SmugMug: is it worth it?

[Smurph]

As per title, I´m looking at gettting a SmugMug Pro account and was wondering if anyone here uses it and finds it a worthwhile way of making sales/money.

[methd]

i use it.. i find it great.

sales is up to you and not really the site itself. printing is done over in america and so for that reason i dont offer printing. i use pro only for domain name linkage...

[the foto fanatic]

As per title, I´m looking at gettting a SmugMug Pro account and was wondering if anyone here uses it and finds it a worthwhile way of making sales/money.

I use Smugmug, and many others here do also. I use it purely as a place to store/show my images though. For instance, I have family galleries, which are not public, that my family all over the world can log onto to see the latest Christmas, wedding etc.

I also have public galleries for my general photographic work.

I have never sought to sell anything via Smugmug. I think RedBubble is probably geared better in terms of being able to sell prints and other items of your work.

[Geoff]

I too use Smugmug (new-ish user) for my personal/family/friends photos and find it really useful, easy to use. Go for it I say!

[Raskill]

Ifind it very useful. Rather than have to worry about setting up a website from scratch, you can totally modify smugmug galleries. There are some very good support forums. I have a 'power' account, which allows for significant amounts of modification.

My page is here

With a VERY basic knowledge of html you can do ok.

A 'professional' account lets you set your own prices, which is useful. I have purchased a few prints of my own images to see what the quality and time was like. The prints were very good and printed and delivered in about 7 days from the US.

[johnd]

I use the SmugMug Pro account. It enables you to set pricing of your images, customise how your site looks a lot, have your own domain name link to it, unlimited storage and a few more cool things. I've had stuff printed in U.S.A. and it get's here to Aus suprisingly quickly (less than a week from memory) and your customers don't have to leave their home to buy the prints, works with Visa etc as well. For me it's worth it. I've just paid my 2nd years fee.

Cheers
John

[devilla101]

I think smugmug (basic) is great for my use. I upload as many photos as I want without worrying about disk space and traffic usage thingy.

I've uploaded 200+ photos for client proofing.

The funny thing is clients and friends think I've designed the website cause they think its slick

I was about to go pro level but I figured I want my own website and link smugmug as a gallery page only.

Don't know much about printing and the quality but perhaps but maybe 'johnd' can shed some light on it

[Escapism]

Heres a handy tip....

I use the standard Smugmug account, which can still be highly modified to look the way you want.

I then went and purchased my own domain name from GoDaddy for $9.90 a year...EcoMuseImages

GoDaddy allows you to forward your domain name to another name (via a very easy user interface). So I simply pointed my domain name at my smugmug account.

http://www.EcoMuseImages.com

Simple, easy and cheap....oh and GoDaddy gives you 1 free email address for your domain name!!!!!!!!!

[Killakoala]

I use it too, mostly so i can point my domain name to it. I use Redbubble too.

http://www.stevekilburn.com

I have very little idea about HTML so it is useful to me.

[johnd]

Don't know much about printing and the quality but perhaps but maybe 'johnd' can shed some light on it

I printed off a 6X8 as a test of quality, time to deliver and how the print was packaged. It was on a matt finish. The quality was as good as you get in local labs. It got to me from US in about a week. I was impressed by the packaging. It had quite stiff cardboard around the print and suffered no damage in transit.

I don't use SmugMug printing for my own printing. I use a local lab for price and convenience. But I like the concept of Smugmug handling all the business side of it and crediting your account with money without any hassels.

Cheers
John

[Mal]

And I WAS a user (for three years), but decided that I could save some money and just use Googles Picasa as my storage / viewing place. It is no where near as nice as Smugmug but then again I am not using this for a business.

[whitey]

And I WAS a user (for three years), but decided that I could save some money and just use Googles Picasa as my storage / viewing place. It is no where near as nice as Smugmug but then again I am not using this for a business.

Yeah, me too. Gonna be a while before this is anything more than a hobby for me. High hopes but a few more years of learning to go yet.

[whoalse]

I just made Smuggy my choice less than a month ago after lingering around other services for a few years. I have found the interface to be useful and am possible to customise (advance account). Being able to customise, hide galleries and store unlimited photos are some of the key features that attracted me to it.

I don't think you'd regret going Smuggy.

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http://www.whoalse.com

[Wink]

I've signed up for a smugmug account based on the info in this thread.
It looks good and so far i've found it quite easy to use.
For me it's just for storage and showing friends and family my photos. I seriously doubt i'll ever be good enough to sell anything, but i'm enjoying myself and that's what it's all about.

All the sites posted above are really nice with some great shots!

[Hudo]

Hi,

We have been using smugmug now for approx. 5 or 6 years. It's a well priced service for you to have a gallery or private FTP site for clients. As for making money off it I'd say no. It's a good business model but USA foccused. We haven't found anything for that price point that's Oz based / foccused. The closest we have found that deals with E-commerce would cost you $80-$120.00 per month. Great if your business model was to sell prints from shooting weddings and or events.


Love to smugmug - Lightroom integration via a plugin makes it so quick and easy to upload images.

Hudo