Did you make your own website?

[november]

Probably asked already in this forum but I really would like to know, if you have your own website, how did you create that?
I am not a website designer at all, maybe GoDaddy is the way to go? iWeb (feel very limited here) or are there any other good websites to create for photographers? What are your suggestions?

[jml79]

Not godaddy....I can recommend hostgator for hosting. Great support staff. As for a website. What experience do you already have.

[c010depunkk]

Depends on how much money and/or personal effort & time you are willing to invest. If you are willing to spend money on it, then hire a web designer/developer (like myself ). Otherwise, get yourself some cheap hosting and dig into learning HTML/CSS/PHP. You can also use finished templates *click* or showcase sites like Flickr.

[kelvin51]

Only one website to have......PhotoBiz - Online Proofing Solutions for Professional Photographers feel free to check mine out. I built it and don't know anything about websites. These folks will walk you through it. Cost is an initial set up fee with your own domain and e-mail accounts of around $150.00 then it's $15.00 per month.... And looks better than most others out there. Website system designed by photographer for photographers. Images are completely protected. You can't even screen print, save images or anything, give it a try.

[c010depunkk]

Originally Posted by kelvin51

Images are completely protected. You can't even screen print, save images or anything, give it a try.

that's just not happening.... you can never completely protect an image. If it's on the internet, it can be stolen. I'd like to see the technology that prevents me from making a screen capture....

[PowerPix]

Originally Posted by kelvin51

Only one website to have......PhotoBiz - Online Proofing Solutions for Professional Photographers feel free to check mine out. I built it and don't know anything about websites. These folks will walk you through it. Cost is an initial set up fee with your own domain and e-mail accounts of around $150.00 then it's $15.00 per month.... And looks better than most others out there. Website system designed by photographer for photographers. Images are completely protected. You can't even screen print, save images or anything, give it a try.

+1 to that. Photobiz is the way to go. Absolutely love mine!

[BuddhaPi]

Originally Posted by c010depunkk

that's just not happening.... you can never completely protect an image. If it's on the internet, it can be stolen. I'd like to see the technology that prevents me from making a screen capture....

If theres a will there at least 100 ways

[windrider86]

I'm a huge fan of SmugMug. Pretty easy to use. They have templates. Customer service is phenomenal. $149 a year is pretty cheap, I think. Pays for itself. They do all the work on your sales and you just sit back and watch!

[BigFuzzy]

Depends what you want.
If you don't mind your website looking like so many other "pay for template" sites, then go with those pre-made services.

If you want to stand out, you have to look into (and be prepared to spend on) a tailored website either by paying someone or by learning how to create your own site with something like wordpress.

I'm a fan of Wordpress, and I have ZERO programming skill..just lots of will (and stubbornness).

It's up to you.

[dakwegmo]

Originally Posted by c010depunkk

Depends on how much money and/or personal effort & time you are willing to invest. If you are willing to spend money on it, then hire a web designer/developer (like myself ). Otherwise, get yourself some cheap hosting and dig into learning HTML/CSS/PHP. You can also use finished templates *click* or showcase sites like Flickr.

I'll second this. I'm a web developer and can tell you that unless you're really interested in learning html, css, **********, and likely php, you're going to face a lot of frustration trying to run your own site. Even if you do use a ready-made template, or something like WordPress (both of which I highly recommend) you still need a fair bit of technical knowledge to get it looking exactly like you want. If you're just trying to showcase your work then a template is great, as are sites like flickr, smugmug, photoshelter, zenfolio, etc. If you're trying to establish yourself as a business, spend the money and get a custom made site.

Originally Posted by kelvin51

Images are completely protected. You can't even screen print, save images or anything, give it a try.

I only did this because you invited us to, but would you like to see the print screen I made of your website? It took me all of 10 seconds to figure it out. If someone at their company sold you this as a feature they lied to you.