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Opinion: Instagram’s Algorithm Is the Absolute Best Reason Why Photographers Need Their Own Website

Chris Gampat
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08/06/2018
2 Mins read
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Last Updated on 08/12/2018 by Mark Beckenbach

If you don’t have a photography website for your portfolio, you’re doing something really stupid for your work.

This is a very, very strong opinion; one that I actually feel is a fact. It’s taken me a really long time to sit and ruminate over this idea, but I’ve come to the ultimate conclusion that if you’re one of those photographers who only showcases their Instagram, then you’re doing yourself an injustice. Why? How? Well, some of this comes from just what many photographers complain about when it comes to Instagram.

Instagram, first and foremost, isn’t your website. You don’t own it. It doesn’t really have your branding all over it. It can be shut down at a moment’s notice for just not adhering to their terms of use. But with an actual website, that stuff is significantly different. If you’re generally doing illegal things, then a server/host may shut your website down. But the only thing cutting the reach of your website is you. You’re probably not creating blog posts to get yourself that Google link juice that puts you at the higher end terms for SEO. You’re probably not driving people to your website. You’re probably not updating it. You’re also probably not pushing it hard enough.

With Instagram, you’re pushed to produce new content and post all the time in an effort to make the best of the platform’s algorithm. That’s all it’s about. So you’re not necessarily curating and displaying the best of your best work. What do I mean by that? The creme de la creme! When I ran La Noir Image, I had this one idea: show off 10 images to a millionaire, you have a chance to get one sold of $1,000,000. In that situation, which images would you bring along? You’ve only got one shot!

That’s the mentality you should have on your website because when someone comes there, you need to captivate someone. You need to display the absolute best photos in your portfolio. The stuff you normally post to Instagram can go on blog posts. After this, you can push that content out on Instagram. At that point, you’re at least building two platforms at once. But when you just build your Instagram, all you’re doing is building a portfolio on a platform that isn’t going to specifically get you all that you need to make sales, etc.

“But I’m just a hobbyist!” is what I’m sure some of you are saying.

To which, I retort, “So what?” If you care enough to have professional gear, you should apply that mentality holistically to your entire body of work. Your presence should be professional as well with a website.

No, this isn’t a sponsored post about a website. They’re just some thoughts that have been simmering inside of me to the point where I hear conversation after conversation about the algorithm. They’ve boiled to the top.

Discuss please in the comments, I’d love to hear your insights.

Algorithm hobbyist images instagram photographer Photography portfolio professional website
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.