# Concerning Websites



## dvjproductions (Jul 29, 2014)

I have been toying with a few ideas for a website. I don't have all that much time to work on one between my full time job and dealing with a baby on the way, but I severely need something to point potential clients at. 

I've taken a look at the following sites and I am wondering who you all use and what is the perks of the choices you made. I don't want this to turn into a 'whose host is better than whose' thread, I just want the reasons you decided to go with who you went with.

I've looked into:

wordpress
squarespace
wix
weebly
godaddy (considerably less due to the need to code a lot more, which I can do, but have little interest or time to do so - and their WYSIWYG was no where near the others)


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## sscarmack (Jul 29, 2014)

I custom built my homepage. And I use picture pro for my portfolio/selling prints. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## imagemaker46 (Jul 29, 2014)

I use Photoshelter. Simple to set up, lots of templates to use, all depends on what you want to use your web site for.


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## dvjproductions (Jul 29, 2014)

imagemaker46 said:


> I use Photoshelter. Simple to set up, lots of templates to use, all depends on what you want to use your web site for.



This option seems to be considerably more expensive that a few of the other options I've been looking into. Squarespace for instance, the top end package is equivalent of Photoshelter's middle of the road package and comes with a lot more options.

Any specific reason you chose Photoshelter over other options?


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## HikinMike (Jul 29, 2014)

Years ago I built my own site using FrontPage 2000. I learned a lot about HTML/CSS. That got old so I had a friend help me re-design my site using MySQL/PHP. It was great for a while, but I wanted to change a few things but he was busy with "life". Two years ago I switched to a custom WordPress framework. I only do nature stuff, so I have two plugins that allow me to use PayPal for e-commerce. I use one of the online printing services.


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## dvjproductions (Jul 29, 2014)

First, thank you to all of you who have responded

Second, concerning responses...I am relatively surprised at the lack of them.

I know website tastes are very subjective, but I was hoping to glean some inside from you folks for what you've used and why.


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## Tee (Jul 29, 2014)

I use Squarespace.  Honestly, I suck at creating computer stuff.  I like the ability to change up my templates anytime I like.


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## ruggedshutter (Jul 29, 2014)

Sorry but it's only been a couple of hours since you posted your question and I have been working on redesigning my site   I haven't set it live yet and won't until next week but I'm looking at just upgrading my Wix account.  Mostly because it is already on there and it will be easier to do so.  I originally chose Wix because they supported Google Analytics but they fazed that out on their free accounts about 6 or 8 months ago,  though they say that they never supported it....my analytics page says differently lol


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## dvjproductions (Jul 29, 2014)

ruggedshutter said:


> Sorry but it's only been a couple of hours since you posted your question and I have been working on redesigning my site   I haven't set it live yet and won't until next week but I'm looking at just upgrading my Wix account.  Mostly because it is already on there and it will be easier to do so.  I originally chose Wix because they supported Google Analytics but they fazed that out on their free accounts about 6 or 8 months ago,  though they say that they never supported it....my analytics page says differently lol



If you guys weren't already suspicious, this should do it. I am leaning toward squarespace. They do support google analytics as well. Hmm...maybe this isn't such a big question after all, though, I do like to know what people's personal thoughts on things are...


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## Browncoat (Jul 29, 2014)

I've used WordPress for many years.

The main thing is, get your own domain and not a sub, like Photoshelter. Whatever platform you use to develop it doesn't really matter.


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## dvjproductions (Jul 29, 2014)

Browncoat said:


> I've used WordPress for many years.
> 
> The main thing is, get your own domain and not a sub, like Photoshelter. Whatever platform you use to develop it doesn't really matter.



Certainly is the plan. Wordpress seems a bit pricey for the 'total' package compared to others, I think I will end up going with squarespace as its the most affordable bang for buck kinda thing. Domain is key though.


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## lambertpix (Jul 29, 2014)

dvjproductions said:


> Browncoat said:
> 
> 
> > I've used WordPress for many years.
> ...



How is Wordpress pricey?  Free download -- all I pay for is hosting.


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## D-B-J (Jul 29, 2014)

I use squarespace. Simple, clean, easy to use. I have no experience with other sites though.


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## e.rose (Jul 29, 2014)

Left Wordpress (hosted by Hostgator) after 2 years or so, for Squarespace a few months ago.

Love it 1 Billion times more.


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## dvjproductions (Jul 29, 2014)

> How is Wordpress pricey?  Free download -- all I pay for is hosting.



I am not sure about downloading and paying separately for hosting with wordpress. The nice thing about other sites is they give you the option of paying monthly instead of the sum upfront. I am looking at Square's middle of the road package for a number of reasons. Its nearly double what world press wants for their all in one, but offers a metric ton more options and features that wordpress does. 

I guess it all depends on where you want to spend you money, and how. I would rather invest in a site that I can rely on as it will eventually make me enough cash flow to cover its own costs.

I suppose stating wordpress is 'pricey' might be misleading, but it doesn't offer the host of possibilities (which I like) that others I've researched do.


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## dvjproductions (Jul 29, 2014)

e.rose said:


> Left Wordpress (hosted by Hostgator) after 2 years or so, for Squarespace a few months ago.
> 
> Love it 1 Billion times more.



Thank you  What are your big 'quality of life improvements' when you made the switch?


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## Light Guru (Jul 29, 2014)

I use squarespace for a couple of websites, both my personal site and for a photography podcast I started. 

You can literally get up and going with a nice looking site in under an hour. 

One thing that you may want to know is that if you want to use one of the new domain extensions like .photo you will need to register that outside of squarespace because their "free" one does let you get one of the new extensions.  I bring this up because I do recommend using a new domain extension like .photo because it makes it a LOT easier to get a short domain name that people can easily remember.


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## SpikeyJohnson (Jul 29, 2014)

If you are comfortable with designing your own and have the creative suite, you can look into Adobe Muse.  I use it to build websites for clients and it is extremely simple to use.  It is almost a what you see is what you get editor and makes life really easy for me.  I have made a great website with it for my own photography (although I haven't pushed it live yet to a host). If you want I could upload it to business catalyst for a while for you to see what it looks like.


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## e.rose (Jul 29, 2014)

dvjproductions said:


> e.rose said:
> 
> 
> > Left Wordpress (hosted by Hostgator) after 2 years or so, for Squarespace a few months ago.
> ...



Image upload and organization is easier. My e-mail always works (I host that through Gmail for $5 a month), I don't have to deal with 5 Billion plugins, or buying templates every time I want to change up the look of my site or tweak it... I don't have to depend on template developers who may or may not have worked out all the kinks of a layout before selling it... or buying a template that I thought would do one thing and does another...

My site is retina ready...

And did I mention not having to mess with plugins?

I can do e-commerce on my site without anything extra...

It's just beautiful. Try out the trial. :sillysmi:


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## HikinMike (Jul 29, 2014)

I bought a domain and hosting from ICDSoft - Quality Web Hosting since the 20th century (about $60/year). I installed WordPress (free). Picked and customized theme (free). Done.


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## studio460 (Jul 29, 2014)

I tried Wordpress, and found it difficult to rid its structure of its "blogging" roots. Then I signed up for Smugmug, and I think its great. They have few dozen nicely designed templates, all, very customizable. I have a portfolio-level account hosted at a custom domain. Register with their domain partner, and I've never seen a new URL propagate so fast (a few minutes). Smugmug is supported by both Aperture and Lightroom, making exporting client files directly from within Aperture or Lightroom a breeze. All accounts include unlimited storage and unlimited traffic. There's a custom mark-up database for print orders, and they offer multiple lab choices. But, for designing custom website front-ends, I think Freeway for OS X is the best thing since sliced bread.


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## dvjproductions (Jul 30, 2014)

I think I am convinced to give Squarespace a full on crack at this point. Smugmug does sound interesting as well.

As for Wordpress, as someone mentioned, its blogging roots are hard for me to work with and it isn't the design option I would like to work with, at least, not the only level. I might have a blog, but I would make it somewhat backseat.


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## studio460 (Jul 30, 2014)

I forgot . . . view my Smugmug website here!


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## e.rose (Jul 30, 2014)

dvjproductions said:


> I think I am convinced to give Squarespace a full on crack at this point. Smugmug does sound interesting as well.
> 
> As for Wordpress, as someone mentioned, its blogging roots are hard for me to work with and it isn't the design option I would like to work with, at least, not the only level. I might have a blog, but I would make it somewhat backseat.



You seriously should.

I tried it 3 times before I realized how awesome it was. 3 different trials.

But I also think it was updated between my 2nd and 3rd trial.

While there are STILL very minor things I wish I could tweak, my overall satisfaction is MUCH higher.

If you have any questions during your trial, let me know! But also make sure you utilize their chat support when you can! They've always been helpful. :sillysmi:


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## dvjproductions (Jul 30, 2014)

e.rose said:


> dvjproductions said:
> 
> 
> > I think I am convinced to give Squarespace a full on crack at this point. Smugmug does sound interesting as well.
> ...




Thank you! I certainly will


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## HikinMike (Jul 30, 2014)

studio460 said:


> I tried Wordpress, and found it difficult to rid its structure of its "blogging" roots. Then I signed up for Smugmug, and I think its great. They have few dozen nicely designed templates, all, very customizable. I have a portfolio-level account hosted at a custom domain. Register with their domain partner, and I've never seen a new URL propagate so fast (a few minutes). Smugmug is supported by both Aperture and Lightroom, making exporting client files directly from within Aperture or Lightroom a breeze. All accounts include unlimited storage and unlimited traffic. There's a custom mark-up database for print orders, and they offer multiple lab choices. But, for designing custom website front-ends, I think Freeway for OS X is the best thing since sliced bread.



I do have a Smugmug site as well, but even after I customized it....to me it still looks like a  Smugmug site. So I guess it goes both ways...LOL!


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## studio460 (Jul 30, 2014)

HikinMike said:


> I do have a Smugmug site as well, but even after I customized it....to me it still looks like a  Smugmug site. So I guess it goes both ways...LOL!



Yeah, nothing's perfect. The closest I came was Freeway for OS X. But that's a build-it-all-yourself HTML-authoring app (though, completely WYSIWYG), very similar to Adobe InDesign for print. The main thing I'm always looking for is type control . . . and I'm really only interested in one typeface: Helvetica. The entire family (extra light, light, medium, heavy, black, outline, condensed, etc.). Many templates won't allow much type control, and even fewer templates seem to offer a good version of Helvetica. I chose one particular Smugmug template because it happened to have kerning (letter-spacing) control. But, there's still a lot left to be desired in a web-based design app. Someday I may build a front-end to Smugmug in Freeway, or see if other template-based sites offer more type choices.
.


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## HikinMike (Jul 30, 2014)

studio460 said:


> HikinMike said:
> 
> 
> > I do have a Smugmug site as well, but even after I customized it....to me it still looks like a  Smugmug site. So I guess it goes both ways...LOL!
> ...



Before Smugmug "updated", you can control more things (Javascript, @font-face, etc) but not anymore. You can have more fonts, but they have to be Google-fonts.


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## jsecordphoto (Jul 30, 2014)

I use smugmug and love them. Easy to set up, I can use bayphoto for my printing, and they include the customers email when I get a sale confirmation. I like that because I can email the customer saying thank you and to have them let me know if there are any problems (hasn't happened yet) which makes the buying experience a little more personal.


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## studio460 (Jul 31, 2014)

jsecordphoto said:


> I use smugmug and love them. Easy to set up, I can use bayphoto for my printing, and they include the customers email when I get a sale confirmation . . .



I think for photographers with clients who order prints, Smugmug is an excellent choice (I also chose BayPhoto as my default lab--good to hear of your positive experience with them). Smugmug's print-ordering interface, and pricing database seems pretty flawless. For me, the direct-export from within Aperture is a real time-saver. I think Smugmug certainly serves its main purpose well, so I'm likely to stick with it. I just started resuming work on resurrecting my WordPress blog also, so maybe I'll get some incentive to build my Freeway OS X front-end to Smugmug someday soon.


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## jsecordphoto (Jul 31, 2014)

studio460 said:


> jsecordphoto said:
> 
> 
> > I use smugmug and love them. Easy to set up, I can use bayphoto for my printing, and they include the customers email when I get a sale confirmation . . .
> ...



I've had nothing but good experiences with bayphoto, really happy I was able to use them through my site. I've ordered hundreds of prints through them over the last year or so and been happy every time.


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## juicegoose (Jul 31, 2014)

I use zenfolio and couldnt be more pleased. Everything is built into the website from the get go. I can upload direct from lightroom and of course all your analytics are available. Give it a look. I know they offer a free trial period


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## e.rose (Jul 31, 2014)

studio460 said:


> jsecordphoto said:
> 
> 
> > I use smugmug and love them. Easy to set up, I can use bayphoto for my printing, and they include the customers email when I get a sale confirmation . . .
> ...



There are other options for print orders too, though.

I have a site through Squarespace and *IF* I do an online gallery I use mymusea.com. You can set it up so the print orders go directly to the lab, but I'm a control freak, so all my print orders come through me and I place them myself with my preferred lab.


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