Help with my website please

kelack

kelack

TPer Emerita - But she's back!
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10,607
Name
Kelly
Edit My Images
Yes
End of my tether here and this is my last resort to ask you all

Right, I have a website

This website is just more a portfolio than anything. It's crap to upload to, it's crap to buy from. It's a photocrati one

www.scarletblackimages.co.uk

I have no clue about how to set anything up

I need someone to go through it in dummy terms. So nice simple step by step instructions. It's only taken me a year to try and get it up and running and I still don't like it as I can't get the albums to go alongside each other, they just go underneath.

I also need something that is like the flickr desktop uploader, fed up with having to do coding on website as well as in my dayjob

Please help :help::help::help::help::help::help:
 
Well TBH as you said it's crap!

Not just the ordinary crap I usually see when looking at flash sites but so horrible it's impossible to do anything with it except scrap it entirely and then rebuild it completely.

To start with when I click on the cycling portfolio and attempt to follow the link I am not allowed on the site because a sign comes up telling me that access is protected by owner!

When I follow the links to the horse riding event I don't get straight to the pics I am taken to the home page of event-photos and when I click on the button which says "Click here to find your photos" I am taken to an advert offering to sell me "NEW "PHONE SKINS" for your mobile phone"!

At £25.00 a pop!

THEN I am expected to wade through HUNDREDS of thumbnails to find one event!

And the photography and rugby shots give no info at all on how to purchase them!

At which point I just gave up!

Which is exactly what I would expect your customers to do.

Do you freelance for event photos or are hoping to sell pics through them, because frankly they certainly don't seem to be very professional if their website is anything to go by.

Your whole site needs a complete re-think and a total re-do because at the moment it is a disaster and the external sites you deal with are rubbish.

There is not really any way to give you tips on re-doing it especially not in "dummy" terms since you have not defined the intended purpose of your site.

I cannot give tips on selling pics because it's not something I do but I am sure there are better packages out there and am sure others on here can recommend a few.

'
 
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Thank you for your honesty. Yes, I completely agree, it is crap which is why I've spent the last year trying to do something with it and as I couldn't, I just gave up. The external sites linked, the cycling was to Demilion's site so that they could buy through him and the equestrian ones, not quite sure what's happened to them. They may have had rejig on their site and as I can't fathom out how to do my own, I've left it. I'm not looking to freelance through them. It was a one off and I didn't want to nick their sales by people buying them through my site.

Basically I want a simple site that has a portfolio for showing a selection of photos and then a client area where people can view their gallery (password protection needed) and buy the photos. That's all I want. Doesn't sound difficult but it is. I'm not able to afford to spend anymore money on it now either. Have already spent a considerable amount. I also need something where I don't have to code to put albums etc in. I do that all day at work in sql, I'm b*****ed if I'm going to do it in the evening as well, especially in a language I can't understand. This is a photocrati template which I'm happy with the style but not with the ease of use.

I'm just really fed up
 
Well many people on here swear by various template styles but the problem with them, as you've so unfortunately discovered, is that when things go wrong trying to correct them can be a real nightmare.

But a great many of your problems seem to be with the external sites you are linking to, the event-photos one seems to have no way of linking directly to your particular event, and the demillion one cannot now be accessed from your site.

This is a problem when linking to external sites over which you have no control.

I can understand what you mean about coding at work and not wanting to have to learn another language but I have tried my Sql database building and believe me XHTML and CSS is a piece of cake compared to that!

Regardless of that you need to re think your whole site and I would say try to find another way to sell your pics other than depending on the sites you already link to.

.
 
The external sites thing is not a problem as they were both one offs as I didn't have a sales area set up.

And no, sql is hard enough for me. I never got on with html and as I work and commute quite long hours, I need something simple. Upload and bang, ready to sell (obviously after editing blah blah)

I'm not going to link to external sites if I can help it, that's why I'm asking here what I should do. Need to get this up and running, it's beyond funny now.
 
Kelly, get a Zenfolio site, perfect for what you want and photo gallery included, blog now too.
 
tiler65 said:
Kelly, get a Zenfolio site, perfect for what you want and photo gallery included, blog now too.
Click to expand...
+1 for Zenfolio for ease of use. I know nothing about creating websites and had a basic site, with several albums in a couple of hours. Simple drag and drop to folders for uploading.
 
Thanks, I have considered Zenfolio but I haven't the foggiest how to incorporate it with my own site like other have done

I need to keep the www.scarletblackimages.co.uk url as my cards etc have all got it on and I'm not paying out for another set :lol:
 
kelack said:
Thanks, I have considered Zenfolio but I haven't the foggiest how to incorporate it with my own site like other have done

I need to keep the www.scarletblackimages.co.uk url as my cards etc have all got it on and I'm not paying out for another set :lol:
Click to expand...

keep your existing site

go setup a zenfolio site (if thats what ya like) and when thats ready and as you want it.. you can then set your url to point to the zenfolio site and completly bypass yours
 
Thanks both

I'll have a look at photium, didn't realise there was more than one "zenfolio" type out there

Tony, yes, it's the whole pointing sites to sites that I can't work out

Basically I want something smooth and professional looking
 
Right, I think I'm on the same page as you all now (ish)

I've started a free trial with Zenfolio so will have a play with that over the next couple of days. As I understand it, the Business one does everything I need, lets me point to my own domain, sells and prints and easy upload?

So aside from the external link issue which I have now removed. Is there anything else?
 
Aniother thumbs up for Photium I used to use it but as I went over the image allowance, it started to get expensive.
They do a free trial and their support is excellent with very quick response to emails.
Plus they don't charge you any commission on photo sale like a lot of other sites. :)
 
Do they link directly to someone like photobox? I like the Zenfolio process that a client can order a photo and it's handled all by Zenfolio?

I work full time and have a 30 mile commute which isn't always short so sometimes I get home and just want to leave the laptop closed

What are the major differences between photium and zenfolio? Pros and cons as it were





edited as found answer in photium FAQs
 
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I had a photium site too and like Treeman (Mark) says, it can get expensive if you upload lots of images.

The zenfolio premium account works out cheaper than Photium top level one and you get much more with Zenfoilo.

As for commission, I don't pay any if I self fulfill on the Zenfolio Premium package. It all depends on how much you sell I would say Kelly, If you want a code for zen just type this in for 10% off

ZAY-3CC-GKZ

Just ask if you need any more help.
 
Thanks Gary, will have a look but shh don't tell anyone I was looking at League. It was just purely to see your site :D

Thanks Tom, appreciate it
 
kelack said:
I've started a free trial with Zenfolio so will have a play with that over the next couple of days. As I understand it, the Business one does everything I need, lets me point to my own domain, sells and prints and easy upload?
Click to expand...
And to make it even easier - Zenfolio also have live webinars that talk you through all the price setting etc step by step and allow you to ask questions. I watched one last week and there is one on tonight I think about setting up self-fulfilled pricing. (I have the Premium Business account.)
 
Kelly/Tom, there is a smattering of Rugby Yawnion in there, i covered Leeds Carnegie v Sale Sharks last year but the game hasn't finished yet.
 
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