Virtual Tour Software ~ Virtual Tour Company

Are you Doing Great Work?

2013-05-23T21:38:00.003-05:00

This morning, I am inside writing this blog while my husband is outside in the rain and snow and mud photographing and videoing a huge farm equipment auction. We had to get up at 5:30 am to be here which was a feat in and of itself. Oh and it’s 34 degrees out there and Greg has 25 360 virtual tours he needs to build.

There are times when our virtual tour business and work gets frustrating. There are clients who drive us crazy. There are things about being self employed and owning our own virtual tour business that are hard to deal with. There are days when I want to quit and go get a “real job”. Yesterday was one of those days for me -- today may be one of those days for my husband...I’ll ask him as soon as his teeth stop chattering.

What keeps us motivated at times like these is the realization that despite the ups and downs and the frustrations and the challenges, what we do makes a difference and allows us to live a fantastic life. Our company is called Vision Quest Virtual Tours because it is our VISION that keeps us focused on why we do what we do. Sometimes it is the vision alone that keeps us going. In the words of Steve Jobs, “The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” Despite occasional frustrations, we know that we found “it”. Doing great work is less about our sales and photography skills and more about the vision quest. On most days, we love the mechanics of what we do but even more importantly, we ALWAYS believe that what we do makes a difference in the lives of our clients and knowing the WHY is more important than mastering the WHAT.

People hire us to photograph virtual tours for many reasons. Our real estate virtual tours have helped people sell their homes after a job loss or a death of the homeowner. Our behavioral healthcare virtual tours help people through the difficult decision to get help for mental illness or drug and alcohol addiction.

Our business virtual tours help small business owners just us to grow their businesses and attract more customers. Are you doing great work? Are you doing something that you love - at least on most days? If not, what is stopping you?

Greg and Paige Mitts
Charleston Virtual Tours
http://www.VisionQuestVirtualTours.com
Order a Charleston, SC virtual tour: 404-863-9769

Mobile Websites From Virtual Digital Images

2013-05-22T21:27:00.000-05:00

Our video today is taking a look at mobile websites and some of the advantages that a good mobile website brings to realtors, brokers and property management companies. What makes a mobile web site different from your standard website is that the site is formatted for the limited screen size of your mobile telephone. So information is very concise and fits within the limits of the physical screen size. Our mobile website can be accessed in three ways; a QR Code, Web Address or a Text Message.

Often clients are exposed to our mobile website through a sign rider, sales flyer or some other print medium. In this video demonstration we are using a text message; the phone number for our text service is 43766 and the message is our short code, BUYIDI6. One of the nice features about this mobile website is that you can show multiple property virtual tours on the site so your prospect can find out more about the home that they are in front of as well as about other properties that you represent.

When you look at the property you can see all of the pertinent information about the property including price, bedrooms, baths, square footage etc. The contact button provides your contact information including one button dialing to your phone, sending you a text message, or an email and links to your full website as well as your social networking pages. Each perspective client phone number that texts to access your mobile website is captured and forwarded to you giving you the opportunity to personally follow up with each new lead.

What an easy way to capture new customers! Our mobile web sites are very easy to sign up for, through our website; www.virtualdigitalimages.com and selecting mobile website from the side navigation bar. The mobile website is just $29.95 per month. It’s easy to get started with your mobile website, and a snap to maintain as you close properties and add new listings. If you would like we will manage your mobile web site for you as part of our full service virtual tour option. If you would like more information on this inexpensive and powerful tool, call or email us today.

Alan Fon

Austin Virtual Tours

http://www.IslandDigitalImages.com
Local - (361) 749-0901

Don't be a Stranger

2013-05-21T22:00:00.000-05:00

The importance of follow-up for selling virtual tours:

Making new contacts and leads for your virtual tour business is a great idea, but how often are you following up with them? If you’re in the habit of abandoning leads the first time they decline a virtual tour, you’re missing out on a huge source of potential income—because surprisingly few sales are made with the first contact.

According to the National Sales Executive Association and the Association of Professional Salesman:
•    2 percent of sales are closed at first contact
•    3 percent are made with second contact
•    5 percent happen on third contact
•    10 percent are made with fourth contact
•    The remaining 80 percent happen from the fifth to twelfth contact

Following up with your potential virtual tour customers—even just once—can increase your virtual tour sales noticeably. Keep at it, and you’ll see a dramatic boost in sales.

Why follow-up works:
The secret to the success of following up is pretty simple: you’re building relationships and awareness. When you follow up with people, even if they haven’t purchased a virtual tour from you, it tells them that you have an interest in what they’re doing, and that you want to see them succeed. They’ll also have the opportunity to learn more about how a virtual tour can benefit their business.
Awareness is another byproduct of following up. The process helps to remind them that virtual tours exist—and the next time they need to work on their marketing strategies, they’ll be more likely to consider your services.

How to follow up—and how not to:
Many salespeople make the mistake of following up with a simple acknowledgment and a vague reminder that their product or service exists. It’s usually along the lines of, “It was great talking to you at Networking Event. If you ever need a Widget, be sure to think of me.” This tactic is supposed to avoid hard selling to prospects, but all it really does is make you forgettable.

How should you follow up with a lead? First, make it personal. Offer a specific piece of information from your initial contact, whether it was online or in person, that shows you were paying attention and found something engaging about the prospect’s business. Second, offer them something of value. Instead of simply mentioning that you have virtual tours available, consider a first-time discount for real estate professionals, or a free bonus for clients with businesses who will only need one virtual tour.

Most importantly, make sure to follow up more than once with every prospect, and watch your virtual tour sales grow!

Real Tour Vision
Virtual Tour Company
www.realtourvision.com
Order a 360 Virtual Tour: 1-866-947-8687

Selling New Construction Virtual Tours

2013-05-20T22:07:00.000-05:00

I am a Realtor in the Orlando Florida area and work with buyers and seller. I use the RTV's Fusion virtual tour software on all my listings if possible and find them extremely valuable when it comes to incurring showings.

I know of a number of occasions where a potential buyer called his agent after viewing the virtual tour of my listing so that they could arrange for a showing. These days agents have lost somewhat of a control which listings are getting on the showing list. Thanks to Realtor.com and other IDX listing sites buyers have access to listings and virtual tours. Good virtual tours like RTV's Fusion virtual tours get you definitely more showings and increased exposure in the market place. However, make sure the house is cleaned and tidy and shows nice for the full benefit.

I sold recently a new construction home in a vacation resort community to an European couple. They told me that they have a few friends that might be interested in something similar. I went to the builders model home and did a virtual tour of the two models. I posted a link on my website and sent the link to those tours to our client. Within 8 weeks I now have another vacation home under contract. They bought it sight unseen. The virtual tour and their friend testimonial was enough to make the deal. It really helps to convey a sense of space. I gave the builders rep the link to the non branded virtual tour so they also can use it to send it to their interested buyers. It really helped me to build a good relationship with the sales staff.

I am now considering adding more 360 tours of new construction models to my website. It will help me to capture more of the second home business in the Central Florida Region. RTV is the right partner to develop a powerful virtual tour representation that is much more than the usual boring slide shows that other companies try to sell as virtual tours. I am glad that I signed up with RTV! They truly help me to become a better marketing expert. Thanks guys - keep up the good work!

Malte Strauss
Southern Realty Enterprises, Inc.
Broker Realtor

Social Realty Episode 8 - Facebook Business Pages

2013-05-16T23:01:00.000-05:00

The time has passed when Facebook was a "good idea" for businesses to try. It's now essential to your inbound marketing strategy. The thing is, Facebook keeps changing how to set up Facebook business pages -- both on the large scale with the roll out of Facebook Timeline, and on a smaller scale with new features that are being released all the time.

Your Facebook Brand Page is the central place to grow your virtual tour business, build your brand and develop relationships with your customers. Over one billion people like and comment an average of 3.2 billion times every day. When you have a strong presence on Facebook, your virtual tour business is part of these conversations and has access to the most powerful kind of word-of-mouth marketing — recommendations between friends.

Don't waste another day poking around aimlessly on Facebook, trying to figure out what the heck to do. The time is now to get your Timeline up and running like a social networking pro. This webinar will break it down so literally anyone can set up their brand's Facebook Timeline correctly.

See you on Social Realty June 4th at 7:00 PM Eastern!!

Register NOW in your RTV Tour Management System!

Sincerely,

Nancy

Nancy Bain
RTV Social Media Director
http://www.RealTourVision.com
Virtual Tour Software & Social Media Training

Announcing SouthEast Property Marketing!

2013-05-15T23:27:00.003-05:00

SouthEast Property Marketing / Birmingham, AL Virtual Tour Company

Let our professional property marketing services enhance your digital marketing and virtual tour needs. SouthEast Property Marketing, based out of Birmingham, Alabama creates high resolution, HTML 5 virtual tours for real estate and businesses. We also offer many other powerful property marketing tools and services that help local business owners, For Sale By Owners and real estate agents market themselves online.

We are dedicated to providing our clients with high quality, cost-effective products with an emphasis on customer service. Our Internet marketing includes full utilization of marketing, virtual tours, video tours, and the usage of our turbocharged media exposure engines to create visibility of our clients properties to prospects around the world by using the power of the Internet.

SouthEast Property Marketing specializes in online tours for real estate, healthcare, hospitality, and any owner of a local business large or small in the greater Birmingham area. Our services are just what you need to turn heads and make you look your very best online! We keep our virtual tour technology on the cutting edge and we are a proud to be part of the RTV family. Just look for yourself: www.sepropertymarketing.com

We use the best Virtual Tour Software in the industry to be able to bring you the best 360 virtual tours for your marketing dollars. Our interactive 360 virtual tours are published online quickly, contain a wide variety of features, offer flexibility, private labeling of your brand, and are very competitively priced in the market.

SouthEast Property Marketing is a locally owned provider, located in Birmingham, Alabama. We provide Virtual Tours and property marketing services in the Central Alabama area and Business tours across the country.

Brian Ramm
SouthEast Property Marketing
www.sepropertymarketing.com
Phone: 205.614.8687 (TOUR)

Florida Virtual Tours on the Rise

2013-05-14T22:09:00.005-05:00

Virtual Florida Tours is proud to present this fabulous property that realtor Mohammed Morsy is offering for sale placed at 10250 SW 66 st Miami, Florida this totally fenced property sits in a lot of more than one acre in one of the most secluded neighborhoods in Miami Dade County.

The property has a big pool and a basket practice area with multiple fruit trees that will allow your children and their friends to enjoy exercising in the outdoors while they are in the safety of their own home. The elevated ceilings with natural light can allow you to place works of art to show your art collection. This home has a spacious living room, a huge family room attached to the kitchen area.

The Master bedroom and his master bathroom are spacious and have a big Jacuzzi. The other two bedrooms in the first floor are an exercise room and a guest room that both have their own full bathrooms.

On the second floor you have two bedrooms with a Jacuzzi and a guest bedroom with its own bathroom. The loft area is spacious and will allow you to have your own pool table. The nice office space is just by the entrance of the home. There is an additional cabana bathroom that has access to the pool. The spacious pool area will allow you and your family to entertain your guests and family.

Our virtual tours are chosen over the competition on a daily basis by intelligent business owners who demand the best virtual tours to showcase their properties online. As a virtual tour provider using RTV virtual tour software technology, we can provide you with professional 360° home tours as well as 360° commercial tours in a timely fashion.

All of our virtual tour packages will ensure your success as you begin marketing your properties with virtual tours. Start using the virtual tour company that you can count on, the virtual tour company that has been using technology that has been in the industry from the start, and the virtual tour company that has the systems in place to back you up!

For your entire Internet marketing needs please contact us for Virtual Tours or just call us at 305 331 8960

Gabriel Duque
Miami Virtual Tours
www.virtualfloridarealtours.com
Order a virtual tour! (305) 331 8960

Panoramas, PTGui, my 8mm Sigma Fisheye Lens

2013-05-13T20:43:00.000-05:00

I ordered the FusionMax XS as part of my virtual tour software package since I think that 360x360 degree virtual tours are a great tool to have when you need them. Expensive chandeliers, crown moulding, skylights and vaulted ceilings should be showcased in an Interactive Virtual Tour.

Getting set up with the Fusion Max XS was fairly simple. The training provided by RTV was solid and thorough. (A little too thorough Ben) I wanted to share a couple of things I learned along the way in hopes that you guys might avoid some of the tough lessons I learned!

Make sure all your nuts and bolts are really tight! Halfway through a 360 tour when you realize that your XS has been shifting on the camera plate each rotation or one of the arms has shifted an inch and your Nodal Point is WAY off and suddenly your photo stitching software isn't happy with you!

One of my 12 shots was blurry and PTGui is calling it an orphan?? I spent the better part of an hour setting points, editing the panoramic image in Photoshop. Yuck! Finally I tried deleting the blurry image all together! Wahoo, 11 photos and PTGui produced for me an 'Almost' perfect image. Again...you must make sure you're on your nodal point and keep the settings that RTV gives you to avoid this from happening.

I love my Sigma 8MM!!! With my Sigma 8MM I could probably use 6 images and still have a great pano! My T4i has a built in HDR setting. While I bracket all of my stills and edit them separately, I couldn't get over having to edit 12 HDR photos for one panoramic image. Voila... Kinda. It works great outside in the daylight, but inside it is pretty inconsistent. So I'll be using my HDR feature for Panos outside but bracketing inside from now on.

Did I miss the part in the training videos on how to remove the elongated distortion from panos? I know it's possible! I keep watching RTV dealer tours with flawless panos and NO DISTORTION! I tried calling one of em'.. as per my last post.. but failed to reach them. I was desperate to figure out how to fix my disgusting distorted panos! Finally!!.. It's so Simple.. In the 'Pano editor' while creating the tour, zoom in on the image... That's it! That was easy. Geesh, 20 Gray Hairs Later!

Mike Seiler
Tour Tank Productions
Owen Sound Virtual Tours
http://www.TourTank.ca
Order a Virtual Tour: 519-375-6585

It's Convention Day in Traverse City!!

2013-05-09T21:48:00.000-05:00

The alarm goes off at 5:45 AM and I spring out of bed. It’s convention day in Traverse City!! The annual Strawberries and Toast show put on every year by the Traverse Area Association of Realtors (TAAR). It’s our chance to get in front of our customers and showcase everything we’ve been up to over the past year. It’s an event we’ll never miss. This was our fifth year attending the show as BlueLaVaMedia, LLC. A Traverse City Virtual Tour Company. Now with over 150 local real estate agents as customers, we’re used to seeing many familiar faces as they all stop on by our booth throughout the morning.

This year was especially exciting as there seemed to be more new agents than ever before just entering the profession. A wonderful chance for us to hand out cards, give away pens, and of course collect business cards to build our email list and allow one lucky person to win a virtual tour, complete with our new AstroZoom feature. I sit down to eat my French Toast, sausage and eggs and find myself next to an old friend of mine who had just become a Realtor. A perfect chance for me to catch up and let her know about all of our amazing services that we offer. It was great!

Jim and I wanted to go all out this year so we brought with us a HUGE flat screen LCD television to showcase our Fusion virtual tours. The scene was nothing short of breathtaking. Before the show, Jim spent a few hours preparing an “Overview” tour complete with full motion video, panoramas, stills, hot spots, lead capture, 3D mouse instructor, voice overs, TrueBlue Photography, night shots, traffic reports, printable flyers, QR codes, and AstroZoom. Check it out: http://tours.bluelavamedia.com/84787

If you’re a virtual tour provider with RTV, I would highly recommend that you make a Fusion presentation like this for your virtual tour business. It’s a wonderful sales tool.

Throughout the show nearly a dozen of our customers came up to Jim and I and shared with us their appreciation of our top level service and their delight of our new Fusion system. Over and over we heard that it was one of their first pages they include in their listing presentation. Many told us they are using the printable flyers and QR codes. Some are even pulling out the iPad and turning on Gyro during a sales pitch. It was amazing to hear all the great compliments on the technology and photography!!

Those that had not yet used us just stared in awe at the presentation on the screen, shook their heads and exclaimed that they had never seen anything like it before. “Is this video or something different?”, they would ask. Of course we told them that it was far beyond video! None left our booth without taking a card. It was great to see the excitement.

As the trade show reached the end, Jim had taken several new virtual tour orders and we found each other staring there at the big screen just admiring the presentation that we had setup for the show. This was indeed our best year so far!! With Jim’s amazing “TrueBlue” photography and Fusion at our side we literally felt bullet proof. Let’s shoot for 500 virtual tours this year Jim!

BlueLaVaMedia
Virtual Tours of Traverse City
www.BlueLaVaMedia.com
Your Property Marketing Experts!
Order a 360 Virtual Tour! 877-941-TOUR

Want to Make Your Phone Ring?

2013-05-07T21:22:00.002-05:00

Over the last year there has been a salesperson from Visual Tours going to all the local real estate offices and offering their services. They label it as a 'virtual tour', but it is only a slideshow. There have been a few in-house systems created as well (Howard Hanna). Many of the realtors jumped on board with them due to the low fees, of which I will not compete against. They either took the photos themselves or had an assistant take them. Needless to say, the quality of images were poor. Low or no lighting, no flash, fingers in the shot, blinds/curtains closed and the list goes on. The exterior photos had sunspots, were blurred or were not framed.

I've mentioned to the realtors that the first impression...meaning the photos/virtual tours that you put on your listing page....are what captures the prospective buyer's attention. Many people will lose interest quickly with a poor representation. If I see a listing online that has low quality images, I will sometimes drive to the location and take a few high quality shots of the exterior that I can get without stepping on the property. Those images are emailed to the realtor so they can see the difference in quality. However, I watermark the photos with my website address so they can't be used. This will get the realtor to call you to provide services.

Try this and see if your phone rings!

Rob Lenthe
Internet and Mobile Marketing
Cleveland Virtual Tours
www.GotRobo.com
Got Robo? -- 702.449.2850

Dorset Virtual Tours & Professional Photography

2013-05-06T21:17:00.000-05:00

Equinox Virtual Media provides interactive, immerse, virtual multimedia tours for all types of businesses, corporations, organizations, and realtors using photography (stills, 360˚x180˚ and 360 x 360 panoramas,) video, voice-overs, and flyers. In addition to creating a virtual tour, Equinox Virtual Media in affiliation with RTV, Inc provides social media marketing to such sites as Expedia, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Craig’s List, MLS, Zillow and more, using our exposure engine.

My name is Richard Gillespie owner/photographer of Virtual Equinox Media. Over the past five years I have been studying digital photography techniques and learning how to shoot panoramas and prepare virtual tours. I have a BFA degree in Communications Design with a minor in film photography.

During the past thirty years I have owned/operated a painting company, Caldwell Painter, painting interiors and refinishing cabinetry and furniture, in San Francisco and then Dorset, Vermont. During that time I also was a project manager for two construction companies.

My construction knowledge and skills transfer to Virtual Equinox Media. With an eye for detail and my skills in delivering a finished product, I can direct or educate your clientele of your operation with a virtual tour.

Our industry leading interactive virtual tours enables consumers to research a destination, a golf course, a school, a hotel, a house, or any other kind establishment without ever leaving the comfort of their home or business. Our interactive virtual tours allow you to showcase your facility with High Definition imagery that provide your future customers a 24/7 open house...without the expense and time of traveling.

I locally serve all of Southern Vermont (Dorset, Manchester, Rutland, Bennington, Winhall, Bondville, Stratton, Londonderry, Landgrove, Weston, areas). I will travel anywhere outside of Vermont to provide my services for projects that require my special expertise and attention to details.

Richard Gillespie
Owner
Virtual Equinox Media
Order a Virtual Tour: 802-867-4483

The Seller's Disclosure - Brown Cow no wonder it's so huge!!!

2013-05-03T21:05:00.000-05:00

95% or more of my virtual tour company business comes from the real estate industry so I try to keep up with some the news that goes on in it. I ran across an article this morning written by Greg Nino a real estate agent in Houston, Texas.

Could you imagine getting a call saying that you are in a lawsuit because of a flower you planted in the yard of a house you sold. I guess it could happen. Read on:

"Buyer Sues Seller For Not Disclosing Deadly Plants Eaten By Pet Rott. Disclosure Nightmare?Your average home seller isn't a Botanist. And your average seller plants and cares for many plants and shrubs they know very little about. Throughout the Houston area we have an abundance of Oleanders. These shrubs are widely popular because of their extreme durability, price and overall appearance.

When consumed by mammals, especially dogs, oleanders can kill. But so can many other types of plants. A friend of mine who owns a landscaping company told me that many of the plants in your average garden are considered toxic. One lady reportedly died from attempting to make oleander tea as a last ditch effort to cure her cancer. Another man died from eating mass quantities of it because he read that it was a natural plant that could cure his stomach cancer.

Should a seller disclose anything they know about the dangers of their plants?

If I were an attorney, and I'm not, I'd say yes. You should disclose anything relevant to the property that might expose you for claim. Best to over disclose and get a signature...then be forced to explain later.

Or maybe that's being extreme. It's not like homeowners disclose that the batteries in the upstairs smoke detector are old, cheap and likely to stop working. I suspect there will be comments from readers on this post that will suggest a buyer with pets should have the responsibility to decided if plants are harmful to their pet or not. A seller shouldn't be responsible to understand, learn or know the danger levels of every plant or chemical used in their lawn. Lets not even talk about the organisms in the pool or type of fertilizer tossed out back. Damn those electromagnetic fields from the power lines! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

Today you're the Jury!

The Plaintiff (buyer) is suing the homeowner for 10 trillion dollars because the buyers salivating Rott ate some oleander as a side salad with the neighbors pussy cat & died. Hey don't laugh, this is America." -- Written by Greg Nino

Thanks for reading.

Jody Moore - Real Estate Photographer & Virtual Tour Provider
Blue Shirt Photography, LLC.
http://www.blueshirtphoto.com/
Lexington Virtual Tours
Order Professional Photography & Virtual Tours: 859-553-3613

New From RPM Marketing - AstroZoom Power Pack!

2013-05-01T16:16:00.000-05:00

This month we’re celebrating one of Fusion’s most exciting features, AstroZoom! Download the AstroZoom Power Pack now from www.RockPointeMarketing.com and you’ll receive 4 unique pieces guaranteed to turn heads your way and help you tell the world about this new and exciting add-on.

The AstroZoom Power Pack contains everything that you’ll need to reach local real estate agents and business owners alike. Our marketing team has created for you a brochure, an email announcement, a postcard, and finally a business double-sider that can also be converted into a real estate piece.

You’re going to love these new virtual tour marketing pieces and they’re perfect for keeping an air of excitement about your virtual tour business.

Not using AstroZoom yet? Check out some amazing examples of this powerful feature in action off the RTV website: http://www.realtourvision.com/tourdemos.php

Keep your eyes out for more marketing pieces coming in May! We appreciate your continued support.

Sincerely,

Team RTV

Order a virtual tour: 866-947-8687

RTV Announces Distribution Partnership with Expedia.com

2013-04-29T11:22:00.000-05:00

We’re very pleased to announce our new distribution partnership with Expedia.com. Since 1999, RTV has been providing professional hotel photography and virtual tour services to hotels, resorts and other hospitality clients. We are honored to have been selected as a preferred distribution partner for Expedia, one of the world's top online travel services.

With several thousand virtual hotel tours in our catalog, and a network of more than 1,000 professional virtual tour photographers around the world, RTV is equipped to provide rich media content for Expedia.com and their partner sites, which include Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Egencia.com, Venere.com, eLong.com, LocalExpert.com, and more!

With this new distribution partnership, all RTV virtual tour providers will have the opportunity to offer this value-added service to their customers at NO ADDITIONAL COST. Once our feed is connected, you will simply create an interactive virtual media presentation for your hotel and click “Send To Expedia” under the Syndication Menu.

The RTV virtual tour catalog will sync with Expedia’s once an month. Professional virtual tour photographers and members of the RTV community are encouraged to contact RTV for more details on this opportunity to gain a competitive edge over the busy summer months. As our marketing team develops new marketing materials, keep an eye out for exciting promotional assets that can be used when pitching hotel management companies, motels, hotels, and more.

Get Setup For Summer Photography Jobs:
We can't send you photography jobs and virtual tour orders if you don’t have your Fusion virtual tour account setup! Setup your Fusion virtual tour system account now by visiting the following link: http://manage.realtourvision.com/trial.php

Be sure to select FULL SERVICE so we can get you setup in our Tour Track national accounts program. With our growing number of hospitality contacts, we’re sending out thousands of jobs a year to professional photographers!

RTV currently services Choice Hotels, La-Z-Boy, Barnes & Noble, KB Homes, Kindred Healthcare, American Hospice, Holiday Retirement, HomeAway, ForRent, and so many more!

If you're a professional photographer or a business owner shooting commercial venues, this strategic distribution partnership offers a huge advantage to you. Only a very few select virtual tour companies around the world get the opportunity to syndicate their rich media like this. We’re very proud to be able to offer this to you and your clients.

Finally, we'd like to extend our appreciation to all of our faithful RTV virtual tour providers who have made this new distribution partnership possible. Thanks to your dedication and devotion, we have been able to accrue thousands of hotel virtual tours to share with Expedia. Thank you all!

Have a wonderful day and be sure to check out some of our latest Fusion presentations in our virtual tour gallery: http://www.realtourvision.com/tourdemos.php

Sincerely,

Team RTV

PS. Join our rapidly growing facebook fan base: http://www.facebook.com/realtourvision

RTV, Inc
http://www.RealTourVision.com
866-947-8687

The IMAGE 44 - PTGUI Features and Tripod Masking

2013-04-26T14:39:00.000-05:00

The photo stitching software that we recommend is PTGUI. It is both Mac & PC compatible and will stitch several different types of 360 panoramas including Cylindrical, Spherical, and Vertical pans.

When you are creating your virtual tour panoramas for your Fusion tours there are some things to keep in mind to make sure you have the best looking panoramas.

Join me, Ben Knorr, as I show you how to:

    Work with panoramas that have low detail

    Straighten your panoramas for the best results

    and...

    Mask your tripod out of the panorama

Join us TONIGHT - April 30, 2013 at 7pm Eastern for…IMAGE 44 – PTGUI Features and Tripod Masking.

REGISTER HERE- https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/508518162

See you there!

Ben Knorr
Virtual Tour Software & Professional Hotel Photography
Order a virtual tour: 866-947-8687

Announcing Accents Virtual Tours

2013-04-24T06:00:00.000-05:00

Accents Virtual Tours / Peachtree City, GA Virtual Your Company

Let our professional virtual tour photographer manage your digital marketing and virtual tour needs. Accents Virtual Tours, based out of Peachtree City, Georgia creates high resolution, HTML 5 virtual tours for real estate and businesses. We also offer many other powerful property marketing tools and services that help local business owners as well as real estate agents market themselves online.

Please allow me to do introduce myself on behalf of Accents Virtual Tours (AVT), Peachtree City Georgia. My name is Brenda Stewart, founder of Accents Virtual Tours. As a digital marketing company, we feature effective and value price marking solutions for your company needs.

We are dedicated to providing our clients with high quality, cost-effective products with an emphasis on customer service. Our Internet marketing includes full utilization of marketing, virtual tours, video tours, and the usage of our turbocharged media exposure engines to create visibility of our clients properties to prospects around the world by using the power of the Internet.

AVT specializes in online tours for real estate, healthcare, hospitality, and any owner of a local business large or small in Atlanta. Our services are just what you need to turn heads and make you look your very best online! We keep our virtual tour technology on the cutting edge. Just look for yourself: Peachtree City Virtual Tours

We keep our virtual tour system updated daily and new features are released on a monthly basis! Our interactive 360 virtual tours are published online quickly, contain a wide variety of features sets, offer flexibility, private labeling of your brand, and are very competitively priced in the market.

Accents Virtual Tours (AVT) is a locally owned provider, located in Peachtree City, Georgia, suburb of Atlanta Georgia. In 2012, AVT offers our services to throughout the Atlanta area.

Brenda Stewart
Accents Virtual Tours
http://www.accentsvirtualtours.com
Local- (678) 481-7274

Starting a Virtual Tour Business

2013-04-23T22:36:00.007-05:00

Since I didn't have a clue on what or how to do any of this virtual tour 'stuff', I began the process of researching! CALLING ALL RTV VIRTUAL TOUR PROVIDERS - One of the first things I did believe it or not was call two provincially 'local' RTV dealers. Carolyn Noel, Owner of PanaPix Virtual Tours in Aurora Ontario and Andre Carriere, Owner of Virtual Tour Visions.

Carolyn gave me a half hour of her time on the phone and offered me invaluable advice on how to launch my virtual tour business. The do's and don't s if you will. I was so encouraged after getting of the Tele with her!

Andre invited me to his territory in the Muskoka's and brought me to 3 real estate virtual tours! One of them was a 2 million dollar cottage on a lake front. He taught me about his shooting techniques, his photo editing process, and so much more on how to run a solid and very successful Virtual Tour Business!

You may be wondering what I learned from a half hour talk with Carolyn, and a day with Andre.. It would literally take me hours and hours to write it out.

The lesson for this post is to encourage you find a couple of RTV virtual tour providers yourself, give them a call, and open the lines of communication. It's great to find out how much we have in common.

I came across Carolyn and Andre's 360 tours and said to myself, 'I want to model these guys' and so I called them.

Mike Seiler
Owen Sound Virtual Tours
http://www.TourTank.ca
Order a Virtual Tour: 519-375-6585

Just Do It!

2013-04-22T22:19:00.000-05:00

Like many people, I thought I was not cut out for sales because I wasn’t afraid of prospecting and was sure that if I ever did get an appointment, I would make a fool of myself. He got me over my fear of prospecting by having me set appointments for him and tag along to learn. After many appointments like this, we showed up one night to an appointment and he said, “I am staying in the car - you’re doing this one yourself. Go get ‘em Tiger.”

I screamed, cried and cussed LOT but eventually I realized that he was standing his ground no matter how much I squalled so with much fear and trepidation, I dried my eyes and went in to the appointment and amazed myself by closing the sale! I never forgot the feelings of that moment and actually told that story at a memorial service for him after he died several years later.

I felt the same emotions when I showed up for my first triathlon. I was totally unprepared for the rush of fear and inadequacy as we pulled into the parking area on race day. Here I was 80 pounds overweight, with my big heavy $300 hybrid bicycle totally surrounded by all these ultra fit athletes and their $3,000 triathlon bikes. Like that night 10 years before, I began to cry. My husband lovingly told me that if I really wanted to, we could leave but that he knew that I could do it and that I would regret it if I didn’t at least try.

I finished that race number 390 out of 400 participants but the key is that I finished and the man I love was at the finish line cheering me on. I got the same t shirt as the person who won the race but I would be willing to be that I had a greater sense of accomplishment that day than that person did. And perhaps most importantly, finishing something like that gave me the confidence to try again and now I am training for my first half marathon which will be six weeks from today.

I still get butterflies in my stomach when I sit down to make cold calls for our virtual tour business or before I go into make a presentation. I also know that I will probably be just as scared the morning of the half marathon as I have ever been in my life. Being good at something - whether it’s sales or sports - isn’t about not being afraid. It’s about being afraid and doing it anyway.

Greg and Paige Mitts
Charleston Virtual Tours
http://www.VisionQuestVirtualTours.com
Order a Charleston, SC virtual tour: 404-863-9769

Choosing the Perfect Camera For Virtual Tours

2013-04-17T22:18:00.000-05:00

How to choose a camera to shoot your virtual tours:

Virtual tours are a visual experience, so naturally, you’ll want to take the best possible pictures of your property or business. But what kind of camera should you be using? Of course, you’ll need a digital camera so you can upload your images, but it can be difficult to choose between all of the various options on the market.

Here are some quick tips on choosing a digital camera that will give you great shots for your 360 virtual tours.

Resolution: Resolution, or photo quality, is one of the most prominent features for digital cameras. You’ll need the ability to take photos with a decent to high resolution for Internet display. At minimum, your camera should have a resolution of two megapixels (which is two million dots per image)—and if you want great quality, look for resolutions of six megapixels or more especially if you plan to offer your customers high quality images for print.

Zoom: A camera with good zoom quality will capture more detail and showcase noteworthy features in a virtual tour of businesses or properties. However, be aware that digital cameras have two types of zoom: digital and optical. You don’t really need digital zoom, because you can enlarge images digitally with your photo editing software. Otical zoom, which uses physical lens magnification for close-up pictures, is the better choice. Aim for 2x to 4x optical zoom when choosing your digital camera.

Screen: Nearly every digital camera comes with a preview screen that shows you the shot before you click the shutter button. When shooting your virtual tour, it’s handy to have a camera with a rotating flip-out preview screen. This makes it easier to view what you’re photographing and the final image at the same time, so you don’t have to keep looking up from the camera to reposition the shot.

Memory: While a few digital cameras rely solely on internal storage, most have a slot for an SD or mini-SD card, which allows you to store more pictures. It’s almost a necessity to have a camera with an SD card slot, because internal camera memory typically stores only around 5 to 10 images. SD cards come with different amounts of memory, usually measured in gigabytes (GB). With images shot in 6MP resolution, you can store around 950 on a 2GB SD card and about 7,600 on a 16GB card.

Battery: With LCD screens, built-in flash, and sound recording, digital cameras eat up batteries fairly quickly. Some digital cameras run on disposable batteries, while others have rechargeable battery packs. Since the cost of disposables can add up fast, it’s worth the investment to get a camera with rechargeable batteries. You should also pick up an extra battery pack, so you’ll always have a fresh battery ready while shooting your virtual tours.

Using these tips, you’ll ensure that you select a camera that has the features and functionality you need to create winning virtual tours using the RTV virtual tour software system.

Real Tour Vision
Virtual Tour Company
www.realtourvision.com
Order a 360 Virtual Tour: 1-866-947-8687

4 SEO Lessons of 2012

2013-04-16T14:23:00.000-05:00

Attention RTV virtual tour providers! SEO changed completely in 2012 starting with the Penguin update released in the early spring.

As websites were still recovering and finding their way around the new algorithm, Google then released the EMD update.

The rest of the year provoked even more scurry as refreshes were made to the Panda and Penguin updates.

If you look at 2012 as a trial, then look at 2013 as a chance to do SEO the right way. Most of Google's updates are applied to keep the search results fair and authentic. Here are 4 lessons that 2012 taught us about search engine optimization.

Longtail Keywords Are Good

Once upon a time, single keywords were all the rage but if you still use them, you are in for a shock. Longtail keywords are your friend.

The Penguin release aimed to penalize those who used keywords too much. This is easy to do with single ones but much harder with longtail options, especially when you use many in high quality content.

In fact, this will also help increase your traffic since 50% is from longtail searches.

To learn in 2013: opt for the longtail words that are commonly ignored and have high quality content. This will avoid penalties for over-optimization and increase the traffic to your website.

White Hat Is Your Friend in the virtual tour business!!

Thanks to the updates to Google's algorithm, black hat search engine optimization techniques are out and white hat techniques are in.

Black hat techniques simply gamed the system by using blog networks, questionable techniques for building links and spinning content. These will hurt your SEO campaign if you use them in 2013.

However, it does not mean that you can post some content that is high in quality and then sit back. You need to be more active.

Instead of buying links to your website, opt for some guest posting. There are also infographic campaigns that will help.

But it takes a lot of time, right? Unfortunately yes, and it can cost more money, but this is worth it when it lasts longer and you are rewarded for your efforts.

To learn in 2013: Black hat techniques will not work. If you want to be on the first page of Google permanently, you need to implement white hat SEO techniques.

New PR May Not be Relevant

Former members of Google's Search Quality Team released information regarding the PageRank on October 15, 2012.

While so many people obsess with PageRank, this is not as important to the search. It is about the quality of links and where they come from. It may sound strange but there is thought behind this.

Those with back links from PR0 or PR1 sites that are in close proximity to their niche are more likely to increase their positioning in searches than those posting on PR6 sites with no correlation.

To learn in 2013: Stop looking at the PageRank of websites when looking for back links and focus your efforts on whether they are related to your niche.

Develop a Real Internet Marketing Strategy

True internet marketers will dominate the web in 2013. These are people who create content that is buzzworthy and make people want to link naturally all the time and share with their friends.

Search engine optimization is no longer about automated software to help rank 100+ websites. Those who live in a bubble simply will not survive.

There are now many marketers who are looking away from the traditional techniques for search engine optimization and looking at the old school tactics to increase outreach. This natural approach to targeting specific traffic, sharing through social media and opting for high quality links is exactly what Google is looking for.

Too many people found a comfort in the traditional techniques for SEO but it is time to step out of that bubble and build relationships and your brand. Marketing is the best way forward.

To learn in 2013: Practice the real marketing techniques to build social shares and links.

If KM3 Media can help you determine more about online marketing, please email us, call us, or visit our website. We would love to help!

Kyle Murphy
Owner / Virtual Tour Provider
KM360 Virtual Tours
SLO Virtual Tours - A Sacramento Virtual Tour Company
Order a Virtual Tour: 916-517-0029

The "Why" Provides The Will

2013-04-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

I saw a cartoon on Facebook that said, “If you want me to go running with you, I"m going to need some motivation...Like a clown chasing us with a bloody knife and margaritas waiting on us at the finish line”. This was posted by a dear friend of mine who swears she could never run a race with me but now I realize that with the proper motivation, I could have her out on the road with me as I train for my half marathon.

When things get tough, it’s extremely important to understand the WHY of what you are doing if you want to find the WILL to continue. This is true for me whether it’s training for a race or marketing our virtual tour business. It’s especially important when the finish line is nowhere in sight. As I’ve said before, the difference between running a marathon and running a small virtual tour business is that with the small business there is no finish line!

Owning our own virtual tour business has been a wonderful experience but it is a roller coaster financially and emotionally. There are times that I wish that I could just go back to a regular job and get a regular paycheck. We focus primarily on healthcare virtual tours and have real estate virtual tours as a secondary source of income. This means that I am constantly having to prospect for new healthcare companies versus just waiting for the realtors to call me with their new listings.

When I get overwhelmed with the uncertainty of wondering when our next big job will come in, I have to remind myself of why we love what we do.

First, we absolutely believe that what we do makes a difference in people’s lives. Whether it’s someone looking for a new home or looking for a psychiatric treatment facility, big decisions are much easier when the big picture is available. Our virtual tours provide a one click overview of a facility that allows the viewer to get a true walk through of the space. Big decisions are fraught with uncertainty and a good virtual tour takes some of the uncertainty away.

Second, I get to work with my husband every single day and I LOVE that. Working with your spouse can have challenges but we have an amazing working relationship and have created a great balance between our work life and our love life. Sure I could get a job that provides me with a nice steady paycheck but it would mean that I wake up to an alarm clock every day and leave him at home because my husband is and always will be an entrepreneur!

The final WHY that gives me the WILL to continue is that I know that if I put the effort in, the results will come. Sometimes I long for the days where I had a paycheck direct deposited every two weeks but if I am honest our virtual tour business provides us with a much more dependable and predictable stream of income. I am not bound by someone else’s expectations or limitations in how much we earn or where we work. In a typical corporate sales job, when you do a great job, your territory gets cut or your commission structure changes. In our virtual tour business, the more focused I am on outbound marketing, the more money we make.

When I had a big corporate salary, I paid more taxes, had less time, had higher expenses and ended up with much less disposable income. Our income from our virtual tour business provides us with more happiness, more security, more time, and at the end of the day more money than we had when we had “real jobs” . Owning our own virtual tour company is not easy but it is definitely worth it!

Greg and Paige Mitts
Charleston Virtual Tours
http://www.VisionQuestVirtualTours.com
Order a Charleston, SC virtual tour: 404-863-9769

Welcome Tour Tank Productions!

2013-04-12T15:41:00.001-05:00

My name is Mike Seiler Owner of Tour Tank Productions and producer of Owen Sound Virtual Tours. I am very excited to be part of the Virtual Tour Industry and especially under the leadership and guidance of RTV. The Virtual Tour Industry is set to multiply several times over the coming years; what a perfect time to position ourselves to capture this expanding market!

My family had recently moved to the Owen Sound / Grey Bruce Area and as an entrepreneur I have been keeping my eyes and ears open for a Great Business Opportunity. A local mortgage guy had tipped me off about the lack of Quality Virtual Tours in the Grey Bruce Area.

Having started a club in the area 'The Grey BruceCompetitors Club', I decided that I could use the technology and software of a virtual tour business to add value to my club. I began to research Virtual Tour Software platforms and it wasn't long before I came across the RTV platform.

One Word. 'Sexy!'

This is it! I'm in! I was a little disappointed to see how little it costs to start such Valuable and Much Needed Business... All the more reason to run this race FAST, before they realize how fun and exciting this business is!!!

A few thousand dollars in hardware, software, and marketing materials; A couple of weeks of training, a couple of calls to some local RTV dealers (provincially that is), and my virtual tour business was launched!

I've done a couple of 360 virtual tours so far and each one I've learned some crucial things. I want to tell you how I'm set to make over a THOUSDAND DOLLARS ON ONE OF MY FIRST TOURS!!! Stay tuned!

Tour Tank Productions >>> TourTank.ca
The Grey Bruce Competitors Club >>> BurnTheCouch.com

Mike Seiler
Owen Sound Virtual Tours
http://www.TourTank.ca
Order a Virtual Tour: 519-375-6585

Don't Forget About Business Virtual Tours

2013-04-11T15:24:00.000-05:00

Real estate virtual tours are a fast, easy, and high-volume way to build your virtual tour provider business. However, the temporary nature and quick turnover rates of real estate tours mean lower profits per job. When you bring business virtual tours into the mix, you can enjoy a huge revenue boost along with the steady business of the real estate virtual tours.

Why businesses pay more for virtual tours
While real estate companies are out to attract buyers with virtual tours, businesses are after customers. A well produced interactive virtual tour can mean a substantial rise in business—so most companies are willing to make an investment in this powerful form of advertising. Business virtual tours are permanent presentations that can be used in multiple venues, both online and offline. They may also be more detailed jobs than real estate virtual tours, which means as a provider, you’re able to charge more for these services.

What kind of businesses use virtual tours?
You can market your virtual tour services to a wide variety of businesses across several different industries. Some of the biggest markets for business virtual tours include:

Hotels, motels, and lodges. While this category is similar to real estate, business and vacation rentals are considered businesses because ownership is not transferred when a customer rents a room, suite, or cabin.

Amusement parks and recreational facilities. These types of businesses use virtual tours to let visitors “experience” their attractions and entice them to come in for the real thing

Gyms and fitness clubs. These facilities can really shine with the opportunity to show prospective members their features, equipment, and more.

Of course, there are hundreds of businesses that can take advantage of virtual tours as a powerful marketing tool. Other examples include restaurants, malls and shopping centers, beauty salons, wedding venues, retail stores, campgrounds, parks and nature preserves, auto dealers, marinas, colleges and universities, casinos, kennels, convention centers, libraries, and more.

Put more effort into marketing your virtual tour services for businesses this year, and watch your profits soar!

Real Tour Vision
International Virtual Tour Company
www.realtourvision.com
Order a 360 Virtual Tour: 1-866-947-8687

Real Estate Photo Tips

2013-04-10T15:17:00.000-05:00

Increase Buyer Offers by Taking Great Real Estate Photography

When selling your home, real estate photos have much of the power. Great real estate photography will allow you to increase your price, help to attract more people and improve your marketing exposure. Here are some tips for taking photos to help sell.

Remove the Clutter

Clutter makes it hard to see the room so remove it before taking any photos. The rooms need to look presentable. Empty rooms are much easier to work with but it is possible to attract with furniture. Make sure all pieces match each other and the style of the home; avoid mixing old and new.

For those renting unfurnished, the photos should reflect that, so remove all items. The only time you could consider them is if they help to add character and style.

De-personalise the home by removing magnets, photo frames and decorations. It is harder to draw in buyers and renters. It is easy enough to hide them in cabinets and drawers for the photographs.

Staging the Home

Whether furnished or unfurnished, it is possible to make it look great through staging. When including furniture, it all needs to match. You could look at painting old pieces to update them and make them match. Avoid many different types of materials; they lead to clutter. When it comes to attracting buyers and renters, less is definitely more.

Staging companies are available for empty properties. These companies are excellent if you rent for $2000 per month or more. Property managers are divided on the view of staging. Some see it as a way to stand above the other listings while others see it as a low-return investment. Whichever one you view it as, it is worth being a consideration.

Avoid too many colors in the home and keep it neutral. Brown, gray, white and tan are excellent options; you can also opt for pale and non-vibrant blues. Re-painting your home makes it look like new and is one of the most affordable options; it just takes time.

Keep the decoration around the home simple and clean. Think of fruit bowls and set the dining table, if there is one.

Opt for a Wide-Angle Lens

Now your home is ready for its a virtual tour and pictures. You just need to decide on the type of photography equipment to use. When it comes to small rooms, wide-angle lenses are the best option. They help to make the room look bigger without stretching the photo.

Full frame cameras with rectilinear wide-angle lenses are great options. Consider the Canon 5D with the Sigma 120in lens. If budget is not a problem, consider medium format cameras for the best real estate photography. Yuri Arcurs, a top-selling stock photographer, states that his best results are from photography with a medium format camera and wide-angle lens. However, full frame cameras also offer good real estate photos.

As well as rectilinear and wide-angle lenses, think about fish eye lenses. These offer a curvature to the photos to curve any straight lines (rectilinear lenses do the opposite). While a real estate photographer may prefer the rectilinear lens because it offers a more realistic look, there is software available to help correct the curvature added with the fish eye. Adobe Photoshop is just one option to help correct the real estate photography; or you can opt for Apple Aperture, DxO Labs DxO Optics and Adobe Lightroom.

Taking Photos at Twilight

A good real estate photographer knows the importance of light. Having the best type of lighting will help the photos stand out from all the rest. The majority of shots are taken during the day but there are benefits of opting for twilight, including the cool colors in the sky.

To make the most of this type of real estate photography, you need to find out the time of sunset. This is easy through search engines by searching for your location and sunset time. Get ready to take the photos just as the sky starts to turn blue. You usually have about an hour to take the perfect photos before it becomes night time so you need to be ready. Remember your tripod for any long exposure shots.

If KM3 Media can help you determine more about online marketing, please email us at kyle@km3media.com, call us at 916-517-0029 or visit our website at www.km3media.com. We would love to help!

Kyle Murphy
KM3 Media
Sacramento Virtual Tours
www.km3media.com
Order a virtual tour: 916-517-0029

Every Business Has a Busy Season!

2013-04-09T15:11:00.000-05:00

Every business has a busy season. For retailers it’s the holiday season, for car companies it’s the new year's model, and for us it’s right now! This is the season when our rental clients have a narrow band of time for us to photograph rental properties that have been updated or new to the rental pool, and our realtor clients are bringing more properties online for sale. It’s also a time of less than predictable weather so we end up rescheduling filming of weather sensitive properties in some cases multiple times. This week alone we re-scheduled 18 virtual tours of properties because of weather.

Please give us as long a runway as possible when making your appointments. If you know a property will be ready four weeks from now, give us a call now and schedule it in advance. If you are not very concerned about weather for a particular property please let us know that when you schedule your appointment as we can often times move you up on the schedule if a cloud is coming into the picture at another location.

We schedule our appointments very close together during this busy season and you can help us stay on schedule. If possible please have the home ready before we arrive. The home being ready is having the pets removed from the residence, pet dropping removed from the yard, lights turned on and ceiling fans turned off and drapes opened the way you want them to look in the photos. Personal belongings should be out of sight and clutter should be put in closets, garage or storage. If the owner is in residence they may meet the photographer on-site but please tell them that they need to leave after a brief walk through.

Each year we have scheduling challenges during this time period and we get through it within a couple of weeks and then scheduling returns to normal. Please know that we are doing everything we can to schedule your photos and tours as soon as possible. Now if we could just control the weather…..

We appreciate you choosing us as your digital marketing partner.

Alan Fon

Corpus Christi Virtual Tours

http://www.IslandDigitalImages.com
Local - (361) 749-0901