Saturday, June 23, 2007

How can I increase the results of advertising?


“I know that half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” - P.T. Barnum
In other ways, if I invested 100 dollars on an add in a magazine or newspaper I should expect:
1. that 4 out of one hundred readers will open the section where my add is.
2. Hope tha at least one out of all the readres call me.

But how can I make my presence more effective on the Internet?
Here are some recommendations from the experts on how to obtain a better return from your hard earned money. The following is an excerpt from

•Melani Broman Broker Agent News E-Letter 12/ 2005

•1. Branding yourself by ensuring that you meet customer needs in a way that is different from your competition. Ask to yourself: Do customers really see me as different from my competitors? Use your website to differentiate yourself. You can do this by providing reports and local resources that will allow you to become the local expert.
•2. The top reason consumers visit real estate websites is to SEE LISTINGS. Do not fall for a common mistake in multiple websites displaying the whole MLS, You need to include advanced home search functions on your website. that way you are separating your home search function from other agents? Get IDX, provide free home updates via email, add rich media virtual tours and take advantage of the many enhanced mapping capabilities on the market.
•3. Understanding and selecting the most effective keywords that potential visitors are using to arrive at your website is essential to optimize your Internet investment. Use tools like WordTracker and prepare your list of keywords. Remember the importance of keyword prominence and place your keyword phrases early in the body text of the page. Try to craft the beginning text so that it is appropriate to be used as a description of your site. Using techniques such as these will increase your chances of being ranked in the top search engines, thus increasing the number of visits to your site.
•4. Measure Link Popularity. Measure and monitor with tools like MarketLeap. Link Popularity refers to the quality and the quantity of external links to your website and it is one of the most important criteria used by the search engines to determine your site's ranking. The benefits of increasing your site's Link Popularity are:
a.Improved search engine rankings, particularly on Google, Yahoo and MSN.
b.Direct increase in traffic via links from other websites. Ask for reciprocal links through your business network. Real Estate is largely based on building a strong referral network, which will help you grow your business.
•Warning: Enhancing your Link Popularity through reciprocal links is an important traffic building strategy, but it is not a quick fix. It may take two months or longer to see the effect of your new incoming links on your search engine rankings.

if you want our specialist to stusy your webpage and recommend you how you can increase the traffic to yur webpage? Contanct us at duquegl@virtualfloridarealtours.com or place a comment to this blog.

Picture is from rockpointe marketing inc.
If you want more information about virtual tours please contact us at 305 331 8960 or at our web page http://www.virtualfloridarealtours.com/

Friday, June 15, 2007

Testimonials


Our virtual tours are a necessary function in our sales. It allows our clients to see our model units with out leaving the comfort of their home or office. Virtual Florida Tours has been the perfect fit for our needs. They offer a quality virtual tour, responsive service and affordability; thank you Gabriel, for such a great job.

Chris PerezVice President of Sales Coordination
ACGG Development Group
305.665.1250 O.305.725.8913 M.

Virtual Tours are a really necessary tool for any realtor who wants to provide the seller with the best possible advertising trying to capture the biggest amount of prospect buyers in the local, national or international market.

Vivian Duque
Centurion Professional Realty
Realtor & Mortgage Broker
305 436 8818

"Great service, very professional, I'll use it again and recomend it"
Gabriela Capurro
Select Properties of America Inc.
Realtor

Outstanding professional service! Virtual Florida Real Tours has been key in my listing presentations and a great tool to set it aside from others offering potential buyers an upfront unveiling of the property they're interested in saving time and bringing real buyers to the seller. Keep up the GREAT work Gabriel! You've definitely become a keeper for me!Yisel DuqueCenturion Professional RealtyRealtor305.216.74569

''The Real Tour Vision marketing system has added a new, dynamic dimension to our marketing program, as well as drastically reduced our traditional marketing expenses. Real Tour Vision has helped streamline company transactions through promoting in-house ancillary business (increasing our company’s bottom-line!) and is used to recruit tech-savvy agents.''
Bob Garrow
Garrow-Loftis/GMAC Real Estate

''Virtual touring saves time, money and professionally presents the property to the most prospects.''
Bob Brick
RE/MAX Bayshore Properties, Ltd

If you want more information about virtual tours please contact us at 305 331 8960 or at our web page http://www.virtualfloridarealtours.com/

Friday, June 8, 2007

What is better than a yard Sign


Recently a friend gave me this article that I will like to share with you.
What's better than a Yard Sign? A Virtual Tour!
by Anne Sperling
Broker Agent News E-Letter - Updated for March 11, 2006
It used to be that a yard sign was a Realtor's surest way to attract attention to a listed home. Things have changed!
Today, one of the best tools in a Realtor's toolbox is a Virtual Tour on the Internet. Since 1995, the use of yard signs and newspaper ads per listing have decreased, whereas the use of Virtual Tours by real estate agents have increased from .001% per listing in 1995 to 15% of all listings in 2004. And the numbers in 2005 will follow the same rate of growth. (see below for NAR statistical data).
Contrary to old thinking, the use of Virtual Tours on the internet does not take business from Realtors. Virtual Tours are simply a formidable tool available to savvy Realtors who know that offering a listing prospect a Virtual Tour option not only helps to market any property, it also enhances the image of the Realtor at the listing presentation.
Sellers' suspect that a good Virtual Tour is today's way to catch the attention of house-hunters, and they are right. NAR statistics confirm that 74% of buyers begin their search for homes on the Internet two weeks before they make contact with a Realtor.
If this doesn't sell you on Virtual Tours, note this statistic: Most of these online buyers hire the Realtor they notice first while searching online Virtual Tours. This means that the Realtors who have listings or ads on Virtual Tours are much more likely to attract clients-these numbers make you want to put Virtual Tours online of your doghouse!
Based upon this information, it is not surprising to see that the first Realtor's who gambled and invested in Virtual Tour marketing hit the jackpot. More listings, higher profits, and the highest rate of business growth in our industry correlates to the use of Virtual Tours, whether the market is cold or hot, large or small.
Real Trends, a magazine which keeps statistics in this area, found that the average agent for 2003 produced 11.2 sides. However, according to our latest information, (counting only the listing side) the agent using Virtual Tours to market themselves and their properties had 15.3 listing sides in 2003, and four extra sides alone means thousands of dollars to these Realtors.
Everyday, we in the Virtual Tour industry hear success stories from excited Realtors who tell us of a "big boost" their Virtual Tours gave their business. Sometimes agents report their customers were overjoyed because a Virtual Tour facilitated a quick sale to an online buyer. Often an agent calls us to tell of new clients generated by our attractive, well-placed Virtual Tour.
In an industry where clients are careful about their decisions, at a time when some sellers think Realtors make "too much" money, it is refreshing and exciting to see real emotion and complete satisfaction in clients whose agents delivered the goods. How do you elicit this emotion? By delivering what the client wants, and these days, clients want Virtual Tour marketing.
There is no better way to build your business than a long-list of happy customers who can't wait to tell their friends about the great job you did, and about how beautiful their home looks online.
Business today is created mostly by BUZZ, and if you want the BUZZ to be about you, hang-out a Virtual Tour "online yard sign" on the internet every time you setup a yard sign. It's the best marketing tool money can buy.
A sure bet for increasing profits in 2006 is to add a virtual tour for all your properties.

If you want more information about virtual tours please contact us at 305 331 8960 or at our web page www.virtualfloridarealtours.com

Thursday, June 7, 2007

6 Costly Misconceptions about Virtual Tours


1. All virtual tours are the same.

Wrong. Virtual tours that use panoramic photos that just rotate are not true virtual tours. Most agents would refer to these type of tours as 'spinners'. Spinners lack a professional presentation and can at times do more to make the viewer nauseous than actually get them interested in the property being viewed. While spinners qualify as a virtual presentation in nature, they simply do not qualify as being a tour of any kind.


2. Virtual tours will not help with market exposure

Untrue. At any time you can take the number of listings that are currently on the market and compare that number to the number of listings with a virtual tour. This number almost never exceeds 10% of total properties on the market at any given time. But take into account that the National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers shows that use of the Internet to search for a home has risen from just 2% of buyers in 1995 to 77% in just 10 years time. Technology is clearly changing the way that consumers search for a home. The 2006 Realtor® technology survey shows that the Internet is the third most important source for new leads surpassed ONLY by referrals and repeat business.


3. Having a virtual tour professional produced costs too much money.

False. When searching for a virtual tour solution, keep in mind that you can either save more money or more time. There is an inherent downside to opting to save more money. You have to spend time. When you take into account all of the time that you would have to spend taking pictures, stitching the panoramas, ordering the pictures within the tour, adding text and graphics, not to mention uploading the tour, converting it to disc, and distributing the tour on the internet you have to consider what you COULD have done with that time. You could have been farming your area, keeping in contact with sellers, calling prospective buyers & sellers, following up on buyer leads, arranging showings and scheduling open houses. Instead you could have spent YOUR TIME listing and selling more homes. As a real estate agent you can always make more money, but you can never make more time. A small investment in a professionally produced virtual tour gives you a competitive edge over other agents that opt to waste time sitting on their computer while you go after that next listing.


4. Putting a virtual tour on realtor.corn and my website is good enough as far as virtual tours go.

False. This is essentially the same as saying that placing a sign and a classified ad is good enough. While it can work, it does not give you optimum exposure for your property listing. But the question here again is time. Do you have the time it will take to post your virtual tour to major Internet portals all over the internet.

When you opt to same money you are making a decision to spend time and reduce your return on investment. The 2006 Realtor technology survey show that 42% of realtors receive more than 10% of their leads from the internet, so doesn't it make sense that if you are going to place your virtual tour on the Internet that you should expose the virtual tour as widely as possible? A professional developed virtual tour can be produced and submitted to major portals without any additional expenditure of time, freeing you up to list and sell more homes while simultaneously bringing in new business.

5. Sellers don't care what kind of virtual tour is used

False. With ever increasing technology, home buyers and sellers are becoming more internet savvy than ever. The 2006 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers shows that over three quarters of buyers viewed the internet as a useful tool in their search for a home and that a majority of buyers drive by a home that they have seen online. A high-quality interactive virtual tour cannot only take these buyers on a full tour and get them to come by the property but can also turn motivated buyers into motivated sellers of their own home. Now that the motivated buyer is a motivated seller, with whom are they going to list their property? With an agent that uses classified ads or the agent that found them, their new home without leaving the couch.

6. Virtual Tours sell homes.

False again. Realtors sell homes. Realtors that use all available media to showcase and market their listings are those that sell homes. 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. Spinners, dark pictures, unprofessional virtual tours and ineffective marketing can leave a lasting impression on your referral business.

Properly-distributed profession a I ly-prod uced virtual tours bring you more leads from a world-wide network of resources and free 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.
If you want information on what to ask a virtual tour provider please send a comment containing your name, company, phone, e-mail address and the best way and times to contact you. or contact our company directly at 305 331 8960

The information that your competition does not want you to know


And now for the information that your competition does not want you to know

Virtual Florida Real Tours is a full service provider of Real Tour Vision, which is a recognized leader in interactive 3600 panoramic virtual tours and virtual tour software.

Over the past 7 years Real Tour Vision has built up one of the world's largest and most powerful networks of virtual tour providers. Each Real Tour Vision full service provider goes through specialized training in virtual tour technology before becoming authorized to produce tours with the Real Tour Vision name. Real Tour Vision authorized virtual tour providers are also provided with ongoing training throughout the year to keep in pace with changing technologies. Agents that use Real Tour Vision tours benefit from the experience of a worldwide network of virtual tour providers.

Intelligent business owners who demand the best virtual tour software to showcase their real estate business online choose RTV virtual tours over the others daily.

You won't find another virtual tour company online that can promise that you will get compliments from real estate home sellers. RTV providers utilize only company proprietary virtual tour software and precision virtual tour hardware, which is created in house by an RTV staff of 360' home tour engineers and virtual tour software developers.

RTV has been in the virtual tour software industry from the start, so when you select a Real Tour Vision Full Service Provider to produce your tours you know that the best virtual tour company in the world has trained your virtual tour provider.

If you would like to leave a message for a Real Tour Vision full service provider in your area, please leave your name and number after the tone and a Real Tour Vision virtual tour provider will call you to answer any questions that you may have about your new marketing strategy.

Thank you for visiting our blog and reading our virtual tour consumer awareness message.

If you want to receive more information please semnd a comment containing your name, phone, e-mail address, and the best way and times tocontact you.

4 Questions That You Should Ask Every Virtual Tour Company


1. What type of virtual tour do they provide?

Some 'virtual tour' companies capture only still pictures and then use these pictures to create a motion effect. Make sure you are not paying a virtual tour price for a motion slide show. There are companies that charge as much as $70-$100 for these tours and the final product is nothing more than a $20 photo presentation.

2. Is the final version of the virtual tour interactive?

How do they define 'interactive'? Make sure that the final product being created looks professional and has in-tour controls. Links to the side and the bottom of the tour are distracting and unprofessional. Interactive tours combine the power of a virtual tour with the 'point-and-click" functionality of the Internet. They have on tour 'hot-spots' that enable viewers to go from room to room without ever leaving the viewing area.

3. What kind of camera lens do they use?

If they use a fish-eye lens or a one-shot lens will the virtual tour software remove distortions in the tour (i.e. remove the fishbowl effect)? High-quality virtual tours should not distort any feature of your properties. If not corrected, fish eye lenses and one-shot lenses cause countertops and walls to look rounded and windows will look bowed. When shopping around for virtual tours, be sure to opt for companies that use a wide-angle lens. The wide-angle lens captures more of the property without sacrificing quality.


4. Are they experienced?

Find out right away if your virtual tour provider has experience. Although inexperienced companies will be very eager to sink their teeth into a job and will probably give you a very good 'deal', you do not want them 'practicing' on your dime. Make sure to get references or check out testimonials.
Thank you for visiting our blog and reading our virtual tour consumer awareness message.
If yo wish to obtain more information please add a comment containing your name, Company, phone, e-mail address, best way and times to contact you.