General price of setting up a website?

DJMorgan

DJMorgan

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Daniel
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Hey guys, I want to set up my own website for my photography, and iv just been on the phone to a guy locally to me and has said he charges around £300 to £500 to basically get it up, and moving.

I have no clue what im doing so im after a bit of advice from you all

Thanks either way. :)
 
Depends what you are going for. Is it going to be a templated site, something built from scratch? Either way, sounds cheap.
Bit thing to consider, which I ballsed up on, is SEO. It's great having a flash looking site, but if no one views it.............

My site cost me tripple your upper quote, yet I ran out of money before thinking about SEO, and as such my website is somewhat pointless. :bonk:
 
bass_junkie83 said:
Depends what you are going for. Is it going to be a templated site, something built from scratch? Either way, sounds cheap.
Bit thing to consider, which I ballsed up on, is SEO. It's great having a flash looking site, but if no one views it.............

My site cost me tripple your upper quote, yet I ran out of money before thinking about SEO, and as such my website is somewhat pointless. :bonk:
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Thats a very good point, id have to pay it off monthly with payments or something would I?

also flicking through your Flickr pics, was that Cher loydd I saw in them? Its been baffling me for a few minutes now lol :bonk:
 
How you pay for it will be between you and your web designer.
I personally payed three installements at different key stages of the design. I'm sure any reputable wed designer can offer some sort of a finance aggreement.

And yes, that is Cher Lloyd. :)
 
DJMorgan said:
Hey guys, I want to set up my own website for my photography, and iv just been on the phone to a guy locally to me and has said he charges around £300 to £500 to basically get it up, and moving.

I have no clue what im doing so im after a bit of advice from you all

Thanks either way. :)
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You first need to decide

- is it a static site or one you can manage and add to over time yourself
- are you selling from it or not
- what is the purpose of the site

SEO is a 2 edged sword, and your competition will be very strong. There are a lot of things to learn on that one, and the first tip is that "you are in it for the long game not the short one" SEO is not only about what you do on your site, it is about how you promote your site elsewhere

To answer your question - how much is a car. You can pick up a old banger for £50 or buy a Merc for 100K Same with websites.
 
bass_junkie83 said:
How you pay for it will be between you and your web designer.
I personally payed three installements at different key stages of the design. I'm sure any reputable wed designer can offer some sort of a finance aggreement.

And yes, that is Cher Lloyd. :)
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You lucky sod your well lucky haha. Also Richard King Thanks its a very good point that, Im only wanting to show off my work other than it being on facebook :|
 
DJMorgan said:
You lucky sod your well lucky haha. Also Richard King Thanks its a very good point that, Im only wanting to show off my work other than it being on facebook :|
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If all you want to do is show of your work why bother spending a lot of money.
I use unlimitedwebhosting for £3.30/month and coppermine gallery £0 to stick my images in.
 
DerekL said:
If all you want to do is show of your work why bother spending a lot of money.
I use unlimitedwebhosting for £3.30/month and coppermine gallery £0 to stick my images in.
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Mine is with one.com £21 a year inculding domain name 3GB storage allowed (only £9 for first year), and free jalbum for the gallery.
 
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DJMorgan said:
You lucky sod your well lucky haha. Also Richard King Thanks its a very good point that, Im only wanting to show off my work other than it being on facebook :|
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why dont you try out one of those ready-made websites like photium or smugmug? you can try them for free before having to pay...

I think some of them are pretty good simply for displaying your work, unless you want to have a unique custom built website.
 
If you just want to show off your work, and you've no interest in building your own site, then I can highly recommend photium. I've been with them since about May 2007 and pay about £7 a month, customer service is first class, with Will (the owner) usually responding within the hour. No set up costs either, and I think I got my choice of doman name thrown in as well. Well worth considering!
 
Not sure if I am able to post here advertising or anything, if not mods, please feel free to delete this post.

I'm a full time web designer and have 6 years commercial experience, based in the Valleys in South Wales, my price is way cheaper than big city prices. If you let me know what you require. Static, Content Management System etc then I can give you a price. I can also show you plenty of samples of my work :)

Cheers,

Matt
 
MTaylor said:
Not sure if I am able to post here advertising or anything, if not mods, please feel free to delete this post.

I'm a full time web designer and have 6 years commercial experience, based in the Valleys in South Wales, my price is way cheaper than big city prices. If you let me know what you require. Static, Content Management System etc then I can give you a price. I can also show you plenty of samples of my work :)

Cheers,

Matt
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Breckon beacons? lol Boyo! lol. Tbh Im just after a basic one atm :bonk:
 
viewfromthenorth said:
If you just want to show off your work, and you've no interest in building your own site, then I can highly recommend photium. I've been with them since about May 2007 and pay about £7 a month, customer service is first class, with Will (the owner) usually responding within the hour. No set up costs either, and I think I got my choice of doman name thrown in as well. Well worth considering!
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Think I may try that one then, if responses are within the hour thats great!
 
I use Zenfolio - it was so easy to set up, I've no web experience and I had a site up and running in a couple of hours. I've only been using it for about 7 weeks so far but its working out well.
 
I use Zenfolio, for a site that can sell photos it has cost me £100 per year, plus about £5 for a domain. Orders are fulfilled by third party labs and I just get the profit.

If you want to use Zenfolio use this referral code VSQ-7ZY-UBU and we'll both get some money out of it.

For domains I use www.register1.net who I've been really happy with.
 
Another option is Photoshelter, it's easy to upload your images and arrange them into galleries etc and they are well set up for SEO, with icons next to fields than need filled in. Even if you don't go with Photoshelter have a look at their guide to SEO etc, they're very useful.

If you do go with them drop me a PM as I have some discount codes.
 
SEO would only apply if your interested in selling your work is that right?
 
www.sirpatrickmooresales.co.uk

My sons site, he is NOT in business we are just friends of Patricks, however this is a business site run by Microsoft and hosting etc is FREE

To create a website click on the create a free website link at the bottom of the page, why pay if this is ok, it also takes videos and music which he will add next year.

Please remove this if it's not allowed.
 
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jimmy83 said:
SEO would only apply if your interested in selling your work is that right?
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Not necessarily, many sites are used just to provide people with info or monetised in different ways such as having Google adwords on them.

But if you do intend to make money from a site then SEO and site layout become all important.

And that's where most people fall down.

.
 
At the moment I have a 500px account where I upload photos and split them up into different sections etc. Then when the portfolio is viewed it gives the look of a fancy flash-y kind of feel with the different sections being split up into different pages. It even has the biography bit for alittle bit of info about yourself :) The other joy of it is that if you fancy a different look to your website, simply change the theme of your profile and it changes everything for you :)

Then I simply pointed my domain name to the portfolio page and bobs your uncle! Fancy looking website that you edit yourself for $50 a year I think the premium is :) plus domain registering etc which will depend on what name you go for obviously :)

Have a look at andrewrobertsphotography.co.uk :) its only to show my work online, I don't work professionally or anything :)
 
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scottmartin1988 said:
For a penniless student wanting to set up a professional looking website, what is the best option?
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Get a job, earn some money, pay for the website. Thats the usual way, good luck ;)
 
viewfromthenorth said:
If you just want to show off your work, and you've no interest in building your own site, then I can highly recommend photium. I've been with them since about May 2007 and pay about £7 a month, customer service is first class, with Will (the owner) usually responding within the hour. No set up costs either, and I think I got my choice of doman name thrown in as well. Well worth considering!
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Another vote for Photium :thumbs:
 
scottmartin1988 said:
For a penniless student wanting to set up a professional looking website, what is the best option?
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Learn XHTML, CSS and PHP - may take a bit of time but then you can hand code your own website or adapt many of the free web templates available to suit you.

Then all you have to do is pay for a domain name and hosting - mine costs me about £50 a year all in.

And you have the freedom to design it exactly as you wish and not be forced into the usual kind of pre made sites with all their problems.

.
 
spaniel - I have a job. Doesn't mean im not penniless haha! Photography courses aren't cheap.

petersmart - Thanks, I might have to give this a go. I don't really need the website right at this minute so I should have time to do this if im committed. I tend to pick things up pretty quickly.
 
petersmart said:
Tried that and all it told me was to download IE or Firefox both of which I have.

.
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This time I used Firefox for the website BUT:

"We have stopped new sign-ups for our Office Live Small Business offering." (Microsoft)
 
DJMorgan said:
Hey guys, I want to set up my own website for my photography, and iv just been on the phone to a guy locally to me and has said he charges around £300 to £500 to basically get it up, and moving.

I have no clue what im doing so im after a bit of advice from you all

Thanks either way. :)
Click to expand...

Hi. I'd say that is just what I'd charge to design and set up a small website. Your alternatives are (a) get a suitable software programme and learn to do it yourself, or (b) try Zenfolio or something like 1&1 my website and pay them money.

SEO is not that difficult at the basic level. Its about making your content relevant and updating it - frankly a better bet might be to get a wordpress blog and start from there ...

JSER that site, while 'adequate' does not meet latest standards and really shouldn't be seen as a model for building a website. Mercifully "We have stopped new sign-ups for our Office Live Small Business offering. "
 
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Photodiva said:
Hi. I'd say that is just what I'd charge to design and set up a small website. Your alternatives are (a) get a suitable software programme and learn to do it yourself, or (b) try Zenfolio or something like 1&1 my website and pay them money.

SEO is not that difficult at the basic level. Its about making your content relevant and updating it - frankly a better bet might be to get a wordpress blog and start from there ...

JSER that site, while 'adequate' does not meet latest standards and really shouldn't be seen as a model for building a website. Mercifully "We have stopped new sign-ups for our Office Live Small Business offering. "
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Well as I already said you can quite easily learn the basics of creating a reasonable website if you learn coding and you can get that free on the net.

And SEO can also be learned on the net and all free - all you need is the time and a little aptitude.

In the past I've tried getting to grips with various programs - Dreamweaver etc - and it was just easier to learn coding.

.
 
Youre right but most photographers woukd prefer to take photos not learn how to code a website. Its down to how you want to spend your time.
 
Photodiva said:
Youre right but most photographers woukd prefer to take photos not learn how to code a website. Its down to how you want to spend your time.
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True but the OP said he didn't want to spend any money, or as little as possible and you and I both know that a good website doesn't come cheap and a really good website is dearer still.

And getting a website on to Google's first page is even dearer.

Of course it's worth it if you definitely need a business site and you have a proper business plan set up but I don't think the OP is in that position.

And TBH a great many of the sites I have seen created with the more popular programs are either fairly awful or all alike e.g. "Minimalist" sites with nothing there.

.
 
I would like steak and chips for tea, washed down with a bottle of red... but unfortunately that costs money too
 
Photodiva said:
JSER that site, while 'adequate' does not meet latest standards and really shouldn't be seen as a model for building a website. Mercifully "We have stopped new sign-ups for our Office Live Small Business offering. "
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Oh I never said it was perfect but there are many that have done better than my son (16) who's site it is, it has worked and for free is great.

And as the person stated he didnt want to spend any money, what do you expect for free.
 
Wordpress is an excellent - IMO - website/blogging tool. Very search engine friendly and free plug-in's galore for SEO and just about everything else. I run a shop from my site, which was free and use a flickr gallery plug-in to display my work, also free. It's really very simple to create and maintain and looks great out of the box. There's plenty of Wordpress freebies out there meaning you won't ever have to actually pay for anything additional once live if you don't want to, yet build a really great site. My hosting is through cloudnext.co.uk who charge me £50pa for a single hosted domain with one-click Wordpress install.

Good luck with whatever you choose.
 
If you have an abundance of time, but not money, really try Wordpress.

It seems daunting at first, but everything you could possibly want to know is on google and completely free.

My site and blog cost me less that £50 for lot, domain, hosting and a decent template, which I have then customised myself in my free time.

As for SEO, a few good, free plugins and some help from google and your set.

It's easy when you know how.

http://www.iamchrisphoto.com
 
great site Chris


Mine is a super lazy, super simple one made on iWeb for free and hosted by 1&1 (although there are cheaper) for a fiver a month - am having some problems with the email side of things though so need to look into those asap. I have Dreamweaver (CS3) and have some coding knowledge but have been lacking inspiration or time to produce my own site just now
 
Iris said:
great site Chris


Mine is a super lazy, super simple one made on iWeb for free and hosted by 1&1 (although there are cheaper) for a fiver a month - am having some problems with the email side of things though so need to look into those asap. I have Dreamweaver (CS3) and have some coding knowledge but have been lacking inspiration or time to produce my own site just now
Click to expand...

Years ago (showing my age) I used to use HTML, can't be bothered now, whats wrong with yours, looks fine to me.
 
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