I am a 21 year old female and an amateur photographer trying to make a career in Photography. I have a blog on blogger where I've been posting my work and whatnot. Now is time to jump to the next step and have my own website. The problem is WHERE DO I GO? HOW DO I START?

I've heard of 1&1, dripbook, and others. But I can have a thousand of the best options in front of me and still need advice. I've read the terms DOMAIN and HOST but I have not idea what that means, nor the difference of each. Please do not assume that I do know web-design-terminology-and-things :( .

WHAT I WOULD LIKE: a "simple" minimalistic white design where I can show my photos in a medium-big size. Something like these:

Southern California Professional Photographer Southern CA Wedding Photography Fine Art Wedding Photography (http://www.josevillaphoto.com)
Sarah Rhoads Photographers (http://www.sarahrhoadsphoto.com/index2.php?ver=v1)
Amelia Lyon (http://www.amelialyon.com/)
Duston Todd Photography (http://www.dustontodd.com/)

I know and many tell me that the best thing to do is to actually walk in to a web design business (or web designer) and let them know what I need/want/like. But I do not why, I don't feel like doing that.

PLEASE HELP!

have my own website...WHERE DO I GO? HOW DO I START?

The first question to ask yourself is "How much of the creation of the website and underlying technology am I willing to do myself and/or learn?" If the answer is "not much", contracting with a web design firm is your best bet. The sites you offered as examples appear to be professionally done or else created by photographers with moderate to advanced web skills.


I've read the terms DOMAIN and HOST but I have not idea what that means, nor the difference of each.

I'll attempt to 'xplain it. A web site in its simplest form consists of nothing more than a computer (web server, also known as a host) attached to the public Internet that people can connect to with their web browser and view content available on the server. Unfortunately, the Internet is a hostile place for computers and a computer that has not been configured correctly (hardened) will quickly be comprised and no longer under the control of the computer's owner. Consequently, hosting came into being so that web site operators did not have to be security and computer experts to maintain their web site. Hosting companies provide the web server and its management, and then "rent" space on their server for your website and others, as well as the network capacity (bandwidth) to serve all the people that will be visiting your site.

A domain is a name - like askmehelpdesk.com that people use to a reach a web site. Computers communicate via Internet Protocol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_protocol) addresses which are not people friendly. The Domain Name System (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System) (DNS) was developed so that people would not have to remember a number like 67.225.199.74 to reach a website. When a website is created, a domain name (such as yourfabulousphotos.com) is registered with a Domain Name Registrar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_registrar). This newly registered domain name is linked to the Domain Name Servers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_server) (more computers) also operated and maintained by the web site owner.

Once the domain name is registered, the domain name servers built and configured, the web server built and configured, webserver software such as Apache (www.apache.org) or Microsoft IIS (http://www.iis.net/) installed and configured, network bandwidth to the web server provisioned and installed, and the web server connected to the Internet, the web site owner is free to begin constructing their web site. A web site can be constructed with a text editor such as Windows Notepad and knowledge of HTML, but complex sites are usually constructed with a framework or environment such as Adobe Coldfusion (http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/) or others.

If you want to create your own site, I'd suggest getting your feet wet by obtaining a low cost hosting package from a comprehensive registrar such as 1&1 (http://www.1and1.com) and learning HTML (http://www.w3schools.com/htmL/). They will provide domain name registration of your choice, a web server to place your site on, and setup DNS so people can reach your site. You then would create the site's content and transmit it to the site, typically via FTP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_Transfer_Protocol). At minimum, going through this process should provide ample motivation for you to consult a web designer in order to have a web site similar to those that you offered as examples.

Thank you for your time Scleros.

If I get the hosting in 1&1, for example, and later on I decide to go somewhere else and that I don't want nothing from 1&1, am I going to be able to ride off 1&1 and register same domain name?

I have some basic to medium (I believe) HTML knowledge. I've learned a lot "designing" myspace profiles and playing around with my blogspot.

am I gonna be able to ride off of 1&1 and register same domain name?

That's a good question. Conceivably an unscrupulous registrar or domain reseller could register your domain in their own name and extort a large fee to give it back to you. The registration information is public data, and in fact, some registrars offer a "private registration" option and will register the domain in their name on your behalf to help hide your personal data. Supplying a PO box address and a generic email address instead of your personal email address can help in this regard. However, done properly, the domain name registration is a one time affair and registered to you and is yours as long as you pay the renewal fees every year. Since you won't be running your own domain name servers, the domain has to be "parked" somewhere - the hosting provider. If you later change hosting providers, the domain simply moves and gets parked at the new hosting provider. You should be listed as the registrant and also probably the administrative and billing contacts in the domain registration and the hosting provider will be listed as the technical contact with their name servers listed as responsible for the domain. The hosting providers normally take care of the nitty gritty of updating the DNS records when the name servers responsible for your domain change. The domain is independent of web site or email hosting. You could register a domain name now, park it somewhere for a low fee, and obtain web site hosting at a later date.

Thank you much Scleros!

You're welcome. I'll also note I wasn't endorsing 1&1. There are beaucoup registrars and hosting providers out there.

I won't suggest you to go for 1&1 host. Nyways, having a "simple" minimalistic white design requires you to have a little knowledge of html only. All host supports html file so its not big deal for you.
As far as domain name is concerned, if you looking forward to earn from your website, then have it a bit catchy and short.

Anyway, what's stats of your current blog. I mean how many visitors visits your site per day. Are you going to sell pics online. This will help me understand your needs and requirement.

My plan is not to sell pictures in my website. Just as the examples I provided, my goal is to show the work I do... just like a portfolio, and have my contact info. That's it.

Well, I haven't promoted my blog except from my myspace, so the daily number of visitors go from 0-10 probably... that's why I'm looking forward creating my website!

Ok so you want to own a portfolio site. That's great. Generally, portfolio sites don't receive traffic more than 100 per day. So you can go with any host offering web space above 200mb and bandwidth 1gb per month.
You may go for free host in that case. Just make sure it don't force adds and provide one email if you would like to have contact page.

Thank you Libran! :)

I have an artist's site through Google. It's free and REALLY simple to set up. Most of the coding is done for you. It also allows you to choose a domain name and set it up, basically, how you want. You can go look at min, if you want. The link is in my signature.

Here's the link to the main page if you want to set one up. If you have a gmail or Google account then you've already done half the work.

https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?continue=http%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.co m%2F%3Fhl%3Den%26tab%3Dw3&service=jotspot&passive=true&ul=1

I would setup a CMS that allows for themes and widgets. I have something similar I needed done. I used Graffiti CMS which I find is very easy to use. The install package was one folder full of files and was easy to install on my host site. If you don't know how to install packages or stuff like that I recommend you use Server Intellect as a host they can install the packages for you. Then you can code your themes or drops themes in place. It very simple to use I love it for my pictures.