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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Free but still professional?
Robby Gallagher, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Brookings | SD | USA | Posted: 1:35 AM on 03.29.10 |
->> I am looking to build an online portfolio aside from Smugmug. I am looking for something relatively cheap but would still make a great site to host my portfolio. I wouldn't mind it being free, but I think the chances of that are slim. So if you wouldn't mind sharing, what do you using for your portfolio?
Thanks! |
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Michael McNamara, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Nic Coury, Photographer
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Monterey | CA | | Posted: 2:56 AM on 03.29.10 |
->> Photoshelter is kind of the standard for archiving and you can make a nice little site with it if you know code and all that.
It's a hi-res online archive and has the best SEO out there and has lots of the great tools, tips, etc. if you use it right.
Before that, I just bought a URL and make a really simple gallery portfolio via Lightroom. It wasn't much, but it worked.
If you know about html and such, fully customizing stuff like Blogger and WordPress are good ways of going as well. |
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Kevin M. Cox, Photographer, Assistant
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Galveston & Houston | TX | US | Posted: 3:13 AM on 03.29.10 |
->> Robby, my primary suggestion would be to first secure a domain name you'd like to use as your portfolio/business website for the foreseeable future. Registration for a ".com" is only $10 per year so there is really no reason not to get one. Even if you aren't ready to pay for the hosting just yet, you'll still have your website name locked up so you don't have to worry about someone else grabbing it.
When I was in college I waited, being a broke college student makes everything seem expensive, and missed out on my name. It eventually ended up costing me much more to buy it from the person who beat me to it then it would have cost for me to have just been paying the yearly fee up until that point.
I also recommend (and this is maybe just me being paranoid) registering your domain name separately from your hosting provider and avoiding "package deals" that include the registration. This is simply to make it easier whenever you decide to switch hosts, your .com won't be wrapped up in a hosting package and prevents any possible funny business. |
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Robby Gallagher, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Brookings | SD | USA | Posted: 6:54 AM on 03.29.10 |
->> I am giving www.weebly.com a shot. Check it out if you want and remember... it is a work in progress...
www.robbygphotography.weebly.com
(real domain name to come shortly) |
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J.J. Alcantara, Student/Intern
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Baton Rouge | LA | USA | Posted: 2:19 PM on 03.29.10 |
->> Robby,
Great setup and design you have on your Web site.
If I may put in my two cents; might I suggest changing the font on the "Robby G Photography" banner. I would go with something simpler and one that would match the type on the rest of the page (something sans serif — Tahoma, Helvetica, Franklin Gothic, etc.) |
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Jamey Price, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Charlotte | NC | USA | Posted: 2:38 PM on 03.29.10 |
| ->> Wordpress.org is free, but the hosting is not. You can do A LOT with wordpress. I recommend it. |
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Dio Dipasupil, Photographer
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Landon Finch, Photographer
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Colorado Springs | CO | USA | Posted: 3:59 PM on 03.29.10 |
->> For a cheap option (about $60/year), I'd recommend hosting your own WordPress website. It's very functional and can easily be customized and good for SEO. If you've got a few hundred dollars to spend (one-time fee), I recommend the ProPhoto Theme to install on your WordPress site. It makes customizing your site really easy and has some great, easy to use gallery options.
http://www.prophotoblogs.com/
Here's my WordPress/ProPhoto website that I use for my senior pictures business here in Colorado Springs: http://www.719seniors.com. |
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Landon Finch, Photographer
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Colorado Springs | CO | USA | Posted: 4:01 PM on 03.29.10 |
| ->> Sorry, that was supposed to be www.719seniors.com/blog. |
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Jason Heffran, Photographer
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Natrona Heights | PA | USA | Posted: 4:08 PM on 03.30.10 |
->> Nice site. I like it.
I have used smugmug for quite awhile since all I really needed was a way for my clients to access/buy their images. I have never been too concerned with a flashy front end. When I have re-designed my site, I had more abandoned shopping carts and questions than I could imagine. Therefore, I gave up on having a website that would ever win a design competition.
I just recently decided to give PhotoReflect a shot. They charge up to 18% for fulfillment, but the buying workflow is much more user-intuitive and hand color correction is included. I like to shoot, not post-process all that much.
I made the decision when I put together a group of parents (most 50yrs and older) who I used as a mini focus group. After all, in my business model, that is who is buying.
Not sure if I'll stay with photoreflect or go back to smugmug. My "focus group" got very confused with the smugmug ordering process. And, like I said - that is the most important thing to me.
http://www.heffran.com is the URL if you want to check it out. |
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