Photography Website Hosts?

I was just curious as to what website hosts some of you use to showcase your photos to clients, family, etc? I'm looking at investing in my own website, but I just wanted to get a second opinion before I decide. I've got a bit of knowledge of html and flash, but a website with a bit of user friendly flexibility in terms of customization options would be great... I'm also looking for a cheaper route in this, and I'm hoping that the old saying "you get what you pay for" doesn't apply here! Flickr is great, but it's sort of a pain for organization so I'd like to take a bit of control..

Thanks so much in advance,

-Jord

I have my own domain. I was designing my own site using Adobe Dreamweaver, but about 2yrs ago, I decide to stop designing and just worry about taking/editing photos and simply upload to a hosting site. So I went with Zenfolio. I like Zen because you can choose from different layout/colors etc.. and recently they added a new feature where you can make custom pages by html. Zenfolio has a shopping cart. So either you can use it just as a gallery or sell your work. If you shoot portraits/weddings you can also offer packages on your site.

with Crystal.. Zen has a lot of nice user-friendly features.. with knowledge of HTML and CSS you can really customize the site to your liking too.. Hard to beat the prices!

Thanks to both of you! Can you host your own domain name though? Or does it have to be associated with "Zenfolio" ?

A Basic account on ZF ($25 per year) will be a ZF subdomain. With a premium or pro account you can use your own domain name. I've had several DIY photo albums on my own website. Like crystal I made the switch to ZF to offload the coding / maintenance chore. My main gripe with ZF is that I have no control over the thumbnails generated for the album page, ZF auto sizes these instead. But that's not enough of a gripe to put me off of ZF, I'm there to stay.

Kelly Cook

When I decided to have a website, I looked at all the options on the web such as zenfolio but couldnt get the look I wanted, but rather than go with a large company and pay around £750 or more, I found a student who was studying web design and asked if he would build me a site, he did for £250.00 and maintains it for £5.00 per month, I only have to ask once and whatever I need doing is done within 24 hours, so guess I am lucky.

Zenfolio has a code to for PT members to save some bucks.

I use Zenfolio for a work related site I manage and echo earlier comments. It is an excellent service, reasonably priced, and lets you get on with photography rather than having to worry about web page management. It allows a reasonable degree of customization for your pages.

Having said that, I use web engines from The Turning Gate to create my personal photo website. TTG creates web engines that allow you create an entire basic website from within Adobe Lightroom. I could get closer to what I envisaged with these than with Zenfolio (nit-picking here). There is a bit of a learning curve but once one gets one's head around the concepts managing a site from within Lightroom is quite straightforward.

TTG creates web sites but does not host them. I use iPage for that - lots of features and capabilities for under $5 a month. I'm happy with them so far.

Regards,
Chris

I use Zenfolio also. My previous website was custom built by a webmaster back in the days before digital was very popular. All of my image postings were scanned slides and if I wanted to add new images, I had to go through my webmaster for an additional fee. When digital became more popular, I was unable to add new photos myself. Then, I migrated my website to a new host server who offered a built in photo software package; so, I was then able to shoot digitally and add new images to my website--although they were in a linked site under the Coppermine (the image software provided free by the host server) name.

After several years under this arrangement, I wanted to update and change my website and add shopping cart capability. I examined several options including Zenfolio, SmugMug, Shutterbug's Storefront and Foto-Time. They all had great offerings and options that were somewhat similar. After a free trial, I selected Zenfolio (partially due to their alliance with Mpix for order fulfillment). I had used Mpix several times in the past and was very happy with the quality of their prints. I then went to GoDaddy.com and caught one of their periodic sales where I was able to register my own domain name for $3.99 annually. Using the instructions from Zenfolio, I placed internal markers such that the Zenfolio name no longer appears in my url address. I also liked the many page options and formats that Zenfolio offered--especially for $100 per year. It wasn't until several months later that I found out about PhotographyTalk and its discount with Zenfolio.

So, I have been very pleased with Zenfolio. One of the things I plan on eventually taking advantage of is the offering of digital downloads at different prices based on their resolution, each with its own rights agreeement.

I use Smugmug. Works for me.

I am seriously new at this. I wanted free or as close to free as I could get. Not the most professional but well I don't sell much yet and without money coming in can't afford more. On the advice of a friend, who is a webmaster, I went with Weebly. To stay free they post there advert at the bottom of my screens. I purchased my domain at Godaddy.com for about $1.50 on sale. So far I am happy with Weebly. It is pretty plug and play as I don't have much HTML or code experience. I have a shopping cart feature and links to my current blog, as well as slide shows for my gallery.

Ideally I would love to have a custom designed site but for now free is my budget. Once I can afford it I will take the weebly ads off.