Nowadays, the use of the internet has improved the way we live, and with it, the way we sell and purchase. Stores we used to buy in are now available on the internet, and with just one click we have already purchased that thing we badly wanted; no need to go out of the house nor wait in line in the store. But this has not only benefited people as customers but has also benefited people as entrepreneurs, business owners, and marketers.
Things like digital marketing and e-commerce are now a thing of today, and we cannot disagree; since a high percentage of the world’s population uses the internet and social media, it is vital for any businesses and stores to have a presence online in order to improve their traffic, and consequently, their sales.
You could think that an online presence can benefit specifically clothing stores or restaurants; actually, the internet has given an immense landscape of possibilities for photographers and designers to let people know their work and gain popularity. This article is destined to help those entrepreneurs who are looking for the right tools with the purpose of expanding their work to outer borders; currently, there are countless platforms that allow photographers to set their ecommerce with great designs that highlight their visual work.
1. Site123
Site123 is a very known platform destined to be used by photographers with little knowledge about website development; so, it is user-friendly and you can create a complete page within minutes. This platform is completely customizable, allowing users to upload images, change the font and use its wide variety of templates; in this way, you will be able to play with the design and make your page visually attractive. Site 123 offers a large list of high-quality templates, which provide a lot of choices to present your pictures in good shape. The templates also have a great response on other devices like mobiles or tablets; however, these cannot be changed or removed after you publicize your site.
Since Site123 was created with beginner photographers in mind, it is quite affordable with a Premium plan that costs only $5.8 per month. Although this interface differs from many others with its lack of drag and drops functionality, it does offer a wireframe layout that allows you to upload all of your content. It also is pretty great considering it offers free hosting, custom domain, and built-in SEO tools; along with many other features, this platform is formidable for beginners to settle their e-commerce and expand quickly.
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2. Weebly
As Site123, Weebly is another great e-commerce platform for beginner photographers who have a small portfolio. This website is known for having simple yet gorgeous designs, which give your page a good-looking minimalistic view. It is an interesting platform to start your business with; its features are easy to use with the drag and drop functions and do not require coding which will ease a lot more the process.
Weebly is also very popular for providing its App Centre; here you can find an immense variety of apps that will help any user to improve and customize their page in an easy and effective way; you will be able to supply your page with all the information you need to make your portfolio look clean and professional.
It is also important that Weebly also includes an Image Gallery and an Image Slider, their features allow you to add your Instagram photos to your profile. It gives the benefit of email marketing and strong built-in SEO. This site is also very cost-effective, including several plans which are quite affordable. The only con you could find in this e-commerce builder is the lack of flexibility, so, if you are not a very experienced photographer, you might find some problems customizing with coding. Still, this intuitive e-commerce platform is a great option for beginners to start gaining ground.
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3. SmugMug
This is one of the most popular e-commerce platforms for photographers nowadays; apart from helping users to sell pictures, they are able to sell audiovisual content, which makes it very versatile. On monetization aspects, Smugmug is pretty flexible too, since it offers plenty of features for their users such as sell prints, price lists for customers, photo download charges, and many others. This platform is an amazing option if you want to beware of third-party downloading; SmugMug does a great job protecting your content and provides many more interesting features since it is a platform destined mainly for photography e-commerce.
Other great benefits to highlight from this page are that users can include plenty of integrations like social media, partnership with professional printers, unlimited number of uploaded content, and great SEO optimization. Nevertheless, you can find some ongoing thing on these platforms; first of all, it can be a bit pricey if you are a beginner, and although you are able to monetize all of your content it is still a bit expensive if you are looking for a more affordable platform; its prices vary from $8 to $50 per month. Another disadvantage to mention is its lack of flexibility on customization; since it only provides 21 templates, it could limit a bit your chances of creating an original and eye-catching page. But you still can find amazing templates to cover all of your needs, along with its features that ease the process.
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4. Zenfolio
Zenfolio is another quite popular platform for photographers with ecommerce purposes, and it is considered one of the best in the market in terms of customer service and photography advantages. This website highlights thanks to its ease of use; customization is simple and offers a wide range of templates, which allow users to create original pages. In Zenfolio you will be able to find amazing marketing features as well since it offers a strong built-in SEO and the opportunity to integrate social media. The templates it offers for customization are minimalistic and pretty; however, if you want to give a bit more creativity to your design, you might feel a little bit limited in this aspect.
Another great benefit to mention is that Zenfolio offers a great blogging interface, which makes it relatively flexible and interesting for the audience you want to approach. It is also important to highlight that customer service is available 24/7 and is willing to help you through phone, email, social media, and many other ways. Zenfolio has different plans, so you can choose the one that works best for you; however, some of them are pricey and some functions might be not very affordable if you are a beginner. Despite this, it is a splendid platform for monetizing your work where you can find many possibilities to improve your photography e-commerce.
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5. Wix
Wix is also considered one of the best platforms in this field, since its popularity has increased immensely, and that is for a reason. This platform is known for allowing photographers with large portfolios, create good-looking and professional selling sites. Wix contains a vast range of interesting templates, which makes customization incredibly easy. Besides, image uploading is rapid and easy; it offers a built-in gallery that allows photographers to upload a bunch of images at once. This e-commerce builder also provides an image editor, an amazing feature for photographers that not all e-commerce platforms for photographers offer, this is a big plus.
Wix also takes security very seriously; it covers your content from third-party downloading. Some other features this platform has include marketing tools, social media integration; which is an amazing tool to show more of your work on other platforms like Instagram or Pinterest. It provides as well a whole set of SEO tools. Wix is not very popular for being affordable; the basic plans charge around $4.50 to $8.50 per month, and the more professional ones charge around $12.50 to $24.50 per month. Although it might seem expensive at some point, Wix is definitely worth it, since it gives you a professional background to rely on, without mentioning all of the amazing features and functions it provides in order to help photographers to monetize their work.
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6. Squarespace
Just as Wix or Zenfolio, Squarespace is another great platform for photographers to build their e-commerce platform in an easy and reliable way. We surely could not stop mentioning Squarespace, since its features and functions make it an indispensable option to take into account. Squarespace is a professional and beginner-friendly e-commerce platform; by choosing Squarespace, you will be entering into a big landscape of astonishing templates that will incentivize your creativity instantly and consequently ease your page’s customization. It is a drag and drop platform, and also includes a gallery feature that allows users to upload images in one set, so you can increase the length of your portfolio.
Squarespace also helps photographers with its built-in SEO options, so, you can add metadata and include it in your pictures, and customize your blogging; this helps you to increase your chances to rank in relevance in search engine results. In addition, the marketing features this platform brings are amazing to customize email marketing and offer a better number of discounts. It is also important to remark a disadvantage Squarespace has; it offers limited 3-party services. Plus, it might be a bit expensive, especially if you are a beginner; its plans range between $12 per month for the Basic plan and $40 for the Advanced Commerce plan. But if you are going for a highly professional ecommerce platform with unlimited benefits, this is the one for you.
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7. GoDaddy
GoDaddy is a spectacular freelance platform, destined to help beginner photographers deep dive into the e-commerce world. It is pretty popular among photographers because it is intuitive and has developed an Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) so it is a breeze for newbies to use and develop great e-commerce pages. Its responsive designs are great for mobiles and tablets; users are able to find tons of templates and themes as well.
One great advantage you can find on this site is a wide variety of SEO tools and guidance to help you improve your ranking in search engines. It is important to mention how versatile GoDaddy is; its blogging features help you to add content in many presentations, such as articles, videos, audios, and other materials, something very useful to customize your page and give it a unique look. Like many other pages, GoDaddy offers drag and drop functions, embedded videos uploading, SSL security, and many more options. It can be a bit pricey and also lack password security. Still, this one is a pretty great option for beginners and allows them to improve their e-commerce skills.
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8. Duda
Last but not least, we have Duda; an amazing e-commerce platform for more experienced photographers. Duda is known for its beautiful pre-installed templates and its flexibility in web design. This platform was actually created specifically to improve web designers’ work in order to help them build unique web pages. With a solid number of over 90 templates, you are also able to find a great variety of widgets and other options to customize your portfolio. Besides, Duda helps you to ease tons of work when it comes to design; its ease of use allows you to have more fields to play in, so it will keep you from spending hours creating your page. This platform is also very responsive on other devices and includes a photo editor for mobiles.
When it comes to marketing features, Duda offers good SEO optimization; however, its features are not strong enough to help you out on ranking highly. Duda is a bit pricey, so you might think twice if you consider using this platform when it comes to money.
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All of the platforms we have just listed here are the best choices nowadays; so, if you are a photographer and are looking to sell your art, we assure you that you will find spectacular options in this list. Each e-commerce platform has its pros and cons and it is necessary to keep both in mind. Do not stay behind, keep in mind that plenty of photographers are already using one of these tools to sell their work.