Jessica Pettway‘s Squarespace website

When it comes to websites, it’s safe to say that photographers are held to a higher standard. While other businesspeople can sometimes get away with looking less than polished online, image is everything in the world of photography, and if even the most expertly shot portfolio isn’t presented in an attractive way, it won’t leave a lasting impression.

Everyone—from journalists to small business owners— knows about Squarespace, but the beauty of Squarespace’s award-winning templates is probably the number one reason why so many photographers in particular are switching over to the platform. As it quickly becomes the preeminent website builder and hosting service for photographers, we put together a list of five of the most attractive benefits Squarespace has to offer.

Deborah Anderson‘s Squarespace website

Artistry
Squarespace is the crème de la crème when it comes to making elegant and refined websites. The platform was essentially designed to showcase imagery, with full-screen, slideshow, and even lightbox options available for presentations. The dazzling yet simple portfolio templates are carefully crafted to showcase rather than to distract from your photographs, and images are automatically resized and cropped to look best on any number of devices and applications.

Max Montgomery‘s Squarespace website

Affordability
It used to be that photographers spent thousands of dollars hiring designers and coders to build the perfect website, but Squarespace has helped democratize the field in that it makes expensive-looking websites affordable to photographers across the board. With plans ranging in price from $5-$70 per month, Squarespace caters its pricing plans to a photographer’s budget.

Alex Treadway‘s Squarespace website

Exposure
If there’s one word a photographer hears all the time, it might be “exposure.” Even the best photograph in the world needs to be seen not only by the right people but also a large number of people in order to be a success. Squarespace has some phenomenal SEO targeting tools, including sitemaps and customized search engine titles and descriptions. Where other platforms require plugins and complex (and often expensive) add-ons, Squarespace is already optimized to empower photographers.

When discussing exposure, we can’t underestimate the importance of social media, and Squarespace enables users to effortlessly integrate a wide variety social networks like Instagram, Twitter, and even Tumblr, directly into their websites, making it easier than ever to increase their base of followers.

Convenience
Photographers are not coders, nor should they have to be. Squarespace does all the heavy lifting when it comes to coding, meaning that users don’t have to know a thing about CSS, HTML, or any other confusing acronyms. Simply drag and drop your images, add text, or upload videos without the hassle of learning a new language. If ever you change your mind and want to switch templates, Squarespace even adjusts your content to suit your new layout.

Phil Miller‘s Squarespace website

Sales
Exposure, as we mention above, is critical, but so is actually making a profit from your photography. With a newly updated Squarespace Commerce, more and more photographers are using the platform to sell prints and services directly via their websites. Squarespace Commerce has empowered fine art and commercial photographers alike to tap into a whole new market online, and you don’t have to take our word for it; last month, we interviewed photographers on how their Squarespace stores have given their business a drastic boost.

Polina Vinogradova‘s Squarespace website

For too long, website platforms have overlooked photographers, offering designs quite simply were not built to showcase images. With Squarespace, we’re thrilled to see a platform truly embrace photographers as a main customer base, and with more photographers switching over daily, we’re looking forward to seeing what they do next.

Squarespace is a Feature Shoot sponsor.