Need website help

D-50 · Aug 22, 2007

I am looking to build a website for my photography. I do not need anything wild just asimple site where I can display somework and adviertise sevices. More or less a place I can direct potential clients when they ask me for examples. I am willing to use a templatee based service to create my site but I want to be able to customize the template from font and colors to images. I have seen sights that have different photos you can use but I want my photos on the page, the other big thing is I want my webaddress to be www.rdphotography.com not www.freewebs/somethingelse/rdphotography.com . I have looked at Godaddy.com and it seems decent does anyone have any expereince with them or any other site I could use to build and host my site?

Big Mike · Aug 22, 2007

Check out this site for some tips

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

kcp · Aug 22, 2007

http://www.webhero.com/

This is who I use and they are great!

hudsonp · Aug 22, 2007

D-50 said:
I am looking to build a website for my photography. I do not need anything wild just asimple site where I can display somework and adviertise sevices. More or less a place I can direct potential clients when they ask me for examples. I am willing to use a templatee based service to create my site but I want to be able to customize the template from font and colors to images. I have seen sights that have different photos you can use but I want my photos on the page, the other big thing is I want my webaddress to be www.rdphotography.com not www.freewebs/somethingelse/rdphotography.com . I have looked at Godaddy.com and it seems decent does anyone have any expereince with them or any other site I could use to build and host my site?

i use www.ixwebhosting.com they are pretty good, reasonable prices and great service.

keith204 · Aug 22, 2007

www.site5.com $5 a month, 110 GB space, tons of tools. You can easily set up a Coppermine website that is basically a gallery. (http://www.w3Bolivar.com/cpg) that's my coppermine gallery. Then, you can add a plugin to Coppermine called MiniCMS that you can use to do the advertising/extra info you speak of.

NikonD40x@Denver · Aug 23, 2007

do they all want to be pre-paid?

D-50 · Aug 23, 2007

Can I build a site in Image Ready and then upload it to one of these hosting sites. I have been looking atthe templates for someof the site builders and they all have pictures in them that you cannot change. I would not feel right setting up a photography website and have a picture I did not take displayed anywhere on the page

dakkon76 · Aug 24, 2007

I've done tons of Web sites, I used to be a Webmaster, then a programmer, then a system administrator. I still maintain a Web server and I can add your domain name to it and lease you space for about $11/month including a few email accounts for the domain if you're interested. I can also set up a photo album that you can upload your pics to and what not... if you're interested, just pm me and we can discuss it more.

The imageready thing would probably work, but having an actually photo gallery package installed would be tons easier... then you just upload the photos to your site and don't have to deal with managing all of the pages and stuff.

ScenicBC · Aug 25, 2007

I come from a Webmaster / Developer / Search Engine Optimization background and although Image Ready makes for a nice and easy website to design, they won't bring in the traffic. I've been struggling with the best way to display my stuff, and bring traffic in from the websites to promote my photography.

After going through a few different ideas I have found the most effective photography ideas for a website are 1) a photo blog 2) a photo gallery 3) photo services page. I recently setup my photo blog in the beginning of July and its already brought in 109 Google searches, and 270+ unique visitors this month. Feel free to ask for any advice, but I do work for a Search Engine Optimization company so my stats are a little skewed. :lol:

MikeR · Aug 26, 2007

I had a site with Go Daddy but it was not good for selling photos on line. Their tech support is also fair - poor. I switched over to Exposure Manager and mapped my domain so that Exposure Manager is not part of my website name.

bpantell · Aug 29, 2007

Hi there, I can help you out with your website if you like. I am a Graphic Designer/Web Developer and I also do freelance work. My portfolio is here: (www.studiobhiphop.com). Im sure I can work out a reasonable price for a fellow photographer. Let me know if you are interested.
Hope to hear from you soon

Thanks,
Brent

jenie_penny · Aug 29, 2007

I personally think you should go with a fully customizable flash website as I find it really highlights your work and can create an immediate connection with potential clients. Below is the breakdown of what I consider the best in the industry from most expensive to least:

Bigfolio.com
great templates very professional with smooth animations
best customer service in the industry
updatable from any computer
$800ish + hosting + domain name

flashpalette.com
good templates
updatable via a program installed on your PC
$200ish + hosting + domain name

winklet.com
decent templates
updatable with limited computer/programming knowledge
$65ish + hosting + domain name

portfoliositez.com
great template design and smooth animations
fully editable from any computer
not launching until end of sept.
$10ish/mo (for template and hosting) + domain name

with all the ones above the templates are fully updatable through an admin system of code (for winklet). Bigfolio requires you host with them. For flashpalette and winklet a good hosting company is bluehost.com, they are the cheapest quality hosting that I could find for $6.95/mo. My site has yet to go down and it comes with tons of space. For domain registration the cheapest registration is at godaddy.com for $8.85/yr.

hope that helps

SergioG · Aug 29, 2007

I don't recommend GoDaddy. You can buy the domain there and just point it to another server, but I don't recommend the actual GoDaddy hosting.

You should look into Coopermine - There's pre-existing templates and all you need to do is edit the CSS. Or you can hire a designer/coder. This is just the script, not the actual hosting. It may sound obvious to some, but it appears you don't have any website making experience.

bpantell · Sep 5, 2007

SergioG said:
I don't recommend GoDaddy.

I second that emotion. Especially if it's your first time dealing with website stuff. I have been doing websites for about 3 or 4 years now and GoDaddy still is a pain in the ass. They make the sign up process as confusing as possible. The only bonus would be their pricing. If you start with the smallest package, you can upgrade as the sign up goes along and end up getting a pretty good deal. Then, once you're signed up you just access your stuff via FTP and dont have to mess with them again.

I would recommend geocities hosting. THey are good and easy to manage by yourself.

Also, if you need design services I am currently accepting freelance (web design) jobs right now and my portfolio can be viewed at www.studiobhiphop.com.

Thanks,
~B