gvallee Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 I have decided to redo my website entirely. I have done extensive research (including an old thread on Alamy, but things change all the time) and have a list of dos and don'ts (don't use templates, etc). What I expect from my website is not to sell anything from it but to be a showcase of my work, pointing to Alamy and other places. I have never done a website before and do not know HTML but am willing to learn. I used to work in IT, so it should not be insurmountable. I have done the detailed design but beyond that, am not sure where to start. I am also based in Australia, for now at least, if it makes a difference. Any tip you could give me? Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kumar Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 For some reason you may have decided not to use templates, though there are excellent photo-portfolio templates available both for Wordpress & open-HTML web interfaces. The big gain with the modern-day templates is that they are pre-customized to show up well on all screens - PC, laptop, tablet & mobile phone. Even if your are doing your web site yourself, please ensure the site's compatibility in various viewing devices, especially the drop-down menus can be fairly troublesome with tablets, especially iPad. It is always pleasing to the eye to see lavish photo-spreads (full HD - 1920 x 1080), though these should carry well-placed but unobtrusive watermarks, and obviously these big images may be prepared in a suitable web palette for quick loading. Even if you don't intend selling images directly, you may think of incorporating a contact form for instant communication. Of course the need for SEO work cannot simply be overemphasized. Cheers & best of luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvallee Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Thank you Kumar. I have a very precise idea of what I would like for each page, I am very fussy. That's why I think I might not be able to tweak templates enough for my visualised design. Your argument about various device displays already set up, combined with my lack of technical knowledge, might compel me to investigate them though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 I would use a template, the best are fairly customisable so should cater for fussy. Clean and easy to read are the most important i.e quick loading and with easy to navigate features. Not such a fan of Wordpress with third party templates these days, too often they become incompatible with each other. Went back to Photodeck and it just works, which is the single most important factor. It's very important to make your website mobile friendly as it affects the ranking with Google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDM Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Unless you have an awful lot of spare time on your hands to learn web programming, then I would suggest using a customisable photographic website provider or, alternatively if you have the money to spare, pay somebody to do your website for you from scratch. Going from your design stage that you already have to a working website is like building a house from a plan. I use the term "programming" because building a good website involves a lot more than learning HTML. I'm way out of touch nowadays but you would need to learn JavaScript or similar in addition to advanced HTML to produce a half-decent website from scratch. Web programming (and programming in general) is fascinating and may also be highly addictive but is incredibly time consuming - not just the learning but the trial and error getting a bit of HTML or a script working. I used to regularly find myself staying up half the night trying to get something working and my photography was getting a lot less attention. So I made a decision several years ago that I would concentrate on photography simply because of how time-consuming programming is and just use the stuff that other people have produced. But if you have loads of time and want to stimulate a different part of the brain to that used for photography, then you might really enjoy building a website from scratch but set aside a few months at least I would guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvallee Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Thank you Geoff and MDM. It looks like I'm not going to be doing it myself... I'm generally keen to learn, but I just spent several months editing the results of an 8 month trip for several agencies, plus joining a new one, so am keen to get back in the field. I appreciate your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Gen, as someone who hand-crafts all his websites (and I've got quite a few of them) I can readily endorse the comments of Geoff and MDM. I do mine because I'm a programmer and I get as much creative pleasure from building a website as I do from taking a photograph. But the amount of work involved is not something I would recommend unless you're doing it for personal satisfaction as I am. In addition to what's been mentioned above, to do a decent site that looks good and can display work in a flexible way you would also need to master CSS (which in my experience never, ever does what you expect it to do first time) and probably also maintain an SQL database. It's also frustrating when you want to do something that your hosting company doesn't provide the facility for, which is why I use a virtual server so I can be in complete control of everything. The satisfaction when you get it to do exactly what you want, especially if it's something that other sites don't do, is enormous but the time required is out of all proportion to the benefit gained unless you see it as part of your creative output as I do. Having said that, most of my own sites are now old and tired and look dated, precisely because of the need to find time that isn't there in order to update them. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvallee Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Thanks Alan. I'm convinced now. I certainly don't want to spend my life behind a desk, I've given up the day job thanks! I get a lot of joy out of my photography and digital art, I doubt that juggling code would add to the pleasure. Plan B time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
York Photographer Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 If you are wanting a website for serious business use, have it built by a pro. It needs to fully mobile compatible and optimised for your target searches. Joining it up with social media really helps with Google optimisation, and even though it's horrible to use, G+ is really important to tie it all together (Maps, Places, local searches, reviews, opening times etc etc). This is quite a good testing site, really helps target what to optimise. http://nibbler.silktide.com/en_US/reports/www.picturesbyrob.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvallee Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Thank you Rob. A ton of info in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Price Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Hi, I too have recently changed my website and went to a more simplified structure and, as you have in mind, provide links to Alamy as well as FAA. In fact I have structured the main portfolio portion taking a cue from one of the regular forum threads and select a series of pictures that come together like a flowing magazine article (at least I hope it does). For this I use Adobe Portfolio. Like Kumar mentioned having a template you can customize and that gives responsive viewing on a variety of devices is very important. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kumar Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 I'm currently redoing my own website as well (combining the blog too). Have been able to find a template that I truly adore. As soon as my site is ready enough to be shown around I will communicate the URL to you " gvallee ". It is just 'coz I hadn't yet been able to find a good enough template (with matching functionality) that I've long been postponing my redoing my erstwhile static HTML site. It should now be complete in about 30-45 days ! Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Recommend sugmug free 7 day trial also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 SmugMug.com that is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jansos Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 I have found Photoshelter to be very easy to use and not too expensive (about £6 a month for the smaller option, which is fine for me). It does use templates but there are a whole bunch to choose from and it will handle your sales for you, if you want it to. Personally I redirect eveything back to Alamy because it is too much of a hassle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 I'm unsure how to deal with watermarks. Without them, it's asking for infringements, but many feel they ruin the images. Personally I think it only ruins images if you're planning on stealing them for yourself, but not everyone agrees! Well I agree. I wouldn't dream of putting anything larger than a thumbnail online without a watermark. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 I'm unsure how to deal with watermarks. Without them, it's asking for infringements, but many feel they ruin the images. Personally I think it only ruins images if you're planning on stealing them for yourself, but not everyone agrees! Well I agree. I wouldn't dream of putting anything larger than a thumbnail online without a watermark. Alan Completely disagree. Clients, especially prospective ones, don't like obvious watermarks - it also makes the image 'untidy'. I put 1000 pixel images without watermarks on my site and if anyone wants to nick them...well that's a smaller issue than making the site less attractive to paying clients. For stock based websites, there's less requirement for not having visual interference but I can't offhand think of any commercial (photographer) sites that have watermarks. I find images get nicked from agency pages (often via image search engines) rather than from home sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickfly Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 My website is via zenfolio, a bit expensive but it has licencing and shop functionality. I just need to get decent internet and more time away from my 'normal' job to update it properly. See link below for my template based zenfolio site with £12 PA domain name on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 I'm unsure how to deal with watermarks. Without them, it's asking for infringements, but many feel they ruin the images. Personally I think it only ruins images if you're planning on stealing them for yourself, but not everyone agrees! Well I agree. I wouldn't dream of putting anything larger than a thumbnail online without a watermark. Alan Completely disagree. Clients, especially prospective ones, don't like obvious watermarks - it also makes the image 'untidy'. I put 1000 pixel images without watermarks on my site and if anyone wants to nick them...well that's a smaller issue than making the site less attractive to paying clients. For stock based websites, there's less requirement for not having visual interference but I can't offhand think of any commercial (photographer) sites that have watermarks. I find images get nicked from agency pages (often via image search engines) rather than from home sites. They are my own images, and if someone wants to buy a license to use them, they obviously won't have watermarks on. It doesn't matter how a watermark makes an image look if it isn't an image you own or have purchased a license to use, and I'm sure anyone can see what it will look like without one. I struggle to understand why any potential client would be put off an image just because of a watermark, and why the subject seems to wind up photographers so much. I agree that images are stolen via search engines, and I've had many stolen that way, and my own images on a portfolio website will also be searchable. Not using watermarks is like a shop having an open till, or products outside the shop with nothing to stop people taken them. Why make it even easier than it already is to steal something? I didn't want this to be a discussion about watermarking as I know people have strong feelings on the subject. It was just a "by the way" comment to explain why I haven't yet put my portfolio online. I may not agree with not having watermarks, but at the same time, I have to consider what may or may not put people off - Even if I don't understand why it puts them off. Geoff. The point is that if you are looking for clients, real paying for services clients, you need to have a clean site with minimal visual interference. Stock photographers trawling for clients, by all means it may make sense to have watermarks because it's not going to make much difference - try finding anyone who sells a decent amount, say £1000 a month off their own site without driving customers to it. Otherwise the price you pay is far too high. A better analogy is putting products behind bars, sure you get nobody stealing them....mainly because nobody will come in to the shop to look at the products in the first places. I suggest looking at the site of Colin Anderson, one of the top commercial stock shooters around...... a tiny little watermark in one corner is all he bothers with....and he does produce images that are widely known. Chris Clor is another example amongst many. Personally I accept a little theft as a CODB.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 I'm unsure how to deal with watermarks. Without them, it's asking for infringements, but many feel they ruin the images. Personally I think it only ruins images if you're planning on stealing them for yourself, but not everyone agrees! Well I agree. I wouldn't dream of putting anything larger than a thumbnail online without a watermark. Completely disagree Different situation, Geoff. You're a full-time professional who depends on attracting clients and commissions, and I imagine the purpose of your website is mainly to sell yourself and the work that you do, rather than to sell individual images. Your images have already been commissioned and paid for and that was the main reason for taking them. I'm a part-time stock photographer and I expect my customers to find my pics via Alamy. The purpose of my website is to display my images rather than to sell myself (and if I ever get round to it, to sell value-added products based on them). Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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