Following my recent post, I had the welcome surprise of an email from FolioLink's Elizabeth Manegold encouraging me to test drive it. Since she had graciously already set me up with a trial account, I gladly jumped at the offer. Although she suggested that they guide me through the initial setup process as well as how to add audio, I decided that I would spend exactly one hour building a new gallery without any outside help at all, and see how much I could achieve. Having built my own website, I figured if I succeeded in building a working gallery within the self-alloted time frame, that it would be the acid test as to how functionally intuitive FolioLink is.
So without further ado, here's my trial "it-took-one-hour-only" FolioLink Dancing Monks of Prakhar gallery. The trial will last about 7 days, so the link might not work beyond next week...but for those TTP subscribers and those readers who log in regularly, it will give you an idea at how easy FolioLink is. I think that I could have spent another hour or two on my own, and significantly improved the presentation. I wasn't successful in adding an audio soundtrack, but Elizabeth would've guided me through the steps to do so with this particular template. To add audio to the other available templates appears to be a cinch, but I didn't try.
I was very impressed with the quantity and aesthetics of the available templates (both HTML and Flash), and by the quick upload of images. I had to try out the best resolution parameters for my photographs to display as I wanted them to...FolioLink has an option to auto size the photographs for you, but I chose to size them manually ending up with what you'll eventually see. I would say that it took me about 10 minutes to fiddle with the various controls/mechanics of the service, another 15 minutes to test the appropriate image sizes, and the rest of the hour was devoted to uploading them, and the text biography, and fine tuning the order of the photographs. I also tested the Wizard which makes tasks even simpler, and tested each available template that looked appropriate for my gallery. Some templates are only available to premium users.
Having gone through the exercise, I'm reasonably certain that most photographers interested in FolioLink will be able to construct wonderful galleries within a few hours, especially if they use the Wizard feature. Naturally, having telephone technical assistance will reduce the time expended, and would allow users to add audio and other effects. FolioLink offers the feature of e-cards (sending photo editors and clients postcards of the photographs) which is great idea, and I'm told that there's Google optimization as well. Its 'Turnkey' option allows a maximum of 60 images, multiple galleries (subject to the 60 images ceiling). There's a PayPal integration so that clients can directly buy prints off the site. I was disappointed in FolioLink's Help but found that I didn't really need it.
Bottom line: FolioLink is a wonderful service which will appeal to many photographers and artists...not only because of aesthetics but also because it allows the users to have total control over their web portfolios rather than ceding it to a web designer. However, the pricing structure for the Turnkey option is $239 a year with a one-time $149 set up fee, bringing the total first year payment to $388. On my "back-of-the-envelope" calculations, this translates to $6.50 per image for the first 12 months, and $3.98 per image thereafter (yes, FolioLink does not charge by the number of images, but that's how my brain is wired...so bear with me).
Provided that you want a professional 'wow' website with multiple galleries, and you prefer to maintain full control over it (at a much cheaper cost than hiring a web designer), then I have no second thoughts in recommending FolioLink. If however, you already have skills in web design/HTML/Flash, then you can probably go for the DIY route...as they say, if you want Flash and you have the cash, then FolioLink is a product that certainly merits your consideration.
