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Best websites for photographers - part 3 of 1 2 3 4

Published 01/04/2012

Zenfolio

Another company providing websites with e-commerce solutions for photographers. Zenfolio is an outfit originally from the US that has now 'reached out' to the UK, hooking up with print lab One Vision Imaging. Photographers are thereby able to offer the latter's entire catalogue of presentation products to clients.

The latest news from Zenfolio is that all accounts now come with photo blogs and mobile layouts, plus the One Vision product range has been further expanded to include over 40 different frame types and three mounts in various colours. New products include luxury slip-in mounts, place mats and mouse pads.

With the addition of the blogging facility, photographers can have their portfolio, client galleries and blog all at one location. Most photographers use blogging for the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) benefits, as well as to provide potential clients with a sense of their personality and style. Via Zenfolio, the blog maintains the same identity and branding as the rest of your site, allowing for easier integration of photos and videos. For anyone with an existing blog, Zenfolio has provided the facility to import previous postings with dates and images using the RSS feed. This coincides with the recent industry trend towards consolidation of all aspects of a website, rather than having elements in different places, as this can actually hurt your SEO rankings.

Furthermore, having all your web activities in one location enables one aspect to boost the other, improving your placements on search result pages. Donna Marshall of Archibald Photography in Scotland believes that Zenfolio has helped its own business to boast an "impressively busy schedule even during these difficult times."

In terms of the 'mobile layouts' feature, all websites hosted by Zenfolio now claim an equally smooth browsing experience whether clients are using a mobile device or a standard browser. The website is automatically optimised for mobile browsing when opened from a mobile phone, and will be perfectly accessible whether the browsing device is flash-enabled or not. Clients are thus able to navigate easily through your entire portfolio or a single gallery when on the go. Zenfolio adds that it is continually improving this experience.
www.zenfolio.com
www.archibaldphotography.co.uk

theimagefile

MD of theimagefile.com, Howard Butterfield maintains that his company's USP is the fact that it can offer pro photographers 'the whole package', by way of an entire business strategy alongside the core features of an effective website and e-commerce facility. He also notes that while some companies offering hosting packages may look attractive on price, it's always worth bearing in might that when it comes to the nitty-gritty, photographers can come unstuck - particularly if there's a need to load high resolution files.

"The cheapie providers don't do it or charge a small fortune," Howard says. "We can integrate our service with these providers seamlessly and we do, every day, but as we - and others - offer a full website and entry level galleries with sales facility for reasonable fees, (theimagefile is £5.00 per month) then this is really unnecessary. Users should appreciate that their web site will become an indispensable part of their business." Uploading high-resolution images to a website provider like theimagefile additionally acts as an offsite backup, while also delivering the goods when tendering for work. Something else worth bearing in mind with any host is of course availability time - to whit, can they be contacted urgently if your site goes down or something's not working as it should? Some photographers who choose overseas providers find system maintenance gets done overnight, and right in the middle of the working day, UK time.

As well as a UK-based operation, browser driven control panels to allow users to update their websites themselves is something else theimagefile offers. "To be fair most good providers are offering this now but being able to easily update your website yourself is a massive competitive advantage, in terms of and speed efficiency. Plus there's no need to wait for a webmaster to get round to it and then charge you £120 for two hours work."

Social and commercial photographer Michael Cockerham agrees that theimagefile.com is incredibly proactive about putting more usability in the hands of its photographer clients. "It's like you feel these guys are working there just for you. It costs me around £40 a month but I do not begrudge it at all. It's all tax deductible and completely worth it. It's also actually very photographer friendly." A case in point: with regard to theimagefile, website updates can be made from your iphone while on in transit. It's also a specialist provider, in that it is used to the requirements of photographers and can provide a web site that can automatically handle a lot of workflow. Find out how it can work for you below.
www.theimagefile.com
www.michaelcockerham.com

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1st Published 01/04/2012
last update 21/07/2022 08:46:24

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