Pictures speak louder than words. Take a few moments and check this out. August Gilges (www.ZingDing.com) contacted me a couple of months ago. A client wanted to order a custom eCard but needed a photographer.

The home is incredible, and we debated about whether the homeowner wanted a Hi-Def virtual tour as well as photography. Executive decision time. :) I did the hi-def tour. If he chose not to use it, I'd use it as a sample of my work.

(Who built that masterpiece? Leon Simms, the homeowner!)

Real estate marketing begins with high-quality photography, and we are honored to be a part of yours!

"You don't have to know how to do everything...you just have to know who to call."

A "FSBO" (for sale by owner) called to ask that I do a virtual tour of his home. The tour was done. The homeowner explained that Bill Bayless had previously done the photography of his home, and the homeowner asked if I would consider using Bill's photographs in my virtual tour. My heart swelled. The chance to use legendary Bill Bayless' work on my tour was exhilirating. I asked that Bill copyright his work, because I want to give him credit for the stellar work that he does. Bill and I have since become friends, and we do lunch when we can.

While doing the same virtual tour, I advised the homeowner to contact Rob and LiAnne Ames of www.HigherImagePhotography.com for an exterior photo of the home. Rob and LiAnne Ames are able, as their company name suggests, to take photos from "up in the air." Many real estate professionals in the Portland and Vancouver area call on Rob and LiAnne as their secret weapon. The exterior photo of the above tour is indeed Higher Image Photography's work, not my own.

In today's market we have all got to think *outside the tour.*

Who would you consider your most valuable resource?

What you hear is "We decided to take the house off the market over the holidays." What you see is that property being listed with someone else within a week.

As soon as the sign is in the yard, every perceived promise you made at the listing appointment is going to be under the microscope. Homeowners are on realtor.com or your local MLS in a New York minute comparing the marketing done on their own home versus that on the same-floor-plan neighbor's house.

"The house across the street looks much better." "They have a *real* virtual tour, not a slide show like we were given."

It's not all about getting homeowners to sign. That's where it begins.

An agent can put genuine virtual tours and photography on 20 homes for less than the commission on *one* $300k house at 6%. Looking at this from another angle, a homeowner is *much* less likely to change agents if they feel their property is being marketed properly.

Ya think?

At any given time, when spending precious gas combing the neighborhood we've decided to move to,

Five homes have For Sale signs, 3 of whose flyer boxes are empty.

One of the remaining 2 homes has a property-specific website such as www.MettlerManor dot info which directs viewers to your stellar 360° virtual tour (or your 4 best still photos).

These potential clients/buyers come away with

• 2 flyers
• on one of the flyers is simply www.MettlerManor dot info, from which they can download the flyer.

Who pays attention to your marketing?

• The homeowner (if the flyer box is empty, you're going to hear about it in a New York minute)
• Neighbors who have been thinking about putting their house up for sale
• Buyers who need a listing agent for their own home

Who are you (as the listing agent) trying to reach?

Designated Brokers know all too well that when one of their agents loses a listing, the agent hurts more than her own reputation (our agent was with FillInTheBlank).

"Our last realtor dazzled us with the offer of a Virtual Tour and was friendly. Sign us up!

"The real estate sign was up quickly, then the flyers came ... and we kept waiting to see the Virtual Tour. It never showed up. Finally our agent told us to go to www.RMLS.com and input your listing number, then click on Virtual Tour!

"It was nothing but a SLIDE SHOW."

It's not hard to spend money on marketing real estate. 800 flyers x 39 cents is $312 (plus tax) by itself. In today's market, I have no idea how many flyers are used. Many homeowners would be offended if their agent wasn't driving over at least twice a week to refill the box. (You must not be doing your job!)

Consider the expense of a virtual tour.

Add a sign rider with a panorama on it and a "dot info property-specific web address." We began offering these to our clients a couple of years ago, and they have really evolved. If the flyer box is empty, people can copy down the property-specific web address and check it out when they get home. These viewings amount to as many as our local MLS and realtor.com combined. Some folks see the logic in putting one flyer only which cannot be removed, and replacing the "refill frenzy" with the sign rider. Homeowners feel special. Buyers can see "the inside of the house" and don't need to get out of the car for a black and white flyer that does less to help the sale of the house than the rider does. You save money.

One of my clients used to handle small business bankruptcies before she retired. She explained that small business owners spend money on the wrong marketing. Many times they were just dumbfounded. "I don't understand why it didn't work. I spent all kinds of money on marketing!"

Consider carefully where you invest your marketing dollars. Can you really analyze what works? What speaks loudest to your clients.

My clients find that sending preparation tips to make sure the house is in show condition, then following up with a virtual tour (they use our still photos in their marketing), will cost them much less in the long run, because the homeowner can "see and feel" the marketing they are doing.

Today, I met with a Paula Short, graphic artist/web designer and am happy to say I am adding her to my Resources page (cough -- it will be up in a couple of days!) on my web site. She's local (Portland, Oregon), and that's really important to those who want to have a face-to-face meeting with people before they do business. Now I will be able to refer them to someone local who has 20+ years varied experience. Her sister is a real estate agent, and Paula designed her website as well. Here is Paula's website.

What I liked about Paula is that as soon as we were put in contact, she suggested a meeting at Starbucks (a major plus!). We're in related fields (web sites and virtual tours), and our skills dovetail very well.

Like me, many people go through a few web sites (the free one, the bargain one, then one that actually works). They ask where to go for a good website. My web site guy is in Mainland China. This worked well for me because I would communicate everything in writing, then he'd do it. If it wasn't the way I wanted it, I'd re-read my instructions and always get a good laugh out of it. As I say, though, lots of people want to talk things out.

Paula whipped out one of those new IPODs! What a trip those are! Click, you're on YouTube. Click, you're on her website. Click, you're looking at the photo of me that she took when I wasn't looking (now that was scary).

Have a great evening!

I just saw an article you may want to read if you are willing to try DIY systems!

Why am I sharing this with you?

Because so much of my business is gained after well-meaning Realtors have called me in desperation after photographing their listings ("Hey, here's a corner I can cut!"), returned several times when the homeowners were not home ("I'm still saving money!"), turned out a poor quality flyer, then given up, several days later.

I respect the amount of money Realtors have to invest just to get going. It's almost scary.

The investment in a quality virtual tour is so tiny and goes so far. Can't tell you how many times I've heard my realtors on the phone "Well the photographer is here right now," or the homeowner on the phone "My Realtor had a photographer come out to do a REAL virtual tour--you should see..."

It makes me smile :)

Daves View in Kalama, Washington, is known for homes that knock your socks off. The Columbia river separates Oregon and Washington from east to west almost the entire length of the state, then takes an approximate 90 degree turn north at the southwest corner. Follow it north a ways, and Kalama overlooks it.

I've been blessed to be asked to do countless virtual tours of homes overlooking the Columbia. I thought you'd enjoy this one in Kalama. Walls almost 30 feet tall in the great room are just the beginning. I can't even describe it. If you're a real estate professional in the area, you owe it to yourself to check this castle out. Stained glass windows between rooms? (You can just see it peeking at you in the master bathroom.)

Thanks go out to Dennis Jensen of Century 21. A true professional trusts another true professional to "do their magic."

Dawn Shaffer, General Manager, All About Virtual Tours LLC www.aavtllc.com

It was a surprise to me that one of my favorite virtual tours, a million-dollar-plus home in Ridgefield, WA, has received more hits (viewings) from realtor.com than our local MLS.

A lot of people assume that because their listing is on realtor.com that their tours are too. Remove the wool, people. You might be overlooking more powerful marketing than your local MLS.

Take a moment and click on the small blue circle at the bottom of the tour to examine this hit report. 

Now, think how reassuring it is to the homeowner to be able to see for themselves that you're "putting the tour out there for everyone to see."

It used to blow me away what a small percentage of realtors will pay the $25 to link virtual tours to their listings. If $25 will get your listing more viewings than you receive on your local MLS, maybe you should think about it.