Portfolio Acct Questions

bcgal00

I've got a power plan for personal stuff. I have been with Portfoliositez for a couple of yrs and while I love my blog site, I have not been happy with the look of the proofing gallery. I do love the look of images at Smugmug much more. I have thought about getting a portfolio acct and dropping the portfoliositez blog site but my main hesitation is that I don't know how to set up a similar type web page with smugmug (main page with links to blog, galleries, pricing, client proofing/ordering, header with scrolling images, links to facebook biz page and twitter). I host thru go daddy and my blog was with wordpress. I did not set any of this up, it was all done thru portfoliositez so I am a complete novice about web design, importing old blog entries and galleries,creating header, etc). I assume that a portfolio acct would suffice for me rather than professional b/c with portfolio plan I can set my pricing (with my markup) and order thru WHCC or Bay Photo which I would like. The differences I could see with Pro would be watermarking which I don't need, second admin which I don't need enabled and create custom pkg which I don't necessarily need (not for $150 more a yr). I looked at some of the web designer info and just can't afford $300+ for someone to do this for me (if they even do all this, I don't really know what the web designer does for you) after I pay for the upgrade. I am frustrated that I am stuck with the company I'm at b/c I don't know how to create a smugmug site and it looks like I can't afford a designer at this point. Any suggestions or ideas? I'd appreciate any input.

Current web site if you'd like to see my current design is at:
http://www.raeclevettphotography.ca

HeroOfCanton

You're spot on with the differences between Portfolio and Business. That said, before you pay for an account here, I'd still recommend the free trial to make sure that an account here is something that will work for you.

Regarding how to customize your site, your customization possibilities are nearly limitless, and entirely in your control. While we're able to assist with any site issue you might have, we're not able to support more than basic site customization on the help desk. Answers to most of your initial customizing questions can be found on our Frequently Asked Questions page - FAQ: http://www.smugmug.com/help/customize-faq and you'll find advice on HTML and coding here: http://www.smugmug.com/help/html-help

Here are links to a few more resources:

Easy Customizer: http://www.smugmug.com/help/create-photo-album
Advanced look: http://www.smugmug.com/help/custom-colors
Custom Hostname: http://www.smugmug.com/help/power-custom-domain
Wiki: http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93381-most-requested-customization-tips

You'll find awesome customization assistance from like minded peers on the forums here on DGrin and here is a direct link to the customization forum: http://www.dgrin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=31 along with these two links here: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=52811 and here: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=26043 which are a collection of the most popular customizations.

bcgal00

Thx for the links. I'm still a bit confused about the pricing info for portfolio or business acct. With a portfolio acct you can only sell at the price points set by the print labs, right? So I could not mark up and list that as my pricing. Only in business acct can you set the pricing mark up as you want. Is this correct?

mbonocore

bcgal00 wrote: »

Thx for the links. I'm still a bit confused about the pricing info for portfolio or business acct. With a portfolio acct you can only sell at the price points set by the print labs, right? So I could not mark up and list that as my pricing. Only in business acct can you set the pricing mark up as you want. Is this correct?

No, you can do this in the Portfolio account. The difference is the number of pricelists you can have active at a time. With Portfolio, you can only have one pricelist active, so the prices and products offered will be the same on all of your galleries that you allow printing on. With a Business account, you can have more than one price lists active at a time, which would allow you to create different profit margins and products that you can apply to individual. For instance, I charge much more for prints of my landscape photography then I do for simple event photography.

More information on the differences between account levels can be found here
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/photo-sharing-features/

And more information on pricelists can be found here:
http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93345-how-do-i-price-photos-in-order-to-sell-them-

Please let us know if you have any more questions!

Michael

bcgal00

Ok, gotcha. I think the Portfolio acct will suit my needs. Now I just need to figure out how to create my website, blog and then use my domain name. Ugh..so much work. But...when you don't have much money you have to do it yourself

mbonocore

bcgal00 wrote: »

Ok, gotcha. I think the Portfolio acct will suit my needs. Now I just need to figure out how to create my website, blog and then use my domain name. Ugh..so much work. But...when you don't have much money you have to do it yourself

Remember to visit the customization forum! The people there are incredibly helpful, and will be a great assest as you design and implement your SmugMug site.

http://www.dgrin.com/forumdisplay.php?f=31

Michael