How to create a website... a question primarily for those who already have one.

[dan_daly1]

I have been slowly becoming a photographer over the last two years. (I'm

also a full-time firefighter and paramedic for Chicago.) I've shot about a

dozen weddings including about 5 or 6 for a local studio *on my own*, And a

few weddings for family, friends and the like. I've also shot family

portraits. I've gone full digital (D200 and lenses, flashes, etc with film

back-up). It's quickly become clear to me that the next step is to creating my

own business is creating a killer website with great images. I'm working on

the great images BUT, the big question is how to set up the website. I've

chosen and registered a domain name, the next step is to do the graphic

design, learn those skills, as well as find a web host.

I;m currently working on the company charter, incorporation, etc. The

question I have is how do you go about hosting the images, and having people

be able to go to them and buy them and all the rest? How did YOU do it? I've

seen things like SMUGMUG, and the like that charge you a percentage (usuallly

around 15% for the printing etc. Is that the way you would do it? Do you print

at the local lab and mail them out yourselves? Just trying to get a toehold in

this complicated field.

 

Dan

[neil_ewins]

Hi Dan I am in a very similar position myself, although i have average we skills and been able to put up a web site myself the finished product looks amature. I am having another attempt at building another wb site. You can download templates specifically for photographers from places like templatemonster and only cost aroun $60. A good program i use for uploading pics to the web is breezebrowser pro and just tah paypak buttons to it ( some templates have paypal already. Ultimately you will need to pay a company to design a web site for you but prices vary widly. Remember this is your shop window. hope this helps

[kari douma]

When I decided to get a website, I didn't want to learn how to do a website. I ended up buying one from www.creativemotiondesign.com. They were great. The thing I love is I can take care of it my self. I can add or subtract text and pictures when ever I want. I didn't want to take the effort or time to learn how to create my own. I also looked at www.bludomain.com.

 

I do online proofing, and I fill my orders my self. I use www.eventpix.com. You can have them send it to the lab to print, or you can take care of it yourself. I have chosen to take care of it my self. When someone places an order, I get an email. Then I take care of printing and send them the order. The reason I have chosen to do this, is I do more editing to the image after it is ordered. For proofing, I do minimal work. I do a quick color adjustment and crop for the proof, and when they order it I do more extensive editing. I sharpen, soften skin, clean up blemishes, whiten teeth, ect.

 

Good Luck!

[jamie_thomas]

Dan,

 

You're right on the website. The better a website the more business you will generate. If you want, check out my sight and see what you think. My site isn't like other photographers and is easy to run. The cool thing about it is that after a wedding, I can upload all the images to my sight the next day. The cool thing about this is that I sell a lot of prints off my site, that?s why I love it. After I, went to this style of site, business has more than doubled. This is my second year in business; my first year I had 14 weddings booked, from my old site, and this year I had 27, on this site. I already have 10 booked next year, and know I will get more. My website is the only way I advertise, that and word of mouth. If you like my site, go to www.ktools.net that?s where I bought it. They also do hosting and they will set you up. Also they are really cool on give you support when you need it. If you have any questions e-mail me.

[jamie_thomas]

Also, I had the issue of printing to, check out www.mckennapro.com You can send them the print threw the internet or mail them to them. I upload them and they usually have them to me in two days. They have every thing you need to. Hope I was of some help.

[conraderb]

dan, ther are two separate things here.

 

1) how to display a nice portfolio that will make potential clients want to contact you.

 

2) how to do online previews/proofing and have a shopping cart.

 

as for #1 - you can pay someone to design something for you, steal someone else's code or design it yourself. I designed it myself with generous inspiration from other people's sites (and I'm going to be redesigning mine). it can be quite a headache if you don't know HTML (see www.w3schools.com) - you need to make sure that your galleries look nice on multiple browsers and on multiple screen sizes on multiple platforms.

 

as for #2 - check out pictage.com, collages.net, eventpix.com and all of those. I use pictage and their print quality is pretty good but their customer service skills are sometimes a little lax.

 

conrad

[jake_holt]

Check out the template options at bigfolio.com. As far as proofing, I use

www.instaproofs.com and it works like a charm - they don't do order fulfillment, which

means they send you the order info and you go get it printed and mailed yourself, but that's

they way I want it for QC purposes.

[giggles]

I had no idea where to begin when I decided to do a website but luckily I found www.bigblackbag.com - it is so user friend, cheap, offers proofing pages, registers your domain etc. Check them out or you could check my website www.gigglesngrinsphotography.com for a real life sample of what I created with them. It has feedback statistics, contact me pages, email accounts, etc. Hope this helps.

[annealmasy]

Dan,

<p>

Check out <a href="http://www.simplephoto.com">SimplePhoto</a>. Our current

website AND our online galleries are all hosted by and designed by SimplePhoto.

<p>

If you have any specific questions about pricing or setup, let me know. I'll be glad to share

my experience with them. We've used SimplePhoto for almost two years, and they've been

wonderful.

<p>

-Anne

[zofia]

I like the creative control of building my own site. It's super simple, but I can change it

whenever I want. I used Dreamweaver 8, bought the "for Dummies" book, and a couple

months later, Tah Dah! I have no formal computer training, so if I could do, you can too.

(Holy Cow, I sound like a cheesy commercial, oops.)

[forrest.berkshire]

I just set mine up. I designed one using Apple's iWeb but wasn't happy with the galleries

options. So I made a hybrid with the bulk of it in iWeb but a frame set up for SimpleViewer

on my gallery pages. Alll this and aboslutely no idea about html or anything else. I did

have to call my brother to clean up the code that iWeb generated (he has a master's degree

in computer science, and he was not impressed wit the code, but I thought it was fine).

 

My site's not perfect, but I think it will work until I bring in some more business and can

hire someone to make one for me.