This post is sponsored by Squarespace. A better web starts with your website.
For both amateur and professional photographers, an online portfolio isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. It's the place where the world will see your very best collection of photographs. It's where your fans decide on if they want to follow you and where brands and potential clients will rate the quality of your work to determine whether they will hire you.
This is why finding the right website platform to showcase your photography is so important. When Squarespace approached us to create a photography portfolio, I was really excited because I've been wanting to create one for quite awhile. Among all the different platforms I've tried out, Squarespace rated the highest in terms of ease of use, design, and quality.
Building a website on Squarespace is really simple, so much so that you'll have a professional looking website in days, if not hours. All you need to do is pick a template, fill in the appropriate details, and drag and drop all the images exactly where you want them to appear on your site.
Squarespace's collection of professional-looking templates is what sets them apart from the rest. There's currently 25 to choose from, each with their own unique design. I went with the Ishimoto template, which features a horizontal gallery slider. It makes scrolling through the images a breeze.
One neat feature that I haven't had a chance to set up yet is the commerce function. Once you start receiving traffic, visitors may want to purchase the images displayed on your site. Squarespace provides the tools for you to sell your prints, manage inventory, calculate shipping costs and taxes, and they will even create coupons for you.
Let's take a deeper look into the creation process of my new photography portfolio.
Choose Your Template
Begin by choosing one of Squarespace's stunning templates. Some place more emphasis on larger images, while others have a more spread-out layout. Want to make a change? No worries. If you decide you want another look, Squarespace will allow you to pick another template at any time.
Select Your Style
Squarespace's Style Editor makes designing a website an incredibly simple process. Instead of learning, breaking, and fixing code, the intuitive controls allow you to select fonts, colors, padding, and more. With these types of options, you'll have your site up in no time.
Organize How Viewers Navigate
A lot of magic happens within the Navigation Section. Create your pages, upload photos, and then drag and drop your images in whichever order you desire.
Pick Your Settings
In the Settings Menu, all you need to do is enter the information that Squarespace asks for.
Analyze Your Traffic
Want to see how much traffic your site is getting? Squarespace provides a Traffic Overview section that displays how many visitors and page views you've received. (This screenshot was taken from Squarespace's website, although I hope to get this kind of traffic on my portfolio one day!)
Conclusion
Overall, I believe Squarespace offers a tremendous service and value for photographers who are looking to create a professional-looking portfolio. Prices start at $8 per month for a personal plan, $16 for a professional plan, and $24 for a business one. And just for My Modern Met readers, Squarespace is offering 10% off of your first purchase. Just use the code: MyModernMet!
We look forward to seeing your portfolio, and, hopefully we'll be featuring your work on My Modern Met one day!
