Virtual Tour Software ~ Virtual Tour Company

A Walk Around Spokane Washington

2009-11-08T16:14:00.003-05:00

Hello to my fellow RTV virtual tour providers out there shooting virtual tours all over the World. Here it is and another week ends and it is time for the next installment of the Digital Showcase blog. Well, I think today that I will simply take my camera and one speedlite and take a very long hike around my hometown of Spokane Washington.

There are actually quite a few things that you can shoot simply by walking around your own hometown and trying to fill up your digital card with local shots. When I'm not out shooting Spokane virtual tours, I enjoy just sitting on a bus bench and watching people. It has always amazed me what you can capture by just people watching. I always end up with some really natural shots to add to my gallery and have a rather large database because of it.

Another favorite subject of mine is shooting old time billboards, you know the kind that they used to paint on the sides of old downtown brick buildings. My old time collection has become rather extensive and includes advertisements for five cent cigars, old Indian head stout as well as Coca Cola and other products and services from the early 1900's. I have always enjoyed working in the local urban landscape. There of course many many different things you can shoot in the city. I can go an entire day and shoot nothing but hobos. (got some real interesting ones there) Has anyone started shooting city virtual tours to give to local real estate agents?

Here out West, we have some very creative business owners and a seemingly endless supply of commercial material to shoot. One day I keyed on animals and their masters against the backdrop of the city. Got some real award winners there. After a long walk and hundreds of shots to add to my collection it is always nice to come home to my studio and take those shots to the next level with Photoshop.

As most of you know, there is an endless range of possibilities you can apply to your photos with that image editing software. I like to take my best shots and turn them into works of art and have sold them in various events and craft fairs all over eastern Washington state.

You can actually end up with a tidy sum after a long day of selling my creations both by myself or through other friends that have booths set up at the various craft fairs all over the Pacific Northwest. If you have not yet taken advantage of the Photoshop resource, perhaps it is time you gave it a shot. I did and once I got started, I never looked back. Until next time, good luck setting up your local virtual tour company. Please be sure to visit my site for the latest in Spokane virtual tours!

Steve Stephens
www.digitalshowcasevr.com
Spokane Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour - 509 868-4043

New Marketing Pieces From RTV

2009-11-05T11:43:00.006-05:00

Childcare facilities are an often over looked component of today's economy. Parents who work, typically spend a great deal of time researching and choosing the daycare facility that meets their unique needs. This type of business is a great example of a company that truly benefits from a virtual tour. As you can imagine, having potential customers stopping by during business hours not only would be disruptive to the program but could potentially be unsafe. Virtual tours for a childcare facility allow prospective families to really see the physical environment and then schedule an in person tour.

If you haven't contacted or become familiar with your local Chamber of Commerce then you need to get going. The Chamber is a wealth of connections for a community and potentially an organization that could offer your virtual tours as a part of their membership packages. You might consider doing a free virtual tour for a community so they can see first hand how amazing they really are.

The New Angle postcard is a touch more casual and brings the idea that point and shoot cameras do not take professional photographs. It urges potential customers to use your services for all of their professional photography needs. This postcard can use the basic postcard backside.

Not Everyone is a Photographer! That really says it all. People like to think they can take a good picture and really, most likely they can when it come to family vacation pictures. When it comes to advertising or selling, there isn't a replacement for the skills a professional photographer has. This postcard highlights what unique things you can and will do for a client. This postcard can also use the basic postcard backside.

As always, all of the RTV marketing pieces are easily customizable and typically just require you to insert your specific company information and a logo. We do recommend using Vistaprint for postcard printing and other printing needs. They seem to have fast service and extremely great rates. Take a moment to read the text though and make sure your company can deliver the services delineated. If you can't or don't know how to provide a service such a birds eye view shots or nighttime stills contact us and we can set you in the right direction. If you have an idea for a piece, have suggestions, or want to see something in the next few months send me an e-mail. Best wishes, Jill K. Sill Jill(at)realtourvision.com

Thanks and have a great day!!
RTV Marketing Center
http://www.realtourvision.com

Interactive Floor Plans Draw Record Crowd

2009-11-04T11:02:00.005-05:00

Last night's RTV webinar The FORMULA 16 drew a record crowd as Jason LaVanture and co host Steve Street unleashed the new RTV Interactive Floor Plan System. Over 200 people attended the live show and excitement reached an all time high when Steve offered up four "full service" or sketch and fax plans to all those who attended last nights webinar.

Here are just a few comments from last night's event:

Great webinar! Amazing technology!
-Dale Hart

Hey between the new RTV High Definition virtual tour and the new interactive floor plan technology my head was just spinning!!! Thanks RTV for keeping your technology on the move. I'm geared up to knock out 400 tours this year and the new floor plan system will help me take on even more. You guys ROCK!!
-Cynthia Morris

Floor Plan webinar last night was technically excellent. It was very clear, precise interactive demonstration. Thanks for inviting.
- Raju Alagawadi

Wonderful Webinar.... Thanks so much and please thank Steve! Between the RTV Txt Connect program and now the new floor plans, this is awesome! Thanks again for all this amazing technology and keeping us out in front of the competition. Best Wishes....
-Patty

Absolutely FANTASTIC Webinar!!!
-Francis

The webinar was interesting. We are looking forward to incorporating them into our model. Steve answered the question and it is great that they can link to a video. I'm looking forward to getting into the marketing material that you provide and using to move our business forward. Thanks again, we are glad that we have bought into your company. If you are ever in Maui, look us up.
- John Henry

A very big thanks to everyone out there that came to our show last night. Steve and I have worked out some KILLER pricing for the RTV Interactive Floor Plan system. Please visit
http://www.icovia.com/rtv/ for our new pricing packages. Hey thanks again and be sure to keep an eye out for our next show "FORMULA 17 Setting up Shop"

Best regards,

Team RTV

PS. Don't forget that the RTV TxT Connect program expires at the end of this month so sign up now when you have a chance inside of your TMS!

RealTourVision.com
Interactive 2d Floor Plans

SUV-Limousine Virtual Tour

2009-11-03T12:47:00.003-05:00

If you ever need a stretch limousine in Evansville Indiana be sure to visit SUV-Limousine. Here is a virtual tour of each SUV-Limousine limo : http://rtvpix.com/BU-9156-C4NGJI-01

They have five different limousines in different styles from "elegant" to "party time". SUV-Limousine is the premier limo company in Evansville Indiana and surrounding areas. Their website is www.suv-limo.com.

Customtours360, the only virtual tour provider and photographer in Evansville Indiana, is honored that SUV-Limousine chose us to do their virtual tour and photography work for their company website.

Customtours360 is a proud dealer in the Real Tour Vision family of dealers and has been providing virtual tours and website photography in the Evansville Indiana area for over two years.

Brad Hahn
CustomTours360
www.customtours360.com
Evansville Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour today! 812-550-5321

Hot Springs Village Customers SEE Results

2009-11-02T12:24:00.003-05:00

Challenging Designs Inc. is proud to announce “CDI’s S.E.E. Results Package”. S.E.E. stands for “Search Exposure Engine”. And that is what it you do, SEE Results. I was very excited when I attended our bi-weekly seminar online with Jason LaVanture of Real Tour Visions last night. After 2 hours packed with information and 7 pages of notes, I was ready to start putting his teaching to work. I have heard about Exposure Engines and I knew I was going to offer it, but I really wasn’t sure what it was or how I was going to accomplish it. Well, I am a total believer in Jason and RTV!!!

First he gives us a wonderful and free software to make the videos then takes us through the process – twice. Now, I know I made mistakes, but after a couple of hours figuring out the quickest way of choosing the photos, making a title page for one client (my guinea pig), and a finale’ page for my company, then going through the all the options, I was hooked! I made the video, uploaded it to YouTube, went into Postlets, etc. Well, at the end, I emailed my client the e-flyer, pdf version of the flyer, the link to YouTube and let him know it was posted to Craigslist, Google, etc. I checked the numbers on his RTV Tour and then I went to bed.

This morning, first thing, I get an email from my client telling me how much he LOVED the video and the e-flyer. So I gave it a day and this evening I checked the numbers through his report. I was bowled over! I am definitely making a “checklist” so I can do this as quickly as Jason (I can only hope).

CDI's S.E.E.TM Results Package brought almost 20% as many hits in one night just doing the standard (with a few special tweaks) has done in 2 months! The client is thrilled, the seller will be thrilled and so are we.

Jason, thank you. You did it again. You gave me a wonderful product that can help all the Realtors here, if they come to me, of course. Everyone needs to learn how to do this. We just took a giant LEAP in our climb to be the VERY BEST Hot Springs Village virtual tour company!

Donna Haagenson
Hot Springs Virtual Tours
www.challenging.us
Order a Little Rock Virtual Tour: 501-922-8009

What RTV Dealers Say About Our Marketing

2009-11-01T03:32:00.000-05:00

"Thanks for all your kicking marketing expertise. It has really improved my rankings and put my business on the map... Type in virtual tours [town] and I’m there - BAM!... Still need to get my website up toward the top in the left. Only see the active rain blog there. Very pleased with what you have taught us. Anyway just a little success story for you. Now it is time to put the inner circle material into action and start marketing."

"I really appreciate all the very good information and tips that are available on Real Tour Vision's blog and on Active Rain. I have already put some of it to use. It has been hard to find time to do the actual blogging: 1) I write pieces that are too long and take me too much time; 2) Business has been brisk with tours and virtual assistance. I hope to catch up this week! Thanks for all you are doing!"

"I got a call from a major healthcare marketing firm here that wants to partner with me to do tours for the companies that they represent, like assisted living centers, nursing homes, etc. And, guess how they found me, yep, GOOGLE. So my ranking is definitely being impacted by our group."

"Just wanted to give you a quick update. First, I love your assignments – they are very clear and are pushing me to spend more time blogging which I never really did before to any extent. One of the things I would like to get out of this at the end is self reliance. In other words, I am not sure at this point how to prioritize activities to get the most bang for the buck if you will. I am hoping your summary doc that comes at the end will help with that. You are definitely making me aware of all the things I don’t know!!! LOL"

"We are doing fine. I like active rain. I have noticed that our blogs are at the top of Google. Our website seems to come and go on Google. Maybe I need to be linking to more specific articles on our website. Having a little trouble coming up with something new to blog about each week. But, loved the webinar and we are very excited to be learning about SEO."

Thank you all for making the RTV marketing team best in show!
RTV Marketing
RTV Virtual Tours

Turn up the Volume!

2009-10-30T08:29:00.000-05:00

There have been a lot of changes in the last few years to our country, and to each of us individually. Myself, I received my real estate license, became a RTV dealer, got married, and quit making virtual tours to move across country. During this time, I had the opportunity to look at a lot of houses trying to find one for my family. Having been both an RTV dealer and a Realtor®, I was in the unique position of seeing marketing from both sides of the fence.

Because I had to find a house, or at least some good candidates before I moved, I found myself looking at houses on the Internet from 1500 miles away! I saw everything from ads that had 1-20 still pictures, slide shows, bad “virtual” tours, to excellent virtual tours. You know what happened to the homes that had one picture – they were dumped without even reading the description. Bad virtual tours made me angry, while good virtual tours were a delight. When I say “bad” virtual tours, I’m thinking of the many agents across the country who have begun using a do-it-yourself company (you know who they are).

The agent buys the software, pays a monthly fee, then makes as many tours as they want. Many brokers have even been persuaded to buy this program as an added benefit for their agents. This company has a very good product which is easy for the novice to use, but what the agent and broker forgot to figure in was the fact that it’s only as good as the photographer and the person stitching the tour. Consequently, the compiler either doesn’t receive good enough training (you hardly ever see a 360 tour), or they didn’t pay attention to training. So, their virtual tour is nothing more than a slide show.

In many cases the picture quality makes it a not so good slide show. Imagine my chagrin as I looked for houses, clicked on a virtual tour button, only to find a slide show showing the same 6 still pictures I just looked at, only now they’re moving in and out, or bouncing back and forth with music! As a home buyer, this made me angry more than anything. I felt like I’d been taken because I wasted my time waiting for the tour to load on my computer and got no added value.

Now that I’m semi-settled, I’m preparing to start my Montgomery virtual tour business. I plan to open my doors on October 25, 2009. The name of my new company will be www.iHomeEvents.com. I chose this name because I think of technology as living the future now. One day I was reading a very popular book about time travel. I thought when you’re many miles away, and you want to see a home immediately, you wish you could time travel.

I noted that when scientist speak of time travel, they use the word EVENT to mean a point in space-time; that is, a location in space at a specific moment of time. While technology can't offer us time travel, as a RTV dealer, I can offer my clients the ability to let their clients “time and place shift” to a specific home. They can walk through a property regardless of what continent they're on, or what time it might be. In other words, a client can shift to anywhere in the world to see a virtual tour of a home at a certain point in time that they choose.

A smart agent will allow their client to view homes at their convenience - WHEN they want and WHERE they want. Technology now allows us to be able to look from most anywhere: at home, at the office, at the beach, in the mountains, on an airplane – anywhere we can take a smart phone or iPod – it’s the client’s choice! Therefore, I’ve used the “i” to represent technology, and then I go to work to create a “HomeEvent” for my clients.

A true, quality virtual tour is obviously the best way to showcase a home other than being there in person. If an agent really wants to sell, now is not the time to forget about marketing. According to Gary S. Shamis, CPA, managing director of Cleveland-based SS&G Financial Services and a member of The Advisory Board:

“. . . knowing that you will be losing revenue and business, aren't you justified in reducing your marketing efforts? On the contrary - this is the time to "turn up the volume" and increase all aspects of your marketing.

“If you are the firm in your region to up the marketing ante, and your competition is hiding in a cave or under a rock, what could be better? Your firm is turning up the volume, and your competition is turning off the radio.” (See the rest of Gary’s article at http://www.webcpa.com/news/Turn-Volume-Marketing-51463-1.html)

We must help our clients understand that even though the economy is bad, turning up the volume and the quality, while others turn the radio off will not only help put them in the forefront now, but will start them at the top of the heap when the economy turns around. It will be their marketing through bad times that gets their names remembered by prospective clients when the good days return.

Jean Bryson
Montgomery Virtual Tours
iHomeEvents.com

The Heartland Property Tours Exposure Engine

2009-10-29T12:00:00.003-05:00

Heartland Property Tours is a Central Illinois virtual tour provider now offering a truly amazing extended service to our customers called "The Exposure Engine"

The Heartland Property Tours Exposure Engine sends your listing and interactive 360 virtual tour to more than 15 websites so your listing can get the MAXIMUM exposure possible. And if you include with your purchase the Submission to Realtor.com your tour will be pushed to nearly 100 sites in all!!!!

With our Exposure Engine your listings will get more views because your listing is on more websites and the Exposure Engine creates back links to your listings and website. What that means is that if any potential buyer would search by agent name or listing address the properties run through our Exposure Engine will return in the search engine results page. Everybody likes a little google juice with their virtual tours!

But that's not all. Included in the New 2010 Exposure Engine is a new Smart Phone Tour and E-Flyer!! Are you putting all of your listings on YouTube? Well don't worry because we are doing that for you. Our Smart Phone Tour allows agents to carry with them at all times their virtual tours on their cell phones for instant viewing. You never know when you may come across a potential buyer.

The E-Flyer is an HTML email-ready flyer that agents can easily send out to potential buyers.

Look us up online today. Heartland Property Tours is ready to take your listings to the next level.

Michael Robinson
Heartland Property Tours
www.heartlandpropertytours.com
Central Illinois Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour : 815-549-6844

It Takes Money to Make Money

2009-10-28T08:39:00.000-05:00

The last thing on my mind when Real Estate on Nova Scotia’s South Shore (my magazine) lost 30% of it’s revenue last fall, was investing money. Anywhere.

In an economic climate where survival of small business is at stake, how should I plan my spending? We are in the middle of a recession, but as a business owner I have one step up on those that are employed by others... I am in control of my destiny. If I truly want to maintain a thriving business I needed to invest in my business. The saying “build it and they will come” is simply not true of business.

In business it is so important that you maintain a “leg up” on the competition. It surprises me that many people fail to grasp this concept. When you consider the revenue cost of losing customers, or the acquisition cost of replacing them, you can make a very strong return on investment case for the appropriate use of limited resources.

It was time to be proactive. And broaden the scope of the marketing services I offered my Realtors. As I considered that 84% of home buyers and 87% of first time buyers use the internet as an information resource during their search for a home (in the 25-44 age group this number jumped to 91%) I concluded, that a compelling use of virtual tour technology would keep visitors on their site, and would also keep them coming back.

I chose to invest and become a full service dealer with RTV (Real Tour Vision). The largest full service virtual tour and property marketing network in the world. Simply put, they had the best virtual tour software, property marketing training and support.

By having a virtual tour, you are effectively demonstrating to your clients that you are not only at the top of your game, but you will serve them best by employing unique and “out of the box” solutions to meet their problems and most importantly, expectations and needs.

The competition is fierce, and so are you. Come out on top, every time - your clients don’t want to settle for less, why should you?

Virtual tours not only appeal to the local market, but to the international market as well. Increase your level of service, Supernova Studios virtual tours integrate easily into any website.

Order your Nova Scotia Virtual Tour Today.
www.supernovastudios.ca

How's Your RTV Virtual Tour?

2009-10-27T16:52:00.001-05:00

Dear RTV,

We recently purchased a virtual tour from Florida Eye Tours. Chris Grumley really did an outstanding job! He was able to capture the unique features of the property far better than any still photos could do. When he added the graphics and the music, the result was nothing short of spectacular! I don’t impress easily, but I was completely blown away by the virtual tour he produced. We got so many compliments on the virtual tour. Our rental inquiries have more than doubled. Thanks for having a great product. You have my highest recommendation."

Best Regards,
Mike Fischer

The Benefits of Entrepreneurship

2009-10-26T10:35:00.005-05:00

The economic changes seem to be effecting everyone I know, but the good news is that my Denver Virtual Tour and Architectural photography company, Denver Image Productions is off and running with great successes!

I started my virtual tour business just a few months ago after being laid off myself from a International Real Estate company that was not able to keep on the staff due to the poor economy and lack of sales. After much thought and consideration on whether to stay in real estate or not, I decided to do the next best thing…stay in real estate in a different avenue and also something that I really love – architectural photography and virtual tours.

After a LOT of research and discovery, I found Real Tour Vision. The reason I chose RTV was that I recognized the advantage of owning your own virtual tour company vs simply working for one such as the Obeo or Circlepix business model is. Although, I may have had a smaller startup and would have been busier in the beginning of this process, the benefits of owning my own company, making my own rules, setting my own pricing far outweigh any benefits of working for somone. The key with RTV's business model is that you have be business savvy and intelligent to make it work not to mention be confidnet in yourself. These are all qualities that I have and finally I really enjoy exploring my own territories and working with clients that I can build a good repore and lasting relationship with.

I’ve found in my discoveries over the last few months that Realtors and commercial businesses understand the value with online e-marketing and Virtual Tours. We are not creating something new, so talking to folks about the product is easy. What RTV provides that so many other companies don't offer is many additional great property marketing tools. It's these additional features that makes attracting new clients easy and fun. I am getting busier and busier and am expanding to new companies everyday. I look forward to seeing how big I can grow Denver Image Productions over the next year.

Tahvory Bunting
Founder, Photographer
Denver Image Productions
Denver Virtual Tours
Mobile: 720-382-8328
www.denverimageproductions.com

Interactive Floor Plans are Fantastic

2009-10-23T12:48:00.003-05:00

Dear RTV,

This your new interactive floor plan software is absolutely fantastic! It does take a little getting used to, but this stomps all over your previous technology.

I was in the middle of creating a plan in your older system the other day when you sent out
the notice about it being live… so we put on the breaks and jumped into the new
program with all four feet!! (My son was working on it with me.)

A little frustrating with the learning curve and all… but will be awesome and I will
Promote the floorplans more now.

Anyway… here is our first try at it…and I think it came out really nice. Please let us know if there is something that can better enhance it.

http://rtvpix.com/RE-7796-MVJ0XP-01

This is going to help me get so many more customers now over a competitor of ours down here offering floor plans with snapshots. When I roll this out I think we are going to get a lot more interest now.

I’m geeked over this update and ALL the other things RTV is doing. I for one appreciate the fact that RTV is always on the cutting edge of technology and grabbing a hold of it… not just watching it take place.

Thanks!
Dawn Frees
Grand Rapids Virtual Tours
www.freesframephotography.com
Order a virtual tour 616-334-9750

New Technology Release | Floor Plan Software

2009-10-21T15:27:00.002-05:00

We're very pleased to inform everyone that we've just gone live with our new Interactive Floor Plan system! We have created an all new system utilizing an amazing space planner technology!

This technology leapfrogs the floor plan technology of the competitors with its unique ability to add photos, panoramas, AND move furniture around!!

You're now able to create unlimited floor plans and link them directly to your virtual tours. We're also very happy to announce, by popular demand, we've brought back our Sketch & Fax service.

Take a moment now and check out the new system by following the link below:

Floor Plan Software by RTV

For those of you that would like to hear about this system in detail you're more than welcome to join us Tuesday, November 3rd at 7:00pm Eastern, while Jason LaVanture and Guest Speaker Steve Street from Icovia discuss the many "bells and whistles" built into the new Floor Plan system.

Sign up now and start practicing so you can be ready for this event!

Enjoy the new system!

Team RTV

Creating Buyer Curiosity

2009-10-20T10:36:00.000-05:00

I believe in competition. I believe that it makes people work harder to provide quality products and incredible services. That is why Listing Solutions is proud to be a Full Service Provider for RTV, the World’s largest network of Virtual Tour Providers. Our amazing technology allows us to create a unique perspective of homes for sale in St Augustine.

There are a number of companies and a few new ones (your welcome for the plug Chris) that are selling “slideshows” under the guise of virtual tours. This method of marketing your property online does not allow the potential Home Buyer to see the actual layout of the home.

Listing Solutions’ virtual tours feature “Hot Spots.” These carefully placed icons appear on the virtual tour and when clicked on, take the viewer to what is behind the door. Kind of like Christmas! Our virtual tours are loaded with features that enable you to professionally market your property and promote yourself online. Contact us today and I will give you 31 Reasons Why Listing Solutions Should Be Part of Your Online Marketing Strategies.

Listing Solutions is laser focused on helping our clients achieve the success online needed to compete in today’s challenging market. We are one of St. Augustine web designs emerging companies and a Full Service Dealer with RTV, specializing in Jacksonville virtual tours. We are one of the premier virtual tour providers in St. Augustine. Our online real estate marketing skills allow us to help our clients dominate the search engines. We would love the opportunity to help you. Call us today!

Dave Hall
Marketing Director
Listing Solutions
Order a virtual tour - (904) 540-9962
View Our Blog

Spokane Virtual Tours

2009-10-19T09:56:00.000-05:00

Even though I am very new to the "Virtual Tour" scene I have already been asked by many friends and family why I decided to start producing Spokane Virtual Tours. I would think back to the time when I first decided to get an AAS degree in Photography. The year was 1998 and I was going to find my niche in the digital photography market. In fact, I decided to add another year of digital imaging technology so I could "Photoshop" those digital images I was about to start stacking up.

I had a great time learning all those things and plying my trade when out of the blue, my College professor told me about these fantastic 360 degree images on the web and that they were being used by most of the major players in marketing and advertising on the internet. That he was actually creating them himself and would I be interested in learning how with him. I jumped at the chance and it was not long before we had everything of interest in our hometown of Spokane Washington photographed and stitched and placed on the net for all to see.

We tried to market to local businesses and we did sell a few, but back in 99 the technology was new and the file sizes were rather large at one to two megabytes per "spin". Additionally, there was not much broadband available so it took quite a while to download each file. In other words, we really didn't get this enterprise of the ground.

Well now, here it is ten years later and things have changed. By total chance, I ran across a company called Real Tour Vision. They happen to be world leaders in the virtual tour field and they offer state-of-the-art technology. I immediately realized that this was the opportunity I had been looking for. Turns out the software had improved tremendously and now everyone seemed to be hooked up to broadband allowing for very fast downloads.

The game had taken a complete 180 and was now a viable advertising option. This company keys on the Real Estate market but can be utilized by many different types of businesses. For example, imagine that you want to take a vacation to the Florida keys but having never been there, you have no idea where to stay. Simple, just plug in your Google search for local hotels and "voila" there they are complete with virtual tours of each individual property. You can see what your getting into before you plunk down your cash. Wonderful. This is an idea that years ago no one even thought about. What a great idea!!

I can only imagine where this is going. I look forward to the future when this application evolves into who knows what. Until then I plan on making many virtual tours in Spokane and thoroughly enjoy my association with RTV.

Remember - there is nothing to fear but fear itself !

Steve Stephens
www.digitalshowcasevr.com
Spokane Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour - 509 868-4043

Welcome to Tour Track

2009-10-18T16:42:00.004-05:00

As many of you who are seasoned virtual tour providers with RTV already know, the RTV tour track system dolls out hundreds of thousands of dollars annually to its loyal virtual tour providers. Anyone that is a part of the RTV network can simply email our Tour Track team a set of architectural images via photo bucket, RTV will grade your images and from that point on you will instantly qualify for one of our many national accounts that provide us with steady work every month.

Because RTV has built up the World's Largest virtual tour and professional photography network many companies come to us each month asking for bids and quotes to satisfy their unique photography needs. From restaurants to hotels to luxury yachts, RTV has enough national accounts to keep their providers busy year round! Below is a nice testimonial from a brand new RTV provider after he received his "Welcome to Tour Track" email. Enjoy!!

Dear RTV,

"Thank you for your introduction. Since joining the RTV network I have been impressed seeing the communication skills and depth of the RTV team. I am looking forward to working with your team as I get up to speed on creating virtual tours.

While I am new to creating virtual tours, my experience in architectural still photography is seasoned. For the last 7 years I've been shooting real estate and portfolios for architects, builders, stagers, and interior designers. You can find a gallery of my architecture work here.

Recently some of my Realtor clients began requesting virtual tours in addition to the stills (they were actually booking OBEO for the tours and then throwing out their stills!). Realizing the need to expand my product portfolio, I began researching solutions to provide virtual tours. I'm very pleased to have discovered RTV. While I had opportunities to partner with OBEO and TourFactory, I'm continually impressed with the resources, skill, and professionalism I'm encountering with the RTV team.

I have much experience shooting small jobs with available light to multi-million dollar homes and commercial properties that require elaborately lit scenes. I utilize professional camera equipment and a variety of continuous light and remote strobes as dictated by the job quality requirements and rate.

In the meanwhile, I will be familiarizing myself with the Tour Track Forum and getting the virtual tour creation process honed in."

Best regards,
Rob

It's great compliments like this that keep our company going as strong as it is! Thanks for the feedback Rob!

RTV Tour Track Team
Order your national photography services today!

Bradenton Virtual Tour Company Wins Large Customer

2009-10-16T15:57:00.000-05:00

e-toursonline Interactive Media is pleased to announce our newest client, SunHost, Corp. After looking at several Bradenton virtual tour providers, SunHost decided to use e-toursonline for their virtual tour solution because of the marketing abilities incorporated into each customized virtual tour.

"Ultimately, we owe many thanks to the technology of Real Tour Vision. I really have no sales pitch and so basically I explained how our virtual tours are search engine optimized for indexing, "My Tour Gallery" hosts all tours and is also optimized for the serps and finally how the tour stats will help monitor weekly virtual tour tour traffic." said Lance Ziegler of e-toursonline.com.

We explain to everyone that we talk with that our virtual tours are social media and social network ready. With the click of the mouse you can instantly tweet or facebook your virtual tours. It is simple to use, easy to implement into any website or blog. The virtual tours are also very easy to use both online and offline.

I always like to leave a new customer by telling them that our virtual tours are are by far the most inexpensive and useful property marketing tool that drive business back to their company and website.

SunHost has already requested that e-toursonline begin fulfillment of the contract by creating 360 virtual tours for Madeira Norte Resort, Surf Song Resort, Beach Place Condominiums and Crimson on the Gulf, all situated on the sandy white beaches of Madeira Beach, Florida. Historical John's Pass, the world famous Bubba Gump Shrimp, CO., dozens of site seeing expeditions, a casino cruise ship, and shopping are all located directly across the road and are within walking distance from these resorts.

Each resort has undergone many renovations and individual unit upgrades to greatly improved the quality of each visitors stay, giving them a feel of luxury right on the Gulf of Mexico. The virtual tours have now captured this beauty in 360 degrees and definitely gives resort shoppers the true perspective of being on location.

Using e-toursonline Interactive Media (Bradenton Virtual Tours) is a great way to showcase your business or real estate property. Visit us now at www.e-toursonline.com and get the best virtual tour solution.

Lance Ziegler - Owner
e-toursonline Interactive Media
Bradenton Virtual Tour Company
www.e-toursonline.com
Order a virtual tour - 941-795-6978

RTV TxT Connect Officially Live!!!

2009-10-15T11:51:00.010-05:00

Attention RTV...Our all new TxT Connect Program is Officially Live!

To all of you that have already signed up to the TxT Connect text message service, we are now officially live on ALL USA mobile phone carriers. You can begin selling the service!! Wait though...there's even more good news.

We're going to extend the discounted sign up rate and 5 free plans promotion for this program until November 30th!!! We'll be holding one more webinar on the TxT connect program next week so please be sure to look out for that announcement coming soon. This webinar will be open to the entire RTV network. If you're not an RTV virtual tour provider yet and would like to offer this service you MUST sign up before this deadline to take advantage of this amazing new property marketing tool at the discounted startup cost.

For only $250, you can get your own white label (Private Labeled) website to resell the text service. You will then receive 50% commissions on all sales that go through your site! See a live example of this on Alan's website here: http://www.islanddigitalimages.com/

Remember that on December 1st this promotion will end, so be sure to attend our webinar next week and also be sure to start up your virtual tour company this month to get things moving on this exciting new technology. Remember that the typical sign up rate is $995 and if you sign up after November you won't be able to lock in the 50% commission rate. If you sign up for this program after November your commissions will down to 20%!! Even though 20% is a very good rate you really need to snag this deal while it is hot.

For any of you that want to TRY A LIVE CODE NOW, Text prop123 (message) to 43766 (number) right now and check this out for yourself. You can reply to the second message with the word MORE to get a link to pictures as well.

Thanks for your patience on this and we look forward to seeing your custom site!

Sign up now in the left nav of your TMS!

Best,

Team RTV

Free Marketing Materials for RTV Dealers

2009-10-14T16:40:00.001-05:00

Vistaprint offers small businesses everything they need to market their business. They offer high-quality printed marketing materials, promotional products and marketing services such as copywriting, design, websites and postcard mailing. Every month Vistaprint offers a choice of FREE business cards, rubber stamps, calendars, postcards, tote bags, t-shirts and business stationary. Yes, I said FREE! Ok, so the weekly e-mails can be a bit annoying but who cares, it’s FREE!! This week I ordered a free tote bag and all I paid was $4.41 shipping. The retail value of the tote is $12.99! On top of the free products they also offer free Webinars, On Demand Marketing Tips, Expert Advice and More. Check it out in their Marketing Learning Center. So, what are you waiting for, get your free stuff now!

RTV Marketing
Check out our new LIVE MARKETING CHAT SUPPRORT for all RTV providers!!

7 Tips for Great Real Estate Photos

2009-10-11T17:27:00.003-05:00

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and this holds especially true with real estate virtual tours and photos

Here at The Virtual Tour People, we show the viewer a glimpse inside the home allowing them to determine if it interests them. The viewer can see everything from layout of the home to features such as counter top types, wall color, flooring type, dishes in the sink, clothes on the floor and well kept lawns. Photos and virtual tours are a driving marketing force in the sale of a home and it is important that these photos help not hinder the sale. Below are 7 tips for great real estate photos.

Tip 1: Tidy up. Your photos are an open house 24/7. As you prepare, go through each room tidying up. Items on counter tops such as the basket of mail in the kitchen or the toiletries on the bathroom counter should be removed. Tables and counters will show best with just a few tastefully selected items. Pick up and put away children's toys, clothes, dishes, items on the floors and furniture. All this can appear to be clutter in the camera. Don't forget to check for burnt out light bulbs which can really stand out in a photograph.

Tip 2: Please do not have other workers such as housekeeping, lawn crews, or repairmen at the home during photographing. If you desire to have housekeeping or lawn work done ahead of time, your virtual tour company will be glad to work with you on the best possible time to photograph your home.

Tip 3: Some pets love to pose for the camera! But others are uncomfortable with equipment or strangers. Please plan ahead for your pets by placing them in a kennel or at a day care.

Tip 4: What's on your fridge? The family photos and artwork on the refrigerator are fun to look at, however, it can often appear as clutter to the camera. Please plan to remove these items before your virtual tour. A clean front on the refrigerator always shows best in photographs.

Tip 5: If you have begun packing, remove the boxes to an area which will not be photographed. Items stacked in the corner or tucked under the bed can show in the photos and this will keep your home from looking its best.

Tip 6: Outside move summertime items such as bikes, skates and pool toys to a storage area. Plan to have the lawn mowed and edged. If summer heat has caused the grass to turn brown, try to water a couple of days in advance to give it a fresh look. Trim hedges and sweep walks and driveways to give a manicured and inviting appearance. Add a few flowering plants for extra curb appeal!

Tip 7: Don't forget the pool. A sparkling, clear pool can inspire thoughts of summer fun and relaxation, even in the off season. However, green murky water can leave an impression too. Make sure your pool is an inviting asset to your home.

Visit Ark-La-Tex Virtual Tours
Shreveport Virtual Tours

Nova Scotia Virtual Tour Newbie

2009-10-09T17:17:00.000-05:00

Having launched Supernova Studios to Nova Scotia real estate companies last Thursday, this week was (finally) about shooting some tours!

The feature tour at www.supernovastudios.ca is of my own home. Filling my gallery with stunning 360 degree panoramas of Nova Scotia Residential Real Estate would add to my credibility.

Several of my clients had taken the time to prepare testimonials for me to include in my website. As a thank you, I gave them each a free virtual tour.

I had booked three homes to shoot on Monday. Sunday night I tossed and turned I was so nervous. It wasn't the alarm however, that woke me that morning. It was the sound of rain! Rain? I hadn't even considered that. How could I not have considered that? I contacted each client and rescheduled the tours to the following day. (Thankfully I did not have tours booked for the following day!)

Night number two. Again, tossing and turning and finally, Tuesday morning. My first tour was a 40 minute drive from my home. I was to meet the agent on the side of the highway as she said "I'd never find it". No wonder. We drove another 20 minutes through the woods on what we call in Nova Scotia a "cow path".

The home owner was there to greet us and I wondered if it was my imagination that he was scrutinizing my camera equipment as I unloaded the car. Quietly, I'm talking to myself, "You're just nervous.", "Don't be silly." "You are used to sitting behind a computer, being out in the field and face to face with clients is new". "You'll be fine." "Your product speaks for itself".

"Is that a Canon Rebel XT?" I could feel myself freeze. Yes. I have taken some photography classes in the last couple of months. Yes. I read the 4000 page manual that came with the camera, 2 times. Yes. I had taken the Canon on-line tutorial. Yes. I had followed the instructions given to me by Ben to set up my camera. But.... can I talk "camera talk?" "Yes."I told him, in a voice that didn't sound like my own.

"I spent the day yesterday, deciding which angles would be best for you to shoot your pictures" he said. "I'm a photographer myself". "I just took over 5000 photos of the Nova Scotia coast line".

"Super!" I said. "You've saved me some time then". (that was NOT what I meant AT ALL). I level my camera and begin with some still shots of the front of the home. It truly is a spectacular property. Amazing vistas of the ocean and complete privacy. "You can't get a good picture of the water from this angle", he said.

He followed me around the property, moving around the rooms as I took the panoramas. "Don't you think your tripod is too low?" "I can go and get my tripod." "Do you want me to show you how to make your tripod higher?" He wanted me to take panoramas of the bathrooms and laundry room.

"I'll be looking at the quality very closely" he said "When you deliver the tour."

"Thank you very much sir, I appreciate a discerning eye, and I'll certainly be back if you are not pleased."

The sweat that had been accumulating in the small of my back was now trickling down my pants. My very first (free) virtual tour, and I had promised to come back if he wasn't happy.

Certainly, virtual tour number two would go much better than that. It was of a vacant model home and there would be no vendor at home. Yay!

I couldn't have been more pleased when the agent said, "Go ahead, I'll be back in the office, come get me when you're finished". Absolutely, music to my ears.

Much more relaxed now, with no one staring over my shoulder, I start outside again with some still shots. I can see already, that I am developing a routine. Ahhh. this is better. A little level here, a little level there, snap, snap, snap, and let's go inside. My confidence is building now, I'm guessing I even LOOK like a professional photographer.

Inside I decide on a partial pan of the living room and setup the equipment. Snap, snap, snap, and then, nothing? I keep pushing the button, and pushing the button, but the picture won't take? How come? I look at the camera, adjust ISO, white balance, turn on the flash, and try again. NOTHING! Why won't my camera take a picture of that wall?

I try in the kitchen. Same thing. Master bedroom. Same thing. OMG! What do I do now? I spend an hour on 3 rooms trying to photograph them and realize my agent must be wondering what is going on. I pack up my stuff, telling him I may be back tomorrow to re-shoot their photos to ensure the best quality.

Back in the office I download the photos of the first tour. I quickly stitch them, export a high-res copy and open in Photoshop. They are beautiful! I can see where I would have changed a couple of things, taken more interior still shots, and stills of the view out the window, as opposed to partial pans. But, the good news, I wouldn't have to go back!

Time to look at the (incomplete) panoramas of the model home. And as they are downloading they all have one thing in common. THEY ARE BLACK. Every one of them. I get out my notes from Ben again, look at the camera and I see it. It was on the wrong mode. Nice.

Just as I'm about to head out the door to my third appointment, the phone rings. A frantic agent calling to cancel her virtual tour.

Mom always said, "Some days are diamonds and some days are stones". She also said, "You'll be able to laugh about this someday". Mom is usually right.

Book your Nova Scotia virtual tour today. If we don’t get it right the first time, we'll come back.

Supernova Studios
www.supernovastudios.ca
902-543-2185

Dallas Virtual Tour Company

2009-10-08T10:41:00.002-05:00

Dallas - October 8th, 2008

Dallas Virtual Tour Company 360 Web Expeditions has announced expanded service offerings for Real Estate clients all over the DFW Metroplex. The company announced from its Allen, Texas office that in addition to 360 Degree Panoramic Virtual Tours, it will now be providing YouTube Video Tours, Text Message Marketing, Custom Single Property Websites, Custom VisoRider Signage, and a host of Social Networking Resources and Features as part of its efforts to remain on the cutting edge of Real Estate Marketing.

Justin Burns, Owner and Lead Strategist of 360 Web Expeditions stated, “This is an exciting time to be combining the power of 360 Virtual Tours with these up to the minute marketing tools. With more people than ever before making purchasing decisions based on what they see on the Internet, we believe these resources are the key to success for our Real Estate clients who are serious about staying competitive in today’s market.”

Most of the new products and services fall within the $25 - $75 range, which has many Real Estate Agents excited that they can remain competitive without having to stretch already tight budgets even further. The Allen based Virtual Tour company came significantly into the public limelight when they were selected to provide Virtual Tours for the Rangers Ballpark and the Arlington Convention Center, among other high profile projects.

360 Web Expeditions is a full service Internet Marketing company specializing in Virtual Tours, Web Design, Interactive Media, SEO, Corporate Blogging, and Social Media Products and Consulting. With over twelve years of experience in Internet Media and Business Consulting, owner of this Allen, TX based company Justin Burns brings a good dose of practical experience to the table.

Burns says the company has a “positive focus on propelling other businesses and entrepreneurs towards their marketing goals.” He also shared that the company has experienced great success in the last year, despite the economic downturn. “We are very blessed, and that is why we want to assist others with their success as well,” said Burns.

Contact:
Justin Burns
360 Web Expeditions
Dallas Virtual Tours
Lead Strategist/Owner
Phone: 214.383.9464
http://www.360webexpeditions.com

The IMAGE | It's Magic Part 2

2009-10-07T14:58:00.001-05:00

Sign up for the next episode of The IMAGE

Because we had such an overwhelmingly positive response to our previous show, we are going to continue exploring picture editing skills. In this next IMAGE webinar, It's Magic Part 2, I will be showing you more ways to edit your pictures to fix errors and make them look like the pros. Join me as we continue the magic of image editing here on the IMAGE.

Previous Webinar:
The webinar attendance last week was amazing and we want to thank all of you for your e-mail feedback. Sorry to those of you who were not able to attend. Due to technical difficulties we were unable to record the webinar. Don't worry though; we plan to recreate the webinar and record all that we covered. Soon enough we will have a recorded version of this webinar, and it will be posted to the IMAGE archive page on the RPM Marketing website, just like all of the other IMAGE webinar recordings.

RTV Marketing
Order a Virtual Tour http://www.RealTourVision.com

Virtual Tour CD Marketing

2009-10-06T15:10:00.000-05:00

Handing out a Flyer is great; but handing out a virtual tour on a disc that also contains that flyer and other promotional material can really make a positive impression. Like standard promotional material, these multimedia discs could be left on a counter at an open house or fill the brochure box of a real estate sign post. Experiment and come up an offering that works for you.

To get started, it is important to note that downloaded tours are representative of the Classic viewer only, and as such, Affiliate logos will not display properly. So, before starting to build the disc, be sure to remove any Affiliates attached to the tour. Then assuming the tour contains no Affiliates, is not a Practice Tour, and is published, follow the steps below.

1. View the tour using one of the public links from the tour's Deliverables page. Tours viewed from inside TMS are not downloadable.

2. Click Share Tour>Download Tour and in the next window click "Click here to Download virtual tour to your computer".

3. Downloaded tours will not be downloaded with any audio you may have added in TMS. However, if you wish to add audio to the downloaded tour, an Audio Wrapper is available to Inner Circle members only on the marketing Resources page and should be used at this point.

4. Using whatever program you prefer, burn the downloaded tour to disc.

5. A nice feature to add to the disc is to make the tour play automatically when inserted into a PC. To do this you will need to create an autorun file and burn it to the disc as well. Directions on how to make an autorun file can be found by clicking HERE. However, an easier way to do this and is to download and use a program called Autorun Max!

6. At this point you could add a flyer, a Power Point, and just about any other creative marketing materials you can think of. Using Autorun Max! can help you make professional autorun menus.

And that's it! Of course if you want to get even more creative you could use business card CDs and interesting labels. You could even add Hot Spots to the tour that link to your company website or even other tours. How far you take it is up to you.

New From RTV Marketing

2009-10-05T15:33:00.004-05:00

Your time is precious, so we at RTV have done some of the hard work for you. Each month we create several marketing pieces that will target specific businesses. These virtual tour marketing pieces will highlight the numerous benefits of virtual tours and are customizable within minutes.

All you need to do is insert your company name, contact information and logo. This month we created a 2 page flyer that targets virtual tours of small schools, a 2 page flyer that Realtor agents can provide sellers, 2 versions of a reminder for Realtor Agents that winter is coming and virtual tours Preserve listings throughout the year.

Last of all, we created a postcard that congratulates agents on their new listing and highlights the possible media marketing tools that you can offer. Our postcards can either be printed by a local printer or by using an online printer. It is important to support local companies, but we also recommend Vistaprint as an online option.

Are you an RTV provider that would like us to make a marketing piece that you're not seeing in our marketing area? Try using our suggestion box and let us know what you need to drive your virtual tour business!

http://www.RockPointeMarketing.com
Marketing for Virtual Tour Companies