Is it just my imagination, or is SmugMug having more frequent outages in the past few months? When I first established my account there a couple years ago, they were never down. Now it seems as thought they have an outage a week. Actually, in the last three months of this year, they have had nine documented outages. If this were my busy season, I would be really ticked. As it is, I am concerned enough to start looking around a bit for alternatives.
I haven't had the experience of an outage and haven't had my customers complain about it, but I'm frustrated about them for other reasons...and am finally moving on.
I've been with them for over (2) years now. I've been reasonably impressed with most of their service except for a couple of issues that I simply can no longer overlook for my business, which is primarily youth action sports photography.
Discount packages and coupons.
They have been talking about adding this feature for the better part of the past (2) years and as of yet haven't added it. It has been one of their most requested features to add-in and they still have not addressed it.
You might check out Zenfolio, I'm pretty impressed with their stuff so far.
I'm just now learning the core edition of Express Digital software and will probably at least try out Photo Reflect as they work good together.
You might want to check your site right now (12/31 at 5PM Pacific Time). They are in read only mode while they fix some problem.
I agree about the discounts/coupons. I too have been requesting that. I gave it up when I moved from my prior host, only because SmugMug said they were working on it.
My latest grievance with smugmug is that when I upload pictures they go into the gallery in an apparently random order. The order of the images is important for following the flow of my work. Fortunately, I name the files sequentially before uploading so I can do a simple sort operation after they are uploaded, but the site shouldn't rearrange them in the first place.
Smugmug's response has been that they are aware of the problem and are working on fixing it. They told me that they will NOT notify me when this is corrected, I will just have to keep trying until it works properly.
I think now may be a good time to try some other sites and see if any are better for my needs.
There's a lot of issues with SmugMug. I just wish they'd add in one main feature, and I'd join them -- the ability to self-fulfill. Its the reason why ExposureManager is the best out there for sports photographers, IMO, right now.
I've been with SM for over 2 years now and have never had any real issues with them...and as you hear over and over, customer support is top notch. I do get tired of hearing when 99% of the Pro users request features that the standard reply is "we know and we are looking into it" or "itt's on our list", etc.
kiz5 wrote:
There's a lot of issues with SmugMug. I just wish they'd add in one main feature, and I'd join them -- the ability to self-fulfill. Its the reason why ExposureManager is the best out there for sports photographers, IMO, right now.
I've been with SmugMug for several years now and I love their web presentation and gallery layouts. But for sales I recently moved to Exposure Manager and I'm not going to look back. The coupons and discounts are enough to keep me and the owner and his team listen when you talk to them - they don't just nod their heads.
mlee wrote:
I've been with SmugMug for several years now and I love their web presentation and gallery layouts. But for sales I recently moved to Exposure Manager and I'm not going to look back. The coupons and discounts are enough to keep me and the owner and his team listen when you talk to them - they don't just nod their heads.
I can't agree more on this point. Just this morning I sent the following email to SmugMug....
Does SmugMug have any plans to implement a coupon/discount system for their pro accounts in the near future. I am giving some serious consideration to moving to Exposure Manager for that feature alone. This is very important to most pros and with the economy being so bad it is becoming an absolute necessity.
My response from SmugMug support. As a former software product manager, this means...it is on our list, but don't hold your breath.
Hello Nathan,
Thank you for contacting Smugmug. We are definitely doing more than
looking into this feature. Please stay tuned. I will be sure to
forward your message to our Product Management team.
If we can be of further service, please contact us.
nathanlake wrote:
My response from SmugMug support. As a former software product manager, this means...it is on our list, but don't hold your breath.
Hello Nathan,
Thank you for contacting Smugmug. We are definitely doing more than
looking into this feature. Please stay tuned. I will be sure to
forward your message to our Product Management team.
If we can be of further service, please contact us.
Have a wonderful evening Nathan:-)
Steve
Just be aware...and anyone who frequents DGrin would know this....but that is SmugMugs standard reply. They NEVER comitt to giving ANY details about any upcoming feature improvements....not until they are actually released.
I've had the same experience. I've had a pro account for about a year and a half, and while it's well worth the price, I'm planning to move to my own site in the next few weeks. Most of SmugMug's feature enhancements are cosmetic or they support print sales (on which they take a commission). I'm a commercial photographer, so I'm interested in being found online and presenting my brand (as oppossed to SmugMug's).
Unfortunately they have not been helpful in responding to requests to allow more control of the title meta tag, the ability to create virtual galleries, category descriptions and a few other things.
I would gladly pay more for their service just to use their "engine" but have a lot more control over SEO and the organization of galleries.
Alan
MichaelKirk wrote:
I've been with SM for over 2 years now and have never had any real issues with them...and as you hear over and over, customer support is top notch. I do get tired of hearing when 99% of the Pro users request features that the standard reply is "we know and we are looking into it" or "itt's on our list", etc.
