Building a Photography website

Hello everyone. I am considering building a website to sell (hopefully) my photos. Any advice out there regarding hosting services, website building tools, selling via website, working with a photo center, etc..

Check out the comments (including mine) on a similar question about website building tools posted here last year. I don't think that things have changed that much since then. I don't sell any photos so I'll leave it to others to comment on this.

 

Mike

fwiw I have two friends who sell online. One sells actual Persian carpets ($500+ for little ones), the other sells inexpensive (but beautiful) inkjet prints made for her by Costco ($35 ea for 11X17). The layouts etc are free website designs, the photos are beautiful, the descriptions are simple and accurate (both women get lots of recurring business)..

Recurring business is mostly always a function of many factors and a website may be one of those factors.

 

For example, the friends of terrykelly, (very likely) get a lot of recurring business because potential customers see a Persian Carpet or a nice 11x17 Print in one of their friend's home and then ask "How much? Where did you get that?"

 

When asked and answered, if they see value for money, then might go to the website - which (as terry mentioned) needs to be welcoming, honest and user friendly ''the photos are beautiful, the descriptions are simple and accurate'. - but not necessarily a website which costs the earth, or is run by a third party.

 

 

WW

Recurring business is mostly always a function of many factors and a website may be one of those factors.

 

For example, the friends of terrykelly, (very likely) get a lot of recurring business because potential customers see a Persian Carpet or a nice 11x17 Print in one of their friend's home and then ask "How much? Where did you get that?"

 

When asked and answered, if they see value for money, then might go to the website - which (as terry mentioned) needs to be welcoming, honest and user friendly ''the photos are beautiful, the descriptions are simple and accurate'. - but not necessarily a website which costs the earth, or is run by a third party.

 

 

WW

 

I should add that both friends thank each buyer with appropriate personal notes and occasional chat..all very low key and informational ...including press releases, generic related info etc. The Persian carpet person sends occasional somewhat political thoughts given the volatility of her market.

There are sites that are specifically designed to support photographer's websites. I personally use Smugmug. Another is Zenfolio. This gets you the hosting service, the website building tools, and sales tools all in one package.

 

Smugmug's sites are highly customizable, but you have to be willing to allocate the time to learn how to use their templates and modify them.

 

I don't use the direct-sales features of Smugmug, but you can set it up so that people can buy prints of your photos directly from the site, using a lab that you choose, without your involvement. They take a cut. If I recall, the higher-quality labs are available only on the higher-cost plans, but you can check the plans easily enough on their website.