I would love to use SmugMug on my Website.

Racephotos

If this is the wrong place to post this message I am sorry and I would expect the moderator to delete it.

Having Googled the Web for a progam that allows viewers to locate their own photo without looking through 100s of webpages, all roads seem to lead to SmugMug. This is what my viewers have to do at the moment.

http://www.racephotos.org.uk

I think what SmugMug does is fantastic and the suppoert and help on this Forun is brilliant.

That is the good news, now for the bad.

I don't sell my photos, I allow road runners to download their photo for free. Reason being, road running has been my life for over 30 years and I am just trying to put something back into the Sport.

To stay in touch with Sport I bought myself several DSLRs and now attend over 50 road races a year. I must have taken well over 300,000 photos and my little website has now had 1,160,000 hits.

The icing on the cake for my website would be a search facility.

Does SmugMug offer a service that I could use, bearing in mind that I do not sell my photos?

Any help on this matter would be much appreciatred.

mbonocore

Hi Race,

Thank you for your interest in SmugMug. My suggestion is fully utilizing keywords on all of the photos on your SmugMug page. You can add the same keyword to multiple photos with one click, and a user can visit your homepage, and search certain keywords like "Race", "December", or "2012". This will then provide a view of all the photos marked with the keyword searched.

Also, a detailed creation of Categories, Subcategories, and galleries could eliminate the need for most searching. The user could simply drill down (ie, "2012" category, "December" subcategory, and "Christmas Race" gallery)

I think you will also find the "Download All" tool VERY helpful. This is where you can generate a link to download the entire gallery of photos in full resolution. Simply generate this link, and forward it on to anyone who wishes to have all of the photos from the gallery.

Of course, your users can also save the photos one by one, anytime they see something they like. And while you don't sell your photos, I wouldn't necessarily eliminate the "buy" button. The users may still want to buy prints of the photos straight from your SmugMug website, for convenience. It is entirely up to you how much of a profit you make. (or if you even wish to make a profit).

Here are some helpful articles to review

How Do Keywords Work in Search?
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93291

Can I Download All Photos in One of My Galleries
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93331-can-i-download-all-photos-in-one-of-my-galleries

How Do I Price Photos In Order to Sell Them?
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93345-how-do-i-price-photos-in-order-to-sell-them-