Real Estate photography business/website

EDITED ON 2012-01-11 * WEBSITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION *

I recently started a Real Estate Photography business to help me pay for my photography gear. It has paid off quite good as it helped buy exactly what I wanted. But I would like to start advertising my services in other ways other than word of mouth (*which is been really good to me so far).

I have set up a website up, Wordpress blog type.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, any constructive criticism on anything in the website (photos etc.), layout.

www.joelguindon.com

*Yes, I will be adding other images of other types of photography that I want to add to my business but those are still in "starter mode".

I'm no pro, but your site for me took about 15-20 seconds to load. That's the main thing. Nice pics.

nccb wrote in post #13627546
I'm no pro, but your site for me took about 15-20 seconds to load. That's the main thing. Nice pics.

I noticed that but have no clue why it takes so long to load up. Thank you for stopping by

nccb wrote in post #13627546
I'm no pro, but your site for me took about 15-20 seconds to load. That's the main thing. Nice pics.

It looks like you only set up the A record on your domain, you also need to set up the CNAME to point to Smugmug.

Follow the instructions here.

Joe.Recon wrote in post #13625825
I recently started a Real Estate Photography business to help me pay for my photography gear. It has paid off quite good as it helped buy exactly what I wanted. But I would like to start advertising my services in other ways other than word of mouth (*which is been really good to me so far).

I have set up a website up, Wordpress blog type.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, any constructive criticism on anything in the website (photos etc.), layout.

www.joelguindon.com

*Yes, I will be adding other images of other types of photography that I want to add to my business but those are still in "starter mode".

Joe,

I started also a Photography website to market me to the real estate world.
And also use wordpress and a template from studiopress.com and signed up for a webinar how to....!
To make it more professional I found a young man, who is a student of computer technology and coding. At the moment it is still under his construction hands, but you can already look at it, because the site has two purposes. Beside the real estate I also use it for my hobby pictures. My site is called: http://www.LetPictures​Talk.com

nccb wrote in post #13627546
I'm no pro, but your site for me took about 15-20 seconds to load. That's the main thing. Nice pics.

Fixed it. It loads much faster now.

cheezerman wrote in post #13627811
It looks like you only set up the A record on your domain, you also need to set up the CNAME to point to Smugmug.

Follow the instructions here.

I quit smugmug. How did you know i was with SM ?

Ronny Geenen wrote in post #13627838
Joe,

I started also a Photography website to market me to the real estate world.
And also use wordpress and a template from studiopress.com and signed up for a webinar how to....!
To make it more professional I found a young man, who is a student of computer technology and coding. At the moment it is still under his construction hands, but you can already look at it, because the site has two purposes. Beside the real estate I also use it for my hobby pictures. My site is called: http://www.LetPictures​Talk.com

Ronny, thank you for the suggestion but I like to get my hands dirty in everything that will touch this business. So building this website from scratch is something that I want to tackle. I was able to fix my problem and the load-up time of my website went from 10-20 secs to 1-4 secs...that's good enough for me.

Do you have any pics of your R/E jobs you've done up to now ?

I'm not exactly sure... Glad it's fixed though.

cheezerman wrote in post #13627911
I'm not exactly sure...

Ha Ha ! Smugmug were good to me. I just like Wordpress better.

Took 18 seconds to load the first time for me. Loaded right away the second time. Seems like it's a problem for first time visitors. That could be a big problem if people don't wait for it to load.

KCMO Reefer wrote in post #13629959
Took 18 seconds to load the first time for me. Loaded right away the second time. Seems like it's a problem for first time visitors. That could be a big problem if people don't wait for it to load.

I agree and noticed that when I showed a friend of mine at work. Will have to look into that problem as I can't figure out why it takes so long to load.

Thanks for the input and for your time....the whole 18 seconds hehe

Joe.Recon wrote in post #13625825
I recently started a Real Estate Photography business to help me pay for my photography gear. It has paid off quite good as it helped buy exactly what I wanted. But I would like to start advertising my services in other ways other than word of mouth (*which is been really good to me so far).

I have set up a website up, Wordpress blog type.

Any suggestions would be appreciated, any constructive criticism on anything in the website (photos etc.), layout.

www.joelguindon.com

*Yes, I will be adding other images of other types of photography that I want to add to my business but those are still in "starter mode".

I am not able to open your wordpress site www.joelguindon.com and I got the message that it is under construction. I only saw the main page in black with white text.
I was told by a teacher who gave webinars how to work with wordpress not to disclose your email on a web, because spammers love your information.
Instead use the reverse system. Ask viewers for comments or information. To give you an idea what I mean, my web http://www.LetPictures​Talk.com has on all pages space for comments/information and others.

Here is some other information that I lately experience as a Realtor. I am an active member of several committees at the real estate board. Last November we had a photography class and a little over 80 people showed up.
Only one person had a dslr camera with a kit lens.
Our board allows for 35 pictures to upload into the MLS for each listing, but the average listed home does not have even 10 pictures.
We asked several questions to the attendee's, like.
1. When you take a picture of a home, do you keep your camera on auto or do you tried AV or manual. All use auto and nobody knows what AV is.
2. They all use for inside pictures the build in flash and have no idea the reach of it.
3. They all have no idea about wide angle.
4. Nearly all bought their little camera based on the number of pixels, because others have told them.
5. Nobody have ever heard about bracketing.
6. Nobody have ever heard about HDR.
7. The majority do not use any software to crop or reduce the size of a picture, because the MLS system does it on a auto bases during the upload procedure.

Knowing all the above, we, owners of DSLR bodies and a decent wide lens nearly always out perform a Realtor. We photographers only have to learn and listen to what people, who are shopping via the internet for a home or any other interest in property, expect from pictures on the net.
Several of my clients told me:
1. They want to have an idea how big the rooms are.
2. Like to know how the floorplan runs from room to room. We have to take wide angle pictures like from the front door showing living room/family room and kitchen, if possible. Or master bedroom and masterbath. Or the hall way and access to rooms. Or access to the garages.

I hope that will help you.

I am trying to buy a home right now, so we see all levels of photography (more often very poor). Here are some things I wish were available, and that really irritate me:
- Some sites offer "18 photos!", but there are many times repeats of the same (or nearly identical) views. OK, front of the house looks nice, but do you really need 5 shots of the front, taken 30 yards apart for each image?? Pick the best one or two, and move on. Ditto for some of the rooms or back yard. Shoot as many you need to tell the story of the home, but don't overkill.
- Often it is difficult to get a visual image of the floor plan. We try to piece together how the home is layed out from pictures with common furniture items showing in different views. I don't know why realtors don't make every effort to upload a reasonably good quality floor plan. The photographer could (with a little extra work/training) get a reasonable floor plan developed, and then place a numbered arrow on it corresponding to exatly on the floor plan's image where each photo was taken.
- Dark/light photos. This goes to lighting, and as a good photographer you will know how to fix this.
- Clutter everywhere. Leaves the impression that current residents didn't bother with routine chores, so how did they take the time to keep the house well maintained?
- Miscelaneous people in the pictures. Daughter draped over the couch with cookies and watching MTV (really . . . no kidding saw this on one realtor's site). Obvious problems here.
- TV on in the pictures. Mainly a distraction to the photo.
- Glare/reflections from flash, again as a good photographer you will know how to fix this.
- Some places with mirrors, it is difficult to not get the photographer in the mirror as the shot is taken. Distracting. Do some form of cloning, or take the shot with a tripod and delay timer.
- Every shot taken at eye-level. Experiment with waist-level camera placement. Makes the room appear better proportioned.

These are just some of my observations while searching for a home.

PS - Anyone know of a 2000 sq ft ranch home on 1-3 acres with workshop and in-ground pool near Macon Georgia?

golfecho wrote in post #13667001
- Often it is difficult to get a visual image of the floor plan. We try to piece together how the home is layed out from pictures with common furniture items showing in different views. I don't know why realtors don't make every effort to upload a reasonably good quality floor plan. The photographer could (with a little extra work/training) get a reasonable floor plan developed, and then place a numbered arrow on it corresponding to exatly on the floor plan's image where each photo was taken.

I'm glad to hear of a prospective buyer who'd like to see floorplans as I offer this service. It seems difficult to convince realtors that it is of importance. It is also necessary that every "after market" floorplan comes w/a disclaimer concerning accuracy or lack thereof. It's one of those darn legal things ya know - I think that scares realtors a little bit too.

My fav's to see in real estate photos, golfecho, are toilet lids/seats up, and cupboard doors open ... photos of a door in a blank interior wall ... photos that feature the current owner/tenant's furniture more than the home's high points ... reflections of themselves taking the photo ... do the realtors not notice this stuff in the homes they list and "show"?!

https://photography-on-the.net …ead.php?t=90297​3&page=279

You could learn a lot here.