which host/site building is best?

[JStrattonPhotography]

I have done reviews on portfoliositez, photobiz, and bludomain. I have been using Front Page and hosting through fatcow and it is just NOT working out. I wanted to see which everyone prefers. I know Customer service is iffy with blu but I would have them host.

I basically just need email, galleries, shopping cart, password protected proofs, and my calendar.

I don't think they do but,do any of them have a shopping cart that automatically links to a lab or do all of them send me notification and then I have to send the images to the lab? Really I am just trying to find the SIMPLEST solution I can to have everything in 1 place so I dont have to have links to printroom etc. for my proofs.

[KenJulio]

I'm not sure if you looked at smugmug or any other of its competitors, but your space is customizable. As for a calendar, I dont believe there is a function for it. For $150 a year, which is approx $12 a month, which does your galleries, shopping cart, password protected galleries.

I know for my email, I have my own host, hostgator, but when you have your own domain name, some Domain service companies provide a free email account setup.

[JStrattonPhotography]

I already have my own domain, and my own site and email address. The issue is I HATE using front page. I have checked out smugmug but I really am not a fan of it. THanks for the advice :-)

[KenJulio]

Ah, I misunderstood what you were saying. So you're wanting to keep your current host, but am wanting to build your own site. If you're using Lightroom, it has web galleries it will generate for you. After it's exported, you can edit the html, and if you're not wanting to use FrontPage to do the edits, then Dreamweaver IS the next best thing. Both can be had for a 30 day trial at adobe.com

[alamoshutterbug]

I am a photobiz customer, but soon to be ex-customer. It is very easy to grow out of if you like to run your own show and tweak your site. It has become more SEO friendly over time, but still lags behind a bit. The gallery hosting is stupidly overpriced, and doesn't support automatic order fulfillment. If you go with their gallery service, you will still need your own CC merchant account to take CC's.

I recently started over with a new domain with a wordpress blog and zenfolio as my gallery and order fulfillment side. I host it on bluehost. I like it.

[JStrattonPhotography]

Yeah, photobiz DOES look over priced. It is between portfoliositez and bludomain.