The new site is here!

The new site is finally here! For the better part of a year, I was not happy with my old site. To start, it was slow as a dog. The home page could take 30 seconds to load. That is crazy long for the “interweb.” I even tried to downsize some of the slide show photos to make the site faster, but with no luck.

So this post is about why I wanted a new site, what my requirements were, and how I went about doing it. Are you a photographer with no idea how to code? Do you know what SEO (Search Engine Optimization)  is, but have no clue how to make it work for you? This post just might help you out. So, let’s get to the meat of it.

Why a new site:

• As I mentioned, my old site was slooow
• The old site had some SEO features, but not nearly enough. At best, I could set the page title and the keywords for each page
• The old site had a rigid portfolio and image system. I had no choice but to use certain photo aspect ratios and forget video
• Flash sites are so 2002
• Expensive: I was paying $15/month for a template system that was slow and did not have the tools I wanted
• No integrated blog features

In the end, a slow site with poor SEO features is an anchor. So, it was time for a change.

My criteria for a new site were not simple. I actually had some very tough, but very specific things I had to have. Here is how they break down:

• Fast, Fast, FAST! This is a must for any site
• I don’t want to code. Yet, the site must still be flexible, easy to customize, and easy to administrate
• Must allow for many multimedia choice including photos, videos, slide shows, Flash content, and audio
• Cannot be restrictive about file format or image aspect ratio
• SEO-friendly: allow me to control the page title, description, keywords, URL structure, and be designed in modern HTML/CSS. Search engine like new code and do not like Flash very much
• Be relatively inexpensive. Less than my prior service preferred
• Integration with blogs and social media would be best
• Integration with PhotoShelter would be good

That is a pretty serious list. How many platforms do you know that meet those criteria. Up until the start of the fall, none. Just as I was getting completely frustrated with my old site, PhotoShelter announced integration with Graph Paper Press (GPP), a maker of Word Press themes.

Word Press is best described as a blog platform. However, it has additional features that make it easier to create an entire site. You might call it a personal publishing platform. Many different companies make “Themes” (or skins) for Word Press, and Graph Paper Press is one. GPP partnered with PhotoShelter to create a new themes that would allow for direct integration.

While the integration could be a bit better, here is what you get:

• A Word Press platform that allows for blog entries, comments, custom pages, categories, and many other “publishing” features
• Word Press is open source and has a huge community behind it. This means software updates are constantly being released
• GPP themes are designed for photographers and multimedia. I can use any media type, format, and aspect ratio I choose
• Very SEO-friendly – I can set the page titles, URL format, keywords, descriptions and more.
• Modern code base – the code is written in an HTML format that is most friendly to search engines
• FAST it is
• Very inexpensive – the hosting is cheap because everyone supports Word Press. The license for GPP is also cheap
• Word Press is a blog platform, so I don’t need to worry about blog integration. The whole site is a blog
• PhotoShelter integration allows me to pull photos, side shows and searches from my PhotoShelter account

So far, the only issues are with the PhotoShelter integration. However, it is new and not a big requirement for me. I can always upload media directly to this site.

The improved SEO is what I am really looking forward to. Since my blog and my site are now integrated, keywords from the blog should help my portfolio site. In the past, I could write an article about wedding photography or Cleveland and garner some SEO points for the blog. However, that “win” did not translate to my portfolio site. Search engines and users would first have to find the blog, and then my portfolio. Now, they are one in the same.

How to set it up:

• Go to Word Press and find a host you like
• Sign up with the host
• Install Word Press using the tools provided by your chosen host. Mine had a one-click install
• Join Graph Paper Press and download a theme
• Upload the theme to the Word Press themes directory of your site
• Use the built in Word Press admin console to easily configure your site
• Drink a beer, your done with the hard part!

For more information on PhotoShelter, Word Press, and Graph Paper Press, please see the links above.

See y'all soon,
Hunter

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 6:25 pm. It is filed under all blog, business and tagged with business, marketing, new site, promotion, SEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.