Every photographer should get a website – and in 2025 there's no excuse, as it's easier than you think, as I found out

In 2025, photographers everywhere are reaching a breaking point with Instagram. What was once a haven for sharing beautiful imagery has morphed into an endless scroll of reels, ads and algorithm battles. Your carefully crafted photographs get compressed, buried beneath viral content and forgotten within hours. Sound familiar?

The truth is, social media platforms were never designed to showcase photography properly. They're designed to keep people scrolling, not contemplating your artistic vision.

What's more, the constant pressure to post, engage and chase likes quickly becomes exhausting. Not to mention annoying, because it's work you're not directly getting paid for.

So what's the alternative? Quite simply, make your own website.

Why a website?

There are compelling reasons to make your own website rather than rely solely on social media. Most fundamentally, you'll enjoy complete creative control over how your work is presented. No more fighting against arbitrary format restrictions or worrying about algorithm changes that could render your carefully curated feed irrelevant overnight.

Also, social media platforms severely compress your photographs to save bandwidth, diminishing the quality of your work. On your own site, visitors can see your images as they're meant to be seen – in high resolution that showcases every detail and nuance you worked so hard to capture.

Having a dedicated website instantly elevates how potential clients perceive you. It signals that you're serious about your craft and gives you credibility that social media profiles simply can't match. When someone visits your website, they see only your work – not competitors' photos, ads or notifications pulling their attention away.

You're also protecting yourself from platform volatility. When you build your own site, you're not at the mercy of companies that might change their terms, algorithms, or even shut down entirely.

With proper contact forms and booking systems, you can create smoother pathways for potential clients to work with you. No more missed opportunities because a DM got buried in a sea of notifications. And perhaps most importantly, on your own site, you determine what's appropriate to share, free from the often restrictive content policies of social platforms.

"Great in theory," you might think, "but I don't know anything about building a website." Well, the good news is that in 2025, you don't have to.

It doesn't take long

Nowadays, there are dozens of web-building platforms dedicated to making it super-easy for non-techies to make their own website. So if you assume it will be complicated, time-consuming and expensive, you're wrong on all counts.

Don't believe me? Well, to put my money where my mouth is, I just tried out Weebly (other platforms are available) and managed to create a small, working website in just under an hour. Not a placeholder or a half-finished draft – a fully functional website with a homepage, photo gallery, an about page, contact form, and even a blog.

If you want, you can check it out at (clunky URL alert): tom-may-photo.weebly.com. Be warned: it's basic, and it's certainly not going to win any awards. But if someone wants to know who I am, what I do and how to contact me, they'll find everything they need on these pages.

I found the process of making it remarkably straightforward. I selected a portfolio theme (admittedly from a somewhat limited selection, but it did the job), uploaded my images, wrote some basic text and hit 'publish'. The drag-and-drop editor makes everything intuitive, even for someone with zero coding skills.

You can do it for free

Best of all? It was free – no strings attached. While I could upgrade to add features like a custom domain (removing the ".weebly.com" from the address) for as little as $5 per month, the free version gave me everything I needed to get started. And there's no time limit: I could let that website stand forever and still wouldn't be charged a penny.

Sounds too good to be true? Well, I guess I have to add a couple of disclaimers here. Firstly, I'm no stranger to web-building platforms, having tested a few in the past, so I may have been quicker off the mark than a total beginner. And secondly, I'd already lined up the images and text I wanted to use.

In other words, I'm not promising that anyone can build a website in under an hour: it may take you two or three on your first crack. But ultimately, that's not a lot of time to invest in what is a far better way to promote your photography and build your career than messing about on social media.

You can let your photos breathe

If I could build a basic website in under an hour using Weebly, just imagine what you could do with a bit more time. Web builders aimed specifically at photographers, such as Format and SmugMug, are also easy to use, and may offer specific tools such as the ability to password-protect galleries.

Most offer free trials or free tiers to get you started, and you can always upgrade as your needs grow. The important thing is to begin somewhere.

You don't need to abandon social media entirely; many photographers use their websites as their primary portfolio, and social platforms as marketing tools to drive traffic to it. But in a world where it feels like everyone's shouting into a void, having your own digital space is refreshingly empowering.

It's a place where your photography can breathe, where visitors can appreciate your vision without distraction and where you regain control over how your work is presented to the world.

Ultimately, your photography deserves better than being squeezed between viral dance videos and food photos. In 2025, there's no excuse not to give it the showcase it deserves: especially when that showcase could be just an hour away.

You might also like…

Take a look at the best website builders for photographers along with the best web hosting sites for photographers. And once you're in the zone, check out these six essential ways to improve your photo website.