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Archive 2008 · Which webhosting do you use?

  
 
aFeinberg
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p.1 #1 · Which webhosting do you use?


I ask in this forum b/c I am mostly a landscape photographer (with some eventing) and am looking into sites that host and can sell prints through. The two I have narrowed it down to are Smugmug and ExposureManager. I am all ears for what the community has to say before I pull the trigger. Mucho mahalo for your help.

aF

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2166/2222483149_28520649ff.jpg



Jan 31, 2008 at 04:06 PM
Vern Dewit
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p.1 #2 · Which webhosting do you use?


Have you checked out Zenfolio? They integrate nicely with Lightroom and recently provided the ability to sell your work. Their slide show feature would be awesome for your landscapes. (http://www.zenfolio.com) I use them under my domain name, http://www.verndewit.com and have had no issues so far.


Jan 31, 2008 at 04:15 PM
hugh
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p.1 #3 · Which webhosting do you use?


Hello Aaron,

Until recently we used Open Source Host, then they - with no warning or explanation - turned us off and gave us a week to download our site and database. I strongly recommend not using them. When we moved, we found Vertex Host. They were super helpful and worked long hours getting us back up with a minimum of down-time. I strongly recommend them. Since we don't use an external sales function, I'm not sure what they offer in that line.

hugh



Jan 31, 2008 at 04:38 PM
David Leask
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p.1 #4 · Which webhosting do you use?


I use PBase - absolutely no complaints
David


Edited on Jan 31, 2008 at 05:27 PM



Jan 31, 2008 at 05:26 PM
aFeinberg
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p.1 #5 · Which webhosting do you use?


Does pbase offer a sales function? I did look at Zenfolio but the look wanst exactly what I was going for...although I did really like the slideshow feature. Something like that with the back of a smugmug or exposuremanager. Still hearing all you have to say. :-)

aF



Jan 31, 2008 at 08:33 PM
jd02
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p.1 #6 · Which webhosting do you use?


Smugmug took some effort to set up, but I am happy with them now. I deal directly with a different lab for printing so I cannot attest to smugmug's print services. This is my website:

www.ewert.smugmug.com



Jan 31, 2008 at 09:07 PM
JimFox
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p.1 #7 · Which webhosting do you use?


Hi Aaron,

PBase doesn't have a print option. I do use Pbase because they are inexpensive just as a place to upload galleries for quick viewing. For printing I use Printroom. Their printing is top notch, and you can customize the front end as you wish, with html or flash.

Jim



Jan 31, 2008 at 11:35 PM
aFeinberg
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p.1 #8 · Which webhosting do you use?


Printroom looks pretty neat! I am curious about metallic prints. I bet landscapes look killer on that medium. Anyone have a printroom site I can check out? :-)

aF



Feb 01, 2008 at 02:07 AM
JimFox
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p.1 #9 · Which webhosting do you use?


Hey Aaron,

My Printroom site is totally plain, because I don't use it as my main webhost, only for printing, so a totally plain one looks like this:

www.printroom.com/pro/jimfoxphotography

At www.printroom.com I believe they have sample sites to see, also you can search on the site itself and just go to some of the other sites on there.

Metallic looks really good. And they have special B&W paper too, so B&W's really look good. They handle pano sizes like 6x18, 10x20, 8x24, 12x36, etc... so that is really nice.

Jim



Feb 01, 2008 at 02:51 AM
aFeinberg
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p.1 #10 · Which webhosting do you use?


Thanks Jim. I found one decent site example on their help page. But doesnt show the way the ordering works. From what I see it is not as attractive as smugmug. It seems to be a decision of attractive ordering to slightly better print options (metallic paper) and available discounts (exposure manager).

Anyone else have some input?

Thanks a bunch.

aF



Feb 01, 2008 at 07:38 AM
JimFox
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p.1 #11 · Which webhosting do you use?


Hey Aaron,

If you go to my site, you can see how the ordering works, just click on one of the landscape links, and it will pull up a gallery of photo's for you, and just play with it to see what it looks like. It's pretty simple and straightforward. And you have total pricing freedom.

For example, when I set up a gallery, and I set up the pricing, I can have some predefined price list I just set for it via a pull down menu, or I can create one. They will have a page come up and it lists every size of print and type of paper available. Also things like cups and shirts, and mousepads, calendars... you name it. There are probably like 100 different print options. Each one has a check box, so when I am settting it up, if I want only 4x6, 8x12, and 16x24 as the print options for someone who comes into my gallery, I put a check in the box next to each size. Then in a column next to the size, it will come up with a default suggested price and then a column with what my profit is. So say I check the 8x12 box, it will place a price of $19.99 in the suggested price, and tell me I have a profit of $17.99. Now, if I want to charge more or less, that is my choice, but you can see they are charging me $2.00, to print and mail the photo. So if I decide to charge more, say $29.99, then obviously now my profit is $27.99. And the same if I want to go cheaper.

What I like, is it is very simple, and not complicated at all. And so for your gallery, only the print options you checked, will show up when someone browses that gallery.

Like I said, go to mine, and play around. My wedding links you would need a password, but all of the Landscape ones are public.

Jim



Feb 01, 2008 at 10:40 AM
Pazzaz
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p.1 #12 · Which webhosting do you use?


The "Click Here" link isn't working, at least on your seascapes section, Jim.


Feb 01, 2008 at 11:24 AM
aFeinberg
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p.1 #13 · Which webhosting do you use?


Ah, with pazzaz on this. Not sure the 'click here' is working on the galleries. Curious to see how it works though.

Oh one of the things I liked about the Exposure Manager is the ability for discounts and coupons...very cool, which doesnt seem to exist anywhere else.

And we continue :-P

aF



Feb 01, 2008 at 06:21 PM
Jeffrey
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p.1 #14 · Which webhosting do you use?


Moved to the appropriate forum.


Feb 01, 2008 at 06:34 PM
Jeff
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p.1 #15 · Which webhosting do you use?


I decided between PrintRoom and ExposureManager, and ended up with EM.com because the web interface appeared to be more customizable. They are both great companies though, and I've been very happy with EM.com on all fronts.


Feb 02, 2008 at 01:37 AM
csm
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p.1 #16 · Which webhosting do you use?


I went from SM Pro a couple of years ago to Exposure Manager for many reasons. EM is set up for sales and if you don't plan on selling, I'd you can get a better value here on FM or with PBase. I have both of those too for different reasons. You can look at my EM site for an example of a simple site set up for commerce. I customized mine for large thumbnails, which is unusual, but my customers really like it.

Edited on Feb 02, 2008 at 02:58 PM



Feb 02, 2008 at 02:56 PM
aFeinberg
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p.1 #17 · Which webhosting do you use?


I do like Shane's set up on EM. The thing that was really buggin me were the small non aesthetic selection pages. The larger thumbnails are good,maybe a bit too big, but much better, with just the checkboxes underneath. Glad you linked me Shane.

I do really like the coupons option. I just wish they all had pretty interfaces like SM when it comes to being about to just click and order :-P

Thanks again.
aF



Feb 02, 2008 at 05:30 PM
brainiac
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p.1 #18 · Which webhosting do you use?


I am quite curious about this. I looked at shane's set up on EM, and there are some things that would be a deal breaker for me. The main one is how slow the images are to load. 8 years ago I set up my own system, and it is still much faster than EM even though I haven't had to upgrade it significantly since then. It's also free, except for a small cut _if_ you decide to sell files or prints. A few photographers use it (e.g. http://www.123photography.co.uk, http://www.sophieziegler.com). At the moment it is still UK pounds sterling only, but if somebody in the states was keen to use it, I would finally set up the US dollar mechanism. One big issue: I don't host images. Photographers are expected to upload them to their own server space. That's how I manage to run it for free. Essentially it is an embeddable portfolio/sales tool.

Edit: I was confused - it was Jim's printroom galleries that are slow - see my comments below.

Edited by brainiac on Feb 03, 2008 at 06:17 PM GMT

Edited on Feb 03, 2008 at 01:17 PM



Feb 03, 2008 at 01:05 PM
csm
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p.1 #19 · Which webhosting do you use?


brainiac wrote:
I am quite curious about this. I looked at shane's set up on EM, and there are some things that would be a deal breaker for me. The main one is how slow the images are to load. 8 years ago I set up my own system, and it is still much faster than EM even though I haven't had to upgrade it significantly since then. It's also free, except for a small cut _if_ you decide to sell files or prints. A few photographers use it (e.g. http://www.123photography.co.uk, http://www.sophieziegler.com). At the moment it is still UK pounds sterling only,
...Show more

This is a weird comment...I have never had a single complaint about speed and just went over there and it was fully loaded almost instantly. EM has thousands of websites now and while I've heard us EM users discuss various topics on the EM disucssion forum, EM being slow has never been an issue.

Maybe something on your end because nothing slow about EM.

EM is nearly trouble free, always up (SM Pro was down a lot), has better quality image display that most other sales sites (not than non-sales oriented places like PBase or FM hosting tho), significantly less expensive and more flexible than Digital Railroad, has great prints or you print yourself, very fast for viewing (despite one statement to the contrary), good customer service, allows me to make changes without being a computer programer (not my gig), and allows full branding. Perfect? Not even close. Overall a good deal, yes.

Edited by Shane Canfield on Feb 03, 2008 at 01:26 PM GMT

Edited on Feb 03, 2008 at 01:26 PM



Feb 03, 2008 at 01:10 PM
brainiac
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p.1 #20 · Which webhosting do you use?


Sorry - my mistake - I was talking about Jim's printroom galleries. Each time I press next it takes 3-4 seconds before the image is loaded. After ten images you just want to leave.

Shanes galleries are very quick.

Edited on Feb 03, 2008 at 01:19 PM



Feb 03, 2008 at 01:16 PM
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