Photography website?

[p0ss3s3d]

I've been looking into putting bulk images onto a site and making them available for licensensing/purchase. I'm thinking of trying to get a system set-up akin to the getty image viewer. (Thumbnails - when hovered you get a bigger picture and the caption). Search by event for car # etc.

I've never set-up up my own website before. The last one was a site a group of us used like an agency type thing and we FTP'd.

So I'm a total n00b to designing sites. Bearing this in mind can I have a little advice here...

So firstly, is there a site where I can buy a prebuilt site and they sort out hosting, domain names etc? (can I get a site where they host full size shots and send them out automatically? Only decent one I've found thus far is photoshelter...)

Secondly, if not, what is each component of each site and how much would I expect to pay for each bit I need to buy?

Thirdly, can I get site templates akin to a good image/caption viewer?

Finally, how do I go about getting a decent system of purchase going? Ideally, joe public could buy straight away & image editors could login and purchase the images before being invoiced at the end of the month etc...?

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So far I think the best idea is to get a domain name (reg123 or similar?, then get webspace and finally find a CMS tyoe thing? Is that right?

Thanks for any help I can get,
p0ss3s3d

 

[p0ss3s3d]

Nobody?

 

[Koalaboy]

Hosting sites such as smugmug or zenfolio, or perhaps photium... or stock photo sites such as istockphoto, shutterstock, etc. (also getty and photoshelter as you already mentioned).

The stock photo sites will need to approve your first set of images, however offer generally more appropriate marketing.

 

[p0ss3s3d]

Website started this weekend I've decided to try out this service. I'm only on the free account at the moment so no shopping carts and very limited storage. But I would like a little feedback on the layout and general feel of the site? Does it all feel okay?

[Can I also ask something- Am I correct in thinking I can buy a domain name (joebloggs.com or whatever) and then redirect that domain to my site? (Would virus software flag this up?)

 

[mr.sly]

Yup, you can buy a domain name and then point it your site. When you do buy it, you'll want to change your 'nameserver'. You'll have to check with Photoshelter where to point it to.