Website Hosts/Builders

There are a vast number of website designers out there who can create a website usually at high cost. Nowadays there's also a vast number of website hosting companies who have a vast number of pre-made website templates (usually customisable to some degree) and through who you can also buy your own domain name for a relatively low subscription fee. These sites make it easy to get your own website up and running, though using a pre-made template means there's a good chance your own website may not be unique.

Several of them target photography specifically, and offer a range of additional features such as SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), a shopping cart for clients to purchase or order prints, links with social media, and integrated Google analytics. They also tend to take care of converting your website into one that is mobile phone compatible.

From my research, however, the different companies are not all on par with each other even though they may offer the same features. The SEO in particular may not be as good or flexible, and there's quite a difference between all of them in how they allow you to edit or design and customise your website.

The most highly recommended photography website builder I've seen is Squarespace, but what I noticed amongst all their pages of text about what they can do for you is that they charge fees (or a commission) on any sale you make through your website. This, I dislike. (Additionally, their e-commerce is currently only available in select countries, Australia not included.)

Squarespace is not the only one that does this, but there are a couple out there such as Wix that don't charge fees for sales. Though some, such as Weebly, only offer this in certain packages.

The majority of the companies' standard packages (that include unlimited e-commerce features) seem to cost around $20-$30 a month. Some offer this cheaper if you pay annually. They all also have a 14 day free trial period in which you can play around with their website editors and build your entire website.

Two exceptions to this rule are Weebly and Wix, which both offer completely free website hosting though they display ads on your site in exchange and you don't get the option of using your own custom domain. These restrictions are dropped in their paid packages, however, which are the cheapest around. Weebly's basic Starter package costs as low as $3.29 per month, or $6.63 per month for Professional, both of which include the e-commerce feature. The downside is that their templates are not entirely customisable and there are some limitations on certain features. In comparison, Wix is completely customisable for $8.25 per month, or $16.15 per month with e-commerce.

A photography website doesn't need to be very complicated. All it really needs to do is display a portfolio of photos and have a couple of other pages such as an About or Contact page and maybe a blog. Depending on the type of photography as well, e-commerce may or may not be necessary at all. For these reasons, I would go with Weebly (the cheapest option) to start and upgrade to the higher priced packages if I found I needed more features. To go professional, however, I would ditch Weebly and go with someone like Wix who allows for much greater customisation and doesn't charge transaction fees for sales.