Taking Me Seriously

[creative_one]

Hi Everyone,
Would people take me very seriously as a photographer if i just had a photography website on a freee website host with a subdomain?
Is there any photographers out there that are as serious as me but don't have the money to spend on a website & a domain name?

thanks

 

[PhotoXopher]

Domain name = about $10/year and you could point it to your free space.

I've used mydomain.com for years to register domain names.

 

[Big Mike]

Some people might still take you seriously, but it certainly won't help.

One job should cover the costs of web hosting & domain name for a year...so if you can't afford a that, it tells people that you aren't good enough to get one job.

 

[loopy]

Personally, no I would not.

I use 1&1 Internet Inc. It's very affordable. $3.99/mth includes a domain name and hosting.

 

[eric-holmes]

This would be fun to do but I have no idea about it. So you have to register a domain and then pay to have it hosted? It appears that 1&1 is the cheapest. Are there differences in the quality of who hosts it.

 

[loopy]

This would be fun to do but I have no idea about it. So you have to register a domain and then pay to have it hosted? It appears that 1&1 is the cheapest. Are there differences in the quality of who hosts it.

1&1 includes a domain with hosting cost. There are differences in the quality of hosting companies, but I've never had any problems with 1&1. I've experienced no downtime, and the odd time I've needed support it's been great.

They also have a very user friendly control panel.

 

[UUilliam]

Use Squarespace.com and use the purchasecode: scamschool (it is legit)
when purchasng, this takes 10% off your order!!
only costs $8 p/month which i am sure you can afford, only 1gb webspace though, if you need more, its only an extra $1 per gb
and a godaddy domain name for 2 years is about $10

 

[SpeedTrap]

No, I would not take you seriously and the clients you want would not either.
Lets say you were going to hire a professional (Doctor, Lawyer, Ect) while looking you visit their websites.
Both are well written and have all the relative information you need but one has adds for unrelated services (google adds) and pop up adds, the other is just for the services you require, What would you think?

 

[craig]

Taking the cheap way is never a good idea. Your work deserves the finest money can buy.

Competition in photography is tough. You do not get a second chance. Get a second or third job; do what ever it takes to fully display your work.

In a perfect world buyers will only be looking at your work. Realistically if you are going for big budget shoots the smugmug account or whatever gets thrown out in 2 seconds by art directors.

Let's hear some specifics and we can help further.

)'(

 

[jbylake]

Check around for prices for a dedicated server. I have 2 leased, for about $20.00 per month. Both used for business purposes, but not photography related. The domain names cost about 10 bucks a year to register and maintain. You'd more than likely only need one server.

All of those constant pop-up's you get for erectile dysfunction, weight loss ads, colon cleansers and the good lord knows what else, will be annoying, and really detract from your site.

Also, the "creativeone.com" domain address will look more professional than something like freebie.websites.@somedomain/adware/freeware/creativeone.com.

You'll likely only need one server/one name. If your website is fairly static, and you use relatively little band width, you can get by for about 10 bucks a month for a linux based server, or about a dollar or two more for a Microsoft based server with any number of options for database', mailboxes, etc...etc..

If you went to interview for a high level management job, wearing the same old worn bluejeans that you wore to paint your house in the day before, what would peoples perception of you be?

In the 'Net world, your website is going to be your potential market's first impression. In your case it (your website) should shout out "serious professional", from it's looks, layout and content, to begin with.

Lastly, I am not a pro photographer, but as mentioned above, one paying job should cover the cost for a year, and it (website and associated costs) are normally written off as a business expense. I know ours are.

Good luck to you.
Sincerely,

J.:mrgreen:

 

[msf]

I have a domain name, that I have linked to my smugmug account. But the problem is I dont want to pay the extra money to upgrade my smugmug account so I can have dns support *think thats the name* so the domain name is always visible at the top of the page. After they type in the address and hit enter, it disapears and shows SmugMug Photo & Video Sharing. You look better here. which I now isnt the most professional looking. But at least I have a domain name to put on busines cards, etc.

The main thing I dont like about this is when I type in my name into google, my domain name doesnt show up. Just my smugmug eventually, mostly my craigslist ads first, and some other stuff.

Im not sure if this is correct or not, but I think you can hook up a domain name to google's blogger for free. This I will have to double check. Then I can link to my smugmug account for people to view the client accounts and portfolio's.

After reading this thread, I will have to think about that $4 a month hosting. I tried one of those free hosting sites for another project, but that ended up showing popups after a while, even though the sign up page stated that they wont show any advertising.

I suppose it looks really unprofessional to have a blogger for a main page? : )