If you’re just starting out in the wedding photography business, you might have a thousand questions. Website, blog, social media, picture galleries, wedding albums, proofing, domains, FTP, IMAP etc. etc. What the heck does it all mean and how does it work?? How can I put all this together?? I had the same questions when I started out. The best solution is like always: Ask someone. Ask a wedding photographer friend. You don’t have one? Well then, the first step is to go out and make some friends. Get in touch, connect and build a network. You will need it later.
My first friend in the wedding photography business was Richard Overtoom. Richard was kind enough to explain me where I could get a decent website, how a proofing service works and what album companies I should check out. I’m still thankful for his invaluable help. And we are still dear friends.
Pictured above: Hotel Schweizerhof at the border of Lake Lucerne. One of my favorite wedding venues in Switzerland.
One of the important things you will need for your photo business is webhosting. This means that you have to sign up with a company that is providing webservices for you. Typically you will need this paid webspace to store your data, means your website, blog, client downloads and your business emails (avoid to use a free email adress like @bluewin.ch, @gmx.ch for your business email). You can sign up for a monthly or annual contract and the prices usually vary depending on how much webspace (storage space on a webserver) you need. Don’t be fooled, you won’t need a lot of space (unless you want to do something crazy). I’m paying for a 25 GB subscription plan and am currently using less than 3 GB. And a big part of that is actually used for my mailbox.
There are many companies out there providing webhosting services. You can use a company that is based in Switzerland or anywhere in the world. Again, ask friends which company they are using, if they are happy with it and why. There’s one thing I want to point out though: some companies do limit the space you can allocate for your emails. Which can mean that even if you are only using 3% of the 25 GB you pay for, they will ask you to delete emails because your are “exeeding your limit”. This was the reason why after many years I changed my webhosting provider recently. Which was a pain to move everything and set it up from scratch again, but in the end it was really worth all the work. With my new company I can now decide myself how much webspace I want to allocate for my emails and how much I want to use for my website or blog. Which makes much more sense in my opinion.
I’m using the Swiss webhosting provider cyon now. They are based in Basel, Switzerland, are reliable, affordable and have a good reputation. And last but not least: they have fast and highly-qualified support representatives. And you will need them when you’re setting up your stuff, believe me. cyon was recommended to me by a couple of friends and I couldn’t be happier with my decision.
Have a good start!
Copyright 2014 Daniel Zihlmann, Hochzeitsfotograf