The Formula 29 | Email Marketing & List Building

Are you using Aweber email system? Want to learn exactly how you can burn a feed http://www.aweber.com/archive/360traverseblog to all of the realtors in your area like I do at BlueLaVaMedia?

Have you ever wondered if email marketing was really worth the time and energy? If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions and even if you already consider yourself to be an expert on email marketing you should join us on The FORMULA 29 – Email Marketing and List Building.

I will be interviewing Mike Thompson from www.RealVisionStudio.com and extracting some of his best kept secrets on how to build BIG precise email lists, how to design and structure your message, the best time to send emails and how you can do this all for free using nothing but a little bit of your time.

Email is not dead and even if this show gets you one more customer it will be well worth your time and attendance. See you there next week!

Sign up now in your TMS!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 7 PM EDT

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Thanks RTV!

Dear RTV,

A BIG THANK YOU!!  Thank you for your interest in my success as a provider of Southern Michigan virtual tours. I am, and will continue to working hard each and every day to become the #1 source for interactive 360 virtual tours in my Lenawee and Monroe County area.

Your virtual tour support is awesome!  The virtual tour webinars are great!!  I have gained a wealth of information from the events  like your search engine optimization tips, social networking tips, link building tips, blogging tips, marketing tips, new virtual tour software technology updates from you, offers and more!

I have been able to apply most all and am offering True To Life, Cost Effective and Hassle Free 360 Interactive Virtual Tours In 48hrs. Satisfaction Guaranteed. The tools I include in most my virtual tour shots are my Exposure Engine, which includes posting to all recognized sites, a Smart Phone Tour, an E-Flyer, and a YouTube Video, and I also offer a FREE HD Full Screen upgrades, a Free SEO Guide, and of course my FREE 12 week Social Ignition course

Also every time I produce a virtual tour I add it to my new virtual tour portal found at www.TourLenaweeCounty.com (check it out!) along with an email feed that gets sent out when I add a brand new listing tours for subscribers to look at!

My current virtual tour clients are very pleased with the quality of product and services that they receive and I am building quite a nice book of testimonials from them.  Hopefully by building these strong relationships along with effective marketing strategy (Jason, there’s a suggestion for a webinar – effective virtual tour marketing) my business will continue to grow.

Hanging with the best, started with RTV.  Talking about hanging with the best,  I tried to sign up for your monthly e-News letter but all I got last month was a feed from your portal site.  Are you still sending out monthly newsletters?  Did I go to the wrong place on your website (bottom left side)?  Can I get your monthly e-Newsletters?

Thanks again for your continued support,

Hal Holubik
OWNER/ORGANIZER
Tours D' Forc
Lenawee County Virtual Tours
www.toursdforce.com
Order a virtual tour: 517-486-4209

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Virtual Staging in South Florida

Got Vacant Listings? You might decide to accomplish a complete remodeling and decoration of the house which can become rather expensive. If you decide to remodel or decorate remember you are doing it for the general public. Do not forget to draft a budget and look for a professional remodeler to help plan the project. Check his/her references and check the contract before you do anything else.

After that the first step is to paint the outside. Do not crowd the room should only cover 30% of each room, anything else will make the room look too cluttered.  Do not place drapes or open them you need as much light as possible in all the rooms. The real problem of this solution is that it is extremely expensive.

Virtual Florida 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 from the number below anytime!

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.

This is where virtual home staging really shines. Virtual home staging is the process of taking digital photos of empty rooms and inserting digital furniture, window treatments, and other decorations.

The attributes of each property are enhanced by the staging, rather than showcasing the taste of the homeowner. Virtual home staging costs a fraction of a physical staging and is a great tool to help showcase the home to prospective buyers. Most people looking for a home search the internet first and having a beautifully decorated home captures the interest of buyers and motivates them to schedule a showing with a real estate agent. Photos of empty homes are not as impressive as a staged home and may not help a potential buyer make an emotional connection to the property. Start virtually staging your vacant homes today!
Are you ready to start showing your listing totally decorated?

South Florida Virtual Tours
http://virtualfloridarealtours.com


Order Virtual Staging Today: 305 331 8960

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Starting up a Virtual Tour Company

We started our Grand Junction Virtual Tour Company in the summer of 2005, now almost five years ago, and found a quick response to our photography and virtual tour technology. We’ve been full time since then, and added website development to the mix of services to spread the exposure to the real estate market about three years ago.

The timing was good, as our photo and virtual tour business has taken a big hit the last 18 months, due to the economy and realtor’s cash flow. We still have a good core of dedicated clients, but most of the fringe players have gone away.

Bottom line is, how much money do you want to make? Then figure out what you can charge for a competitive product/service. Then it becomes a math calculation, how many projects do you need to do to generate the cash flow you need? And how many prospects do you need to have to get that many ‘yes’s’.

RTV Virtual Tour Software and staff has been great support, adding virtual tour features and technological support to make having our 360 tour business easier and more fun (and profitable). Any business success depends on how hard you are willing to hussle, GO FOR IT!

Marc E Terrien, Owner-President
thin air web & media
Grand Junction Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: 888.921.4335

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You DONT Want to Miss This!

GoToWebinar is back on line and we're ready unleash our Setting up Shop webinar for another round. If you've somehow been sleeping under a rock lately you might have missed this message.  Next week we've got a full hour of action that’s sure to be filled with lots of great information. We'll be discussing how to generate virtual tour sales for new or existing virtual tour companies.

You’ve got your website in place, you’ve got your business cards made, your bank account is open, your prices are set, and now you’re ready to start making some money. Literally anyone will benefit by attending this show.

The usual suspects (Alan Fon, Mike Thompson and myself) will be hosting the show along with a couple of our latest RTV power players, Jane Jones from www.virtualtexas360.com and John Montgomery from www.alaska360tours.com.

Please join us on this episode of The FORMULA with this great group of panelists to hear how you can start generating sales for your company.

The FORMULA 28 - Setting up Shop 3, The Secret of Sales May 25th at 6:00 Eastern.

Jason LaVanture VP / Founder RTV, Inc Alan Fon Owner Island Digital Images Jane Jones Owner   Virtual Texas 360 Mike (The Godfather) Thompson Owner Real Vision Studio John Montgomery Owner Alaska 360 Tours

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The Efficacy of Virtual Tours

A couple of recent incidents have prompted me to write this blog to address the efficacy of virtual tours and what they do and do not do.  Recently, a good client of mine over heard an associate of his make the comment “Virtual Tours don’t work”. Then has a tenant of a house that is for sale, I have had the opportunity to observe multiple Realtors show the home to perspective buyers. Observing these Realtors made me realize what the aforementioned associate may have meant and subsequently thought a Virtual Tour should do. While I observed the Realtors showing my house, I was struck by the total lack of salesmanship the Realtors showed.

While sales are an art, it doesn’t take a master salesperson to show a house and point out all of the positive aspects of a home. None of the Realtors that showed the home did this; they just let the buyers walk through the home as if there was no real intention to sell the home. One Realtor didn’t even come in the home because of “remove shoes requirement”!??


So what is expected of a Virtual Tour? Perhaps the comment that “Virtual Tours don’t work” inferred that Virtual Tours are supposed to SELL the home. Well that’s probably the biggest Virtual Tour misconception around.  What a Virtual Tour is, is a very valuable tool, maybe the most valuable in a box full of tools available to Realtors to sell their properties. The fact is Realtors sell homes, Realtors that use all available media to showcase and market their listings. Virtual tours offer incredible marketing opportunities that simply were not available to the realtor or the consumer just 10 years ago. The use of a virtual tour simply increases your market penetration to bring you more leads for the property and for yourself. Your presentation on the internet is very important to both buyers and sellers and can mean the difference between a new lead and missed opportunity.

Everyone knows what social networking can do for a real estate agent and this is evidenced by the high percentage of new business that comes from referrals. The question is, would you send a new referral a handwritten and crumpled business card or would you send them a presentation that speaks volumes of you and demonstrates your command of marketing tools that are significantly different from what other agents are offering. Fish eye spinners, dark pictures, unprofessional virtual tours and ineffective marketing can leave a lasting impression on your referral business. A properly-distributed, professionally-produced virtual tour brings you more leads from a world-wide network of resources and frees you up to follow-up on those leads. This gives you a major advantage over the competition that has yet to comprehend the difference between saving time and saving money.

DragonFly 360 Imaging has been shooting Albuquerque virtual tours for the past 2 years and we have recently launched HD Full Screen Tours into our vast arsenal of marketing tools available to Realtors. Call today to book your Virtual Tour today and ask about additional services available and our special offer available until the end of April.

Dale Hart
DragonFly 360 Imaging
Order a Tour: 505.962.2207
Albuquerque Virtual Tours
www.DragonFly360Imaging.com

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Become a Pro...for FREE!

Become A Pro!

If you service the Real Estate Industry, you need to check this out: ForSaleByOwner.com created the Find a Pro network for their customers who demanded a reliable source of Pros to assist them during the FSBO process. Join their network of Pros and get connected to buyers and sellers who need your expertise. Their basic listing is free, but you can always upgrade to add additional features.

Why Join the Pro Network? (from their website)

~We are the largest "by owner" real estate marketplace with over 50,000 active daily visitors. Our customers come to us as a trusted source for all their real estate needs.

~Unrepresented FSBO buyers and sellers make up almost 25% of the real estate market. Tap into a lucrative market that is missed when marketing only through agents.

~Consumers spend tremendous amounts of money on goods and services surrounding a move. A Harvard study found that relocating households spend 20-25% more on home improvements than those that do not move.

~Get maximum exposure by promoting your services online. Our flat-fee plans provide a cost effective way to advertise online, without costly pay-per-click fees. Plus, the cost is most likely tax deductible.

Sign-up to become a Pro today or call 888-367-7253 to get started.

Check out Real Vision Studio’s ad HERE!

Real Vision Studio
Metro Detroit Virtual Tours

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Creating Your Personal Brand

I see so many virtual tour providers out there struggling to get their name and brand in circulation. Failing to turn the turn the corner in sales and reach out to that next group of customers that really kicks your business in overdrive.  Sure it's great to book ten to twelve tours a week but what if there was more than that out there for you?  What if I told you that you could get to 80 to 100 tours a month by your third year? 

Guess what you can!  It's not hard but you will need to start creating your own personal brand from day one if you want to see that kind of volume by your third season.  In this video I talk about the importance of setting your company up with logo wear, shirts, hats, stickers, decals, pens, business card CD presentations, trifold brochures, and vehicle decals.  Anything that will expedite the process of creating your own personal brand.

Thanks for stopping by!
Jason LaVanture
RTV Inc, #1 Ranking Virtual Tour Company in the World...and for a very good reason ;)
Virtual Tour Software

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Calgary Virtual Tours | The Barry Blick Story

I started my virtual tour business in 2005.  My REALTOR had just sold our home and he became my first V tour customer.  I couldn’t believe I was getting paid for work that I really enjoyed doing. 

In order to build the virtual tour company though, I had to get organized.  That meant creating an image for my company with a logo, stationery, business cards, and flyers.  That took a little time, but it’s really worth it.  First impressions are important. 

The other is to talk to REALTORS; go to their offices, and try to meet with the manager so you can attend a Monday morning meeting.  Most offices do that and they often have a guest who can inform REALTORS about some service or product.  The main thing, I believe, is not to tell them what YOU do, but you can do for THEM.  Let’s face it, in this market, especially in the U.S., REALTORS have to do everything they can to market a property.  Jason LaVanture, the vice-president of RTV, works very hard to put together marketing, instructional and technical virtual tour webinars that keep us all informed of the latest developments.

Start up, including logo, stationery, incorporation, accounting preparation such as credit card acceptance, bank account, etc., took about 6 weeks.  You can start making money right away, but you have to know how to record where your income is coming from and where it’s going!  

I have worked for 250 different REALTORS, but I have a core group of about 50 good listing agents who continually recommend my virtual tour services to others.  This year, I’m getting one new client a week!  I shoot retirement homes for a seniors organization, and a couple of builders.  I also participate in RTV’s Tour Track program which gives me additional income shooting properties of international virtual tour accounts, such as Best Western, Holiday Retirement, Choice Hotels, Outback Steakhouse and more.  I couldn’t be more satisfied with my choice of virtual tour company.  I don’t mean to sound overly exuberant, but the people at RTV really are a fantastic group.

One person told me that you will never have all your ducks in a row.  So fire at the ducks now and aim later.  If you love photography, you will be happy with RTV and virtual tour photography!

Sincerely, 

Barry Blick
SPINNERMAX, INC. Real Estate Photography
www.spinnermax.com
Calgary Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour: (403) 850-0801

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New RTV Virtual Tour Dealer Websites

Have you heard about the upcoming changes to the RTV Dealer Site Program? If you watched the Formula 25 webinar, then you already heard about and saw the first phase, the Agent Site Program, that's about to roll out next week. Offer your real estate or developer clients a website they can manage on their own, for the same price ($250) you get your virtual tour Dealer site for. Wait, there's more though!

You will get five tour credits for getting your agents to sign up!

Your agents will get a totally editable site that will include:

• Searchable listings

• Featured listings

• Changeable templates and colors

• Unlimited pages!

• They can order their virtual tours from YOU right from within their site's editor

• And best of all, those tours will then AUTOMATICALLY import into their site


The second phase, Dealer Site 2.0; a total re-vamping of the Dealer Site Program!

This second phase is expected to roll out near the end of May. Current Dealer Site Program members will automatically get the new upgrade for FREE!!!! Dealers will get the same upgraded content management system that the agents are about to get above. New dealers who sign up will get it right from the start, and existing members will be phased into the upgrade. Existing Dealer Site Program members will get all their current information on their existing site automatically imported into their new site layout.

All Dealer sites will then have:

• Totally editable pages site-wide

• Changeable templates and colors

• Unlimited pages!

• All new tours will be (optionally) AUTOMATICALLY imported directly into your site. No more manually uploading images and linking them to your tours!

Watch the Formula 25 webinar from your business resource center http://www.rockpointemarketing.com to see what this all looks like and learn more about it. And watch for further updates right here when the two phases of this program upgrade are rolled out.

RTV Virtual Tours
National Virtual Tour Company
866-947-8687 Ext 4

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Facebook is Serious Business!

Facebook Is Serious Business!Don't get caught up in the games!

Fellow RTV Virtual Tour Dealers,


Your time is precious and the busy season for virtual tour production is upon us! How are you spending your time? Greetings from Bridgewater Nova Scotia, Nancy Bain and Supernova Studios. http://www.supernovastudios.ca Your Nova Scotia virtual tours provider, fellow dealer and RTV family member.

I’ve been very fortunate to connect with many of you already on facebook. Each time I add a fellow RTV virtual tour Dealer, I file you to a “special” place on my Friends List I have created called RTV Dealers.

I have close to 700 friends on facebook. Each “friend” is filed to a certain list. Ex- high school, family, friends, RTV Dealers, Social Media, Real Estate, and one I simply call Networking.

I discipline myself to one hour per day networking on facebook. Please visit my fan page at http://www.facebook.com/NovaScotiaVirtualTours For many of you, you do not have that much time (and that’s a good thing) but typically, I spend 20 minutes first thing in the morning (then CLOSE facebook), and the rest of the time in the evening on my “off” time.

My email inbox is constantly open and downloads email automatically. I get notifications all day long via my inbox from facebook. I will (quickly) read the notification and decide if it is worth interrupting my work to respond to. I respond to all friend requests immediately with a thank you “inbox” (which I have saved and copy and paste) telling them my story. I explain that I am an RTV Dealer and producer of Nova Scotia virtual tours. I'm certain to let them know that I offer 360 degree, full screen high definition virtual tours that will rank organically on google and can be shared through social media platforms. I tell them my passion is social media that I offer a social ignition e-course at my site they are welcome to participate in.

Facebook for me is about two things. Networking and Learning. I only read newsfeed information from these lists: RTV Dealers, Social Media, Real Estate and Networking. Organize your friends into “lists” so that you can concentrate on what is important in the newsfeed and not waste time on the rest of it.

Networking: I spend half my twenty minutes networking and engaging people. I wish happy birthday’s, I comment on photos, and status updates (from the above lists) and from the fan pages that I have chosen to “like”.

Learning: I DO NOT “LIKE” RANDOM PAGES. They clog up my newsfeed and waste my time. I only “like “ pages that will supply me with valuable industry related information. And I comment on these pages too. THAT is where the friend requests are coming from that I file under “networking”. These are LIKE MINDED people in the industry who have a passion for: photography, social media, real estate, etc. Some of these people/pages offer valuable insight or tips that is related to OUR BUSINESS.

Facebook can be addictive. Which brings me to the point of this blog. If you are playing games on facebook, chatting with friends, and not using it as a business tool. You are wasting your valuable time and your business will slow because of this.

Here is a tip if your newsfeed is clogged with constant “game” notifications: "On your regular News Feed, you can weed out the updates from farming, organized crime, vampire, or casual games your friends are playing. Just move the mouse cursor to the end of the first line from an update from say, Mafia Wars, and click the Hide button that appears. A box pops up giving you the option to either hide game updates (or the friend) from your News Feed."

A better way to do this is by organizing your “friends” in to lists and only following those “worth” following.

If you aren’t sure how to organize your friends into lists, or if you have any questions related to facebook, please be sure to “like” my page at http://www.supernovastudios.ca and post any questions you have there. I answer all questions within 24 hours.

I’m spending my time on facebook networking and learning. I hope you are too. Don’t get caught up in the games and pointless time wasted.  If you do I'm sure you competitors will be thanking you all the way to the bank!

Your Nova Scotia virtual tours provider,
Nancy Bain
Supernova Studios
http://www.supernovastudios.ca
Order a virtual tour: 902-543-2185

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The FORMULA 28 - Setting up Shop 3, The Secret of Sales

Your favorite FORMULA series, Setting up Shop, is back for another action packed virtual tour webinar that’s sure to be filled with lots of great information.  This time we'll be discussing how to generate virtual tour sales for new or existing virtual tour companies.

You’ve got your website in place, you’ve got your business cards made, your bank account is open, your prices are set, and now you’re ready to start making some money. Literally anyone will benefit by attending this show.    


Please join us on this episode of The FORMULA with this great group of panelists to hear how you can start generating sales for your virtual tour company.

Sign up now in your TMS!

See you on the show!

Jason
http://twitter.com/BlueLaVaMedia

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Getting Leads Before Your Trained

RTV not only dispatches hundreds of virtual tour orders each month for our national accounts, but we also receive several hundred leads for virtual tour service requests each month.


In this situation I took a phone call in the virtual tour sales department and it happened to be a lead for this guy. One problem...He's not been trained!

I'm trying to buy him some time but the FSBO wants their virtual tour and this provider works full time! Because of his job he MUST find a photographer to work for him, get that person trained and FAST!!!

RTV Virtual Tours
866-947-8687

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Adding Color to Your Snaps

The tech tip this month is on how to add color to the sides of your HD stills. This is a feature that is available in the low resolution tours. The default setting in HD is white on the sides of the stills. I’ve figured out a way that most of you should easily be able to add color to your stills if you wish. I say most of you because I don’t want to promise it will work for everyone. It has worked with all the images I tested from different cameras and that started out as different sizes. In order to do this you need to know how to resize photos, have a calculator, and have an image editing program like Paint Shop Pro.

1.    Open your image editing program and load a still image. Use the resize function to resize your image. In my sample tour I made all the images 800 high. It was very convenient to use one height for all the images.

2.    Use your image editing software to pick a color that matches the color you used in the Tour Builder software. In Paint Shop Pro at least the color currently chosen is what is used when the canvas is extended. Your software may work slightly differently.

3.    Grab a calculator or a pen and paper. Take your new height image, in my case 800 pixels, and multiply that by 1.76. The result is 1408 pixels. Your result will be different if you chose a different height. This is how wide you need to make your image.

4.    Take 1408, the width the still needs to be, and subtract the current width of the still image. This amount is how much wider you need to make the still image.

5.    Use your image editing software to extend the canvas of the photo. Hopefully you will have a window that looks something like this:

Make sure you extend the left and right sides equally as close as possible. It is ok if there is a one pixel differentiation. The viewer will not notice.

6.    Save the image as a jpg file. You may need to compress it below 800k or it may already be under 800k.

7.    Upload it through the HD interface on TMS.
The Flash 3D virtual tour will now have images with color on the size. I noticed that some very wide stills would fill the screen when the full screen tour was viewed. I consider that a bonus more than a bug.

Hopefully these directions will work for everyone!

Go RTV!
Virtual Tour Software
Get Started Today - 866-947-8687 Ext 4

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What Happens in Vegas

With RTV What Happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas but will translate into money in your pocket with new Choice orders across the country.  Pictured above is Ben Knorr working his magic at the Choice National Conference.  Last year, RTV pulled in almost $20,000 in new contracts and with Doug and Ben Knorr running the show we expect to double that this year!

At RTV we do our best to put more money in your pocket and help you grow your business.  Thank you to all the virtual tour dealers who participate in the Choice photography program.  If you aren't currently approved for Choice or would like more information on becoming Choice Approved, click the following link

Tour Track Information and Orientation

Thanks ~ RTV
International MLS & Virtual Tour Company

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Lake Geneva Virtual Tours

360 Image Media, producer of Milwaukee virtual tours is again changing the way Wisconsin Realtors and Home Owners can successfully sell homes, with our latest new product offerings. First is our new and improved Lake Geneva Single Property Website, now offering a basic and enhanced option. Our basic site includes a unique url and seo optimization. Our enhanced offers a full page with unique url, downloadable flyer and seo optimization. Both these options will help us provide the best Wisconsin Virtual Tours to all our clients.

Our second new offering is geared to help out Wisconsin homeowners who are looking to sell their homes themselves. For these consumers 360 Image Media has launched a new For Sale By Owner page and package, at Wisconsin For Sale By Owner. This new package for homeowners gives them a outstanding virtual tour and property marketing that will get their property seen by buyers and compete with the agents listings. Once again the 360 Image Media team and our partner RTV have created additional and improved ways to stay on the cutting edge of the virtual tour industry.

Thanks,

Robin Duran
360 Image Media
Lake Geneva Virtual Tours

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Powertips From RTV

Oh no! We're on a Tour Track job and we need to be in two places at once to take photographs of twilight/dusk. How can we accomplish this if there is not enough money to make multiple trips and we want to please both our client and Tour Track's client.

Well, we'll just have to use Nik Software's complete package for Aperture, Light Room and Photoshop. For those of you who have a Nikon - they have a Nik Lite version called Nik Effects that can do the same things. No need to deal with masks, layers, brushes, levels, etc in Photoshop. We edited our last tour track direct from Aperture using the Nik Plug-ins.

All the modules basically work the same. You place a dot on the picture, move a few sliders and close up the plug in and you have a non-destructive edit that if using photoshop can be re-edited right from its self made layer and mask. If you use aperture it makes a duplicate with the effect and you can keep coming back for more.

Using their patented U-Point technology we were able to start out with Color Effex. This plug in comes with over 50 filters. We chose the Midnight filter (doesn't that sound dark and dusky). We first used the filter globally, meaning we applied the filter to the entire picture. We chose the Midnight blue rather than black or purple because we felt it looked best with the pool we shot. Our entire picture was bathed in Midnight Blue. Next we took the negative control point and we placed it in the areas we wanted to be brighter or have more focus for the eye. We used the brightness slider to create a gradually get darker or lighter effect up and down the picture.

Great - the picture looks like twilight but something was missing. Lamp posts were not lit because the photo was shot during the daytime. Oh no - now what. Thank goodness for their module Viveza 2. First I used positive points to saturate, contrast and texture the sky and pool. Then, using a very teeny-tiny control point, I placed it on the light bulb in the lamp post. I slide the brightness slider to 100%. Great - but the light was white and I wanted yellow. Now I adjusted the RGB slider until the color was what I wanted. But now, looking at the picture, the bulb didn't light up enough of the area. So....slide, slide, slide that brightness slider and wow - you get a yellowish tint light that is brightest at the center and glows out gradually lightening the area around the lamp post.

RTV virtual tour dealers who are having trouble with either shooting twilight photos or editing twilight into the photos.

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Can You Rock The Shoot?

I know that it really looks like I'm beginning to cry here but I'm really excited about this new program that the Tour Track Fairies came up with while I was away.  Do a great job on an RTV Tour Track deal and we will bonus you a free virtual tour credit.  How nice of a deal is that?  Keep up the great work out there team. We love you!

Jason LaVanture
RTV - International Virtual Tours

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I'm not Kinderlackin!

Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten. We all know that saying, right? Well, being a Virtual Tour Success is just a matter of playing an old kindergarten game, really. Remember Follow the Leader? Well, I just finished following yet another great tip from one of our leaders in the RTV family, Ben, after another awesome virtual tour webinar about fast stitching of panoramic scenes. 

I practiced the photo stitching software steps Ben demonstrated in his latest webinar for speed stitching and had simply fabulous results. I finished 5 pans in the time it was taking me to simply get the pictures organized before! I am going to utilize this program along with the FastStone Image Viewer steps for rapid group resizing to get my tours completed quickly and effectively. As a new RTV family virtual tour provider, it can be easy to let the large amount of information overwhelm you while building your business.  So I decided to make a game of it. The game is Follow the Leader. I looked around for the leading virtual tour providers, the old hands as well as the newest RTV people to see who was standing out.

I quickly found Nancy Bain with Nova Scotia virtual tours and Alan Fon with Corpus Christi virtual tours to name two. I keep finding more daily! I looked to see what these people are doing and of course noted the steps and followed their lead. This is a tremendous time and money saver!

I also followed the steps outlined in the Inner Circle on Rock Pointe Marketing. I would like to point out that fellow RTV providers are always willing to help out and tell you how they do something…what works and what doesn’t. 

So how is this working out? Well, in just a few short months, I am number one on Active Rain for my area and I am featured! I am climbing daily on the Google lists and I am ready to publish my first virtual tour for a very cute local grocery store. I have a deal on four warehouse properties in the making and it looks like one apartment owner will want to use the new virtual staging options soon. Not bad for playing a simple game of Follow the Leader(s). It’s really fun!!

Seriously, it is said that the way to success is to surround yourself with successful people and do what they do. Follow the leaders. Share. Be positive. Keep learning. Grow more every day. See? Everything thing we need to know we did learn in kindergarten.

Order your Westbrook virtual tour today!

Buffy Crosby
Owner
Virtual Tour Success
Westbrook Virtual Tours
www.virtualtoursuccess.com

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Going FSBO? Good Luck With That!

So you have decided to sell your home yourself.  Good for you and good luck! For many For Sale By Owners they think the only thing you need to do is put a sign out front and wait for people to come calling and sell the home.  They would probably also put an ad in the local newspaper.  10 years ago that probably would have worked.

I know it worked for me 3 years ago….right before the housing market started to struggle.  I got lucky in that I found a buyer who needed to buy a home and wanted to buy in my town. In the end everything worked out great and we found a buyer but did you know that almost 90% of people who try to sell their home themselves will fail and end up either staying put or hiring a Realtor?

The problem now a days is that the Internet has become the most important part of the puzzle.  Although in reality this evens the playing field for FSBOs against Realtors.  Now buyers who are willing to purchase a FSBO listed home can find them right on the computer and go look at them. But the problem is that many FSBOs don’t put their homes on the Internet.  My question would be…why not?

The stats are clear….
In 2009 about 50% of FSBO homes were advertised online….and yet….90% of home buyers were using the Internet to search for homes and 17% of those people were looking at FSBO sites. So basically 15 of every 100 buyers look at FSBO sites when looking for homes to buy.  If you aren’t on those sites you are missing a lot of views!!

Maybe you don’t know what you need to do.  Well we here at Harrisburg Virtual Tours can help you with that.  We will not only do a professional 360 virtual tour of your home that you can share online but we will also push the listing to multiple sites (YouTube, Craigslist, Facebook, and more) so that when people look online they find your listing.

Now don’t get me wrong offline promotion is still VERY important.  And we do that to as well as a combination of efforts.  First of all you should ABSOLUTELY have a tube or something next to your For Sale sign to hold flyer’s giving more information on your home.  Make sure those flyer’s are compelling and give the information people want.

Yesterday I stopped at a couple FSBOs and grabbed some flyer’s and one of the flyer’s I got didn’t have ANY PICTURES!  To this person I mention this…. OVER 80% of buyers say that the more pictures the better when looking online.

Surely they mean offline to on flyer’s and postcards.  People who are grabbing your flyer want to know what the home looks like inside…not just how you describe it. But at least that person had flyer’s in the tube.  I would say of the 20+ FSBOs I drove by yesterday only about half even had a tube and of those only 4 or 5 had anything in them.

Do you realize how many buyers you could be missing out on by not having something out front for people to take??  Many people won’t even remember where the house was and surely they might forget the phone number to call.  A lot of the buyers you will find are told about a property by someone else who saw a sign and those people (because they aren’t the ones looking) aren’t writing down numbers or addresses BUT they would grab a flyer.

Harrisburg Virtual Tours will create professional flyer’s that offer a description of the property as well as photos of the home.  If you want to be in the 10% of successful FSBOs then you need to take advantage of ALL the tools available to you.  By hiring Harrisburg Virtual Tours and one of our FSBO virtual tour packages you will be doing that.  From professional photography, virtual tours, professional flyer's, single property websites, and plenty more we will help you sell your home WITHOUT spending thousands of dollars in real estate commissions.

Call us today!

Greg Manning
Harrisburg Virtual Tours
Order a virtual tour today: 717-421-0547

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Some Great News

For all of us in the Virtual Tour, Real Estate, and Business Marketing, the economy is a big factor. So there is some recent news that may allow improvement in the housing market. U.S. mortgage rates dipped below 5 percent again, a key level that may boost home loan demand, according to a closely watched mortgage survey on Thursday.

The lowest mortgage rates in decades and high affordability helped the hard-hit housing market find some footing last year after a three-year slump. Attractive rates bode well for the housing market, which remains highly vulnerable to setbacks and heavily reliant on government intervention. Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the most widely used loan, averaged 4.97 percent for the week ended Feb. 11, down from the previous week's 5.01 percent, according to a survey released by Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage finance company.  That is below the year-ago level of 5.16 percent, but above the record low of 4.71 percent in early December. Freddie Mac started the survey in 1971.

"Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages are below 5 percent for a third week this year, which helps a number of homeowners to refinance their existing housing debt" Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist, said in a statement. The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that the median sales price for previously occupied homes rose in 67 out of 151 metropolitan areas in the October-December quarter versus a year ago. That's a sharp improvement from the third quarter, when prices rose in only 20 percent of cities.  The national median price was $172,900, or 4.1 percent below the fourth quarter last year. That was the smallest year-over-year price decline in more than two years.

Home sales surged in the quarter, outpacing the third quarter and the previous year's figures. A federal tax credit of up to $8,000 for first-time homebuyers that was originally due to expire Nov. 30 but was extended through April provided much of the fuel. Sales for the quarter hit a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 6 million, up 27 percent from a year earlier.

So in this ever challenging Property Marketing business, 360 Image Media continues to evolve and offer more and more exciting new features for our virtual tour customers. We also have partnered with the industries best virtual tour software from RTV.

So with mortgage rates back under 5% and home prices stabilizing allow our team to show you why we are the number one provider of Wisconsin virtual tours! Looking forward to a great 2010

Sincerely,

Robin Duran
360 Image Media
Milwaukee Virtual Tours

P.S. Keep up to date and subscribe to our Blog to see all our listings and industry news  Wisconsin Virtual Tours

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Welcome to the Family

Before becoming a virtual tour dealer with RTV, Tulsa Eagle Eye Virtual Tours, I was a graphic designer as well as a video editor for my own company, I.C. Graphics and Design/Production, providing graphics and video solutions to my customers and clients and I also had a job with a large major company back in 2006 that let me go in September of 2009.  The employment scene was looking pretty dismal when one day after talking to a very good friend and client about making a virtual tour for him for one of his real estate properties the search began for a software company that could help me produce a virtual tour.

In my quest to find the right virtual tour software to produce a virtual tour I found RTV (www.realtourvision.com) on the internet, a Michigan based virtual tour company.  I did not research just one or two, I researched all the companies that had virtual tour software that produced virtual tours but I found that nothing compared to the virtual tour software and services that RTV provides.  What drew me to RTV was the people and the willingness to address all my questions providing me with materials to read, testimonies to listen to, and they gave me permission to contact some of their RTV dealers in different areas of the country.  I first spoke to Michael Thompson (www.realvisionstudio.com) a Detroit Virtual Tour Company going on 9 yrs.  Michael gave me a true blue approach to all my questions and conveyed to me as a dealer for RTV that he really enjoyed being a RTV dealer, which was really important to me, since there was a time in my life when I hated what type of work I did and swore that I would never again be doing something that I did not love to do.  Mike also said “What other company can you invest a small about of money in that will net you a substantial yearly income of over $50 to $100K a year?”

I also spoke to Nancy Bain (www.supernovastudios.ca) a producer of Nova Scotia Virtual Tours in Canada. Nancy is a wonderful, informative young lady with a zeal for RTV and RTV services.  Both being in the graphic design business we connected on a real level of understanding.  She said something to me about RTV that really sealed it for me regarding my decision to become a RTV dealer.  She said, I quote, “RTV has your back”, after asking what she meant by that she responded, “If another person decides to join as a RTV dealer in your market area RTV will check with you first to see if their location will affect your bottom line and in turn they will not be able to become a RTV dealer. Instead RTV will recommend you and your services to them for their virtual tour needs.

I have discovered that RTV is truly interested in our success as an RTV dealer and committed to each one of us to become that success, providing us with wonderful virtual tour Webinars, Marketing Materials, Tools and Resources at our finger tips besides all that, we have some wonderful services to offer our customers such as Virtual Home Staging, 2d and 3d Floor Plans, High Definition Virtual Tours, Inventory Virtual Tours and many Other Services offered. How can anyone not become successful with an RTV virtual tour business.

I want to thank Mike and Nancy the RTV dealers, and Jason LaVanture for making my decision to join RTV as a dealer a non-pressured yet informative, easy decision to make. I am so grateful and blessed to be a part of such a wonderful company along with all the wonderful dealers across the country.  A big influence in making my life changing decision to becoming a dealer was the testimonials from the other RTV dealers, they are great!  I just love being a RTV dealer!

Vicki Tuttle/owner
Tulsa Eagle Eye Virtual Tours
http:// www.tulsaeagleeyevirtualtours.com
Order a Virtual Tour Today!  Don’t miss out, call today! 918-622-3280

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