Recommendations for Website Hosting

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melaniew2000

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Name
Melanie
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I am looking to find a new website provider - can anyone make any suggestions for a company to use? I have googled photographers website but would prefer to use one that is recommended.

I currently have 1 website with Photium www.daisyphotography.co.uk and 2 with smugmug www.daisyweddingphotography.co.uk & www.daisyportraits.co.uk.

I find the photium one too restrictive - i mainly keep it because i can sell photos on it and I can receive money by paypal and print/post the photos myself (which smugmug doesnt allow) and also I cant have passworded folders on the middle package im on, but i am restricted on the no of photos i can have on it.

I like the smugmug ones but i dont think that they look very professional and I cant seem to find a theme I like.

Im thinking about combining my 3 websites into one - but having the separate domains direct people to separate pages directly which should save me money and also i only have one website to maintain.

I did purchase a template i really liked http://themeforest.net/item/echoes-...tem&WT.seg_1=search_item&WT.z_author=imaginem and separate hosting but with my limited knowledge of website design etc doing it myself seems to be over my head.

My specification basically is :
- page with galleries for public galleries (unlimited quantity)
- page with passworded folders for a client area
- clients able to buy photos off my website but where i print/post them not another company
- be able to amend the webpages & add photos myself

I have a budget of about £100/yr for hosting the site.

Anyone have any suggestions of a company to try?

thanks in advance

melanie
 
OK I think we need to perhaps clarify something first.

Are you looking for someone to design/build you a bespoke website.

Or

Are you just looking for hosting space so that you can host your website

Or

Are you looking for both of the above.
 
Keith W said:
OK I think we need to perhaps clarify something first.

Are you looking for someone to design/build you a bespoke website.

Or

Are you just looking for hosting space so that you can host your website

Or

Are you looking for both of the above.
Click to expand...

I'm looking for a company to provide hosting space for me as unfortunately i dont have the budget to be able to pay someone to design a bespoke website for me. Ideally id like a company similar to smugmug but if possible one that can incorporate the template i purchased (if thats possible)?
 
Hi Melanie,

I have no wish to sound rude but you say you do not have a budget to pay someone to build a bespoke website for you yet it seems to me that is exactly what you are asking/looking for - a bespoke website built with hosting included
 
Keith W said:
Hi Melanie,

I have no wish to sound rude but you say you do not have a budget to pay someone to build a bespoke website for you yet it seems to me that is exactly what you are asking/looking for - a bespoke website built with hosting included
Click to expand...

its ok - i get what you mean - that probably is what im trying to do! If i cant include the template then will just have to go with one that a host has already.

Do you know of any hosting companies that you can purchase photos on the website you create but you dont have to use a specific company to print them for you? Most of the hosting websites ive come across are american which means the purchasing is not viable. Then at least i can incorporate all my websites together and sack off my photium website as im only really keeping that one for that sole purpose as i prefer the smugmug ones.

thanks
 
If you want to use that template to do all of your requirements, you're going to need to pay someone a fair wedge of cash to build all of the functions, so I'd forget that idea and write that off as a viable idea.

That leaves you with companies as you've already looked at;

Clickpic, Smugmug et al, or, buying a theme like Photocart for Wordpress, which will do most of what you want and any decent webdesigner/developer will be able to install and configure it for you with not much fuss
 
mattyh said:
If you want to use that template to do all of your requirements, you're going to need to pay someone a fair wedge of cash to build all of the functions, so I'd forget that idea and write that off as a viable idea.

That leaves you with companies as you've already looked at;

Clickpic, Smugmug et al, or, buying a theme like Photocart for Wordpress, which will do most of what you want and any decent webdesigner/developer will be able to install and configure it for you with not much fuss
Click to expand...

thanks for your help. so are you meaning that I can buy a theme such as photocart for wordpress (which would be the checkout bit) and then get a web designer to incorporate that into one my current smugmug website or do i need to get someone else (other than smugmug) to do the hosting to be able to incorporate the wordpress theme?
 
You would need to purchase hosting somewhere, buy the wordpress template and then hire someone to set it all up/configure it for you
 
wordpress and photocart are pretty self explanitory to set up, do you fancy trying it yourself at all?

regarding the actual hosting, myself and quite a few others on here use and recommend tsohost.
 
melaniew2000 said:
thanks for your help. so are you meaning that I can buy a theme such as photocart for wordpress (which would be the checkout bit) and then get a web designer to incorporate that into one my current smugmug website or do i need to get someone else (other than smugmug) to do the hosting to be able to incorporate the wordpress theme?
Click to expand...

You'd ditch SmugMug and the others, pay for web hosting (as Neil says above), then either install and configure it yourself - Not overly difficult, but I'm fairly well versed with Wordpress, or get someone to configure it for you. Photocart can be used for the entire site including galleries, text type pages and the shopping cart as well
 
thanks for ur help guys - im happy to have a bash myself - i like a challenge! so ive got hosting with www.unlimitedwebhosting.co.uk. ive signed up with wordpress, downloaded and unzipped the files, but i seemed to have to upload these which i cant do until my domain has been propagated? Ive got ftp access to upload through filezilla but this doesnt currently seem to be working until the propagating thing has worked-takes up to 48hrs - im using another domain i have called www.daisyeventphotography.co.uk.
just to check i am going down the right path - once ive uploaded the files to the hosting company, then i should be able to access wordpress? i can the use/purchase a wordpress theme and also purchase photocart for enabling people to pay for purchases. I also have downloaded 'my free website builder' - will i continue to use this to add photo etc or use wordpress?
 
You can install Wordpress directly from your cpanel with unlimitedwebhosting ...
 
thanks arad85 ive found and downloaded wordpress off unlimitedwebhosting's site!
 
arad85 said:
You can install Wordpress directly from your cpanel with unlimitedwebhosting ...
Click to expand...

Just do it through your cpanel (look for fantastico and it'll be in there), then when it's installed go to the wordpress dashboard and check to see if it's the current version, if it isn't you can update it directly from the dashboard.
 
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Ah, don't think Plesk has Fantastico.
 
Sorry, yes, UWH runs plesk, not cpanel...
 
Hosting wise I use Bluehost which I would highly recommend, tech support were great with a couple of niggles I had when transferring over and got everything running smoothly in no time
 
thanks guys for your advice. i decided to go down the wordpress route and design my own website utilising plugins for the cart and gallery

over the last week i have been teaching myself wordpress (with the help of google) which at first was getting a little bit frustrating but is now coming along quite nicely :thumbs:

hopefully im going to be able design myself a personalised website which suits all my needs!

melanie
 
Before you spend too much time and any money on themes, check out the pro photo template for Wordpress, it'll give you everything except your order galleries. There's a good reason that photocart is the market leader for those.
 
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