Web Designer needed

[shadowkipper]

Hello,
I've had a few attempts at putting together my own website for my photography however I'm having no joy and coding just confuses me.

At present, I currently use a wordpress poge for my photography work:

www.foxtography.co.uk (http://www.foxtography.co.uk)

At current it has 333 Images on the one page and Im updating it as much as I can.

So yes, I'm looking for someone who can put together a website for me with the following:
Pages:
Home Page, Gallery Page(s), About, Contact and Equipment.

The pages should be user friendly, for me to edit the text easily.
The flash gallery should be easy to upload to and use. I'll be putting quite a few images on it.

I am only an amateur photographer right now, I'm hoping a good website can get my name out more, however Im not interested in selling my work commercially just yet.

So yes, If you think you have the skills needed, then please let me know via PM and include information about prices, completition times and previous testimonials/customers.

I dont want to shell out a fortune, so, if you're expecting a huge fee, dont waste your time ;)

[Mason Galindo]

Web design isn't cheap. As a web designer for over 10 years having worked for over 100 clients as a freelancer and some more when I worked with a design firm, I can tell you that unless you're willing to pay you likely won't find anyone who's interested or you'll find people who deliver subpar work. When I say willing to pay, I don't mean willing to pay a couple hundred. You might get lucky and find a beginning designer or student willing to do some spec work or work at reduced rates, but it's phrases like "don't want to shell out a fortune" that immediately send up red flags to any designer worth his or her salt.

Good luck though.

[Pete]

You might want to look at some off-the-shelf products that can help you do what you need to. You may find you can find something a great deal cheaper than a bespoke solution.

For example, I bought my system from Imagevuex.com It cost me about £30. All I had to do was upload the software to my website and configure it. I know zip about web-coding, so if I can figure it out, anyone can.

Other software solutions are of course available, some are based on Zenfolio/Smugmug galleries (both of which are highly customisable). Take a look in the presentation section here on POTN and see what other guys are using.

[acollins10]

pm sent

[bacchanal]

check out http://www.squarespace.com/

[Mason Galindo]

I apologize if my last post seemed abrasive. The previous poster has made a good suggestion and to expand on that, consider other portfolio services and CMS options (Content Management System) that have many of the features you need right out of the box and require little customization.

CarbonMade: http://www.carbonmade.com/

Here are some examples of photography portfolios made using CarbonMade:

http://www.carbonmade.com/portfolios/photography

Good luck.

[Froggeh]

Mason, I thought your first post in this topic was spot on. Web design is a field cluttered with amateurs and it would be nice now and again for this to be acknowledged in other fields.

Go with your P&S website and enjoy it, if its all you want.

[bacchanal]

Mason, I thought your first post in this topic was spot on. Web design is a field cluttered with amateurs and it would be nice now and again for this to be acknowledged in other fields.

Go with your P&S website and enjoy it, if its all you want.

The thing about these "P&S" website services is that they are user manageable and configurable with a low level of knowledge. Professional stand alone web sites often require professional maintenance, which isn't feasible or appropriate for many types of users or websites.

I don't really see what your post does to help tho OP at all.

[Mason Galindo]

The thing about these "P&S" website services is that they are user manageable and configurable with a low level of knowledge. Professional stand alone web sites often require professional maintenance, which isn't feasible or appropriate for many types of users or websites.

I don't really see what your post does to help tho OP at all.

We're attempting to offer the OP some perspective on what hiring a web designer really entails. I know from experience there are a lot of misconceptions about what can be acquired in relation to what is being spent. In his case, however, I think an entry-level solution such as those mentioned above and the like will likely be sufficient.

I suppose as someone who has worked with so many design clients, I know that people are deluded in their thinking when it comes to finding a budget designer. "You get what you pay for" is cliche but in cases like this very apropos. Again, I was merely offering him the insight of someone who has worked in the industry for years.

Good luck!

[Karl Johnston]

"Go with your P&S website and enjoy it, if that's all you want"

Talk about arrogance, from the looks of your website your web designer must've flunked the management part of CMS. :lol: I have no sense when it comes to designing websites but I go with a "P&S" Website.

[Froggeh]

I dont want to shell out a fortune, so, if you're expecting a huge fee, dont waste your time

it would've been helpful if the OP had said what his budget was, instead of slating anyone who doesn't fit into his perceived (and unmentioned) cost per hour / price bracket.

The thing about these "P&S" website services is that they are user manageable and configurable with a low level of knowledge. Professional stand alone web sites often require professional maintenance, which isn't feasible or appropriate for many types of users or websites.

I don't really see what your post does to help tho OP at all.

I'm sorry for that - I realise it didn't help the OP much, but it was a bit of knee-jerk reaction to yet another "I want a cheap website, I'm not prepared to pay much for it" "There you go, this is the cheapest you can get mate!" approach.

If you swap "website" for "wedding photographer" or "fashion photographer" you'll see how offensive a lot of these posts are, and when we as professionals within the web sphere try to give serious help, we get shot down by people without a little knowledge. I agree that some P&S services are useful from that perspective, but the average user doesn't have a clue what the limitations are of their website (eg. terrible SEO performance, poor branding, lack of coherency, poor copywriting etc.).

A good website will bring together a multitude of disciplines to create an effective presentation and sales tool, guiding your clients with a pitch that resonates with their needs. It will provide multiple paths through the site to achieve your site goals (eg. using the contact form, picking up the phone and calling you, making a sale, signing up to your newsletter, choosing the right package for them).

Talk about arrogance

Kajuah, I'm not sure you've seen our websites, but I assure you we haven't flunked the management part of CMS. You may have set it up this way on purpose, but your website through content ordering gives the impression that you have a preference for portrait photography, do events as well, and don't care so much about wedding photography. Moving these to a three-column layout with 'create your own package' underneath would give these equal stature and not put off people who see your other work first. Using HTML anchors on that page and linking to them from the front (<a name="blah"></a> and <a href="services-pricing-and-packages/#blah">link</a> would guide people more directly to the content relevant to them. Italicizing your strap-line would prevent it looking like a list of links. In the first sentence of custom packages "You design it !" there's an un-welcome space inserted before the !. Your JPG logo is overcompressed and contains artefacts (as does your forum logo). Not sure if these are welcome - I hope they are, and I understand you're still building your website, but as a supposedly 'arrogant' guy, please understand I'm actually trying to help the OP and anyone else who asks about websites. Sometimes I run out of energy from repeating the same stuff over and over again though.

cheers,

John

[shadowkipper]

Web Designer has been found, thanks for your help guys. (or in some cases, lack of it)

Cheers.