Smugmug or ?

[ernie.grimes]

What do some of you use on your web site for your clients to view

pics of sport shots?

Thanks in advance for your help

Ernie

[dave_hoffmann]

I use BreezeBrowser Pro to create my online galleries.

[patrickconnolly]

I use a pro account at smugmug. The multiple options smugmug provides gives your customer lots of options while keeping your maintenance effort to a minimum. You can dictate the display type for each gallery, or let the viewer decide. You can use passwords to keep certain galleries from public eyes. You can decide what size images the viewer can see (again by gallery) - including whether they can download your original image.

 

Additionally, you can customize the look and feel of the site pretty easily.

 

In other words, lots of flexibility, little maintenance on your part, and the ability to offer prints for sale at your pricing. These are traditional pints - not inkjets - and my customers have been delighted with their quality. That keeps me out of the print order fulfilment and money collecting processes - which for me is a good thing.

[dave_nelson___atlanta__ga]

I second the SmugMug recomendation. You can view my Little League photos here <a href="http://photo.davenelson.com/Sports" target="_blank"><u>http://photo.davenelson.com/Sports</u></a>

[ron_laxton]

I use clickimage. My website is under construction. I did one test event, a mite hockey game. There were some problems with the ordering end, which hopefully have been worked out. I only had one person successfully make a purchase. I'm confident the problem wasn't my work, I have been shooting hockey for years and have done numerous sectional and state championship tournaments. You can see them at: RonLaxtonPhotography.com

[ron_laxton]

Dave, your prices are a little low, don't ya think? I mean, $2.50 for a 5x7? I get $7.00 for that size print in my package pictures when I do League shoots. My sports action prices are higher because I am dealing with a much smaller number of buyers than a whole league shoot. I researched the competition in my area, and found I am right in line with them.

[bob_p.__new_jersey_]

I shoot my son's high school games and other high school sporting events for fun. I would like to offer Smugmug prints to the parents of the athletes, and at the same time offset the cost of my Canon L-series lenses, etc. I know it is easy to mark up prints with Smugmug, but do you need permission from the athletes or schools to derive income from their images and events? If so, how is this best done?

 

Thanks,

Bob

[andyjonesphotography]

Ernie<br><br>

I'm in the process of setting my site up using JAlbum with the Fotoplayer skin. JAlbum is free and the Fotoplayer skin is $50 for the commercial version. I was put onto Fotoplayer by Mark Newcombe, he's a regular on Photo.net and a great guy. You can check out his site at <a href="http://www.mcnphoto.com/" target="_blank">www.mcnphoto.com</a><br><br>

 

JAlbum is a free download.... <a href="http://www.jalbum.net/" target="_blank">www.jalbum.net</a> <br>Fotoplayer allows you to take orders by email or Paypal.... <a href="http://www.fotoplayer.com/" target="_blank">www.fotoplayer.com</a>    free trial version can be downloaded.<br><br>

 

Andy

[designonline]

I use Printroom.com - Great software for uploading thumbnails and automatically uploads the full size image when an order is placed so you don't use so much server space. Super easy to set up, set your own prices. Picture quality is fantastic. I have never had any complaints.

[mark newcombe www.mcnphoto]

Ahh thanks Andy.

 

fotoplayer just released a new version but I have not upgraded because I now know all about php etc and don't want to break something that works.

 

Jalbum is cool, fotoplayer makes it great. If you get a url and some cheap hosting on a unix or linux server its probably the best way to go price wise, paypal is trusted now and just adjust pricing to cover fees.

 

Here was my train of thought back when I set up.

 

Wants:

 

1/ speed (I post around 1000-2000) images each week.

2/ web space (lots of images need lots of space.

3/ Total control over site including commerce

4/ Branding (trying to create my own image)

5/ Expandability (as required by growth)

6/ Franchisable (future goal)

 

Solutions:

 

1/ Hosting through somewhere such as Smugmug

2/ Purchasing a domain and having a site built

3/ Purchasing a domain and building my own site hosting through an isp

4/ Purchasing a domain and building my own site hosting on my own server

 

Pros and cons:

 

1/ Hosting through somewhere like smugmug

 

Pros: easy to set up, fairly easy to customise, relativley cheap

 

Cons: restricted to thier rules, large volumes of images increases price, not a unique url (important to me) controlled by there ecomerce solutions and fes associated with it. I'm in Australia and most of these sites are US based which could hurt sales (assumption) as Aussies can be fairly fickle purchasing from off shore sites

 

2/ Purchasing domain and having a site built.

 

Pros: unique url, takes pressure off me having to build and set up the site, ability to control the look exactly as you like(provided you have good communication with the web master)

 

Cons: This can be expesive given its a complete or partial build, ecommerce cost dollars if you buy off the shelf products such as carts etc.

 

I spent 3 months going through this option and quotes came in between 10 and 35K AUD. If you have the cash go for it but be prepared to take out a mortgage which I wasn't at the time, gear was more important at the time and everything seemeed to keep adding to the cost. I went to 6 fairly high end designers down here and probably could have reduced the costs if I kept shopping it around or went to a smaller design company.

 

3/ Purchasing a domain and building you own site:

 

Pros: absolute control over entire process, unique url and ability to incorporate what ever ecommerce you like.

 

Cons: More expensive than option one but deffinatley cheaper than option two but remember you need to build the bloody thing, maintain it and update it constantly. I'll add an extra couple of things to consider here, software, knowledge and time all of which come at a cost. (this was the way I went)

 

4/ Purchasing a url and hosting it on your own server.

 

Pros: better value for very high volume and size if you need it.

 

Cons: cost! knowledge of how to set up and maintain, this option is realy only for a large site with heaps of volume and you would really have to crunch the numbers to see if it's the right solution for your circumstances. I'm currently going through this process and at this stage with current growth trend of the company its looking more and more appealing. If you are interested in the outcome drop me a line in a few weeks and I'll let you know what I came up with.

 

Conclusion:

 

For my purposes I went with option 3 bought, dream weaver, and fotoplayer and started to build. I was a fairly rank amatuer and probably still am but the site is working well at the moment. Should the numbers work for option 4 we will employ a partime IT guy to do it for us but the jury is out at the moment.

 

Don't be scared to have a go at building your own site everything you need is acailable on the web but be prepared to drop some serious time into it. TIPS: find some good forums, be polite and you will get all the help you need.

 

My site uses html, flash, java, php. All of which I had really no idea about but you can learn this if your willing to put in the time.

 

I also have differing laws regarding images of children meaning that I had to go into encryption etc. My sites not perfect by any strecht of the immagination but it's working well at the moment and as the business grows so will the website.

 

Hope this helps, its a long post and I've probably missed heaps of info if you have any questions drop me a line when this thread is removed.

 

ONE MORE POINT

 

NEVER SELL $2.50 PHOTOGRAPGHS, WE COMPETE AGAINST THESE GUYS ALL THE TIME, EVENTUALLY THEY DISSAPPEAR, YOUR TIME, SKILL AND ABILITY IS WORTH MORE THAN $2.50. IF IT'S NOT THAN DON'T START. VOLUME IS NOT A VALID REASON TO CUT THE GUTS OUT OF PRICING AT THESE REDICULOUS PRICES.

 

Regards

Mark

[mark newcombe www.mcnphoto]

Sorry about all the typo's.

 

Rgds

Mark

[ron_laxton]

Mark, I'm glad to see someone agrees with me. I have a motocross track less than two miles from my house. I tried years ago to shoot and sell at the track. One of the biggest hurdles (and there were many) was the "moto-moms" that would shoot from the sidelines. A couple would get decent shots, same pose for every racer. Those moms would charge one or two dollars, not looking to make any more money than what they paid for film and processing. Never mind the fact that I shot from the center of the track, sometimes below the jumps so that I had racers flying over me. Bottom line, why pay $5 for a high quality one of a kind picture, when Billy's mom shot one that looks ok and is $3 less? I have never been more frustrated over an event.

 

I have shot hockey action at tournaments for years. Even having Wal-Mart develope and print my 5x7's at a cost of .63 each, and selling them in a mount for $6.50, I had to sell almost a hundred pics before I hit my break even point. No way in hell could I do something like that for $2.50.

[mark newcombe www.mcnphoto]

I know the feeling Ron, differentiate from them they will soon not be there anymore I sell stacks of these 8x12's in frames for $149 they are really popular.<div></div>

[mark newcombe www.mcnphoto]

These go well for MX to.<div></div>