How to build a free website for photographers: options, limits and tips

📸 What a photographer needs from a site

A portfolio that loads quickly, a gallery that looks good on a phone, a short bio and a clear way to be contacted. A visitor should see your style in a few seconds and know how to book a shoot.

🆓 Free options

• Free website builders with a subdomain, but with limits and the platform's branding.
• Free static hosting (for example GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages or Netlify) for those who know the basics of code.
• Social networks as a temporary portfolio, without real control over the content.

⚖️ Limits of free

1. A subdomain instead of your own address (name.platform.com), which looks less serious.
2. Ads or platform branding on the site.
3. Weaker control over SEO and a limited number of pages.
4. Limited space for photos.
5. Dependence on the platform: if it ends or changes the plan, you lose the address.

For a more serious presence we recommend having your own domain, which costs little, and building the site on hosting or a static solution that belongs to you. See .rs or .com domain.

🖼️ How to keep photos from slowing the site

• Export photos as WebP or AVIF, up to about 1600 px wide.
• Use lazy loading and set width and height.
• Add alt text describing the photo.
• Give files meaningful names (wedding-belgrade-park.webp).

Everything is detailed in the article image optimisation for the web.

🎯 What must not be missing

Contact via Viber or WhatsApp, prices or indicative packages, a few of your best series instead of a hundred images and a short text about your style. For local clients add the city to titles and set up a Google Business Profile.

🚀 When to move to your own site

When you look for clients through Google, when you need prices and bookings, or when your address and look become an obstacle. We build photographer sites with a fast gallery and SEO as part of web design and website development.