hi guys,

i know most of you have a bludomain designed website or have definately heard of them because of this forum, but what is the procedures, how do they work and what benefits are there of going to them rather than say buying a template from template monster and tweeking it?

whats the process you have to go through from purchase to finished product?

id appreciate the input! o and sorry its another bludomain thread!!

I haven't gone live just yet with mine, but the process has been great so far.

Once you purchase, they build your site and send you a link to it and to your control panel. You go into the control panel and edit your colors, music, text, and add photos for your splash page, home slideshow, and galleries. They have responded right away (with in minutes) of every question or problem I have had. I would highly recommend them at this point.

Laurie

The biggest benefit is you have a professional looking website with minimum time invested. They do all the grunt work for an amazingly low price. You end up with a "back end'" that allows you to administer the site with point and click simplicity. You get minor customization (color, text, etc) and complete content control.

I tried the template route, and quickly decided I had better things to do with my time (i.e. actually taking photos for clients) than to be trying to figure out how to do something that I had no clue how to do (or real desire to figure out). Plus, they're not as easy to administer once set up.

Some people have reported negative experience with Blu due to their rapid growth, but I have had good experience with them.

BluDomain and Big Folio are great compromises for a completelely unique and custom designed site that usually cost quite a bit more.

If you want one, just email them and they'll get back to you with specific instructions. Also, watch their blog for "specials." It could save you $$.

Good Luck!
Michael

Not.

80 percent of photographers' flash sites look pretty much the same to me. (Not saying that's a bad thing.)

I just went with them in December and LOVE it! It is so easy to update with the admin control panel. The only thing I regret is waiting so long to do it. They were also very quick with mine. I think it took maybe 1-2 weeks from start to finish.

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When I went to redesign my site this year I looked at it like this. For me to do a full redesign to the way I wanted it was going to take probably a good 200+ hours... so I thought if I payed myself $20/hr to do this work that would cost me $4000 worth of time, or I could spend the $800 and spend maybe 10 hours to set it up which would cost me $1000 total. Since going live I have booked 6 weddings for 2008, and finished filling my 2007 calander, so the $1000 investment has more then payed for itself and I couldn't be happier!!

I agree with Jules. I think that in a creative industry it is interesting that most photographers sites look alike. Originality is what is going to get you noticed.

As I've mentioned in other threads, we had our site 100% custom made. Sure we invested a couple hundred hours of time over a 3 month period and paid much more for it, but I haven't seen one out there like it, because its OURS! I will admit and agree, its not the best out there. But it is different. It communicates everything we want it to and if you have a incredible designer like mine who thinks ahead, he designed it so I can update or make changes to it as well. Change photos, thumbnails, add slideshows anytime I please.

Since we have gone live in Feb 07' we are recieving approx 1-2 new inquiries a week. Its has truly improved our business and I know it will easily pay for itself in less than a year.

I am not disregarding the fact that Blu Domain provides great looking sites and serivce for a fraction of the cost, but merely to say that we are all amazing photographers in our own way and we should take steps to invest in OUR business and make it your own, especially websites. You will see a return!