Mixing Business With Pleasure

You’ve heard it said that one should not mix business with pleasure.  While that is probably good advice in most situations, as a small business owner of a Northern Georgia Virtual Tour Company, mixing business with pleasure sometimes is the ONLY way to fit in pleasure.

During a recent RTV virtual tour webinar with other virtual tour providers in our network, the topic of achieving a balance between personal time and business came up.  Many of us admitted that we don’t do a great job with that part.  The best thing about owning your own virtual tour business is that you control your own destiny.  The worst thing about owning your own virtual tour business is that you control your own destiny.  It’s really the only way to actually get paid what you are worth but for many small business owners the cost of success can be high. 

Having an office at home can mean that you never leave work.  Being in business with the person you live with can make separating your personal life even harder.  Setting up boundaries can be difficult, especially in the beginning when there is way too much to do and way too little income coming in.  We started this Northern Georgia Virtual Tour Business together because frankly we really like spending time with each other. But in order for our business to thrive, our relationship must as well. 

We wanted to find something we could do together that would utilize our respective talents.  We certainly found that with Vision Quest Media.  We wanted to create a virtual tour business that provided a needed service in good economies and bad.  We absolutely found that in offering our virtual tours through the RTV virtual tour system.  Finally, we wanted to find a business that we would enjoy and could work into and around our personal lives.  We both have out of town families that we love and want to spend more time with and in the past have not had the flexibility to do that. 

Virtual tours are an absolute necessity when it comes to real estate marketing but more and more business are realizing the benefits of having virtual tours of their facilities on their web sites.  There are many great ideas on how to barter services with other businesses in a mutually beneficial way but here are a few we have found successful.

Restaurants – We are in desperate need of a date night but we put most of our discretionary budget back into the business.  Here is a link to a tour done by BlueLaVaMedia, a Traverse City Virtual Tour Company for a restaurant in their area: http://rtvpix.com/BU-2256-AQ8EK3-01 Based on this idea, I am negotiating with a local restaurant group to provide tours in exchange for dining gift certificates. 

Bed and Breakfasts – Usually owned by small business owners who don’t have much balance in their lives either, bed and breakfasts are a great get away.  The winter is their slow time so we are negotiating virtual tours with some nearby bed and breakfasts in exchange for a night’s stay.  Great way for us to build our virtual tour portfolio and unwind at the same time.

Work-cations – The recent economic environment has caused the popularity of “stay-cations” to increase dramatically.  Because we work from a home that we are in the process of remodeling, we STAY home more than enough…we want to get away!  So instead, we look at locations where we want to go and will do target marketing in those areas.  Some simple cold calling on a Thursday offering a weekend special allows us to book enough business on a given weekend to either barter or cover the cost of our trip for a spontaneous get away.


If the only way to get balance in your life as a small business owner is to mix business with pleasure, then by all means, get creative and make it happen.  It’s sort of like the free offer of a weekend stay at a time share…just without the requisite 90 minute sales presentation and hard sell by the unrelenting salesman at the end. 

For more creative ideas on how to market your business or property, please visit us at www.vquestmedia.com or give us a call at (770) 503-4493.




Paige LeFevre and Greg Mitts
Vision Quest Media
www.vquestmedia.com
Northern GA Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: (770) 503-4493

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Jason on OpenOfficeSpace.com

I recently had the great opportunity to participate in a project from Open Office Space which resulted in the creation of the video that you see above.  The Open Office Space portal helps both people who are looking to rent out their office space and also people who are looking for office space for rent.

Check out their website at http://www.openofficespace.com/  I think that you too will find the website very clean and professional and above all extremely simply to use.  The fact that David Gise, founder of Open Office Space is promoting virtual tours is of course very encouraging for myself and the RTV dealer netwrok too.  Thanks for the opportunity Gise and keep up the good work!

Jason LaVanture
RealTourVision.com
Start a Virtual Tour Business Today!

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Virtual Tour Greenville, SC

When you think Greenville, SC what do you think of? SC 360 Tours, a division of SB Design Associates is located in Greenville, SC and thought that a virtual tour of Greenville would showcase their city and also their virtual tour technology.

Greenville, SC is located about 1 ½ hours south of Charlotte,NC and depending on traffic about 2 hours north of Atlanta, GA. How about 45 minutes from the mountains and 3 hours from the beach. The virtual tours that you see here represent a home in the area, a business located downtown Greenville and also a shot of downtown Greenville at night this past Christmas. When you look at the virtual tour you will notice the clarity of the pictures and the fact that the tour is not distorted.

SB Design Associates decided upon RTV after looking at many different types of virtual tour software because of the higher quality finished product. There are many products advertised as providing a virtual tour but few do more than animate a still photograph, you can’t see the detail of the home or business.

A virtual tour produced by SB Design Associates allow you the viewer to stop the tour, zoom into a particular feature of the tour, and move from one room or place to another with ease. If you are a business owner or home owner a virtual tour provides you the exposure that you need to showcase your home or business. The residential virtual tour was taken during the Christmas season and the virtual tour of Larkin's on the River mid January, 2010.

Enjoy our Greenville Virtual Tours!
Shannon Baskin
President
SB Design Associates
SC 360 Tours
http://www.sc360tour.com/

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Increase Your Rental Bookings

Hello there fellow RTV virtual tour providers out there. Here are some of my best tips for utilizing Virtual Tours to increase rental property bookings. After owning rental property for several years and trying to continue to increase bookings, I searched for all opportunities to get the word out on our property.  Great quality pictures attract so many more inquires.  Just imagine if you provide a virtual tour for prospective vacation renters.

For those who participate with the #1 rental site out there, www.Homeaway.com, did you know that you can add virtual tours to those listings?  This is not something that is readily advertised on their site. Adding Virtual Tours will completely separate your listing from the others out there.  It is a very simple process to have the tour added.  Once the tour is live, you simply e-mail the link to support-cs@homeaway.com with the property number and they will review it and post it to the listing. 

Once your virtual tour is properly linked up to the site you can now watch weekly as your RTV virtual tour hit report comes in.  See how much more traffic you're getting!!  Other sites that drive massive traffic include Craigslist, and VRBO.  Spend just a little time making a list of these sites so when someone asks you how you're going to promote a specific type of property you will be able to easliy rattle off your top picks.  This makes you the expert and people will come to know that when it comes to marketing properties online, you're thier TOP PICK!

Good luck out there everyone! Just head out there and take a look at how many vacation properties are in your area. I think you will be surprised!

Tammy Jerome


www.VirtualPixOnline.com
Campton Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: 603-960-0268

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Tour Tracking Through Southern California

Brad and I have been professional digital photographers for many years and use only professional Canon Equipment, Lighting, and Editing Software.  We pride ourselves on our relationship with our agents, vendors and clients.  This was an incredible trip to Southern California and should serve as a model to other RTV virtual tour dealers who are willing to push themselves a little out of the box.

We had a party scheduled in Santa Barbara, Ca on Saturday night we really wanted to go to but wanted to optimize the trip with business as well.  It started with a seven hour drive to Santa Barbara from Scottsdale on Friday.  Saturday morning when we woke up, we had scheduled an exterior virtual tour photo shoot of a custom home built on Oxnard Beach.  The weather cooperated fully and just as we needed to shoot, the clouds, the sky and the sun came together to provide a magnificent combination of elements to enhance our picture (which we shot in HDR).  From there we went to the marina and shot some 360 virtual tours to make samples for our website.   Then back to the hotel for a nap and to get ready for the party in Montecito.

We are shameless, we met a couple of real estate agents at the party and gave a pitch on RTV's new virtual staging product.  I had my blackberry with me so I was able to pull up Jason’s samples from his newsletter to show them.  By the way – a great time to show our Scottsdale Mobile Text Marketing sample site, and don’t think this didn’t make an impression on them as well.  Party, Party, Party and back to the hotel.

Sunday morning was mentoring time.  We hooked up with a retired TV/Movie Producer/Director who mentored us on light and video.  The afternoon was spent with relatives looking at kyacks for a future trip to California.

Monday morning we were exhausted and needed to rest up because……
WE HAD OUR FIRST TOUR TRACK job from RTV. By letting RTV know we were going to be in Southern California we were able to get a Tour Track scheduled and bring in additional income to cover the trip.  Boy are we green for professional photographers.  We figured 5 hours was fine for a shoot, but….did you know that two different sets of dusk and twilight shots cannot be shot at the same time if they are a 20 minute walk apart from each other.  Did you know that when shooting a Model home that is suppose to be furnished, that furniture may not be provided (great opportunity for virtual staging by the way).  Did you know that an occupied unit in no way shape or form can conform to the rules of Tour Track without weeks of cleaning, straightening, boarding the pets and moving personal belongings.  Also, can anyone define:  get a neighborhood shot of Sprinter.  Anyway, we did our best, we were scheduled for 30 shots and ended up taking about 60, so I am sure the client will be happy.

But, the most important lesson is this.  We took all the Formula, Image and Tour Track advice.  In no way, shape or form can an apartment complex be adequately shot in less than 6 hours and meet the standards.   Lesson to you fellow dealers: whether it is a high paying tour track or the lowest paying, be sure to scout out the property first.  Even if you have to take neighborhood outdoor shots the day before and mark on a map your outdoor shots of the complex or hotel, spend the extra time – you will need it to properly light the caves that show up as apartments, to creatively carve out shots without parking lots or cars or people and to meet all of the shot requirements on the list.

Good luck on your Tour Tracks – they are a great source of income, and can be fun to shoot as there is very little post if you do it correctly and definitely no setup, juicing or boosting required.  Above all Tour Track is a way that Mother RTV gives back to its' loyal virtual tour providers. Even $175 for the complex and the 5 hours time to shoot more than makes up for the time to do post and/or set up all of the things you promise to clients.

P.S.  Jacque Burque and her crew are great to work with.

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Your Online Presence Will Dictate Your Future Success

I was meeting with a colleague today and we were discussing ideas and plans that we have for the coming year. She has been a Realtor for twenty years and has an excellent online presence. I value her opinion and insight on the ever changing real estate market and she has been responsible for the implementation of some of our powerful property marketing products and services. It was a typical conversation for us, as we discussed blogging, social networking, blogging, listing distribution and blogging. Our conversation led us to the overwhelming amount of St. Augustine home buyers that utilize the internet to search for their new home and marketing strategies in general.

I am sure that you have heard the old saying, “If you don’t list, you don’t last.” Well, as true as that statement may be, do you think that St Augustine home sellers here are now looking at your ability to attract home buyers? Home buyers and home sellers are more educated in the real estate process than ever before. They get a majority of their information online and the internet continues to change the way that real estate is bought and sold in this country on a daily basis. So, would it be fair to say that in order to be a great Listing Agent, you must be an effective property marketer? If you are going to be effective at marketing your listings, you have to acknowledge the power of the internet and utilize it to your advantage.

Many Realtors get listings due to their online presence. Home Sellers can find you through social networks, blog postings and the search engines. I am certainly not the first person to suggest that your online presence could dictate your future success in the real estate industry. However, I am definitely repeating it. If you have not included online marketing in this year’s business plan, it is not too late.

The following are areas that should be incorporated in your “Must Do List.”
•    Make sure that your web site is optimized for the search engines.
•    Set up numerous Blogging accounts and submit posts frequently.
•    Set up and participate in various Social Networks.
•    Utilize Social Bookmarking to build strong back links.

If you don’t know how to perform the tasks above, hire someone like our professional St. Augustine property marketing firm. Ask questions, make sure that you are comfortable with the answers and that you completely understand their knowledge of search engines and optimization techniques.

Listing Solutions is laser – focused on helping our clients achieve the success online needed to compete in today’s challenging market. We are one of St. Augustine web designs emerging companies and a Full Service Dealer with Realtourvision®, specializing in Jacksonville virtual tours. We are one of the premier virtual tour providers in St. Augustine. Our online real estate marketing skills allow us to help our clients dominate the search engines. We would love the opportunity to help you. Call us today!

Dave Hall,
Marketing Director
Listing Solutions
www.ListingSolutions.net
St. Augustine Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: (904) 540-9962

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The FORMULA 25 - Customizing Your Website

Do you have an RTV dealer website? Would you like to learn more about how you can fully take advantage of all of the features, bells and whistles that come along with your RTV dealer site? Please join myself and FORMULA guest host Sue Nolff for The FORMULA 25 “Customizing Your Website.”

Wait, there's more! This show will also cover some of the basic things that you should be doing with ANY website, so even if you have your own website please feel free to come to the show.

We will be covering the following topics on the show:

• How to login to your RTV Dealer Site
• How to upload pictures, and link to them
• How to modify text
• How to add Google Analytics to any site
• How to add a PayPal Shopping cart to any site
• Things to do to ANY website before you do your FIRST grand opening public relations and Blog

Finally, our development team has informed us that we will get a sneak preview of RTV Dealer Websites 2.0 which have some really AWESOME new built-in features. The new dealer website platform will also have a reseller layer built in which will allow you to easily setup and resell websites for real estate agents and business owners.

All this and MORE on The FORMULA 25 “Customizing Your Website”. Mark your calendars because I expect to see you there on April 6th! Enjoy the show everyone.

Sign up NOW in your TMS

Jason LaVanture
http://www.RealTourVision.com
Virtual Tour Software

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The FORMULA Works When You Follow it

I have already used one of the great tips from the webinar only 12 hours after hearing from the “experts”.  I had breakfast with a Realtor from Southby’s Russ Lyon Realty.  She is a top Scottsdale real estate agent and has been for over 10 years.  Testing out some of the theories discussed last night, we talked about what does Linda need most to further boost her closing percentages.  Guess what - she needed a personal assistant for the things she either doesn’t like to do (send email to prospective clients) - or things she doesn’t have the time to do(SEO, social networking, marketing). 

Next step was to pull up one of her listings on Google.  Well we googled the address and the MLS number.  Guess what, her website didn’t pull, nor did Google provide any reference to the listing with her name.  There were no Virtual Tours, Blogs or You tubes.  Instead, it was all competitors from Keeler Williams, Century 21 and other companies that had pulled her listing onto their websites as hot properties.  We then created a “pseudo tour” and exposure engine.  Posted it and low and behold when we checked a few hours later - her name was the third name down on the list.

When she left, I was an approved “Personal Assistant”.  I still didn’t get the virtual tour or photography business, but she agreed she liked my photographs and if the opportunity arose and she couldn’t get a Russ Lyon approved photographer, she would use our virtual tour photography services.  I wasn’t upset because I sold her on Txt Connect, a single property website and exposure engine for one of her listings.

In any case, my point is:  THE FORMULA works when you follow it.  THE IMAGE teaches and improves even professionals who need to hear the information they may not have heard in a long time.  JASON provides great service and his dealer network is more than generous with sharing ideas and lending a helping hand. 

P.S.  Thank you Alan Fon for your help today. 

Virtual Tours

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Seeing Your Home in a Different Light

First off before I get started I would like to shout out a special HUGE thanks to Ben Knorr and guest speaker Bryan Peterson for the inspiring IMAGE Webinar – “Night Photography”.  Topics covered the preferred time window, to the direction the photograph is taken from (N-S-E or W), to camera settings, filters, external lighting and much more.  The up-to-date techniques for getting GREAT Night Shots will allow our virtual tours to look very natural.  Another well done presentation!! Thank you RTV.

APPLYING THE TECHNIQUES
Tours D’ Force

I almost always carry my camera around with me wherever I go but it’s not a SLR.  It’s my Point and Shoot (P&S) camera which is easily transported with me in my coat pocket or close to me in the car.  This has proven beneficial in capturing special events and other unique shots that I would have missed if I had not. So now I would like to use my P & S camera to create night photography??

CAN I GET GOOD NIGHT PHOTOS WITH MY  POINT AND SHOOT CAMERA?

I always thought to get good photos I would need to have a DSLR camera, lenses, and equipment.  Yes you do - but I have found that doesn’t mean I cannot get awesome photos using my Point and Shoot digital camera.  To do this you must know your camera and develop some skills.

For those of you using P & S cameras I would highly suggest that you check your owner’s manual to see what your camera capable of.  I know if you are anything like me this would be your last resort but there is no better way to know your camera than to read the manual.

INCREASE YOUR SHUTTER SPEED.  Most P & S cameras have the capability to adjust the shutter speed. Some cameras have a shutter speed setting, but mine does not.  But it does have a “Night Scenes” mode setting. This feature allows for shutter speeds higher than its standard.  To be honest, I wouldn’t have known that this camera had this setting without checking the owner’s manual.

USE YOUR TRIPOD AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. It is important to use your tripod to get sharp photos especially when you have increased your shutter speed. Note: when using your hands to take a shot, be as steady as possible, a little movement as you press the shutter affects the sharpness of your photos especially when taking shots at low light or night mode.  If you find yourself without a tripod find something sturdy, a post, a mailbox, your car hood or car roof and use the timer to minimize movement when taking the shot.  If you don’t use the timer take a deep breath and squeeze the trigger while exhaling.

CHANGE YOUR ISO SETTING. This is something that you will have to play with.  I know from my experience that if you go to high the photo becomes grainy.  I don’t especially like this; therefore I go for the lowest ISO setting as possible.  Also note that as lowering the ISO you will see some light trails that weren’t there before with a higher shutter speed.

FAKE YOUR CAMERA OUT.  I personally choose not to use a flash when taking photos at dark because the light from the flash usually makes my whole photo look unnatural.  Instead I sometimes focusing my camera on something darker than what I intend on taking and half press the shutter button and the camera will focus on the frame.  Now move your camera back to what you really want to take, and take the shot.  This works because when you initially focus on something darker, your camera will think it needs more light to take shot than usual since it still has the darker object/”need more light” setting from the initial focus.

Try it, experiment and learn from your experience.

Enjoy and have FUN!!

ToursDForce on the Night Lens

As always, ToursDForce will continue to work hard to bring their current clients and future clients only the highest quality photos and powerful marketing tools so that you look your best and drive more traffic to the table. ToursDForce night lens will do just that, in fact our night or twilight photographs will make your real estate listing or business stand apart from the others.  Find out what professional photographers have known for years, your listings or business’s will look better in the evening and have a amazing glow to them. Get the competitive edge by marketing your property listing and business utilizing our night shots techniques right here in Lenawee County virtual tours.




Hal Holubik
Tours D’ Force
Southern Michigan Virtual Tours
Include our Night Shots in your virtual tour TODAY!!
www.ToursDForce.com
Order a virtual tour: 517.486.4209

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Virtual Staging from BlueLaVaMedia

Home staging is frequently employed by homeowners and real estate agents to help show properties to their best advantage. We all know that a staged home shows better than an empty home. As wonderful as traditional home staging is there are some drawbacks.

BlueLaVaMedia, producer of Traverse City Virtual Tours is very pleased to announce our all new virtual home staging product.  We will take any unfurnished room and stage it to your taste and style for only $60.00.  You're able to choose the furniture from our online furniture library.  Ordering virtual staging for one of your properties can be done by giving us a call by placing an order online. Please follow the link below and start Virtually Staging today!

Only $60.00 per room! Click below to see a demonstration of a virtually staged room.
Traverse City Virtual Staging
http://www.bluelavamedia.com
Call Today - 231-946-1360

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BlueLaVaMedia Goes High Definition

Could it really be High Definition Interactive Virtual Tours?  Yes, times have changed drastically over the last two years and team BlueLaVaMedia is working hard to keep our virtual tour technology at the forefront of virtual tour technology.

Today we are proud to announce that we have upgraded our virtual tour viewer to support Full Screen High Definition images. Take a look at the virtual tours below and you will quickly see how our new HD full screen virtual tours transform the typical interactive virtual tour to something quite spectacular.  Trust us that our new HD experience literally makes your audience feel like they are standing right in the room! With just a click of a button BlueLaVaMedia now delivers you a brand new amazing interactive virtual tour experience.

Sample our new HD Virtual Tours:

http://rtvpix.com/RE-3608-MEK2OV-01

http://rtvpix.com/RE-3273-5SCY8A-01

http://rtvpix.com/BU-2026-5KWOEM-01

Don't worry about load time.  In fact, our virtual tours load faster than any of the other video or interactive virtual tour platforms out there!  This is because we compress our images down to an amazingly small size before publishing them to our servers while maintaining strict standards in quality.  No waiting for a huge video file to load only to get a tiny window.  No more staring at a loading bar for two minutes only to end up viewing a simple full screen slide show. Now you can tell your customers that you're giving online shoppers a truly interactive HD virtual tour experience.  Finally, our HD full screen virtual tours can also be easily converted into streaming video for YouTube deployment! It's truly amazing!

We want you to experience this new feature on your listings, so from now through April, your first virtual tour you purchase from us will get a free HD full screen upgrade. Starting May 1st 2010 an upgrade to our HD viewer will cost $20.00 on our Real Estate Virtual Tours.

Show your customers that your are on the cutting edge of technology with one of our "NEW HD" virtual tours today.

Thanks!

Team BlueLaVaMedia
The 'BIGGEST' Traverse City Virtual Tour Company
http://www.BlueLaVaMedia.com

Order a Virtual Tour : 231-946-1360

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Panorama Jacks Question Corner

Dear Jack,

I hope you are doing well.  I recently connected with several real estate offices that are sending me to do virtual tours on ALL of their listings!!!  However, I am having a potential (business destroying) issue... I am hoping you can help me quickly!

The pictures I take look good (I think), but then when my clients use the pictures in flyers, several are complaining that the pictures come out too dark.  This happened before, so I increased the lighting both during shooting and editing but I am still getting complaints!  Since this is a test with these new offices and they potentially could make or break me... I really need some help.

Here is some basic information:

Camera - Canon 50D with Tokina 12-24 Lens

I shoot my virtual tours in sRaw1+S (jpeg) at about 3267x2168 pixel raw and 2352x1568 pixel jpeg

I shoot in AV mode and adjust the image for the location and then edit in Canon Digital Photo Professional

I convert and save the images to jpg at 800x532 pixel for emailing to the agents.

I see this as a potential threat to my business if I can't provide printable pictures for the agents and the word spreads. 

Best regards,

Ron

Dear Ron,

It seems like you are making a lot of extra work for yourself.  This work might be worth it if you were shooting expensive business virtual tours.  For a real estate tour you want to be quick, efficient, and provide a product that matches or slightly exceeds the price you are asking. 

First of all, I wouldn't work with RAW until you have had time to experiment with it and figure out the exact processes you need to provide the results you are looking for.  RAW files are very large, and take extra work to process.  These files then need to be converted into JPEG images when you finish editing them.  The advantage to RAW is that the pictures are uncompressed and unformatted so that you can make true color and image edits.  For the type of virtual tours you are shooting JPEG format will work best for now.  Everything presented in the IMAGE webinars has been done using the JPEG format.  I have not promoted using RAW because it is more involved and not necessary designed for the typical virtual tour.

Secondly, I don't suggest taking the time to do a custom white balance in every room.  Typically, I set my WB to the primary light source in the room and go from there.  I know that in our last IMAGE webinar Bryan Peterson shared with us that he leaves his WB on the cloudy setting most of the time.  The settings that you are using on your camera look great, keep them as is, but avoid shooting in RAW until you feel comfortable working with it. I would recommend that you watch the IMAGE webinar "It's Magic 2".  This webinar covers basic picture editing and illustrates numerous simple and quick techniques to get you on the right path.   
 
As always, it is important to provide a high quality product efficiently.  In the end the product you deliver needs to match what the customer purchased and paid for. When you have spare time, use it to improve your current photography skills and to experiment with more advanced techniques. On the job experimenting will often add unnecessary stress.  Do what you know and do it well.  Then in your spare time learn something new.  Practice the new skill until you are efficient at it and confident in your ability.  Then incorporate the new skill into your business.

Best,

Jack

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A Man, His Camera, & Mouths to Feed

Hello. My name is Mark Jones and “I REACT.”

I spent the first six months of 2009 riddled with anxiety and fear over what I was going to do. I was laid off from my employer and like many people – I had responsibilities (mortgage, bills, four children, etc.).
Soon, the weather warmed up and I calmed down as I tried to enjoy the “time off” and the time with my boys. Fast forward to 2010 and I was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In a year’s time I had sent out 35 resumes, been on 19 interviews, narrowed down to the final 2 or 3 candidates on 9 of them… and still no J-O-B.

I have spent the last 10 years in advertising and marketing. I am a former radio disc jockey. I’m a mobile disc jockey, and I’m a photographer. I was beginning to think I lost my ability to close, but I soon realized I was going up against people with Master’s degrees that were in the same boat as me and I was at the a disadvantage. With the last unemployment check looming I had to make a decision. I had to react and it was now or never. 

iReact Media, born March 2010 (http://www.ireactmedia.com/), offers Wilkes-Barre Virtual Tours and is currently servicing all of Northeast Pennsylvania. I realized I had to lasso in all of my sales and marketing experience, my passions, and my skills and do it for myself (and my family)! I took the plunge after careful consideration and a lot of research I decided that RTV virtual tour software was the choice for me.

Utilizing the industry leading Virtual Tour System and software from Real Tour Vision, iReact Media can create, promote, and distribute Virtual Tours in Wilkes-Barre that make you “react.” The interactive 360 ̊ panoramic Virtual Tours include custom “hot spot” navigation that allows the user to “experience” the home or business like no other. These are not just slideshows that have some nice transitions and zoom in and out. These are fully interactive FULL SCREEN virtual tours. Simply put...amazing! My 10 year old can make a slideshow! These Virtual Tours are carefully crafted creative marketing tools that home buyers and home sellers appreciate and use!

Every property is unique and pictures are important. We’re talking about the biggest investment in one’s life here! When you combine amazing high quality still images and stunning 360 ̊ interactive panoramic images – your eyes will “react.”

iReact Media is a Wilkes-Barre Virtual Tour company that is locally owned and operated. The Wyoming Valley, Scranton, and Pocono Mountains are beautiful areas. I look forward to capturing all of their beauty and the properties they host. Whether it is residential or commercial real estate for sale/lease/rent or a local business already in operation – a Virtual Tour is the most cost effective marketing tool that you can use. The lists of potential customers for Virtual Tours in Wilkes-Barre and the surrounding region are endless. Stop and think for a moment. Let’s get creative!

React!

I did.

Mark Jones, Owner
Virtual Tours in Wilkes-Barre by iReact Media
http://www.ireactmedia.com/
Order a virtual tour today: 570.262.9843

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Virtual Tours in Greenville, SC

So my wife tells me at the end of the day that she heard from someone at RTV about our inquiry into stitching software.  She isn’t real sure what Mike was talking about but understood that there was an opportunity to start offering Greenville virtual tours as a business.

Originally SB Design Associates wasn’t trying to get into the virtual tour business and we were ready to take our company in the direction of home staging but offering professional photographs as an option.  Enter SB Design Associates, DBA SC 360 Tours. I guess you can figure out by now that we decided to change our direction. We knew that we wanted to offer virtual tours in Greenville but didn’t have a clue where to start. 

My wife is a professional photographer who recently taught photography at a local university but we had made the decision to get into a business for ourselves. It only took one phone call to find out that RTV is the real deal. If there was any indecision at all it was taken away the first time I logged into the RTV marketing website. I will absolutely be a RPM member forever because of the level of support that is available to us from that site.

From professional leave behinds to materials for local Realtors to use I found the information almost overwhelming. I spent days poring over what is available for starting up a virtual tour business and we customized many of the presentations and materials to use and also for our associates in the industry to use.

I only wish we had started our virtual tour company earlier, I would have stretched further and past our area here in SC. I absolutely know that our venture here will be successful, certainly in part to RTV. The middle of February we meet with a potential group of 142 realtors at one office, our optimism is high. 



Good luck to everyone out there and we will see you on the RTV Shows!

Barry Baskin
www.sc360tour.com
Greenville Virtual Tours

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See it Sell on the Importance of Getting Social

Hey there RTV!  Us over here in Corinth, MS really LOVED your Virtual Tour Webinar last night! This week my wife and I attended a seminar in Tupelo, Elvis' birthplace! The presenter was from Phoenix, Az. We spoke with him briefly and followed up with an email.

His topic was "Seven Remedies For Business Survival". A portion of his presentation was devoted to marketing/advertising. He stressed the importance of a web presence, social networking, and blogging for search engine optimization. We cannot stress enough how important it is to spend some time weekly adding new content in a blog or social network site. It has helped us get to page one when a search is made for Corinth Virtual Tours!!  Take it from us that you really should listen to RTV and do the same.  Especially now that they post your blog in two spots using the new www.panoramajack.com blog!  If you're not already taking the RTV Social Ignition course you REALLY need to!

We also took the time to email the presenter and provide examples of virtual tours that feature businesses. Finally, we looked for an RTV dealer in Phoenix and provided both that dealer and the Phoenix individual each other's contact information. Sure this took some time but what if a new partnership is established? Network with all contacts you make--people know other people and this is how you grow your virtual tour business!

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

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HD Virtual Tour Tech Tip

This month's Virtual Tour Software tech tip concerns HD Virtual Tour images for full screen virtual tours. We are continuing to fine tune the viewer and are implementing some suggestions from dealers to improve performance. In the meantime a lot of you are working on adding HD into your current work flow.

I'd like to address a few common misconceptions:

You do NOT need to pay RTV extra to do HD virtual tours! You may choose to charge your clients extra but there is no charge to you from RTV.

You do NOT have to change your camera settings! Continue shooting at the same resolution as before.

You do NOT need to resize your photos before stitching! Well, at least not unless you always have. The directions for resizing final pans have confused some people. 

You do NOT have to resize each image's height before stitching, continue stitching like you always have.

You do NOT get to skip the Adjust Image/compression step within the Tour Builder software! Create and upload the tour as you always have, or if you are a new dealer, as described in the Training videos.  The only thing that has changed is that you need to save a high resolution version of the panorama right after stitching. Before you name the panorama and save it, click Export to High Res and save the image into a folder. Once the high resolution image is saved you can name the scene and save it. Then you add hotspots, compress, etc just like always.

You do NOT need to specify a width for panoramas or stills when you are resizing them! Some people were confused that in the webinar and help docs we only mention resizing the height of the photos and not the width. It is very important that you keep the aspect ratio of the photos the same so they don't get stretched or scrunched. That is usually a setting in image resizer programs. If you specify a height for an image, the program should pick the width for you - let it do that. That way you don't ruin your images. Also, make sure you save the photos with a new name and keep your originals. That way if you make a mistake you can start over.

For Best Results:
You will find that the best results will vary from one panorama to another. Remember the webinar, you want your full screen tour to load very quickly and scroll smoothly so we recommend that you try playing with image height setting of around 500-700 pixels tall.  You can go higher than that but load times, compression and smoothness will all be impacted slightly.  You might also put your scroll speed to a setting of 15 from within the Button editor.  This will make your panoramas scroll smoother than they will at a faster setting.  Overall your kb size of your panoramas will be anywhere from 300-800 kb. The smaller the better but you trade off quality the more you compress your images.  However the smaller your images are compressed the faster they will load.
 
Full Screen Stills
The last thing I want to cover is still images in general. Most people are probably familiar with the term aspect ratio. If you've ever watched a DVD and had to choose between wide screen and full screen you probably know what I am talking about. When you shoot a still image with your camera it is in 4:3. The full screen viewer is 16:9. This means an uncropped image, right out of the camera, will not completely fill up the viewer window. There will be some extra blank space on either side. This is done so all the image can be seen without being stretched or cropped. If you recall from using the Add button and adding still images to the tours we have a "Zoom to Fit" button and a "Scaling Factor" slider bar to help you crop an image to completely fill the viewer window. We don't have tools like that for the HD upload. If you want an image to completely fill the screen you are going to need to crop it yourself using a program like Paint Shop Pro or PhotoShop. There are free tools out there you can use as well to crop. For an image that is 1280 by 960 you would need to crop it to about 1280 by 720 to get the right ratio to fill up the viewer. Notice you are just cropping out the height, not the width. Cropping is different than resizing; when you crop an image you are actually cutting something out and losing it. Normally, you can easily crop out some ceiling, carpet, sky or grass, and make your still image fit nicely. This process is easier if you are starting out with 1280 by 960 images. The easiest way to figure out what size you need is to do the following:

Take your photo size, example: 1600 by 1200
Divide the 1600 by 1.777 = 900 pixels. Crop your image so your resulting image is 1600 by 900. Remember, this means you will lose some off the top or bottom of your image or a little off both. You will have to look at each image and decide which area can be cut out without changing the relevancy of the photo.

I can hear someone yell right now, "But I don't know HOW to crop!!!" Search on Google and find a free crop tool that is easy for you to work with or buy a program like Paint Shop Pro and read the Help file. Even if you use my numbers above to figure out the final resulting image size you are still going to have to look at each image and eyeball what will look best and do the crop manually. I am sure there are tools you can use to batch crop but I think for most people that will not be the way to go. Obviously, if you have a lot of experience with photos, frame the photos with the crop in mind, and have a tool you like and are familiar with, it would be easier to do a batch crop.  Yes, there are a few things to be learned for using HD virtual tours but the final product will be stunning!





Real Tour Vision
RTV Technical Support
Virtual Tour Software

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Circle Shot Media Hits Maui

Why do I love Maui?!!  That's simple... The photos below should give you a good idea!  This is one of my favorite whale watching spots.  The hammock in the middle is there for anyone to use.  It is a great way to relax in the warm tropical sunshine while we're not out shooting virtual tours.

When you visit the islands, it is important to watch out for falling coconuts!


The photo below was taken over the sugar cane fields.

This is the remodeled pool at Kaanapali Alii where we have a condo.

It doesn't matter what beach you are at, you see a lot of whales during this time of year.

I took these photos from the shoreline.  I am surprised at how close to the shore they come.

We plan to go on a whale watching trip next week.

They put on quite a show for the people on the shore.

Palm trees, Palm trees everywhere!  The little guy below was mesmerized by the whales and the ocean.

Even the sunsets are more beautiful here!

Every day I see so many things around me that just show the beauty of our world and I love each one of them.  As the saying goes... "Maui No Ka Oi"  translated = Maui is the best! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Dawn and Peter Smith
Circle Shot Media
Vancouver Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour - (360) 909-3126

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Kenosha Virtual Tours Unveils Full Screen Tours

360 Image Media is ecstatic to announce our new Full Screen HD Virtual Tours powered by Real Tour Vision. You can now view our unbelievable high quality full screen examples here, Wisconsin Virtual Tour. We are now also offering a unbelievable new product called virtual staging. Check out the samples at 360 Image Media.

These awesome new offerings from 360 Image Media, continues to keep us at the top of our game. It is also why we are producing the best Wisconsin Virtual Tours out there today.

Robin Duran
360 Image Media
Kenosha Virtual Tours
Order a Virtual Tour - (262) 613-1099

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What a Virtual Tour Should Be

What is a Virtual Tour…or Rather What Should It Be?

Both of my parents are tour guides in Charleston, SC.  Charleston is among the tourism capitals of the world so perhaps it is there that I get my idea of what a “tour” should be.  At Magnolia Plantation, it was my mother’s job to guide visitors through the home showing them from room to room and educating them about the history and features of the stately plantation house.  Pretty much what you might expect if you paid to get a “tour”. 

If you did an online search for the words “Virtual Tour”, you would find that there are many different ideas of what a virtual tour is.  So called tours range anywhere from a series of still photographs put to music to a full fledged video walk through of the house.  The still photographs are somewhat like trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together – you can see the pieces but are not exactly sure how they fit together.  The videos are reminiscent of watching someone’s home movies -- you have no control over the viewing experience and they may not focus on what you want to see and they are certainly not an Interactive Virtual Tour.

At Vision Quest Media, we feel that a virtual tour should provide the viewer as close to an actual tour as possible.  Here are some ways we accomplish that goal:

•    Interactive Panoramic Images – We provide 360º panoramic images which allow the viewer to visualize the details of the main rooms.  The viewer controls the speed and can zoom in to see specific features of the area.
•    Customized Hot Spots – Each image has embedded “hot spots” which allows the viewer to navigate from room to room.  This allows for a real feel of the layout and flow of the property.
•    Offline Tour Capabilities – It is our hope that after touring your property, the viewer will not want to look any further.  Truth of the matter is that an internet shopper is likely going to create a “short list” of prospective places to go back to later.  Your virtual tour can be downloaded as well as emailed which will keep your property top-of-mind when it comes time to make a decision.
•    Professional Virtual Tour Photography – We have over 10 years of professional photography experience so our eye for detail will allow us to provide you the best possible images to showcase your home.  Image editing and enhancements are included at no charge!

In this challenging market, the proper presentation of listings has become increasingly important.  With 85% of home shoppers turning to the internet before they pick up the phone, it is vital that you maximize your window of opportunity to grab their interest. 

For more information about how a virtual tour can increase your reach online and maximize your marketing efforts, please visit us online at www.vquestmedia.com. 


Greg Mitts
North Georgia Virtual Tours
www.vquestmedia.com
Order a virtual tour today: 770-503-4493

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TAX Time for a Virtual Tour Company

I've had my virtual tour business running just about a year now. www.AlamoAreaVirtualTours.com is a San Antonio Virtual tour company. I am not an accountant, nor am I a natural business person.  I can sell what I believe in and virtual tours is one of those things. However, selling virtual tours, while taking time and effort, does not complete the business cycle so to speak.  There is paperwork for the state and Uncle Sam, and lots of it.  If you are more than a sole proprietor, there are a number of tax laws that can quickly get you in trouble.

If you have employees, there is still more paperwork and critical deadlines that must be met as well.  If you contract out work, there is a different set of paperwork to file and keep track of.  So, what am I saying?  How does one stay out of trouble?  Getting expert advice! How to get expert advice?   Not from friends. They may mean well, but unless they are experts, take anything they say with a large grain of salt.  OK, you say, so now where?  If you want to you can pay for expert advice, but it usually is not cheap.  OK, OK, so spill it out.  OK here it is.  SCORE. 

Have you heard of SCORE. SCORE is a volunteer organization of active and retired business owners/executives, etc. that provide that expertness that you may need.  The best part of this is that it is free and they have no other ulterior motives than to help small businesses succeed.  I use them and I will continue to use them for my virtual tour company.  They have a lot of information, they have a lot of resources, and they are the first step to the SBA. They will grease the way! Go to http://www.score.org/index.html


Jim Hoback
L'oeil L'esprit
San Antonio Virtual Tours
http://alamoareavirtualtours.com
Order a virtual tour: 210-325-2675

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Homes in the Midwest | South Dakota Virtual Tours

Well, as one of the newest “RTV Dealers” I must say “Thank You” to the RTV Staff for their patience and assistance during my South Dakota virtual tour company start up.  I have learned so much in the past few weeks that my mind is so full of data, I wish I had a sort button to sort it all out and put it into files for future use. 

Purchasing the RTV Virtual Tour Software and becoming a member of the World's largest virtual tour network has given me the opportunity I needed to advance in my career.  I am excited to be an RTV representative and look forward to working with their virtual tour company Staff and all of the other RTV dealers around the globe. 

This business is not just about taking “pictures” for virtual tours.  It is about producing a quality product for thousands of customers and millions of viewers.  The RTV Marketing System can help all dealers to set achievable goals and a path to success. Each photo shoot is different and can sometimes be challenging, but I believe with all of RTV's extended learning classes that are FREE to me as a provider such as The Formula and The Image we can be very successful virtual tour company owners. Furthermore, RTV’s in house support staff and all of the other RTV Dealers out there that communicate in the social networks can help each other out too giving us more power then ever since we work as a community. All of this combined will lead to great opportunities for us all!

This past two weeks, I am proud to say I completed my first South Dakota Virtual Tour (Residential Real Estate) and I'm very excited to say that I've already got my first “Tour Track” order from RTV from one of their many national virtual tour accounts that they have.  Not only was I excited, but very nervous about being the “new kid on the block”.  I surely didn’t want to make any mistakes, but of course I did.  In the end, I'm glad I made those errors, for I have learned how to better prepare myself, look at things differently and become a more professional virtual tour provider.

As with any new business; it will take time to become known for my style, experience and dedication.  But as a RTV Dealer, I have no doubt that “Homes In The Midwest” a South Dakota Virtual Tour Company will become a main source for buyers and sellers of homes in our area...State perhaps!

Barb Young
Homes In The Midwest
South Dakota Virtual Tours
www.homesinthemidwest.com
Order a Virtual Tour: 605.770.3229

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Virtual Tour Marketing Updates

Each month our Virtual Tour Company strives to help you become more efficient and better connected to existing and potential virtual tour customers. Our virtual tour marketing pieces are professionally made, contain professionally written copy, are easily customizable, and typically just require you to insert your specific company information and logo.


We recommend using Vistaprint for postcard printing and other printing needs. They seem to have fast service and extremely great rates. Did you know that you can also get 100 free postcards from them each month by going to http://www.vistaprint.com/nar

Take a moment to read the text through and make sure your virtual tour and property marketing company can deliver the services outlined in the piece. If you can't or don't know how to provide a service such a bird's eye elevated shots, exposure engine, or night shots, contact us and we can point you in the right direction. You can also choose to not offer all the services we mention. As you know, many of our monthly virtual tour webinars cover these hot new topics and allow you to easily add these services to your virtual tour business.

SOLD!  It really is a powerful word.  This simple postcard is written so that real estate professionals have a quick and effective way to connect with home owners who are not currently listing with them.  The benefits of virtual tours and the numerous services that your business provides are highlighted on the back.  Sometimes simple and to the point really is better.

TxT Connect is here to stay!  Five years ago we could not have anticipated the far reaching advantages and usage of text messages.  Today, an estimated one billion text messages are being sent every day.   It is the fastest growing form of communication and the key to efficiently providing potential clients with the property information they need instantly.  This flyer breaks this amazing process down into the simple steps so your clients understand the benefits of the program, how it works, and what to do to get started.

We are continually updating our comprehensive user manuals for our Full Service Dealers, In House Dealers, and National Account holders.  We recently updated the FSD and the National Accounts manual and are working on the IHD manual.  Look for these to be posted soon.  They cover the extensive services that RTV offers and provide a great overview of the programs you should be utilizing to advance your virtual tour company.

RTV Marketing
Virtual Tour Marketing
Brand New Marketing Materials EVERY MONTH!!!

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HD Virtual Tours

Could it really be HD Virtual Tours?  Yes, it is finally here and well worth the wait!  HD full screen virtual tours are transforming the typical virtual tour to something spectacular and offer our virtual tour providers the ability for yet another up-sell on technology.

Take a look at a few of our most recent HD Virtual Tours:

http://rtvpix.com/RE-0918-EOVNVQ-01

 http://rtvpix.com/RE-1472-LLZMDE-01

 http://rtvpix.com/RE-9236-VKBVEN-01

Most RTV virtual tour providers are able to upgrade any of their existing virtual tours to an HD version in about ten to fifteen minutes of extra time.  If you have not already watched The FORMULA 'Big Screen' episode, please make sure to login to your TMS as soon as possible so you can learn how to take advantage of this exciting new technology from RTV.

Would like to add the HD badge to your website?  Get your RTV HD badge now from our images download center found here: http://www.realtourvision.com/tourbuttons.php

See how this looks in action: Traverse City Virtual Tours

Finally we’re looking for the most impressive and amazing new virtual tours to add to the new HD virtual tour gallery on: http://www.realtourvision.com/tourdemos.php

If you do an HD virtual tour and would like to showcase it on the RTV site please submit your HD virtual tour link to info(at)realtourvision.com and we will review your HD virtual tour.  A very big thanks to all you RTV virtual tour providers out there who give us continued support.  It is all of you combined that make our company the leader in virtual tour technology.   Enjoy!

RTV
Virtual Tour Software

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RTV's Webinars Bring Me Success

First of all, the RTV webinar on night photography rocked! Thanks Ben-great information as always!

That being said, I have to confess I am photography phobic.  Don’t get me wrong, I love RTV's virtual tour software technology but what I know about photography can fit in a thimble.  Photoshop was invented for me.  New software doesn’t scare me.  Computers don’t scare me.  Snakes don’t even scare me that much.  But cameras do.  So I am watching the webinar and I started hearing F-stop this and aperture that and I’m thinking, “Gee isn’t this what the autofocus selection is for?” Wrong!  I am slowly finding out that there is a LOT for me to learn about taking great pictures.

I am an RTV newbie.   As such, when I first started to reach out and contact other RTV Virtual Tour Providers and members it was kind of intimidating to see their sites, awesome photos and read all the techno-wizardry that everyone knows.  I never cease to be impressed with all the ideas and clever marketing tips on these daily blogs.  So at first it was hard to figure a way to approach everything there is to learn, let alone photography. There was a lot of material to go through and lots of places to go to learn things. It all seemed rather daunting.

But I like a challenge.  You can accomplish a lot by challenging yourself.  So I took a deep breath and reminded myself that hey… I’ve run four marathons. I didn’t do that by walking out my front door one day and running 26.2 miles.  I asked questions, I took advice from accomplished athletes, surrounded myself with committed runners.  I outlined a plan, kept taking notes, recovered from injury and training mistakes, set interim goals, one day at a time. A few months later, there I was, crossing the finish line first in Las Vegas, then San Diego, then Chicago and most recently California. So I will get through this too!

I also reminded myself that I am in good hands. Everyone so far has said not to let it overwhelm you; to absorb it a little at a time and practice and it will come. Gee, that sounds familiar.  I’ve had great help from Jason, Ben, Sue and fellow dealers like Nancy Bain who does Nova Scotia virtual tours. Nancy has answered a lot of questions and been a great support.  And also has become a friend! It’s starting to feel like a nice club to be in too, sort of like my running clubs!

So this photography thing is my new marathon training.  I feel very comfortable knowing that I have the right coaches in place, a clearly outlined game plan, and even have guidance in what goals to set.  In these first few months, I have the site done, a client who is very happy with my progress to date on his tour, [in spite of my limited photography skills], and who has promised me more business! That’s a pretty good start I’d say.  I’d be happy to one day be a top RTV producer… now that’s an ultra marathon goal!

In the meantime, I’ll just keep plugging away at learning about cameras, filters, lighting, shutter speeds, social ignition, web-site content, blogging, marketing, sales and building awesome tours till I get it--one client at a time. Thanks for the support! Please email me and tell me what you struggled with and how you overcame a specific obstacle. I’d love to hear from all of you RTV virtual tour dealers out there!  I do Westbrook, ME Virtual tours.  I’ll see you all at the finish line! As with my marathon finishes, hopefully there will be beer!

Buffy Crosby
Owner
Westbrook Virtual Tours
http://www.virtualtoursuccess.com/
Order a Virtual Tour Today: 916-690-1786

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San Diego Virtual Tours | Photo Travel Trips

Virtual Tour: 707 South Sierra Ave #7, Solana Beach CA 92075

This beautiful Ocean View property is presented by Tom Varga, Del Mar Realty Associates. It was a pleasure working with Tom, and thank him for letting me put together the Virtual Tour.

2 Bedrooms, 2 Bath Condo. Ground floor unit with lawn in back overlooking ocean. Completely remodeled in 2005, travertine floors, stainless steel appliances, 2 fireplaces, significant storage space and closets. Best unit in complex - northwest ground floor end unit with a lot of light.

Oceanfront, excellent location, walking distance to great shops and restaurants, Fletcher Cove Park recently built in 2007; small complex and well looked after community, friendly neighbors.

Mathieu Jonkers
San Diego Virtual Tour
www.phototraveltrips.com
Owner Photo Travel Trips LLC
Order a Virtual Tour Today: 408-768-1402
© Photo Travel Trips – 360 Virtual Tours

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Northern Michigan Outdoor Properties Loves BlueLaVaMedia

Northern Michigan Outdoor Properties has formed a powerful marketing alliance with BlueLaVaMedia’s Northern Michigan FSBO division.  With the cost of print advertising becoming too expensive and their reach limited, Northern Michigan Outdoor Properties had to look for other mediums in order to maximize their listing exposure on a tight advertising budget.

BlueLaVaMedia offers us high quality, cost competitive, interactive 360° panoramic virtual tours and several other powerful property marketing tools.  If you’re someone who still believes in a handshake to greet someone BlueLaVaMedia is far ahead of the curve when it comes to putting your listings in front of more eyes than ever before using Social Media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and YouTube to gain you the exposure you need to sell homes faster. 

Finally we’re very excited about the BlueLaVaMedia exposure engine!  This very affordable virtual tour add on comes with a Smart Phone Tour, posting to Craiglist, YouTube, and E-Flyer and gets posted onto http://www.TourGrandTraverse.com which is a blog currently subscribed to by nearly 300 Traverse City real estate agents!

At the end of the day there are just way too many benefits for the dollar to mention here. Even in winter months BlueLaVaMedia media is sure to impress! Here is a tour that we recently did: http://rtvpix.com/RC-0736-H4V5YT-01

We’re very excited about this opportunity. Please keep an eye out for us at http://www.northernmichiganlandforsale.com/

Thanks BlueLaVaMedia!

Bob

Robert  Foster
Northern Michigan Outdoor Properties
15247 Trowbridge Rd PO Box 134
Wolverine, MI 49799
231-525-8289
www.NorthernMichiganLandForSale.com

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An RTV Love Letter

Dear RTV

A love letter from a Nova Scotia Virtual Tour provider, Supernova Studios and Nancy Bain.

You will have to forgive me as I am a little out of practice, but I simply had to try to convey to you my absolute love for you.

I’ll never forget the day we met. I first saw you through the eyes of a fellow RTV Dealer (Dave Hall, Listing Solutions) and the infatuation began. His enthusiasm and praise for you filled me with wonder and I knew that I had to contact you at my first opportunity.

You were waiting for my call. Anticipating me, and the courtship began. How thorough you were in answering each of my questions. How prompt you were in following up. How patient with me when I felt challenged. How encouraging you were when I needed a push. Your attention was immediate and consistent. And the love affair took root in this Nova Scotia Virtual Tour provider’s heart.

I have so many favorite memories of our short time together. Like the time when someone an hour from me contacted you and wanted to begin a love affair with you too! How faithful you were to me when you not only turned them away but gave them my contact information to become their Nova Scotia virtual tour provider. You earned my trust that day.

And when you mentioned my name and promoted my business on an RTV webinar I was bursting with pride from your public support. I could barely sleep that night. How very very flattering. I want to be wildly successful and make you proud.

Your RTV family has welcomed me with open arms. Several of them contacting me, showing their support, encouraging me and following me.  Your RTV family has become my RTV family.

You make me look so good through your Inner Circle Marketing providing me with all the tools for a comprehensive marketing package. You are dedicated and are continually working to come out with even more amazing marketing solutions for me to offer my Nova Scotia real estate tour clients. There are days when I feel that I can barely keep up with all that you have to offer.

You are invested in me.  And I am invested in you.

A true virtue, you are committed to my success through your time, energy and effort. And I am committed to you.

Commitment is what
Transforms the promise into reality.
It is the words that speak
Boldly of your intentions.
And the actions which speak
Louder than the words.
It is making the time
When there is none.
Coming through time
After time after time,
Year after year after year.
Commitment is the stuff
Character is made of;
The power to change
The face of things.
It is the daily triumph
Of integrity over skepticism.

When I say I love you, I mean that I’m committed to working to love you even when it’s hard.

Love always,

Nancy Bain
Supernova Studios 
Nova Scotia Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: 902-543-2185

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Do You Really Need Good Pictures to Sell Houses?

Bay Area Virtual Tours are everywhere, but do you really need one?  For that matter, do you really need good or professional photographs?  Can't you just snap some photos with your point-and-shoot, load them to the MLS and "poof" the house is sold?  Well, in some cases... maybe! San Francisco Bay Area real estate has been very strong compared with many areas of the country.  And yet, no different than anywhere else, it is key to the success of a listing and for that matter, the listing agent, to be priced right and marketed well.  So just what do we mean by "marketed well"?

I am going to borrow a paragraph out of the text "How to Photograph Houses by Stan Barron".  The booklet was written for members of The Institute For Luxury Home Marketing, founded by Laurie Moore-Moore.  In this booklet, Stan says:

"Selling a house is not a real estate function...it is a marketing function, and pretty photographs sell more houses.  Think about the marketing used for professional products you are exposed to.  Have you ever seen a bad photograph (taken with a point-and-shoot-camera) in an ad for a BMW?  Of course not.  Ever seen a badly composed shot in a cosmetics ad?  Never.  Good photographs are worth the effort."

Maybe we should ask ourselves, do we have an ethical and possibly legal responsibility to represent the client in a professional manner that includes photographs that highlight the homes features, and marketing that exposes it to the public, even more so than the BMW dealer?

So, how do we take good or even great pictures?  Start with a good camera.  With recent technology improvements you can buy a good digital SLR camera for under $1000.  One that I recommend is the Canon EOS Rebel.  Nikon also has a very good entry level digital SLR called the D40 in the same price range.
Bay area virtual tours as an authorized RTV dealer, is no different than virtual tours and real estate photography anywhere in the world and one of the keys to good architectural photos is the wide-angle lens.  You want a lens that is somewhere between 12 and 16mm for a digital camera.  Remember, the lower the number the wider the lens.  A normal camera is a 35mm lens so a 16mm will shoot much wider shots such as shown above.  I shoot with a Canon 50D and a 12-24mm wide-angle lens.

Next, always and I mean always use a tripod!  You cannot hold the camera still enough to get good pictures.  And you will also want to be sure the camera is level and that's hard to do when hand holding the camera.  At Property Marketing Studios, I use a tripod with a built-in leveler so I know the camera is level in either vertical or horizontal positions.

Then to add natural lighting, you can either use a very slow shutter speed such as 4-8 seconds for a long exposure and natural light (no flash) or use an external flash and a diffuser.  I use both natural lighting (above) and the Gary Fong Lightsphere Diffuser (below) for a natural look and feel.
So, do you really need good pictures to sell homes?  Only if you want to get more exposure, sell faster and get noticed by more potential sellers and buyers that take note of your great photos and superior marketing skills!
And the rewards will be well worth it... Your sellers will be telling their friends and associates what a great job you did and statistics show that properties with good pictures sell faster than those without!  And quantity does matter too...  According to NAR, listings with the most pictures and with Virtual Tours get more viewing by almost 30%.

Yes, all of this is an investment, but it will pay for itself in faster sales and referrals by your sellers and clients.  Or, if your time is better spent getting new clients and prospecting, then hire a professional such as us, Property Marketing Studios.

As part of Bay Area Property Marketing Studios and Virtual Tour business, we offer the option of using the agents photographs and creating a YouTube Presentation for as little as $35.  This is a great option for those agents that like to take their own pictures.  Use the tips above and your pictures will look great and when Property Marketing Studios exposes it to the world, you and your seller will be proud!

So, in summary, I hope we have established the need for good quality, even professional pictures whether you take them yourself or you hire a professional such as Bay Area Property Marketing Studios.
Next, how do we market the property to get the exposure for the property as well as ourselves.  Social networking, Twitter, YouTube, Craigslist?  RTV and Property Marketing Studios have developed social media exposure programs that expose both the property and the agent to the world!  But hey, that's for another day, We will talk more about that in our next communications.
I invite you to join me on my Facebook Fan Page at: 

Thank You,
Tim Denbo
"The Marketing Guy"

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RTV Rocks the Kasbah

Hey Everyone at RTV, I just wanted to send you in a little testimonial because we love you guys!!!

You guys rock.  I can't think of any other virtual tour company that focuses so much on it's distributors.  Thank you so much for helping us with training and giving us the tools, knowledge and methods to grow our property marketing businesses into successful, competing companies!!

The past few virtual tour webinars have been right on target with helping us understand and utilize social networking and optimization.  I'm really excited about the HD and Full Screen options.  Wow, the pics look so much better and THAT'S what will get us more clients. 

A special thanks to Mike Thompson for sharing his knowledge and experience.  It's good to hear and learn from other RTV dealers. Nancy Bain is a great inspiration. I've learned so much from her ... and I bet she doesn't realize that she's been a positive business influence.

Keep up the great work RTV, we appreciate your hard work and support.

Thanks Tammy Mills
Time Matters Marketing
Knoxville Virtual Tours
http://www.timemattersmarketing.com/

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Camera Wars

Attention RTV virtual tour photographers and camera junkies alike.  Please join us for the next episode of The IMAGE "The official photography webinar of RTV".  Are you looking for that perfect camera and not sure which brand is best?  Have you been to several camera shops only to hear each supposed expert claim their preferred brand is the best because of XY and Z?  If you have, please know that you're not alone out there.  In fact, there are thousands of people who simply throw their hands up in the air each day and select a camera out of sheer exhaustion.

If only you could get all of those camera shop owners in one room at the same time so you can witness firsthand a fair and balanced debate then maybe then you could make an informed decision. Well now you can!  Because RTV has hundreds of virtual tour providers all around the world we are going to do something that most companies out there could never achieve.  We're going to put die hard Canon junkies up against must have Nikon lovers against Fuji fanatics and Olympus addicts and watch them fight it out on The IMAGE 13 "Camera Wars".

Join us ringside for an amazingly fun no holds barred evening as dedicated RTV Virtual Tour Builders throw off the gloves and debate why they chose Canon, Nikon, Olympus, or Sony. This will be a sheer battle of the brand and only those with true grit will be left standing.

Find out the advantages and disadvantages of each brand of digital SLR so you will know what to pick the next time you plan to get a camera. Join me, Ben Knorr, for the IMAGE webinar – "Camera Wars" on March 30th at 7:00 Eastern.

Sign up NOW! Public is welcome!
https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/710831347

Ben Knorr
Camera Junkie and RTV Lens Engineer

P.S.  If you love your digital SLR, think it is the best brand, don't have a problem telling the other brands off, then we would love for you to be a guest on this show! Shoot me an email or give me a call today at 231-947-0684!

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RTV Webinars Work For Me

Just letting you know that I have been enjoying all of the Virtual Tour Webinars that you are guys are putting out.

The Life Lock Webinar was such good information for protecting yourself and your business. Thanks so much for giving your dealers the opportunity to be secure. It seems that identity theft is a way of life. It's good to know that Life Lock has figured out how to help those who have had this problem and how to get a person set up safe and secure so that it doesn’t happen. Thanks again. 

The IMAGE virtual tour Webinars are so interesting and informative. Since the Night Shots Image Photo Webinar I have been taking a lot of pictures of my house at night to see what differences are changing the setting without the filters as discussed. I have some interesting photos as you can imagine. Thank goodness for digital cameras and instant delete!

C.Lee Images in Mesquite, NV is doing well. Our housing market is still not the best in Southern Nevada but a few homes seem to be moving. I enjoy when a client calls to tell me to take a tour down because it has sold. I always send back a Congrats and thank them for their business with a gentle reminder of my business when thinking of their next tour.

My client list is growing and I like how C.Lee Images is making headway with good relations within the Real Estate Community. Still a long way to go but I am positive that things will change in a positive way as agents become aware of the power a 360 virtual tour can give them. Very excited now about offering the new RTV HD Full Screen virtual tour. 

Thank you SO MUCH RTV, you have a great company and a great support system for us virtual tour dealers out here in the field.

Here’s hoping that 2010 will bring us all great success.

Cher Lee



C.Lee Images
Mesquite Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: 435-215-8102

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FREE Software for AWESOME Virtual Tours

It’s Freebie Friday time courtesy of Palm Canyon Media in sunny Palm Springs, California!
When you get right down to it, we all want to be the best Virtual Tour Providers.  We take pride in our Virtual Tours and want them to look their best.  That’s why team RTV offers us a lot of tips and tricks to make our product look its very best.

On that note, I would like to share with you some of the tricks, actually FREE (yes you read that right) software that’s available to make your Virtual Tours stand out above the rest.

Most of us are using wide angle lenses which can distort an image.  A simple fix is ShiftN.  It’s a simple to use program which permits the automatic correction of converging lines.

Have you ever wanted to buy Photoshop but just couldn’t afford it?  I know I have but I think I might have found the next best thing.  It’s called GIMP.  Gimp provides professional tools that can stand against the big boys without the hefty price tag.  It’s extremely powerful and easy to work with and is ideal for either amateur and pro photographers or anyone who wants to create and edit professional-quality digital images on a budget.

FastStone Image Viewer, Screen Capture and Photo resize.  That’s a program you have heard Ben Knorr talk a lot about.  It’s an easy to use program.  FastStone can batch-convert files into a number of popular image formats and sizes.  The slide-show creator allows you to apply transitions, specify the interval between images, and add your own MP3s as a soundtrack.

And finally my favorite: Adobe Lightroom 3.  Yes, I know this is an expensive program, but they have a beta version that you can use for FREE through April.  If you have never used Lightroom I invite you to download it and take it for a spin.  It can add a lot of depth to your images.

So there you have it, FREE software that you can find and download easily from the internet and use right away.   Have fun!

Kurt Beabes
Palm Canyon Media
Palm Springs Virtual Tours
www.PalmCanyonMedia.com
Order a Virtual tour: 760-327-0701

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