I have not posted in a while so this is going to be a bit long winded, but worth it. Something I have been thinking about alot lately and have discussed with a few people is how they went about choosing a virtual tour provider, and ultimately, why my product is better:)
I have seen many virtual tours on-line and although I am bias, I must say we have the best product on the market. Here are a few things I came up with that really set us apart from the competition:
1) How do you define a Virtual Tour?...In my eyes a virtual is not a slide show of still photos, but a true 360 degree interactive virtual tour is. Still photos are great, and we include a free slide show with our tours, but they only represent one area at one point in in time and then you have use your imagination to piece them all together. Our virtual tours are seamless 360 degree panoramic photos that allow you to navigate (more on this later) your way through the home at your own pace.
2) How long does it take the tour to upload?...I clicked on a competitors tour last week and it took 15 minutes for the tour to upload, no joke. I could have closed on another home in that time. With our tours the load in a matter of seconds and you can choose to view the tour using java or flash.
3) What is the quality of the images?...This one has a few parts to it so I will start with a) I have seen some tours out the that are shot using a "fish eye" or "bubble" lens. This can seriously distort the view and does not give a prospective client a true view. b) On other 360 degree tours, what is the pan speed like, too fast, too slow? And, is the pan smooth or choppy? I have seen some tours that have very choppy pans make the invidual pixels of the photos visible during the pan.
Our tours are seemelessly stitched and each individual photo of the 360 degree shot can be re-touched if needed to ensure high quality. Our photos give you a true view of the home because the pan is smooth and the speed can be adjusted at any time.
4) How do you move through the home?...I mentioned earlier being able to navigate through the home. Our Hot Spot navigation allows the user to move through the home at their own pace and gives the feeling as if they were actually there. I can also create custom hopspots using your logo which brand the tour and keep your company front and center while the user views the tour.
5) How do you know if the tour is working and getting out to prospective buyers?...I don't know how the competitors are tracking hits, but we do, and with much detail. Each week you will receive a detailed Hit Stats report of where the traffic to your tour is coming from. You can also check it any time by clicking on the small "rtv" logo at the bottom of the tour. Check it out, its amazing!
In many cases, I discussed cost as the last issue because I feel the the points above will give our tours far greater value regardless of cost. Take a look at our pricing and you will be surprised at how affordable our tours are. Our main goal is to be your marketing partner for life. We handle all products from start to finish, we take the photos, produce the tour and deliver a product that you are 100% satisfied with.
Aside from scheduled showings, open houses or visits to your business by potential clients/consumers, Virtual Tours offer you a new avenue for tracking your marketing efforts. In a bull or bear market, it is equally important to market you home or business effectively, and making sure those marketing dollars are paying off is paramount.
Our Virtual Tours also provide you with daily, weekly and monthly Hit Stat reports so you can see how many people have seen your tour and where they came from, whether it was through the single property web site or other sites.
Here are some example of different tour types and how many hits they have received. If you click on the small "rtv" logo at the bottom of the tour window, you can view the entire detailed report.
I have been getting a number of requests for corporate an business virtual tours. I have added a nice element to these tours that helps brand the tour by creating a custom hotspot using the company logo. They have gotten rave reviews. Take a look at this one.
I logged into my friends and family email account about a week ago and noticed an article on the home page of the website about creative homes that people have built. The picture on the home page sure was interesting, but left my mind after about a 10 minutes. Out of the blue, this photo entered my mind today as I was sitting at my laptop. I couldn't help but think that maybe the owner was looking into the future when they built this home
At the very least it gave me the idea for this blog entry. We hear alot these days about home owners having little or no equity due to the decrease in prices and increase in inventory. In times like these it pays to get maximum exposure of your listing. Virtual Tours can help do just the by reaching potential buyers not just locally, but nationally and even worldwide via the web.
Ever had this happen to you? Virtual tours can be a very powerful marketing tool for the when someone's spouse cannot be present for the open house or showing that a realtor has scheduled. We all know that the on-line real estate market is huge. This is precisely why I, and many other virtual tour providers, have become Full Service Dealers using the power of Real Tour Vision.
If you have single property website with your virtual tour it makes it very easy to have your spouse take a tour of the home when timing conflicts arise. Real estate professionals, homeowners, and business owners alike are finding that our virtual tours are a powerful marketing tool. Our tours are built with one goal in mind, create more interest so that aforementioned individuals are able to market their homes and businesses more effectively.
I'm not going to pretend to be knowledgable about NASCAR, but they do have it right. They put everyone on the track prior to the race, let them run their car and see where they should fit in for the actual race. I am going somewhere with this, I PROMISE.
I have to hand it to real estate agents. They spend valuable hours showing homes to prospective buyers along with all of their other daily activities. I think back to when I bought my home and I think I could have saved my agent valuable time and allowed her to show another prospective buyer homes that day, and maybe allowed her to get 2 sales that day. We did see a few still shots of the homes prior to the showing, but as we drove up to a couple of them, they were immediately at the back of the pack. Clearly those still shots didn't show us all that we needed to see. Had we been able to see more prior to our showing, we could have ruled out the homes we did not want to see.
To get to my ultimate point, our 360 Interactive Virtual Toursare becoming increasingly popular in the real estate industry and their expense can be justified by the man/woman hours that are saved by a potential buyer being able to thoroughly pre-qualify a home.
Listing and buying agents can use our virtual tours to help their clients find the home that will take the pole position and possibly allow then to wave that checkered flag more than once on any given "race day".
When I created Alterna Virtual Tours, I did so with one ultimate goal in mind. At first glance you may just think the answer is obvious, to provide virtual tours to local realtors, home owners, and businesses. But the real answer is I wanted to create the ultimate sales and marketing tool for the aforementioned individuals. 360 dergree, interactive virtual tours are a powerful tool that any consumer can use to effective market a home or business, among other things.
The bottom line is, I don't want to be just the "Virtual Tour Guy", I want to be your sales & marketing partner for life.
Don't get me wrong, still photos of a home are great, but I would prefer to call the "Highlight Photos". No matter how many still photos are taken of a home, you really don't get the whole picture. That is where a 360 degree interactive virtual tourwidens the gap in internet advertising. A 360 degree interactive virtual tourgives you the whole picture. You can "stand" in each room of the home and see what is around every corner. Our revolutionary Hot Spot Navigation gives you the freedom to roam the home on your own pace. Strategically taken "Highlight Photos" will accentuate the finer features of the home. The stacked stone fireplace, the shiny hardwoods, the sought after walk-in closet, or whatever the home has to offer. Go to www.1770EversedgeDrive.com and see for your self.
Here at Alterna Virtual Tours, I recently had a client ask me, "What photo should we use for the PanoRider?" Well, eventually I began to really think about this and ask myself the following question. What attracted me to my home? When we drive by a home, the exterior is the first thing that peaks our interest, but we all know we cannot judge a book by its cover. Should it be the master bedroom, I thought. We spend 8-10 hours per day in there, but then again, 95% of that time our eyes are closed. So, I scratched that off my list. Next was the full, finished basement. Game room, media room, who wouldn't want this? But, do I want to focus my marketing efforts around a room that is underground, no. Then it hit me, the kitchen is where it is at! Every day we cook, eat, wash dishes, and invariably, every time we have guests, we always end up in the kitchen. Kitchens catch the eye of prospective buyers in a big way so it makes sense that your PanoRider showcases your kitchen. Afterall, home is where the hunger is!
A Virtual Tour is a powerful marketing tool for any real estate professional. Let's face it, in today's world, of blogging and social networking sites, most home buyers start their search for a new home on-line. In many cases, they do this prior to looking for a realtor. A 360 degree, Interactive Vitual Tour will make a listing stand out, and give consumers the ability to have their own Open House, any time, any where.
As a full service Virtual Tour provider, serving Cherokee and surrounding counties, I am not interested in just building your tour. I want to build a relationship and work with you to customize the tour so that you can showcase the home the way you want it. Using our custom Hot Spot navigation, your buyers can "Walk" through the home at their leisure. Our new hit stat report will allow you to see how many people are viewing you tour on a weekly basis and how they are getting to the tour.
Disclaimer: ActiveRain Corp. does not necessarily endorse the real estate agents, loan officers and brokers listed on this site. These real estate profiles, blogs and blog entries are provided here as a courtesy to our visitors to help them make an informed decision when buying or selling a house. ActiveRain Corp. takes no responsibility for the content in these profiles, that are written by the members of this community.
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