zenfolio or smugmug for my personal site?

[RyanM]

Up in the air between Zenfolio or Smugmug for my personal site. Not looking to make a pro site, but looking for something to present my photos and allow people to purchase prints through the site.
what is the easiest, nicest presentation, etc... between the two?
many thanks

[jgrussell]

I haven't seen any real difference in ease of use etc. between the two. The big difference appears to be that you can customize SmugMug and you really can't do much to differentiate your Zenfolio site from anyone else's.

[spuddevans]

I have mine with smugmug and would reccomend them (of course!!), but my advice would be to try both first, they both offer free trials, try them and see which suits you best.

If you decide to go with smugmug enter Flickr as a discount coupon to get 50% off your first years subscription and then enter 3MDk82MhINcPg for an addtional $5.00 off.


Tim

[RyanM]

Thanks. It seems the backend is nicer on zenfolio while smug mug really lets your make ur site look unique.
Still up in the air of which to do. this will take awhile..haha

[shaggymatt]

FWIW, if it matters to you (as of my when I signed up) Smugmug doesn't let you associate a coupon code to your gallery. I wanted this to give customers credits, which is why I went with Zenfolio.

[timnosenzo]

I use SmugMug for both of my sites and highly recommend them.

Sites are here:
http://www.timnosenzo.com
http://www.timnosenzophoto.com

[dinny66]

In smugmug, can you use different themes etc for different galleries, but keep your own logo across the top of the page?
You can't do that in Zenfolio (which I wish I knew before commiting to them). Can't put a logo up at all. :(

Mike

[timnosenzo]

In smugmug, can you use different themes etc for different galleries, but keep your own logo across the top of the page?
You can't do that in Zenfolio (which I wish I knew before commiting to them). Can't put a logo up at all. :(

Mike

Yes, if you have a Power or Pro account, you can do quite a bit of customizing, including a custom header.

[dinny66]

I signed up for a trial Power account. WOW that's complicated to customise.
I don't want to be a web programmer, or learn html or css. Looks like a non starter, shame.

[RyanM]

I think I am going to go with the Unlimited account with Zenfolio. Seems to be easiest for what I want to do

[timnosenzo]

I signed up for a trial Power account. WOW that's complicated to customise.
I don't want to be a web programmer, or learn html or css. Looks like a non starter, shame.

It's really not that bad, and people are willing to help, but it does take some input from the user.

[jgrussell]

I signed up for a trial Power account. WOW that's complicated to customise. I don't want to be a web programmer, or learn html or css. Looks like a non starter, shame.You don't really have to be. There's a TON of help available in the forums, and a lot of cut-and-paste customizations.

[dinny66]

That sounds encouraging! TBF, I did manage to get a custom header on smugmug so that's a good start.
Just have to work on it a bit.
Hope the OP is having good luck.
I like the fact that smugmug has a supplier who provides prints to the UK, albeit a bit pricey.

[dinny66]

well, persistance seems to be the key here. Having now used both, I found Zenfolio easier to customise quickly, but have found you run out of options quite quickly. Smugmug took more time to get into, but seems to be much more customisable in terms of both gallery styles and colours.
I can see why the OP raisde the question.
Would appreciate any comments though:

Smugmug gallery (http://mikedphotography.smugmug.com/)

Zenfolio gallery (http://mikedphoto.zenfolio.com/)

Still a long way from being finshed, but much slicker than pbase.

Many thanks, apologies to the OP, not meaning to hijack your thread, but hopefully contribute to it.

Mike

[RyanM]

So I decided to go with Zenfolio b/c it's easier to do what i want to do for the time being (show off some galleries, and basically use it as a storage for my full size images so I have an extra copy in case my external hard drive crashes)

For customization, smugmug really lets you make a very unique website but that might be later down the road for me

Anyways, here is my zenfolio site: www.ryanomiller.com

take a look and let me know what you think so far... very early in the process

[Nistelrooydude]

I signed up for a trial Power account. WOW that's complicated to customise.
I don't want to be a web programmer, or learn html or css. Looks like a non starter, shame.


It's not that bad. I did my site, www.hrephoto.smugmug.com (http://www.hrephoto.smugmug.com), using just stuff that I could copy and paste from the dGrin forums.

[narlus]

Anyways, here is my zenfolio site: www.ryanomiller.com (http://www.ryanomiller.com)

take a look and let me know what you think so far... very early in the process

i think it looks pretty good, though i'm not sold on the bright white background.

[Aerton]

I use SmugMug for both of my sites and highly recommend them.

Sites are here:
http://www.timnosenzo.com
http://www.timnosenzophoto.com

Hi, I'm looking too see what would be a good place to sell photos of School Sports and Plays. Reading through the forums I found your post. After looking at both I must say that SmugMug looks very professional in comparison to Zenfolio. I could not find the button to buy photos in Zenfolio, but had no problem with SmugMug. Also a question with pricing, I guess you set the price on the prints correct. I don't want to gauge parents but at 28c for 4x6, $1.26 for 5x7, and $2.74 for 8x10 how many prints do you guys sell to make paying $149 for SmugMug a year worth while? Just asking.

[Dan-o]

At those prices it is going to take you quite a while. Also don't forget Smugs 15% and the governments cut. That leaves you at pennies per photo.

Do you ever get services done without paying labor? When you take your car in or have plumbing work done on your house do you only pay a small markup on material? Of course not. The parents are paying for your expertize and not some small markup on prints.

Check the rates of people doing similar type stuff in you area for starters.

[dinny66]

Having put together pages on PBase, Zenfolio and Smugmug, I emailed my friendly sports desk edtor to ask for his opinion, as he's a pro at this kid of thing...
Thought I would share it back for reference:

Hi Mike,

Good snaps again!

I've just had a look at all three sites and I think the smugmug looks the most professional and is easy to use. It's also pretty fast to bring up a full-size pic, although I thought the zenfolio site was the quickest to use, but I wasn't overly keen on the website lay-out.
Pbase is also easy to use but smugmug was my favourite.

Hope that helps,
Steve

So thanks to the flickr voucher code :lol:bw!I now have a paid up pro account on smugmug.
'Nuff said.

M

[spuddevans]

So thanks to the flickr voucher code :lol:bw!I now have a paid up pro account on smugmug.
'Nuff said.

M

Well done, I dont think you'll be disappointed. I also used the Flickr code when I signed up, it's very handy.

Tim