Using an external custom home page with Zenfolio
April 21st, 2009
This feature allows for better integration of a personal web site hosted elsewhere with a Zenfolio account.
A personal site usually displays a portfolio or blog including information about services offered, prices, contact information, and latest news. With this new feature, a Zenfolio account can be used more effectively as a back-end engine for hosting photos, for client proofing, order placement, and fulfillment. This feature is available on the Pro and Advanced Subscription levels. You can find it under Settings > Website > Home Page.
If you enable the External Home page feature, your personal web site will replace the default built-in Zenfolio Home page. All “Home” links from Zenfolio galleries, as well as your name on all the pages will link back to your personal site.
Let’s take a look at one example from Concept-A Photography. Concept-A Photography has a personal web site here: https://www.conceptaphoto.com. In the top navigation, visitors can click on the “Clients” menu item to be taken to the Zenfolio built-in Client Access page. Also take note that Concept-A Photography has set up a subdomain with their Zenfolio site so that the URL on all Zenfolio pages begin with “photos.conceptaphoto.com…” By directing their clients to the Zenfolio Built-In Client Access page, Concepta-A Photography’s clients view their galleries, enjoy the photos, and order prints and products. If you click “Concept-A Photography” or the “Home” site menu link at the top of any page, and you will return back to Concept-A Photography’s personal web site.
Concept-A Photography has created Friendly URLs for each gallery so that each gallery has it’s own unique Gallery ID. Clients can enter this Gallery ID into the Zenfolio Built-In Client Access page to be taken directly to their galleries.
With this feature, you can link the site menu item on your personal site directly to your built-in Client Access page. Alternatively, you can also organize your work by category, such as Weddings, Portraits, Sports, etc., by placing galleries for each category into a corresponding group, and linking these groups from your external web site. This gives you complete control over how your visitors navigate through your site. When you start editing the site menu item on your personal web site, just make sure you link the site menu item to the Zenfolio URL that you wish your clients to be directed to.
We are working on providing more choices for the Zenfolio Home page layouts, as well as customization options. The External Home Page feature is designed to work for those photographers who already have their own site and are looking to better integrate it with their Zenfolio account.
