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First time building a photo site on a budget


jaredpeyton

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Hi,

 

I was thinking about creating a photo site. However, I don't know where to start from here. I've been looking at SquareSpace, Weebly, Wix, and Shopify which is out of my price range. I have also been looking at WordPress Premium but some say it is better to just self-host. Is WordPress Premium Worth It? 6 Important Things To Know I'm not too familiar with self-hosting. Can anyone recommend a good platform and is it hard to self host? I can't afford more than $10/mo. Also, which platform has the easiest drag and drop builder. I'm not a techie and need something that is easy to learn. Thanks in advance for any advice given!

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Having no previous web experience, you have set a challenge for yourself. There are a number of webhosts out there that offer shared hosting--and some refine it a bit further by offering "wordpress" hosting. You are wise to stick with some flavor of Wordpress--either one you load on the server yourself, or one that they do--as this is going to give you the most versatility and ease of site development. $

 

Once you have a host and wordpress installed--you need to find a theme with a working gallery solution. On my personal site, I am using PhotoCrati with the NextGen gallery plugins. These are not free--depending on how many bells and whistles you want it runs $100 and up.

 

I suggest that you google the phrase "wordpress for photographers" and do a bit of reading. Then check out these 10 hosts and see what tickles your fancy:

 

Top 10 WordPress Hosting Providers of 2017

 

I use InMotionhosting, but I am also running a VPS--which is quite a bit more powerful and configurable than shared hosting. When you have looked about a bit, come on back and hit a few specific questions we can help you with. Oh, and a "WordPress for Dummies" book might not be a bad investment. Amazon carries them and some other good titles as well...

 

Amazon.com: wordpress for dummies

 

OH and P.S. NEVER buy your domain name from your hosting company or as part of some package. Go with a reputable domain registrar like GoDaddy, Name.com, or 1and1.com. These people have been around a long time, are reputable--and unlike one of the tied-in or free domain registrations--won't tie up or hold hostage your domain name if you choose to change web hosts. And if you have a website for any number of years--you WILL end up changing to someone else for a better deal and better service!

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