Make Photography Website in 10 Easy Steps

Wordpress is a free publishing platform known for building self-hosted blogs, but is capable of so much more than that. You can literally use it to create any type of website you like, making it the perfect tool to get you started on making your photography website. Wordpress can be easily integrated with all of the hosting services mentioned above. In fact, they all offer 1-click installation directly from their control panel which makes it possible to complete the installation in a matter of minutes. If you choose not to use any of the recommended web host providers, simply go to http://wordpress.org to download the latest version of the software then follow the directions to install it on your own hosted domain. Wordpress is known for its user-friendly dashboard. Once you become familiarized with it, you will be able to add or change anything on your website by simply logging into your website's Wordpress dashboard. Add, delete, edit and upload all from this one location then save it and your changes will automatically be reflected on your site's front end.

A Wordpress theme is the basic layout or presentation of your website. Luckily with Wordpress, there is no need for you to have any knowledge of html, css or anything technical, although learning some very basic codes may be helpful if you want more customization. That will be discussed in more detail later on, but first we have to pick a theme. After you install Wordpress, your website will automatically display the default theme which is nowhere near the type of professional looking website you want. It's a good thing that there are literally thousands of themes at your disposal, in fact you don't even have to stick with one theme, change it as many times as you want. All you are required to do is download the theme, upload it to your site via the Wordpress dashboard and activate it. There are a number of themes that are specifically used to display photographs, some are free and others will cost you, but not a whole lot. Take a look at some free and paid options below and choose the one that you prefer for the layout of your site.


OPTION 1: FREE WORDPRESS THEMES

This photography theme features one single full size photograph on the main page and links below it for you to choose to view more or go back. The website name or logo is located at the top left and navigation links at the top right.

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This photography theme features a collection of your best work as a slideshow on the left and your newest photos on the right. Create different pages for each one of your photo galleries, they will be listed on the bottom along with a description of yourself and your services. Hovering over the thumbnail images will enlarge them.

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This photography theme features the most recent photos in the sidebar on the right which will display in its full size to the left when clicked on. There is an area below to write a description of your photograph and have other people comment on it. Website name and navigation menu are all on top.

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This photography theme features a slideshow view of full size images on the top of the website and a group of the latest photos below that to the right. On the left side is where you would enter a short description of yourself or your services, your contact information and a search box. Your website name or logo appears at the very top.

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OPTION 2: PAID WORDPRESS THEMES

This photography theme features all of your galleries on the front page in the form of photo categories. All of your images are automatically generated to fit the different sizes required with this theme. The website name or logo is right at the top with a simple navigation menu below it which features a search box. Check out the live demo and take this theme for a test spin.

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This photography theme features your photos as a slideshow on the front page, automatically displaying a new large sized photo every second or so. The name of the website appears on the top left and a simple black navigation bar is located on the top right. Create a number of different galleries for all the categories that your photos come in. Check out the live demo and take this theme for a test spin.

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This photography theme features a group of photographs set over a completely black background displayed on the bottom with larger versions running as a slideshow above them. The website name is located at the top with the navigation menu centered below that. Create different galleries which will display photos in a number of rows. Check out the live demo and take this theme for a test spin.

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This photography theme features your favorite photos and the most popular photos on the right hand side. Large featured images are shown on the left side with the first one displayed as a slideshow of all the images. Check out the live demo and take this theme for a test spin.

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OPTION 3: HIRE A PROFESSIONAL TO CUSTOM DESIGN A WORDPRESS THEME



Wordpress themes can be custom made for you from scratch if you wish to have a completely unique website. Simply go to http://www.rentacoder.com to search for a programmer to create the perfect theme to showcase your photographs. This marketplace is full of competent coders with specialized skills. Just post your project, specify in detail what you are looking to achieve, and don't forget to mention that you are looking for someone to make a Wordpress theme for you. Doing so will cost you absolutely nothing. Set a reasonable price that you are willing to pay for the project. After that, simply wait for people to start bidding on your project. Go through each potential applicant's credentials thoroughly, check out their user rating on the site, their resume and make sure they show you examples of their past work.




Another great resource for outsourcing your web projects is http://www.elance.com. This website is chock full of well established professionals with a lot of work experience. You can find the perfect person to do any project you may have.

Now that you have chosen the perfect theme to use for your photography website and downloaded it onto your computer, the next step is to activate it on your website.

1. Log in to your Wordpress dashboard by typing in http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin and replace yourdomain with the actual domain name you selected for your website.




2. You will be required to enter your username and password which you should have set up during your Wordpress installation.




3. You will be taken to your dashboard. Next, look for the 'Add New Themes' tab under 'Appearance' on the left sidebar and click on it




4. On top of the new themes page, click on the 'Upload' link and a new area appears allowing you to browse for the zip file of the theme stored on your computer, then click on the 'Install Now' button.




5. After the installation is complete, go back to the 'Appearance' section of the left sidebar and click on the 'Themes' tab.




6. Once in the 'Manage Themes' page, scroll down until you see the new theme you installed and click on the 'Activate' link. Once that is completed, click on the 'Visit Site' link at the very top of the dashboard right next to your website name to check out your brand new website.

Most Wordpress themes will designate an area at the top to display the name of your blog or site. The whole top area is known as the header and it is either left blank, contains a navigation menu or filled with an image that is used to represent your website. You are able to change the name that is displayed on your site or the image used in the header. Here are the instructions for both:


Change Website Name

In the dashboard, scroll down and look for the 'Settings' tab on the left sidebar then select 'General'. Once the 'General Settings' page appears, look no further than the top to see 'Blog Title'. There may already be a name typed in from the settings you created during the Wordpress installation process. If you want to change it, simply type in a new name, scroll down and click on the 'Save Changes' button.




Change Header Image

If your Wordpress theme has a header image on top, you are able to customized it with your own image, perhaps a photograph that is the best representation of your work. Here are the required steps:

1. In the dashboard, click on the 'Editor' tab under 'Appearance' on the left sidebar.


2. The 'Stylesheet' of your theme should be the first thing that appears on the page, it contains all the css codes for this particular theme and is where you will find the information for your header image. Simply scroll down until you find the header section, usually written as '#header'. Keep in mind that all themes are created differently and the code for your theme might vary from the example below.


3. Look at the dimension of the header image used, both width and height. Make sure that the image you want to replace it with has the exact same dimensions. This can be done by editing it on programs such as Photoshop. The original header image is usually named something generic like header.jpg, save your new image with either the same name or a different one and upload it onto your website via ftp. For more information on how to accomplish this, check out this ftp clients tutorial.
   
   
4. Once the new image is stored in your website, remember the exact folder you placed it in. If you simply used the same name as the original image and saved it in the same location, it should automatically be replaced. If you saved the new image under a new name, go back to the 'Stylesheet' and change the location and name of the header image under '#header'. Then save the changes.

The footer is the very bottom area of your website. This area is usually where you will find a copyright notice, the name of the website, contact information and more details regarding your terms and policies. The footer is already set up in the theme that you chose, but if you want to make any changes to it, here are the directions.

1. In the dashboard, click on the 'Editor' tab under 'Appearance' on the left sidebar.
   
   


2. When you reach the page with the Stylesheet displayed, click on 'Footer' that is located on the right sidebar under the heading 'Theme Files'.
   
   



3. All of the items displayed on the bottom of your website can be found between the div id="footer" and /div tags. This is where you go to make any changes. If you are a complete novice and have absolutely no knowledge about codes, it is best to leave it as is. There are however a lot of information out there explaining this whole process on http://wordpress.org. Just look it up under 'Docs' or 'Forums' to find what you are looking for.

The Bio or About page should be one of the most important features of your photography website. This is the one page that helps you connect with your potential clients. If they don't hear about you from word of mouth, but rather by stumbling upon your website, it is one page they are sure to land on. Your photographs will be the first thing they see and if they are interested, they will surely want to learn more about the photographer who took the photos. It is important to show a little bit of personality on here as it is a reflection of you. Make sure you include the following:

- Availability
- Types of Service
- What You Have to Offer

You will have to create a new page for your Bio or About information. In order to do this, you have to follow the directions below.

1. In the dashboard area, click on the 'Add New' tab under "Pages' along the left sidebar.
   
   



2. Write 'About' or 'Bio' in the text box beneath the page heading, or anything else short and to the point as it will appear as a tab or link on the navigation menu on your website. The bigger text area is where you will write the full content of your bio page. As you can see, there are a series of buttons above it that lets you add images, videos, edit the font and much more. The two tabs to the top right of this box area allows you to switch from visual and html views.
   
   



3. Once you are done adding all the content, you may preview your new page by clicking on the 'Preview' tab to the top right of the page and if everything appears as it should, click on the 'Publish' tab to create your new page permanently. This new page will immediately be available on your website.
   
   

It is important for potential clients to be able to contact you therefore you will need a detailed contact page for this purpose. First you should list all the different ways you can be reached, whether it's via email, telephone, address or skype. Next you will need an actual contact form that people can use for inquiries. Make sure you ask them for their name, email and provide a text box for them to write out their message. Those are the basic features you should include, but you can add anything else you want to it. Contact forms can easily be created with specialized Wordpress plugins.

A plugin is something that is created by an individual programmer to work seamlessly with your Wordpress website. There are plugins for almost anything you can imagine, from SEO to social networking to photo galleries to email newsletters. There are thousands of plugins for you to choose from at no cost. Go to http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins to search through and find the plugins that you need. Since a contact form is an essential feature of a photography website, we are only going to focus on contact form plugins. Two of the most popular and widely used contact form plugins are Contact Form 7 and CForms II. They both include extensive features and can be used by novices and advanced users alike.

Contact Form 7
This plugin has all the basic features of a good contact form and then some. It is easy to use which makes it one of the most popular contact forms out there and can even be styled by more advanced users.

CForms II
Don't be confused by all the food references on this page, if you scroll down you will see the information for the contact form plugin. This plugin is chock full of features and allows the user to do a lot of customization.

Go over the details of each contact form plugin and choose one that you feel is right for your website. Download the plugin and save it on your computer. Then follow these simple steps to activate it on your website.

1. Look for the 'Plugins' section on the left sidebar in the dashboard and click on the 'Add New' button.
   
   



2. When the new page appears, click on the 'Upload' link, browse for the plugin file that you just downloaded and then click 'Install Now'.
   
   



3. The plugin should be uploaded in a matter of seconds. As soon as it is, the following screen should appear, simply click on the 'Activate Plugin' link to complete the process.
   
   



4. Go over the instructions on the plugin homepage to learn how to use the plugin properly and customize it to your liking,

Even though Wordpress is known to be a blogging platform, you will be using it primarily for building a static website to showcase your photographs. However it is important for you to use the blogging feature, because search engines like Google, Yahoo and BIng love blogs. New content is always created with a blog and the search engines will crawl the blog in order to index the new content. This can prove to be a great source of traffic for your website. As a photographer, there are so many ways you can benefit from having a blog. Use it as a way to keep your fans or potential clients informed of what you have been working on. Update it regularly and include things such as latest news involving you and your work, recent appearances and events you attended, latest achievements and last but not least your newest photographs.

Writing posts for your blog is really easy, it is very similar to creating a new page which was just taught to you. Follow the simple steps below:

1. In the dashboard, look for the 'Posts' section toward the top of the left sidebar and click on the 'Add New' tab.
   
   



2. Once on the 'Add New Post' page, enter a title right beneath the heading and start writing the content for your new post in the large text box under that. Use the buttons above the text box to format your content and add images, videos and other special features to it.
   
   



3. When you are done writing your blog post, click on the 'Preview' button on the right side of the page to see how it will look like on your actual blog. Go back and make any necessary changes and then click on the 'Publish' button to complete your post.
   
   

Testimonials

Another great way to market your work is to include testimonials from previous clients. This can be easily achieved, if your clients are satisfied with your work, they will be happy to give a testimonial. You should create a separate page for this of course. Don't stick this into your galleries, your photos should speak for themselves. Add one or two photos of each client who is writing a testimonial for you. This is much like how an employer would ask for references before deciding to hire an employee. In this case, you are offering your services and the client should be able to see your references before they decide to hire you.

E-Commerce Website

If the purpose of your photography website is not to market your services as a photographer but rather to sell your actual photographs, you can still use Wordpress to create that kind of a site. Many photographers sell their photos as stock images on large scale stock photography websites, earning commissions on downloads of their work. You can recreate that on your own website and reap all of the profits. You will need to have an additional e-commerce component to your website which can easily be achieved with e-commerce plugins.Two of the most popular and widely used Wordpress e-commerce plugins are Shopp Plugin and WP e-Commerce Plugin. Check both of them out if you are looking to sell your work directly from your own website. Go over the step about contact forms above to figure out how to install these plugins.



One major concern with displaying the photographs you intend to sell on your website is that people can easily copy and paste it. You want to make sure that they are unable to copy your photographs in their original state. What you need to do is add a watermark to all of the photos that are shown on your website. This is an added layer usually displaying your website name or url. This way, if someone copies the image, they will not be able to get rid of the annoying marker that clearly states who the photograph belongs to. Watermarks can be added to photographs in a number of ways. You can either add them individually on software programs such as Photoshop or use software or online tools that handle watermark batch processing. When someone decides to purchase your photograph, simply offer the photograph in its original state for download when you get paid.

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