We are currently living in a very strange world with the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe. Like lots of other photographers, I cannot interact with the public and have to find new ways to source income and keep busy. I decided towards the end of 2020 to review my current website provider and see if there were any alternative providers that may give my business a new look and the potential for online growth.Â
I began by looking at the options available such as Squarespace and SmugMug and during my research, I came across Pixpa, a company based in India. I read several reviews from photographers who had moved their sites to Pixpa and the positives they found ticked a lot of boxes for me. Their annual plan is similarly priced to my existing provider but the big positive is they do not charge any commission on self-fulfilled orders. As I print all my own work, this means I do not have to pay commission for images I print and ship myself. Currently I am being charged a 9.9% handling fee.
I signed up for the Pixpa 15 day free trial and began to put the site together. I immediately found the interface very intuitive, easy to navigate and the themes were exactly what I wanted on my site. I like a clean and uncluttered look and I am getting this with the layout I have chosen. At any stage during the process online help was available via chat and the response time was usually within minutes if not immediate. Any issues I had were resolved quickly and efficiently. On several occasions, the support person created a personalised video to answer my query which gave me step by step guidance. As I neared the end of the trial I had about 50% of the work completed and Pixpa contacted me and extended the trial for another 15 days to allow me complete the look I was after.
I have e-commerce galleries available for landscape and client prints and there is an option for an online store as well that I will look into during the year. I will be producing a calendar of landscape images for 2022 and it will be available through the store.Â
So here it is, the new website for 2021. I hope you like it and I would certainly appreciate any feedback, comments and criticisms that will help me improve the experience for visitors.Â
If anyone would like to build their own website using Pixpa, I have a referral link and a discount code for 10%. Â
The free trial is for 15 days and you don’t have to give any credit card details to access the trial.Â
The Exclusive Discount Code is kearneyimagespixpadc10
Disclaimer
For every person who signs up with Pixpa, they get a 10% discount when they use the code and I get a $25 credit on my account.Â