What makes a great photograph? According to Ansel Adams, it’s all about knowing where to stand. For Henri Cartier-Bresson, the key was to capture the decisive moment. Olivia Arthur believes the secret is to be extremely patient and quiet. Luckily, the key to creating an outstanding photography website is much easier to decipher.
In essence, a great photography website is one that not only showcases your work in the highest quality, but also allows you to keep your audience up-to-date, get booked, sell your photos, get found online and more. These 8 must-have features for your photography website will enable you to do just that:
Wix Pro Gallery
Wix Photo Albums
Instagram Feed
Wix SEO Wiz
Wix Art Store
Wix Bookings
Before and After Slider
Wix Video
01. Wix Pro Gallery: Display your photos in striking quality
As you set out to create a photography website, it’s important to keep in mind that your images are the real stars of the show. No matter how beautiful your website is, it simply won’t work if your images are not up to par.
The Wix Pro Gallery allows you to showcase your photos in high-quality on any device. It gives you full control of every aspect of their display to ensure the final look matches your brand and photography style. Adjust everything from the sharpness of your images to the alt text, layout and design of the gallery. You’ll also be able to decide whether you want to protect your work with built-in image control or allow visitors to download and share your media.
If you need any more convincing, take a look at these 7 reasons to choose the Wix Pro Gallery.
02. Wix Photo Albums: Share images with your clients
No matter which type of photography you specialize in, it’s likely you’ve encountered a situation in which you needed to share photos with clients or people interested in a certain project of yours. While there are many image hosting sites you can use to send pictures, more often than not they can feel cold and even unprofessional.
With Wix Photo Albums, you can create beautiful album sites for your photos - for free. These sites are entirely personalizable, allowing you to decide not only how your images are presented, but also whether they can be downloaded and shared, or are only accessible with a password. Furthermore, since they are connected to your professional photographer website, you’ll be driving constant traffic to your site.
03. Instagram Feed: Showcase your latest work
Instagram for photographers is like grooming for cats: not all of them enjoy it, but all of them can highly benefit from it. Whether or not you’re into social media, there’s no denying that over the last few years Instagram has become an incredibly valuable platform for photographers to get inspired and connect with like-minded individuals.
Using the Instagram Feed website app, you can integrate your profile into your site to ensure visitors are always up-to-date with your latest projects. This feature will also allow you to promote your Instagram profile, as guests will be able to follow your account without leaving your site.
04. Wix SEO Wiz: Get found online
Search engine optimization, commonly known as SEO, is one of the most powerful free tools to promote your photography business online. Yet, it’s often overlooked, as the process of optimizing your content and pages in order to improve your site’s position on search engines can feel daunting.
This is where the Wix SEO Wiz comes into play. It creates a personalized plan based on your site’s goals and characteristics. Even if you’re not sure what SEO for photographers entails, this powerful feature will make sure you take all the necessary steps to drive traffic to your online portfolio.
05. Wix Art Store: Sell your photos online
There are many ways to make money as a photographer. However, few are as easy and straightforward as selling photos online. Simply put together a selection of outstanding shots that you think people might be interested in buying and find the right platform to display and distribute them. And what better place for that than your own site, where you can control every single design aspect?
The Wix Art Store will turn your photography website into a fully functional store where you can sell prints and digital copies of your work, as well as printed objects like mugs and pillows. You’ll be able to set your own prices and digital licenses, while packaging, shipping and payment processing will all be taken care of for you.
06. Wix Bookings: Land and manage new gigs
As a professional photographer, the primary motive behind creating an online portfolio should not simply be for people to get to know your work, but for them to hire you to photograph them. Unless you operate within a very niche field, you should see your website as the main platform for getting freelance photography jobs.
Start by creating a strong service page with all the information potential clients might want to know about you - from the type of photography you specialize in to why they should work with you. Once your content is ready, simply add Wix Bookings for visitors to hire your services in just a couple clicks. This professional feature will allow you to take online bookings 24/7, accept secure payments and deposits, sync your calendars, and store customer information.
07. Before and After Slider: Show off your editing skills
There are two sides to every story and two versions of each photo. If you want to show your post-processing skills, the Before and After Slider is the photography website feature you’re looking for. The vertical slider allows visitors to compare two photos side-by-side. You can use this tool to showcase the differences in your images before and after processing them with a photo editing software.
Most photographers use this feature to promote photography business services such as selling presets and workshops on how to edit photos.
08. Wix Video: Showcase, promote and sell your videos
In recent years, the number of creators taking the leap from photography to videography has increased exponentially. This is primarily due to the fact that most types of cameras now offer powerful video capabilities, as well as the overall growth of the digital video industry.
If you’ve started building a career as a videographer but don’t want to create a separate video website, you can incorporate your film work within your existing online portfolio with Wix Video. This robust website feature will not only allow you to showcase your work in the highest quality on any device, but you’ll also be able to sell videos online from within your site, 100% commission free.