jenn_johnson Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 I would like to start my own website to showcase my pictures and present a more professional front to my "clients." Its also a great way of advertising, but I just don't know how to get started. Do I make it myself? Do I go through a website company? How much should I pay per year? Is it worth it? What should it look like? ANY and all advice would be greatly appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrossi Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Searching this forum or the web at large would yield a mass of information on this subject. That said, if you're asking these questions it's safe to say building one yourself from scratch might end up looking like you built it yourself from scratch. There's lots of templates out there that can assist the process, but in my experience they're only a starting point. Finding someone who does web dev't is a good idea if you want a professional looking site. Annual costs can range from a couple of hundred and up. I view this as building a physical storefront or gallery building. If you're in business you invest in the build and get someone to do it. If you just want a web location to store images, maybe a shared site like this or pbase is a way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn_johnson Posted April 22, 2008 Author Share Posted April 22, 2008 What about a website like foliosnap.com? They have sample websites that I can view and templates that I can use. Would that be worth looking into? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_macdonald Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 You might talk with "Minds Eye" for ideas and possible prices. www.matthaff.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucecahn Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 Watch out for scam artists. The field of web design is full of them. Also beware of merchant service companies--the guys who help you take credit cards. Dishonesty is so prevalent in that business it is considered normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
giggles Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 I use http://www.bigblackbag.com for my site. I have used them for three years and have been very pleased. They give you a 7 day free trial period to play around. If you decide to go with them, tell them I sent you and I will get a referral fee too:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiranc Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 Jenn, There are three parts to this 1. Web hosting service 2. Website Development 3. Website Maintenance Web Hosting service: There are so many companies out there who will give you space for all kinds of prices but I suggest you go with the bigger companies like Network solutions or Media Temple if you need a reliable service and professional support. I personally use Network Solutions after experiencing some trouble with a small time web hosting company. Site Development: you will need somebody to do the site development which is programming. Again, lots of people out there who can do these things. My suggestion would be that you could use any of the "image gallery" software that is available out there and do the site yourself, OR If you are new to programming use the help of the web hosting company to develop a few pages for you. They have all kinds of plans that will help anyone get started with things like a "5 page site" so on and so forth. Site Maintenance: What ever solution you opt for make sure you can upload new content to your website easily. Creation of new albums and updating existing albums with new images and text should be possible, easy and done without help from the person who developed the site for you or without having the need to write new code. All the best ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jill hardin Posted April 25, 2008 Share Posted April 25, 2008 Jenn, I used to use bigblackbag.com, and I just switched to bludomain.com. Bigblackbag got too expensive, for my website with client proofing and shopping cart, renewel was going to be nearly $500 this year! I love the bludomain templates better, and their annual renewel is only $100. Good Luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jo_dinning Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Hi Jenn, I don't know whether you have access to PS - but if you do there is File> Automate> Web Photo Gallery. You can create and then upload this via an ftp program to your site. A basic hosting package with webspace will do if you don't need a shopping cart and scripting - shop around as there are some good deals to be had, even from the big companies if you don't need the bells and whistles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn_johnson Posted May 1, 2008 Author Share Posted May 1, 2008 Thank you so much Jill for the tip about bludomain.com! They have the BEST templates I have seen so far! The prices are great, too! Thanks for your advice everyone! It was a big help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yjawhar Posted May 1, 2008 Share Posted May 1, 2008 Actually, getting a site these days is not as hard as u might think!!! all you have to do is get a host, download an open source CMS (content management system) and upload it to your hosting account (actually many hosts these days offer one-click installation of popular CMS's) and add a couple of plug-ins and a theme and you're up and running!! you could use Wordpress, a blogging platform that works amazingly as a CMS, and is very easy to use or Joomla which is one of the most used open-source CMS's, which has more features, but it needs time for you to get used to, and it works just like wordpress, or other well-knows CMS's such as Drupal, Xoops... etc. A host shouldn't cst you a lot, since there are many hosts that offer Terabytes of storage and bandwidth for a low price of less than 10$ a month, and some, even less!!! :D Anyway, all of these CMS's have a really good community and FAQ/troubleshooting pages that would help you step by step into setting up everything, and if u don't want to do all that yourself, there r people who would do it for you for a cheap price!! Good luck with your website, and keep us updated, and if you need any more help just send me a message on my profile here!! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luis_morillo Posted June 4, 2008 Share Posted June 4, 2008 im actually using godaddy.com...they are really good and are on call 24/7...my site is still under construction though warpedvisionphotography@yahoo.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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