Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ryan Armbrust on July 2, 2009 at 7:48pm

Give Smugmug a try. I have been with them for 5 years now and love them.
I have my main site elsewhere, but use Smugmug for client proofing as well as remote backup of all my stuff. Also use them for order fulfillment. Visit my website, http://www.sniperphotography.com when you get into the site, the "archive" area is my smugmug page. It can be customized however you want.
Click the link in the right side header and sign up for a trial account and play with it for a few weeks.

Call me or post here if you have any questions.

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Permalink Reply by R a c h e l S e e d on July 2, 2009 at 10:10pm

Thanks, Ryan. Wondering how much you pay for their services, and if it pays off if you have, say, only five events for the year.

Ryan Armbrust said:

Give Smugmug a try. I have been with them for 5 years now and love them.
I have my main site elsewhere, but use Smugmug for client proofing as well as remote backup of all my stuff. Also use them for order fulfillment. Visit my website, http://www.sniperphotography.com when you get into the site, the "archive" area is my smugmug page. It can be customized however you want.
Click the link in the right side header and sign up for a trial account and play with it for a few weeks.

Call me or post here if you have any questions.

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Permalink Reply by Ryan Armbrust on July 2, 2009 at 11:04pm

I pay $150 per year.
That's cheap sister.
That's only $30 per event. You set your own pricing for print orders, bump your pricing up a few cents to cover it.

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Permalink Reply by Jason Holzworth on July 13, 2009 at 7:42am

don't forget to use the code "yahoo" when signing up for smugmug, it's 50% off the first year.

or least it use to be.

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Permalink Reply by Shane E. on July 13, 2009 at 4:24pm

Well, when considering online hosting, it is also important to consider the sales tools that they offer, if any. The cost of the hosting is important, but the ability to generate revenue by selling images and other products can more than negate the cost in some cases. We recently started hosting on our own site with a very good, customizable shopping cart system that allows us to offer just about any product. It's an investment, though.

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Permalink Reply by R a c h e l S e e d on July 13, 2009 at 10:55pm

Well, I ended up going with Instaproofs, because it is 100% free unless someone buys something, and there's unlimited hosting. The only catch is you have to take the orders and have the stuff printed yourself, which I actually like because I can see the final product before it goes out.

At the moment, though, I am struggling with the whole "hi res images on CD" vs. print sales thing. People just don't seem to get it, or they expect to get the hi res images for no extra charge.

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Permalink Reply by Jacob Zimmer on July 13, 2009 at 11:31pm

Its the way things are going and the way it will be in the future. Fortunately, the quality of cheap retail store printers are getting better.

R a c h e l S e e d said:

Well, I ended up going with Instaproofs, because it is 100% free unless someone buys something, and there's unlimited hosting. The only catch is you have to take the orders and have the stuff printed yourself, which I actually like because I can see the final product before it goes out.

At the moment, though, I am struggling with the whole "hi res images on CD" vs. print sales thing. People just don't seem to get it, or they expect to get the hi res images for no extra charge.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica on July 14, 2009 at 2:26am

I know that you've already chosen a website, but in case you change your mind, you should do some research on Zenfolio. They print their images through Mpix, which is a division of Millers Lab, the largest photo lab in the world. Not only are the prints excellent, but the customer service is even better! :)

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