Best/Cheapest way to have your own domain/website!

06/01/2012 03:52:37 PM · #27

Maybe we should just cumulatively hyphenate all unions, then my website would be like:

roflmao-walters-mcgillicutty-lowenstein-flannigan-brown-kadansky-chin-schweitzer-matsuo-photography.com

ETA: ...imagine that - it's available! :P

Message edited by author 2012-06-01 15:53:06.

robs

Canon EOS R6 Mk II

06/01/2012 05:00:21 PM · #28

Originally posted by Art Roflmao:

Actually the likely nationality of that string explains a lot :-)

KristinaG

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS

06/02/2012 04:53:48 PM · #29

Well, I took the plunge, and kristinageddertphotography.com has been born.
Its a mouthful, but that is already what my facebook site and all of my copyright on images says.

So far, the only thing I have figured out how to do is to add the banner on the top of the page =p
This is going to take a while to fully customize the kind of site I want, considering I have no idea what I am doing, lol

heavyj

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4

Panasonic Lumix 20mm f1.7 ASPH

06/03/2012 08:28:02 AM · #30

Originally posted by KristinaG:

For those who have a smugmug website, how does the coding work for your own website in comparison to what is available for the basic 40 dollar package?
Is it just a text box where you have to write in code, or are there drop down menus and such where you can choose what you want without actually coding it?

Also, I just updated my membership in March. Do you think it is worth it to pay the extra 20 bucks for not a full year, or should I wait until the next time I need to renew?

Whether it's worth it or not is very subjective. If you plan on using the features, it's worth it. If not, then it's not. Only you know. Personal finances etc that you can afford to put towards your photography need to be considered.

As said, 2 types of customization options. There's the 'easy customization' which is basically you selecting different ways for things to work. You can then visit the smugmug community at dgrin.com and check out there support forum for personal customizations. The community is very good at helping and when the smugmug staff see something you are trying to do but can't, then jump in a do it for you on occasion.

As for branding, I watermark my stuff with jason mcdonald photography but my site is studiof7.com. Hasn't been a problem.

06/05/2012 07:55:17 AM · #31

back on this topic, i am trying to get a website running. i'm looking for something simple as this is just a small endevour for now. i want it to look professional, but be simple and easy to manage.

i am going to buy my own domain name.

so does anyone like smugmug, its seems like one of the best options for simplicity and customization, any others i should look at?

hopefulcrafty1

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM

06/05/2012 09:29:31 AM · #32

Originally posted by mike_311:

I like smugmug for both its easy customization, look, and ease of use. Once you have an accountncreated, you can even use a link from the admin page to godaddy to buy that custom domain - making the process ofmlinking the domain name to your page super easy. I also love the integration with lightroom. You can create and add photos to albums without even having to leave lightroom.

heavyj

Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH4

Panasonic Lumix 20mm f1.7 ASPH

06/05/2012 09:32:40 AM · #33

SmugMug user here. I had a Pro account at first because I had a coupon or something and got my first year for 75 bucks or something. After that, not using any of the Pro features, I went with Power User. The only thing I miss is not being able to have them auto watermark my images. So I watermark them myself and have a private folder with the non-watermarked images. A little extra step.

It is also very customizable and allows you to do almost anything. The support is great too. People can get pretty upset at SmugMug with their feature requests. They've done a great job at creating what they have but people want more. It's suppose to be about photography but there was a big thing about needing more space as far as 'video uploads' were concerned. They had a max time limit they wanted lifted, and it got lifted (Or extended) and the max video file size was upped. My opinion is that SmugMug has made it easy for us to throw up professional looking galleries.

500px looks kind of neat. Not much as far as customization, but still a nice community I'm just getting to know. Take a look at some of the different member sites and see what you like. Customization on SmugMug is easy. You can get yourself a free trial and it's all access I believe. So, set it up, play with it and if you like it after a couple weeks buy into it. Not a bad way to start things off.

06/05/2012 09:38:25 AM · #34

i got the free trial.

it seems hard to grasp the customization.

basically im looking for a site to showcase a gallery, have a bio section and list my pricing.

maybe i'll just find a host and make my own.

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

06/05/2012 09:44:32 AM · #35

about to buy the domain name.

should i go with:

MichaelAlestra.com

or

MichaelAlestraPhotography.com

MAPhotograpghy.us is available as well.

Venser

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

06/05/2012 09:52:10 AM · #36

Originally posted by mike_311:

You could try Zenfolio. They're a little easier on the customization side, you only get to pick from certain molds. Smugmug is great for people who love to tinker with sites as you can lace it up with your own CSS and do pretty much anything you want.

CS

robs

Canon EOS R6 Mk II

06/05/2012 10:41:26 AM · #37

Originally posted by mike_311:

about to buy the domain name.

should i go with:

MichaelAlestra.com

or

MichaelAlestraPhotography.com

MAPhotograpghy.us is available as well.

I would grab your name anyway & prob photography & photo as well (if available). Might even think about studio or something as well. The .us and rest - meh... if you like.

06/05/2012 10:43:26 AM · #38

good lord this is going to get expensive...

KristinaG

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS

06/05/2012 10:59:13 AM · #39

Originally posted by mike_311:

good lord this is going to get expensive...

To save money, I think while you are just starting out, you should just buy one domain for 9.99 from godaddy.
I bought kristinageddertphotography.com, and I figured there was a very very tiny chance that anybody else would want that for a site, so I didn't buy the .org/.ca etc.
If I am ever super professional and making lots of money, then MAYBE that would be a good way of spending my money.

By the way, be careful where you buy your domain. I suggest godaddy.
My brother is a computer programmer and when I sent him an email telling him I bought a domain and asking for coding tips, he called me all worried because apparently there are a bunch of domain companies that essentially rip you off because they basically "lend" the domain to you, but they still own it in the fineprint and can do what they want with it. He was relieved when I said godaddy, because that is apparently one of the good ones.

Oh, and now that I have had some time to play with smugmug, I definitely recommend it. Its so easy to get something basic started.

Message edited by author 2012-06-05 11:00:19.

06/05/2012 11:16:33 AM · #40

thanks, i was going with go daddy.

im still torn between using a wordpress template and have it hosted somewhere or go with smug mug, bot are about the same price.

with smugmug is it possible to use them for selling prints or do i need a pro account? i'd probably rather just handle it myself even though the printer i plan to use is affiliated with them (whcc).

eta, i think I'll go with plain MichaelAlestra and leave off the photography. seems long, but then again...

Message edited by author 2012-06-05 11:18:21.

Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark II

06/05/2012 02:22:52 PM · #41

feeling really overwhelmed right now...

smug mug is not user friendly at all.

Message edited by author 2012-06-05 14:23:28.

Venser

Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO M.Zuiko

06/05/2012 02:36:03 PM · #42

Originally posted by mike_311:

feeling really overwhelmed right now...

smug mug is not user friendly at all.

Zenfolio it up. I have an account at both sites and Zenfolio is much easier to use. I'm a developer and gave up control at SmugMug because I could waste copious amount of time with CSS. Decided it wasn't a good bottom line decision.

CS

KristinaG

Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS

06/05/2012 02:36:09 PM · #43

Originally posted by mike_311:

feeling really overwhelmed right now...

smug mug is not user friendly at all.

What do you need help with?
I found it to be pretty straight forward.
Then again, I did have a basic smugmug before, so I got used to some things already.

The trick to doing subpages is making a gallery, giving it "Journal Old" setting, and then making the photo caption the text.
So for instance on my Prices page, that is actually an album with two pictures in it, and the text is the picture caption.
Its a round about way of doing it, but pretty simple once you get how to do it

Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 EX Aspherical DG HSM for Nikon

06/05/2012 02:57:35 PM · #44

i'll check out zenfolio.

i'm chasing my tail trying to get smug mug to work properly and it would be nice if the "lingo" wasn't so dummied down, they make it sound so easy and its not.

bohemka

Nikon D700

02/11/2014 06:36:36 PM · #45

Thread revival...

I was hoping someone could help point the best way to registering a domain name, as well as the best hosting services. I'm more interested in locking down the address and ensuring I maintain ownership. I can sort the rest out later. I'd ask Venser, but he's out of the office at the moment.

This isn't specifically photo-related, so I'm not interested in piggybacking on Zenfolio or other photo-related sites. Actually, I've got the name locked down on Wordpress (as a .wordpress, not .com). Should I just register fully with them for simplicity? I plan to only maintain the one site/blog.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

scalvert

Canon EOS-5D Mark III