Starting a new chapter

howeirdd

howeirdd

Member
So I've been juggling between a few sites where I host my pictures and I feel like it's too scattered at the moment. So far, I have a Flickr, a blogger, a RedBubble, a Tumblr, and a Facebook page (and possibly a wordpress?), all with different sets of images that I happen to put up at the moment. I really want to refine my content and look into getting something a little more condensed and professional.

Since there are so many pros here, what would you guys suggest for domain/site hosting? Am I thinking too fast with hosting? It would be something that I want to eventually move into, but obviously the cost might be prohibitive. I know there's also SmugMug, but again, since I'm not really making money from my photography (other than two purchases from RedBubble for a grand total of $0.39!) , my job at the moment doesn't really allow for that much extra to be spent hosting a hobby.

Just so you have an idea, here are the sites that I have up right now:

http://www.flickr.com/howeirdd

http://hfotography.blogspot.com

http://www.redbubble.com/people/howeirdd

http://howweird.tumblr.com

http://www.facebook.com/howardfungphotography

http://500px.com/howeirdd

There's not really any kind of consistency that I would like to move towards, it really is just a smorgasboard of places I put up my work without refining what goes up. Ideally I would have a blog with regular updates that would be able to serve as a portfolio of sorts. Is that asking a lot? I'd appreciate any feedback or ideas. Thanks in advance!
 
That's a tough question and one that I struggle with from time to time as well.

I have a Smugmug site that I love because I have complete control over the look as opposed to 500PX and Flickr where we're stuck with their layout. ; I haven't had a chance to play with the new Smugmug and probably won't until January, but I'm happy with what I have now. ; I also post to both Flickr and 500px since they get better exposure than my site does. ; If I added a blog to my site, it may drive up the site views making Flickr and 500px unnecessary, but I haven't had the time to start one yet.

There really isn't an easy answer to the question of how to set up your photography site as it all depends on what you want the final product to be and how much time or money you want to spend to get there. ; I went with Smugmug because it is customizable and I was able to borrow enough code off their user forums to get the look I wanted. ;

One low cost option would be to set up a blog on Blogger or Wordpress and use 500px as a portfolio until you're ready to create a more custom site. ; That would let you get started with blogging now without investing in a custom site or paying for a domain and hosting. ;

Having a custom domain may not be necessary in the end anyway. ; I think the important thing is not changing things once you start to get a high number of site views coming in on a frequent basis. ; If the blog is set up first and brings in a good number of views, the custom domain could be added in the future to only host the portfolio portion of the site using the blog to drive traffic to the portfolio. ; A good example of this is the Strobist Blog. ; David Hobby set that up on blogger and while he eventually obtained the www.strobist.com domain, the domain simply redirects to the original www.strobist.blogspot.com ; His portfolio is very simple and hosted on Zenfolio and I think he uses Flickr to host most of the images he shares on the blog.

Anyway, that's my current thoughts. ; I'd love to hear other opinions.
 
If you are looking to do your own thing, I would suggest using cixhost.com. ; My site is hosted with them and I couldn't be any happier with the service. ; Sean&Karen from this site is the owner, so please check them out and see what you think. ;
 
I use Smugmug to host my photos and then share from there. ; Except for flickr but I only put up a photo a day there same for G+. ; Both those sites are for marketing back to my blog which I hope than gets them to my Smugmug website.

If Sean can set up an easy to use interface for you to upload and then share from, that might be your best and more economical choice. ; Drop him a PM and see what he can do for you.

You want a way to organize and share your photos. ; I do not believe you are looking to sell them which is another strong point for Smugmug. Just make sure you get plenty of storage space! I think you need to think about investing for a good solution.

BTW, you do need to cut down. ; I'd can the tumblr and blogspot sites and go with a Wordpress blog. ; Either hosted on a server or use Wordpress.com. ;

I would not upload much to Facebook but use links from your blog and website there. ; Except for high school sports, I do not upload much to FB. That's only because my market, players and their parents, use FB.
 
Thanks for your responses Mike, Tim, and Steve.

I know there are mixed opinions on Flickr, 500px, and G+ but it seems like the most common denominator would be Smugmug. I think I'll gather and refine my content and really decide on what I want before going further and contacting Sean&Karen, but they sound like a great resource. I would eventually like to sell my images, but I think I have a way to go before it's up to par with proper editing and formatting.

What are your thoughts on Instagram and Twitter? I imagine just as another place to link back to the main blog/website? Thanks again for all your help!
 
I don't fool with Instagram. Twitter is mostly a way to link back to the website for me. I tweet a link when I upload a new photo. I also occasionally tweet cell phone photos there, but never photos shot with my camera. I don't have time to keep up with the ever changing TOS, so I just don't upload photos to twitter that weren't taken with a cell phone. That way i don't have to worry about loosing the rights to my better shots.
 
My Smugmug subscription is the Power User Level. It allows all of the customization, but none of the sales features. ; Last year they raised the price on the upper two levels which include the sales stuff, which upset many people. In my opinion you would need to sell a lot of pictures to justify either of the upper 2 level accounts.

Smugmug has a nice trial period so you can play with it before committing. ; You can also set up the trial account with a second email address so you can test it more than once if you want.

If you do end up getting a subscription there let us know before you do. ; Anyone who already has an account has a referral code which will save the person you got it from $5 on next years subscription

I would recommend waiting a little while before trying Smugmug. They just changed the interface so they may still be working the bugs out of it. I haven't switched my account over yet and probably won't before January.
 
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