I need to make my own website but I don't know where to start

[c.cloudwalker]

I totally agree that you have to start somewhere. However you also have to understand that you will NOT make any money for quite a while. Most new businesses fail because they are under-funded. The owners didn't plan enough cash to carry them long enough with very little business. When I went "pro" as an independent photojournalist, my first sale came the 8th month... and I had expenses to take care of all that time

Some of the problem is directly related to the type of business you are starting but some is just the way it is with any new business.

I'm in the process of starting 2 companies right now. One is a retail company and is sorely needed where we are going so that it will start generating revenues very quickly. Yet our business plan (very conservative as it should be) is telling us we are going to carry the company financially for about 5 months.

The second one is a graphic design company "kinda thing" and we are expecting to carry it for about a year, even though we are going to use my address book (I know a lot of potential big spenders through my studio) to help it along. We still need to prove ourselves and it's not done overnight.

Anyway, this brings me back to the OP's question.

One of the things this 2nd company will be doing is websites... Our starting price for what is called here in France a "shop-window" site (it is a site from which you do not buy, just look at services and/or products offered) is 2,500 euros (about $3,500.) Believe it or not we are just a bit over average. Our starting price for a site from which you buy is 3,500 euros. Multiply that by 4 and we guarantee you'll be on the first page of 50% of Google searches on the subject but it also involves monthly fees for monitoring the site which are not low.

There are millions of sites, most of which are never seen by anyone other than the owner. You want to be seen, pay a pro. And I don't mean pay the cousin who does a lot of websites. I mean, do a whole lot of research into the results designers are getting.

In websites, you get what you pay for. Design your own and, if you get any return on it, it will be pure damn luck. Prices are somewhat lower in the US, by the way.

Good luck to you.

 

[tirediron]

If someone telling me they have EVERYTHING to run a legitimate photography business the first time they take $$ for their service, I call it BS.

I suspect that's true in 99.99999999999 1/2% of the cases.

Cant mix decimals and fractions john

I just did!

 

[yo13dawg]

Smugmug user here as well. When I first signed up it was between smugmug and zenfolio. I was very happy with the smugmug support community and the ability to customize my site to my liking. I think there are other sites out there such as photoshelter that are suppose to have better SEO capabilities, however the cost is a lot higher.

I believe there are also sites out there that have no up-front fee and just take a percentage of sales but I don't know of any off the top of my head. You can also join a photo community like deviantart where you can opt to sell your photos as well.

 

[IByte]

I'd say kick everything to curb, bring back good ol' geocities with some GIFs and bring back some retro flavor...BAM!

 

[Robin Usagani]

OMG OMG .. geocities! hahahaha I totally forgot about that.

I'd say kick everything to curb, bring back good ol' geocities with some GIFs and bring back some retro flavor...BAM!

 

[HughGuessWho]

I'd say kick everything to curb, bring back good ol' geocities with some GIFs and bring back some retro flavor...BAM!

Yeah. With blinking marques!!!

 

[IByte]

Yeah. With blinking marques!!!

With polka dotted background and mini strobe lighted gifs.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

One thing I forgot: I wouldn't know where to start building a website either


We are five partners in this venture I was talking about and I'm in charge of the visual aspect of things here. I will not touch the technical aspect of the websites at all. Two of the partners are the ones to do that part and that is the way it should be.

YOU do what you are good at and you take/hire the best person possible to do the stuff you CANNOT DO!

 

[Kbarredo]

Word Press has lots of nice layouts too. You would need someone that knows a little web design to customize it but the results can be very nice. They have some really nice layouts for photography websites.

I was looking at that last night. So here is my plan on a website. Since I don't know squat about coding. I'm going to register my domain name and use hostgator as a hosting sight. Then I was going to use wordpress to create it. I've seen lots of nice themes meant just for photography on it.
Lol holy I go to bed with only 4 answer on here and wake up with a few pages.

 

[c.cloudwalker]

Word Press has lots of nice layouts too. You would need someone that knows a little web design to customize it but the results can be very nice. They have some really nice layouts for photography websites.

I was looking at that last night. So here is my plan on a website. Since I don't know squat about coding. I'm going to register my domain name and use hostgator as a hosting sight. Then I was going to use wordpress to create it. I've seen lots of nice themes meant just for photography on it.
Lol holy I go to bed with only 4 answer on here and wake up with a few pages.

Yeah that's funny.

It is even funnier that you are still talking about doing it yourself.

:lmao:

 

[Kbarredo]

I used to build my own sites using DreamWeaver and they worked just fine, it helped having a good graphic background and I kept it all simple. I use Photoshelter now as it works best for my online sales, they have a good set of templates and it's easy to set up.

The Op is an amateur, has no registered business, or cards or web name. Photographer or photography, as usual, will be added to their name and that will magically turn them into a professional, the web site will complete the illusion...and another one is born.

Do you know that I haven't registered my company name? You have to start from somewhere do you not? I have already shelled out $300 to register my business and another $100 to print out some business cards. I may not be the best photographer but before my divorce I helped my wife launch her daycare business that made 50k net a year. I was in charge of the advertising and paperwork. Not bad for a 23 year old kid.
Just please don't assume I don't know anything about how to run a business. I would personally hire a web designer but it is currently out of my budget. Plus you would have to keep calling that web designer to update your sight.
One more thing just because I don't now how to make a website doesn't mean I don't know how to use a camera properly.

 

[Kbarredo]

Word Press has lots of nice layouts too. You would need someone that knows a little web design to customize it but the results can be very nice. They have some really nice layouts for photography websites.

I was looking at that last night. So here is my plan on a website. Since I don't know squat about coding. I'm going to register my domain name and use hostgator as a hosting sight. Then I was going to use wordpress to create it. I've seen lots of nice themes meant just for photography on it.
Lol holy I go to bed with only 4 answer on here and wake up with a few pages.

Yeah that's funny.

It is even funnier that you are still talking about doing it yourself.

:lmao:

You know what, it doesn't matter if I am doing it myself at the moment. Maybe in the near future I can hire a web designer to do it for me but today having my own website is better than telling someone to look at my facebook. Do you have a thousand dollars you can lend me.
Ever since I was laid off my job I've had more time to focus on my photography. Every client I have had has offered to pay me. Now I know they may not have a critical eye like other photogs but there were some photogs here that gave me some good advice. You're ready to charge when people want to pay you.

 

[Robin Usagani]

dude.. seriously.. zenfolio.com.

 

[camz]

Word Press has lots of nice layouts too. You would need someone that knows a little web design to customize it but the results can be very nice. They have some really nice layouts for photography websites.

I was looking at that last night. So here is my plan on a website. Since I don't know squat about coding. I'm going to register my domain name and use hostgator as a hosting sight. Then I was going to use wordpress to create it. I've seen lots of nice themes meant just for photography on it.
Lol holy I go to bed with only 4 answer on here and wake up with a few pages.

OP, I also recommend wordpress. It's probaby has the most friendly plugins that will boost your SEO. Facebook plugins for comments, s1, s2(content aware stuff), searches, etc etc. Being that having both static and dynamic content is a solid approach, if I were you just get the blog/website template - there are templates out there that are a website and a blog in one. It'll be cost effective that way for you.

Regarding hiring web designers, I've met decent ones and got quoted from as low as $400 up to the many thousands. Depends on how much work on the design and SEO. If you are not an expert I would wait and save a little bit more money and hire someone with good references to design your site(if you buy a template it should be cheaper). I'm sure you can find someone that will do it right and be within budget.

 

[Kbarredo]

dude.. seriously.. zenfolio.com.

I already started on zenfolio but I would eventually like to develop my own. It's a good start for now. It definitely looks more professional than "you want to see my photography skills, look at my facebook and add me as a friend".