Zenfolio for pro website?

<p>Hello,<br>

I'm trying to push my photo business to the next step and I've been looking at several options to redo my website. After reading several threads I decided to give a shot to Zenfolio and so far I've been pleasantly surprised!<br>

I still have 4 days left on my trial and before I commit with them I'd like to hear from you guys and your experience with them. Any missing functionality? Anything you really don't like about them?<br>

I'm trying to pull together a pro website and I'd love to get some feedback :)<br>

http://creativeshot.com</p>

<p>Thanks for any input!<br>

Best,<br>

-Christophe</p>

<p>I have been happy Zenfolio user for about two months.<br>

Pro:<br>

Dead easy....once you figure out their logic. Price assignment confused me for about a week. I spend a lot of time trying to remember where certain options are for site appearance and the "defaults" seem to have a mind of their own.<br>

Absolutely no complaints from customers on order fulfillment<br>

The 4% fee on self fulfilled orders is AWESOME. CC billing services cost WAY more.<br>

Con:<br>

I hate that customers have to create a Zenfolio account to order pictures. That is designed to drive Zenfolio memberships and not my sales.<br>

No FTP. This one really sucks. I HATE the Java uploader and the Lightroom uploader is not 100% either. FTP is such a simple, elegant solution but when I asked about it I was told there would be no FTP because it is "old" tech.<br>

Counter intuitive processes. I had to put instructions for ordering on every page and a detailed how to on cropping.</p>

<p>The only service that came close in my research was Potoshealter. The price difference was $329 vs $95. Transaction cost is 10% vs 12%. There is more value in Photoshealter for $329 but even taking that into consideration, my sales need to reach $500-$1000 a month before Photoshealter becomes better economically. <br>

So far Zenfolio is creating a good experience for my customers and that is what really counts.</p>

<p>Hi Christophe. I wouldn't know much about Zenfolio because I decided to go down the difficult road and built my own website. But, In my opinion the site looks clean and to the point. I like how you've included your services. The only thing stuck out for me is All My Photos. If it's a company Creative Shot then I would change it to something simpler like Photos, Galleries, Portfolio. When I shpped around for websites a year ago, I really liked the simplicity of Photium.com. I don't like flash websites. Photium has a password protected feature and I believ now a shopping cart and you don't have to create an account or anything. They're also very reasonable with pricing. You have a 30-day trial with them as well. Good Luck!<br>

cheerio<br>

marta 3eciak</p>

<p>Glad to hear you're enjoying Zenfolio.<br>

Robert, I must correct you on your first "con" however.<br>

"I hate that customers have to create a Zenfolio account to order <a href="../business-photography-forum/00WDzp#" target="_blank">pictures</a>. That is designed to drive Zenfolio memberships and not my sales."<br>

They do not need to create an account.<br>

Your customers have three choices during checkout, in this order: Guest Checkout (no registration), Register and Checkout, and Already Registered. If they are making multiple purchases from you, they may want to use a free visitor account to track their orders.<br>

And yes, we do not use FTP as we have found our integrated Java uploader to be more efficient.</p>

<p>Zenny - Thank you! I really need to start looking at my site with a different computer. The hazards of cookies. never going to convince me on FTP though :)<br>

Marta - I looked into doing the same thing and besides the pain factor of building and maintaining a shopping cart, the fees/contracts for CC processing were just going to kill me. <br>

Christophe - a few more things I didnt think of at 2 AM:<br>

LOVE Mpix as a fulfillment house. I have ordered tons of prints for myself from Mpix so I know how great my customers pix look. <br>

Absolute ease of contacting clients between order and shipping. I get an email, go to the website, click on the order and send thank you. And I can do it from my iPhone (web, not app).<br>

The ability to use Zenfolio as a "backup" site. If my own domain goes down for some reason, I can do a quick redirect to Zenfolio and keep a web presence. <br>

The ability to take a vacation/sleep. Back in the days before iPhones, being off the net might mean your website going down at a REALLY bad time and you not being able to do anything. I know someone else is maintaining Zenfolio while I am asleep. I can turn off custom orders and Zen/Mpix works on auto.</p>

<p>Bad stuff/wishes:<br>

From slide show to shopping cart and back is 5 steps. I wish I there were a "Buy Me" button that left people in the slide show to keep buying.<br>

I wish I could put a "buy me" link on my website that did the same thing. Probably in the too hard box but it would be nice.</p>

<p>Zenny - thanks again for the correction.</p>

<p>I've had a commercial site on Zenfolio for about 4 months now and am pleased with the service as a starting point. I didn't want to deal with handling credit cards and such, printing, framing, shipping, etc. and Zenfolio gave me a one-stop place to put galleries for people to order from. I like that they offer different product partners and customizable pricing. The price for their pro level is reasonable compared to other sites I researched. They seem to upgrade the capabilities of the site often and are responsive to concerns and recommendations.</p>

<p>The order process does take too many steps to get a framed, matted print - I support Robert's idea.</p>

<p>A big problem with Zenfolio is their lack of professional theming system. You are only allowed to choose between some pre-made templates and do some tweaks on them.<br>

It is impossible to mimmick the design of my website as they do not allow custom CSS or HTML. I can code CSS and HTML at a professional level and this is very frustrating.<br>

This has been requested countless times, and they keep on answering that this feature is on their plans, but years pass by and the only way to style or theme a website is through their "zero knowledge of coding" system.<br>

I think they should follow other eCommerce systems such as Shopify in this matter.<br>

Regarding the rest of their features, it seems to be a mature product, so if you are not bothered or are very picky about the final integrated look and feel of your website, it might be a very good option.</p>