4 Best Photography Website Builder: How to Create a Photography Website for Free!

Need to know the top free website builders for photographers? All the options for communicating online may make your head spin. So let’s uncover the differences between website builders to help you choose the most efficient one that aligns with your business vision.

Photography Website Builders for Pros and Beginners

You may use several platforms to build your photography website for free; however, we narrow down the options and mention the user-friendly platforms with handy features.

•  Wix: it is a highly easy-to-use platform with three different options for website building: Wix Editor, Wix ADI, and Editor X. It is an ideal platform for beginners.
• Squarespace: Another easy platform, Squarespace is a very simplistic website builder, making it a perfect choice for beginners. And on top of that, the navigation is also relatively easy, meaning everything is easier to drag and drop to change the website sections and customise any components. 
• GoDaddy: A free photography website builder with clear editing tools, GoDaddy can be the perfect option if you want to launch your project as soon as possible. That means GoDaddy fits the beginner level as well. 
• Jimdo: Our list should include this one too. It has many similarities with Wix, making it a perfect all-in-one website builder solution. Also, it’s the best for online stores, with clean designs and more integration features to offer a better user experience.

Now, we will dive deeper into every platform to unearth the pros and cons and help you make the right decision. So now, get ready to invest in your photography business. 

What are the Advantages that Come with Each Website Builder?

Wix: An all-in-one platform that embraces at least 800 templates to enable you to establish your photography business website quickly. What’s more, you don’t need to have any design or coding experience. Just take your time to browse all the templates and pick the best. Plus, Wix offers a free version to test the service itself. So it’s a great trial to see if the platform meets your requirements. 

Squarespace: Be ready to dive into thousands of templates serving various industries. You also get a two-week free trial to set up your website and make sure that you’ve tested all the features. 

GoDaddy: If you want SUPER customer support without any thinking, consider GoDaddy as your free photography website builder. You will get access to a user-friendly dashboard and GREAT subscription plans to launch your site. The platform also offers built-in search engine optimisation (SEO) to enhance your website’s ranking with tons of in-demand features. 

Jimdo: This has ADI functionality, just like Wix. It also has a dedicated mobile editor view. On top of that, it’s got the best cost per feature. Jimdo offers an affordable subscription plan that will absolutely meet small business needs. 

All of these platforms will put you on the right track to building an attractive online presence. 

What Disadvantages Should You Expect in Each Platform?

Let’s agree on this: you can find many drawbacks in each platform if you choose the free plan or decide to invest less in the features and plugins.
So, after upgrading your plan, you can take advantage of the full power of the photography website builder.
But you should expect to find other cons.

Wix

For example, in Wix, you can’t switch templates once you’ve picked one. This means that if you went ahead and created the rest of the site, where you’ve stated what website it’s for, what the name of the website is, and you’ve chosen your template, you can’t change the template.

Yes, if you need to change your mind and find out a more attractive template, you will have to reset everything you’ve done and create a brand-new website.

Yes, imagine all the pain and hassle you’d feel at this moment.
Also, the customisation level within Wix templates might not satisfy you, especially if you are looking for a unique layout. The degree of flexibility doesn’t offer you a space to build in-demand sections.

What else?

Okay, it’s not a big deal, just a little inconvenience. Although the wide range of options may seem super beneficial for most people (we have multiple options to choose from), it cannot be very clear for first-timers.

First, you’d ask yourself what platform I should work on Wix ADI, Wix Editor, and Wix or Editor X. Which one will you go for? 

Yes, it can overwhelm you before even choosing the template.

And, of course, remember; one simple mistake when choosing the platform can cost you money since the subscription can be a bit pricey, especially when using Editor X.

Squarespace

Now let’s see the shortcomings in Squarespace!

One of the biggest cons here is that the platform doesn’t support auto-save for pages and posts. So that means you can quickly lose your work.

Another downside is the interface. It’s obviously confusing.

Yes, you can navigate the website easily, but many features can be distracting to beginners. So it’s not the easiest to use at times.

And another downfall as well is that you can’t customise the website all along, especially if you have an existing brand and need to build your own vision throughout the website. 

GoDaddy

The problem with GoDaddy is almost the same. It’s got barely any customisability. It applies to even the font size for some separate sections. In addition, it’s a drag-and-drop developer platform with confusing navigation features, meaning the templates aren’t the easiest to find.

And, of course, you can not add a whole individual element. Additionally, If you want to run an online store, GoDaddy can drive you crazy since so few features are present.

Jimdo

Now let’s have a look at Jimdo. And although it’s similar to Wix, there is no blog functionality, which means it could be better for blog website creators or even those who want to add blogs. That also means it’s not the best for SEO features. This could ruin or affect your website’s traffic flow and ranking. Jimdo also needs perfect marketing integration tools. So, choose it for personal purposes like building a portfolio. Otherwise, consider the other free photography website builders. 

How to Use Wix to Build a Photography Website

Digital trends never stop changing. You need to stay on top of the best features and web capabilities when building your photography website. Wix can help you do so! But let’s see how you can have one.

Go to Wix.com and Create Your Account

You can go through the process immediately if you have logged in before. Or, if you are new to Wix, you can go ahead and sign up.

Enter your email and choose the password, or you can get in through a Google or Facebook account.

Choose the Editor X

Now, you want to create a site. So, the next question is which platform you want to use as a brand-new user. First, of course, choose editor X.

Honestly, it’s more complex; but it comes with sophisticated features you don’t want to miss. On the other hand, Editor X will give you more fluid designs.

And no worries, we will go through each step of the process till you master Wix.

On the other side, if you pick Wix Editor, you can select the type of website you’re creating, which is, in your case, a photography website. That means the exciting time is coming! And you can now put the name of your business down or create a business name.

Then you’ll get an area to build a professional website to enhance your business growth.

Optimise Your Website

This represents the Wix Market or the Wix app market. That is where you can add a chat box, bookings, events, blog portfolios, pricing plans, etc., especially if you create a service website without needing to do any coding.

The platform will give you multiple features to showcase your work as a professional photographer. You can even add your Instagram feed and create total galleries. Or, if you choose to do a service, you can go ahead and outline your own programme for booking. 

The platform is super efficient if you want to manage online payments for your online service or sell tickets for a special event, for example.

Manage Your Photography Services

To build a good photography website, you need to manage two features: Bookings and Portfolio.

The first one is to let clients schedule appointments with you.

The second is to showcase your work. We may even add some social media. Offering both features will support your website on search engines. In other words, it gets the website ranking. 

Important: What if you need to try the other Wix platforms?

First, Wix ADI refers to Artificial Design Intelligence. If you choose to build your website within it, you need to answer a couple of questions regarding what you want for your website and what information it will take for your website.

Once this loads up, it’ll ask you to review and edit your information. So, you will add a logo, your business name, email address, phone and social accounts.

So, the biggest difference between Wix Editor and Wix ADI is the first gives you access to customise your website. The second will build your website from the information you provide. Yes, you can change it later, but many features can not be embedded in the design. 

So if you don’t have a digital identity for your business and don’t have enough information to let Wix build your website on its own, get stuck with Wix Editor.

Now we will split our journey into Wix ADI and Wix Editor and see what the difference is.

In the case of Wix ADI:

• Choose the Theme

To build your photography website, you have six different options: Wells Rose, Timeless, Spark Breeze, High Rise, or Minimal.

Of course, you can choose one there if you’re happy enough, or you can choose to skip it and build your own.

Each one of these themes has different layouts and sections. So just be aware of that and select the one you’re 100% sure you want your website to look like.

• Build Your Homepage

It’s time to set your homepage. Remember: it’s the most important page of your website. It determines if your website deserves to get checked or if the visitor should close the tab immediately. 

Now, you have three different layouts. However, they seem pretty much the same, with minor changes.

Focus on your necessities and the main components you need on your website, which is a hero section, as a photography website is all about images, a biography, family shoots and wedding collections. So, the best layout showcases your work perfectly. 

You get an area for contact information at the bottom of the three layouts.

In the case of Editor X

• Choose the Template 

You have a bunch of templates, and you need to choose the most-suited one. You can also search for exact templates related to your industry or topic. So it’s within your position to choose one more likely the same as the website or company you’re building for.

So say that we are making a photography website, so we would have to choose one that looks more or less the same. 

Luckily, we have many photography portfolios on Wix, so we can go ahead and view this and even edit it if we like it.

It looks simplistic, but you can see how well it’s built and laid out. You can drag and drop whatever you like; images are also clickable. In addition, all templates are equipped with advanced features like pop-ups and animation.

Super easy to use and will span your visitors’ attention right away.

This is where you can enable to showcase your work.

The options are endless. Each photography category has different templates, such as Art Photographer, Photography Studio, or Wedding Photographer.

So, it’s okay to spend a whole day trying to find a well-designed functional site; as you know, you can’t change it later.

So, how to create your photography website to make a lasting impression?

Pick the design you like.

Edit the template.

However, if you don’t want any templates displayed in the Wix Editor, you can create a blank template instead. Wix Editor already has some nice blind bank websites. 

Of course, this will require more time, but it’s worth it.

Overall, it depends on how much you want to invest in creating a website and the goal of having one.

You may want to build connections with your current customers by offering valuable content, attracting prospects, or letting new customers know more about your products or services. 

Or you might need just a landing page to help them book a consultation. It all depends on the value you bring to them.

• Customise the Template 

Before you choose the template, determine what sections you need on your website and how many pages you need to offer.

Pro tip: Always think of building a blog on your website for better SEO performance. You have a bunch of ideas to create photography guides for your audience. That’s how you have a chance to rank on search engines if you use the top-ranked with the right intention keywords and answer their questions. Also, you will stay at the top of the search results, driving qualified traffic. 

Now, navigating your way around Wix to customise things is very easy. Almost all templates work the same way.

Click Use this template, and here we go!

Important: before starting to build your Wix website, make sure to buy your customised domain to make things clear and easy from the beginning. 

On the left side, you’ve got to add elements, sections, pages and menus, and site design. These features are the core of any website, so take a deep breath before changing anything. But, again, remember your website goal.

To start working on the ready-go template, go to the top left, choose Site, and then My Dashboard. Then, you will get a message to save your website first. So, press Save site.

Also, Wix will ask you to choose the domain to save your website. So, you have two options, get a free Wix domain (which is not recommended if you establish your photography business) or connect your customise domain (choose it if you already have one)

Pro tip: if you want to save any changes before you go, click on Save on the top right side. 

Another beautiful feature here is that you can send the template with any updates you made to the client or a friend from the Get Feedback on the Site category to see how the website looks.

Now, thankfully, Wix supports a developer mode called Velo, which uses Node JS. This feature will help you create some custom code and to move things about if you like. 

But again, it’s optional if you want more customisation to your layout. 

After you have finished, go ahead and publish this website, and other people can see it from Publish button on the top right. 

Yes, it’s free, and you can go live immediately.

But if you want search engines and audiences to see your website, you have to pay for the premium plan. 

You can publish it and everything. And if you are, you have a social media account and want to share your portfolio; then you can create a website and link it to the publisher to technically make it free. 

• Reorganise Your Website

Now, go to the top right side and press Tools. You will get a toolbar, layers, rulers, grid lines, and snap-to objects. Each one of these options is significant to your website, where you can go ahead and customise some items or sections. Give it a try to understand more about Wix features.

If you determine to add a specific element, go to the left side and press (+). Again, you will get multiple options, including text, image, button, strip, decorative, box, gallery, and so.

For example, if you want to embed a classic strip, go ahead and then use the toolbar here to change this height, whatever you want. And, of course, that applies to different elements available to us.

Now with the section option (below Add Element), this is more to do with other parts where you can add testimonials, a subscriber’s list, promotional, contact information, team, etc.

Just keep the full picture of your website in mind, so you don’t need to tamper with the actual design and make things messy without need.

Back to the horizontal menu where the main pages are displayed (Home, About, Portfolio); you can adjust this to your liking if you want to. Also, that applies to the logo. Everything here can move right or left. 

Eventually, if you want to revert anything here, use the redo and undo buttons.

And that’s it. You now know all essentials to build your website using Wix in a nutshell. It’s very easy to use. You can drag things about. Everything snaps into objects if you want to. There are little tools to help you out. You’ve even got grid lines, rulers, layers, and anything there to assist you when building your website.

How it Takes to Build Your Wix Website

Realistically, it is probably two hours max; you can create a website using the templates. Or, if you prefer using the blank template, it would take you a day to create a website from scratch. So that’s primarily an option for use.

How to Use GoDaddy to Build a Photography Website

Moving on, we will go ahead and check out GoDaddy and compare our Wix to go that way and see how it looks. 

Now, as we said, GoDaddy is a fast website builder. So, let’s see how to use the visual editor of the platform to design and publish your photography website.

Explore GoDaddy Features 

You will get some pricing options when creating your website, including the domain, professional email, and other features such as SLL security, Microsoft365 and more.

If that’s not in your plan, consider developing a website for free to uncover all features, drag-and-drop elements, and pre-made templates before investing in it.

Choose Your Website Category

Now, it’s time to choose a category for your website. As you’re here to build your photography website, choose one based on the photography.

Photography doesn’t display as an option, so type your own on the search bar.

Then, you will be asked about the current status of your website (continue working on an existing website – start a new site).

Choose the second option.

Many options are available as photography services, such as wedding photography, portrait photography or drone photography and video. Choose the right description for your website.

Now, unlike Wix itself, there are not many options, so don’t expect to find thousands of templates.

Choose Your Website Name

Choose the name of your business. It can be your name.

Define Your Project Situation

Now it’ll ask three or two questions to help you select the most relevant template.

• It’s just an idea at the moment.
• It has yet to launch, but I’m working on it.
• It’s just launched recently.
• It’s been up and running for a while now.

Remember, you can pick some of the options if you want to.

Don’t overthink it; choose your current phase, and let’s resume working on your inspiring website. 

The second question: What kind of site would you like to create today?

You have two answers: Would you like to create a coming soon page, or would you like to build a full website?

GoDaddy leaves a comment recommending building temporary coming soon pages because you’re very early in the process. 

But I guess you want to make a full website. So, let’s choose the right option.

Click submit and be ready for the next.

Let GoDaddy Build Your Website 

While waiting for that to load, you can see in the background it’s creating a layout for your website. Nice modern website, pretty plain, but fast, as you can see.

Frankly, GoDaddy can create something that looks a lot more modern than the Wix ADI. But of course, you will discover that the Wix Editor is slightly better than the template you’ve been given here.

Also, it doesn’t allow you to choose your template.

Optimise Your GoDaddy Website

Here you can add sections or even go to the theme and change the font and colour if you’d like.

In the same bar, you can find the Website icon where you’ve got site navigation, reorder the pages or even add pages if you want to.

The dashboard is equipped with buttons to make it super easy and fast.

So, press the (+) inside the Website bar to create a new page.

Then, you have three options: A new page, a Link to an external website, and a Drop-down menu.

Then, type the page title. It’s all about what you want visitors to do after checking your website and how many pages you want, but undoubtedly, you need to create the main pages such as Contact Us, About Us, and so.

Before you press Create the page, make sure to activate (Show in Navigation)

Now all pages created will show it in the header.

Fill in Pages

It’s time to create content for your website. So, let’s see you have made a Contact Us page, so you need to complete a contact form.

So, select Add Section, and search for the contact form.

Choose one of the templates that are provided.

As it’s an entry-level solution, everything is adjustable. You can move any action to the area you want.

You can even edit the field name. Now with the settings on the top right, you can press Publish to send your website to the web right away or keep it not published.

Also, from Setting, you can add my social media links or Favicon to optimise your website SEO.

Plus, you can browse Site History, from where you can revert any mistakes or even reset your website to start over. That’s the main advantage of working on GoDaddy templates. But, unlike Wix, you must follow that path once you’ve chosen.

Here is the other approach to building your website:

You can browse the templates and select something for photography if you want to.

So press website templates in the horizontal bar and scroll down until you find something that resonates.

But again, the selection is not as big as Wix, but still a great selection of website templates.

Click on what you like and modify everything to your liking. 

And that’s it! GoDaddy is a very nice fast website builder. And we recommend using this, especially if you’re starting off as a business or don’t have enough time and want to get a site in and out; this would be a developer lifesaver tool for you.

How to Use Squarespace to Build a Photography Website

Now, moving on, we’ve got Squarespace.

Squarespace, again, is another excellent platform for creating websites. 

Explore Squarespace Features

After login, you will go directly to the dashboard. 

Select Create Website.

And it shows you many different templates serving all industries. Also, you can use a blank template to reorder your website from scratch.

At the top of the page, select photography from the bar. And here we go; many different templates will show up.

To be honest, Squarespace’s templates are much better than GoDaddy; maybe it’s similar to Wix in terms of design and amount of templates. But the designs on square space are a lot better.

Choose Your Template

Select the best one and start our preview, as you can explore all the templates has for you.

Now, going on to checking out a blank template, go back to the page before. 

Once you select this, you’re asked to set the website title. Then, select Start Design.

Thankfully, navigation is pretty simple as well. It even gives you a little tutorial to go through. So take your time to read the guide to have a good idea about how to design the template.

Design Your Website

Then, you will have a side menu including Pages, Design, Commerce, etc. Choose Pages.

You can build several pages there, where we can add a blank page and say About Us or Contact Us. That will show within the actual header. 

You can get through every page setting, including the name of the page, SEO, social image, and so.

Obviously, it seems a little bit confusing compared to Wix and GoDaddy. However, it is still a great free photography website builder to start your own with zero experience in web development.

And you can create beautiful websites in less than 15 minutes. The free version will give you a demo site for each platform. And it gives you a good degree of optimisation, making it a great developer tool.

Yes, that explains the different platforms that you can use. But, of course, by all means, there are other platforms out there.

So, we recommend checking out the different pricing plans available to transfer your photography talent to a real business.

This ultimately sets in stone what platform you will use regarding prices. 

How Can Profiletree help you?

Connect the dots between your business objectives, vision, and online appearance!

You will work closely with a goal-oriented team that will build each component of your website to align with the whole picture of your brand. 

It will start with setting goals that will be achieved!

Then you will get a suggested structure for how your website will look based on your brand identity and value proposition.  

Our individual web solutions come with a wide range of customised services and packages across all industries.  

Bring the idea, and we’ll team up our expertise, tools, and resources to take care of your business and implement something you’d be proud of. 

Ready to spice up your business?