Sell me on using SmugMug's services.

Bakat

The following is to be read in the most sincere of tone, not the smart alec "nya nya" tone that it could be taken as...

Since I found Digital Grin I have been continuously amazed by how knowelageable, heplful and genuinely polite everyone is here. Kudos to D-grin, now on to my question.

Serious question, hope it doesn't sound flippant... I have owned my own domain for years for a variety of purposes; mostly email and photo sharing related. Now that I'm getting calls for photography work I want to give people password protected galeries and can't figure out how to do that in MS Frontpage.

So I've been considering using Smugmugs services. So the questions arise...
1) Aside from Password protected galleries what are the advantages of having a Sugmug acct?
2) I already have a domain name that I lam very fond of, can I make Smugmug and my current domain work together?

Thanks much!
Kat

DanielB

Bakat wrote:

The following is to be read in the most sincere of tone, not the smart alec "nya nya" tone that it could be taken as...

Since I found Digital Grin I have been continuously amazed by how knowelageable, heplful and genuinely polite everyone is here. Kudos to D-grin, now on to my question.

Serious question, hope it doesn't sound flippant... I have owned my own domain for years for a variety of purposes; mostly email and photo sharing related. Now that I'm getting calls for photography work I want to give people password protected galeries and can't figure out how to do that in MS Frontpage.

So I've been considering using Smugmugs services. So the questions arise...
1) Aside from Password protected galleries what are the advantages of having a Sugmug acct?
2) I already have a domain name that I lam very fond of, can I make Smugmug and my current domain work together?

Thanks much!
Kat

1) they have superior Customer Service, you can watermark and right-click protect your photos, you can limit the viewing size to a medium (300px by 450px) and you can sell your photos FROM the website and have the photos shipped directly to your customer and you make a profit.

2) yes, custom domain names can be used so that they'll lead you to your smugmug account.

hope i answered your questions adequitly, i'm sure others will help fill-in what i've overlooked too though

cheers,
Daniel

dragon300zx

Bakat wrote:

1) Aside from Password protected galleries what are the advantages of having a Sugmug acct?
2) I already have a domain name that I lam very fond of, can I make Smugmug and my current domain work together?

Thanks much!
Kat

1) Password protected galleries are simply one benifit and a small one at that if you ask me. There are tons of benifits.

With a pro account you can offer online sales at prices you set, they do the printing, the credit card processing, the shipping, everything, then mail you your profit check.

They also gaurantee their prints and will replace them without a hassle even if the problem that made them look bad was something you or your client did.

Unlimited online storage space for all of your photos

A bandwidth amount that very very very few people have even come close to limiting out let alone running out of.

Easy backups.

Great, fast, personalized customer service.

Customizable web pages.

Right Click Protecton

You can limit the size of your photos shown

You can create watermarking on your photos to help prevent theft as well

Etc. And all for less than most hosting accounts cost for a full year.

2) Yes there are many many ways of using your existing domain with a smugmug account. The easiest way with yoru current setup would be to simply put links to your galleries on your existing website. Or you could setup your domain to go directly to your smug page. Many of us use the first method and many use the second they both work great.

colourbox

I picked smugmug originally because security existed at two levels (private and passworded), and yet on the other end of the spectrum, your visitors do not need to submit any personal information (no nonsense like "please register with your e-mail address") to see a gallery. So photos can be as open or as locked away as you like.

Since I joined, smugmug expanded the areas you could customize, added Google Maps support, search flexibility, slide show options, more templates, and many other features.

I used to maintain my own site but I am not a coder, and I could not code up my old site to do anything close to what smugmug does. Smugmug provides features at all levels, and they also debug the foundation code so that it works on all browsers (that matter ), something I never had the time or skill for. All you have to do is add pictures and layer your look on top. You'll be able to use your current domain name. Check the threads for how to make any domain become the address for your smugmug site.

Smugmug isn't the only site where you can sell your photos, but it's a good one.

Andy

Hi Bakat,

You've gotten some great help from some very knowledgable folks. See the links in my sig (SmugMug Pro Tips) for more. If I can be of service in any way at all, holler here on the forums for me, or at our help desk.

Thanks for considering SmugMug!

Rene`

Smug Mug is Great!

Bakat wrote:

The following is to be read in the most sincere of tone, not the smart alec "nya nya" tone that it could be taken as...

Since I found Digital Grin I have been continuously amazed by how knowelageable, heplful and genuinely polite everyone is here. Kudos to D-grin, now on to my question.

Serious question, hope it doesn't sound flippant... I have owned my own domain for years for a variety of purposes; mostly email and photo sharing related. Now that I'm getting calls for photography work I want to give people password protected galeries and can't figure out how to do that in MS Frontpage.

So I've been considering using Smugmugs services. So the questions arise...
1) Aside from Password protected galleries what are the advantages of having a Sugmug acct?
2) I already have a domain name that I lam very fond of, can I make Smugmug and my current domain work together?

Thanks much!
Kat

The customer service is second to none!