Developing an Online Photography Portfolio (Part 1)

In this live show, Karl sat down to review a selection of members’ photography websites, offering his feedback and advice for improvement. Drawing on various examples, Karl explained the do’s and don’ts of creating an online photography portfolio, including layout, what images to include, menus and navigation as well as what information to include about yourself.

With your website often being the first point of call for a prospective client, it’s important that your site creates a good first impression. Throughout this show, you’ll learn a number of handy tips that will help improve the overall professionalism of any site.

Topics covered in this show include:

  • Developing your own online photography portfolio
  • Creating a clear first impression with your work
  • Making sure your site is easy to navigate
  • What information to include on your site
  • Displaying personal projects on a professional portfolio

You can watch the second part of this critique, where Karl goes into more detail as he reviews additional websites, here.

If you have any questions about this live show, please use the comment section below.

Comments

  1. i see that often more People don´t have a logo. On the Website is only the name with , for example, a sans serif humanistic font and without anything. For a branding style is it better to have the same style for business card (where i think it could be a logo in most cases) and also on the site?

    1. Hi, I guess it is up to the individual but I find the simpler the more stylish for photographers. Big bold logos and brands are in my opinion better suited to company brands and not individual photographers.

  2. Hi Karl, I would have a question. Do you think it is better to go online with a website only when a certain amount of photos is available to publish or better to start anyway even with fewer pics and then growing the quantity over time?
    thanks in advance.
    maurizio caravaggi

    1. Hi Maurizio, I think you at least need to have one page with 20 plus images to be considered believable. If you have 20 images or more that meet the standard you want to portray then get them online and build from there. Having the website will also encourage you to get on with making more good content for it.

  3. Hi Karl,

    Very good reviews. I have a question. I notice that many sites including your own have virtually no text, only images. I can understand that photography is all about imagery but I was wondering how this impacts on SEO optimisation. I understand that Google uses text and key phrases on each page to index a site for ranking and searchability. So a site with very little text would not do so well with Google, or so I have been advised. Did you consider this when putting your own site together / do you have any advice in this respect?

    Many thanks
    Andrew

    1. Hi Andrew, I don’t pay a huge attention to SEO as I’ve got existing regular clients. I’m also listed on other sites such as the AOP which potential clients can see etc. But you are right it can be worth setting your key words for SEO but I’m not an SEO expert I’m afraid.

        1. Andrew in your images add a description in the alt text, explaining what the photo is about and then I always add some key words in at the end. I think google only i Dede’s the first 160 words or so on any page.

  4. Thanks for this broadcast Team Karl. As expected, the comments were constructive and not criticisms. The websites chosen were obviously carefully chosen to give comparisons and something to use as a blueprint for my own site. Excellent!

  5. Hi Karl,

    Thanks for the helpful review. I have some questions and notes about it. What email account is the best to reach out?

    Thanks, Vagelis

  6. Hi Karl

    Unfortunately I couldn’t go live and I didn’t know how to send the link to my website…

    I’m sending it here, if you have 2 minutes you can take a look at it and write me 2 lines?

    http://www.aquilinopaparo.com

    Thanks in advance

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