Wedding photography website design

glenfieldman

Hi

I have shot a few weddings and a number of clients have mentioned the fact I have no website, most of my jobs have been word of mouth.

My query regards building a website, I don't have a €0000 budget for a bells a whistles state of the art one. Does any one know if Wix is a good option ? Or would anyone have any recommendations regarding building a wedding specific site.

killym

I recommend myself.
You can play with wix or any other free to use website builders but pay once and have it done for good. What's more important there has to be professional.

sheesh

also have a look at wordpress.com similar idea for websites there is a free blog

so it could be wordpress.com/glenfieldman where you could just try it out and if you it will work for you. you can then pay for a domain name if it looks good.

facebook can work too.

If you are putting this stuff up on the web remember to point out to clients that you might be using one of the images for your portfolio (only the good looking ones obviously)

Tiriel

killym wrote: »

I recommend myself.
You can play with wix or any other free to use website builders but pay once and have it done for good. What's more important there has to be professional.

Just a reminder please - no offering here of services/goods should be done here. Boards is not the place for that. Send a PM if you wish to go down that route.

KrakityJones

I'm a huge fan of Wix - it's not for everyone but for a portfolio type site it's ideal I think anyway. Easy to set up a nice classy looking site. You can set the whole thing up for free and just pay to remove the ads at the end if yer happy with it. Play around with it first before paying anything and worst case you've wasted a bit of time if it's not good enough.

As for service and that I've used them now for about 3 years and never had any hassle, think a site I had on it went down alright once for a day but 1 day in 3 years isn't bad.

Anywho just my 2 cents

Edit : I should clarify I'm no website designer I've used them for bands I've been in but they've done the job

glenfieldman

Tiriel wrote: »

Just a reminder please - no offering here of services/goods should be done here. Boards is not the place for that. Send a PM if you wish to go down that route.

No sorry im strictly looking for web design advice,

killym

glenfieldman wrote: »

No sorry im strictly looking for web design advice,

My apologies.

tricky D

Have a look at these: http://www.boards.ie/search/submit/?query=wix

I would avoid wix like the plague and iWeb and Weebly too. While they can look good they just don't perform in my experience. there are some issues with .ie domains and wix doesn't provide email services, so you might need some hosting elsewhere. Under the bonnet it's messy and moving from wix if you want to so that later is a lot of hassle.

Edit: I'd recommend WordPress over the likes of wix any day. There's so much behind it with loads of templates, plugins, tutorial videos and so on.

Balfey1972

I use Zenfolio and find them good. they have a good app also for client galleries.
resonably priced and unlimited storage. you can use it as an online backup too.

glenfieldman

Balfey1972 wrote: »

I use Zenfolio and find them good. they have a good app also for client galleries.
resonably priced and unlimited storage. you can use it as an online backup too.

Thanks ive never heard of this site, i think i will go with these

Cheers everybody

Balfey1972

@glenfieldman

10% discount code for Zenfolio if you want to use it.
CSC-3HS-X4R

Bacchus

How tech savy are you?

My setup is Jekyll to generate the static site/blog (there's a little bit of hacking involved with a python script to fill in all the image links to save me typing them all out) and it's hosted on Amazon S3 which is cheap as chips. If you're anyway good at HTML & CSS, you could design the site template yourself, then make the Jekyll (or Hugo or any of the other static site generators out there) build. It's a bit of work at the start (and you'd need some IT skills) but once it's set up it's very easy to generate new posts for your latest weddings.

Otherwise, go for Wordpress or something like that. Everyone seems to use it but oddly enough I find Wordpress more confusing to setup (and do a professional looking site on) than HTML/CSS/Jekyll.

glenfieldman

Bacchus wrote: »

How tech savy are you?

My setup is Jekyll to generate the static site/blog (there's a little bit of hacking involved with a python script to fill in all the image links to save me typing them all out) and it's hosted on Amazon S3 which is cheap as chips. If you're anyway good at HTML & CSS, you could design the site template yourself, then make the Jekyll (or Hugo or any of the other static site generators out there) build. It's a bit of work at the start (and you'd need some IT skills) but once it's set up it's very easy to generate new posts for your latest weddings.

Otherwise, go for Wordpress or something like that. Everyone seems to use it but oddly enough I find Wordpress more confusing to setup (and do a professional looking site on) than HTML/CSS/Jekyll.

Wow, that went way over my head.
So to answer your question, not that tech savy.
Can you PM me a link to your site

Cheers

uck51js9zml2yt

You will need to pay if you dont want WIX Ads on your site.

WIX is an SEO killer and if you want people to find you, well, they wont.

The data is also tied into their system and cant be transferred should you wish to redo the site elsewhere.

You can get a free wordpress theme. You'll also need hosting and a domain. Do it yourself or get someone to do it for you.

pullandbang

Balfey1972 wrote: »

I use Zenfolio and find them good. they have a good app also for client galleries.
resonably priced and unlimited storage. you can use it as an online backup too.

+1 for Zenfolio.

We use them and they work a treat. Did have some issues last year as they were a bit slow in getting their backend to be fully mobile friendly but that's all resolved now. They've lots of different themes to play with so you'll find one to suit your desired look.

glenfieldman

pullandbang wrote: »

+1 for Zenfolio.

We use them and they work a treat. Did have some issues last year as they were a bit slow in getting their backend to be fully mobile friendly but that's all resolved now. They've lots of different themes to play with so you'll find one to suit your desired look.

Thanks for that
What is the SEO on Zenfolio like ?
Can people find the Zenfoilo site easy enough ?

cheers

ED E

Squarespace would seem like a no brainer here no?

Balfey1972

glenfieldman wrote: »

Thanks for that
What is the SEO on Zenfolio like ?
Can people find the Zenfoilo site easy enough ?

cheers

Personally found it good.
I find the back end and set up easy. Client password protected folders, watermarks and option to allow full or restricted downloading.

You can set up Google & Bing analytics etc. within it.

Balfey1972

ED E wrote: »

Squarespace would seem like a no brainer here no?

Never used it tbh. Can only speak to Zenfolio as that is what I have been using the last few years.

Web Graphic Designer

Agree with the above, WIX and many of the similar type of
'instant website' services will not be good on SEO and saturated with small print.

Best thing would be to learn very basic HTML/CSS and website deisgn,
buy a basic level site hosting package that includes emails and free .com domain,
then get a free responsive 5 page type template (e.g. bootstrap) alter and upload it.

The responsive templates are fairly easy to brand, either by a Designer
in a day or two (as long as you have a good brand/logo already) or by yourself.
The gallery images usually go in a slideshow/gallery/portfolio type folder,
bootstrap templates usually come with instructions and work on all mobiles by default.

One important factor is that you will want to update galleries every month or more,
so learning to do it yourself will save on regular maintenance fees.
You can always call on a Designer for any custom ads & images.

Bacchus

Web Graphic Designer wrote: »

Agree with the above, WIX and many of the similar type of
'instant website' services will not be good on SEO and saturated with small print.

Best thing would be to learn very basic HTML/CSS and website deisgn,
buy a basic level site hosting package that includes emails and free .com domain,
then get a free responsive 5 page type template (e.g. bootstrap) alter and upload it.

The responsive templates are fairly easy to brand, either by a Designer
in a day or two (as long as you have a good brand/logo already) or by yourself.
The gallery images usually go in a slideshow/gallery/portfolio type folder,
bootstrap templates usually come with instructions and work on all mobiles by default.

One important factor is that you will want to update galleries every month or more,
so learning to do it yourself will save on regular maintenance fees.
You can always call on a Designer for any custom ads & images.

This would be my approach too. Short term pain during the learning curve but long term you will have no maintenance costs.

The biggest hurdle though is you will need some sort of automation for generating the galleries and possibly the site (e.g. you add a new blog/gallery and you then have 1, maybe 2, other pages that need to be updated with a link to that new blog/gallery). Adding new galleries to the site by hand will be incredibly time consuming. I'd be happy to give you my little script for generating a gallery in HTML. I'd need to modify it to fit your HTML/CSS but that'd take all of 10 minutes once your site is ready (if you choose to go down the HTML/CSS route).

pullandbang

glenfieldman wrote: »

What is the SEO on Zenfolio like ?
Can people find the Zenfoilo site easy enough ?

cheers

The SEO is quite good in that you're prompted to fill in all the relevant fields that are important. Can be a bit of a pain when you're uploading maybe 400 or 500 shots to a private gallery if you don't want 500 URL's each with the same description and keywords.

Assuming you do the SEO right then people will find your site but it won't happen overnight.

puddles22

i use bluehost for server needs which is quite cheap and then use a wordpress theme called photocrati again very cheap and very easy to use, here is my site using the templates they provide here

glenfieldman

Another question i forgot to put in the first post,

Regarding couples wedding photos, do i need permission to use them on my site or do i just have to inform them to be polite
most of the couples i have shot would not have a problem, but there is one tricky client that will, but i got some really stunning photos on that day

thanks

pullandbang

glenfieldman wrote: »

Regarding couples wedding photos, do i need permission to use them on my site or do i just have to inform them to be polite
most of the couples i have shot would not have a problem, but there is one tricky client that will, but i got some really stunning photos on that day

thanks

You own the copyright so you can use them as part of your portfolio. Make sure though to have that clause written into your contract. Regarding Facebook, I'd always ask first if they'd mind us using a couple of images on our photography page. So far only one couple didn't want their pics of FB so we respected that.

Bacchus

glenfieldman wrote: »

Another question i forgot to put in the first post,

Regarding couples wedding photos, do i need permission to use them on my site or do i just have to inform them to be polite
most of the couples i have shot would not have a problem, but there is one tricky client that will, but i got some really stunning photos on that day

thanks

You own the copyright so I'm pretty sure that means you are free to use them as you wish unless there was something specific in the contract relating to this. It also means the couple technically can't go printing off photos for anyone else or use them for any purpose other than personal (someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong here).

I think it's good sense to seek permission anyway, just as a courtesy.

Web Graphic Designer

Bacchus wrote: »

You own the copyright ...

You only own the copyright until it's paid for, then the client owns the images. You will need a clause stating that 'any images may be used via any media for agency promotional purposes' but also mention that the client can 'deny any promotional use' in writing, prior to undertaking the project.

The client can also do what they want with the images once they're paid for, email to friends, re-print or whatever.

- Claiming they would need permission, would be like saying Shell Oil has to phone up their agency Designer 'for permission', every time they wish to open a new petrol station outlet that uses branded signage.

Bacchus

Web Graphic Designer wrote: »

You only own the copyright until it's paid for, then the client owns the images. You will need a clause stating that 'any images may be used via any media for agency promotional purposes' but also mention that the client can 'deny any promotional use' in writing, prior to undertaking the project.

The client can also do what they want with the images once they're paid for, email to friends, re-print or whatever.

- Claiming they would need permission, would be like saying Shell Oil has to phone up their agency Designer 'for permission', every time they wish to open a new petrol station outlet that uses branded signage.

Are you 100% sure about that (particularly the bit in bold)? Any sites I've seen comment on the issue (e.g. www.digitalrights.ie, http://www.photographyireland.net/) have concluded that the copyright remains with the author even if the work is commissioned, unless it is specifically stated in a contract that the copyright is transferred too.

Copyright law is a very long document. A summary here (http://www.ivaro.ie/copyright) states a few things relevant to this discussion...
1. The creator of the work is usually the first owner of copyright.
2. Copyright remains with the artist even when the physical artwork is sold. The only way to transfer copyright ownership is in writing.
3. Subject to certain exceptions, copyright gives the creator the right to prevent others from exploiting the work in various ways, without permission. The forms of restricted exploitation include copying the work; making the work available to the public; distributing the work; renting or lending it (excluding public lending in some cases); and translating, arranging or adapting the work.

There's plenty more in there to read over but the gist of it (as far as I can tell) is that the photographer retains copyright unless stated in a contract and copyright gives the photographer the right to restrict the distribution of photographs. Fortunately though, wedding photographers are reasonable people and don't enforce any such restrictions.

tricky D

The copyright does not transfer transfer to the client upon payment. It depends entirely on what IP rights are sold which can be in all sorts of combinations some of which Baccus refers to in point 3 (could add degree of exlcusivity and other items to the list).