Best Website Builder for Photographers 4 Best Options in 2021
In our digital world, photographers can find a lot of success by promoting themselves online.
Using a site builder can be a simple way to accomplish this, especially if you don’t have many technical skills.
However, knowing which tool is truly the best website builder for photographers can be tough.
Fortunately, you have plenty of options. There are a variety of user-friendly site builders designed specifically for photographers.
By understanding a few of the top competitors, you can pick the most effective option for your artistic needs.
In this article, we’ll cover why photographers might have different site builder needs than the average user. Then we’ll go over four of the most powerful options available. Let’s dive right in!
Why photographers have unique site-builder needs
Site builders tend to make owning a website more accessible. Regardless of your technical skill, you can find a service that will help you easily craft beautiful and functional pages.
However, if you’re a photographer, ease of use might not be enough.
The primary reason for this is your need to display high-quality images on your website.
Especially if your photos have high resolutions, showcasing this level of detail can be important.
That means you’ll need the ability to upload large files, as well as performance optimization to minimize their impact on page speed.
Of course, featuring your work isn’t the only element to think about. For example, you might not have enough time between photo shoots to gain a lot of technical or design knowledge.
As such, you might want access to easily customizable templates to speed up your site building.
Finally, you might also value audience engagement. If you want to enable customers to interact with you, the best site builder for photographers will need functions to help them reach out.
In addition to all of these features, you’ll also want to account for more general considerations. Options for super fast themes or pricing plans that fit your budget can be crucial. Fortunately, there are several site builders with all of these traits that you can choose from.
Best website builder for photographers
To get your search started, we’ve gathered four of the most effective site building tools for photographers. While you read through this list, we encourage you to consider both your current needs as well as any plans to scale up in the future. This can help you choose a long-lasting service for your website.
1. Wix
If you’re looking for the best website builder for photographers, Wix is a great place to start.
This platform is an all-around strong option for users in any field. However, it’s particularly useful for photographers, because it also provides other features such as blogging capabilities.
While Wix isn’t specifically geared towards photographers, it demonstrates remarkable flexibility that can support your efforts.
Features:
- Access to the Wix App Market for powerful extensions like client-friendly photo albums
- A huge selection of pricing plans to fit your current and future needs
- The option to get started quickly with help from the Wix Artificial Design Intelligence builder
If you’re looking for the best website builder for photographers, Wix is a great place to start. This platform is an all-around strong option for users in any field.
However, it’s particularly useful for photographers, because it also provides other features such as blogging capabilities.
While Wix isn’t specifically geared towards photographers, it demonstrates remarkable flexibility that can support your efforts. In addition to other more general features, here are a few that are especially useful for this niche:
- Access to the Wix App Market for powerful extensions like client-friendly photo albums
- A huge selection of pricing plans to fit your current and future needs
- The option to get started quickly with help from the Wix Artificial Design Intelligence builder
Given these features, we generally recommend Wix if you’re looking for a full website solution. You aren’t restricted to a gallery or portfolio with this platform.
You can instead extend your photography brand with written content, audience interaction, and even an online store.
Plus, one of the reasons Wix is so popular is that it’s extremely easy to use. The builder harnesses the power of a drag-and-drop interface, making site editing an intuitive process.
Furthermore, this service comes fully stocked with a huge selection of photography-focused templates.
This can give you a successful design base that you can build upon. Therefore, you might also appreciate Wix if you want a simple way to highly customize your website design.
Pricing: Wix offers a free plan that’s fairly robust, coming with appealing templates and core site building features.
This can be a valuable resource if you’re on a tight budget, but it limits you to using a Wix subdomain and includes Wix ads.
Wix also offers premium options. The cheapest plan without ads starts at $8.50 per month, but we recommend most people use at least the $12.50 Unlimited plan as it offers useful search engine optimization features.
Learn more:
2. SmugMug
If you’re looking for a premium website builder, we highly recommend that you put SmugMug on your list. This service is designed for those who want a responsive and flexible way to show off their work. It can also help you build an online store.
In addition to an Apple app, SmugMug also offers an Android app. This can be extremely helpful if you want to edit on the go without an iPhone.
Furthermore, this universal access can make SmugMug one less service to worry about if you ever switch operating systems.
Features:
- Password protection options that can help you cater entire galleries to specific clients
- Built-in watermarking to keep your intellectual property safe from theft
- An in-engine printing service to centralize the customer experience
If you place a high premium on controlling access to your content, you might want to consider SmugMug. The extensive access options can help you closely tailor your privacy settings.
For example, you might choose to apply a watermark to photos that are not in password-protected areas.
Furthermore, SmugMug is also a top choice if you’re willing to pay a higher price for a full feature set. Functions such as photo backups and in-house editing can go a long way.
The higher-tier plans may not be cheap, but they can deliver some truly impressive website building.
Pricing: There’s no free option, but the Basic SmugMug plan starts at $7 per month. If you want eCommerce capabilities, you’ll need to use the Portfolio plan at $27 per month.
3. Adobe Portfolio
Most photographers are at least familiar with the Adobe brand. This company offers a variety of digital editing software. What’s more, if you already have its Creative Cloud Photography plan, you also get access to a free Adobe-centric website builder called Adobe Portfolio.
Adobe Portfolio can seamlessly combine all of your assets from across the various Adobe programs.
As such, it has the potential to save you a lot of time on uploads and transfers. Additionally, you might also find the familiar interface easy to work with.
One of the best aspects of Adobe Portfolio is how intuitive it is. As with any technology, there’s a learning curve, but it tends to be a small one.
Features:
- Full-screen Lightbox displays to showcase your work at its best
- The ability to create unlimited pages, to keep your collections highly organized
- Automatic image optimization and resizing to ensure a beautiful yet efficient result
As you might have guessed, Adobe Portfolio is the best website builder for photographers if you already use the Creative Cloud Photography plan.
You won’t need to spend money on another service, and you get to simplify your workflow by keeping everything within the same brand.
Furthermore, Adobe Portfolio is a smart choice if you’re not looking to build an online store. As the name implies, this service is strictly a portfolio creator.
However, you can always link out to another site if you want to promote your eCommerce presence.
Pricing:When it comes to pricing for Adobe Portfolio, you’ll need to purchase the $9.99 per month Creative Cloud Photography plan. You can also add on other programs such as Photoshop for a set fee.
4. PhotoShelter
Last but not least, PhotoShelter is a top-performing website builder. It may not have as many template options as its competitors, but it more than makes up for that with its image-centric features. Options for file backups and multiple viewing passwords can help you post photos with confidence.
Features:
- An automatically generated sitemap, giving you more time to focus on your photos
- Support for high-resolution Retina displays, to make sure your work is seen the way you want
- Complex sales options, such as adding royalty fees and creating stock photos
PhotoShelter is an impressive powerhouse for showing off your work, and its store-related features are hard to ignore.
That’s why we recommend investing in this website builder if you have a focus on eCommerce. Prices may run a bit higher than other services, but you’ll also unlock formidable sales options.
Pricing: On that note, let’s look at PhotoShelter’s pricing plans. There’s no free option, but the basic plan begins at just $10 per month.
It also starts you off with fairly robust features, such as social media integration and eCommerce functionality.
If you want more storage, templates, or traffic capabilities, you’ll need to scale up. The highest-tier plan available comes in at $45 per month.
For that price, you’ll get extra features like an unlimited archive with regular backups.
Create your photography website today!
While we recommend any of the above programs as the best website builder for photographers, the one that stands out for us is PhotoShelter.
The prices may be a little higher than some alternatives, but the impressive performance for both online stores and portfolios makes it our top choice.
Or, if you put a lot of value on flexibility, you can also consider the open-source WordPress software. WordPress offers a lot of useful photography plugins and themes for photographers.
While it is a little more complicated because you need to purchase your own WordPress hosting unlike a website builder, we have a guide that shows you how to create a WordPress website including key photography elements.
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