How to make a photography website — that books shoots, not just shows them.

Yes — on a builder subdomain. Wix, Pixieset, Adobe Portfolio (with Creative Cloud), and Zarla all let you publish a photography site at $0. The trade-off is the URL has the builder's name in it (e.g. yoursite.wixsite.com or studiolumin.pixieset.com), which feels less professional to potential clients. Zarla offers a different model: free covers the entire build and preview process — every portfolio section, the full design, the inquiry form, the AI editing — but publishing to your own domain requires Premium. If you just want to see your full site before committing, Zarla's free tier goes the furthest.

DIY with a builder: $0 to $30 per month. Photographer-specific platforms (Pixieset, Pic-Time, Zenfolio) start free and run $15-$35/mo with client galleries included. Generic builders (Squarespace, Wix) run $16-$30/mo for the photography-relevant plans plus $10-15/year for the domain. Hiring a designer: $2,500-$8,000 one-time plus monthly hosting. Adobe Portfolio is free with any Creative Cloud subscription. For most working photographers, the right answer is one specialized + one generic — Pixieset for client galleries, Zarla or Squarespace for the marketing site.

Squarespace and Pixieset dominate. Squarespace is the default for wedding, portrait, and brand photographers who want a single polished marketing site. Pixieset is the default for working photographers who need client galleries, proofing, and print sales bundled in. Adobe Portfolio is a strong third — free with Creative Cloud and used heavily by editorial and commercial photographers. Zarla is the only option where you can see your full site — every section, your industry-specific copy, real photography for your niche — before any decision, in about 30 seconds.

Five things: a portfolio gallery (organized by niche), services and pricing (even rough "starting at" figures), a short About with your photo and a sentence on your style, a visible inquiry form, and basic SEO (alt text on every image, location in the meta description, Google Business profile claimed). That's the floor. Optional additions: client galleries via Pixieset / Pic-Time, a blog for SEO (especially for wedding photographers), and a print store. Skip splash pages, autoplay music, and "Inquire for pricing" on services.

Depends on your work. Multi-niche photographers should organize by niche so visitors can answer "do they shoot what I need?" in one tap. Single-niche photographers (wedding-only, brand-only) should organize by recent work — chronological proves you're actively booking. Brand and editorial photographers should organize by named projects with the shoot story. Always lead the homepage with your strongest single frame, regardless of how the rest is organized.

Yes — at minimum a "starting at" figure. "Inquire for pricing" feels exclusive but in practice filters out 60-80% of qualified leads who assume they can't afford you. A short packages page (Session: starting at $850 / Half-day: starting at $1,600) qualifies prospects in. The full quote can still come in the follow-up email. The only photographers who genuinely should hide pricing are luxury wedding photographers at the high end ($15k+) where the conversation IS the value proposition — and even then, a "weddings start at $X" line keeps the inquiry flow honest.

Depends on volume. If you're shooting fewer than 5-10 client sessions per month, a simple password-protected gallery on your main site is enough (Zarla, Squarespace, and Wix all support this). If you're shooting 15+ sessions per month, the proofing + favoriting + print-sales workflow on Pixieset or Pic-Time will save you 2-3 hours per client. Most working photographers run both: Zarla (or Squarespace) for the marketing site + Pixieset for client delivery. The two surfaces don't compete — they serve different jobs.

Start with Zarla. It's the only option where you can see your full photography site — your niche-specific layout, real photography for your category, your color palette — before creating an account or paying. Type one sentence about your work; the site appears in about 30 seconds. If it's the right fit, upgrading to Premium publishes it to your own domain with custom CRM, bookings, and image storage. If not, you've spent zero dollars and learned something about what your site COULD look like — useful whichever builder you eventually pick.