Web Hosting Services for Photography?

[johnrite]

I am in the process of trying to get my photography business online. I am a complete novice at working with setting up websites. I can be creative if I have templates to work with. I have been doing some research on sites. However, the deeper I get into researching them, the more difficult they seem.
Does anyone out there have any suggestions as to the fastest, easiest way to get a site up?
I can use all the help I can get by way of suggestions.

[StreetlevelFoto]

I know many photographers who like Live books.
http://www.livebooks.com/

I ended up getting my own webspace (via 1and1 - who are great). If you don't know how to code - there are a few options available. Simpleviewer is a free (or pay with more options) gallery solution. Or both Photoshop and Lightroom have web gallery exports you can set up.

Deviant art has a "professional" portfolio system available now - I'm not a fan, but some people seem to like it.

And of course, Flickr or Picasa is enough for many people too - depending on your needs.

For just basic image hosting photobucket is also an option.

[Headsick]

To add to what Street said, I'm using smugmug (www.smugmug.com), and it's pretty easy to setup, and you can also customize how everything looks.

[StreetlevelFoto]

Good call. I always forget about Smugmug.

[scott_lewis]

Depending on your needs -- Wix.com is good for a customizable gallery that is easy to set up a professional looking site, but if you're selling prints the fulfillment is all up to you.

Smugmug takes a little more work to customize for your own -- knowing CSS goes a long way. But they handle all the order fulfillment/printing. If you pay, then you get to set the price. I'm working on my own right now -- I have a ways to go yet -- www.swlphoto.com

[JLew24asu]

so you want advice on getting a site up and running or a hosting company?

this is what I've done/do.

my site http://chicagophotoshop.com is custom built from scratch. I had this done over 5 years ago when many of the sites mentioned didnt exist. I then attached this forum /forums. as for hosting, I use an unmentionable company who go go down from time to time. but in their defense, its not that often, and not for very long. hosting companies are all one in the same.

[Scott Evans Photo]

check out 'showitsites'...

http://showitfast.com/

Created by the photographer David Jay, recommended to me by Bob Davis... I did my site with it:
http://www.scottevansphoto.com/

I will mention though that it does not have order fulfillment/online proofing. I use smugmug for that on prints. But as far as creation is concerned, it kicks. They have their own templates and their own design program, lots of flash and pizazz. Now, I worked for 8 years as a web dev, but I did not want to put that hat back on for this. It was more like laying something out in photoshop than anything and I love it. Takes me about 8 hours for a complete redo of my site, max.

Just my 1/50th of a dollar... be glad to answer any more questions you have about it!

[Northsider]

If you are really serious about it, I would say go to GoDaddy or similar and buy your own domain+hosting. It really pays off if you have a unique site and a unique domain name, not just another member on Smugmug, or flickr. I was able to do this with absolutely no experience in web hosting or html/css...obviously I quit it because I'm not that dedicated and it was just a sort of hobby/something to keep me occupied sort of thing. Learn some css, it goes a long way. HTML is dead, flash is pointless. Even so, GoDaddy has easy to install applications like photo galleries, forums, online shops, etc that you can get with one click and a little bit of customization.

The downside of course is that you have to do all your own advertising, which may or may not be a problem. With smugmug, flickr, deviantart, etc, everybody can easily search your work and follow you...with your own site though you really have to put out there.

You can always find templates out there on the internet and customize it to your taste, it's really easier than you think.

[Dom87SS]

i use smugmug for hosting, i dont do anything professional so its good enough for me for now.

[Guido44]

I registered my domain with Go Daddy, and I use Smug Mug as my host.

I'm happy with both.

Dan