Login

The Vitals for Internet Business Owners

By implementing the following tips into your virtual tour business practices you are sure to increase your business revenue.

1. Payment acceptance options. It’s hard to believe but I still to this day see so many other virtual tour businesses out there that have only one option, and its usually the longest method. With the many options available to online business owners, try integrating one or more such as a virtual payment method or shopping cart.

2. Keeping it fresh. When was the last time you updated anything on your virtual tour site? Search engines like newly updated information and will come around more when they have something new to index. I update my site weekly, if not more. Don’t get left behind because you didn’t put in the time to keep your site up to date.  Fusion is hot – show everyone you use the world’s best virtual tour system!

3. Offer something more. You can establish a presence online and become a valuable go-to site  in the virtual tour industry when you share the wealth and add free helpful content and information to your visitors. I don’t know about you, but I am more inclined to buy from a site that offers something a little more than “2 for 1″.

4. The Internet has global reach. It is not uncommon for your virtual tour business to attract customers out of your area. From what I can see, it looks like most of the virtual tour providers out there are willing to sell their services as long as they can drive there. While some businesses are completely digital and can sell worldwide, our virtual tour business is tied to having physical items that need to be on site.

5. What was that catchy slogan again? For your virtual tour business to be a success, consumers must be able to remember your brand. Banana Panorama anyone? A great logo and slogan can go a long way. Make sure its present on all pages and in your communication such as through payment transactions, invoices and emails.

6. Learn from your competitors. Make a list of all of your virtual tour competitors. If they have also have websites, visit each one and gather as much information about their products and virtual tour services as you can, including rates/prices, customer service policies, delivery methods,warranties as well as their return policies. If some of your competitors do not have an online presence, it is perfectly legitimate to call the company and ask for the information from one of the customer service representatives. You may find that you are missing a lot pieces to the puzzle that may be stalling your visitors from clicking on that buy now button.

7. Trust matters. When you’re new in the virtual tour business and not very well known, its easy to lose customers to a brand that is. The one thing I see the most with lesser know businesses and brands is the lack of usage of ‘trusted digital certificates” and content that shows the buyer that its safe to purchase on your site. Use Paypal? Let them know by visibly adding the ‘Paypal verified’ logo. The bigger brands have earned the public’s trust, so now you must do the same.

8. Do respond to your email inquiries in a timely manner. You may be running your virtual tour business from home, raising a family or trying to balance your real job until your business takes off. This may very well be the case for you, but if you receive an email from a potential customer and not respond for days, guess what. They’ve already moved on. I try to respond within 12-24 hours with every email I get.  Even if they don’t wind up buying from you, they may just recommend you to someone else. It pays to respond quickly, and be very helpful. Set-up a couple of accounts to make sure you are organized, such as Sales@ …. Questions@ and so forth for your business email accounts. Don’t forget to add a nifty Contact Form on your site as well.

Just know that everyone’s experience selling online is going to be different based on their particular circumstances, customers needs and demands, their budget, products, and sales team. But by staying the course and implementing these vital tips to increasing your online profits you.

Duane Williams, President
Urban Design Studios, LLC

TAGS
SHARE THIS STORY
View Virtual Tour
View Virtual Tour

“Success with RTV from a Real Estate Agent’s Point of View
In early 2005 as the real estate market here in the Florida Keys started to slow, I could see I would have to brush up on my marketing skills and find better ways to expose my listings to potential buyers. With so many Florida Keys homes and condos sold as vacation homes, an online presence with great photos and virtual tours becomes essential. A few years earlier I was the first agent in our area to do virtual tours. I had tried the two-shot version but the results were not very good. Then the market got so hot, and properties were selling so fast, there was no real need to have tours. I could see the tide turning and I wanted to add virtual tours back to my listings so I started doing some research to find the best solution. After looking at a lot of low quality tours, I found RTV. Having taken some photography courses in college, and with over 30 years in the real estate business taking photos of houses, I decided to do the tours myself. My first RTV tour was of one of the highest priced homes in Key Largo. Shortly after submitting it, I received a call from a buyer who said his wife had seen a virtual tour on the Internet and she wanted him to take a look at the property while he was in the Keys. During the showing he called his wife at home and told her to look at the virtual tour again. They decided then and there to make an offer. They ended up buying the property. The wife never came to see it until closing. The selling price was $3.7 million.

Since then there have been other situations where a buyer’s partner or family member could not be present but the decision to go forward was based on the virtual tour. Many times in the course of showing one of my listings with an agent from another company, I hear the buyers talking about having seen the virtual tour on the Internet. It seems they find the listings and have their agent make the appointment which results in more showings and sales for my sellers. I have a contract pending on a property which is scheduled to close later this month. The buyers have never been inside the house. Asking price almost $3 million.

In spite of our market being down almost 50% in the number of sales, and the inventory being up almost 50% in the number of listings, this has been my best year ever in real estate with over $12 million in sales so far – and it is only April. Thank you RTV for helping take my career to a new level.”

Sharon Nyman

Virtual Tour Provider

Feature List

  • 100% Your Brand & White Label
  • Advanced Customer Storefront
  • Advanced Photo & 4K Streaming Video Delivery
  • Automated Weekly Traffic Reports
  • Built-in 360 Virtual Tour Software
  • Calendar Integration & Job Scheduling System
  • Create Interactive Floor Plans with Hot Spots
  • Custom 360 Virtual Tour Layouts
  • Discounted Virtual Staging Services
  • Easy-to-Use Secure Client Portal
  • Invoice, Prepay, & Pay-To-Download
  • Jobs from RTV’s National Hotel Accounts
  • Photographer Management System
  • Secure HTTPS Links
  • Six Elegant Property Website Layouts
  • Stripe, PayPal, Square, & QuickBooks Integration
  • Unlimited Hosting
  • Unlimited Phone Training & Technical Support
  • Works with ANY 3D–360 Camera
  • Zillow, Matterport, & iGuide Compatible

“RTV, Best Service, Great Products!!!
We opened Photos Sell, real estate photography in January 2015. I found RTV during a search for a portal site so I could send high res images over the internet to my customers. When I called this company I was greeted by the owner himself. Jason LaVanture. Jason explained what RTV was about and what they can do for my new business. Great customer service, training, high res Virtual Tours and much, much more. After I signed up I got all of the above and much, much more. I received excellent training on the system. Instant help from customer support almost never got a voice mail and when I did they always got right back to me ASAP. The product is like nothing else, it set me apart from my competition. Look if your pictures are not good, they will no look good on any medium. I now work for 35 agents and exclusive with two large Brokers in our area. I am busy as hell. I read the complaints on this company and my response to those who complained is: you can’t make a living off the leads you get for RTV. You need to market you self, have a great product and provide great customer service. Look, I am no one special to RTV, just a customer and I have received outstanding service, their web portal works flawlessly and is easy to use and navigate. I can pickup the phone and speak to the Owner any time, he is a great resource and can be depended upon should you have a problem!! Thank you RTV. I prefer not be anonymizes: George Pulizzano, Photos Sell, Tampa, Florida.”

George Pulizzano

George Pulizzano Photography

“I became a RTV Full Service Provider after I researched many different virtual tour software solutions and purchased several different packages from virtual tour companies in the industry. RTV wins hands down! Their tours are truly INTERACTIVE and professional quality. Unlike other software that can distort images and give the ‘fishbowl’ effect, RTV offers a superior software solution that forgives even the most amateur of photographers and allows professional photographers to REALLY show off their work. In the last year my company has produced more than 170 tours for both commercial and real estate applications and that number is growing daily. On top of our own marketing efforts, RTV has sent us MANY qualified leads! 95% of all the leads that they send us result in an immediate order! To top the cake, their support staff is ON THE BALL!! A BIG thank you to Torie, Jon, Jacque (tour track), Ben and especially Jason for all of their training, support and attention to detail. I have been known to be a little ‘fiery’ and passionate about my business, but they have always answered my support requests promptly and professionally! I highly recommend their software to anyone who is even considering doing their own tours in-house OR starting a virtual tour company. You simply CANNOT beat the level of support or quality of software.”

Cheryl Waller

Virtual Tour Provider

“Success with RTV from a Real Estate Agent’s Point of View
In early 2005 as the real estate market here in the Florida Keys started to slow, I could see I would have to brush up on my marketing skills and find better ways to expose my listings to potential buyers. With so many Florida Keys homes and condos sold as vacation homes, an online presence with great photos and virtual tours becomes essential. A few years earlier I was the first agent in our area to do virtual tours. I had tried the two-shot version but the results were not very good. Then the market got so hot, and properties were selling so fast, there was no real need to have tours. I could see the tide turning and I wanted to add virtual tours back to my listings so I started doing some research to find the best solution. After looking at a lot of low quality tours, I found RTV. Having taken some photography courses in college, and with over 30 years in the real estate business taking photos of houses, I decided to do the tours myself. My first RTV tour was of one of the highest priced homes in Key Largo. Shortly after submitting it, I received a call from a buyer who said his wife had seen a virtual tour on the Internet and she wanted him to take a look at the property while he was in the Keys. During the showing he called his wife at home and told her to look at the virtual tour again. They decided then and there to make an offer. They ended up buying the property. The wife never came to see it until closing. The selling price was $3.7 million.

Since then there have been other situations where a buyer’s partner or family member could not be present but the decision to go forward was based on the virtual tour. Many times in the course of showing one of my listings with an agent from another company, I hear the buyers talking about having seen the virtual tour on the Internet. It seems they find the listings and have their agent make the appointment which results in more showings and sales for my sellers. I have a contract pending on a property which is scheduled to close later this month. The buyers have never been inside the house. Asking price almost $3 million.

In spite of our market being down almost 50% in the number of sales, and the inventory being up almost 50% in the number of listings, this has been my best year ever in real estate with over $12 million in sales so far – and it is only April. Thank you RTV for helping take my career to a new level.”

Sharon Nyman

Virtual Tour Provider