Are Virtual Tours Worth the Expense?

East Bay CA virtual tours cost anywhere from $100 to over $400. Whether you are a seasoned real estate professional or just getting started, you watch every penny you spend on a listing, right? And what about Short Sales and REO listings, do you spend money to advertise these? So why should you spend the extra $100-$400 for a virtual tour or professional photography???

Many real estate agents might answer... to make the seller happy or to show the seller what you are doing for them to help sell their home, right? Or, you may (rightfully) believe that the virtual tour will help sell the house by giving both local and out-of-town relocation prospects the opportunity to walk-through the house (in their pajamas) to see how beautiful it is, what the layout looks like, maybe you even include a floor-plan!

These are both good reasons, but let's not forget the third and I think, most important reason... marketing and exposure for the AGENT! Getting YOUR NAME out there in front of potential sellers and buyers, getting exposure for yourself and your property! Moving your name up in the Google Search and to show your sellers as well as potential buyers and sellers how professional you are!

East Bay Virtual Tours Promote You!

If you are hiring a virtual tour company to photograph your listing, create a virtual tour and then send you the code to include in your listing, that's great, but what about EXPOSURE! When you look for a virtual tour company to represent you and your sellers, ask these questions:

1. Are they a local company with an actual person you can call directly or do you go through a national number to schedule an appointment?

2. Where is the virtual tour hosted and how long has that company been in business?

3. What is the marketing background of the company, do they understand real estate, social media, property and personal brand/name marketing? Yes, this is photography, but marketing is what it's all about, right?

4. Where will they distribute your virtual tour and/or do they just send you a "link" and you have to distribute it yourself?

5. Will they create and distribute a YouTube presentation for you?

6. Will they create and post a Craigslist Ad for you?

7. Will they blog/Twitter/promote your virtual tour/listing?

These are just a few of the questions you will want to ask before you decide if it is worth the expense. And then, ask yourself, where else can I spend $100-$200 and get all of the above marketing and exposure for my listing and myself?

A newspaper ad cost at least this much and will only be in front of your potential prospects for 1-2 days and you what about post cards? You will spend about $1 per post card so you can send about 100-200 post cards which will probably go into the trash! East Bay Virtual Tours are one of the best cost/benefit options available today for the real estate market but only if you find a provider that provides all the benefits mentioned above!

To learn more about Virtual Tours in the East Bay and all over the San Francisco Bay Area, visit Property Marketing Studios located in Dublin California. Better yet, sign up for our trademark "Brokers Pajama Tour" and see the latest property listings in your pajamas... :)
East Bay Virtual Tours and Property Marketing Studios welcome your comments and opinions...

Best Regards,

Tim Denbo
Property Marketing Studios
Dublin Virtual Tours
www.PMStudios360.com
Order a virtual tour: 925-549-0714

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Bring Properties to Life with RTV Interactive Floor Plans

RTV is pleased to announce that they've gone live with their new Interactive Floor Plan System powered by Icovia. Icovia is the industry standard for online space planning.

The Interactive Floor Plans are launched directly from your client's online property listings, their buyers browse detailed floor plans branded with your client's corporate identity. And coming this spring your agents will be automatically alerted when users save, print or share the floor plan.

You have a couple options to choose from when using your floor plan software:

~Draw your own floor plans in minutes by tracing over a sketch or starting from scratch.
~Or have Icovia draw the floor plan for you ONLY TWENTY BUCKS!!! Just email or fax your floor plan sketch to them and they'll do the rest.

The RTV Interactive Floor Plan is an amazing online tool for planning and designing spaces. The floor planner makes it easy to recreate an entire house or you can create professional floor plans in minutes.

Easily Create Floor Plans

Point and click to add walls and drag-and-drop windows, doors and other items. Plans can be added by your agents, a measuring service, or by the Icovia design team.

Integrate Photos and Tours

The RTV Interactive Floor Plan combines function and finesse to make your property shine. Include photos, panoramas and virtual tours of your properties and watch your listings come to life.

In addition, an integrated reporting tool gives you real-time access to user registration data and performance metrics. Identify top properties and help your clients reach new buyers.

Features Include:

~Launching directly from online property listings Branded with your client's corporate identity, both in the viewer and the printouts.

~Easy to use – no software to install.

~Link to photos and virtual tours.

~Integrated collaboration tools for prospects and agents.

~Capture detailed buyer information – Coming soon!

~Powerful reporting tool identifies top properties and interested buyers.

Benefits Include:

~Generates registered contacts for your agents – Coming soon!.

~Engages prospects and creates excitement about property listings.

~Gives agents another way to identify and collaborate with prospective buyers

~Differentiates your company and your client's company.

Help bring your client's properties to life with interactive floor plans. Join the list of leading companies that use the Interactive Floor Plans powered by Icovia to convert web traffic into contact lists for your Client's potential buyers.

This technology leapfrogs the floor plan technology of your competitors with its unique ability to add photos, panoramas, AND move furniture around! Take a test drive of the new RTV Interactive Floor Plan System today!

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Are Social Sites Costing you Money?

Imagine your virtual tour customers seeing an embarrassing photo of you. How would you feel? Do you ever want a business client to read your comments about a bad day at work? How about your personal problems?

If you use Social Media for both your virtual tour business and personal life, you need to be careful! Here at Real Vision Studio, a Detroit Virtual Tour Company in South East Michigan, a full service virtual tour provider for RTV, we need not only maintain a level of business decorum for ourselves, but for the reputation of RTV.

RTV is a global company and maintains several national accounts that they are affiliated with, hence the need for professionalism on both your part and corporates.

Below are some excellent articles that provide examples of how (not) to use social media appropriately, while maintaining your reputation.

~How to tweet your way out of a job

~Social media can get you in trouble!

~How not to embarrass yourself when using Facebook

~Be careful what you post

Mike and Joy Thompson
Detroit Virtual Tours
www.realvisionstudio.com

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November Marketing Pieces

This month we decided to focus on our new Interactive Floor Plan Software & Space Planner technology program that we are thrilled about. This amazing program is just one more service that will expedite sales and enhance your virtual tour business over any other competitors out there offering just plain old floor plans.

There is a brand new 2 page floor plan flyer as well as a interactive floor plan postcard connected to this topic to help you spread the word to your clients.

With the holidays are rapidly approaching, we created a simple “we’ve missed you” postcard that can be sent out to previous clients that you haven’t heard from in awhile. It is always a good idea to keep your company name fresh and in front of potential clients.

Lastly, dance studios are another business that you may have overlooked. This is a great example of a business that could benefit from a virtual tour. Take a moment and look in your local phone book, you will be surprised how many studios there really are.

Real Tour Vision Marketing "We've got the goods!"
Interactive Floor Plan Software
Virtual Tour Marketing

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The FORMULA 'Setting up Shop' Outline

Tuesday's Show "Setting up Shop" was a fantastic hit altogether! Nearly 100 RTV providers joined us for what it now going to be a two part series. Four of RTV's top virtual tour providers had a round table discussion on how they setup their successful virtual tour companies and why they have remained dedicated to the RTV virtual tour technology for so long.

Stay tuned for part two of "Setting up Shop" sometime in early January. The line in the outline below indicates how far we made it during our first show.

Recruiting Your First virtual tour Customers
learn about your customers needs
learn about your competition
form your customer advisory board
attend weekly sales meetings

Setting up shop
Selecting the right name
Logo design
Website and hosting
Brochures
print yourself vs. local printing vs. Vistaprint
Computer hardware
what hardware is suggested -> best pricing
Software
suggestions on what to buy -> best pricing
photo processing
work flow tracking (appointments, work process, billing)
Quick Books
_________________________________________________________________

Setting up Shop II - Look for this episode of "The FORMULA" show in early January

Process Flow
setting Appointments -> onsite filming -> offsite processing
total turn around time
what services will you provide
packages
options

Credibility boosters
business cards
business insurance (liability and bonding)
local phone number
fax number
PO box
toll free number

Affiliate to local MLS
get involved
sponsor classes

Expanding your business
continuous improvement
recruitment and hiring

Blogging in the virtual tour provider blog at RTV. Why you MUST use the RTV blog to link back to your site if you want #1 Ranking

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The Image Gets Results

Jane Jones from Texas writes-
Wow Ben – it was a fantastic IMAGE tonight – I keep learning – thank you so much for ALL YOU DO!

QUESTION: What WB would you suggest with these new funky ECO lights?

Ben Knorr from RTV -
That is a great question Jane and thank you for coming to our show. The new eco friendly lights are really just compact florescent lights. So I would say to try using the white balance setting for florescent lights when shooting in an area where these lights are the primary light source. Now if these lights happen to be in a room where they are not the primary light source then I would set the white balance to the primary light source in the room. If you are in a room with a lot of windows and a lot of sunlight then I would set the white balance to the sun, open shade, or cloudy setting depending on the day.

Thanks again and we will see you on the next episode of The IMAGE!

Ben Knorr
RTV

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It's Karma Baby

What goes around comes around | What happens when RTV dealers support each other by Nancy Bain

We were lucky to have a couple week's head start with the RTV TxT Connect program in Nova Scotia and Canada. Setting up the white label website was easy, add your company information and it's ready to go.

You may remember an earlier blog when I talked about visiting a handful of Nova Scotia Realtors and showing them first hand the Text Connect product. I was surprised how this simple technology needed a hands on demonstration.

Since my initial face to face visits, I have concentrated on advertising heavily with print media and email campaigns in my market area, Nova Scotia. But, the phone just wasn't ringing. My nightly check with google analytics revealed visitors to the site, but no one was ordering?

You may also remember that this Nova Scotia girl was introduced to RTV by a fellow dealer while on a business trip to Florida in June. Dave Hall of Listing Solutions in Florida, raved about RTV and Inner Circle Marketing. I could tell he was "pumped" and his enthusiasm was contagious.

I contacted Dave who I know to be an excellent salesman (this guy could sell beach rocks) and asked him how he was making out with Text Connect. "I just sold my first two today!" he said. In retrospect, I'm not sure why I was surprised.

Dave took the time to tell me how he took advantage of the 10 free codes, had signs made up and visited offices. He offered either his virtual tour clients or the top salesman an opportunity to "try" Text Connect for 30 days. He told them they would be doing him a favor by checking out this new technology, monitoring response and getting back to him. While "out and about" and "face to face" with his clients, he made two sales.

Dave encouraged me to "get in their face". He said "people buy from people" and told me my personality would help win them over. (Dave is also a really nice guy) He said if I was struggling with my confidence, to take a power point presentation, play it and then have a question and answer period.

I customized the powerpoint presentation made available for Text Connect at www.rockpointemarketing.com. You can check it out on my other services page at www.supernovastudios.ca And I've set up 5 of my free codes today with listing information I had on file from my Nova Scotia virtual tour clients. Tomorrow I'll order my signs and by next week I'll be knocking on doors.

When I thanked Dave for his time, compassion and expertise, he said, "No problem, another RTV dealer told me how they did it and now I'm telling you". "It's karma baby!"

What goes around comes around. Thank you Dave. For everything.

Order your Nova Scotia virtual tour or Text Connect (www.CellThisHouse.com) today.

Nancy Bain
Supernova Studios
Nova Scotia Tours
159 Alexandra Ave.
Bridgewater, NS
Order a Virtual Tour: 902-543-2185

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Life on Lake Leelanau

LAKE LEELANAU was known by two other names. The very first was Ke-ski-bi-ag which means in the native language Narrow Body of Water. This was because until the dam was built at Leland, it raised the water level behind it, the stream ran from the south to the north and it certainly was narrow. The original settlers planed a vineyard and farmed their acreage. When the village expanded they changed the name to Provement which stayed that way until the 1920’s when it was named Lake Leelanau that lies on their side of it.

To date, when you pull in the docks and the hoists you know the season is totally finished on Lake Leelanau. It is such a bitter sweet moment when our outdoor service gets in the cold water with their waders on and starts taking everything apart and placing them on our side lawn. The kayaks, canoes, paddles are stored upside down and all of the Lake Leelanau memories of spring and summer are just a past thought. I love looking on the Lake Leelanau open water from our large windows. At the end of October the light is fading but we always see in our minds eye Lake Leelanau’s sparkling diamond waves.

To see some of the many wonderful virtual tours of Lake Leelanau Homes please be sure to check out my virtual tour gallery. As the most tech savvy real estate agent in Leelanau County you can rest assured that you will receive an interactive 360 virtual tour on every home that you decide to list and sell with me. Call me today and I will make your "Life on Lake Leelanau" dreams come true!


Judy Levin, e-Pro Realtor
Leelanau County Specialist
Leelanau Homes For Sale
http://www.leelanaurealestate.com/leelanau/

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Become a Creative Virtual Tour Photographer

This is my latest blog entry about becoming a more creative and inventive photographer both with my Spokane virtual tour business and my personal photographs. I’ll share some of the techniques I use to boost my creativity and I’ll show you how I’ve learned to be more imaginative with my photography. It would be nice if I could help you to become a more creative and inventive virtual tour photographer too. It also would be nice if I could help someone to hone their creative approach (should you choose to accept them).

I have found that there’s no simple formula out there for creativity when on a virtual tour shoot or when taking a walk in the park. It seems to be something that is just within each and every person and it is different for each and every one of us. When trying to come up with a truly unique picture, it is important to see what’s really there as opposed to what you expect to see. I try to focus on what matters.

What’s important within the photographic frame. In other words, to focus on something is to pay attention to it. How you focus your shot as well as what it is your shooting, has a lot to do with the success or failure of that shot.

And to me, I must truly care about what I am shooting to come up with the creative juices to see a photographic project to the end. A lot of people think that photography can be done casually, but in reality (or virtual reality), the more effort you put into your work, the more you will get back. I had to look up what my old college professor had to say about focus and he says the following; "By understanding how to focus an image, you’ll clarify your compositions. Techniques for discovering and better acknowledging the true subject of your photos will help you be direct in delivering the power of your imagery. Also, by focusing on what really matters to you and your life, you’ll be able to integrate personal passion with your photography, and start on the life-long journey of discovery that true artists make."

Wow, that says it all doesn't it. You know, I am passionate about shooting flowers, and I probably could be happy shooting flowers for the rest of my life. Flowers aren't the subject matter for everybody, or even the only subjects for me, but I think they're beautiful and the possibilities for color and variety seem to be endless.

Also, there is a very different feeling between images that are completely in focus, and ones that are partially focused in order to emphasize a particular part of the flower.
Sometimes photographs are just casual, or sort of a "grab shot" in response to a situation, and that's ok. But I think that more often than not, an image is really improved by a sense of where you might be going visually right from the start. And that is another thing you can do, pre-visualize. It becomes a skill of knowing in advance how an image will come out depending on the decisions you make in capturing the image and to "focus" on what the photo is really about.

See if you can apply some of these techniques to your local virtual tour business. Good luck out there!

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

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Persistence Pays

We now have lived in our new community nearly 8 months, moving from Northern Illinois to Corinth in NE Mississippi. Up North snow is predicted this week, here our outside flowers are still in bloom.

We have continued to "cold-call" to initiate new business relationships.
We attend all Chamber activities and continually meet new people, providing new networking channels. Recently we did a virtual tour of a commercial building for the Alliance (our Chamber of Commerce). Our Chamber actively promotes the sale of existing commercial properties. This property can be seen at http://rtvpix.com/RC-3888-ZBIZZF-01?h=500&w=700.
It will soon be listed at a commercial property site, http://www.tvasites.com and will stand apart from other properties because it has a tour.

Before moving here, we had no idea we were going to live so close to several large resort communities--Muscle Shoals, AL., and Pickwick Lake, TN. After repeated visits to several Realtors/property managers at Pickwick Dam, TN., we landed our first agency http://www.baugus.com. The arrangement has proven beneficial to us on various levels. Finally we can showcase our work in the local market! These weekend homes are quaint and beautiful, with lakefront acreage or situated on coves. One of those homes can be seen at Corinth Home Tour

Next week we will be meeting with a Corinth, MS Realtor. (It took 4 call-backs to finally get this promising appointment.) I guess my advise is stay the course with your cold-calling; soon they will be calling you!

Hugh Jordan
www.seeitsellstudios.com
Corinth Virtual Tours
Corinth, MS
Order a virtual tour today! 662-664-0965

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BlueLaVaMedia Announces TxT Connect | Lead Capture System

Get Connected & Capture More Leads with BlueLaVaMedia!

The BlueLaVa TxT Connect System is an all new mobile marketing service that uses SMS ("text messaging"). This technology makes property information instantly available on mobile phones and yields lead generation for real estate agents and rental management companies.

"Text messaging" is the fastest growing form of communication and BlueLaVaMedia, Traverse City's Premier Virtual Tour Company is very excited to offer this unique and powerful marketing tool to you at a very low cost. The BlueLaVa TxT Connect mobile marketing / lead capture system is available 24/7 and works by instantly responding to requests for detailed property information from potential buyers.

• The Traverse City Real Estate agent simply adds a sign rider with a property identifier and a short code to their yard sign.
• The cell phone user sends a text message such as "JBlue" to the short code "43766".
• Within seconds the BlueLaVa TxT Connect system delivers detailed property information to their cell phone.
• The agent controls the information in the download. It can include prices, features, and direct web links to photos, as well as agent contact information.
  

Some of the key benefits of the BlueLaVa TxT Connect system include:

• Takes advantage of today's text popularity and smart phone technology
• Easy to use for the prospect - 154 million people in the US text daily, 107% year/year increase, median age 38, in 2007 36% of American Seniors who own a cell phone text
• Easy to setup for the realtor - completely portable from property to property
• Generates leads to your phone and email
• No more empty flyer boxes - disappointing prospects and clients
• Inspires confidence in YOU, shows that you are tech savvy
• BlueLaVaMedia's incredibly low pricing makes this a *** Best Buy ** for your advertising dollar - as low as $2.95 per month, per listing when purchasing our Best Buy 10 property pack!!

Once the cell phone user connects to the BlueLaVa TxT Connect system the callers cell phone number is captured so that the agent may follow-up with a phone call. It's that simple, the agent has a new lead to call. You never got that from your old flyer box now did you? Did I mention that you will never have to fill up a flyer box again?

Are you ready to be one of the first savvy Traverse City Real Estate Agents to offer the most advanced marketing and lead generation technology available? Sign up now by visiting our site below and remember that you get ALL this for TEN of your listings for a mere $29.00 per month! Let's see it cell!

Give the BlueLaVa TxT Connect System a Try Now!
Send Text Message 'JBlue'
To Phone Number '43766'

Traverse City Virtual Tours & Advanced Property Marketing
http://www.BlueLaVaMedia.com
Order a virtual tour today: 877-941-TOUR (8687)

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Lake Leelanau Real Estate Agent

Hello everyone!! Lots of waterfront Lake Leelanau bargains and special pricing in Empire, Northport, Suttons Bay, Maple City and Cedar. Leland and Glen Arbor are still strong in pricing. Coming soon is a Omena Point estate on 200 ft of sand frontage with 2+ acres of hard wood forest. House is custom contemporary with guest house priced at $699,000. The trustees are still working out all the particulars before it can be put on the market. Call me if you want to be on Omena Point!! Check out my virtual tour gallery!

Now with regards to the tax credit:

The first major change to the $8,000 home buyer's tax credit began moving through Congress the last week of September, giving hope to real estate and building groups pushing for extension of the entire program before it expires November 30, 2009.

House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Congressman Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, combined several smaller bills into the "Service Members Home Ownership Act of 2009", with a floor vote expected soon.

The bill is intended to correct a flaw in the original tax credit legislation: By requiring buyers to occupy and own their first home for 36 months to fully qualify for the credit, the program creates serious problems when military, Foreign Service and intelligence agency personnel are transferred overseas.

During their absence, they are not occupants of their houses, and sometimes have to rent them out or sell. Any of these events make them ineligible to retain the $8,000 credit under current law. Ineligible buyers must then repay the credit to the IRS.

Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer, sponsor of one of the bills consolidated into Rangel's, said "it is absurd that thousands of Americans serving our country, away from friends and family ... must choose between their service work and home ownership."

The Ways and Means committee's bill would waive the repayment requirement when a service member must sell a home within the 36 month period because of a transfer to a new duty station or overseas, and would count service-related absences toward the 36 month requirement.
Another provision in the bill would extend the $8,000 credit for another year for personnel who may have missed out on claiming the credit because they thought they wouldn't qualify due to an overseas posting.

The credit for these individuals would be extended to November 30, 2010 from November 30, 2009, provided the served outside the U.S. for at least 90 days during calendar year 2009.
The bill, which has bipartisan support, could be sent to the Senate for action as early as next week, Congressional sources told Realty Times.

More important for the housing market overall, however, is the precedent set by the bill's extension of the credit for an extra year. It's not a far leap from that position to a general extension of the entire $8,000 credit program to the same date.

The National Association of Realtors, National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association jointly sponsored an ad campaign aimed at convincing Congress to give the credit program another year.

Judy Levin, e-Pro Realtor
Leelanau County Specialist
Leelanau Homes For Sale
http://www.leelanaurealestate.com/leelanau/

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The IMAGE | Cannon Rebel Xsi Training Class

Please feel free to join us for a FREE episode of "The IMAGE" this Tuesday at 7:00 Eastern. This episode will be covering a full RTV training session on the Rebel XSi.

Have you ever wanted to know more about the Canon Rebel XSi? Would you like to get an inside look at the camera RTV recommends and why we recommend this camera for producing your virtual tours?

In this RTV webinar we will be discussing the operation of and settings for the Canon Rebel XSi. This is the camera that RTV recommends and includes in our complete virtual tour software kit. You will see how to operate this camera first hand and learn its controls. Ben Knorr will also go over some photography settings that work well for this camera.

Don't fret if you use another brand or model of camera, this webinar will cover numerous camera settings that you can begin using right away to produce amazing virtual tours!

Previous Webinars

The IMAGE webinar last month, It's Magic 2, continued the topic of photo editing from the previous webinar. There are some great instructions in there on how to edit your photos and I have seen many dealers already implementing these techniques. Check it out when you have a moment. http://www.realtourvision.com/image

The IMAGE is the official photography webinar of RTV
Good luck out there!

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Setting up a Virtual Tour Company

This will certainly be the "Show of the Year" folks. This is the show that so many of you have been asking for. The show of all shows and the show that will have a stronger and more experienced guest panel than ever before!!

Have you been wondering if you're setting up your virtual tour company the right way?

Have you ever asked yourself what you could do right out of the gate to set yourself apart?

Are you a bit confused as to what to do next and where to put your precious company dollars?

Has your business slowed down and do you need to overhaul your product and service offerings?

Do you just need to put a little more steam into your sales?

If you answered yes to any of these questions you MUST attend our next show The FORMULA 17 - "Setting up Shop".

We have arranged to have guest appearances from Graves Carey of http://www.360Visions.com , Alan Fon of http://www.IslandDigitalImages.com , Mike Thompson of http://www.RealVisionStudio.com and of course Jason LaVanture of RTV and http://www.BlueLaVaMedia.com .

This combined panel has produced a total of 6314 virtual tours with "Kid Dynamite" Graves Carey leading the pack with over 2600 virtual tours produced!

Please join us on Tuesday December 1st at 7:00 PM EST as we engage in a round table discussion on "Setting up Shop". This is an Inner Circle Only Event. See you at the show!

Sign up NOW in your TMS!!

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Have Camera Will Vacation

Well, a working vacation that is :-) . . .

Last year I took part in the RTV SEO workshop for Inner Circle marketing members. The boost in Google rank as a result of my training paid off in a big way this summer when a leading Gatlinburg TN cabin rental and real estate company called me for a quote on creating online marketing photography and virtual tours for some of their cabin owners. It's unlikely they would have found my Middle Tennessee virtual tour company otherwise.

After some negotiations, my wife and I ended up staying four nights in a nice log cabin at the edge of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She got some much needed quiet time in a Jacuzzi and watching and reading the Twilight series, while I had the unique opportunity of photographing some awesome real estate. These properties are some of those places where I probably would never have visited were it not for being an RTV dealer offering a great virtual tour marketing system.

Before the adventure was over, my wife had enough of solitude and she decided to assist me on the last couple of days of shooting. She now has a new respect for what it takes to create a good-looking virtual tour. I was also exhausted but exhilarated at the end of each day. Best of all we got to spend some time together.

In the "remember to always be prepared" department I have a story. One of the Gatlinburg cabins I photographed was basically at the highest point and farthest from the main highway as you could get on the resort. When we went in, somebody (I still say it wasn't me!) left our vehicle's ignition in the accessory position. You guessed it! The battery was completely dead when we started to leave. Of course we had no jumper cables, but what would we do with them if we had them?

Luckily there was life in the next cabin down the road and they called the resort security who responded quickly to our plight. I didn't take any chances. I left the van running until we reached an auto parts store and had the battery checked out. It was of course dead, so there went some of our profits. Yes, we came home with cash even after staying four nights in a great mountain getaway and buying a new battery. That's what I call a great business!

Since then I've been back to the mountains once by myself and once where we were able to bring along another couple and their kids because the cabins I was shooting were four-bedroom lodges. Talk about having a great time! Again, this great summer was brought to you by RTV.

Brett Weaver
Photographer
Middle Tennessee Virtual Tours
SpotLightVT.com
Order a virtual tour: (931) 201-WEAV (9328)

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RTV Announces New Services

Have you checked out your Tour Management System (TMS) Lately? With all the exciting and new things that are happening around here, we have decided to make things a little easier for you to snag and take advantage of. Just log into your TMS and look at the right-hand side and you will find many new buttons that link off to our services and the services offered by our strategic partners. You're just a mouse click away from the following features and services:

1. Ordering virtual tour credits
2. Signing up for our latest talk show (Did you know that we do three every month?)
3. Getting properly setup to receive deals from our national accounts
4. Setting up your email marketing system
5. Setting up your elevated photography department
6. Setting up your floor plan department
7. Ordering your website
8. Accessing your virtual tour marketing control panel
9. Learning all about SEO and Blogging by taking our free 12 week course
10. Ordering custom made virtual tour CD's and duplication hardware
11. Establishing a relationship with one of our recommended professional voice talents

Please take some time now, login to your TMS, and visit each of links to become familiar with the new offerings. Visit these links often to stay up to date with us and attend our monthly shows. A big thanks to all of our virtual tour providers out there that have made RTV the World's largest virtual tour company.

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Time - A Virtual Tour Photographers Enemy

Hello out there to all you RTV virtual tour photographers. I must tell you all that things have slowed down just a bit getting my Spokane virtual tour business off the ground. No, not because it is difficult to get this kind of a business started. We all know the amazing part that RTV corporate plays in helping you startup your business!! I'm sure that I'm not the only one making AWESOME use of all the virtual tour marketing materials and the amazing webinars that Jason and his team put out there for us. Anyone going to go to the next episode of the Formula? Setting up Shop? Anyway let me fill you in on what has delayed my startup of Digital Showcase Virtual Tour business by about three weeks...

The first slow down is the Spokane home remodeling and rental business. I have been working my tail off trying to get a rental house of mine put back together. I had what I thought was a real good tenant and they suddenly skipped out on me after a full year of paying their rent on time.

After not hearing from him for several weeks I made it over to the house and what do you think I found?? Yes you guessed it my friends. Before me was an abandoned property totally trashed. Upon entering the domicile I quickly discovered a forest growing in the basement.

After summoning over Spokane's finest and having them clear the place out, I was able to finally get on with the usual clean-up and repairs. Thank goodness I was lucky and able to re-rent the place almost immediately. I am sure that getting to be a good landlord is going to be a work in progress for several more years yet.

So you can see it has really been a rather daunting task getting my virtual tour business off the ground with such little time. I thought I could go right in and start shooting the 360 shots just like I used too. Unfortunately that has not been the case. There is so much new virtual tour technology to absorb and master now that it has taken a little more time than I thought it was going to take originally.

I want it all set up very soon and in a state of readiness that allows me to work without limitations. Deadlines in the distant future have never worked for me, I need pressure to be productive so I have set some crazy deadlines to get this thing off and running, In the past few weeks I've been working out pretty much every night in the studio. I have studied up on everything "photography at Real Tour Vision" and now I have gone on to the finishing touches. I actually got all the software working and produced my very first virtual tour in Spokane!! I am very proud of it, looks to me like the exposure is just the way it should be, there is no light fall off. All and all, mastering my new Canon 50D was a breeze and I am very happy with it. This is the first virtual tour of many to come. Good night everyone out there in RTV Land!

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

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Final Call For TxT Connect

Since the RTV TxT Connect officially went live with all wireless carriers in October, we have already started to see subscriptions start to roll in. I know all of the many dealers that signed up were anxious to get started selling the TxT Connect promo to Realtors and although we took a little longer than expected, all systems go!

We have also made a few upgrades to the sites with the new icons, new "Try Now" bar on the homepage to enter a cell number and click send to get the demo (easier to use than the previous version), some new features within the account/listing area and if you click on the "How It Works" tab on the bottom orange bar, there is a nice illustration that can also be used as a marketing piece (here is an RTV dealer site to see; http://buyidi.txt2look.com/index.php). We are also going to be rolling out a major upgrade shortly that will include a number of new features within the account area.

Our RTV TxT Connect promo ends shortly and although a ton of you have signed up, there is still room for the rest of you if you are now ready. Remember, at the end of the promo the price goes from the $250 annual fee and 50/50 revenue split up to $995 and 20%. Clearly, a no-brainer for anyone interested in making some excellent recurring/passive revenue! (you can all thank Jason once again for his persistence in us offering an extension of this deal!).

The sign up page is here; http://realtour.txt2look.com/subsite_signup.php and look forward to seeing the rest of you join the TxT2Look/TxT Connect team!

Thanks!
Team TxT2Look

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RTV Partners with US Digital Media

We are very pleased to announce our new partnership with US Digital Media, a complete media solutions firm. Over the last ten years many of our virtual tour providers have been searching for the best company to meet their CD duplication and media supplies needs.

We are happy to have found a firm that is large enough to handle our entire throughput while providing the level of sales and customer support that meets our high standards. From a corporate level we are impressed with the response time and product quality from US Digital Media. It is only natural then that we would recommend US Digital Media's products and services to our vast RTV virtual tour dealer base. The RTV network can rely on US Digital Media's proven infrastructure to streamline projects by providing Complete Media Solutions all under one roof. US Digital Media is a manufacturer and distributor of digital media storage products and services.

Some of their products that our network will enjoy include:

• CD/DVD duplication and replication
• Custom USB flash drives
• Duplication equipment
• Blank recordable media
• Media packaging
• Supplies and accessories

As so many of you already know, it is our mission here at RTV to provide you with the very best technology and partnerships to strengthen your property marketing business. Please take a moment now and visit our friends at US Digital Media . We are confident your experience with them will be as enjoyable as our has the past two years. Thanks team!

~ RTV
Virtual Tour Software

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Establishing Virtual Tour Pricing

How should you price your virtual tours? This was discussed in our last episode of The FORMULA so we have decided to bring it up again here for you only this time we wanted to get some concrete numbers together. Some real hard evidence that goes to show when you have a good storefront and a fair pricing business will gravitate to you.

The quotes below are the results of a quick poll to some of our top virtual tour providers in the network. To qualify as a top provider they must be producing at least 500 or more virtual tours a year.

Here’s what a few of the RTV leaders had to say when asked, “How are you pricing out your virtual tours?”


“We base everything by sq.ft. (up to 25 still shots included)
Under 3000 $105.00
3000 to 5000 $115.00
Over $125.00
Beyond that – we discuss
I do have some that only like to have really nice stills – I’ll use those and charge around $65 to $70.”
Jane
-Austin TX

“$99.99. We canned our $59.99 pkg about 18 months ago... We found the clients at that level expected more and were less likely to purchase add ons. We went back to our single pkg pricing of 99.99 for 6 spins 10 stills and $15 for extra spins. Our average ticket is $135.00.”
Cathal
-St Augustine, FL


"We offer our foot-in-the-door tour that comes with 25 stills for $50.00. If you want to step into one of our Full Service Tours you pay $135.00 to $150.00 depending on size of the home and amenities, double tour for $250.00. Then of course you have your add ons!"
Nancy
-Virginia Beach, VA


“Our pricing starts out at $70 bucks for our very basic virtual tour. We top out at about $199 for shooting an entire home. Of course the $70 tour gets us in the door with many of the agents. Beyond the tour it’s really all about selling the add ons. Most of our add ons are 100% profit to us.”
Gary
-Nashville, TN


“I have 3 different packages. The difference is still photos also. I do a lot of that. Most realtors don’t expect to have to take any photos for the listing.
Some I do just photos and no tours. This is what I was doing when I first started and was not with RTV yet. So this all had to come together in the pricing.

Remember my prices are based on the Sq Ft of the home
Residential Photos Photos Only Pak 1 0-1500 sq. ft 69.00
Residential Photos Photos Only Pak 2 1501-2500 sq. ft. 79.00
Residential Photos Photos Only Pak 3 2501-3500 sq. ft. 89.00
Residential Photos Photos Only Pak 4 3501-4500 sq. ft. 99.00
Residential Photos Photos Only Pak 5 4501-5500 sq. ft. 119.00
Stills only 69.00
Tour only with front and back photo. 149.00
Tour and complete photo shoot. 208.00
We have to account for editing time too which is a $15.00 tour charge. I do run 10% off promos on full packages from time to time. This is Alaska cost off business is high.
I split 50% with my people who work for me. Any less and you will not get anybody to do it. I only have one person my son. He is part time while he is finishing college.”
John
-Anchorage, AK


“$99-$129 depending on distance from door.”
Andrew
-Bend, OR


“Short Sale, Still Photos Only: $125
Basic Tour (6 pans, 10 stills): $150 (Photos for marketing are $25 extra)
Deluxe Tour: (up to 50 scenes): $250 (Photos for marketing are $25 extra)
Realtor.com: $30 ($15 with showcase) Floor Plans start at $250 for 3 bedroom…”
Alex
-Washington DC


“Full service starts at $69, if they send me the photos we charge $29.95, deluxe tour $115, discounted based on volume purchased in advance.”
Alan
-Corpus Christie, TX


"Basic Tour - $85 (3 scenes / 10 stills)
Standard tour - $125 (7 scenes / 25 stills)
Deluxe Tour - $155 (11 scenes / unlimited stills)
Premium Tour - $195 (15 Pans / unlimited stills / Sign Rider / Website)
Quick Photos Only (5 photos) - $40
Standard Photos (25 photos) - $55
Photos and Slideshow Tour - $75
Do it Yourself Photos and slideshow - $55"
Myles
-Tallahassee, FL


“$76.00 is where we start out tours out at. Plus anything we get for selling the add ons. The new add ons that RTV has come up with really help the bottom line. I would say when it is all said and done we get just over $100 bucks a tour…if not more.”
Mike
-Detroit, MI

“I’ve only got one package and it goes for $100. Need to get the add ons going but I’m just a one man show over here.”
Graves
Rehoboth Beach, DE

Some very interesting data indeed! All of the above RTV providers are exclusively using RTV Virtual Tour Software. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication!

~Team RTV
Virtual Tour Software

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We're Outta Here Baby

The RTV virtual tour provider Blog is officially out of the pit…or the sandbox as google likes to call it. We are very pleased to announce that after a six month run of being kicked down to a Page Rank of 1 our new blog domain www.virtualtourprovider.com is officially on it’s feet again with a PR of 4.

As all of you already know the main reason you would take the time to submit your blogs to the RTV blog is to build strong back links on over to your site and to also bring the google bot back over to your site on a regular basis. Submitting to the RTV blog not only drives traffic to your site but it also drives the spider. It is the combination of these two entities that allows you to rank quickly and easily on literally any keyword phrase you so desire!!! Don't believe me? Google TC Virtual Tours and see for yourself!

If you have not taken the time to submit a blog to RTV please take some time and do so now. If you’re a brand new dealer it’s even worth two free credits to you. We are so confident that you will see immediate results in your SEO that you will continue to submit a blog to RTV and the other various recommended sites on a regular basis.

A big special thanks to all of you out there that keep this blog kicking and alive! Thanks for all of your contributions. It is all of your blogs are truly helping keep this monster going…and of course helping slingshot your site to higher levels at the same time.

Keep the fight!
Team RTV
Order a virtual tour today! Virtual Tour Software

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A Walk Around Spokane Washington

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

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