Well, that is until I let the site lag, then shut it down after costing me dedicated hosting fees when the traffic had dropped down below 20,000 unique visitors per month and wasn't producing any sales due to the face that I pulled the plug on the operation, more specifically the company managing the sales for me.
Sure, I was once in the retail 4X4 parts business. I ain't no more. Wanna hop aboard and sale automotive aftermarket and powersports parts on some sites? Hit me up. I have traffic and can easily get more. Straight commission deal we're talking.
Anyhow, that's not the aim of this post. While I was perusing a few sites this evening, after putting in nine hours on three clients sites I'm running, posting to Facebook, Twitter and Twitpic on behalf of those sites, I landed upon a photographer site, which hosted its photos on a Coppermine Photo Gallery software install. I once used Coppermine Photo Gallery on a site. It worked well and rewarded me with search engine optimization results that were worthy of leaving it be. And I liked how you can easily move a Coppermine Photo Gallery install between servers and domains, when cloning it. But my review of the photo gallery script is that it was far more difficult to administer than my beloved Gallery2. And my hopes of keeping the site relatively simple by running all my basic photo gallery requirements through JoomlaWorks K2 just wasn't cutting it.
Sure, Gallery 2 is a pain to migrate and clone between servers, directories and domains, but it is an SEO magnet and has an arsenal of modules, extending its already extensive capabilities. Add to that it is easy to administer and it's a deal. I'd prefer not going down the argument that modifying the themes or its code is a pain, but since I have fully tested the simplicity of Gallery3 and its improved performance and its ease of Gallery2 to Gallery3 migration, I'd gladly take a gamble with Gallery2 with hopes to upgrade to Gallery3 in the coming months.
This is why, after looking at a photographers websites this evening, I figured I'd jump in and tool around with one of the best hosted e-commerce photo gallery software applications on the planet. And it's free. Can't beat it. So, for the next few minutes, I'm working away at it and then heading to bed.
My thoughts are, since I'm integrating it into this Joomla content management system's framework, I may very well do the same for several client sites that need a targeted boost in website traffic. We'll be using Jfusion to do the deed of integration. The Jfusion bridge component is the go-to bridge component for most any standalone script that you're looking to perform a frameless integration into Joomla.
Anyhow, this may not be a well written blog, but it's an update. Now, it's off to complete the task of installing Gallery2. We'll likely hold off actual integration until after our return from capturing Mastercraft Seats SCORE San Felipe 250 photos down south in Baja. Which reminds me, I've also got to charge up and pack camera equipment prior to falling into a deep six hour slumber.
Oh. Did I mention I have a new found love for TweetDeck and CoTweet. Yep. I have since backed off Seesmic Desktop and used the combo exclusively for Facebook, Bit.ly, Twitter and TwitPic social media management.