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As title really. I've accidentally started to sell a few landscape prints direct from my Insta so thought I'd build a simple website to exhibit/sell photos from. Just wondered what the best site builder is - SquareSpace or similar? Bearing in mind I hate tech and am pretty much useless at it. I need something simple to design/build but reliable, and one that looks good too - I don't want the finished site to have a budget feel/aesthetic. Happy to pay a monthly subscription/hosting or whatever, just not hundreds of quid for the build. Ta for any tips.
I used this lot years ago with the intention of selling pics from it.
It never happened in the end, but I did run a website through them for a couple of years. At the time it was a lot cheaper than the other options out there, but not sure how it would fare now.
You have to have a bit of an idea what you want to achieve, but it is possible to get something relatively professional looking. They don't take a cut of your sales or anything like that.
The best thing about it was the customer service. I would send questions & get a reply very quickly.
I'm sure there are plenty of options out there, but definitely worth a look. They have a 30-day free trial that you can play about with.
I stopped my photography a while ago, but I used Squarespace for a while and then shifted to smugmug.
Squarespace was great and easy to get a good looking site quickly, but it is/was very template based and i could never quite get it how I wanted it (might be my error or have changed now). I went to smugmug mainly because the print ordering is easier and at the time meant I could specify prints from lockey colour who I always used. It was template based again and had some really frustrating design decisions, it it worked and was fast.
My brother took over the site which I think is still smugmug. It's here if you want a look.
https://www.petejohns.photography/
I use Squarespace: www.theseaandthesky.co.uk and am happy with the results... Easy to use, reliable etc. I can’t comment on the e-commerce functionality because I don’t use it
Another vote for squarespace. I use it for my portfolio and the main thing I like about it is that it looks good on any device. When I used to design websites I always found that part of the process to be a major ball ache, so the fact it does that for you is a big win for me.
I use Format for mine, very easy to use but I’m B2B and don’t sell prints or deal with the public but they do have print sales functionality.
I suggest get yourself a domain name with some hosting and install wordpress.
Then install Woocomerce.
Myself and my partner did this for her artists prints and drawings.
https://www.jomcallister.co.uk/
Used for sales all over the world, seems to work quite nicely.
Relatively easy to set up and operate. Also you have control.
RT
Also, I use a script on my site displaying images.
Might be able to tweek for sales.
https://www.sidingstudios.com/pix4web/
What i really want is the ability to display the images as per date modifed on server.
Almost like a Insta copy.
Any PHP experts on here who could help 🙂
Thanks a lot for these, I'll take a proper look through before I decide. SquareSpace sounding the most likely option for me so far. Cheers.
So the problem with "and just install WordPress" is that you *need* to keep up with the security updates, which is a ballache.
An off-piste suggestion from a friend who sells prints is Etsy. He used to use Smugmug but if you want control over the printing you need to be on the most expensive tier.