Top Website Designers for Photographers – Elevate Your Online Presence

Know some great website designers for photographers? Let us know!

If you’ve come to a crossroads in your photography business and want to hire a website designer to help you create a better, higher converting website that resonates with the clients you want to hire you – then you’ve come to the right place!

As photographers, we spent the early years of our businesses creating our own websites DIY. In retrospect, it would be pretty easy to say that doing it ourselves got good results, but not great.

While you can certainly go this route and get some results, your mileage may vary depending on your current website design skills, willingness to learn, and other factors.

We know all too well that many photographers struggle with putting together an impactful website that marries SEO, user experience, brand aesthetics, and lead website traffic to actual conversions into new inquiries and bookings. 

This is where hiring a good website designer can come in handy to take the most challenging aspect of design and make it easier on you. 

In this list, you will find our most recommended website designers for photographers.

We’ve curated this list to highlight site designers that specialize in doing work for photographers specifically and have good reputations by being recommended by others. 

As with every recommendation we give, we always suggest looking through these designers’ work examples to make sure their style resonates with you and scheduling consultation calls to ask questions and learn more about their process. 

Website Designer for Photographers – Our Top Recommendation:

Bella Maven

We can’t help but recommend Bella Maven since they have done work on multiple websites for us (including the one you are on right now!). Working with Tessa and her team so closely has led to creating an incredibly refined brand and website experience that feels like us and also converts users into new clients regularly. 

Some of the highlights of working with Bella Maven are:

• They can build websites on any site platform (Showit, WordPress, Shopify, etc.)
• They offer a range of services from more inexpensive template installs to full custom websites
• They also offer DIY options through their Showit website templates
• They place priority on website copy and branding before getting into the actual aesthetic layout and design of your website (this is HUGE)
• Very trustworthy and reputable working with photographers and other businesses to establish better brands and websites online

You can reach out to Bella Maven here – if you do, tell them Shoot and Thrive sent you to receive $500 off your website design service!

Website Designers for Photographers – Our Full List:

We will be adding to this list as we find more website designers to recommend!

Alisabeth Designs

Alisabeth Designs is a female‑led branding and web‑design boutique founded by Sarah Crook and based in Atlanta, GA, serving clients worldwide. Their small, specialist team (branding executives, creative directors, developers) partners closely with creatives—especially wedding‑industry professionals—to tell authentic brand stories and build polished, high‑impact websites

Learn more about Alisabeth Designs

Kern and Ink

Kern & Ink Design is a full‑service, award‑winning graphic design studio based in Wilmington, NC, founded and led by Creative Director Lee Monroe. With roots in both print and digital, Lee and her small team of strategists and designers partner closely with clients—from offbeat photographers and creatives to universities and nonprofits—to craft brands that resonate authentically and drive steady growth

Learn more about Kern and Ink

With Grace and Gold

With Grace and Gold® is an award‑winning, female‑founded brand and Showit web‑design studio co‑led by Andra Barkey (designer) and Kelly Zugay (business educator). Based online and serving clients worldwide since 2014, they’ve joyfully partnered with over 15,000 small businesses—especially photographers, wedding professionals, and creative entrepreneurs—to craft purpose‑driven brands and pixel‑perfect websites.

Learn more about Grace and Gold

Things to Know Before Hiring a Website Designer

There are quite a few things you should keep in mind before deciding to work with a website designer.

Like most services, no two are the same and oftentimes you “get what you pay for.”

This is true with website designers just like it is with photographers, contractors, and most other professions. 

As a potential customer looking to work with a web designer, some ways you can narrow down your selection is to make sure of the following:

1). You like the portfolio of their past work

Most of the time website designers for photographers will have a specific aesthetic or vibe to their work. If you are drawn to the majority of past websites they’ve developed, it’s likely you’ll be a good fit!

2). You understand what their work process looks like

The steps that go into creating a website may vary from designer to designer. Most will offer a free consult call to talk through what their process will look like. 

A few things we’d expect when working with a website designer:

• Questionnaires to collect information about you, your brand, and your website goals
• Calls to work through website copy and design
• Clarity on what communication will look like throughout the process
• How deliverables are received by you
• Turnaround times including start and launch dates

As a part of this process, your website designer should be willing to answer any questions you might have. We put together a list of questions for brand and website designers for photographers to ask.

3). Your designer places emphasis on user experience and conversion first

Having spent a lot of time around Facebook groups and scouring through recommendations for website designers, the one glaring flaw we see with many out there are overemphasis on site aesthetics while sacrificing fundamentals that make a website user friendly and more likely to convert them into clients. 

As photography businesses looking to hire a website designer, we all want a good looking website – but even more than that, we want a website that will inspire people to want to hire us.

Because the costs for website design can be steep (depending on what you are needing and who you are working with), you want to see a return on your investment (and then some!). 

4). Your designer is experienced and reputable

If you are going to trust your photography business to someone and want to see results, making sure they’ve had success stories from past clients is an essential part of researching who to work with. This social proof is incredibly valuable to help determine quality.

5). Understand everything included in your service package

Many website designers offer a variety of services including fully custom websites, site template installs, and more. 

In addition, some of the best website designers for photographers also can assist you with developing your brand (logos, fonts, colors, etc.), website copy (the text on your website), and sometimes even more. 

When it comes to deliverables that you are uncertain of, it’s a good opportunity to ask questions to get to know more about what they are doing for you. For example, if they offer SEO for photographers – it’s valuable to ask questions to learn more about what they will be doing (specifically) to help improve your SEO. 

Can I do it myself?

With many great website builders for photographers, it is possible to create your own website. 

It’s even easier when using a website template!

Like many things, the results will vary depending on your own skill set and abilities. 

If you’re anything like us, the decision to hire a website designer comes from getting to a point where you feel like you’ve maxed out your potential by doing it on your own. 

In the first few years of our photography businesses, we created our own websites and had pretty good results for what it was worth. Our decisions to hire someone came from wanting to push our businesses further, make them even more likely to convert, and to attract clients that really wanted to work with us (instead of just window shoppers looking for a good deal). 

After outsourcing our web design and branding, we’ve seen more consistent results and have been able to attract more clients who are excited to work with us. If there’s anywhere we’d suggest spending the money in your business, it would be on this since it influences everything you do.

Website Education for Photographers

Hiring a website designer is made a lot easier when you understand the fundamentals of website design and flow.

Without this knowledge, it’s virtually impossible to judge whether a designer is doing a good job or a bad one – especially when so many website problems can be buried under beautiful aesthetics.

For this reason (and many others), checking out our Websites for Photographers course is a great way to get clear on the things your website needs to actually convert users – and you can use this information to either make updates to your current site, DIY one from scratch or a template, or help shape your interactions with a pro web designer.

Christian Romans

Chris is a business strategist at Shoot and Thrive and co‑owner of Hand and Arrow Photography alongside his wife. With over a decade of professional shooting experience (and a passion for photography since high school), he helps creatives grow through smart websites & SEO, blogging, branding, and sales strategies. When he’s not behind the lens or refining a marketing funnel, you’ll find him playing guitar, skateboarding, or planning his next adventure—his favorite so far was campervanning around Iceland. Chris holds degrees in Psychology and Philosophy, which inform his human‑centered approach to both art and business.

www.shootandthrive.com