recommended web site builder

hoganpoly

need to set up a website to display photos etc with a view to sell from website, i have tried photoshelter but find it a bit confusing , anyone suggest a user friendly one,dont want to spend too much starting out but also dont want to skrimp,any help much appreciated

fade2che

You may be aware of there all ready but no harm in posting:

http://www.moonfruit.com/
http://www.dripbook.com/
Others use Wordpress with a gallery plugin.

Depends on what your looking for. What are you using at the moment and what don't you like about it?

EDIT: Sorry missed the part about selling, I know of no solution in that case.

mrboswell

It seems as though there is still no option with a lab based in Ireland.
I would be really happy if there was one based in Ireland so the cost of shipping (most likely to Irish customers) would be cheaper.

I looked into photobox but it seemed SO complicated that I gave up...

Cameraman

Have a look at Zenfolio - you can use Photobox to print, or have the orders sent to you to sort out yourself - payment in both cases is collected at the time of ordering (either by zenfolio or direct to your PayPal account). Pricing can be in euros.

http://www.zenfolio.com/

I don't think there is any Irish company doing something similar at the moment.

AnCatDubh

if its purely commercial then try redbubble - whether you will sell anything through it or not is another thing. It's a awfully big pond for a single fish to be in. However you might sell using it to handle the print side and doing the marketing stuff yourself. They do lots of print options. Worth checking out even if you were going with another product.

davmigil

Check out www.smugmug.com pro-account. Based in USA, but do international shipping (at a higher rate...). http://www.smugmug.com/prints/shipping.mg

Cameraman

davmigil wrote: »

Check out www.smugmug.com pro-account. Based in USA, but do international shipping (at a higher rate...). http://www.smugmug.com/prints/shipping.mg

Unfortunately, apart from the shipping issue, they also only allow pricing in US$, and payment is currently only available via a US$ check (which will incur bank charges and a 2-week or so delay).

nilhg

If the OP is a lightroom user, there are commercial web site/gallery templates which include paypal integration, it's pretty much plug and play once you have your own domain and hosting.

Have a look at the turning gate and lightroom galleries to get an idea what's possible.

Eirebear

bigblackbag.com seem pretty decent too, im currently using their trial to see how things look.

There is also photium.com who i think one or two folks on here use?

red_ice

Are you looking at doing the whole process yourself?

For example, a payment is made to your name and you print, package and ship it to the customer? All this to be done from your website, which would have a gallery and options on the size of the print, type of paper/canvis etc? It would be like a portfolio site with a shop on the side?

If thats the case its a pretty straight forward job, but the payment on it wont be as cheap. There are security features to take into consideration(holding customers creditcard details), not to mention hosting etc. The running cost wont be much, but the building of the site could easily fetch 4k upwards depending on the package your after and the ammount of work due.

That would include the design, coding, all languages used, a gallery(flash optional), email address', anything else you might think of that would come in a standard web package.

ecommerce isnt cheap.

I can point you in the direction of some people if you want your own website made up... namly me :pac:

hoganpoly

red_ice wrote: »

Are you looking at doing the whole process yourself?

For example, a payment is made to your name and you print, package and ship it to the customer? All this to be done from your website, which would have a gallery and options on the size of the print, type of paper/canvis etc? It would be like a portfolio site with a shop on the side?

If thats the case its a pretty straight forward job, but the payment on it wont be as cheap. There are security features to take into consideration(holding customers creditcard details), not to mention hosting etc. The running cost wont be much, but the building of the site could easily fetch 4k upwards depending on the package your after and the ammount of work due.

That would include the design, coding, all languages used, a gallery(flash optional), email address', anything else you might think of that would come in a standard web package.

ecommerce isnt cheap.

I can point you in the direction of some people if you want your own website made up... namly me :pac:

Thanks for all the replies thus far , yes the main use for the site is to shoot various sport events and then give participants access to the site where they can view and hopefully purchase photos preferably a download version with payment by paypal

PaulieC

I am using zenfolio and I find it to be very good. Obviously as it is template based, it's somewhat limited in layout, but for $100 (premium package) per year, you get unlimited storage, paypal integration, integration with photobox for europe, mpix for north america and a few other providers for other regions. You can create different pricing structures and apply them at a gallery level, apply security levels per gallery etc. You can also enable digital downloads with differing levels of licence. The photobox integration is great since people can order prints and they will be dispatched directly to them without any action required on your part (if you want). With the premium package, you can also remove the zenfolio branding, use your own domain name. It's also got integration with google analytics and some SEO tools for google, bing and yahoo.
All in all, it's pretty good. Have a look at my site for the ordering part

red_ice

hoganpoly wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies thus far , yes the main use for the site is to shoot various sport events and then give participants access to the site where they can view and hopefully purchase photos preferably a download version with payment by paypal

Well there are other payment options. Americans love their paypal, but the EU tend to focus on straight Creditcard transactions (on the sites i run they do anyways!). You are limiting yourself by only using paypal. There are other things you can do to accept payment where you wont have to worry about credit card details etc. You just see the money side of things.

hoganpoly

cambo_gueno wrote: »

I am using zenfolio and I find it to be very good. Obviously as it is template based, it's somewhat limited in layout, but for $100 (premium package) per year, you get unlimited storage, paypal integration, integration with photobox for europe, mpix for north america and a few other providers for other regions. You can create different pricing structures and apply them at a gallery level, apply security levels per gallery etc. You can also enable digital downloads with differing levels of licence. The photobox integration is great since people can order prints and they will be dispatched directly to them without any action required on your part (if you want). With the premium package, you can also remove the zenfolio branding, use your own domain name. It's also got integration with google analytics and some SEO tools for google, bing and yahoo.
All in all, it's pretty good. Have a look at my site for the ordering part

thanks cambo just had a look at the zenfolio site and yours and very impressed ,for $100 worth a punt,thx

PaulieC

if you are going to go for it, let me know and i can refer you. i think you might get a discount

hoganpoly

cambo_gueno wrote: »

if you are going to go for it, let me know and i can refer you. i think you might get a discount

thanks just trying out the free trial, will give you a shout for referall thx

mrboswell

nilhg wrote: »

If the OP is a lightroom user, there are commercial web site/gallery templates which include paypal integration, it's pretty much plug and play once you have your own domain and hosting.

Have a look at the turning gate and lightroom galleries to get an idea what's possible.

They are both a bit rough around the edges - fine if you really know what you are doing but I find them a bit amateurish because many of the templates are free.

I'd be happy to pay for them if they were a bit more organised