Having Own website?

[Tareq]

Hi all,

I want to ask, what should i do to get my own website?
I have Domain Name, first step, now what are the next steps?
i want to have a site with professional design and good service and there is purchasing photos option, and maybe in the future i can add more services like a forum, so any recommendations?
I don't know about building sites as i don't know those languages and programming, i took a course in designing websites but it was so simple not so professional and i forgot most concepts [it was done by Frontpage and photoshop and Flash], so if there is templates and nice designing and i can add flash intro and music and ofcourse Categorized galleries.

I know many people here will give me many websites depends on what they use but i want sites that are so trusty and great services and professionally designs and i can add my own Domain Name i've got and good space and control and protection and security and strong bandwithand or server and everything.


Best Regards,

Tareq

[bieber]

As for the flash intro and music---don't. They're tacky and very 1990's; no one is impressed by them, and if nothing else they get annoying.

Now, with no experience in web development, I'm afraid you're going to have a difficult time setting up a good site on your own. You could learn to do it yourself, but it's going to take a very large time investment. If you want to do that, http://www.w3schools.com is the place to go. Hiring a developer is also an option, but there's a big rub in that; you can find someone who won't charge you a lot, but their work is going to be crap. Anyone can learn to throw some pages together in Dreamweaver, but it takes a lot of dedication to learn the ins and outs of (X)HTML, CSS, server side scripting, and etc. Anyone who's really put in that kind of effort you're not going to be hiring for anything shy of thousands. If you have a lot of money to spare (and judging by your gear list, it's entirely possible you do) this could be an option, but it's only one I'd recommend if you're really serious about making money off this site, and think you can recoup your investment.

There's also a third option. There are a lot of sites out there that will let you register an account, upload images, and they'll take care of everything; they give you an attractive, professional layout, manage image sizing and print-making and so on, and some even let you use your own domain name (SmugMug comes to mind). I very highly recommend the use of these services; they're cost-effective and the end result is exceptionally attractive and convenient to use. Unless you want to invest either a lot of time or a lot of money, it's the way to go. If you want a truly unique and individual site, and you're willing to pay, start shopping around for web developers; just remember that this is a field where you very much get what you pay for. I'd offer my own contact info, but I'm afraid I'm booked for the foreseeable future :(

[CrazyPuma]

I just wanted to pipe in that a "fancy" site doesn't always mean more traffic/sales than a less fancy site (or vice versa...). As long as it's cleanly presented and site navigation isn't confusing/a pain in the arse, if your content is good, they'll come back. As a websurfer I know I could care less about how a site looks if it has content I want.

I also echo the no on Flash and music, particularly the music. If you insist on offering music, don't make it auto-play.

[tommykjensen]

I agree. Forget about flash. And if you must add music then let it be OFF as default and let the user turn it on if they want it. I hate visiting sites that have music on as default and I leave as quickly as I arrived.

[Tareq]

I see.
Ok, let's say i want simple Flash intro only, and i will ignore music, what more should i do?
really to learn developers will take long time and i may not finish, so i want to get ready sites that can take care of design styles, only i can add my Domain name and i can have some controls over the site, and with paypal and prints option i can get full control on it, not into sharing money with some hosters, I know all what i need is Domain name and web hosting or space and HTML or pages and templates, so if i can get templates from somewhere and i have domain name so only webhosting space i need, i will try to keep my site simple and friendly-looking, so is that difficult or not useful? must i learn to design and build myself?

[bieber]

Templates, I'm afraid, aren't the way to go. They tend to look really tacky. Ready-built services are definitely your best option, unless you're prepared to spend a whole heap on paying a developer...

[Tareq]

Templates, I'm afraid, aren't the way to go. They tend to look really tacky. Ready-built services are definitely your best option, unless you're prepared to spend a whole heap on paying a developer...

you know people i am newbie, i don't anything about those services or developers, so guide me.
I am ready to pay if i can get something great as service or website look-like
good enough but most important is my domain name is selected.
I can begin with simple then, later if i want to grow i will do, just i want my website to be special or unique at least, if not possible then i don't want it to be so simple bored as well, i will sell some photos so i want it to be more interesting site than normal simple.

[CrazyPuma]

I'd suggest you surf around and find some sites that you personally like the look of, then try to find out how to emulate them(try googling "photo portfolio"). You may also want to go to an actual website-builder/tech type forum and ask there - I doubt you're going to get any really detailed answers here.

You can build simple websites that still look ok - especially the front page - without any fancy coding. This site here, (http://www.dumell.net/photo/index.html) for example, doesn't use much and I think it looks ok. Not exciting perhaps, but it's fine.

Basic HTML and CSS - is not hard to learn, buy a couple books, you could learn it in a couple days. You can get a lot of simple open source photo-blog type programs, install them on your website, and start hashing away at their codes when you know more. The stuff that's so popular (javascript etc) isn't that hard to learn either for basic stuff - at least it seemed that way to me when I looked into it once, but the more you go for, the more time consuming it'll be. I don't like to spend my time that way, so I stick to pre-made programs and basic old fashioned coding. :P

It really depends on what you want, which is hard for anyone/us to determine for you. And like bieber said, if you have the funds/lack time, you can always find a web developer, pay them, and they'll build it for you. Use the yellowpages, so to speak. Then you don't have to think about it much.

[Tareq]

I'd suggest you surf around and find some sites that you personally like the look of, then try to find out how to emulate them(try googling "photo portfolio"). You may also want to go to an actual website-builder/tech type forum and ask there - I doubt you're going to get any really detailed answers here.

You can build simple websites that still look ok - especially the front page - without any fancy coding. This site here, (http://www.dumell.net/photo/index.html) for example, doesn't use much and I think it looks ok. Not exciting perhaps, but it's fine.

Basic HTML and CSS - is not hard to learn, buy a couple books, you could learn it in a couple days. You can get a lot of simple open source photo-blog type programs, install them on your website, and start hashing away at their codes when you know more. The stuff that's so popular (javascript etc) isn't that hard to learn either for basic stuff - at least it seemed that way to me when I looked into it once, but the more you go for, the more time consuming it'll be. I don't like to spend my time that way, so I stick to pre-made programs and basic old fashioned coding. :P

It really depends on what you want, which is hard for anyone/us to determine for you. And like bieber said, if you have the funds/lack time, you can always find a web developer, pay them, and they'll build it for you. Use the yellowpages, so to speak. Then you don't have to think about it much.

In fact i think i know few friends who know about that web developing and codes and designing, i will ask some if they can do, and i know one company in my country which does this service for many government and i can see nice designs and templates so i may ask them to do for me, at least i can't learn for days to build pages and then i can't control or fix it later if something happened, so i will ask a good trustworhty company to do for me everything and i will pay for them anyway and i will see how it will result.
By the way, are there many photographers or pro or experts design thier own sites or they also pay for developers for this purposes?

I was a good computer guy in the past and i have all books about softwares and programming and developing and hardwares or networking but i never learnt them steps by steps as they most difficult and need time to learn whih can be wasting if i don't use it in something helpful.

[R_Metzel]

I personally like Flash and don't think it is 90's type stuff. A lot of major companies are using full flash sites with full HTML as an option for those who don't like flash. There are many draw backs with full flash, like search engines won't pick up your site, and any people on dial up probably won't wait for the site to load. You could have a Flash/HTML site which combines them both so the search engines still pick you up and it isn't as rough on people with dial up. Most templates are pretty bad, but I have seen some that are really well done. If you do hire someone to build a website in HTML, make sure it is a PHP site. PHP sites are built and designed so the average person can change things, like if you wanted to change a description of your services, or switch pictures around and even add/remove pictures if need be.

It all comes down to what you want to pay though. Nothing wrong with starting out with a template site for a few months while you either learn to write code (which really isn't to hard) or while saving for money to pay a web designer. If you want to learn HTML, as stated before, pick up some books, and search the web for help and answers. There are also programs like Dreamweaver that are pretty simple to use as it almost builds the site for you without you learning much code.

Another option for now is using a site like smugmug (http://www.smugmug.com/) or printroom (http://www.printroom.com/) to sell photos on. I prefer printroom over smugmug because I have used both and printroom does great prints and offers a wide variety of sizes and other thinks like mugs and teeshirts. It also lets the buyer preview what the photo will look like cropped at a certain size, and lets the choose what to crop on the picture. Here is an example http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=fotowerks&gallery_id=636889&tcount=633&scount=3 (http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=fotowerks&gallery_id=636889&tcount=633&scount=3)
You also get to customize what your pages look like and can add your own logo. Just some more info for you to rack your brain with!:lol:

[Tareq]

I personally like Flash and don't think it is 90's type stuff. A lot of major companies are using full flash sites with full HTML as an option for those who don't like flash. There are many draw backs with full flash, like search engines won't pick up your site, and any people on dial up probably won't wait for the site to load. You could have a Flash/HTML site which combines them both so the search engines still pick you up and it isn't as rough on people with dial up. Most templates are pretty bad, but I have seen some that are really well done. If you do hire someone to build a website in HTML, make sure it is a PHP site. PHP sites are built and designed so the average person can change things, like if you wanted to change a description of your services, or switch pictures around and even add/remove pictures if need be.

It all comes down to what you want to pay though. Nothing wrong with starting out with a template site for a few months while you either learn to write code (which really isn't to hard) or while saving for money to pay a web designer. If you want to learn HTML, as stated before, pick up some books, and search the web for help and answers. There are also programs like Dreamweaver that are pretty simple to use as it almost builds the site for you without you learning much code.

Another option for now is using a site like smugmug (http://www.smugmug.com/) or printroom (http://www.printroom.com/) to sell photos on. I prefer printroom over smugmug because I have used both and printroom does great prints and offers a wide variety of sizes and other thinks like mugs and teeshirts. It also lets the buyer preview what the photo will look like cropped at a certain size, and lets the choose what to crop on the picture. Here is an example http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=fotowerks&gallery_id=636889&tcount=633&scount=3 (http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=fotowerks&gallery_id=636889&tcount=633&scount=3)
You also get to customize what your pages look like and can add your own logo. Just some more info for you to rack your brain with!:lol:

OH MY, this will make things more complicated then.
I think i will never have any personal site then, or maybe i will have simple crap site that won't help me to advertise my works or growing my business later.

anyway, i will keep searching and will see if i can have a good solution rather than learning to writ myself site or developing and designing myself, i don't have time to take photos how can i have time to learn web developing and graphics designing.

Thank you very much for all needed information, i will try to do my best anyway.

[R_Metzel]

OH MY, this will make things more complicated then.
I think i will never have any personal site then, or maybe i will have simple crap site that won't help me to advertise my works or growing my business later.

anyway, i will keep searching and will see if i can have a good solution rather than learning to writ myself site or developing and designing myself, i don't have time to take photos how can i have time to learn web developing and graphics designing.

Thank you very much for all needed information, i will try to do my best anyway.
I would say for now, if you really want to just start selling photo's right away, join printroom or smugmug. I can't remember how much smugmug is, printroom is like 90 dollars a year. That way you are selling while you figure out what to do about a personal site. Most sites like these have a nice drag and drop upload process. And some resize everything for web use so you don't have to spend the time doing it yourself. Then when someone orders a print, you upload the full size photo for printing. If you have any questions about printroom just pm me. I used them for about a year now.

[Tareq]

I will try if i can learn one of those web developing languages, so which language you think it is good? PHP? Javascript? MySQL? or something else?

[bieber]

Tareq, those languages all serve different purposes. PHP does server-side scripting, Javascript client-side scripting, and MySQL is a query language for databases. It's all heavily complicated, and you'd need to start by learning (X)HTML and CSS. Metzel, that's probably the most heinous over-simplification of PHP I've ever seen. Just because a site uses PHP doesn't mean it's configurable by the user, and many user configurable sites aren't built with PHP.

[Skrim17]

tareq, if you have seen a site you like, particularly someone's personal site where you could purchase photos who is a member of this forum I would suggest you email them and see hoe they did it. There is no need for it to be so complicated.

[Tareq]

I am still searching, sure there is a way to get that decent personal pro site without complicated and easy to control and friendly interface and the most important is that i can sell photos, there are many simple good enough sites but i want my site to look more pro than simple basic one, doesn't matter of pic if the site itself is interesting as long the site can be interesting, if i have to pay then i pay for what is worth and i am sure the site what i look for, i don't want to pay on some sites to check if it is good for me or not, it is wasting money more than testing a site.
I will post later some sites that it looks fine and good pro enough to see what i look for.

[R_Metzel]

Tareq, those languages all serve different purposes. PHP does server-side scripting, Javascript client-side scripting, and MySQL is a query language for databases. It's all heavily complicated, and you'd need to start by learning (X)HTML and CSS. Metzel, that's probably the most heinous over-simplification of PHP I've ever seen. Just because a site uses PHP doesn't mean it's configurable by the user, and many user configurable sites aren't built with PHP.
I was trying to keep things simple! No need to confuse someone with 9 million different terms and options when you don't need to.;) I like to use simple terms and definitions so I don't make people feel stupid. I always do this unless I am talking to someone that speaks the same language.

[POD77]

I agree no flash/music for pruchase and gallery areas, you want it to be simple and straight forward. But as far as advertising goes, I think flash or a good slideshow and music is okay (as long as you can turn the music off). I don't like having music on the front page tho.

Are you wanting to sell stock items or pictures for particular clients?

At the end of the day, have fun with it, because if you don't you will lose interest and it will go nowhere.

[openmatt]

if you want a friendly awesome webhost check out www.wiredhub.net

It's cheap... their tech support is amazing and a lot of free scripts like Gallery included and the installation process is easy. Their support team guarantees a response within' 3 hours and every time I've had the tiniest problem or had troubles setting something up (that was totally a problem of understanding on my side) they have over-delivered with that process... pretty fast too.

I pay $9.95/mo... I get 12gb webspace and 400gb bandwidth/mo... unlimited subdomains, e-mail address, etc.

[coreypolis]

creativemotiondesign.com

they'll build you a pro website for cheep (compared to the competition or a web developer/graphic artist). My next site will be with them.


You can build it yourself, I did my own, but it takes a lot of practice and work, and I'd assume be out shooting instead of trying to figure out html, CSS etc

[Tareq]

Thank you all people for help.
I think i will think to build or own a site later, i will see if i need a pro-looking site or just normal one.

[photosbyjuan]

if you have a mac, I would suggest you start off with rapidweaver. very straight forwards and I think your going to get the best professional results with that. I personally use it and although I'm more like intermediate it's still a great app, once you learn css your'll have lot of FUN!

[fuzzygraphics]

Thank you all people for help.
I think i will think to build or own a site later, i will see if i need a pro-looking site or just normal one.


You mentioned selling photos a couple times.. Check out smugmug. A pro account is $150 US a year and you can change the look and feel as you become more comfortable with CSS and HTML. It may be a great way to get you up and running quickly without hiring a development team.

Personally, I think flash can be done well and over done. I've seen a lot of photog sites with too much flash. A little goes a long way in my opinion.

Good luck on your site!

[Tareq]

I saw many websites that offer to have good own sites and some professional look style as well, so i will keep reading about them, and most offering the selling service as well.
I bought my own domain, some websites don't allow or not have to have own domain name as option.
about flash or music, i think music i was looking to have one so slow relaxing one with low voice and turn on/off option as well, but seems music is not so preferable to many here or somewhere else maybe, and the flash in fact i want to use it only in homepage as intro and not on all pages, and not extreme flash so even me i don't want that much flash, all that to make my own site looks more interesting than just posting photos and clicking on links, even if my photos are good enough sometimes if the site itself is so bored then no one will even go deep to see more.

Simply i want a site that from first entering or lok to first page you feel that you are in an expert or pro site, but if it is just as many websites around the net then i have to work very hard and waiting long time before i can sell one or 2 photos, if not true then i will check many good website like smugmug or so as they are enough to have photos for sales and the design is good enough, just to remember, as long i will pay then i need lil bit close to perfect site.