Are you passionate about photography, and do you discover the world’s beauty through your photos? Do you no longer want to hide your photos in a drawer but instead want to share them with as many people as possible? Today, this is easier than ever! All you need to do is start a photography blog, and you can share your art with others.
There are free solutions, such as various blogging platforms or photo-blogging and social media portals. But they will not give you the same satisfaction as a professional website with your portfolio. However, don’t worry; your photography blog doesn’t have to be expensive!
If you take photography seriously, use some paid solutions (such as a server or an individual internet domain). The cost will be much lower than a cheap lens, and the quality of presenting your work will be worth it.
With a professional website, you can open the way to cooperation with prestigious agencies, more effectively acquire clients, or share your creativity with others.
Of course, I understand that you are a photographer, not an IT specialist or a website designer. That’s why I will show you how to start your photography blog – simply and quickly, without technical knowledge or language skills.
How to create a portfolio for free?
First, let’s look at free options for publishing your photos online. The most obvious ones are social media, especially Instagram and Facebook. Another good option for photographers is Pinterest.
The advantages of social media are the immense numbers of users and, therefore, potential viewers of your photos. On the other hand, social media is overwhelmed with various types of content consumed on a mass scale, which means that users are giving likes but not spending too much time contemplating a single photo.
However, many photographers take artistic photos that have many meanings and threads. They care about an audience that will appreciate their skill and vision, so social media is not enough for them. It does not mean, however, that it is not worth creating social media accounts – on the contrary! It is an essential photographer’s image part, but it should be an addition, not the primary platform.
So, what should be the base for a photographer? Ideally, it should be a website in the form of a portfolio or a blog with photos. You can start your photography blog for free with the help of many blogging platforms.
The most popular ones are Blogger (Blogspot), provided by Google, and WordPress.com, a platform based on WordPress. You do not need to purchase hosting or have your domain. It is enough to register on the chosen platform’s website, indicate the name and address of your blog, and then adjust the graphic template.
However, these free solutions have significant limitations that make them unsuitable for the long term. You must deal with many restrictions and inconveniences, such as limited configuration options or lack of customization. Remember also that the portals are owned by companies, so you are somewhat dependent on them.
The most important elements of a blog for a photographer
A photography blog requires a significant emphasis on its visual design. That is one of the reasons why free solutions are not suitable – they do not offer enough customization options for templates.
Even if you start a photography blog with a free WordPress theme, you may struggle to find one that offers sufficient customization options. Too many aesthetic limitations of the template can completely spoil the visual effect, and of course, a portfolio with photos must look good! Every photographer wants to showcase their photos as best as possible.
In addition, content management elements are also important – especially photos. You must be able to add large amounts of photos, aesthetically present them, categorize them, and add tags and descriptions. You must also be able to protect your creativity from piracy by introducing mechanisms that prevent downloading photos or automatically adding your watermark to downloaded photos.
Creating a Photoblog
Domain
A professional photoblog should primarily have a unique domain, preferably with a .com extension. Therefore, before you start a photography blog, you must buy a domain.
I believe you should not have any problems choosing an appropriate internet address because you will probably use your or your company name. A photographer named Marc Dower can select one of the following addresses: marcdower.com, mdower.com, dowerart.com, dowerphotography.com, or dowermarc.com.
There may be doubts about the TLD, which is the domain extension. The most popular solution is .com, the international standard. However, depending on your situation, you can choose a national domain from the country where you will be operating (e.g., .es, .eu, .mx, .pl, .tr) or even a city. You can also choose other TLDs: .info, .org, .art, .me, or .net are just a few available options.
Hosting
After choosing a domain, it’s time for the next step. The website must be hosted somewhere. This place is a hosting server. For starters, a high-quality shared hosting solution should be sufficient for you. However, you must be careful because many companies offer low-quality hosting or with too many limitations.
The hosting you are looking for must offer fast and efficient servers with NVMe SSD drives and unlimited bandwidth. Additionally, it must provide a sufficient level of security – daily backups, a free SSL certificate, and a solid security system are necessary. It is essential to have the ability to install CMSs – including WordPress – with one click.
UltaHost offers such hosting. For $3.29 per month, you can purchase a hosting plan for one domain and 10,000 monthly visits with a 30 GB NVMe SSD disk, while for $5 per month, you will get shared hosting with a twice as large disk (60 GB, also NVMe SSD) and the ability to host 4 domains. One of these two packages will be perfect for you to start with.
UltaHost offers huge scaling possibilities. When you feel that you need more space or start to have more visitors, you can easily upgrade your hosting plan. You can even move your services to VPS hosting, a solution created for professionals. With VPS hosting, you can configure your server, install various scripts and applications, and install the operating system of your choice.
CMS Configuration
With hosting in place, it’s time to choose a content management system (CMS). Most likely, the choice will fall on WordPress, an ideal platform for a photo blog. WordPress is free, and by using UltaHost hosting, you will install it with the help of an automatic installer.
After the installation, you will have almost infinite possibilities to customize your photoblog. You can choose from a database of many thousands of graphic templates. However, if you prefer to focus on originality, you can buy a premium theme.
An attractive solution is also the possibility of using a page builder. It is a plugin allowing you to construct or edit a website. The most popular are Elementor and the default WordPress block editor – Gutenberg.
In your case, I advise against building a website from scratch using a page builder. It would be better to start a photography blog with a template created specifically for photographers that meets your needs and personalize it. Most templates are compatible with both Elementor and Gutenberg, so you can use them to edit a given theme.
The multitude of free WordPress themes is staggering. It’s hard to find the right one among tens of thousands of different ones.
That’s why we’ve prepared 70 best free WordPress themes for you. We’ve selected the most proven ones to make it easier for you to choose. You’ll find a template here that will meet your needs.
Expand your WordPress site with plugins
With WordPress, you’ll also gain the ability to expand your blog with additional features. Use the plugins available in the WordPress repository. Don’t forget about plugins that support the positioning process, such as Yoast SEO. Pay attention to plugins that allow you to monitor traffic on your photo blog as well.
You don’t need coding knowledge as everything is done with just a few mouse clicks. Plugins give WordPress almost unlimited possibilities for expansion. Many of them are free, and many of them are freemium. It means that the primary functions of a given plugin are free, but to access all of its possibilities, you need to pay.
In this article, you will learn about the most important plugins for a beginner blogger. These are almost mandatory items that should be on your blog.
In addition to them, however, you can look for other plugins that will allow you to add attractive functionalities to your website:
- Password-protecting access to some content (to introduce, for example, a subscription);
- Protection against downloading images;
- Watermarks;
- Advanced and aesthetic gallery;
- Image optimization.
You can add all these features through various plugins, both free and premium. Remember that free plugins usually offer fewer customization options or require more time to configure. Therefore, it is worth considering investing in some solutions that will help you achieve a professional effect.
You also don’t have to rush to buy premium plugins. You can start your photography blog with free plugins and then invest in premium plugins as your blog grows.
How to run a successful photography blog?
Starting a blog is just the first step toward success. Do everything in your power to keep it alive and thriving:
- Post new photos regularly;
- Create colorful descriptions of your photos;
- Present photo reports from events you had a chance to participate in.
Also, think about what content you can post on your photography blog. Maybe regular tips on photographic technique? Remember to categorize your blog posts. This way your readers will easily find what interests them. Also, include information about possible cooperation opportunities.
In addition, engage with people visiting your blog:
- Respond to comments;
- Connect your blog with a Facebook Fanpage;
- Post photos on Instagram;
- Also, be an active participant in the blogosphere by commenting on photos posted on other industry blogs.
Conclusion
I hope that now you know how to start a photography blog. Remember that investing in a domain, cheap hosting, and a few premium plugins (or even a premium theme or a paid page builder version) will cost you less than a medium-quality lens. It’s worth investing this money to get a professional portfolio.
Running your blog requires a bit of luck and determination to have your work appreciated.
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