How To Start A Self-Hosted Photo Blog

Whether you are an established photographer or a newcomer, it is important to have a website where you can build up your portfolio. One of the reasons why a lot of photographers shy away from creating a website is because of the high cost of putting one together. Fortunately, you don’t need to pay a developer for you to have a decent website. You can do it all by yourself and create the blog you’ve been longing for. If you are looking to start a self-hosted blog, here are a few simple steps to follow.

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Choose a hosting service

There are plenty of hosting services to choose from when starting a blog. Choose a reliable hosting service before selecting a suitable plan. Since you will be uploading a lot of photographic content, storage space should be one of the most important factors to consider. Other features to look out for include software and 24/7 support. You want to avoid stuff like your visitors running into downtime when viewing your blog content.

Register a domain name

A domain name is an address for the website hosting you purchase. When choosing one, it is important to find a name that is not only unique but also brand-oriented. Once you decide on the domain name of your choice, you can then link it to your hosting service.

Install a theme

Themes are simply the designs for blogs, so you choose one depending on how you want your blog to look. The default theme might not be the most suitable for your photography blog. Find a theme that suits your business then customize to your liking.

Select plugins

Once you are done with selecting and customizing your new theme, then you will need to look into plugins. Plugins are tools you use to enhance your website. However, you need to familiarize yourself with how to use the different plugins you choose for your website. With a photography website, you should be able to display and watermark most, if not all your images. Other tasks like creating image galleries and linking a file download manager with different eCommerce options. So, ensure to choose plugins that help you complete such tasks with ease.

Start creating content

Once you create your blog, anything you post should be anything but compelling. You want to keep your visitors coming back for more, so your content should be top-notch. Also, your website ranks higher when it has good-quality content. So ensure to add great photos in addition to using other content marketing strategies.

Bottom line

Creating your photo blog from scratch shouldn’t be hard, and you won’t need to spend a fortune on it. It is easy, and you can do it whether you are a developer or not. What’s more, you can also get a lot of insightful information on sites like Jonathon Spire and create the photo blog you want. You might start out on cheap, sometimes free features and tools but as the blog grows and audience expands, then you will need to advance to more costly ones to efficiently support your growing blog.