Short on time? We get it. That's why SmugMug gives you everything you need to publish your site quickly and easily. All you need to know how to do is click a mouse. 

Step 1. Choose a design.

We offer several beautiful site designs for you to choose from, and you can always choose a different template later. Each one comes with an out-of-the-box, designer-approved layout, font choice, and color scheme. We’ve created a variety to fit many styles of photography, so scroll through and pick the one that speaks to you. 

‍Step 2. Add photos.

When you open a new SmugMug account, you'll want to add photos to it right away. There are many ways to upload your photos, from our built-in browser-based uploaders to our publish service for Lightroom users. 

FYI: At this point your site is good to go. Simply hit the Show Me My Site button and your new website will be visible to the world! But if you want to make further changes, keep reading.

Step 3. Customize the design.

We make it easy to change the look and feel of elements that appear across all your site's pages. Some examples include adding a background image, including your name in the header, and changing text on your menu bar.

To open customization mode, click Customize Design at the top of your site. 

Here are a few things you could tweak first:

• Personalize the header.
  Most designs already include a basic navigation bar with a way for your viewers to get back to your homepage, view your site content on a Browse page, and search for a specific photo. You can add more links by editing this content box.‍
• Change the theme.
  Designs have their own color schemes, but you can pick individual page colors and fonts if you prefer a different feel.‍
• Adjust the footer.
  If you have a Power, Portfolio, or Pro account, you'll see an option to add your name, social buttons, or whatever else you wish to the footer.

Tip: Make sure you’re on the Entire Site customization mode; otherwise, your tweaks won’t show up across your site. 

Step 4. Personalize your homepage.

Your design will include various galleries and content on your homepage, but you can edit them (or add more!) by clicking Customize Design and making sure Homepage is selected.

Drag and drop, remove, or edit the individual content blocks that appear on this page. You'll know where they can go when you see a highlighted arrow and green line appear. Note that you can stack content blocks one atop the other, or line them up to create columns across the page.

‍Tip: The page elements are color coded, so you can edit any level content block from any page. For example, if you click the Customize Design button from within a gallery, you can still tweak sitewide things like the header and footer.

Step 5. Publish!

Once you're happy with the content blocks you've arranged, you can click Preview to see your changes without the customization menus covering the screen.

Love it? Hit Done. Your new site is now available for the world to see. Congratulations!

‍(Bonus) Step 6. Keep going!

Your design will have the essentials already built in, but with a Power, Portfolio, or Pro account, you can add more pages to suit your style. For example, you can create an “About Me” page with your photo and bio, a “Services” page, etc. Simply click the Organize button at the top of your homepage. Once inside the Organizer menu, choose Create > Web Page and name it.

Next you’ll see your brand-new page. From here, you can customize and add in any content blocks in virtually any configuration you want. When you're happy with it, publish your changes. 

If you’d like to make your new page easier to find, open customization mode and mouse over your menu bar. Click to edit it and add a new link, then find the link to your new page within the Pages I Choose picker menu.

Tip: You can drag to rearrange the different links in your preferred order. 

And with that, you’re done!