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PhotoShelter + WordPress integration - examples, opinions?
Philip Bowen, Photographer
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Kampala | UG | Uganda | Posted: 2:35 PM on 10.26.09 |
->> Hi-
It's time for me to get serious with PhotoShelter and I'm interested in their integration with Graph Paper Press WordPress themes. I have both Blogger and WordPress blogs, but I think I'd want to create a new blog that connects to PhotoShelter - instead of bouncing people to another domain.
Anyone here have any specific experience(s) to relate? Or examples that I could see? They point to Brad Mangin, Jack Gruber and Rod Mar, so I've seen those.
Thanks for any input!
-Phil |
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Ed Mulholland, Photographer
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Pompton Lakes | NJ | USA | Posted: 2:50 PM on 10.26.09 |
->> I love it so far...Easy to set up, and I've had some fun with it...
http://edmulholland.com |
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Thomas Boyd, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 3:58 PM on 10.26.09 |
->> http://www.thomasboyd.net/
I'm pretty happy with it. I still have a bunch of little things I want to do to it, but the basic structure is there.
I wouldn't put it in the category of easy...at least for me. But, if you know what you are doing and have someone who can help it goes fast.
Tom |
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Brad Mangin, Photographer
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Pleasanton | CA | USA | Posted: 10:23 PM on 10.26.09 |
->> Ed is kicking ass with his! Nice going Ed!
Boyd- c'mon- mine was easy- but maybe I had a little help from Grover :-)
Philip- I can't say enough good things about my new site and what it has done for my SEO in three short weeks to promote my archive!
www.manginphotography.net |
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Bruce Ely, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 11:06 PM on 10.26.09 |
->> You're welcome Boyd ...
I actually had my first sale on Photoshelter today through the integration with my blog.
http://sidelines.bruceely.com |
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Ian L. Sitren, Photographer
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Palm Springs | CA | USA | Posted: 11:31 PM on 10.26.09 |
->> Great photos Bruce!
Brad, I told Grover I would get him a case of Tequila, but I think you were his one and only :)
But all kidding aside, I am very impressed with this new PhotoShelter integration. |
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Thomas Boyd, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 1:08 PM on 10.27.09 |
->> Yes, Bruce, Thank You very much. You were very helpful. Speaking of that, you have a an hour or so this week? In trade, I'll help you change your sportsshooter icon.
Brad: Yeah, I know. He won't return my emails.
Ian: You couldn't afford a CASE of the tequila Grover drinks. I could't afford one liter!
Update: Andrew Fingerman from PhotoShelter emailed me with some help as well. |
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Craig Mitchelldyer, Photographer, Assistant
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Portland & Orange County | OR and CA | USA | Posted: 1:35 PM on 10.27.09 |
| ->> I can't even afford a shot of the stuff Grover drinks! And it's easier than Boyd says, he's just not very good with 'dem 'puters. |
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Philip Bowen, Photographer
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Kampala | UG | Uganda | Posted: 2:37 PM on 10.27.09 |
->> Hey everyone, thanks for the input!
From looking at some of the examples here as well as others that were sent to me, my personal preference would be to have less on the home page. Here's where I'm coming from, BTW http://photo.philsgood.com/c/philsgood
I think I'd want the home page to have a more obvious funnel to the commerce part of my site, and maybe a blog or latest news link that goes to the integrated blog section at mydomain/blog and has that more magazine-y look.
Any reasons not to do this or that it wouldn't work? I don't want Allen yelling at me for taking content off my home page and wrecking my SEO... :)
Thanks again for the feedback. It really helps a lot.
-Phil |
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Angel Valentin, Photographer
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RIO GRANDE | PR | Puerto Rico | Posted: 7:21 AM on 10.28.09 |
->> I have a dumb question; I have a regular free Wordpress blog liked to my website. Can that be replaced with a Graph Paper Theme page and have that be a revolving updated blog linked to my PShelter in my site instead of the static blog ?
I'd like to show my archive and recent galleries in a more interactive way.
Thanks
AV |
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Fredrik Naumann, Photographer
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Oslo | Oslo | Norway | Posted: 8:39 AM on 10.28.09 |
->> Ed says "Easy to set up, and I've had some fun with it"
Despite the marketing and apparent template based set up I don't find it very easy :-( I still have problems coming to grips with the set up, just reading about it. I could be slow,of course, I guess it depends on the skills you have. And I lack...
Wouldn't mind paying someone a bit to do the customization. But got a quote for 3.000 USD which to me implied it is a pretty big deal to integrate a PS account, a front page and a blog. And beyond my budget. For those who have done this I'd be curios as to how much time (and/or money) you have spent to upgrade. |
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Allen Murabayashi, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 10:47 AM on 10.28.09 |
->> $3,000?!?
most people spend a few hundred to get everything integrated.
save your coins for a leica m9. |
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Thad Allender, Photographer
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Washington | D.C. | USA | Posted: 7:59 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> Full disclosure: I'm not exactly objective on this subject, but I do have some answers for a couple questions posted above:
@Ed, Thomas, Brad, Bruce - Beautiful stuff guys.
@Phillip - The cool thing about integrating is that you have total creative control over the homepage design. If all you want is a slideshow, you simply only turn on the slideshow on your theme options page in Wordpress. If you want to feature a fullscreen video, you only turn it on. If you want a "magazine-style" front page, you turn it on. If you have no sense of design, then you turn all homepage "apps" on....seen it before....don't recommend it. ;-)
The point being: You have total creative control over your homepage design without touching a single line of code or having to hire a web designer/developer.
@Angel - You can export your www.wordpress.com blog and import it into a www.visualsociety.com site. More on import/export here:
http://codex.wordpress.org/Administration_Panels#Import
@Fredrik - Yowza....Please heed Allen's advice. |
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Israel Shirk, Photographer, Assistant
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Boise | ID | US | Posted: 8:20 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> Angel-
You can't use custom themes on a free wordpress.com blog. |
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Gerry Melendez, Photographer
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Columbia | SC | USA | Posted: 9:06 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> Not fully integrated yet. But I liked the fullscreen theme that graph paper offered. Hopefully they will include it soon for integration with photoshelter.
http://www.gerrymelendez.com/ |
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Thad Allender, Photographer
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Washington | D.C. | USA | Posted: 9:37 PM on 10.28.09 |
| ->> @Gerry - Fullscreen Pro will soon be released and it's going to be a seriously interesting theme. Images will take up 100% of the webpage (even when resizing the browser window) or you can have the homepage thumbnail grid as seen on our free Fullscreen theme. Like Modularity, you will also have a ton of design options to choose from to make customization a breeze. We have it on our list of themes to integrate. |
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Ian L. Sitren, Photographer
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Palm Springs | CA | USA | Posted: 9:42 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> Well I have been trying to sign up at Visual Society since yesterday when I also sent them a help request. It will not let me get past the sign up screen.
Not happy with that or that over a day has gone by without a response. |
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Gerry Melendez, Photographer
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Columbia | SC | USA | Posted: 10:55 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> Thad,
Thanks for the update! I look forward to checking it out once the theme is integrated. By the way great customer service over at graph paper. I found most of the answers I needed on the forums. |
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Armando Solares, Photographer
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Englewood | FL | USA | Posted: 10:59 PM on 10.28.09 |
->> OK - I am going to admit this but I am clueless about all this. Help! I have read a lot of the info but I'm still not clear as to what the cost to this will be.
I have a website that I am happy with. Having said that I am looking at other options to mainly reduce costs and add a blog. Right now I pay one fee for my website which includes hosting and easy to handle updates etc..
I also pay a fee to Photoshelter for my archive, client galleries and my web store. I don't have a blog yet.
I am trying to see if Photoshelter and wordpress intergration would save me money. I've wanted to start a blog for a while so I see this as the perfect opportunity, but like I said, is this going to save me money?
I like the idea of having a website, blog and archive all integrated.
I noticed at wordpress that I would have to pay for web hosting - $6 to $10 a month depending on which company I use.
Then Graph Paper Press charges $99 per year to be a member to use its themes and then Visual Society is $199 per year. Is Visual Society even needed?
So if I were to integrate my photoshelter archive and galleries with wordpress, including web hosting, graph paper press and visual society my savings would only be approx $33 per year.
Am I missing something?
The only advantage I see is that I would have a blog and my archive would be available and integrated.
Please someone explain this to me, what do I really need? and what will the cost be? --- thanks! |
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Thomas Boyd, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 12:49 AM on 10.29.09 |
->> Visual Society is not needed but has some nice advantages. They make it pretty easy to set up hosting a wordpress site.
PhotoShelter has a special deal making GPP even more affordable with a coupon code.
If you dropped your neonsky website and went with PhotoShelter you would only pay your PhotoShelter fee and hosting fee. But what you get is an html website that's much more effective with SEO, iPhone compatible, e-commerce enabled, searchable, and totally integrated with your blog. It's one stop shopping.
The downside is that some argue that editors are more accustomed to a flash based website that is the industry standard and they don't like trying to figure out new websites. The GPP+Photoshelter solution may not be for you if you are dependent on using your website to showcase your work for editors by using direct marketing through AdBase or similar services. You have to decide if this is best for your circumstances.
On the other hand, editors probably won't find you if they are looking for you. And, they most certainly won't find your pictures. The ultimate solution, if you can afford it, is to do as Brad Mangin does and have both. He has his livebooks.com site for showcasing his work and the other as an ecommerce, SEO, html website so editors/customers can find and purchase his photos. He has a valuable archive of major league baseball images that are found through online searches.
I think that over time, editors will be more open to wordpress sites as more and more photographers move to html based sites. More editors will rely on search engines to find your images.
I'm a newspaper staff photographer who also shoots weddings, commercial, and editorial. The GPP works pretty well for me. I like Bruce's example. He shot a cross country meet. He submitted the work to Sports Illustrated and sold them a Leading Off double-truck. He then put the photos on Photoshelter with all kinds of good metadata, activated them for sale, and woke up in the morning and counted his money. That's just how Bruce rolls. http://sidelines.bruceely.com/
I already relied heavily on Photoshelter for all my display and image sales. For me, the GPP integration is only costing the additional amount of hosting and domain management.
My biggest hurdle now is changing small things in the site to further customize the look and functionality. I want to add a blog roll, and an archive page.
I hope that answers your questions.
http://www.thomasboyd.net/ |
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Thad Allender, Photographer
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Washington | D.C. | USA | Posted: 1:04 AM on 10.29.09 |
->> @Ian - Just responded to your email. If you aren't receiving your activation email, the problem is likely either:
1. The email is caught in your spam filter
2. Mistyped email on signup. This happens more often than you might think.
Please respond to my email if you have further questions.
@Armando - I can only speak about Wordpress, Graph Paper Press and Visual Society stuff. First off, Wordpress is free. The vast majority of themes at Graph Paper Press are free, but our best theme designs (including those that integrate) are for paying subscribers. This includes personal support and video tutorials. Visual Society is free, too, but a PRO account adds some nice features.
You don't need both Graph Paper Press and Visual Society accounts. Go with GPP if you have a Web host and plan to install Wordpress on your server. Go with Visual Society if you don't have a Web host or you don't want to deal with installing Wordpress.
Here are two possible scenarios, both of which integrate with PhotoShelter:
1. Do It Yourself (self hosting) = $289/year
-Web hosting at MediaTemple.net: $20/mo.
-GPP subscription: $49/quarter (cancel anytime, use/keep themes forever)
-Wordpress (free, but requires a little knowledge for installing)
2. Visual Society = FREE or $199/year
-VS hosts your stuff
-All GPP themes come pre-installed
-Wordpress comes pre-installed
Hope this helps Armando. If you have further questions, please get in touch via email.
In all seriousness, I'm tired of seeing photographers taken for thousands of dollars just to get a Web site built. This was why I gravitated to Wordpress in 2005. I'm hopeful that we can help change this. |
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Armando Solares, Photographer
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Englewood | FL | USA | Posted: 2:04 AM on 10.29.09 |
| ->> Thank you Thad and Thomas, I will be looking in to this in the very near future and I will then decide which way to go. By the Thomas I really like your site and your work. I had seen the integration and I really like it. Perhaps I'll pick your brains again very soon, Thanks. |
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Thomas Boyd, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 2:10 AM on 10.29.09 |
->> Thanks, shoot me any email any time. I'll do my best to help.
Thanks Thad. I've been beating my head against the wall for years on this website problem. I've been getting a lot of good feedback on my new GPP site. I'm really getting the hang of updating it.
I really appreciate what you're doing and I look forward to more themes.
tom |
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Chris Jordan, Photographer
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Bay Area | CA | United States | Posted: 1:40 PM on 10.29.09 |
->> I just want to use this thread to thank Thad for all the work he has done, both to help photographers and to push Wordpress theme design to a new level.
I also wanted to add that you can definitely use Graph Paper Press to make sites that look more like a traditional livebooks or neonsky site. I used the F8-lite theme to build my portfolio site, which I have had hosted with nearlyfreespeech.net and has cost me less than $20 for one year of use.
http://www.chrisjordanphotography.com
I used a magazine theme of his for the redesign of my newspaper's multimedia site -
http://photo.dailyrepublic.net
Now I am trying to convince my bosses to pay for access to the Graph Paper Press customer service. I recently scored a cool freelance gig, partially based on the fact that the editor really liked my site, and when I get paid I am definitely signing up for the all-access Graph Paper Press-pass.
Anyway, Thad is the man and Graph Paper Press totally rocks. Thanks for all of your hard work!
Chris
P.S. Thomas and Bruce - your sites look killer. great photographers + great design = great websites |
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Ian L. Sitren, Photographer
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Palm Springs | CA | USA | Posted: 2:25 PM on 10.29.09 |
->> Thad...
I replied to you this morning. Neither is the case.
ILS |
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Derick Hingle, Photographer
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Hammond | LA | USA | Posted: 2:52 PM on 10.29.09 |
->> I'm about to integrate my website, hopefully getting a little help with the setup from a web design friend, updating with the integration features should be pretty simple once everything is set up right?
So if I'm correct I need web hosting, a graph paper press template, and then install following the instructions provided by photoshelter, I hope to launch mine in early November, I'm looking for something similar to what Brad has done with his. |
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Philip Bowen, Photographer
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Kampala | UG | Uganda | Posted: 3:59 PM on 11.10.09 |
->> Hey everyone, thanks for the input and discussion.
I jumped on board yesterday and now have a Graph Paper Press blog. So far, I've kept my old home page and PhotoShelter archive entry page that I had before, publishing the GPP theme to /blog and basically just using the same background to give it all some continuity.
I'm looking forward to spending more time customizing the look - it's definitely just a start at this point. Will be happy to share my experiences with any interested parties...
http://philsgood.com homepage
http://philsgood.com/blog GPP modularity-themed blog
-Phil |
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Ed Mulholland, Photographer
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Pompton Lakes | NJ | USA | Posted: 5:31 PM on 11.10.09 |
->> Phil,
Looks good, took me no time to get mine up initially, like yours, then spent time when I had it to tweak it here and there, still tweak now and again. Good luck, have fun with it...it's a great setup...
Ed
http://edmulholland.com |
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Paul Gallaher, Photographer
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Temecula | CA | USA | Posted: 5:55 PM on 11.10.09 |
->> I went with Visual Society + PhotoShelter and registered my domain with GoDaddy. I've been looking for an easy and affordable way to integrate my blog and website for years. GPP and PS finally provided the solution.
Check out my website at http://paulgallaher.com/.
Thad and the guys at PhotoShelter have been very helpful in answering my questions. With their occasional help, I've been able to do everything myself without hiring a developer. |
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Dave Collyer, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | USA | Posted: 8:02 PM on 11.10.09 |
| ->> Is the 'On Assignment' template ready to integrate with Photoshelter (without using Visual Society)? That's all I am waiting for... |
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Derick Hingle, Photographer
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Hammond | LA | USA | Posted: 8:53 PM on 11.10.09 |
| ->> Ok, I guess I'm not so good with the web stuff, I'm having problems with the photoshelter integration working correctly, I have not had time to work on it much I'll probably have to call customer service to straighten out my issues, I really like what the daily republic has for their site, I'm working with the template Brad is using, hope to have time to work on it this week. |
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Kent Nishimura, Student/Intern
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Honolulu | HI | USA | Posted: 3:32 AM on 11.11.09 |
| ->> @dave collyer - same here! hehe. |
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Thad Allender, Photographer
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Washington | D.C. | USA | Posted: 5:44 PM on 11.13.09 |
| ->> Hi Derick & Kent - Shoot me an email at info [at] graphpaperpress [dot] com and I'll have someone from GPP help you out. |
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Andy Rogers, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Seattle | WA | | Posted: 12:41 PM on 11.14.09 |
->> Hey everyone, I've been working on redesigning our blog to look more like our portfolio site on NeonSky (which we get lots of compliments on) With Thad and co.'s help on their support forum, I think we're getting pretty close. It can be done...I feel like I've begun to learn a new language in the past week or so, tweaking code in style sheets and .php files.
Here's the work in progress: www.redboxpictures.com/blog and the NeonSky site: www.redboxweddings.com
Next hurdle is integrating with Photoshelter. So far, I haven't had much luck accessing our PS archive through the Wordpress dashboard. Hope to find some answers here. --Andy |
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Derick Hingle, Photographer
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Hammond | LA | USA | Posted: 2:41 PM on 11.14.09 |
| ->> Thad, thanks for the offer, I'll shoot you an email as soon as I have some time to work on my page again! |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 5:16 PM on 11.14.09 |
->> Andy,
Love the site, only nitpick I have is when I click on the site it re-sizes my browser. I hate that with a passion. |
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Andy Rogers, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Seattle | WA | | Posted: 5:23 PM on 11.14.09 |
| ->> Thanks for that feedback Matthew. I assume you're talking about the NeonSky site? |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 6:15 PM on 11.14.09 |
->> Yeah, the blog is wonderful. Love the layout and look of the blog as well.
I just wish the main site did not resize my browser (firefox) |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 6:16 PM on 11.14.09 |
->> Andy,
Okay it seems that it resizes my firefox, IE8 but not the latest Chrome. |
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Andy Rogers, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Seattle | WA | | Posted: 7:03 PM on 11.14.09 |
| ->> Thanks again Matthew. An update: Thanks to this thread, I realized I was using the original Photoshelter plugin rather than the newest version. Upgraded plugin and it seems to work like a charm. Now I need to figure out how to tweak the style on the Photoshelter galleries I import to the blog. |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 5:20 PM on 11.15.09 |
->> By the way, Neosky question...
How long does it usually take for them to return an email?
They have zero pricing information on their website so I emailed them. |
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Andy Rogers, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Seattle | WA | | Posted: 8:05 PM on 11.17.09 |
| ->> They're pretty good about getting back to you. I'd expect a return email within 24 hrs. Once you're in touch, you can call them with questions. I'll admit though, the back-and-forth process of customizing the site and absence of any kind of "instruction manual" (for lack of a better word) that details all your options is a shortcoming of Neon Sky, IMO. Let us know when they respond to you and what you think. |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 12:17 AM on 11.18.09 |
->> Andy,
You were right, I think it being the weekend didn't help. Come monday they had an email to me that morning.
I decided to not go with them but their prices were solid. I think sometime next year I will eventually make the plung, but right now I am going to stick with what I have.
http://www.801images.com |
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Scott MacDonald, Photographer
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