Smugmug or Personal Website?

For those of you that use Smugmug to display and sell your work how do you like it and do you think it is better than having your own personal website? Or do you have both? I don't really plan on being a photographer for hire because people/portrait photography is really not my thing. I do mostly landscape/nature/wildl​ife kind of work and I will be selling some of my work in a few artsy stores in Saugatuck, Michigan. Currently I have sold several photos via Facebook and word of mouth.

I am considering either opening up a Smugmug account or having a friend of mine that does web design and photography create a website for me. Since I am not that computer saavy I don't know how much work my own website would be over just hosting my photos on Smugmug and having the option for people to purchase prints from Smugmug.

So for those of you that do actively sell your work on Smugmug how satisfied are you with it and do you also have your own personal photography website in which you also have your work for sale as well?

Which one has brought you the most exposure?

I really like using Smugmug. It has worked out well for me. I have my own domain names linked to my Smugmug. I use the Pro version and like the service that they give.

I've been a smugmug pro, and like mentioned above their service is great. I've had my own domains point to my smugmug, but now I'm taking the plunge as having my own website designed. I do love smugmugd gallery features and the ability to sell through them, but I could only find myself able to do so much with editing it. That said I am by no means a talented web designer.

There are amazing designers who work with smugmug and some amazing templates to use too. My logic behind switching to my own site with my own hosting is that it will in the end be cheaper than the $150 or so a year that smugmug is. I was fortunate to have a friend make my site (soon to launch within a couple days) for a discounted rate.

I'm still sort of uneasy about making the switch from smugmug to my own site, but for some reason I believe it's going to present me as more professional. That may only be because it's professionally designed though.

I love the ability to create galleries in Lightroom and easily publish them to smugmug, the ability to have private galleries for clients, and the ability to search and modify my smugmug site by myself without the help of a professional.

I have both a "regular" website and a Smugmug site. All of my sales are from my website and not my Smugmug site.

Thanks for the replies..I am getting some good ideas..I might start out with Smugmug first and then eventually move into having my friend creating my own website for me. We have already talked about her doing that and she does webdesign as her own business and she is also a fellow photographer. She has taken a break from photography for a while to concentrate on her webdesign business so she is not really knowledgeable about Smugmug or Zenfolio and thus my reasons for asking here for some suggestions.

I appreciate the responses so far!!

Get your own website.

As someone who opened his first for profit website in 1996 here are some reasons why your website is always better than Smugmug, FB, etc. Its your content, not theirs. You want to send to your site where you have full control of what you do and that is not as limited as some other sites (ie ecommerce, additional features). You want to use their websites to link bach to your own website.

Let them send you visitors instead of the other way around.

Both.

dkizzle wrote in post #14294845
Get your own website.

As someone who opened his first for profit website in 1996 here are some reasons why your website is always better than Smugmug, FB, etc. Its your content, not theirs. You want to send to your site where you have full control of what you do and that is not as limited as some other sites (ie ecommerce, additional features). You want to use their websites to link bach to your own website.

Let them send you visitors instead of the other way around.

I would re-read the terms of agreement with Smugmug. I've never seen anothing about them "owning" my content. Facebook is a totally different beast of course.

Keep in mind that Sites like Smugmug, Zenfolio etc. can also be fully customized to look like a unique site and have built in e-commerce capability built in. Personally I want to be in the business of shooting and displaying and photos and not building web sites but to each his own.

I like my Smugmug, BUT . . . I know next to nothing on how much time (or additional money) would be involved in my own site. I think this is the biggest question to ask (your friend may know). If this is "part time", then you may want to focus on marketing and not on updating and/or tinkering with a web site . . . but again, that is a comparison that only you (with your web buddy) can do. Ultimately those here who say "both" are probably the most correct, but the real question is which (or both) is best for YOU.

I have both. A feature website that has a blog and some galleries and then a zenfolio site that handles all the e-commerce. I think this is the best setup for someone not too computer savvy. I used to have a custom flash site that I built, but editing it and other aspects of it were a pain and I was short on time and would rather be shooting/editing images, not code.

the feature site links to everything, facebook, G+, Tumblr, 500px, and then funnels traffic back to the zenfolio site to take the orders and payment. With you're own site, aside from the design and maintenance, if you plan to sell anything, having your site secure and dealing with fulfilling orders can be a nightmare.

Do both. More exposure is a good thing. I have a website, blog, tumblr and various other sites to display my work.