Nature Photography Photo Workshop

9.7. CREATING PHOTOGRAPHY WEB SITES

These days it seems everyone has a Web site, and for photographers — especially nature photographers — having an online presence is absolutely the most effective way to share your work with others. Today's Internet is vastly more powerful than even a few years ago, and sharing photography is one of the main interests across the Web. Fortunately, building and maintaining an effective Web presence has become much easier than before.

9.7.1. GETTING STARTED

Just a few years ago it was difficult and potentially very costly to have your own Web site. In recent years, online service providers have made the process of developing and maintaining your Web site much easier and cheaper — and in many cases, free!

When you develop your Web site from scratch, you have a straightforward choice: do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you. I recommend that you carefully consider both options.

In the easiest scenario, all you need to do is create an account with a service provider and upload your images. These types of Web sites use a database system (often called the "back end") to manage the site content. The pages that viewers see (the "front end") are generated by templates and style sheets that make designing and updating a Web site much easier than ever before. All the customization is done through a control panel interface — you can build and maintain these kinds of Web sites using only your Web browser — and no programming is required of you.