Author Topic: Where to create my photography website? (Read 11072 times)

EmberMike · « **Reply #25 on:** November 09, 2014, 12:18 »

I use a self-hosted WordPress site with a purchased theme called Snazzy from ThemeBeans. It's a really solid theme. Stable, easy to use, really nice all-around. I've built themes from scratch before, but this time around I really just wanted something simple to use. And I certainly can't code a theme like the pros do, so it's well worth spending a few bucks for a really well-done theme. Check the link in my signature to see the site.

It's more of a design portfolio right now, which is where I'm focusing my work more than microstock. But you can still get the idea of how it works as a portfolio. I'd highly recommend ThemeBeans. They make some really great stuff for photographers and designers. I think they have the best selection of portfolio themes I've seen.

Dook · « **Reply #26 on:** November 09, 2014, 13:23 »

Nice work and website. Which Photodeck template do you use?

Quote from: jorgophotography on November 09, 2014, 01:11

Similarly to Paulie, after a little research I was toying between Photoshelter - Photodeck, Graphic Paper Press – Ktools and CMS account.

I ended up running with Graphic Paper Press's Stock Photography Theme (due to price) and chose Photodeck over Photoshelter because of the option of payment via paypal.

If I were to be honest, I would say hold off on the Graphic Paper Press site. The site appearance looks good to its credit but is very buggy at this stage, the upload (processing of images) is slow and frequently drops images and the keyword search functionality is limited. I contacted the tech support on a site glitch issue that (uncannily) struck exactly when i hit the 4000 image mark and they brushed me off to my hosting provider (who stated it was a template .php script error lol). I ended up canning the project (for the time being), might have another go when I have a little more time in the future. Hopefully by then the bugs will be fixed.

On the other hand, can't speak praises any higher for the Photodeck site and the backend upload/categorise. The people behind Photodeck are truly awesome.

MarcvsTvllivs · « **Reply #27 on:** November 09, 2014, 14:04 »

I am also about to finally make a "real" website and am torn between Photoshelter and Smugmug. Can someone comment on which site they prefer? Am I under the right impression that Smugmug is a bit of a "friendlier" company? After all the evil that is happening in stock I'd hate to sign up with one more group of less-than-wholesome people...

ann · « **Reply #28 on:** November 09, 2014, 14:42 »

@wordplanet - Your answer is so comprehensive & helpful, that there's no way I can thank you enough or address all, but here's a bit:

1) '...with PS6 and CC's content aware fill I'm considering whether it's even worth keeping the watermark on my large photos...."

Though, like you, I do magazine work, I feel most visitors (not counting media organizations) to my site don't use PS6/CC's content aware cloning, so my awful center watermark is still likely helping deter a decent percent from taking screenshots to then print, post online... (Yes, they're likely taking screenshots for offline viewing, emailing to pals.)

On related note - Shortly after I was notified some images were selected for Lattice (before it went live) I opted out, due to its lack of watermarks, and then posted requests on PS's forum to add option to watermark.

2) A homepage with photos that are totally randomly populated won't fit my particular needs, so I'll have to pass on using template similar to yours, alas. ( If I could pick certain ones to appear at start, that would work, but I don't have coding skills, nor motivation to learn them, necessary to alter template default, if that's possible.)

3) concerning later posts on PS commission for downloads:
Yes, it's easy to have customers download in way that avoids PS commission.
For ex., my established clients have passwords that allow them to download files, and then I send invoice. No delay in their getting files, no PS commission.

Thank you again for all your info! - Ann

Quote from: wordplanet on November 08, 2014, 15:35

Quote from: ann on November 07, 2014, 23:55

@Wordplanet
Your homepage is quite effective.

Thanks Ann [.....]

jorgophotography · « **Reply #29 on:** November 09, 2014, 20:55 »

Quote from: Dook on November 09, 2014, 13:23

Nice work and website. Which Photodeck template do you use?

Cheers Dook, I ran with Design template #8
http://www.photodeck.com/featured-websites/

cascoly · « **Reply #30 on:** November 10, 2014, 02:03 »

Quote from: MarcvsTvllivs on November 09, 2014, 14:04

I am also about to finally make a "real" website and am torn between Photoshelter and Smugmug. Can someone comment on which site they prefer? Am I under the right impression that Smugmug is a bit of a "friendlier" company? After all the evil that is happening in stock I'd hate to sign up with one more group of less-than-wholesome people...

I had a smugmug site for several years, but it was just too expensive relative to the sales and exposure -- their seo never got my images noticed, whereas symbiostock's seo got immediate results and much higher alexa ratings.

otherwise all positives for smugmug and the support was friendly & fast.

kalevitamm · « **Reply #31 on:** November 10, 2014, 05:02 »

Hi There,

I am using Squarespace, so far only part of images added for sale, but got one sale during a month

http://www.kalevitamm.com

MarcvsTvllivs · « **Reply #32 on:** November 10, 2014, 21:14 »

Quote from: cascoly on November 10, 2014, 02:03

I had a smugmug site for several years, but it was just too expensive relative to the sales and exposure -- their seo never got my images noticed, whereas symbiostock's seo got immediate results and much higher alexa ratings.

otherwise all positives for smugmug and the support was friendly & fast.

Thanks for your reply cascoly! Sounds good... too bad their SEO isn't great, but my site isn't supposed to be for sales primarily -- I might make a separate Symbiostock site for that eventually.

Quote from: kalevitamm on November 10, 2014, 05:02

Hi There,

I am using Squarespace, so far only part of images added for sale, but got one sale during a month

http://www.kalevitamm.com

Very nice! Beautiful photos and a great website to showcase them.

rookieLyn · « **Reply #33 on:** November 11, 2014, 01:57 »

Going back to your original post - another site that hasn't been mentioned yet is newbielink:http://themeforest.net/ [nonactive]. It has lots of great quality WP templates.

Good luck with building your website!