Many photographers and photography enthusiasts ask me if it is worth it to create a photography website for them. The answer is a resounding yes if they are interested in photography in any way.

Benefits of a photography website

Search Engine Optimisation

It is better to create a website NOW than later. Google puts a shadow ban on all new sites to avoid spammy sites to show up in their search results. This blanket ban lasts about 6 to 15 months depending on your website. It means you will not get search engine traffic for that long after creating your website.

Your site will be shown higher in the search results depending on how old your site is and how much links are there to your website from other websites. You will not have enough links if you create your website at a later date than today. So, it is essential to create a website as soon as you think you need one. Just making a simple landing page with basic details is enough.

Brand Identity

People nowadays search your name or company name on the internet and it is worth it to not disappoint them. A website is something you control, and you can give these people a good impression about you by showing your best works in the front page. They may see your Instagram or Flickr account but in those sites, the photos are a bit disorganised and they may not browse through your thousands of photos to find that perfect photo you shot.

The brand is created through time. And it is critical to get started as soon as possible.

Online depositary of your work

You have put a lot of effort into shooting photos. You are spending your limited time on doing this one thing. But, do you care about it enough to have a website?

There are basically three categories of photography websites

1. Professional Photographers
2. Photography studios
3. Amateur photography enthusiasts

Professional Photographers

If you are professional at anything, then a website is kind of expected of you whether you are a photographer or a motivational speaker or a dancer or a musician or a florist. If you do not have a website you simply will not be considered a top grade professional by a lot of your potential customers.

Your website is your central identity on the internet. It is like the one real estate you own on the internet. Social media, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Instagram etc are secondary sites which you do not have much control over. Facebook can ban you, Twitter can shadowban you, Instagram can change its policies, Flickr can get sold to Verizon, there are a lot of uncertainties, but your site will always be yours.

Today, a website is more relevant than ever before. Just remember that anyone can call themselves a photographer by uploading their iPhone shot photographs on Instagram at a click of a button. A website is perhaps that one thing which makes you stand out from this smartphone photography crowd.

Photography Studios

If you are a studio, there is no excuse for not having a website in today’s world. All reliable companies have websites, and your clients are sure to search your brand on the internet for reviews or just to simply find your phone number to contact you. Or, maybe a potential client wants to find your real address so that they can visit you. You miss out on a lot of these clients if you do not have a website.

Amateur photography enthusiasts

This is an interesting case. Maybe you are just happy with posting your pics on Instagram and Facebook, but let me tell you that I know many photography enthusiasts who shoot hundreds of beautiful photos every month and yet all these photos sit and rot in their personal hard disks, never to be seen by any other person except for themselves. Isn’t that a waste of a good photo?

If you spend so much money on the equipment and so much effort into taking that good photo, then don’t you want other people to see it? Making a website is super easy these days and can be done for less than $100 especially with good photography WordPress themes. Imagine if you are elsewhere and you want to show your friend your photos, what will you do? You could have simply shared your website link.

Conclusion

Go make your photography website as soon as possible. It doesn’t cost much and the benefits seriously outweigh the small cost. Seriously, a website only costs a fraction of the cost of your camera!