Where did you go to start your website?

[e.bphoto]

I know there are a lot of places to go but interested on how some of you started? tips please :)

[Alices Wonderland]

I use smugmug.com . It was easy to use for me (I'm not so tech savvy) and I never had to worry about the site not being able to handle the load.

[Kalrog]

Well, I think it depends a lot on what you want to get from your site. Are you interested in one of the "all-in-one fulfillment houses that also host (photoreflect, smugmug, ...)? Or are you more interested in doing the fulfillment yourself and just having a place to stick your photos? Or something in between where the customer orders online on your website, but you still do all of the fulfilling yourself on the back end?

I started with the former (with SmugMug) and have recently switched to the latter (with PhotoCart as the gallery/ordering engine and a WordPress front end).

[kellydishman]

I started with ipage.com They do my hosting and domain. It costed me 54 Dollars for the whole year. I like them so far and they have 24/7 customer service. You can start off as a template type and add html or when your ready go all the way! Me, I used the template. :)

[e.bphoto]

Thank you all! Very helpful :)

I'm looking for a custom type website where I can show my work and have any of my further details needed for clients.. I have looked around a bit at some like smugmug and goDaddy.com but still want to look at more options.
Thanks!!!

[kellydishman]

I just signed up for instaproof and I really like them I have tried smugmug, and I like them but I like alot of the funtions instaproof has and its free. You get to use it as you want and you dont have to pay a montly fee plus comission, ect. Hosting companys also have free alterantives to gallerys. If I was more of a compter wiz I would be more into it. You only have to pay commision when you sale and item. Instaproof you get a 10.00 credit for peoples referrals and helps you too.

[texxter]

I am using ixwebhosting for domain and hosting. I have FTP access to a Linux server and I wrote my website by myself. I use Banana Album Creator for the flash gallery. My costs are very small.

[WarrenG]

I have been with Photobiz for years now and I am very happy with them. Awesome CS, very responsive, easy to update.

With that said, if I were starting over today, I would build my site on a wordpress platform.

W

[Fireball]

I use photobiz for my website (very, very easy to set up) and smugmug for my galleries where people order their prints and they handle the money.

[JPalmer]

I had used homestead.com for a long time... but juuuust started a new website through squarespace.com

the new site is linked to my sig below.

[emill]

Yah, I've been looking at Squarespace as well. I don't have a website myself yet but really liked what I saw from them. Anyone else use them or have any opinions of their service?

[BenE]

Originally Posted by e.bphoto

I know there are a lot of places to go but interested on how some of you started? tips please :)

I do not use flash because ipad/ipod users cannot view that.

Perhaps this will sound old fashioned, but plain html works best for me and is easy to learn.

I use a small independent host, make all my own updates.

[Todd Lambert]

I did it myself. I'm a web developer by day, photographer by night:

Twilightscapes - Unique twilight photography by Todd Lambert

[RobbieRakestraw]

Good topic. I currently use photoreflect but I’m ready for a change. I would like a “normal” website where I can have multiple galleries and also have the ability to link to something like SmugMug or Zenfolio for the e-commerce side of the business. I looked at squarespace.com and it looks very promising. Any thoughts on this?

[e.bphoto]

Great tips everyone! I'm going to search all of them and see what I like :) thanks! Keep 'em comin'