As I look forward to when I actually have my senior picture and real estate photogrpahy/ videography businesses up and running, I know that I will need to deliver images and videos on CD or DVD.
As I continue to work on my business plans for this, I remembered a posting from Jeffrey Zeldman way back in 2003. In it he made some quick comments about the Jewelboxing System from Coudal Partners. For Zeldman to link to something, well, that means it must be pretty darned good. And Coudal is well known as a creative powerhouse. But I had no need for their system in 2003. I wasn’t doing video. I wasn’t doing photography.
All of that, of course, is changing.
So I went back to their site the other day and ordered their sample kit. You get one DVD case (big rectangle, called a “King”) and one CD case (normal square thing, called “Standard”), and the enclosed discs have some additional information on them. They aren’t terribly inexpensive (Kings run at roughly $3 each, Standards at $2, when ordered in small quantities), but they are pretty cases. If such a thing could be considered pretty. But I do like them better than the standard bulk cases with the black backing. I am pretty confident that these are going to be part of my “system” once I get everything in place. You should check them out if you give CDs or DVDs to clients. You just might like them too.
Video For Real Estate
My experience so far with shooting video and putting it online is 7 indoor skydiving videos I put on YouTube – 4 of my son, 2 of me, and one of an instructor. I haven’t been impressed with YouTube quality at all. And while I have learned to do a couple of things via online video, by and large it feels more like a novelty than anything else. I can honestly say I haven’t made any purchase decisions based on video I have seen online.
But that isn’t true for everyone apparently. In another excellent post at Photography for Real Estate, Larry Lohrman talks about Fred Light in Nashua, New Hampshire. He has built a successful business producing videos for real estate. The best part is, he is willing to share his secrets for success with the rest of us (for a nominal fee of course). This might sound like an infomercial, but I don’t get anything for it. I am just a believer. So much so, that I haven’t even received my copy yet (just ordered it this morning). But based on the sample videos I have seen on his site, I think my $20 was well spent. I still don’t have my real estate photo business going yet, but this is another element I plan to add. I have the equipment and software, I just need to find some time to get the ball rolling.