WEBSITES

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If you want zero cost, Google sites are pretty good. I have a "family" site there and it is easy to maintain.

For my photography, I treated myself to a Wix site. I popped for my own domain. It is pretty easy to learn and is reasonably priced.

andrewlamberson.net
 
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Also if you are a Lightroom user, you should have access to Adobe Portfolio for free. (disclaimer - I have never tried to use it :)
 
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DougC said:
Any recommendations for sites that don’t cost an arm and a leg to build and maintain?
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Zenfolio is a website builder specifically for photographers, is fairly easy to use, has good templates, and is affordable (they have a 30-day free trial). It has the advantage of a built-in shopping cart, if you ever wanted to sell your photographs. I've used it and was pretty happy, but currently don't. SmugMug is another popular web builder for photographers, and is similarly priced. Google Sites, in my opinion, isn't very user friendly, nor all that robust. Good luck!
 
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I use Weebly, I have two sites on it. Very easy to use. Affordable. It's all drag and drop and has a lot of choices as templates that can then be re-arranged as you want. You can get a free site if you use their hosting name or you can pay for your own name and then buy an annual fee for the hosting. cassinettophotos.com and viathelens.com-second one is for LrC education.
 
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I use Smugmug to store my images & created a blog photo site with WordPress.All photos & videos can be shown on the blog using free wordpress plugins.
While a little effort is required I find it to be the best & economical option for myself.
 
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Another vote for SmugMug. I've had mine for a few years, IIRC there's a "free" version that's SmugMug branded (ie, your URL will be something like smugmug.com/yourname), or you can pay as I did and remove that branding. There is the option to sell through the site as well, though as I stated in a different thread, I'm not trying to get rich off my photos, just hoping to keep them from dying a silent death on a hard drive somewhere. And if I can share the beauty of nature at the same time, that's a win in my book!
 
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DougC said:
Any recommendations for sites that don’t cost an arm and a leg to build and maintain?
Click to expand...
Wordpress.com. Inexpensive and easy to setup and use. There are offline editors for composing posts, blog templates that run from free to not free and the free ones are fine, you can compose and edit posts via a web page or you can setup a specific Emil dress which allows you to post via email. If you’re on a Mac…MarsEdit for I think $35 is a great offline composer/editor. Square space is also decent but no offline editing capability…smugmug is available but overpriced for what you get IMO. Google is free…but then you’re the product and I avoid Google as much as possible on principle.
 
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I have thought about a website and have gone as far as to register a domain name, but have yet to use it. How do you "transfer" your domain name from the site where it is registered to the site that will host your website?
 
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RichF said:
I have thought about a website and have gone as far as to register a domain name, but have yet to use it. How do you "transfer" your domain name from the site where it is registered to the site that will host your website?
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Hi Rich,
It's fairly easy to do. You would need to update your domain registration with the name of your custom website, to redirect users to your website. In addition, you'll need to update your website with your domain name. For example, I once had a domain registered through GoDaddy.com called naturalistimages.com. I created a Zenfolio website (the name of which I forget - let's just say it was Zenfolio/abinoone.com). When I wanted to marry the two I updated naturlistimages.com registration DNS record with Zenfolio/Abinoone.com, to redirect users to the Zenfolio/Abinoone.com website, and also updated the Zenfolio website with the naturlistimages.com domain registry. Other custom website builders (e.g. SmugMug and Google Sites work similarly).

Here's the process using Zenfolio: https://success.zenfolio.com/s/article/using-a-custom-domain#step2

Good luck!
 
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I use Wix. You can build and view for free until you are ready to add your own domain name. They give 50% off the first year when you take the plunge.
 
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I use WebsiteX5. They have a free or low cost version with limited functions, middle one is the Evolution and top one os pro. I have the Evo version and it suits me.
 
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DougC said:
Any recommendations for sites that don’t cost an arm and a leg to build and maintain?
Click to expand...
I use Adobe Portfolio and for me it's the best and easiest way I've found to share my photos. Once you learn the steps incredibly easy to upload a new album. I used Smugmug a few years ago but never really liked it.
 
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Zenfolio here. It’s been good. A little frustration at times w/ the editing and pathways of the program. Learning the way it works was exhausting. It’s not that obvious. A few things I can’t do and often too many things that entangle me. The choices and options are numerous. The support is good. It’s a high end product. It’s not for everyone but it’s fast, excellent SEO and good professional photographer branding.
Don’t get hung up on Domain implementation.
 
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