First, I'm literally addicted to Google, so hear me out before you rush to judgement.

Here's the deal - Bing Maps rescued me twice to far this week, and it's only Tuesday. When I'm planning my daily travels out, I used to type in the listing's address into Google Maps, and if it wasn't listed, I would ask the agent for some more specific information about the location. Well, that got old pretty quickly - it's not because the specific address isn't listed, the entire street isn't listed on the map! So, I turned to Bing Maps - just to see if it was any more helpful - and boy was it ever.

I have no idea how either Google or Microsoft gets their mapping information, but I think Google needs to take a cue from Microsoft's playbook and update those streets. Thanks Bing Maps, keep up the good work. Google, you rock, just update those maps please.

Strictly Business is a blog by the ASMP, and they recently had an entry that caught my eye - it was asking the simple question, 'What is a Professional?'

Thomas Werner, the author of the entry, points out that maybe our opinions of ourselves are less important while the views of our clients are more important - they are employing you, after all. I hadn't really thought of it that way. It's a great point and shouldn't be overlooked.

Instead of boring you with my opinion (which I'm sure I'll talk about sometime on the podcast), I'll just link to the article. Check it out here. 

If you have questions, we have answers, suggestions, comments...or something along those lines. Larry Lorhman, the man behind PhotographyForRealEstate.net, and I will be starting an interview-style podcast, produced every few months, focused on answering your real estate photography questions (business, marketing, techniques, workflow, etc.).

What you'll do is follow this link and submit your questions. We'll review every question that comes in, and if selected, you'll join us for an audio recording session over Skype. Simple as that.

If you're interested, follow the link and submit those questions. We look forward to hearing from you.

This week's podcast was devoted to explaining the benefits of using a PogoPlug (plus a USB Hard Drive) as a server that would allow you to share photos with your clients - simple, easy, no learning curve, reliable, etc. The list goes on. Well, today my PogoPlug icon told me there was an update waiting, and guess what, this one brought the heat: Automated backups. Well, they all it 'Active Copy', but it's the same thing.

The three folders it offers by default are your pictures, music, and movies - although you are free to add any folder you want. This is a dream-come-true for someone who wants an additional level of backup and doesn't want to pay for a service like Carbonite. Don't get me wrong, I like Carbonite, but it's not for me, and it's also no their fault. The bottle-neck in off-site backup solutions is most often the ISP - they cap the maximum amount of data that can be uploaded per day. I found that I got about 3-4 GB/day uploaded successfully - not great seeing as how I added between 4-8 GB/day in photos. At that rate, I would never catch up. The PogoPlug backs-up through the LAN, so it doesn't need to go through the ISP, saving me from the same problem as off-site backup.

Keep up the good work CloudEngines.

If you're interested, check out the PogoPlug here.

Shooting on spec (on speculation) is a great way to get your foot in the door with any real estate agent and is often overlooked. What does shooting on spec mean anyway? It means that you're going to photograph a listing for an agent without the promise of being paid or contracted to do future work. Sounds like a bummer when it's phrased like that, but that's what it is - a calculated risk. Here's a more tangible example using specifics we can all relate to:

• Research a specific real estate agent and know their current (and past, if possible) listings
• Print out their listings straight from the MLS, most importantly, print out the photos of the property
• Schedule a meeting, make your pitch, explain your prices, then offer to shoot one of the many listings on spec
• If they like what they see, they can pay you for the photos
• If they really like what they see, they can hire you to shoot all of their listings
• You've likely just added a client and a good contact

By shooting an actual listing for an agent, you're combining your work with theirs and seeing if it's a good fit. The 'calculated risk' is a matter of time and energy, not money (if you already have equipment, that is). If the agent doesn't want the photos or your future services, the worst you've done is added to your portfolio and gained experience - not a loss in my book.

Here's how conversation usually went when I first began in photography:

Q: So what line of work are you in?
A: I'm a photographer.
Q: Oh really, what sort of photography?
A: Just about everything - real estate, weddings, portraits...Let me show you, do you have a computer? Oh, right, we're outside, of course you don't - I'll send you an email.

Argh. So what's the solution to this conundrum? The portable portfolio.

Do yourself a favor right now: Go out and buy an iPhone, iPod Touch, or some sort of Android device with a great screen.

Be Prepared:

If the conversation prompts someone wanting to see your work, you're ready. You don't have to ask them if they have a computer, you don't have to email them a link, you don't have to let the conversation dwindle - you can grab their attention immediately and make your pitch.

Update it Regularly:

Now that you have it, update it. Allocate 15 minutes each week to adding your new top picks, dropping your new low picks, and rearranging the rest. This will keep your portfolio fresh and reflect your best work to date.

Digital vs Print:

Nothing beats your work in print. The look, the feel, the smell, the sense of finality - it's unbeatable. It's also inconvenient, time-consuming, and expensive. The digital portfolio is all about instantly being able to showcase your work anywhere at anytime. It doesn't attempt to replace your printed portfolio, it supplements it for brief encounters.

So if you don't have a portable portfolio already, get one.

Photopreneur just released a great post that, I think, will really strike a chord with real estate photographers - check it out here. The tagline of the entire article is 'Get Big or Get Niche'. Five words that make a whole lot of sense, to me at least.

See, I've said it before - I think real estate photography is a niche market. Let me qualify that statement: I think real estate photography is a niche market today, I don't think it will be a niche market tomorrow (metaphorically speaking, of course). When someone says, "What do you do for a living" and your response generates a pause, followed by, "I didn't even know that job existed"- or when you're the only person in your area that fulfills the demand for real estate photography - you work in a niche market. Make sure to capitalize on your niche market - do your job well - treat your clients right - always follow-through. 

The tagline is great, but the article is even better.

Lifehacker, one of my favorite blogs to read, has a well-thought-out and well-written post on freelancing without quitting your job here.

The entry covers everything from announcing to the world that your available for hire, getting contract-work, pricing, and even talks about taxes. Here's a clip I really liked about pricing (a question I receive a great deal):
When you're just starting out, the tendency is to underprice yourself because you really want to score the contract and you're optimistic about the number of hours it'll take to complete. However, you'll forget to take into account things like taxes and time for administrative tasks. As you get more experience, you'll adjust your prices, learn how to read different types of clients and what their budget range will be, and have enough confidence to walk away from contracts that aren't worth taking. I'm much more likely to do interesting work for lower prices, but I'll only take on tedious stuff that's well-paid. When it's time to ask for the upper range, I use an unscientific method: I quote the highest rate I can while still keeping a straight face. 

It's just food for thought if you're thinking of making a move and want to make it gradually. Thanks to Gina Trapani, the author of the article, for the great Lifehacker post. 

Hey all - just wanted to let everyone know that new content has ended for the year. No more podcasts or blog entries until January as I'm on vacation (just finished a 19-hour drive yesterday) and I only have my netbook on me - plus, it's good to just spend some time with family.

What to expect in the 2010: a bunch of new content. Lots of podcasts, blog entries, interviews, and even some stuff that's still 'in the lab', so to speak. No spoilers here, just be prepared for some good original programming coming your way.

Happy new year everyone.

We've started a few threads titled 'delivery options', 'accounting options', and now we're introducting 'marketing materials'. This will be an ongoing topic dedicated to both tangible and intangible (online) means of marketing.

In today's day and age, our portfolio tends to live in the 'cloud' - online, that is. And guess what, it should be online for anyone, anywhere, to view it anytime. But guess what's also true? Showing your portfolio online during a face-to-face meeting is sort of clumsy. It could also be viewed as if you're underprepared, or even unprepared.

First up: the professional photo album. A custom-designed, top-of-the-line print-quality photo album is a signature in itself - it has 'professional' written all over it. With some labs, you can design each page in photoshop for your own customization, others will have you add photos to previously-created themes (which aren't half bad most of the time). 

One of the key factors when dealing with tangible marketing materials is to have your potential client leave with something in their hand - and if you're a photographer making a pitch, you'll want it to be more than just a business card. At first, it may seem like an expensive photo album would be the last thing you'd bring, seeing as the person/people you're talking to can't leave with it - but it's just the opposite. Leaving a professional photo album with a hopeful client allows you to arrange a follow-up meeting, setting you up for a second face-to-face visit when you come to pick it back up. Yes, it involves an element of trust - but if your album makes an impression, it might get passed around the office, making more impressions without you even being there. Give it try, see what happens.

You've probably already noticed, but we don't read online content the same way we read books; we scan when it's on a screen, we read when it's on a page. More specifically, we read in an 'F-Shaped Pattern' (See the images below for examples).

What in the world does the mean for Real Estate Photographers? Is means you need to consider this concept while building your website. Listen, the most critical audience of your website will not be your clients (so long as it functions and is quick), it's other photographers and web designers. I kid you not - most clients aren't interested in your amazingly-beautiful self-playing Flash slideshow that they have to teach themselves to use. In fact they would probably prefer a straight-forward, easy-to-understand design that lets them see your photos, then lets them get on with their day. I'll save the 'to use Flash, or not to use Flash' argument for another day - I just want to delve into the notion that your clients shouldn't have to learn how to navigate their way around your page - you should consider working your site into the 'F-Shaped Pattern'.

Put my theory to the test. Visit a handful of photographer's websites, explore their sites and go where your eyes naturally go. I'm willing to bet that your eyes will gravitate to certain elements and not others, and that some important things will go unnoticed. Ask yourself, 'at what point did I begin to lose interest in the website' and 'why was that'? Chances are, you weren't the first person to lose interest - and that's the last thing you want to happen on your page. Was it too overwhelming? Too confusing? Could you scan the page quickly?

Make it easy for your clients: accommodate to the way they're used to seeing content on a screen - keep it simple and work with the 'F-Shape' they already (unconsciously) enjoy.  

Hi all - I just finished shooting for the day and headed for the computer (as most of us do when we finish work, right?) I realized that I hadn't posted anything detailed about this shoot, so I think the above image captures it quite nicely. Those infinity-edge pools are spectacular - too bad it costs more than my house to construct.

Back to the norm next week.