Our site is optimized for search engines and is very content rich. Many operators would easily dominate the important search terms for organic listings after their first year. Previously, I purchased keywords but I don't anymore.

David: How many people do you have working on the site?

Kelly: Of course, it started with just me. I wanted to continue my state job for a few more years for benefit reasons so I found a subcontractor who also does wedding photography and owns a portrait studio. She takes the photos now. This lets me concentrate on marketing and billing, while she makes us look great. The Virtual Tour Machine office that I lease the software from has a number of support staff.

David: Here's a more general question. Doesn't pretty much anyone have a camera? How does someone distinguish themselves as a real estate photographer from a typical high school kid with a camera?

Kelly: The secret really is the Web site. It creates a bonus for the real estate agents and brokers that other photographers do not have. You are no longer just a photographer; you will own an important advertising media and the agents are buying advertising from you.

If you are any kind of a trained photographer using professional equipment, I'd expect your photos to be equal to or better than anything else anyone can offer. You are not only taking great photos, you are matching up buyers and sellers and driving these people to the agent. And all an agent has to do is call and say, "Go shoot this place."

David: Is building a real estate Web site a valid way to go out and make money?

Kelly: Yes, but not just any Web site will work. We have a tested system that has been proven in various markets. No one who has started has ever quit. A couple have sold their Web site and others have moved in and expanded the market but everyone who has started is still doing it. It's the future and it's growing.

Like I said previously, working full time in a mature market, we've seen operators gross over $200,000.00 in a year. As a part-time operator, we annual gross is more than most people make in salary in a year. That's going to depend on your rates and your coverage and penetration in the market and you. We're not in some big city with thousands of listings.

Get a Google Map of Carbondale, Illinois 62901 and you'll see we're in a middle of nowhere, nothing but empty coal mines and corn fields here. We've got some of the lowest property values in the country. We drive and shoot from Mt. Vernon, Illinois to Kentucky Lake. It's a huge area. But this model also works well in larger markets. HomeTourHQ near D.C. converted their existing business to a Virtual Tour Machine a little more than a year ago and haven't looked back. Property values in that area are astronomical in comparison and the business model works well.

David: What's the sales process like? Do you pitch to real estate agents?

Kelly: Mostly, it's face to face. Real estate agents are skilled sales people. You'll have to have the courage to go out and talk to them about what you'll be able to do for them. You can't mail a flyer or hang out an office sign and expect them to beat a path to your door. You have to build that relationship and over time you'll be like a partner in their sales team.