Website Question

[Ampersand.]

I want to host my own photography website and I have one currently (via Wix.com) but because it's flash-based it doesn't actually show up on Google. I'm looking for something simple, search engine-friendly and preferably free as I'm a broke college student who can't afford anything more. Are there any sites out there that might be a good place to start? Thanks!

[Aaron Peabody]

T.A.N.S.T.A.A.F.L., or in other words, there ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

When you're talking about not being able to afford anything the site that comes first to my mind is Flickr. Of course Flickr isn't the nicest solution out there, but it is free. When you get right down to it you're not going to get something ideal unless you can pay a little bit for it.

At the low end you should be able to find basic web hosting for about $5 to $10 a month (four trips to Starbucks). Add to that a free, text based, HTML coding tool. Finally, a trip to your local library to borrow a book about HTML and CSS. If you can sacrifice a few more trips to Starbucks then there are a host of inexpensive web editing programs out there that let you create whatever you might want, without having to know anything about writing code.

If you're willing to throw in a bit more money then you can start looking at something like SmugMug or Zenfolio. They make things really, really easy, as well as throwing in some other goodies like letting people buy your photos from you. While a lot easier than making your own site they'll also cost you a fair bit more, so just keep that in mind.''

Hope this helps.

[Ampersand.]

Thanks, I'll get on that!

[CherithK]

I am a big fan of SmugMug but I don't want to pay for it.

I ended up getting my own hosting and using Wordpress and the NextGen photo gallery plugin (there are other plugins available too). PHP5 is required. There are settings you gotta flip to make this one search engine friendly, but it does the job.

You really have to tweak the code to get it to look how you want. Definitely takes a LOT of time to go this route but it is customizable.

[Ampersand.]

Thank you!

[Jeff Colburn]

Most hosting companies have free website design software as part of the package. I have several sites on GoDaddy, and pay about $10 per year for each of my domain names and about $80 per year for hosting. This lets me host as many sites as I want for that one hosting fee. At one time I had almost 15 sites there, I now have 6, all for $80.

You could get Dreamweaver (students get a huge discount) and make your own site.

Have Fun,
Jeff

[Ampersand.]

Thanks! Dreamweaver sounds familiar, is it part of CS4 or am I thinking of something completely different?