John Jebbia wrote:
I got my own website, but it is such a pain in the ass to update.. I find it easier to update my MM and OMP pages... And with the ease of updating my MM page I find that I am neglecting my OMP page more and more.

The coolest part about having my own website though, I gotta agree with Mr Diaz is that my e-mail address is [email protected].. Easy for people to remember.

And I find a lot of people ask me how the hell I got that e-mail address.. Ego boost to say the least.

What you need is a provider that gives your own website with a content management system that lets you update it yourself.

Basheer wrote:
Go to www.godaddy.com for the best prices for domain names ...

Really? just checked, they are selling .info domains for $9.95 mate... my guys must be having a tuff time competing i guess.

next..

Basheer wrote:
What you need is a provider that gives your own website with a content management system that lets you update it yourself.

A template? Kind of defeats the purpose of having a site intead of using MM.

Most designers offer packages that include monthly updates, and unique design options a content management system can't compete with.

rexyinc wrote:
IMOH models n togs should think about using  .info domains instead of .com's

modelname.info comes across more personal and less commerical.

To me, anything that isn't .com sounds like they were too late to get what they really wanted (excepting schools, government, and charitable organizations).  Also, my hands know how to type .com without my thinking about it at all.  That can't be said for .info.  But that's just me.

(Also, I want people to think of my photography as commercial.)

Brian Diaz wrote:
To me, anything that isn't .com sounds like they were too late to get what they really wanted (excepting schools, government, and charitable organizations).  Also, my hands know how to type .com without my thinking about it at all.  That can't be said for .info.  But that's just me.

(Also, I want people to think of my photography as commercial.)

People don't think about .info (.org .biz etc.) so they will never remember it.

People remmber the name (i.e. eBay, Yahoo, Google etc...) and then type .com.

Also, if you just type the name into the URL window, it will usually default to .com.

Basheer wrote:
Unless you pay $20K for something really different (and not necessarily better), everything is basically driven from a template of one kind or another ... with slight modifications in style or colors perhaps ...

I'm talking about the front end. Not every design is from a template. Some designers actually work with each image and develop the color scheme for graphic elements from the images as well as graphic elements that play of off recurring motifs etc.. etc..

Photographer's want their work to be in magazines, so they need to present their work in a very sophisticated and individualized fashion that just isn't possible with a content management system. The layout can't easily change to compliment the images from month to month.

Basheer wrote:
Unless you pay $20K for something really different (and not necessarily better), everything is basically driven from a template of one kind or another ... with slight modifications in style or colors perhaps ...

The point is that it shouldn't contain a bunch of ads for someone else - why should you showcasing your work bring revenue to someone else - or worse yet, perhaps send them to a competitor site - and it shouldn't have some other sites header ...

Getting a domain name to only point it to MM or OMP doesn't add much value to a potential client, you might as well save the $8/year.

Look at the work from this company www.group94.com - they do amazing work but the average cost of their sites is around $10K to $15K - yes $15,000 USD (plus hosting) but it offers a system to manage your own content.

My website doesn't do that. See for yourself: http://www.johnjebbia.com

I'm just saying it's a hassle to open up dreamweaver and put the new pictures on it, therefore it gets neglected.

John Jebbia wrote:

My website doesn't do that. See for yourself: http://www.johnjebbia.com

I'm just saying it's a hassle to open up dreamweaver and put the new pictures on it, therefore it gets neglected.

First to pay 10 - 20 K the site must be in business a long time and pay it's dues. Second yes - it is a hassle to change dreamweaver portfolios and it's neither worth the time or the programm (when you use dreamweaver you should legally own it...). Third - you can easily put nice stuff on a "Go Daddy" site without all this fancy gadgets and make it look good anyway (chek: www.lindsayjolly.com)

And last you shouldn't pay too much for it...

Basheer wrote:
Look at the work from this company www.group94.com

I'm sorry, but at $15K a pop, you'd think that they could afford to put a mute button on their own site.  It was open for about 12 seconds because no one, but no one gets to interrupt Louis and Ella without asking.  Especially with airplane exhaust noise.

Basheer wrote:
It's amazing how many photographers only have a OMP or MM or other similar portfolio page but not their own domain name or their own website??? Don't they know it only costs something like $8/year for a domain name and a few bucks/month for hosting these days?

I have one. Two in fact. One for my old business name which I am selling off due to some confusion with another company of the same name, and the new one which I am designing with a flash as well as HTML version called GlamourBoulevard.com
I know some basic HTML but the flash is the doozie,whew.My brain hurts thinking about learning it,lol.

Hartsoe wrote:
(chek: www.lindsayjolly.com)

UGH FRAMES!@!!!!@!!!!

( is accually sitting right this very moment - in class - learning flash!..

onClipEvent(enterFrame){

          _root.dolphin_mc._x = _root.dolphin_mc._x + dolphinSpeed
          _root.dolphin_mc._y = _root.dolphin_mc._y + dolphinSpeed
          _root.dolphin_mc._width = _root.dolphin_mc._width + dolphinSpeed
          _root.dolphin_mc._height = _root.dolphin_mc._height + dolphinSpeed
          _root.dolphin_mc._rotation = _root.dolphin_mc._rotation + dolphinSpeed

}

oh i luv it
rexy Inc

Basheer wrote:
It's amazing how many photographers only have a OMP or MM or other similar portfolio page but not their own domain name or their own website??? Don't they know it only costs something like $8/year for a domain name and a few bucks/month for hosting these days?

I also should let all photographers  know, I also have a server with very cheap hosting packages, especially for artists.

rexyinc wrote:
UGH FRAMES!@!!!!@!!!!

LOL - I told you it shouldn't cost too much... )

And I was too lazy for CSS this time - but work on it... )

John Jebbia wrote:
I'm just saying it's a hassle to open up dreamweaver and put the new pictures on it, therefore it gets neglected.

My site has each photo titled based on its location on the site.  That way, all I have to do is FTP a new photo with the right name into the images folder.  Very drag and drop.

rexyinc wrote:
anyone know if i can put my flash app im workin on here?.. like we can with [img ] like?

rexy

Dear Lord, I hope not.  (No offense, but think of all the crap people would post.)

Basheer wrote:
Unless you pay $20K for something really different (and not necessarily better), everything is basically driven from a template of one kind or another ... with slight modifications in style or colors perhaps ...

The point is that it shouldn't contain a bunch of ads for someone else - why should you showcasing your work bring revenue to someone else - or worse yet, perhaps send them to a competitor site - and it shouldn't have some other sites header ...

Getting a domain name to only point it to MM or OMP doesn't add much value to a potential client, you might as well save the $8/year.

Look at the work from this company www.group94.com - they do amazing work but the average cost of their sites is around $10K to $15K - yes $15,000 USD (plus hosting) but it offers a system to manage your own content.

20k is somewhat of an exaggeration. Go to google and type  website templates in quotation marks, you will find many good template selling sites which offer copies of a template for as little as 5-10 bucks, or exclusive, meaning you buy the rights to be the only one with that design, for 100 bucks or cheaper at times. The most expensive exclusive template I have seen on these sites is about 2-4k.
I bought my template from templatemonsters.com
One thing you will find is most template sites that are well known all have basically the same templates but maybe a tiny difference in price. You can actually become a template reseller yourself. A lot of the big template sites get their templates from one big template company. Then once they start making a profit they start to have people design them for resale on the site and the designer gets most of the money.

Basheer wrote:
They can charge those prices because flash sites cost far more than HTML ones, not only do you need the $600 program, it requires some serious programming ability to make a flash site that is updateable yourself ...

Flash sites are money makers, but once a visitor comes to a site for the second time, the last thing they want to worry about is waiting for Flash to load and watching the same reveals and effects they saw the first time.

Most user experience studies I have seen indicate that Flash sites are mostly popular with the people who sell them.

Basheer wrote:
Not if its designed correctly to load "on-demand" ... flash can provide a far more professional and smoother flow than HTML sites which constantly reload with each click ...

That's not correct if the HTML site is correctly coded.