Why should I use Pixieset to set up my Photography Portfolio?
There are many web page-building options for your Photography Portfolio. Which one is best for you to use? My Bachelor’s Degree is in Web and Print – Graphic Design and I’ve been a Photographer for 14 years. With that being said, my absolute first choice for building a website for a non-pro designer is WordPress with a custom domain and web hosting. WordPress requires more of a learning curve and it’ll take a little more time and money. If you’d like to skip the beginner stages and jump into WordPress see my blog post tutorial here (coming soon). If you aren’t ready for that, let’s deep dive into Pixieset for your Photography Portfolio!
If you are just beginning in Photography you may be in a rush to get your site up and running or you may not even be sold on if you want to turn your photography hobby into a full-blown business. With that in mind, I’m recommending PIXIESET as your answer and I’m going to show you step-by-step why and how!
If you want to skip over to my blog post on a step-by-step guide to building a website in Pixieset click the button below! If you are not familiar with Pixieset, I do recommend reading through this blog post first.
A look inside Pixieset: Building a Photography Portfolio & Website
First, go to the Pixieset Website here. This link will open up in a new browser – if it isn’t popping up look in the web browser address bar to the right to disable pop-up blocker.
You will make a free account and once you get in it will look like this without the activity as you’ll have a new account mine has been functioning for years so I have recent activity popping up on mine. In time yours will look similar!
You’ll see there are 5 main menus
- Client Gallery
- Website
- Store
- Studio Manager
- Mobile Gallery App
Client Gallery
The Client Gallery is where you will have the ability to share your images with your clients. You can do this to provide galleries for clients to order from as well as deliver finished orders/galleries for them to download. The best thing about Pixieset is you are going to be able to do so many things all in one platform!
Clients can quickly and easily download their photos directly from your Client Gallery. You can relax knowing that you have full control over the downloadable sizes and can always review who has completed a digital download and when.
Using the Client Galleries for photo proofing is a great feature. This feature allows your clients to easily create Favorite lists for proofing and you have access to see what they have added to their favorite collection, there is also a place for them to leave notes about each image in their favorites list if they choose to leave you a note.
Here is what the client sees:
Here is what you will see on your end:
Website
Pixieset Website is a space to create your Photography Portfolio. you can use it to build your website, appeal to potential clients, and show off your work. You can start with a prebuilt template – the design interface is very intuitive to beginners.
Now I haven’t set up my Portfolio website so the screenshot below is the template I will start with.
First, you will pick a template. Next, you start customizing the template and add your pages and content, etc. If you pay for a subscription you will be able to add your own domain name which will give it an extra professional touch.
Although, as I said before, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) isn’t ideal for this type of website – they do have some SEO options so that you can at least make it the best you possibly can! Below is what the SEO optimization page looks like. This is what will help you to be seen on Google.
Store
The Pixieset store allows you to sell professional prints, digital downloads, and any other custom products. You can set up an automatic fulfillment or you can have full control and fulfill your orders how you see fit. It’s simple to get started selling to your clients and the store is seamlessly integrated into your client galleries.
You can set up the store for free. On the free account, each sale is subject to 15% commission fee, this is why I recommend paying for the basic $10/mo subscription. With the basic subscription, there is no commission fee.
With the store, you can offer any products you want and you can also set your own prices. Pixieset allows you a lot of control over design and all options to make it customized to your business.
Studio Manager
The studio manager is something I have not taken advantage of, as I have Dubsado. I do like the automation of Dubsado but it is $400/year so if you do not want to spend that at this time, then Pixieset’s built-in Studio Manager is amazing!
With Studio Manager you have a place for your contacts, booking and scheduling, contracts, questionnaires, and invoices and payments!
Mobile Gallery App
The Mobile Gallery App feature allow you to create a customized photo app that clients can add to their mobile device for easy viewing of their photos. The free plan is limited to 3 Mobile gallery apps, but the paid subscription is unlimited. Each gallery can contain 200 photos. This is something that could easily be added as a free incentive for clients.
Conclusion
I hope this blog post inspires you to build a Website with Pixieset. Pixieset is a multidimensional tool for photographers including galleries, an online store, client communication, and a type of client storage and management system.
As I said earlier I encourage you to build a website on WordPress but if the funds and time are tight Pixieset is quite amazing. I will be building an extensive tutorial on how to use WordPress and will come back and link to it once it is finished.
In the meantime, here is a blog post I wrote with step-by-step instructions on creating a Pixieset account and website.
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