Help making a photography website!??!!

[JaJaPumBA]

Ok Im fairly new to phtography but im better then I was a year ago so Im trying to veture out and do some cheap portrait photography to kinda get my name out there and also for some practice. I want to make a website to kinda show what im going to offer... Any suggestions on where I could go to start???

 

[Big Mike]

Any suggestions on where I could go to start

Check out plenty of other photographer's web sites. Make note of things you do like and things you don't. Look for inspiration.

 

[JaJaPumBA]

where do i need to go to start one?! anyone know where are some good places to start one? I looked on Yahoo but their sites are free and they look crappy to me...but i guess cause that is because its free lol...but I know Im going to have to pay something to have a nice site and im ready and willing

 

[Big Mike]

Maybe this link will be helpful

http://www.2createawebsite.com/index.html

 

[keith204]

JaJaPumBA,

I am a web desginer, and would recommend not going the free way. Getting a free setup will greatly limit your abilities now and in the future.

you'll need A) a web domain (www.JaJaPumBA.com or whatever), B) a web host (place to store your stuff), and C) a website

A and B) www.site5.com is who I would recommend. I have my websites hosted through several places, and site5 is not only my favorite, but the cheapest. It's also been around for the longest (since 98). You can get like 110 GIGS of space for 5 bucks/month. That's for hosting(B), and then it's $17 for 2 years of a domain(A).

C) Get a web designer, or go to www.monstertemplates.com to get a template to work with, or invest in Dreamweaver which makes it rather simple to get a website up, if you have basic knowledge of HTML. Dreamweaver is pricey though. However, every now and then, you can get dreamweaver licenses that fell off a truck... I'm not recommending this for obvious reasons.

I have www.w3Bolivar.com which is a very simple website hosted through site5.com.

Maybe you'll want to look into just a coppermind photo gallery, like this one http://www.w3Bolivar.com/cpg. This is where I put all my race photos. You'll still have to do steps A and B, but you can plug in this gallery to your website then very easily.

 

[keith204]

there IS a good 'free' host that I know of. www.doteasy.com

You'll still have to build your website, but you get an ad-free domain, that is actually your domain. Trick is, the HOST is free, but you have to pay for the domain ($25/year) not bad. I have a few SUPER SIMPLE websites hosted with this. It DOESN'T give any PHP/MYSQL functionality, so you are limited to HTML/CSS/JS. However, the price is reasonable.

 

[JaJaPumBA]

thank you guys a lot im going to look into it this evening!!!!

 

[Pepsidude]

Hey,
Investing in the domain and hosting is a must. It's not too expensive, you can get a major domain (.com, .net, .org, etc.) for about seven dollars. Hosting costs a little more but not too much. I'd suggest searching around at the plans at godaddy.com I've been using them for quite a while and they're always reliable.

As for the site design, just browse around for various freelance designers. They're a dime a dozen. I know enough html, css, and javascript for my needs but I know a lot of freelancers and they're just as good as the companies for half the cost. Some sites like http://www.freelancedesigners.com/ will help you find the one you need or you could go to some of the company sites for their free online quotes.

 

[Orrin]

One precaution about posting your photos on the web!

Use SMALL photos, no larger that 500-600 pixels on the long side
and save them with a moderate quality jpeg. This will somewhat
discourage the "image thieves" on the net. The 'right-click' can be
disabled but a determined hacker can still get the photo since most
all images displayed in a users browser is also written into his cache.

Also, the robots.txt entry:

User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Disallow: /

will keep them from being cataloged in google images!