# Build a Photography Portfolio



## mediamike (Jun 20, 2017)

Hi all!

I have to admit that I'm new to this group but have been an avid fstopper for years. I've decide to leave my job to pursue a different passion (helping photographers get off the ground!).

I was wondering if you had any feedback on a recent video tutorial that I put together that teaches you how to build a photography portfolio website using WordPress.  I plan to keep this as a free course for as long as possible.

I'm hoping with your feedback on my video, it will help me understand what a beginner photographer needs and whether I should go back to the drawing table.  So, I apologize in advance if this is the wrong place to post this.  

I genuinely want to be helpful.

Thanks so much in advance and I look forward to more amazing discussions here!






*0 Comments*


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## tecboy (Jun 20, 2017)

How much is WordPress costs?


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## mediamike (Jun 21, 2017)

Great question - Most people thing there is a cost to use WordPress itself, but it's actually free! The tricky part is just downloading and installing it, which is what my video teaches.


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## tecboy (Jun 21, 2017)

Okay, thanks.  It's interesting I ask it, because I own a domain website, and the company offers WordPress and will charge me $99-$399.  I think those are professional services training session and a lot of theme templates.


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## mediamike (Jun 21, 2017)

My pleasure.  Yea tons of people charge for that service but it's so easy!  The tutorial that I just created also includes a theme; it's actually $60 and I encourage folks to buy it, but it's actually really amazing.  Give it a look see if you have a second


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## limr (Jun 21, 2017)

tecboy said:


> How much is WordPress costs?



Wordpress itself is a free online service. The things that cost money are: 
--custom themes (there are many free themes that have varying possibilities for customization - the custom ones have more options or plug-ins);
--mapping to a domain name if you don't want 'wordpress' in your url (xxx.wordpress.com vs xxx.com);
--web hosting if you do map to a different domain name.

The web hosting company will often charge money to help you create a website, and many do this using Wordpress software, but you don't have to go through them. You can easily build the site yourself through the Wordpress site and either keep it all free by using the standard Wordpress url, or pay a few bucks to a web hosting service and map a personal domain name to the Wordpress site.


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## mediamike (Jun 21, 2017)

@limr  Thanks for the clarification!  It sounds like you have some experience here


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## Light Guru (Jun 21, 2017)

I'll stick to squarespace it is by far the easiest website service I have tried.  


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## mediamike (Jun 21, 2017)

Hey @Light Guru - thanks for the input. I'm actually familiar with squarespace too, but the costs are higher than if we were to build it up from WordPress.

I'll look into putting together a squarespace tutorial in the future!

Thanks


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## Light Guru (Jun 22, 2017)

mediamike said:


> thanks for the input. I'm actually familiar with squarespace too, but the costs are higher than if we were to build it up from WordPress.



The cost is well worth it because it is so much easier.


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## Olivia Green (Apr 20, 2018)

Great tutorial Mike. 
But don't you think Wordpress is a too much task for photographers? Every new feature that you need requires an appropriate plugin and even a slight change in design needs you to get into coding. A photographer should be spending more time taking pictures rather than designing website.
Portfolio builders like Pixpa or Squarespace are way better in our case. Every feature that a photographer needs is already present without the need to code. Plus the themes are photography oriented and do not need any external plugins.


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