winstainforth Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 Hello All. I need to set up my own website to showcase my work, any ideas which website solution to go for. Thanks in advance, Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynn Palmer Posted October 5, 2014 Share Posted October 5, 2014 I use Zenfolio hosted through BlueHost. I found the tools they offer to be flexible and intuitive and customer/tech support is excellent. You can check out my website at: www.lynnpalmerstudio.com I'm sure there are other good websites building sites but if you decide to go with them you can use the following Zenfolio discount code: Discount Code: HNC-1EC-8R4 Lynn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ReeRay Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 I use Smugmug for my images. Very easy to customize and a good flow of traffic. They also have a user forum which is helpful. I believe the annual cost is $150. http://reeray.smugmug.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ann Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Hi Rob, Photoshelter has been hosting my website for several years. I gave some pluses and minuses near start of this A forum thread a few months ago: http://discussion.alamy.com/index.php?/topic/2547-photodeck-or-photoshelter/?hl=photoshelter If questions, don't hesitate to contact me - Ann Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Price Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Hi Rob, I use programs purchased through The Turning Gate. The selling point is that they are plugins for Lightroom, so you can work within Lightroom and then export and FTP to any reliable service provider so once you have purchased the programs you can have a customised website running for as little as $5 per month. They have a good array of presentation modes plus the ability to incorporate a cart system for print orders and digital downloads. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digi2ap Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Currently in the middle of a 14 day trial with Format. For showcasing work the portfolio design options are well thought out and the pricing options are reasonable too. I've been content with a Wordpress blog for three years but am at the point of switching. Do let us know what you choose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 If you are wanting a nice but basic site, try a Wordpress-based site - mine is a Photocrati theme (one off payment) but plenty others out there. Wordpress is very adaptable and there are literally masses of widgets as it's community based. I've previously has a clickpic (yuk) and a Photodeck site - stock-based sites only work if you are prepared to really market them, otherwise you'll be lucky to cover costs. However, Layerspace do produce a great product for commercial viewing - new HTML 5 designs and auto resizing for screens. Very impressive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin P Wilson Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 I use a self-crafted Joomla site (due for a major overhaul) with my online library on Photoshelter as; it was about the cheapest way, at the time, for getting a substantial amount of storage and ecomerce. I might not bother with online fulfillment (and Photoshelter) when I revamp my site as it has not been very effective, probably due to my lack of marketing effort in the past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Used to use Clickpic, not now, not bad for £40 per year including ecommerce. Do not have my own website just now. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 I've been with PhotoShelter for a number of years, and I've made some very good sales thru my website, generating more than enough income to cover the annual subscription costs. However, things started to go south last year, and I've only managed a few print sales this year. Mind you, I depend on SEO (PS offers lots of tools in this department) and haven't been actively promoting my site. I'll probably keep my PS site, though, because it is useful for managing and storing images. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 8, 2014 Share Posted October 8, 2014 Layerspace must have been reading this thread as they have dropped prices. http://www.layerspace.com/blog/news/great-news-new-pricing-structure-introduced/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winstainforth Posted October 8, 2014 Author Share Posted October 8, 2014 Many thanks for your replies, just have to decide which one to go for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nacke Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 For hosting I have used IPower web for ten years and they have been great. In weeks I will also be using Photoshelter, due to my lack of understanding of HTML IPower is a great hosting company and they offer many things that are expensive on other hosts. Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windmillskies Posted October 9, 2014 Share Posted October 9, 2014 I've been using Photium for some years - easy to set up, not expensive, somewhat limited on the templates it offers but it does a decent job. Martin www.windmillskies.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winstainforth Posted October 12, 2014 Author Share Posted October 12, 2014 I've gone for smugmug, going to take a while to figure it out and set things up. Thanks again for all the suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winstainforth Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 A bit of a learning curve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Baigent Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 + 1 for zenfolio, I have been with them for years great support and unlimited storage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Halberstadt Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 + 1 for zenfolio, I have been with them for years great support and unlimited storage. Zenfolio has a lot going for it. But I'm in the process of moving my primary site from Zenfolio because it's really bad from an SEO point of view. I have tens of thousands of photos on Zenfolio and have been with them for about five years. But another domain I only rarely use, and haven't had nearly as long (just a plain vanilla Wordpress site with hundreds of photos) has about the same amount of photos indexed by Google and Bing as my Zen site*. I still plan on keeping my Zenfolio account for the very reason you note, unlimited storage, and that I'm grandfathered in at $100/year. But Zenfolio has been really bad for stock photo search results. * if you look at these results in the near future, they may not be valid as my site may have moved to another host as I planned Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Baigent Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Interesting Michael, I mainly use zenfolio for portfolio and client delivery.I have a lot of images made in Essex and should put them together somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotoDogue Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 I've been with PhotoShelter for seven years but I'm considering moving to LightRocket. Like John MItchell, I've made some good sales but they went south maybe a year ago, just around the time I switched to their new Beam template. I think the Beam templates are geared more towards showcasing portfolios rather than highlighting stock. PhotoShelter does seem particularly good for wedding and event photographers who want to offer prints, at least in the US. Not so sure about other countries. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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