Web Design Help

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Milutiche

172 posts

Master Geek

#171901 5-May-2015 07:25

Hi all, I'm not sure this post is in the correct place so please move Mod if needed. I'm looking to get a website set up for photo sales, I've been taking sports photos for about 4 years and selling via facebook with a very inefficient work flow. What I am after

1: I will need a website that can hold upwards of 1000 photos in high res (approx 10MB each)
2: I need a cart function where people can view photos (watermarked without "right click" option) and add them to a cart and either download or send to printing service
3: It needs to have a homepage and then a page for albums for each event/game
4: I need to be able to change the artwork myself ie: banner photos and basic branding images.
5: I need a web designer that has done something like this in the past, I don't want to be a guinea pig (unless it's really cheap!)

If you are a web designer or know a web designer that may be interested in giving me a quote for this service that would be much appreciated.
feel free to PM me and I can give you a contact ph number.

Thanks
Jason

reven

3743 posts

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#1298018 5-May-2015 07:29

wordpress website with a few plugins should do you.

theres plenty of shopping cart plugins that have integrated paypal payment options.

the no right click saving is very very very simple to get around, to a point where its a waste of time. Just preview watermarked low res copies, and once they purchase let them download the full res ones.

timmmay

20574 posts

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#1298029 5-May-2015 07:41

You really don't want a hire a designer to create this for you, it's reinventing the wheel. Consider these options.

Hosting/printing services
Pixieset.
Zenfolio.
PASS (though not many like this one).
Photo Shelter.
Smugmug
Imagelab in Wellington used to offer a hosting/printing service - you could call them to ask
There are more, some of which probably have printers in New Zealand. There's one that starts with P that I can't recall right now.

If you wanted to host on your on website and print yourself then Sytist is a great option, I've used the older version for years (I'm a professional photographer). There's also an option through Photocrati, but I think it's very limited compared with Sytist.

Milutiche

172 posts

Master Geek

#1299484 6-May-2015 21:36

Thanks guys, I've had a bit of a look over SmugMug and Zenfolio so far, but need to spend a bit more time at it, I'm a bit scared of the whole wordpress path, I don't really have the time (or knowledge) to design my own.

I want something pretty straightforward where I can just upload and sell, Smugmug looks about $30/month for the pro service so thats at the high end of what I want to spend based on what I would be selling at ($5 per low res download or $7.5 for hi res) because I really don't know how well I'm going to do.

I'll look over the other options posted over the coming days and see if anything stands out.

Thanks

Jason

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#1299520 6-May-2015 22:26

30 bucks, even in USD is cheap. Using a web design get I would expect it to be a minimum of a 3k plus job, so looks like you will be need to use one of those services.

chevrolux

4962 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1299539 6-May-2015 22:50

If you lack time/skills jump on freelancer. It is such an awesome way to get stuff done well below normal rates. I use it every now and again when I need some php development done l - its better for me to keep working on what I do rather than waste time learning extra stuff. I prefer to try and pick European developers over the Indian based ones purely because their English tends to be better.

mattwnz

20141 posts

Uber Geek

#1299554 6-May-2015 23:22

chevrolux: If you lack time/skills jump on freelancer. It is such an awesome way to get stuff done well below normal rates. I use it every now and again when I need some php development done l - its better for me to keep working on what I do rather than waste time learning extra stuff. I prefer to try and pick European developers over the Indian based ones purely because their English tends to be better.

The problem is that you don't get ongoing support, that you would get if you used a NZ company. For example they may set you up with a wordpress website, but you need support when something breaks, or there is an update and the wordpress template needs upgrading etc. Web designers are often reluctant to take on existing websites without rebuilding them I have found so can be false economy if you have to get it rebuilt again.

Milutiche

172 posts

Master Geek

#1299595 7-May-2015 07:15

Cheers, Matt & Chev, I'm leaning more and more towards Zenfolio, it's a name that pops up quite a bit on photo forums, I used the online chat last night and it was prompt and very thorough

I just need to get a few questions answered with respect to payment options for me and clients as well as digital download and print, does anyone know if they can print locally (Whangarei or Auckland) and what the shipping costs and times are like?

Cheers
Jason

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timmmay

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#1299598 7-May-2015 07:30

It would cost around US$500 then about $50 a year for someone to set up Sytist on hosting for you, and you'd have hosting and domains you could have control of your sales platform and no commissions. It does downloads as well as print orders. Given the cost of a hosted service of $30/month it's probably not worthwhile to be honest.

A service that can print locally in NZ is pretty critical, otherwise your customers will have high shipping costs. Did you call Imagelab like I suggested? It's called Piction and all the newspapers use it to sell photos.