Smug mug

[juliette_loska]

<p>I signed up for Smug Mug and I'm having the hardest time trying to understand how to post pictures, pricing, etc., etc. They've been helpful and have helped set up my web site, but I'm lost when I try to do anything myself. I feel like an absolute dummy. Is anyone else having these problems and can anyone suggest the best way to conquer this technological (at least for me anyway) mountain???? I've asked if they have a manual or classes but they've never responded to this question. Thank you!</p>

[william-porter]

<p>Veronika,<br>

I'm not aware of a manual or classes. The Digital Grin forum (dgrin.com) is active and can be extremely helpful, especially if you can ask a specific question.</p>

<p>I can perhaps give you a quick hint about two things: uploading photos and pro pricing.</p>

<p><strong>UPLOADING</strong><br>

Uploading photos can be done in a number of ways. I process and organize photos in Lightroom (and occasionally in Picasa) and there are plug-ins for both of these programs that can be used to create galleries in SmugMug and upload photos. But for the moment, let me just describe the basic route.</p>

<ol>

<li>Go to your pages in SmugMug and find the + Add Photos button, click and pull down to New Gallery. </li>

<li>On the next screen, give the gallery a name and a category, then click Create Gallery button.</li>

<li>The next screen you see gives you a number of options for uploading photos. You are welcome to click one of the other options, for example, to install a plug-in for Lightroom; but I suggest that you click the Simple option. NOTE: The Simple uploader requires that you have Java installed on your computer. You almost certainly DO have it installed, but if you have problems, it might be with your Java installation....</li>

<li>Now you use the Simple uploader interface to select files and upload 'em. Pretty self-explanatory. I'm assuming that you've processed the photos and that they're sitting on a hard disk connected to your computer that you can access through a standard file dialog.</li>

</ol>

<p>Be aware that, after you think you've completed the upload, SmugMug may seem to take a bit of extra time to display all the photos. It creates various size thumbnails for each photo and this can take time. Be patient.</p>

<p><strong>ORGANIZING</strong><br>

Once you've got the photos uploaded, you can do quite a bit with them right in SmugMug. For example, you can write captions - although I always do this in Lightroom before I upload.</p>

<p>On the layout where you land when the upload is done - and where you will see (or will soon see) thumbs of your photos, there should be a number of buttons: Style, Add Photos, Tools, Themes. These buttons are your friends.</p>

<p>I suggest that you go right to the Tools button, click and pull down to Customize Gallery. This brings you to a long page of gallery options. Work your way through this page carefully. There's a ? button next to many or most of the options that will give you quick balloon help, and some of the options also have a Help link for more info if you need it.</p>

<p>Couple of suggestions. Select a theme that you like: you have tons to choose from. (After you get more experienced you can create your own theme with CSS.) Gallery style can be "user controlled," but I generally pick SmugMug or SmugMug Small. Be sure to right-click protect your photos. Indicate that the largest size you want displayed is something like L or M (prevents folks from stealing your photos by taking screen shots). Don't allow linking from outside. And be sure to give yourself a few days to review photos after an order is placed. (I give myself 5 days, sometimes longer.)</p>

<p>When you are done setting all these options, don't click SAVE just yet! Scroll back to the top of the page. You'll see the title Quick Settings, and the option "None, set everything manually." Click on that option menu and select "save settings on this page as..." Give 'em a name. VERY USEFUL. In future, you can just apply these settings to other galleries. After you've saved the settings, you can click the floating "Save" button to apply your settings to this gallery and return to the gallery itself.</p>

<p><strong>SETTING PRICES</strong><br>

What level account do you have? You mentioned pricing, so I'm guessing you have a pro account. Is that right? </p>

<p>SmugMug's printing services charge a basic price for each print. Let's say it's 30 cents for a glossy 4"x6". Now, if you have a pro account and you'd like to make money on your prints, you can increase the price that the visitor sees (and pays), and you will get the difference. You might for example change the price of a 4"x6" print by adding $1. That would basically boost the price seen and paid by the visitor to $1.30 - of which about $1 will be your profit. This option is only available in a pro account.</p>

<p>To GET to the screen where you set prices (again, assuming you have a pro account), from the gallery where you see your photos, click on the Tools button, and pull down to This Gallery/Set Prices. Now, here it gets a tad complicated - but don't be frustrated, because the complications are due to the tremendous flexibility that SmugMug gives you here, and flexibility is good. At the top of this screen you get to set a couple of basic options. Under "Apply This Pricing," for example, you might select "Dollar Increase," then, in the field to the right of that option, enter "2.00." A bit further to the right, under "To These Products," select "All Products." Then click Apply. The new public prices will appear on screen for you to review. If you like the idea of making about $2 on every print that's ordered, no matter the size or base prices, you can click Save Prices and exit. If you don't like what you see, go back to Apply This Pricing, select SmugMug Default, and click Apply; that returns everything to the SmugMug default.</p>

<p>You can come back here later and fiddle with everything to your heart's content. Experiment with different options, for example, adding $10 to everything that costs over $30, $5 to everything that costs over $20, $3 to everything that costs over $10, and $1.5 to everything. NOTE that some things might change that you didn't expect to change. If you add $10 to everything over $30, then a print whose base price was $30 now will cost $40. If you then add $5 to everything that costs over $20, <em>that newly priced $40 item's price will be raised to $45.</em> </p>

<p>The pro pricing options are really powerful but do take a little experimentation to master. Hang in there.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>Will</p>

[art_tatum]

<p>Will Porter is an information God!</p>

[juliette_loska]

<p>Will, bless you and thank you very much. I'll print your advice and follow to a tee! </p>

[william-porter]

<p><blush>Er, happy to help!</blush></p>

[wedding-photography-denver]

<p>As Will said pretty much.</p>

<p>I grew up with them since they got started (ish) and know their system pretty well. I like it and once you have it nailed down, you will probably like how much you get to control yourself, not to mention the great CS you get.</p>