A real estate agent contacted me two weeks ago disappointed with the amount of traffic his virtual tour was getting.  I went through my usual list of suggestions, he was already using Realtor.com, Postlets, MLS as well as the sites my Virtual Tour Company submits to.  So I checked his hit report for the tour in question and he really was getting almost no traffic.  So I started looking around for something extra to help this gentleman out.  Another Virtual Tour provider mentioned using craigslist adds with a graphical virtual tour link on them.

 So I took this suggestion back to my client and showed him how to put the ad on craiglist with the graphical link. Within a couple days his hits had gone up more than 700% and the next week almost 1500%, almost entirely from that craiglist ad.

I'm thinking I should send out an email to all my Minnesota virtual tour clients recommending they try the same kind of ad.

Here is the simple ad that he used:

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/rfs/596902204.html 

Jeff

http://www.loopphotography.com 

During a recent conversation with a Realtor who was ordering a Virtual Tour I was told that she had another listing coming up this week but she didn't feel it justified a Virtual Tour. I wonder how the undeserving home's owner would feel about this. Think about this quote I actually heard from someone using the internet to look for their first home...

"If I see a home listed somewhere on the internet and the agent didn't think it was worthy of a virtual tour then it probably isn't worthy of my time"

It's easy to see the logic of this thinking. I was also told by a long time Minneapolis Realtor recently that if he sees a listing on the MLS that doesn't have a large number of great pictures he won't bother sending that listing to his buyers. He assumes that these days if you don't have at least 10 great pictures the home must not be that great.

Don't play favorites with your sellers, after all, one of the great benefits of an interactive virtual tour is to show other potential home sellers that you are using the latest technology in your efforts to market homes. Make a Virtual Tour on every home an important part of your marketing plan and set yourself apart as a leader in your market place.

 Jeff

This is my first post here, so I'll start by introducing myself.  My name is Jeff Bartol and I am a Virtual Tour / Real Estate photographer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I started shooting for Realtors in 2003 and have since shot thousands of 360º virtual tours of residential and commercial properties in and around the Minneapolis / St. Paul area.  Not to long ago I started my own Virtual Tour company called loop.photography, www.loopphotography.com, in order to provide a level of service higher than otherwise possible.

At this point I can't imagine doing anything else, I love my job.  Something different everyday.  I recently heard about this site from another forum and thought I would check it out.  I am hoping to hear from Realtors out there regarding the kind of things they are looking for, that I can implement in my business to provide the best product possible. 

I would love to hear agents experiences with interactive 360º, good or bad, why they use them or why they don't.  I know a lot of agents order tours for every listing they get, be it $80,000 or $1,000,000.  Others think that a home has to "deserve it".  What do you think? Why?

Jeff

http://www.loopphotography.com