Looking to build a Website

Sidney

Sidney

Messages
167
Name
Sidney
Edit My Images
No
Hi,

Towards Q4 of this year, I want to have started doing some TFP work, have a strong portfolio and have a website. It's the website that I am struggling with.

I do not want a blog of any kind, I just want a few slideshows showing my images, an about page and a contact from. I would also like Social Media links. I am 95% sure that I want it to be powered by WordPress, it's just easier. But from looking at various themes, all of them seem to be designed fro the 'Photo Blogger'.

I want a plain, simple site where the images do the talking and the text does not. What would be the best way to build this?

I am defiantly not a web designer, nor do I desire to be. Therefore, I will be looking at using a template or paying someone else to build one for me.

What is the best way to go? Do any of you know any good templates? What's the going rate for a cheap web designer? Is WordPress the right route?

Really just looking for your thoughts on this. I am open to suggestions.

Cheers,

Sid.
 
Have a look on themeforest.net for a theme you like, know what you want to change to it and check with the author to know exactly what can be changed with in-built options and without having to touch any code. There are usually plugins that can help you to get a feature that isn't originally included.

Make the changes you want, then any further/more major changes that require coding can be posted on peopleperhour.com - it's competitive on there for work, so naturally it's of a decent standard and pretty cheap.

I would definitely head down the Wordpress route.
 
Wordpress website is certainly the easiest way to go. You can easily get site up and running in a morning.

Some great themes around for photographers, take a look at Themeforest as mentioned elsewhere, Photocrati is great & really simple theme to use. There's literally hundreds out there and plenty of plug ins to help with your SEO.
 
There are doubtless web designer forums where they all bitch about the Uncle Bobs who think that just because they have a computer that they can design a website.
 
nigelbb said:
There are doubtless web designer forums where they all bitch about the Uncle Bobs who think that just because they have a computer that they can design a website.
Click to expand...

That may well be the case, but the likes of Wordpress certainly gives the power to the 'Uncle Bobs' of this world - the wonders of modern technology eh?! :D
 
Another +1 for Themeforest if you're going with Wordpress.

I spent a lot of time looking for the right theme for my portfolio site (never did end up completely happy and am still working on it) and ended up reviewing my shortlisted site themes here.

My advice would be to try the demos. Bookmark the ones you like, then go through your shortlist checking each theme to see a)how often the developer updates it and b)checking the comments to make sure the developer is responsive to bugs/issues.

There are some really good themes out there - it just takes a while to dig through the ones that appeal to you.

The last thing to remember is that a lot of the themes are "fullscreen" type themes that stretch images. If you have "odd" cropped images they might not work well with the full screen themes. If you set up a Themeforest account, you can then ask questions of the developer before you buy.

Ian.
 
nigelbb said:
There are doubtless web designer forums where they all bitch about the Uncle Bobs who think that just because they have a computer that they can design a website.
Click to expand...

It's all a case of suitability. A good wordpress theme or sitebuilder like Zenfolio is like a camera on Full Auto, it'll get you something that works.

Just like with pro photography, when it was much about being able to use a camera, lots of nerdy photography types ran the local wedding / portrait shop taking fairly bland photo's. Lots of early 'web designers' made a living with fairly bad sites.

With technology, we have enabled the masses to not have to learn the technical stuff to create something good. Pro's are still required to produce truly unique sites / photographs.
 
Excellent post by Harlequin.

I've designed 3 sites with Wordpress in the last year and whilst there was an initial steep learning curve I'm now reasonably competent with the system.

When I was checking the Creative section of Themeforest for a mate's website I did find some of them lacking in features such as comprehensive shortcodes etc. Whilst this may not seem important if you are using an external designer it could well make it more expensive if they need to take more time over the matter.

Remember that significantly changing the theme ain't going to happen so make sure any one you purchase you are truly happy with.
 
Thanks for all of your responses. I have got around 3 themes now that I am happy with.

Cheers,

Sid.
 
I Agree that themeforest is good. A great selection and the template designers usually offer a forum type service to help with setting the sites up.
 
Hi,

IMHO, Wordpress is definately they way to go, great community and developments, loads of plugins and themes, SEO friendly etc. There are some great themes from Themeforest and others but be careful that it fully meets your needs and is fairly new and/or updateed regularly. You don't want to be stuck a few months down the line with issues.

An option to strongly consider is wordpress and instal the photocrati 'theme', not the cheapest but very flexible, regularly updated and pretty easy to use.

Cheers,

Kenny
 
I take on board the point of view that site builders are like cameras on auto; do the job but there's a lack of control, but having said that I've found zenfolio to be a fantastic solution. I'm no web designer and its allowed me to set up facilities for people to buy prints, set my pricing and have a very flexible base to build up from. I never intended to run a blog but the ease of use has had me switching that on too.

Once you've got to know zenfolio you will be able to tell if a fellow 'togs page is built in zenfolio or not but to most its just a website.

From a compatibility point of view the page the zen page also plays nice with mobiles. On top of that there's a great app which lets you download all pics from your site and have them easily accessible "on the go" without web connection. Great for showing off your portfolio anywhere without worrying about signal.

Just my 10c of course, but it works for me :)
 
Kenny Girvan said:
Hi,

IMHO, Wordpress is definately they way to go, great community and developments, loads of plugins and themes, SEO friendly etc. There are some great themes from Themeforest and others but be careful that it fully meets your needs and is fairly new and/or updateed regularly. You don't want to be stuck a few months down the line with issues.

An option to strongly consider is wordpress and instal the photocrati 'theme', not the cheapest but very flexible, regularly updated and pretty easy to use.

Cheers,

Kenny
Click to expand...

This is the approach I used, it's pretty simple although some of the features of photocrati are a tad quirky. I love having the ability to mess with my site from anywhere with internet access, if I have a pic I want to add to it on me I can add it there and then. I could be adding galleries live in the field if I took a laptop with me (and had an internet connection out there!).
 
Hi,

I've tried more than a few Wordpress e-commerce plugins and Photocrati is the best i've found for photographers. I've also used Opencart, Prestashop and Zencart and although these are impressive they are a bit overkill and complicated for selling images.

I would agree, photocrati has a few quirks but usually solutions are quite easy to find and perhaps just need some 'experimenting'.

Cheers,

Kenny
 
I have a little site for friends and family to look at photos, hosted by 1and1. Use one of their built in templates and as easy as to build. Was up and running in one day and I just add to it every few days.
Very simple to get up and running.
my web
 
theurbanclown said:
My site is image heavy and steers clear of too much text. I appear on page 1 for my very generic keyword.

Whilst good SEO is important, it''s not the be all and end all.
Click to expand...

Agreed
Good SEO isn't dependant on lots of spammy text on a page, it's all about promoting a simple message well.

The simplistic view of SEO is lots of text an an enormous number of backlinks.

The reality, is considered keyword optimisation and qualified links (there doesn't need to be loads). And Google will read images just fine if you give it the proper help. (Avoid flash slideshows though, they generally offer nothing of value to Google)
 
While I agree to a certain extent with the above two posters, Google needs rich text to index the site in the first place, particularly for new sites.

I know somebody who went to a beautiful minimalist site, and dropped from page one to page eight in short order. No black hat had been employed.
 
Last edited:
There's nothing magical or mysterious about SEO, people who believe that there is don't implement the honest simple guidance that's all over Google's site and can be found on lots of tutorial sites. Then they complain about the fact that it's all 'black hat' or 'mysterious' because they refuse to understand follow simple guidance.

There are people who go as far as to ask advice, refuse to implement it, then complain when their rankings don't improve :bang:.

A few recent examples from this very site spring to mind:wacky:.
 
Phil V said:
Agreed
Good SEO isn't dependant on lots of spammy text on a page, it's all about promoting a simple message well.

The simplistic view of SEO is lots of text an an enormous number of backlinks.

The reality, is considered keyword optimisation and qualified links (there doesn't need to be loads). And Google will read images just fine if you give it the proper help. (Avoid flash slideshows though, they generally offer nothing of value to Google)
Click to expand...

Exactly. There is no dark art to SEO, but there is certainly an art to implementing into a site without resorting to ugly blocks of text, clearly there to appeal more to Google than the viewer of the site.

In my orginal post, I was also referring to the fact that social media, word of mouth, guest blog posting for other sites, interviews, features etc are just a number of ways for your work to be seen - a lot of people focus too heavily on high google rankings, when in fact they can come naturally by pursuing other avenues.
 
theurbanclown said:
...a lot of people focus too heavily on high google rankings, when in fact they can come naturally by pursuing other avenues.
Click to expand...

Again - is exactly what Google tell you is the basis for their rankings.

And again - is ignored by people who think it's all 'black hat' and impossible to fathom :wacky:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top