Photography Website

<p>I've been browsing lots of different pay and free website hosting sites and I can't make up my mind. I'd like to be able to choose the design and layout etc, but I know nothing about web coding, so I need something thats pretty straightforward and easy, but still capable of creating a beautiful site. <br /><br />What do you use for your website? What do you like or not like about it? Will you share a link so I can see it?</p>

<p>What is your goal for your site? If you just want a portfolio to show your work, you can probably find a Wordpress theme that suits you and either host it yourself or use their hosting.<br>

If you want to sell prints and have someone else worry about printing and shipping, Smugmug seems to be popular, and can be highly customized fairly easily.<br>

If you want a professional site to attract clients, my opinion is you should have a professional website designer create a truly unique site that reflects your best work. That was the route I took with my site <a href="http://www.guitarphotography.com/">here</a>.<br>

<Chas><br /><br /></p>

<p>Was that a one time fee to have it designed for you, or do you pay them monthly to keep it up? I wouldn't mind paying for someone to initially design one for me, but I'd like to take it from there and manage it myself.</p>

<p>Rachel, I paid a designer about $1000 to design and implement the site. I host it, so the only annual costs are the annual hosting cost (~$70) and the bi-annual domain registration (~$35 I think).<br>

My site is designed around a CMS (content management system) so I don't have to write any HTML to create new galleries, update existing galleries, or make blog posts.<br>

But, what I use may not be suitable for you. What kind of site do you have in mind? Portfolio only? Print sales? Events? Wedding proofing? The requirements for a web site depends on what you want it to do.</p>

<p><Chas><br /><br /><br /></p>

<p>I use a local host who in turn uses a virtual server for $30 per month with a large quota I'll never hit. I've always done all my own Website design and work, and it shows too, but I'm working on it weekly so it's also easy to manage and operate, just costing my time, which is already paid.</p>

<p>That said, I think you should first determine what you want the Website to do for your customers with your work and products. Then put together some design ideas you like to fit into the goals, organization and presentation of the Website. After that, then you can look for an existing host or a designer. This process should be done before and with Website knowledgeable people to help.</p>

<p>Anyway, find someone, as folks did here, to ask a lot of questions to refine your ideas first. Good luck.</p>

<p>$30 per month is not cheap for web hosting, especially if you are just getting ISP hosting services. I have used Powweb.com for four domains since '05 and have never paid more than $70 per year, plus the biannual renewal fees on the domain names.<br>

Shop around before settling on a hosting provider.</p>

<p><Chas><br /><br /></p>

<p>Okay. I got one and I just threw this together. What do you think so far?<br>

www.racheldaultphotography.com</p>

<p>It looks rather thrown together. A couple of tips"<br>

1. don't post anything but your very best work.<br>

2. figure out what you want your web site to say, and make sure every photo on every page says the same thing.<br>

3. give your potential customers a clue as to where you're located. Few if any will decode your area code to figure out you are in Alaska<br>

4. customers don't care about "manual mode" nor "RAW" they care about quality photos<br>

5. none of your photos show any unique vision or character that sets you apart from any other photographer.</p>

<p><Chas><br /><br /></p>

<p>Thanks for your input. I've only been building my portfolio since December, and only taking photos on the weekends, so I think its probably okay that a real vision isn't evident yet. I'm still experimenting. I'm actually not doing any paying clients yet, but I'm starting to work with a makeup artist and some models (we're all helping each other to build our portfolios) so I thought I should have a website and business cards to pass out just in case they wanted to recommend me to anyone. It will get better!</p>

<p>I agree with much of what Charles said (ps. $30 is a full service local host, e-mails, etc.) and add to have someone sit down with you to ask a lot of questions about your work and plans for the Website and test it on a variety of platforms and browsers to ensure it's full visible, works and has a consistent presentation.</p>

<p>My initial observation is the large white space between the banner and images. I also agree about the information, to let people know where you're located and how far you're willing to tavel for work. I would lose the asterick note about a startup business as customers my hesitate looking for an experience photographer. You can explain things once you're talking with them, but you can't if they don't talk to you.</p>

<p>I've been using 1and1 (http://www.1and1.com) for over 3 years and have been very happy with it. I get the unlimited package for 6.95 per month, it includes unlimited bandwidth, unlimited webspace storage, email accounts, ftp accounts, etc.</p>

<p>To create the webpages, I simply use jalbum (http://www.jalbum.net). It's free, has a huge set of user contributed templates. Jalbum will manage uploads to your webserver automatically.</p>

<p>I have one set up on my personal website. apmadoc dot photos dot net - it uses the "turtle" template.</p>

<p>Rachel, I do like that very professional and minimalist web page layout.<br>

I had to tweak the single page version of Picasa to leave more space for the images and to link multiple pages. I tried Lightroom Gallery but find it a little too precious. <br>

My favourite host is FatCow. I registered a .pro suffix through them. Right now you can see the Picasa tweaks, a 'precious' lightroom page and two hosts<a href="http://www.broadbent.it"> from here</a>. FatCow hosts the portfolio link and runs faster than my home European Registry host.<br>

The main thing seems to be easy access - to be able to update or rebuild the site. How does that work for your Bluehost? </p>

<p>Good start Rachel. One quick thing - align that button on the rates page to the left with the rest of the copy. Also change the text to Click here and you can link it to your contact page if that's what you want visitors to do.</p>