Need to get a web site/domain name set up

Dogdots

I really need to get my domain name set up for a web site. Any ideas on the best way to start this and do this?

denisegoldberg

Dogdots wrote:

I really need to get my domain name set up for a web site. Any ideas on the best way to start this and do this?

That's a pretty broad question. Do you mean a general-purpose site? Or a domain name for your smugmug site?

Either way, the first thing you need to do is register the domain name. There are many registrars out there, all with varying costs and levels of service.

I would recommend taking a look at this smugmug help page that tells how to point your registered domain to your smugmug site - http://www.smugmug.com/help/professional-accounts. This page also lists 5 of the domain regristrars (if you need names...). A search for registering a domain name will give you links to even more registrars.

Is the registration of your domain what you were looking for, or do you need information on something else entirely?

--- Denise

OsirisPhoto

I concur with Denise, and can recommend Joker.com (as mentioned on the Smugmug info page).. I found it cheap, quick and easy to get my domain name pointing to my Smugmug site.

Dogdots

I would like to get a domain name registered first. So I guess I need to find someplace to do that. I have seen a lot of them on the internet, I just don't know which is best and which would rip you off if you know what I mean.

After I get my name I then would like to start a website. Am I following the proper sequence? I'm very new at this. And isn't the domain name the name of the website that you would start up?

denisegoldberg

Dogdots wrote:

I would like to get a domain name registered first. So I guess I need to find someplace to do that. I have seen a lot of them on the internet, I just don't know which is best and which would rip you off if you know what I mean.

After I get my name I then would like to start a website. Am I following the proper sequence? I'm very new at this. And isn't the domain name the name of the website that you would start up?

Again, the list of registrars in the link I posted in my first reply is a good place to start.

And yes, it is a good idea to get your domain name, although you certainly don't need to have it in order to start working on your site. What type of site are you planning to build?

--- Denise

Dogdots

I'm looking to start up a photo site of some sort. The ideas are there in my head, just not organized . I have thought about going through smugmug, but I really don't know that much about it.

I will check into the link you posted for me. I have a name I'm thinking of using, but then when I read some posts in dgrin the opinion is that you should use your name. So I'm thinking about that.

I would just like to use my first and middle name if I do use my name, but I don't even know if that is legal, etc. Can you copyright in just you first and middle name? If I remember correctly you can copyright in anything you want to use. I may be wrong tho.

denisegoldberg

Dogdots wrote:

I'm looking to start up a photo site of some sort. The ideas are there in my head, just not organized . I have thought about going through smugmug, but I really don't know that much about it.

I will check into the link you posted for me. I have a name I'm thinking of using, but then when I read some posts in dgrin the opinion is that you should use your name. So I'm thinking about that.

I would just like to use my first and middle name if I do use my name, but I don't even know if that is legal, etc. Can you copyright in just you first and middle name? If I remember correctly you can copyright in anything you want to use. I may be wrong tho.

You can use any name you'd like, but of course the domain name needs to be available. You can see that very quickly by going to one of the registrar sites and requesting that name.

For a photo gallery, I highly recommend using smugmug. Of course I may be a bit biased since I've had my site hosted at smugmug for a few years now. I started with a basic site, then upgraded so I could create my own look & feel. You can see the differences betweenthe types of accounts on this page - http://www.smugmug.com/price/.

If you decide to go with smugmug, you can use my referral code ( llX8NBuQ4l6uQ ) to get a $5 discount.

--- Denise

Dogdots

I looked at your site and its amazing -- we have taken pictures of the same things. You do what I do....carry the camera with you and take a picture of what ever grabs you at the moment.

I am seriously looking into doing my web site thru smugmug. Only thing is how does it open up to the everyday person who googles something like photos, flower pictures, etc.?

I noticed how your site was set up and prices. Am I correct in my reading of the website setups that you set up the price after their starting point or do they get 15-20%...or more? Also they do all the printing, etc. and mail it to the person who ordered it right? If so all we have to do is pay for the site and put our photos on there....correct? That sounds to easy.

Thank you for the referrel code. If I do go with smugmug I will use it.

~~~~Mary

denisegoldberg

Dogdots wrote:

I looked at your site and its amazing -- we have taken pictures of the same things. You do what I do....carry the camera with you and take a picture of what ever grabs you at the moment.

I am seriously looking into doing my web site thru smugmug. Only thing is how does it open up to the everyday person who googles something like photos, flower pictures, etc.?

I noticed how your site was set up and prices. Am I correct in my reading of the website setups that you set up the price after their starting point or do they get 15-20%...or more? Also they do all the printing, etc. and mail it to the person who ordered it right? If so all we have to do is pay for the site and put our photos on there....correct? That sounds to easy.

Thank you for the referrel code. If I do go with smugmug I will use it.

~~~~Mary

Mary -
If you keyword your photos and take other steps to get your website visible to others, then yes, people wil be able to find you. Here's a link to a page in the smugmug wiki on maximizing your findability - http://smugmug.jot.com/WikiHome/MaximizeYourFindability. One of the things I've done (besides keywording my photos) is including photos in my blog and linking from those photos directly to my photo galleries. So if someone clicks on a photo in my blog they will end up in the associated gallery.

If you choose a pro account (or if you upgrade to one later), yes, you can set your own prices. And yes, you will make 85% of the price above the base price. All printing and shipping is done by ezprints, so you don't need to do anything except proof the orders.

And yes, somehow my camera has become part of my life; it seems to be a constant companion. That's not a complaint, I think it's a good thing...

--- Denise

DougNorCal

Hyperbaric wrote:

I concur with Denise, and can recommend Joker.com (as mentioned on the Smugmug info page).. I found it cheap, quick and easy to get my domain name pointing to my Smugmug site.

We used joker.com and found it to not be easy. Still seems to be messed up.

YMMV

Dogdots

Denise you have been very helpful. Others to, in what to do about starting up a web page.

I googled your name Denise and was led right to your web page. You have set it up well. I worry tho that I may not be knowledgeable enough to do all these things. Hopefully people here in dgrin will help me along if I should run into problems. Have you sold things thru your website? I don't mean to be nosey. I'm just wondering if it pays for itself.

Thanks for the other link. I will be going thru everything today.

Foochar

DougNorCal wrote:

We used joker.com and found it to not be easy. Still seems to be messed up.

YMMV

Doug,
Just curious what you found to be difficult about joker.com, or what it is that "still seems to be messed up". I tried going to your homepage (pqphotography.com) and that seemed to load just find, it looks like you registered that page through GoDaddy however. I'm a satisfied joker and smugmug user (and work in IT support for a living) and just thought I would see if I could help you sort out whatever it is that is messed up.

ChrisP6

Joker Issues

Foochar wrote:

Doug,
Just curious what you found to be difficult about joker.com, or what it is that "still seems to be messed up". I tried going to your homepage (pqphotography.com) and that seemed to load just find, it looks like you registered that page through GoDaddy however. I'm a satisfied joker and smugmug user (and work in IT support for a living) and just thought I would see if I could help you sort out whatever it is that is messed up.

I did a lot of the setup on hosting for PQPhotography since Doug and I share the site. We started with Joker.com, and had trouble with the mail forwarding. GMail in particular treated their servers like they were "spam sources," so we weren't able to get reliable e-mail forwarding to work. We switched to GoDaddy, and I've since setup several URL's and e-mail forwarding accounts. It's all worked for me, but Doug has had some minor problems he had to work through on the GMail and corporate e-mail end of things.

DJT

Dogdots,

Have you registered your domain yet? Just curious to see how far you've gotten with this project. I've never even heard of joker.com till reading this, I've used godaddy.com for most of my clients - manage websites when not working at the dealership.

But let me know how you progress thru the customization of smugmug's pro site, as to I have not done this yet...

I would like to use my name as my domain as well... but unfortunately, I seem to share my name with another photographer and another one with the same middle initial. Go figure...

Dogdots

No I haven't registered my domain name yet or started anything on smugmug yet either. I hope to do my domain name this week. Also thinking of going with Godaddy, but looking at Joker to.

I'm actually meeting with a group called Score. Have you heard of them? They are a bunch of people who volunteer for those who are thinking of starting a business...be it in a building or a web site. You get all the tax info, forms, etc. that you may need. I meet with them on Wed. I wonder how it works if you have a smugmug account and sell something -- who pays taxes and how, etc. Anyone reading this and you know could you please let me know.


I'm scared---really scared. For you and anyone else who knows a computer inside and out it will be a piece of cake. And you know something about doing websites. For me it will be mind boggling for sure. I'm not knowledgeable on computer lingo. My mind just swims with the thought of having to think like a machine. My heart is thumping with fear as I'm writing this.

So....domain name this week and hopefully smugmug next week---Heck I will just look fear in the eye and go for it.

----Mary

denisegoldberg

Dogdots wrote:

I wonder how it works if you have a smugmug account and sell something -- who pays taxes and how, etc. Anyone reading this and you know could you please let me know.

So....domain name this week and hopefully smugmug next week---Heck I will just look fear in the eye and go for it.

----Mary

Here's a link to the smugmug help page titled Professional Users - Reporting & Payment - http://www.smugmug.com/help/reporting.

On the taxes question, I'd suggest doing a search in the Mind your own Business forum on taxes.

On the domain name front - I'd recommend that you grab the domain name as soon as you've decided what you want and found that the URL was available. You can leave it parked until you set up your smugmug account and have a place to send it to.

--- Denise

Foochar

Dogdots wrote:

I wonder how it works if you have a smugmug account and sell something -- who pays taxes and how, etc. Anyone reading this and you know could you please let me know.

----Mary

I am not a tax accountant or lawyer, however here is how I interpret sales through smugmug. Smugmug is essentially selling your photos for you on what amounts to a consignment basis. From what I can see from a cursory search of the internet generally the "consignment shop", in this case smugmug, is responsible for collecting and remitting the sales tax. The money that you make from the sales (the check that smugmug sends you) is then treated as income/revenue, either personal or business, depending on if you have established your business as a separate tax entity. You would be responsible for paying tax on that revenue less whatever expenses you have that deductible.

As with any advice you find on the internet take this with a grain of salt, I could be completely wrong about how this applies in your specific situation. If you want to have a leg to stand on in terms of liability than you should consult a professional in your area who specializes in tax law.

Dogdots

Thanks again Denise for another link---I'm assuming I may sell something

I know, I have to get that domain name---before it is gone.

Foochar: your right it is like a "consignment shop". I will check out with someone tho to make sure. But I would think you would only pay taxes on income made after deductions.

Someone teach me how to quote people here -- Please

denisegoldberg

Dogdots wrote:

Someone teach me how to quote people here -- Please

You mean like this?

The reply button within the entry - look to the bottom right - will quote that entry.

The reply button for the thread - to the bottom and left, outside of the response - will not quote anything.

--- Denise

DJT

Dogdots wrote:

Thanks again Denise for another link---I'm assuming I may sell something

I know, I have to get that domain name---before it is gone.

Foochar: your right it is like a "consignment shop". I will check out with someone tho to make sure. But I would think you would only pay taxes on income made after deductions.

Someone teach me how to quote people here -- Please

Hit the reply button in the lower right corner

DJT

The money that you make from the sales (the check that smugmug sends you) is then treated as income/revenue, either personal or business, depending on if you have established your business as a separate tax entity. You would be responsible for paying tax on that revenue less whatever expenses you have that deductible.

But as I've made a grand total of $1.88 profit. It'll be a long long time before I have to worry about paying taxes.

ShebaJo

Scared?

Dogdots wrote:

I'm scared---really scared. For you and anyone else who knows a computer inside and out it will be a piece of cake. And you know something about doing websites. For me it will be mind boggling for sure. I'm not knowledgeable on computer lingo. My mind just swims with the thought of having to think like a machine. My heart is thumping with fear as I'm writing this.

So....domain name this week and hopefully smugmug next week---Heck I will just look fear in the eye and go for it.

----Mary

Scared? Ah, nothing to fear, but fear itself.

Well, that, and your computer spontaneously combusting, or your website only showing script cause you used a colon rather than a semi-colon, or blank pages cause you missed on character, or, uh... never mind... like I said...

Nothing to fear but fear itself.

Dogdots

denisegoldberg wrote:

You mean like this?

The reply button within the entry - look to the bottom right - will quote that entry.

The reply button for the thread - to the bottom and left, outside of the response - will not quote anything.

--- Denise

I learned something! Thanks Denise.

Looks like I got the full post and was only trying to quote a line from it. Dang!

----Mary

Dogdots

ShebaJo wrote:

Scared? Ah, nothing to fear, but fear itself.

Well, that, and your computer spontaneously combusting, or your website only showing script cause you used a colon rather than a semi-colon, or blank pages cause you missed on character, or, uh... never mind... like I said...

Nothing to fear but fear itself.

Now I'm really scared

How much web setup/writing do you need to know?

---Mary

ShebaJo

Dogdots wrote:

Now I'm really scared

How much web setup/writing do you need to know?

---Mary

SmugMug actually makes it very easy to start, you just sign-up, and you have a basic site ready to go. If you are unsure what you want, you can start at the standard level, then bump up to a power or pro account whenever you want. There are more customization options whith pro and power levels... you can do your own code, but you can also just use SMug themes, they have quite a few.

It really is very easy, especially if you use SMug themes. You can be up and running in a matter of minutes, just load your pics into galleries you make. Uploading it very easy also.

Dogdots

ShebaJo wrote:

SmugMug actually makes it very easy to start, you just sign-up, and you have a basic site ready to go. If you are unsure what you want, you can start at the standard level, then bump up to a power or pro account whenever you want. There are more customization options whith pro and power levels... you can do your own code, but you can also just use SMug themes, they have quite a few.

It really is very easy, especially if you use SMug themes. You can be up and running in a matter of minutes, just load your pics into galleries you make. Uploading it very easy also.

Hi,
You make it sound easy . Hope it is.

---Mary

Sweeper

While we are discussing the website building... I bought into the "pro" version and will be building my site closer to the end of November. Just was wondering if I can treat my site like any other site with a "links" page. Is this possible? There are several photo related programs that I am using which pay for clicks and for subscriptions aquired through my links. Is this available through SM?

I know that a simple search on the main forum page would probably yeild the answer but I thought I'd ask here.

Tks...
...Steve

denisegoldberg

Sweeper wrote:

While we are discussing the website building... I bought into the "pro" version and will be building my site closer to the end of November. Just was wondering if I can treat my site like any other site with a "links" page. Is this possible? There are several photo related programs that I am using which pay for clicks and for subscriptions aquired through my links. Is this available through SM?

I know that a simple search on the main forum page would probably yeild the answer but I thought I'd ask here.

Tks...
...Steve

You can include links to other sites in the description of your gallery, or in the photo captions - or you can build an html-only page that consists only of text and links (or even of text and links and photos that are located in other galleries).

If you look at my site, my Kaleidoscope page is an html-only page that links to photos on my smugmug site - http://denise.smugmug.com/gallery/2659217.

And this gallery includes links in the descriptions of the photos to link to journals describing my cycling tours (where the links are outside of smugmug) - http://denise.smugmug.com/gallery/3175657.

So the answer really is, you can pretty much build whatever you want, including the links you mentioned to sites that pay for clicks. Holler if you need help (better to post any requests for help in the customization forum).

--- Denise

Dogdots

denisegoldberg wrote:

You can include links to other sites in the description of your gallery, or in the photo captions - or you can build an html-only page that consists only of text and links (or even of text and links and photos that are located in other galleries).

If you look at my site, my Kaleidoscope page is an html-only page that links to photos on my smugmug site - http://denise.smugmug.com/gallery/2659217.

And this gallery includes links in the descriptions of the photos to link to journals describing my cycling tours (where the links are outside of smugmug) - http://denise.smugmug.com/gallery/3175657.

So the answer really is, you can pretty much build whatever you want, including the links you mentioned to sites that pay for clicks. Holler if you need help (better to post any requests for help in the customization forum).

--- Denise

Denise how many web sites do you have?

My understanding from what you wrote is that you have one thru smugmug and the others are set up privately and you link your pictures into smugmug. Am I correct?

---

Mary

denisegoldberg

Dogdots wrote:

Denise how many web sites do you have?

My understanding from what you wrote is that you have one thru smugmug and the others are set up privately and you link your pictures into smugmug. Am I correct?

---

Mary

Mary -
My photos are hosted at smugmug.

I have two URLs that point to my smugmug galleries - www.denisegoldberg.com points directly to my smugmug galleries, and www.denisegoldbergphotography forwards to www.denisegoldberg.com, so it essentially points to the same place.

I have a blog at http://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com. It can be accessed directly or through the blog link on my navbar (on my smug site). I include photos in my blog - but the blog points to the photos in my smugmug site. All photos referenced in the blog are in my galleries.

I also have photos in my crazyguyonabike journals. I started keeping journals there in 1998, well before I had an online photo gallery. I could link from crazyguyonabike to photos in my galleries, but I've been in the habit of loading photos there too. There is some overlap of the photos in the two locations, but there are more photos in smugmug, and there are photos in both places that aren't in the other. It's sort of a variation in audience, and it's not making me crazy yet... My biking journals are at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/denisegoldberg.

The two galleries that I referenced in my previous post on this thread are in smugmug. And the html-only page points to photos in a different smugmug gallery. I did that because I wanted a gallery that was primarily text but one that could also be used to highlight photos. If you click on the photos in my Kaleidoscope page you will be taken to the (smugmug) gallery where that photo resides.

Did that answer your question? Or did I just confuse matters?

--- Denise

Dogdots

denisegoldberg wrote:

Mary -
My photos are hosted at smugmug.

I have two URLs that point to my smugmug galleries - www.denisegoldberg.com points directly to my smugmug galleries, and www.denisegoldbergphotography forwards to www.denisegoldberg.com, so it essentially points to the same place.

I have a blog at http://denisegoldberg.blogspot.com. It can be accessed directly or through the blog link on my navbar (on my smug site). I include photos in my blog - but the blog points to the photos in my smugmug site. All photos referenced in the blog are in my galleries.

I also have photos in my crazyguyonabike journals. I started keeping journals there in 1998, well before I had an online photo gallery. I could link from crazyguyonabike to photos in my galleries, but I've been in the habit of loading photos there too. There is some overlap of the photos in the two locations, but there are more photos in smugmug, and there are photos in both places that aren't in the other. It's sort of a variation in audience, and it's not making me crazy yet... My biking journals are at http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/denisegoldberg.

The two galleries that I referenced in my previous post on this thread are in smugmug. And the html-only page points to photos in a different smugmug gallery. I did that because I wanted a gallery that was primarily text but one that could also be used to highlight photos. If you click on the photos in my Kaleidoscope page you will be taken to the (smugmug) gallery where that photo resides.

Did that answer your question? Or did I just confuse matters?

--- Denise

Yep, you answered my question. Its amazing. I gotta learn how to do that. And if I do---that will be really amazing

---Mary