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WWWhat?
Some photographers may tell you that you do not require a website but in today's highly connected world you are not going to go far with out one. If you do not know how to style a website, do not have the cash to pay someone else, or do not know anybody who desires to aid you out, there are options. Sites like SmugMug, Zenfolio, or even a WordPress photo weblog permit a budding photographer a wonderful way to start out in the wedding photography organization.
What do you need from your 1st web page?
You will require something that can grow with you, something that is Search engine optimization (search engine optimized) compliant, some thing that keeps new buyers on your webpage, and some thing that makes it possible for your existing consumers to order pictures. A combination of options can accomplish this, for example:
• Website with a link for your existing clients to Zenfolio or SmugMug
• Blog with a link for your existing customers to Zenfolio or SmugMug
• Just a SmugMug account
I personally started with SmugMug and then developed my own web-site. Now I have a Weblog/HTML/Flash web-site mix. I use SmugMug as a gallery web-site for my existing customers and a weblog to add new content on the fly. You can commence with a web-site but I'd recommend starting with SmugMug, Zenfolio, or a WordPress weblog.
Don't Be so Smug About It!
SmugMug is an wonderful tool for new and existing skilled photographers alike. It is customizable interface is second only to the amount of assist found in the support forums. It will price you $149.95 for a pro account for the year but to be honest it's a tiny cost to pay to get your wedding photography enterprise off the ground. It is functions consist of unlimited storage, the capacity to setup public and secure galleries, customizable pricing, skilled prints, protection from downloading of your prints, Search engine optimization tools, and the ability to alter the appear and style of the interface to meet your wants.
As I said ahead of it also has a awesome forum with lots of strategies on how to customize the interface. If you're going to attempt to customize you'll need to have some understanding of style sheets and a bit of HTML expertise wouldn't hurt either. Nonetheless, if you just want to go with SmugMug themes then no have to have to worry about that. It also allows you to use Search engine optimization tools which will assist to drive consumers to your web-site. I'll cover this in significantly more detail in my promoting write-up.
Though some photographers use SmugMug as their sole web site and online portfolio if you really want to drive prospects to your web-site at some point you will want to move to a internet site which enables you to modify every aspect of the style and Seo compliance. However, SmugMug will work fantastic for you in the mean time and when you have developed your own webpage you'll nonetheless want to preserve a gallery service in location for your existing consumers.
Come across your inner Zen
Zenfolio is a service comparable to SmugMug in that it provides galleries and ordering capabilities. It has a incredibly nice interface that is intuitive and very simple and easy to use for novice internet users. Almost everything about the service is extremely simple. It does not have as considerably flexibility when it comes to modifying the overall design as SmugMug so what you see is what you get, but to be honest it is a pretty amazing webpage. It also has a lot of tracking capacity inside the web page to assist you get the most out of your orders and to know who is ordering what.
The premium service costs about $100.00 per year for unlimited storage. In my opinion Zenfolio is not a decent service on its own. It works awesome as a consumer gallery exactly where your customers can order their prints from but doesn't function as a primary web-site. If you want to use Zenfolio when you 1st start off up but do not want to design a web-site I'd say go with a WordPress photoblog that links to Zen for your private galleries.
WordPress Blog
I've just started my photoblog and did it for diverse factors than a brand new photographer would do so. I have completed it mainly because it adds significantly more links pointing back to my main photography web site hence increasing my ranking in Google. It also makes it possible for me to show off new work with out updating my main website all the time. For a new photographer it would be your main internet portfolio. To show folks your work and to meet Seo requirements. The reason I say use a WordPress PhotoBlog is given that WordPress is very easily indexed by Google. I'll go into that in the advertising and marketing article. A PhotoBlog is absolutely nothing even more than a template placed onto a blog that lets you have images as your primary purpose rather than words.
There are lots of photoblog templates out there but to be honest my favorite is the 1 I chose. I am making use of a Pro Photo Weblog template which enables for extreme customization without having the hassle of knowing html or flash. The cost is $199 so its not cheap, but it is specialist. Feel absolutely free to view my internet site for an example. Whatever template you chose you will still need a gallery for your customers. If you'd like to maintain your branding similar, go with SmugMug. If you just want dead very simple, go with Zenfolio.
Read On
Make confident to take a appear at my next write-up on advertising and marketing which goes into some items I've learned along the way. I won't be able to cover every thing given that to be honest the topic could fill books but I'll cover some highlights to get you began.
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