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Having recently got back into wildlife photography after a long spell away I decided that the way forward must be the addition of my own website. I had worked as freelance wildlife photographer and illustrator during the 90's however with the addition of a young family had to look at diversifying towards the graphic design industry to realistically look at earning a decent living. As any self-respecting wildlife photographer will tell you choosing it as a means of earning a living is very rarely as glamorous or as profitable as it's portrayed.

The challenge now was to acquire a website, with my own skills very much aimed at the offline design and print industry looking at doing it myself seemed daunting therefore I began looking around at getting a professional design agency to create something to my requirements. What I was looking for was simple, a resource I could point customers and potential photo agents and libraries towards that would give them a profile of myself and to show off a handful of my best images and previous commissions, just like an online brochure. Additionally though I also wanted to be able to sell a selection of my photos online as I display some of my photos in and around my local area of South Somerset and often get orders for them particularly during the height of the tourist season. The buying online bit seemed to be the sticking point and increased the quotes I got from professional design agencies by a substantial amount.

Due to this I decided that I would have a go at the project myself however before I had properly got stuck into it a colleague pointed me in the direction of a template website company called Liquidsites which he recommended was the way forward as it was specifically targeted at small businesses and individuals who are looking at a simple and cheap website solution. Additionally it had the benefit of an online shopping system built into it. Having looked at Liquidsites it became very obvious that it ticked every box I needed and more. With a unique 'reseller' option available I have also been able to earn '150 every time I refer a successful buyer to it. Within just one weekend I had been able to put together a professional looking website and three months on and with a little advice from Sitemakers.com a search engine optimisation company in Somerset I received over 50 photo orders over the Christmas period.