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Website launch checklist for photographers
Creating your own photography website can be a fun and empowering experience. You get to control every aspect, build the site of your dreams, and strengthen your brand’s online presence. Before you hit “Publish,” take a moment to ensure everything works perfectly and looks just right. To help you, we’ve put together a website launch checklist covering everything you need for a successful launch, including tips on branding, content, SEO, and more. The checklist is organized into easy-to-follow sections to ensure your website launch goes smoothly and stress-free. Download the checklist as a free PDF or continue reading. You’ve got this!
Content and design
The look and structure of your website impact how visitors perceive your brand, so it’s important to have everything ready and polished before going live:
- Proofread all pages — though this one sounds obvious, we all make mistakes occasionally. Since you’ve invested time in building your website, it’s easy to focus on the big picture and miss small typos or errors here and there. A solution would be to ask a friend to carefully review your whole website, read through each page and let you know if anything stands out or could be improved.
- Add your contact details — even if you have a contact form available on your website, it’s a good practice to include some alternative ways for clients to contact you, such as your email or phone number. The simpler you make it for them to get in touch, the more likely they are to reach out and book a session.
- Test your contact form — submit a message through your website’s form, from your computer and phone, to test how everything works. Then ask a friend to do it too. This is also a good time to decide what happens after a client submits the form. You can show them a short thank you message, or redirect them to a page with more details about your process, business hours, etc. It’s a great way to manage their expectations and set a positive tone for the next steps. Learn more about contact forms in Pixieset Website.
- Test your website on different browsers and devices — potential clients might access your site from their computer, phone or tablet. They could be using Chrome, Safari, or Firefox as their browser. Test how your website looks and works on various types of devices and browsers, to be sure it functions as intended. Things to look out for — all texts need to be easy to read, all buttons have to be visible and easy to click on.
- Add a favicon — it’s a small detail, that can add a personal touch to the website. A favicon is the little icon you see in the browser tab whenever you visit any site on the web. If you don’t add your own favicon, a default one from your website provider will be displayed. Learn more about favicons in Pixieset Website.
- Check your logo — displaying your logo on the website helps people recognize your brand, so it’s important that it looks consistent across your entire site. Learn more about adding a logo and favicon to your Pixieset Website.
- Preview how your website appears on social media — whenever you share your site link online and on social platforms, a photo preview will be displayed. Don’t leave it to chance, upload an eye-catching image from your portfolio so it draws people in to explore more on your site. Learn how to change your social sharing image in Pixieset Website.
SEO Audit
Having worked so hard on a new website, let’s make sure that it also has the highest chances to get discovered online by those searching for a photographer in your area. Here are a few steps you can take to make your website more SEO-friendly:
- Add page titles and descriptions — Your website’s page titles and descriptions appear in search results, offering a preview of what your site is about. They can influence whether potential clients click on your website, and also impact your SEO ranking. When writing page descriptions, aim to make them short, unique, and relevant to the page’s content. For example, your homepage title could summarize your niche and location, such as “New York Kids & Family Photographer”. Your homepage description could then provide a concise overview of your services and what sets you apart: “Capturing authentic family moments in New York City with a relaxed, lifestyle approach”. If you use Pixieset Website, know that you can generate page descriptions with our AI-powered tool, to save time. Learn more about adding page titles and descriptions in Pixieset Website.
- Add descriptive alt text to all images — alt text helps search engines and tools for people with visual impairments better understand the photos on your website. When adding alt text to an image, don’t just pack it with keywords — describe what the image actually shows, i.e. a mother and daughter hugging and laughing in a park. In Pixieset, you can automate this task, and have alt text AI-generated for all your images. Learn how to add and generate Alt Text for your site images.
- Use short, descriptive URLs — the way your page URLs look matters. Make sure that they’re all clear, short and relevant to the topic of the page. For example, if your Pricing page has a URL: yourphotographybrand.com/new-design-pricing-page2, you may want to tweak it to: yourphotographybrand.com/pricing. It won’t have a huge effect on your ranking, but it does add to the professional image that you’re building for your brand.
- Check all your links — before you hit the “publish” button, take a moment to check your links. Buttons that don’t work, or that take you to the wrong page, can lead to confusion and lost clients. Make sure to do a thorough check across multiple devices. In Pixieset, we have a built-in SEO Manager that does a link audit for you and points out anything that needs fixing. Learn more.
- Generate and submit your sitemap to Google Search Console — a sitemap is literally a map of your website that makes it easier for search engines to find and understand the content and images on your site. By submitting your sitemap to Google (via Google Search Console), you expedite the process of it being crawled and indexed. This can help your website start showing up in search results faster. Learn where to get your sitemap on Pixieset.
General settings
You’re almost done! Here are a few additional steps you could take to ensure your new website’s success once you publish it.
- Connect a custom domain — a domain name is a personalized URL of your website, for example: www.yourphotographyname.com. Having a custom domain is not mandatory to launch a site. On Pixieset, for example, you can launch your site with a free address like yourname.mypixieset.com. But, using your own custom domain makes your site look more professional and helps search engines, like Google, trust it more. Learn how to connect a custom domain to your Pixieset Website.
- Connect Google Analytics to your site — just like with anything else that you post online, you’ll want to keep track of how your website is performing, who are the people visiting your site, what pages they look at, what buttons they click on. All this information will help you understand how to further improve your website. Create a Google Analytics account and connect it to your website. If you use Pixieset for your site, here’s how to set it up.
- Add a cookie banner — depending on where you live, there may be privacy and personal data regulations that you need to comply with. To do that, you can add a cookie banner to your website, to inform visitors about data collection and give them the option to opt out of cookies. Learn how to add a cookie banner to your Pixieset Website.
- Apply passwords for extra protection — if you have pages that you prefer to keep private, adding a password can be a great way to do so. This ensures that only the right people, such as your clients or those you intend to send the link to, can see it. Check how to add a password to site pages on Pixieset.
Congratulations
Your new website is live! It’s an exciting milestone that marks a new chapter for your photography brand. You’ve worked hard, and now it’s time to celebrate and soak in all the compliments. But before you do that, here are a few extra steps you can take:
- Add your website to your bio on social media — make it easy for potential clients who find your work online, to access your website and send an inquiry. If you have other important business links to share, use Pixieset to create an elegant Bio Links page that is in line with your website’s styling. Bio Links pages on Pixieset
- Share your new website with your followers — once your website is live, be sure to share about it on social media. Post a photo or record yourself talking about your new website and inviting friends and clients to check it out.
Keep your website fresh and up-to-date
And that’s it! With your website live, the next step is to keep it fresh. Regularly add new work, update your pricing or promotions, and feature testimonials as they come in. It’s also a good idea to check your site’s performance now and then and make changes if necessary. These small adjustments help keep your site engaging and ensure it continues to attract the right clients who resonate with your style, trust your work, and are excited to work with you.
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