jbmauser Loc: Roanoke, VA

I decided to see if my name with an actual dot com was available before we give away the control of web address assignment to some foreign BS and it was open so I bought it. So I can sit on it or I can deploy it. I have been thinking of opening a Smug Mug or other account and posting pics. I have no internet account anywhere now. I know there are many of you who have researched this from Pro to advanced photographers. I want to hear your thoughts if you can spare a few minutes of your time. Thanks in advance.

PS I would like to know where and what not to try as well as those of you who are happy with your presentation venues.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I think Bluehost is really good. Up time is great, and based in the USA! I put a few clients there in the past.
Mine is at RapidVPS. I'm pleased with service at both.
(They might even have a "site builder" package included, which you will have to learn about.)
!!! Check the prices for hosting!!!
Many are WAY over-priced and I would never do business with them because of that!
I like cPanel for controlling the hosting, some companies do not provide it - I personally won't use them then.
I's recommend an Apache (Unix) server, not a Windows server.
Sorry I cannot recommend a software package to build a site as I write my own code by hand (I'm old school). I would not use Word though, it puts too much verbose stuff in the code.
You can set up a link on your web site to go to an account at SmugMug if you like.
(You do realize that you'll have to set the DNS (Domain Name Server) pointers under your domain account to your hosting company when you decide on one.)

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

I have used go daddy. They have a great site builder and a super intro price for Domain and hosting. Goes up the second year.

jbmauser Loc: Roanoke, VA

I used Go daddy to purchase my domain name, I did not review their hosting and build package yet. I will take a look at the sites recommended and also how to assign the DNS if I go with another provider. I guess if I stay with Go daddy they will handle that. Thanks for your replies.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Not sure, you still might have to assign (enter) the DNS info yourself.
They should provide the server names, usually two.
There should be an option under your <domain>account to enter/update DNS entries.

BTW- You do NOT have to get hosting where your domain is registered if you do not want to.
My domains are registered through HostDime.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

You could do using Bridge, from within Photoshop ( it's build in). It takes about 10 min to create your own web site!!

jbmauser Loc: Roanoke, VA

I have Bridge and it looks to be an indexing and catalog system. Also a Raw editor. I don't see how it can create a web page. I may not have the latest version as I do not have photoshop monthly on line system. I have an old stand alone version.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

It is part of bridge, it has templates build in (which are fully functional and you arrange or change them to fit your needs!! I think they started to implemented it with CS5.

blackest Loc: Ireland

Do you want to take photo's and sell them or do you want to design web sites?
If the former then have a look at existing photographers sites and see which ones are useable, You are looking for a content management system and theme which works. Doing your own thing out side of this is likely to be a problem. There are different kinds of hosting dedicated hosts being the most expensive and shared hosts the cheapest. A shared host is generally good enough to start with, why is anyone going to visit your site and what are you providing? If you get popular enough to be having a lot of paying traffic it is pretty easy to upgrade.

Personally I think that if you are just posting photographs getting an account on one of the bigger services may be your best bet. If on the other hand you are providing local services e.g weddings then your own site would be better. On the positive side having your own domain name is better for email than using say a gmail account (mail may go to your gmail account but you will look more professional).

My site which really is still in a design stage, is a wordpress site using a theme called multiloquent I haven't set up to sell anything yet and tends to mostly be posts about software. It's very easy to setup digital downloads on wordpress. There are any number of plugins for creating galleries I don't like the front page very much. The positive is that all the navigation is hidden under the burger menu on the left side. I don't want screen space being wasted on navigation. https://www.blackestknight.com/ I am not recommending this because it is incomplete. Hopefully you will get a few posts from users with established websites that work. Many people use facebook for photography although facebook compresses images to an ugly degree. On the plus side with facebook you can network and attract followers.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

Try wix.com. Pro version.

Cdouthitt Loc: Traverse City, MI

If you go smugmug feel free to use my web address (click on my user name) for a discount...for both of us. I've been using them since 2007 with 0 issues.

blackest Loc: Ireland

Checked out your site and it works well, looks like a winner and straight forward to use as a customer and displays the images tastefully without distractions. I'd shortlist this option.