FOR ARTISTS & CREATIVES
What Should a Photography Website Include? A Page-by-Page Guide
A page-by-page checklist for UK photographers: home page, galleries, about, pricing, testimonials, booking, blog and legal pages.
What to post, how to set up your profile and how to turn Instagram followers into bookings, written for UK photographers.
Instagram for photographers works best when your grid does three jobs at once: it shows your portfolio and who you are, and proves clients are happy. Set up a bio linking to your enquiry page, plus Story Highlights that answer common questions. Write captions that say what you shoot and where, and give every post one clear call to action.
Taking good pictures is rarely the problem. Turning a beautiful feed into enquiries is. If your grid is full of lovely images but never says who you shoot for, where you work or how to book, a potential client has nowhere to go next. That’s the gap good Instagram for photographers closes.
This guide is written for UK photographers who shoot weddings, portraits, families, headshots, commercial work or events. It covers what to post and how to set up your profile, then how to deal with the messages that start arriving once people notice you.
Sort your content into three buckets: portfolio, personality and proof. Post nothing but portfolio work and the feed looks like a gallery, which is lovely to scroll through but gives a stranger no idea who you are or whether they’d enjoy a shoot with you. Post nothing but behind-the-scenes chat and it looks like a diary. People book when they see the full mix.
Post the pictures you want to be hired for. They aren’t always the ones you’re proudest of. If you’re after more headshot clients, a feed packed with landscapes won’t get you there. Group posts by type of job, and keep your strongest work visible at the top of your profile.
People hire photographers they feel at ease with, especially for weddings, families and portraits. Short clips of you working help. So does a note on how you prepare for a session, or a story about a local venue you love. Your private life can stay private. What people need to see is how it feels to spend an hour in front of your camera.
Proof means real testimonials and finished galleries shared with permission, along with before-and-after examples of your retouching or your prep advice. Be honest about it. Fake reviews and concealed incentivised reviews have been a banned practice under UK consumer law since April 2025. Share only real feedback, and check that clients are happy for you to use both their words and their images.
| Content type | Purpose | Example for a portrait photographer |
|---|---|---|
| Portfolio | Show the standard and style | A carousel from a recent family session |
| Personality | Build trust and familiarity | A short clip showing how you put nervous clients at ease |
| Proof | Reduce the risk of choosing you | A client message, shared with permission, over a favourite image |
Your profile is your shop window. Most visitors decide in a few seconds whether to hang around, so four things need to be obvious before anyone scrolls.
Choose a profile picture people will recognise, ideally a clear shot of your face or your logo. That way you’re easy to spot when you comment on other people’s posts.
They sit on your profile permanently, which makes them a sort of mini website. Use them to answer the questions you hear most, and fewer enquiries will stall.
Give each one a plain name and a tidy cover. Update them every few months so they never look stale.
A caption tells a client what the picture alone can’t. Open with a line that still makes sense when it’s cut off, because only the first part shows before the “more” link. After that, say what the shoot was and where it happened, and add one detail that helps a future client imagine their own day.
Keep it conversational, the way you’d talk to someone at a consultation. Drop in the place name or the type of shoot naturally, so people looking for a photographer in your area understand what you do. Go easy on hashtags. A few relevant ones will do.
Instagram’s own explanation of its ranking says that for Feed, signals include likes, shares, saves and comments. So it pays to write captions that get a reaction. Ask a question, or suggest people save the post for later.
Give every post a clear next step, but vary it. Rotate between a handful so you don’t start sounding like a sales page.
Keep it simple. One action, in plain words. Offer too many choices and people pick none of them.
A lot of Instagram enquiries start in direct messages, and how fast you reply counts. Answer while the person is still keen. Keep a short set of notes ready for the questions that come up again and again, because most people ask about availability and a rough price range first, then how you work, and finally what you need from them before you can give a quote.
Be friendly, but steer the conversation. Thank them and ask for the key details (date, location, type of shoot). Then move things to email or your enquiry form so you can send a proper quote and keep a record. Never leave a message sitting for days. A slow reply often hands the job to whoever answered first.
Knowing what to post is the easy bit. Doing it every week, on top of shooting and editing, is where most photographers fall down. Pick a simple rhythm you can keep up. Plan a month of posts around the three buckets and write your captions in one batch. Plenty of photographers hand this whole routine to a specialist in social media for photographers. For a wider plan to find clients, see our overview of marketing for photographers.
If you’d sooner spend your time behind the camera, our team can take on your social media management for photographers. That covers a strategy built around the work you want, the content plan that grows out of it, and then the captions and publishing on Instagram and Facebook. We agree a clear brief, scope and fee with you before any work begins.
Most photographers who promote their services use a professional account, because it keeps the work apart from their private life. Whichever you pick, make sure the profile says plainly what you photograph and where you work, and how people can enquire.
No. A rhythm you can keep up for months is better than a daily burst that fizzles out. Instagram’s creator guidance just advises posting original content consistently. Settle on a number of posts you can manage around client work. Put quality and clarity ahead of volume.
Yes, as long as you have permission. Client work is some of the best proof you have. Make sure your contract or booking terms say you may share images. Check with clients before you post anything especially personal, such as pictures of children or private venues. If someone asks you to take a post down, do it promptly.
There’s no magic number, and hashtags count for less than a clear caption and a strong first image. Stick to a small set that describes the type of shoot and the location. Long lists of generic tags do little. Keep an eye on which posts get saves and enquiries, and adjust from there.
Make it obvious how to book. Show your best work in the style you want to be hired for and share real proof. Answer common questions in your Story Highlights, and reply to messages fast. Move serious enquiries to email or a form, so you can quote properly and keep everything in one place.
A page-by-page checklist for UK photographers: home page, galleries, about, pricing, testimonials, booking, blog and legal pages.
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