suffice for a professional photography business.

A photography logo is worth investing time and money into, even if you’re just starting out. Because while you can “penny pinch now and upgrade later” for most aspects of your business, like your website, your proofing galleries, your business cards, and more, changing logos presents issues of branding confusion and website consistency. You’ll have images with your old logo floating around on other websites, on social media, and on your blog, which decreases the effectiveness of all of those previous marketing efforts.

Photography Logo Design by 99 Designs

If you have a budget of $299 USD or more, then you should consider professional design communities like 99designs.com.  With 99Designs, you start a “contest” for your photography logo design.  Their community of designers submit their ideas and you pick your favorite.  The quality of their designers, even in their lowest package tier, is high; and in fact, we’ve used them for multiple logo designs.  Here are a few actual logos that we created with them: Line and Roots, a family photography brand, Visual Flow, a Lightroom Presets brand, and Wedding Maps, our new Wedding Directory project.

Pros of 99 Designs:

• Access to multiple designers
• Professional Results
• Money Back Guarantee
• Cost (compared to hiring a professional designer)
• Proven System that avoids confusion and miscommunication

Cons of 99 Designs:

• Cost (compared to cheaper or free options)

Recommendation

This is our recommended option if you can afford $299 USD.  Since writing this article, 99designs reached out to offer a $20 discount.  This did not affect our recommendation, but is a great bonus for our readers.  Access the discount here.

Photo Logo Design by with CreativeMarket Templates

If you’re somewhat familiar with Adobe Illustrator and design principles, then we also recommend the logo design option of modifying an existing logo template on Creative Market.  With these templates, you simply browse the options, purchase your favorite, and modify the logo to fit your photography business name and style.

Here are a few of our favorite logo templates that you can get for $25 to $50 USD:

Recommended Logo Pack 1 – Line Art Bundle

Recommended Logo Pack 2 –Logo and Icon Creator Pack

Recommended Logo Pack 3 – 300 Premade Logos Bundle

Pros of using Logo Templates

• Cheaper than a custom design
• Lots of options
• Good starting point if you are unsure of what style you’re looking for

Cons of using Logo Templates

• Other business may have a similar logo
• Requires basic Adobe Illustrator skills
• Requires your time
• Final logo may lack polish if you are not design proficient

Recommendation

This is our recommended option if you can’t afford 99designs, but you can afford $30.

Other Paid Logo Design Options for Photography Businesses

DIY Logo Design – When we first started our photography business, like most photographers out there, we penny pinched and did everything ourselves.  With a background in simple web design, we created our own logo for Lin and Jirsa.  While the logo does its job, we would likely opt for a professionally designed logo if we could do it all over again.  However, at this point, a shift would create too much brand confusion.  That said, the cheapest way, in terms of actual money (but maybe not in terms of the cost of your time), is to do it yourself.

Hiring Freelance Designers – Another option for logo design would be to find a freelance designer.  You can browse reputable sites like Behance or Upwork.  You may even consider rolling the dice with cheap options like fiverr.com.  Or you can use your personal network to find a designer.

We’ve explored these options but have found that the results vary widely.  In addition, you’re working with a single designer instead of a community of designers like in 99designs.  So you may be limited by the skillset and versatility of that individual.

Free Logo Design Options

We recommend using free logo design generators for inspiration, but we have yet to see a truly creative, unique, and professional design from these options.  Here are a few options to explore if you’d like to consider this route:

• Canva – Canva is a great option for anything design related, including photography logos
• LogoMaker – https://www.logomaker.com/
• Free Logo Design – https://www.freelogodesign.org/
• Shopify https://hatchful.shopify.com/
• Tailor Brands – https://www.tailorbrands.com/logo-maker

Of course, there may be other options out there that we have not tried.  What do you think?  How did you design your logo?  What are your favorite options?

(Also, if you’re interested in learning more about “What Makes a Good Logo,” consider reading Pye’s article: Pye Reacts to Your Logos and Branding.)

Tips for Link Building For Photographers

Let’s start with a few tips to get started before diving into each individual strategy.

Avoid Relying Entirely on the “Trickle Down” Approach

What many website owners do is simply focus on driving links to the home page. This is what we call the “trickle down” approach (though this is not an official SEO term). In the “trickle down” approach, you’re simply driving all links to the home page; and the Page Rank trickles down to the rest of the pages on your site.

While it is important to drive the majority of your external links to your main page, this “trickle down” approach will have its limitations. If the “niche” keywords that you are targeting on your individual pages are competitive, this trickle down approach may never drive enough Page Rank for that page to succeed in search results.

Drive Links to Individual Pages

It’s important to drive some external links to some of these individual pages as well. This is known as “deep linking.” Doing so will help those individual pages rank higher quicker than the “trickle down” approach. Page Rank will also flow up to the home page and over to other pages on your site as well (via the links on the page), so you’re not entirely neglecting the home page or other pages.

General Rule of Thumb – Drive the majority of your external links to your home page, but also be sure to drive some links to other important pages as well.

As you review the strategies in this section, you will discover opportunities to get multiple links from a single site. When you find those opportunities, consider linking to your home page first and then find a way to link to other pages as well.

Set a Schedule

Google loves “fresh” links. Having new links point to your site is a sign of continued relevance. So be sure to plan and even schedule your strategy so that your efforts are consistent. Once a week or once a month is recommended in the beginning. And even down the road, engaging in link building practices every few months or so is recommended.

SEO Link Building For Photographers With Vendor Networking

A great way to drive links to your site is to simply network. As a photographer, this is actually very easy because, after every shoot we have something valuable to offer – the images from the shoot.

Create an email that outlines your rules for image usage and send it out, along with a few select images, to everyone involved in the shoot. Require that they link back to your site in order to use the images and there you go! You now have targeted, local, related; and most importantly, legitimate links coming into your site.

Advanced Tip – While you’re shooting, snap a couple extra pictures of the vendors involved. Capturing an in-action shot of the makeup artist or DJ can benefit you in many ways. First off , they’ll really appreciate the images and potentially send you referrals. Secondly, they may use your images on their site, which, of course, you would allow ONLY if it came with a link to your site.

Example Email

Dear [INSERT NAME]:

It was wonderful working with you for [INSERT EVENT NAME]! We just wanted to let you know that we’ve blogged the event and given you credit for your amazing work.

Blog Entry: [insert blog entry link]
Facebook: [insert Facebook post link]
[insert any other links where you shared the event]

We hope you have the chance to share these links with your fans! Also, feel free to take any of the images on the blog entry and use them for your own blog. The only thing we require is that you link back to [insert your URL] any time these images are displayed on your site.

Also, here are a few pictures that we took of your wonderful team. [ATTACH PICTURES]

We hope to work with you again and please let us know if you’re ever in our area.

Sincerely, [INSERT STUDIO NAME]

Action Steps & Recap

1. Create an email template for your vendors with the policies of your image use.
2. Add the important step to your workflow of emailing all vendors involved in the shoot with the information and the images.

This strategy is not for everyone. Some photographers are very protective of their images and believe that anyone using them should be paying. Or perhaps some think that if the images are distributed, they would lose out on print sales or increase the chance of their images being stolen. While there might be some truth to these fears, the SEO, networking, and referral benefits far outweigh the risks for most photographers.

Guest Writing to Build Links

In 2014, Google cracked down on a few popular guest blogging networks for abusing the practice of guest blogging for links. However, if you guest blog with caution by using the right websites and the right content, this can be one of your best strategies when Link Building For Photographers.

There are a ton of popular photography websites that accept submissions. Submitting an educational tutorial to SLR Lounge, Fstoppers, or DIY Photography. net is a great start.

These are all popular blogs that are directly related to your profession, which means each link is valuable for your website. Additionally, their large reach makes their content commonly referenced and shared. So excerpts from your article may end up in more web pages than just one, with more links pointing to your website.

More than Just Links

Besides gaining a valuable link or two, Guest blogging can boost your standing and reputation in the industry. Photography is a unique industry where the students can quickly become the teachers. Teach others how you got a particular shot. Tell the community how you cut time from your post production workflow. Give 10 tips on your specific type of photography. Review your latest gear purchase. Don’t feel like you must have years and years of experience to start teaching others. Share what you do know and what you are learning.

List of Photography Websites that Accept Guest Submissions

Though many of these sites may not have official guest submission procedures, if you have a good enough article idea, you can likely get accepted onto any of these sites. It doesn’t hurt to get in touch and try!

• https://fstoppers.com/
• https://www.diyphotography.net/
• https://jointhebreed.com/
• https://www.iheartfaces.com/
• https://digital-photography-school.com/
• https://inspiremebaby.com/
• https://www.steves-digicams.com/
• https://www.themoderntog.com/
• https://www.lightstalking.com/
• https://www.thephotoargus.com/
• https://petapixel.com/
• https://photographyblogger.net/
• https://www.picturecorrect.com/
• https://expertphotography.com/
• https://blog.photowhoa.com/

Think Beyond Photography

Think specifically about your industry and consider guest writing for indirectly related websites. If you’re a real estate photographer, for example, connect with some real estate blogs or real estate agents if they have good web presence. Remember to gauge their web presence based on their Page Rank, Alexa, and other tools we have shown you.

If you’re a fashion photographer, then online fashion magazines might publish your opinions in an editorial piece. Even think locally! Maybe the local paper, university, or charitable organization has opportunities for guest blogging.

Action Steps:

1. Contact 3-5 blogs to inquire about submitting a guest post
2. Set a Guest Posting Schedule (weekly, monthly, etc.)
3. Continue adding to your list of blogs and submitting guest posts.

Get Featured to Build Links

Getting featured is similar to guest blogging except instead of sharing your thoughts and experiences, you share your work. Think about popular online publications in your niche and see if they accept submissions to get featured.

For example, in the wedding industry, websites like Green Wedding Shoes or Ruffled Blog are powerhouses in terms of traffic, popularity, and SEO importance. Links from these websites can help you climb the ladder of rankings for wedding photography.

While the wedding niche has the most websites that accept submissions, continue to search for websites that are most applicable to your photography niche. Start with a Google search for “[INSERT YOUR INDUSTRY] Blog.” The search results should give you a good starting place.

Websites to Submit To:

• https://www.lemonadeandlenses.com/
• https://www.brendasweddingblog.com/
• https://theeverylastdetail.com/
• https://www.oncewed.com/
• https://www.rocknrollbride.com/
• https://theknottybride.com/
• https://thecinderellaproject.blogspot.com/
• https://www.inspiredbythis.com/
• https://www.boho-weddings.com/
• https://www.lovemydress.net/blog/
• https://justwenderful.blogspot.com/
• https://www.polkadotbride.com/
• https://ruffledblog.com/
• https://greenweddingshoes.com/
• https://www.stylemepretty.com/
• https://www.pushitmagazine.com/

Action Steps:

1. Make a list of target sites
2. Obtain their submission rules
3. Set a schedule to submit

Register for Directories to Build Links

Generally, you want to avoid most web directories. If you’re simply paying for placement on a website that contains thousands of links to other websites in every category on the web, then that link will be of little to no value to your site. On the other hand, if the web directory is actually useful to its users and receives traffic from people (and not just bots), then you may want to consider getting a listing with it.

Ask yourself these general questions:

• Does this directory relate to photography? If so, consider it.
• Does this directory have recurring fees? If so, then you most likely should NOT list. Reasonable one-time fees are okay but remember, one of the major goals for SEO as a photographer is to invest time and effort so that you do not have to rely on paid services. Your recurring fees are likely better spent on other forms of direct advertising. There are certainly exceptions, but this is a general rule.
• Will this listing be of value beyond SEO? If so, consider listing. Google is always coming up with new ways to cut off benefits from unnatural links. If you see value in the listing, there’s a good chance Google sees value in it as well. If you don’t, then it’s probably not a sustainable source of quality links.

Here are some directories to consider.

Consider some “nofollow” listings

Listing in directories with “nofollow” links can still be useful because some have the traffic and relevance to lead directly to business. For example, wedding photographers should start accounts with sites like Weddingwire, Project Wedding, Snap Knot and others. Fashion and Fine Art photographers should strongly consider listing with Model Mayhem and Behance. Other industries should have similar listings.

Even though you may not get many SEO benefits from these “nofollow” links to your site, we still recommend that you list your business on them since they may lead to direct sales. Additionally, these listings will help with your local SEO, which we’ll cover in the Local SEO chapter.

Commenting to Build Links

Commenting is not the most effective way to build backlinks. First off , most websites have the “nofollow” attribute for outbound links. And the very few that still don’t are usually flooded with so much spam that it’s only a matter of time before they delete most of their links, place a “nofollow” value on the links, or get designated by Google as a “spammy website.” If any of these happen, then the time you spent commenting will have been wasted and potentially damaging.  For those reasons, we advise against commenting for backlinks.

Ask for Backlinks from Charities and Clients

Link Building For Photographers often involves actual networking and business building.  Everyone needs photography, from charities to local businesses to academic institutions. Consider photographing events for local charities that need your services to spread awareness for their cause. Of course, you should not do this solely for backlinks; but if you’re already helping out, it makes sense to tactfully ask for a favor in return.

The same approach works for local businesses. If you’re already hired by a local restaurant, gym, real estate agency, insurance agency, or any other local business; why not tactfully ask them to give you link credit for your images on their site. For some clients, you may even build in a discount for your services as an incentive. With others, you might have a strong enough relationship to simply ask.

Actions Steps:

• Brainstorm opportunities for Link Building For Photographers among the organizations that you already support.
• Ask your current clients with websites for backlinks.
• Consider building in small discounts as incentives for backlinks.

Reviewing or Featuring Products for Backlinks

There are hundreds of product, service, and software companies in photography. Think about your own gear bag and workflow and you’ll realize how many different companies you have supported over the years by buying their products. These might include:

• Major Camera, Lens, and Lighting Makers
• Tripod Makers
• Radio Trigger Companies
• Camera Bag Companies
• Post Production Software
• Album Design Software

The list can go on and on, but the point is that you’re using these products on a daily basis; and sometimes all it takes is a picture of you using the product or a testimonial for the product or service to get you featured on their website. Here is an example of a feature we received from the Pocket Wizard Blog:

Action Steps:

• Make a list of all of your gear and software
• Study company blogs to see if they feature user reviews or testimonials.
• Create your content. Take a picture or record a video of the product in use and/or write up your review.
• Find the best contact person. This is usually their marketing manager.
• Email the contact and remember to follow up if you do not receive a response.
• If you are still not receiving a response, reach out via social media with Tags and Mentions (to be covered in the next book).

Bad Practices When Link Building for Photographers

When SEO link building for photographers, do not try to take short cuts.  Link building is not easy. It takes time, dedication and a unique strategy. As with anything difficult, there are always those who try to take shortcuts. Here is a list of shortcuts to avoid:

Do Not Buy Links

As tempting as it is to go onto sites like Fiverr.com and buy hundreds of links for the price of lunch, don’t do it! This is one of the quickest ways to hurt your SEO and waste money in the process.

Do Not Participate in Link Exchanges

Also known as reciprocal links, this practice involves placing a link on your site in return for a link on their site, creating reciprocal links. Google is quick to detect unnatural reciprocal links and penalize you for it. You won’t be penalized just because you are linking over to a site that happens to link over to you. However, just make sure it’s natural and in-context.

Do Not Build Links at Unnatural Rates

Google spiders are crawling the web nonstop. If one week you have hundreds of new links pointing to your site and the next week you have no new links, then your Link Building For Photographers strategy might work against you because it seems unnatural. Remember, Google wants everything, including link building, to happen naturally, so your link building strategies should be consistent and sustainable.

Linking to and from Bad Sites

In SEO circles, this topic is called bad “link neighborhoods.” If you’re linking to or from spammy sites, you can get penalized.

Remove Comment Spam – Remove spammy links from your site. This includes in the body of your content as well as the comments.

Verify Use of Nofollow – It’s also important to ensure that you have the “nofollow” tag on comment links from your own site so that you’re not lending credibility to any potentially spammy sites. This is the default for most content management systems so there should be no action required on your part.

Get Removed from Spammy Sites – Sometimes a spammy site will link to your website without your approval. For example, you may have mistakenly hired a bad SEO company; and they may have bought spammy links as part of their strategy. If you’re somehow being backlinked by a spammy site, first try to contact the website owner to request removal. If that doesn’t work, use the disavow tool in your Google Webmaster account, which we’ll cover in the bonus chapters.

Link Building For Photographers Using Backlink Watch

SEO link building for photographers also involves checking out the competition. There are many websites and services that allow you to input any URL; and from that, they generate a list of links to that site. Some charge monthly fees while others are free, like https://www.backlinkwatch.com/. The free services are limited in the number of results they show you, but they give you enough information to help you gain an understanding of any website’s backlinking strategies.

If you think about it, backlinks are like SEO footprints. By analyzing a competing website’s backlinks, you are able to track where they’ve been and what they’re doing to improve their search rankings. Type in a few of the URLs that rank well in your area for your keywords and see what you find.

Below is a sample screenshot of our blog linandjirsablog.com that shows you the following for each link:

1. The Backlink URL
2. The Anchor Text
3. OBL (number of outbound links from that URL
4. Flag (indicated nofollow when applicable)

Analyzing these reports will give you new ideas and strategies for building backlinks. Here are some potential ideas that you can get from these reports:

Websites to submit to – Maybe the majority of a website’s backlinks are from industry specific websites like fashion blogs, wedding blogs, or specific religious websites. By checking out the source of these backlinks, you can find websites that accept submissions. Submit your work as well where appropriate.

Directories to Submit to – These backlink watches will help you discover legitimate, valuable, relevant directories that you may consider submitting to.

Site to Guest Write for – The backlink watch process will help you discover popular websites on which you would want to post. We already mentioned submitting to SLR Lounge and other popular photography websites but there are thousands more out there that relate to photography, your related industry (wedding, fashion, etc.), and your specific location.

Partnerships to Make – By studying another website’s links, you’ll gain insight into the partnerships they’ve chosen to make. It might be worth exploring how you can make those same partnerships in your business.

Backlink Watch Limitations

Keep in mind that just because a website is doing well in search rankings, that doesn’t mean that all of their links are great ones. For example, maybe they’re paying for links or submitting to low quality directories or comment spamming. But maybe their positive SEO efforts are simply outweighing some of these negative ones to still rank well. Do not simply dive into each scenario blindly and be sure to use the knowledge you’ve gained in this book to analyze each link.

This article will skip over the generic, broad SEO tips and dive into the actual problems we’ve seen many photographers face based on the hundreds of website reviews and personal consulting sessions we’ve done. Here’s a brief overview of what we’ll cover:

• Mistake 1 | Not Focusing on Local SEO
• Mistake 2 | Not Enough Website Content
• Mistake 3 | Keywords Used Incorrectly (without a plan)
• Mistake 4 | Not Enough Text to Balance Images
• Mistake 5 | Not Working on Backlinks
• Mistake 6 | Images Not Renamed

As a side note, we teach SEO in the 3rd workshop of The Complete Photography Business Training System in SLR Lounge Premium. If you’re a member, then we hope that this jogs your memory and gives you a kick in the butt to complete some of these action steps. If you’re not yet a member and want a more comprehensive guide to business success, we hope you consider joining.

Our Qualifications (We’ll keep this brief!)

Here’s a brief summary of our background so that you know where this information comes from. We have launched several businesses and successfully ranked them for a range of keywords.  For example, SEO helps us drive 5-10 leads per day with our wedding business, Lin and Jirsa, in the competitive market of Orange County/Los Angeles, CA. We’re also ranked on the first page for Newborn photography and Maternity photography in our area with a sister company, Line and Roots. SLR Lounge itself gets between 200-300K views from organic search traffic per month, and we’re also highly ranked for our Lightroom Presets brand Visual Flow. The list goes, but you can see that much of our business success is built upon a framework of good SEO. But enough about us. Let’s jump into the meat of the content.

Mistake 1 | Not Focusing on Local SEO

The first mistake I want to start with is one of the easiest to start correcting. Many forget to put any effort into Local SEO for photographers, i.e. optimizing your website and online presence to appeal to customers in your geographic area and to appear in local searches. For small local businesses like photography studios, this is absolutely critical.

The process can seem daunting but it’s actually pretty simple to get started. It includes optimizing your website for local search engines, creating listings on related directories and review sites, and making sure your contact information is up-to-date. By taking the time to optimize for local SEO, you can ensure that your business is visible to the people who are most likely to become customers rather than attracting views from people who aren’t in your area. To keep things simple, here are a few action items to complete if you haven’t already done so.

Action Steps

• Sign up for Google My Business – If you could only take away 1 thing from this entire article, this would be the one, absolute, must-do action item.
• Mention your city and region – On your home page and contact page, mention your city and region. You’d be surprised how many photographers don’t do this!
• Use Consistent NAPs (name, address, and phone number) – Use the EXACT same name, address and phone number in all of your directory listings.
• Sign up for recommended directories – Keep all of your information and images handy and just crank away at creating profiles for each of the directories listed. It may take a few hours but the results will be worth it over time.  See our recommended list here.

From there, continue outranking your competitors with targeted content and high quality backlinks, which will take time. However, just doing the steps mentioned above puts you ahead of many photographers and gives you a great starting point.

Mistake 2 | Not Enough Content on the Website

The next most common mistake I see photographers make is simply not having enough content on their website. How can a fisherman catch enough fish if he doesn’t have enough hooks in the water? Similarly, how can you get more organic search traffic without enough web pages to potentially appear in search results?

Having enough content is critical to boosting your overall SEO rankings. And content is easier to create now more than ever with AI technology. Services like Jasper AI assist with SEO for photographers by automatically creating high quality, original content with simple prompts.  Alternatively, copywriters are more accessible than ever. Read more about how to create written content without any writing skills.

Here are some page ideas to get you started:

• Preferred Venues/Shoot Locations (Read more about these)
• Preferred Vendors (Read more about these)
• Makeup and Wardrobe Guide
• Gear and Equipment List
• Answer FAQs your clients have
• (We have a full list inside of our Business Training)

Mistake 3 | Keywords Used Incorrectly (without a plan)

The next mistake I see many photographers make is haphazardly using keywords without an overall plan. Let’s go through a couple of common mistakes in regards to keywords:

• Each page should tackle a single keyword – So, for example, if you’re writing a page on the “wedding first look,” then you should focus on that keyword, using it a few times within the article organically and giving your readers a thorough explanation to satisfy the user intent of their search. What happens though, is that photographers sometimes try to force in other keywords like, for example, “Atlanta wedding photographer” into that page, which isn’t helpful and can be confusing. Keep your pages clear and organized so that the readers and Google can easily understand the topic of the content.
• Each page should tackle a unique keyword – Related to the above, do not try to create multiple pages that tackle the same keyword. The result could be “keyword cannibalization,” when search engines have a hard time determining which page is most relevant to the user’s query, and as a result, both pages may rank lower than they would if there was only one page targeting that keyword.

Action steps:

• Map out a general content creation plan and schedule
• When creating content, stick to one keyword per page
• Review and modify existing pages to fit the one keyword per page general rule
• Note: Don’t over stress or over plan. In other words, don’t let the planning and mapping give you decision paralysis and get in the way of you starting to populate more content on your website!

Mistake 4 | Not Enough Text to Balance Images and Video

The next common mistake in SEO for photographers is common with many website templates and themes. Many of the most beautiful, image heavy themes and templates don’t leave much space for text content. Without enough text, it’s difficult to rank a page for a keyword. Search engines rely on signals to understand the page content and determine which search terms to rank the page for. Among others, these signals include things like the title of the page, the image names on the page, the URL (address) of the page, and yes .. the text on the page. While it IS possible to rank a page without much text, it’s an additional challenge that you have to overcome.

Action Steps:

Try to insert at least 500 words of text on your home page (and all other pages on your website). Within that text, include the keyword that you’re trying to rank the page for in an organic way a few times.

If the website theme/template you chose doesn’t allow for enough text on your homepage, consider changing themes or templates.

Mistake 5 | Not Working on Backlinks

The next common mistake when it comes to SEO for photographers is not actively working to build backlinks. While it’s not reasonable to expect most busy photographers to connect with websites, write guest posts, and collaborate for the sake of backlinks, there are simple things you can incorporate into your existing workflow that will help you get backlinks.

• Send out your images to related vendors and venues after each shoot – By providing the images, you will get some social media mentions, and every now and then, you’ll also get a link back if they decide to showcase your work on their website. Just be clear about your requirements for using your images.
• Create Preferred Venue and Vendor Pages – Creating these pages on your website helps the venues and vendors that you include, and every once in a while, they’ll return the favor by including (and linking to) you as well.
• Get your best shoots featured – Try to get your best work featured in relevant online publications for your photo niche or your local area.
• Seek Ambassadorships with Brands You Use – Go through your list of gear and software and research ambassador opportunities with each of them, from your camera bags and camera straps to your Lightroom presets and other digital software. Most brands will list (and link to) their ambassadors.
• Become a Writer – If writing interests you, consider applying to be a writer for a photography magazine like SLR Lounge, Fstoppers, DIY Photography, and others. Some of these have paid writing opportunities as well, so you can earn income while building up your website authority with backlinks.
• Consider Wedding Maps – Shameless plug alert! We started Wedding Maps to help photographers build their online presence and reputation. Wedding Maps takes the images submitted by their members and creates articles for websites around the web based on those images, mentioning and linking to their photographers’ websites.

Mistake 6 | Images Not Renamed

The next mistake I see many photographers make is not renaming their images using keywords and related keywords. While Google AI is getting better and better at determining what an image is without the image names and alt text, it’s still important to give them as many signals and clues as possible to help rank your web pages in organic search results and your images in image search results. Here’s a brief overview of how you should be renaming your images.

• Ideal Format: best-keyword.jpg
• Example: wedding-first-look.jpg

When you have more than one image, start using keyword variations.  See these examples:

• wedding-first-look-bride-groom.jpg
• first-look-before-wedding-ceremony.jpg

To go one step further, include alt text with every image. Since this is getting a bit long, we’re not going to dig into this, but it’s a pretty simple concept that you can learn more about here.

More Info

The info in this article is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to SEO knowledge, but the actionable steps will undoubtedly yield positive results over time if you start taking action.  For a more comprehensive plan, be sure to check out our Complete Photography Business Training System in SLR Lounge Premium. And for help with building your online presence, links and mentions, be sure to check out Wedding Maps.

• WordPress
• Format
• Squarespace
• Pixpa
• Webself
• Wix
• Zenfolio
• Smugmug
• Others

You may also be interested in seeing the following related articles on SLR Lounge:

• Hosting for photographers
• Online Galleries for Photographers

WordPress for Photographers

Thirty percent of all websites on the internet are run on WordPress, including the one you’re reading now.  As an open source CMS (content management system), WordPress is completely customizable and free to use.   While WordPress is free, you still have to pay for hosting with a company like GoDaddy, WPEngine, or Bluehost.  In addition, you can either choose to use a free theme or a paid theme, which may add to the cost.

Being 100% customizable has its pros and cons.  The main benefit is that you can pretty much do anything you want.  You just have to do the research, install the right plugins, and find a reliable theme.

The con is that it’s not dummy proof.  Plugins can conflict, updates to WordPress can break features, and you can experience downtime if you fall victim to hackers.  And when that happens you don’t have a customer support team to call, though there are lots of resources out there to help.

If you’re willing to invest some time into learning WordPress, then it’s a great option.  In fact, WordPress is the Best Website Builder for Photographers who aren’t afraid of some coding, troubleshooting, and maintenance because of the flexibility it offers.  The massive library of plugins allows you to add almost any feature to your site, and if you want to customize the SEO of your site, you’ll appreciate the freedom and capabilities you have with WordPress.

More Info on WordPress

Format for Photographers

Format is a great website builder for creating a beautiful portfolio website quickly and easily.  Unlike WordPress, Format includes hosting, themes, and all of the features for a monthly fee (from $6 to $25/month).

Format was created with Photographers in mind with a few notable features that make it one of our favorite website builders.  Here are a few:

• Lightroom and Capture One Plugins – The ability to publish and update your portfolio and client proofing galleries directly from Lightroom and Capture One.
• iPhone App – The ability to manage your gallery pages with the Format iPhone app.
• Client Proofing – The ability to proof, manage and deliver client work directly from your site.

In addition, Format features a wide selection of beautiful themes.

Since Format is not as widely used as Squarespace, you’re not as likely to see other photographers with the same look and feel if you choose Format.

More Info on Format

Squarespace for Photographers

Squarespace is one of the most popular website builders for photographers and for good reason.  It starts with their themes or what they call “templates.”   Each one is beautiful and functional, featuring great typography, spacing, and overall design sense.

In addition, their backend is intuitive and their pricing (from $12 to $40) is very reasonable for the amount of features and support you receive.

Also, Squarespace is the only website builder that offers email marketing.  While all of them will integrate with Mailchimp and other newsletter services, Squarespace has the functionality built in, saving you the additional cost of these other services.

The primary downside of Squarespace as a website builder for photographers is its popularity.  It’s not uncommon to see multiple photographers utilize the same template.  But honestly, do your clients care?  Probably not.  In our opinion, Squarespace is the Best Website Builder for Photographers for those looking for an easy, out-of-the-box solution with low maintenance.

More Info on Squarespace

Pixpa for Photographers

Pixpa is a  budget-friendly option for photographers who need an online portfolio.  They have over 40 themes to start with that take into consideration all types of photography, from wedding to fashion to architectural.  They also have good  e-commerce features and a responsive customer support team.

The strengths of Pixpa include the following:

• Price
• Free 15 day trial
• Drag and Drop Builder
• E-commerce functionality (out of the box)
• Client Proofing functionality (out of the box)

More on Pixpa

WebSelf for Photographers

WebSelf is another simple drag-and-drop website builder that offers the creation of a website, blog, or online store. Made for beginners, they have a large number of templates, some created especially for photographers, and section templates to choose from.
This website builder also offers different plans to meet every need. If you just started your career as a photographer and have a low budget, note that it is possible to create a free 5-page website or online portfolio with WebSelf. Please note that a WebSelf ad will appear on your free website.

Their Basic plan starts at $8.95 per month when paid annually, and their eCommerce plan (for online stores) starts at $18.45. The hosting, HTTP protocol and SSL certificate are always included and a free domain is given when you choose an annual subscription.

Pros of Webself:

• A great number of websites templates
• Easy-to-use drag-and-drop website builder
• It has a free plan

Cons of Webself:

• Limited customization options
• Ads in the free version
• Few plugs in available

More on Webself

Wix for Photographers

Wix prides itself in its ease of use and customizability.  It utilizes a WYSIWYG editor that allows you to drag, drop, and arrange your website any way you want.  Of course, they also offer professionally designed templates to get your photography portfolio up and running.

Like Format and Squarespace, Wix also offers reasonable pricing (from $11 to $29 per month) and includes all of the features you’d reasonably need to run a photography website.

Unlike most of its competitors, Wix offers a forever free plan that displays ads on your website.  To remove the ads, you have to upgrade to premium plan.  The free option is great if you’re a cash strapped photographer who doesn’t mind ad display on your website until your business becomes more profitable.

Pros of Wix:

• Wix has more than forty photography templates that are already pre-designed and are all unique. This makes it easier for photographers since all they need to do is showcase their work.
• It has features that are specifically tailored for photographers. For example, there are over thirty media galleries that allow photographers to display their videos and images.
• Wix also offers an image securing option that protects your data.
• There are various tools available that can help you enhance your images’ quality before you publish them.

Cons of Wix:

• Limited storage space

Pricing and Features

• Wix has a monthly plan which starts from $22
• 20GB storage space
• Unlimited bandwidth
• It has a free content delivery network, which uses cache servers that are interconnected
• It is a free domain
• Offers custom domain use
• It has a free plan.

More Info on Wix

Zenfolio

Zenfolio is one of the web hosting and website builder services for photographers who would sell photographs. It is both an E-commerce platform and a website. If you would like to simultaneously have a website that is good looking and scale your photography business, then this web host company is a good one for you.

Zenfolio Pros

• They have unique categories of templates collection that will allow you to create a photo website in place.
• The e-commerce section has a printing lab partnership, a complete marketing tools suite, and an online cart.
• The privacy options offered include watermarking your images, and creating galleries that are password protected.
• There is a pricing page that will help you develop the right price plans for your images.

Zenfolio Cons

• Does not have a free content delivery network
• Does not offer a free plan
• It is not a free domain

Pricing and Features

• Zenfolio has a $20 monthly plan.
• Unlimited storage space
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Offers custom domain use

SmugMug

SmugMug is custom made for photographers. It is a platform that offers both hosting services to photographers and offers them the option of sharing their images.

Pros of Smugmug

• Allows both professional and amateur photographers to sell or showcase their work efficiently on the site
• You can upload multiple photos at a go
• It makes your work more streamlined since it integrates with lightroom
• They offer customizable design templates that allow you to choose the layout you would like, from a grid style to a full-screen layout.

Cons of Smugmug

• Does not have a free content delivery network
• Does not have free plans

Pricing and Features

• Has a $5.99 monthly plan
• Has an unlimited storage space
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Offers a free domain
• Offers custom domain use

How To Choose The Best Website Builder for Photographers

To determine the best photography website builder, think about yourself, your strengths, weaknesses, and where you are in your business.

• For The Techie – If you have the ability to sign up for hosting, install WordPress, choose a theme, set up the theme, install the right plugins and spend a little bit of time managing your website every month, then WordPress is the right choice for you.   Having full control over your website, from the look to the SEO, is a great luxury to have.  You never know what features you’ll want to add to your site as your business grows.
• For Those Who Value Simplicity – If you value simplicity and you’d rather minimize the time you spend on your website, Pixpa, Format, Squarespace or Wix are better options than WordPress.  For a monthly fee, you get customer support, beautifully designed themes, SEO features and more.
• For Those Who Value Integrations – If you’re looking for integrations in your workflow, Format is the best choice for you because of its client proofing feature, Lightroom plugin, and Capture One Plugin.
• For Those Who want Email Marketing Built In – If email marketing is a part of your process, Squarespace is a great choice for you.  Having those features built in will save you the additional money of signing up for another service.

Note: We’ll be discussing the following in the next section:

1. WordPress for Photographers
2. Squarespace for Photographers.

Free Website Builders for Photographers

Blogger.com, WordPress.com, and others offer the ability to create a custom blog for free on their publishing platform. There is no cost to creating the site, customizing the site, or hosting the site. In addition, since the domain is going to be a subdomain of each of these sites, you don’t have to register a domain either. While 100% free always sounds great, this is not the best option for the serious photographer. Here are the primary reasons:

• Limited customization – While WordPress.com and Blogger.com offer the ability to customize your website, you are going to be limited to customizing via templates and the options available within their existing framework.
• Unprofessional domain name – While it is possible to customize your domain name, it’s going to be registered as a “.blogspot.com” or “.WordPress.com” website. This makes your business seem like a hobby rather than a serious business.
• Lack of SEO Tools – With a custom website, there are more SEO, marketing, and analytics tools available to help in marketing and growing a website. So while it will cost you more to set up a custom website, you are going to be better off in the long run.

Other Services and Best Website Builders for Photographers

Besides Squarespace, Format, Wix, Pixpa, and WordPress, there are a few other hosting services and content management systems for photographers. Imagely,com, and SITE123 come to mind.

SITE123 is doing some interesting things and deserves some consideration. They have a good selection of modern galleries in their free website builder; and they have a free plan as well as a paid plan. Like the others on our list, their websites are fully responsive and work well on all devices.

In addition, many image storage and delivery services are now layering on website services.  So you can basically start a portfolio with the company that you store your images with.  The obvious benefit is the cost savings if you’re already using these services. Need more options?  See this breakdown by Beautiful Life of the Best Website Builders or Tooltester’s options on the best website builders for photographers.