Website Setup for a Portfolio of Completed Work
Here's some advice on putting up a website to display photos of projects you've done. April 24, 2013
Question
I currently have a domain and have hosting with godaddy.com but have not fully set up a functional website. I am looking for a simple clean design to showcase some work I have done and a place to refer potential customers to so they are able to view my work. I'm having a difficult time deciding how to set up the website design using Dreamweaver or a similar program, paying someone to do this for me such as a student, or using a template. This website would be simply a portfolio and would not be focused on getting web traffic. I’m wondering what others thoughts are who have been confronted with this situation.
Forum Responses
(Business and Management Forum)
From contributor J:
If it is truly just an album, you can use the free online photo albums like Picasa - they won't use your domain though. You could upload web albums to your domain that are generated by programs like jAlbum that let you apply various skins to your album. You can often download trial versions of such tools to give them a try before buying the licensed versions.
From contributor R:
I believe your host company offers quick setup websites predesigned for your use. Just plug in your info and go. I believe there is a fee. What I did was take a class on Dreamweaver to learn and develop my site. It was worth the cost.
From contributor S:
Check out a website called Wix.com. You can build your own site using templates which was easy to do. You can also have them build a site for you.
From contributor B:
I'd recommend CoffeeCup's Visual Site Designer. I found it to be very user friendly.
From contributor M:
Squarespace.com is one of the better template based site hosts that I have tried.
From contributor C:
I was looking at a variety of artist portfolio-oriented websites, and went with Squarespace on the recommendation of a friend. I'm very happy with it and have received lots of compliments. It's also viewable on all devices, ipads and iphones included.
From contributor H:
Another couple of options for you are Weebly and Wordpress. Weebly is really easy to use as well for "portfolio" type websites and has easy to follow directions to setup with GoDaddy domains. Wordpress (.org) is great for a site that you would like to get some web traffic. They have a different look to them since Wordpress is mostly designed for blogging. There is more of a learning curve with using Wordpress as well.
From contributor I:
Good you have a start - a domain and a hosting co. It is just like building a fine custom cabinet, it take time, skill, and talent. Getting your album online is not difficult with your own site but remember your site may be the first and last impression so it needs to be good and professional, like you and your business. If you understand html, have a working knowledge of PHP and MySQL go for it. It took me several years of part time study and fooling around to get the skill sets I needed to really put up a good website.
