http://archive.aweber.com/rtv_enewseNews and marketing tips from RTV virtual tour companyThu, 28 Apr 2011 11:28:02 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/rtv_enews/1hq62/h/Training_Webinar_Invite.htm I would like to give you an opportunity to come to an RTV Training webinar next week titled Awesome Email Marketing and Killer Graphics. Sign up for the event here: https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/454874474 Like the rest of our shows, this will be a one hour event that will explain how to setup attractive email campaigns. We had a record number of sign ups this month as summer approaches and the economy shows signs of recovery. Additionally, and most importantly, virtual tour production is up twenty percent over last year. If you are not yet setup to offer virtual tours and additional digital marketing services, call me today before the summer opportunities slip away. See you on the show next week! Sincerely, Jason http://www.RealTourVision.com 866-947-8687 Ext 4 Virtual Tours and Digital Marketing TrainingThu, 28 Apr 2011 11:28:02 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/rtv_enews/1VBaw/h/Virtual_Tour_News_April_2011.htm Smartphone Ready VirtualTours and V-Slides Are HERE! RTV is pleased to announce our new mobile virtual tour for iPad, iPhone, iPod, BlackBerry, Android, and other web enabled portable devices. This specially formatted virtual tour was created so our virtual tour dealers could offer their customers maximum exposure for their real estate listing or business. The mobile virtual tour is interactive thanks to HTML 5 and JavaScript. Users with touch screens can scroll through the 360 panoramas, the tour auto plays, and the scenes have a nice dissolve transition. The mobile virtual tour has been enabled for both HD V-Tours and HD V-Slides, so no matter what type of virtual media the dealer's client prefers they can take advantage of this upgraded technology. This mobile exposure provides the perfect opportunity for our customers to start using QR Codes in their marketing packages. Because of the customization and flexibility of the RTV hit reporting system users will be able to track the number of times virtual tours are accessed by the scanning of a QR Code! This amazing feature has RTV dealers from around the world cheering and will certainly turn heads as dealer marketing campaigns get underway. Watch the video below as Jason LaVanture explains how to create a QR Code for an RTV virtual tour that has QR Code tracking enabled. Watch this quick Video NOW and Learn How to Create QR Codes for RTV Tours The Image 25 HDR - The Secret Weapon April 26, 2011 at 7pm Eastern Time Register Now If you are not planning on coming to the RTV National Conference on April 15 you are going to seriously miss out on the launch of our Instant HDR tool that has Jim Blue doing jumping jacks. Everyone at the convention will see an in person, first hand presentation of the BEST WIDGET OF 2011. This is a time saver like no other. This little guy will completely, YES COMPLETELY eliminate ALL POST PROCESSING TIME. We were the first to say it and after four weeks of intense testing we're standing by such a bold statement. See a live presentation of this HDR Tool and discover the secret to great photography. Find out why everyone at the RTV convention will be leaving with smiles on their faces and a renewed vigor to take more photos. Join us for this episode of the Image to know about the HDR TOOL that will make it possible for you to always: Get 100% perfect image shots with the press of a single button Get the proper exposure for each room, regardless of the lighting in the room with the press of a single button Complete a Tour Track job with confidence and not have to worry about reshoots ever again Save HUNDREDS of hours in processing time annually Join us as we reveal the secret HDR TOOL. You will have to come to the webinar to find out more!!! Join us April 26, 2011 at 7pm EDT for HDR The Secret Weapon PS. Anyone that implements our secret weapon is getting the new HD HDR Badge for their website: RTV, Inc. http://www.RealTourVision.com 160 East State St, Suite 104 Traverse City, MI 49684, USA Contacts Sales (866) 947-8687 ext. 1586 info@realtourvision.com Support (866) 947-8687 ext. 1603 support@realtourvision.com Tour Track (866) 947-8687 ext. 1605 jacque@realtourvision.com Setup (866) 947-8687 ext. 0684 setup@realtourvision.com Billing (866) 947-8687 ext. 0687 eve@realtourvision.com Marketing jill@realtourvision.com Events The IMAGE The official photography webinar of RTV 'HDR - The Secret Weapon' Date: April 26th, 2011 Time: 7:00 pm EDT Links TMS (Tour Management System) RTV Blog RPM Marketing Affiliates Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:04:32 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/rtv_enews/p836/h/Virtual_Tour_News_March_2011.htm National Convention Countdown The RTV first National Convention is coming to Traverse City April 15th 2011. Just a quick heads up to let you know that if you haven't reserved your room at the Park Place Hotel take the time TODAY. The RTV National Convention is almost here! We need an accurate head count for food and beverages so if you have a room reserved but have not yet purchased your ticket please let Jacque know right away. RTV Virtual Tour Convention information and TICKETS RTV will stop selling conference tickets on April 10th. Thank you so much to those of you who volunteered to teach a class or give a seminar. Our schedule of events is full as of this morning and includes the following instructors and classes: Jason LaVanture - Add-Ons and Product Overview Alan Fon - Video For Your Website! Kenny Marino and Donna Bigg - Photo Editing 101 Alan Fon - The Pitch Jim Blue and Mike Thompson - Sales and Marketing Ben Knorr and Mike Metzig - Photographing Bracketed Images David Wolf - Practical Room Prepping Alan Fon - 101 Business Consulting Ben Knorr and Mike Metzig - Bracketing Post Production Ben Knorr - Nodal Point Tune Up Everyone - Fun Stuff Thank you and we look forward to seeing you here at the show! Yours sincerely, Jacque Click here for Conference Details If you have any additional questions that are not answered at the above link, please contact Jacque@realtourvision.com or call her at 231-932-1605 for more information. Compliment The Agent HISTORY: The results of a recent survey released by the National Association of REALTORS indicated that 46% of sellers desire online listing enhancement which includes virtual tours. Internal Logs at REALTOR.COM showed that only 10% of listings on their site actually receive an enhancement of any sort. This indicates a disconnect between consumer demand and the services most REALTORS are actually offering their consumers. THE JUSTIFICATION: The mere fact that a REALTOR has contacted you to request a virtual tour for a property listing indicates that they are in a minority population of REALTORS taking one of the necessary steps to satisfy consumer demand and properly market a seller's property. This justifies your endorsement. THE STRATEGY: Part 1: While you are at the property, make a point to compliment the seller on their choice of REALTOR. Be sure to emphasize the fact that the virtual tour will increase their exposure and that it has been proven to aid in shorter sales cycles and higher selling prices. The fact that their REALTOR is aware of this and decided to take action is going to give the seller an advantage over comparable listings that do not have a virtual tour. Part 2: At whatever time you deem to be appropriate, make a point to compliment the REALTOR for their decision to use virtual tours in their marketing system. Explain that you work with many REALTORS in the area and their commitment to an effective marketing system that includes virtual tours is refreshing. BENEFITS: Complimenting the REALTOR to the seller will reinforce the seller's confidence in their agent and boost their own ego for having chosen a good REALTOR. The REALTOR will appreciate hearing that you spoke highly of them when they eventually hear from the seller that you offered a compliment and this is sure to guarantee a long term relationship between you and the agent. The compliment will reinforce the idea that virtual tours are necessary to effectively market a property in the mind of the seller. The seller will be more likely to recommend to friends who are planning to sell their homes that they make sure to list with agents who use virtual tours thereby driving business back to YOU. The FORMULA 47 Marketing The RTV iPad, iPhone, iPod, and SmartPhone Tour Well you asked kids and here it it is! RTV's iPhone / iPad tours are teed up to hit the shelves and JUST in time for your summer marketing fun. As you know QR codes have everyone foaming at the mouth and as a digital property marketer you could not ask for a better time than RIGHT NOW for your tours to function on all mobile platforms. Our new Mobile virtual tours means that you can start pointing QR code links directly to your virtual tours and not have to worry about people looking for that iPad and Smartphone video button anymore! SWEET! This webinar aired March 22nd but can be easily viewed in your TMS. Inner Circle members click HERE to download past webinars. Like us on Facebook and win a free family vacation for five to Las Vegas, a new car, and dinner with Jason LaVanture at the Bellagio. Ok, just KIDDING. Still like us though! http://www.facebook.com/realtourvision The IMAGE - Lenses and Locations March 29, 2011 at 7pm EDT The IMAGE The official photography webinar of RTV Do you know what lens to use for shooting tours? Sign up for the next episode of The IMAGE Hi, Ben Knorr here, your IMAGE webinar host from RTV, Inc. I frequently receive calls from dealers who want to know what lens they should use for shooting tours or what lens would be the best wide angle lens to use. Now is your chance to not only hear about different lenses, but to see the same photo taken with each different wide angle lens for a side by side comparison. In addition to lens options we are also going to talk about where in the room to shoot your pictures. It is not always easy to pick the best location in the room to shoot from, especially when you are new to virtual tours. Learn how you can get the most out of the lens you have by choosing the right location and how different lenses will lend themselves to different location opportunities. I am excited to have Jim Blue joining me as we talk about some very important topics to all of you. Join us March 29, 2011 at 7pm Eastern as we learn about lenses and locations. Sign up for the next episode of The IMAGE Ask Ben A Weekly, Inner Circle Only, Photography Consulting Show Every Wednesday from 5:00 to 6:00 PM EDT Register Now Ask Ben, is a weekly online webinar-based group discussion hosted by RTV's Ben Knorr. Enjoy a full hour dedicated to answering all your photography related consulting questions! This consulting webinar is interactive, allowing participants to call in and ask questions and receive instant answers from Ben Knorr during the live event. Because these shows contain variable content and do not adhere to a single topic, they are not recorded or made available after the live event. See you on the show! Marketing Update If your virtual tour provider can't deliver consistent service then you will undoubtedly lose business. At RTV, our system is solid and bad service is the last thing you need to worry about. We will keep your tours up and running and attracting business. We created a postcard that highlights this and a flyer is soon to follow. We also created a simple flyer that details 30 features of our virtual tours that we LOVE! These features make our tours stunning, easy to use, and effective. These materials are easily customizable with your company information. If you have an idea or a need for a specific marketing piece email jill@realtourvision.com and I will see what I can do. Remember, all of our marketing materials can be accessed through Rockpointe. http://www.RockPointeMarketing.com RTV, Inc. http://www.RealTourVision.com 160 East State St, Suite 104 Traverse City, MI 49684, USA Contacts Sales (866) 947-8687 ext. 1586 info@realtourvision.com Support (866) 947-8687 ext. 1603 support@realtourvision.com Tour Track (866) 947-8687 ext. 1605 jacque@realtourvision.com Setup (866) 947-8687 ext. 0684 setup@realtourvision.com Billing (866) 947-8687 ext. 0687 eve@realtourvision.com Marketing jill@realtourvision.com Events RTV First National Conference April 15-17th, 2011 The FORMULA Inner Circle members click HERE to download past webinars. The IMAGE The official photography webinar of RTV 'Lenses and Locations' Date: March 29th, 2011 Time: 7:00 pm EDT Ask Ben Every Wednesday 5:00 - 6:00 PM EDT A LIVE photography Consulting webinar Links TMS (Tour Management System) RTV Blog RPM Marketing Affiliates Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:03:25 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/rtv_enews/pA6M/h/Virtual_Tour_News_February_2011.htm » Meet The RTV Team Meet Jason LaVanture! Vice President of RTV Jason finished school in 1999 with a business degree, a private pilot's license, and a burning desire to make a difference in the world. He saw the need for a greener home shopping experience, as well as digital marketing partners for real estate agents, so Jason began developing the RTV virtual tour software system. Several months into his endeavor he met Doug Knorr, owner of Knorr Marketing, a Traverse City ad agency and web development company. Present day, Jason is the Vice President of RTV, Inc which maintains the largest network of independent virtual reality photographers in the world. RTV has sold several thousand of their virtual tour software kits, has created over two thousand jobs in the USA, and RTV's virtual tour photographers, service over sixty thousand real estate agents worldwide. In late 2008 Jason was challenged to a walk the talk and start up an RTV dealership of his own in the small town of Traverse City. He accepted the challenge and BlueLaVaMedia came to fruition. Employer of three, BlueLaVaMedia is amongst the top fifty RTV dealerships in the world and in a three year span has already published over 700 virtual tours. Jason takes the vast information that he learns from running his own successful RTV dealership and hosts a talk show for his virtual tour photographers twice a month called The FORMULA so he can share the secrets of success with the network of dealers. Jason brings over twelve years of internet savvy and expertise to the table and wears many hats at RTV including sales, marketing, product development, and head money spender. Jason loves assisting his virtual tour photographers and making the RTV network the strongest network of independent photographers in the world. Douglas Knorr Chairman / CEO Doug's enthusiasm and zest for life has guided his professional career in medical technology, broadcast advertising, real estate development, and as founder of Knorr Marketing in 1986. Doug's synergistic approach in a marketing-partnership philosophy bodes well with the clients that list Knorr Marketing as their agency of record. Considered a Retail Marketing Activist, Doug is nationally known for his expertise in branding and the retail furniture industry, with clients throughout the United States. Beginning in 2004, he began writing articles for the NHFA's Home Furnishings Retailer magazine. He now writes a monthly column for them called, Turn it Around! In his column, he has addressed everything from branding to traditional advertising and the Internet to operational accountability. Mr. Knorr is also Chairman of the Board of Real Tour Vision, Inc. - a world leader in virtual tour software, panoramic virtual tours with dealers throughout the U.S. and in 20 foreign countries. Virtual tours are a powerful sales tool used by the Real Estate industry, travel/lodging industry, colleges and universities, health care institutions, recreation facilities such as golf courses. A variety of corporate businesses also use this tool to enhance sales, training, human resource communications, investor relations, safety programs and security. Torie Hermel Director of Technical Support Customer Service Torie grew up on a small farm in sunny Northern California. She fed the chickens, slopped the hogs, and ran barefoot through tomato fields. She did wonderfully in school and her dream was to become a marine biologist to fulfill her burning desire to save the whales. These hopes were dashed when, upon honest assessment, she admitted she was afraid to swim in the ocean. Her life took a much more mundane course after that. So much for honest assessments! Somehow she ended up working with computers, doing technical support, and getting certificates, in a nasty shade of blue, signed by Bill Gates HIMSELF. Very impressive! She cut her technical support teeth on Windows 95 and also did hardware support. Torie also worked for McAfee and did support for Microsoft Word 2000 and Office 2000 installation. She has happily put Tour Builder 1.0 - 3.0 behind her and LOVES Tour Builder 4.0 online. RTV has changed so much over the years and she is so excited to see what happens next! Torie has been married exactly 16 days longer than she has worked at RTV. The two smartest and most beautiful children in the world call her Mommy. Repeatedly. Torie's family is the most important thing her life but she takes great pride in saving the world, one virtual tour at a time! Ben Knorr Director of National Sales / Setup Ben Knorr was SO busy taking orders for our national accounts, backing up technical support, building lens files, selling a new RTV dealership, packing kits to ship out for the day, helping a new RTV dealer through the setup process, hosting a webinar on photography, and telling someone how to effectively build a digital SLR camera from old TV parts, that he has not yet provided us a biography. Please check back here often and should you talk with Ben over the phone (231-947-3760) please urge him to take just a brief moment out of his busy day and get us some information to replace this disclaimer. Thank you! - Staff Jacque Stephens-Burke Director of National Accounts / Event Planning Jacque Burke, the Tour Track Fairy, has been with RTV since 2006. She rides the mighty Tour Track beast with competence and ease as she doles out over $300,000 worth of work to the photographers in the network and over $1,000,000 since Tour Track began. Jacque, who is also an award winning and published photographer, has been a photography hobbyist since she was 13 when she stole her older brother's Pentax K1000 and fell in love. In spite of her love of photography she decided to pursue a career in social work, obtaining a Masters degree from the University of Michigan. After a brief stint as a social worker she came to RTV to head up Tour Track. She loves working with our eccentric and zany photographers. Although she one day expected to save the world, she is happy to satisfy that need by planning escape routes for her co-workers in case of a zombie apocalypse, and of course, spreading the unicorns and rainbows around the RTV office. Jacque is happily married and mother to three beautiful and smart children who constantly keep her on her toes. She feels very lucky to work for RTV! Eve Allard Accounting / Office Administration Eve was born and raised in the great state of Michigan but has had the opportunity to live many places and accomplish many things. She has two beautiful children that are ages 21 and 17. She joined the military in 1987. She spent the majority of her career driving fuel tankers and she is a Desert Storm Veteran. She lived in Germany, where her eldest child was born, and saw the fall of the Berlin Wall. She even tried to adopt one of the guard dogs that used to walk the perimeter wall. She spent 9 years in El Paso, Texas but missed the beautiful lakes and outdoors in Northern Michigan so she returned here in 1999. Eve has experience in office management, bookkeeping, retail, sales, and transportation. She started at RTV in January 2007 and has seen quite a few wonderful things happen there. She is very exciting about the direction of the company and the super new things that are coming this year! Tom and Tim Barrons - RTV Technology Team Tom and Tim Barrons are owners of Byte Productions, a Northern Michigan based, family owned web design company and also technology partners for RTV. Byte Productions was founded in 1991 and is operated by brothers Tom and Tim Barrons. Byte began working for RTV in 2005 and each member of Byte's team brings unique talents and specialties to RTV. From graphic designers, musicians and writers, to programmers and hard-core techies, the Byte team has been carefully chosen as a technology partner by RTV because of their ability to cover the broadest possible spectrum of creative and technical areas. Jill Sill RTV Marketing Support Jill Sill joined RTV during the summer of 2009. She uses her skills as a former high school teacher and her passion for language and graphic arts to create our Inner Circle marketing pieces, info packs, dealer manuals and our RTV newsletters. She loves to ski and spend time at the beach; both are easy to do here in Northern Michigan. Her main goal is to keep RTV connected with you and you connected with potential clients. Remember, if you would like to have a custom marketing piece made and are an Inner Circle member, simply fill out our suggestion box and we will add your unique idea to our list. Melissa Vernon Graphic Designer Digital Imaging Specialist Melissa joined the RTV team in March of 2010. She was born and raised in sunny Southern California and made her way out to Michigan in the summer of 2007. Her husband is stationed here in the Coast Guard. Melissa has a Bachelors degree in fine arts and is completing her Associates degree in web and graphic design. She puts her creative skills and photography background to good use as a digital imaging specialist. She takes her job seriously as she braves the snowy blizzards, clone brush in hand, using her Tour Track fairy magic to rid the world of dark, blurry photos. Melissa has no children, but has 3 dogs that keep her busy and warm in the winter (as does her husband). She has long been an animal lover and even competed in horseback riding competitions and barrel racing while in high school. She was also a softball player for 8 years, which comes in handy when Jason thinks it is funny to throw random objects at her while she is working. She is the Scooby to Jacque's Shaggy and often has to use her detective skills to solve Tour Track mysteries. When no logical explanation is offered, she often blames the Nargles. Aside from the Nargles and random objects flying at her head (Jason!), Melissa enjoys being a member of the RTV team and feels privileged to be part of such a great company. RTV is always working hard to ensure that we offer only the best to our RTV dealers. She can't wait to see what is in store for the company this year. XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O / » Registering for RTV Webinars How to register for an RTV Webinar This year we would like as many of you to make our monthly webinars as possible. It recently came to our attention that many of you think that our last minute show reminders are our only way for you to register for a show. This of course would leave you with very little time to register and plan for our event and is not the case. In fact, RTV typically has a show scheduled in advance one to two weeks before the show is released. This makes it VERY simple for you to register for each show in advance. To register for an RTV event simply follow these three easy steps below. 1.Login to your virtual tour software manager http://tms.realtourvision.com 2.On the left navigation click on the button that says The FORMULA / The IMAGE 3.On the registration page read the details regarding the up and coming shows and register for the shows you would like to attend. See the images below and we'll see you on the next show! » Dealer Site 2.0 Upgrade Can we get a drum roll going? We are ready to roll out the new Dealer Site 2.0 Upgrade! We've tweaked and honed the system in order to offer it to new and existing dealers at the same time! For existing Dealer Site customers, you have the option to keep your current site just the way it is, or take the FREE upgrade. The upgrade will not happen automatically. If you want this upgrade now, just drop an email to dealersite@bytepages.com and say, I want the upgrade on my site! With the brand new Content Management System that comes with the upgrade, you will now have the ability to add/remove pages at will, change your template, colors, fonts etc., and add all of your social links. Most notably, your tours will now import into your dealer site automatically!! The upgraded sites have all new templates, similar to the templates seen already on the Agent Site Program. Remember, you can sell these agent sites to your clients at no cost to you, and then make residual income for as long as the site is live. If you haven't seen the Agent Site Program yet, check it out here. This is where you should send your clients to order their new site: http://agentsites.bytepages.com Please note that any changes you make to your current Dealer Site will be rolled over into the upgrade, so don't hold off on editing your site in the meantime. Go ahead and do it now. For prospective Dealer Site customers, visit our website to get going on your new site. Our website goes into great detail about what we have to offer you. http://dealersites.bytepages.com You asked for it, we listened! We think this upgrade is going to knock your socks off! -- The Team at Byte Productions » The IMAGE - Shoot Like A Pro - Part 4 Shoot Like a Pro - Part 4 : February 22, 2011 at 7pm EST The IMAGE The official photography webinar of RTV Sign up for the next episode of The IMAGE Would you like to Shoot Like a Pro? Plan to join us as we continue our fantastic new series of The IMAGE - Shoot Like a Pro. In the fourth webinar of this series we are going to continue the topic of lighting. Many people struggle with getting the proper exposure of an image when there are many different light sources or when there is very little available light to work with. In the last IMAGE webinar Shoot Like a Pro - Part 3 we started to discuss the use of exposure blending to create a single balanced photo from taking the same photo at multiple exposure and then blending them together. It is amazing what this process can do to help you produce beautiful photos and in this webinar we are going to continue to develop this topic. Join me February 22, 2011 at 7pm Eastern as we learn how to Shoot Like a Pro. The Shoot Like a Pro - Part 3 webinar was recorded and if you were unable to attend the webinar live, it would be a good idea to watch the recorded version of this webinar before attending Part 4. » Marketing Update - Just The Facts Facts are POWERFUL! The National Association of Realtors profile of Home Buyers and Sellers for 2010 is out and the data proves that, now more than ever, the technology we offer is becoming increasingly important and extremely effective in the home selling process. We created a postcard and a marketing flyer that highlight a few of these facts and targets Realtors. These materials are easily customizable with your company information. If you have an idea or a need for a specific marketing piece email jill@realtourvision.com and I will see what I can do. Remember all of our marketing materials can be accessed through Rockpointe. http://www.RockPointeMarketing.com » Contacts Sales (866) 947-8687 ext. 1586 info@realtourvision.com Support (866) 947-8687 ext. 1603 support@realtourvision.com Tour Track (866) 947-8687 ext. 1605 jacque@realtourvision.com Setup (866) 947-8687 ext. 0684 setup@realtourvision.com Billing (866) 947-8687 ext. 0687 eve@realtourvision.com Marketing jill@realtourvision.com » Events The IMAGE The official photography webinar of RTV 'Shoot Like a Pro - Part 4' Date: February 22, 2011 Time: 7:00 pm EST » Links TMS (Tour Management System) RTV Blog RPM Marketing » Partners RTV, Inc. - www.RealTourVision.com, 160 East State St, Suite 104 Traverse City, MI 49684, USA To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?ThisIsATestEmail Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:36:18 -0500http://archive.aweber.com/rtv_enews/uMJZ/h/Virtual_Tour_News_January_2011.htm » RTV Announces Tour Builder 4.0 Just in case you've missed our recent announcement we wanted to let you know that our new Tour Builder 4.0 online edition is now live!! Please take a moment to read the full press release on BigNews.com. And check out Jacque's latest video about regarding The Sad Death of Tour Builder 3.0. Login to your TMS right now to check out how easy it is for you to make HD V-Slides and HD V-Tours. Last of all, we're doing a blog blast and looking for your feedback. Let us know what you think of the new Online Tour Builder Software before next Friday and your testimonial will be good for one free tour credit. We're working very hard right now to finalize training manuals and videos for you so please be patient. Instructions for the new Tour Builder 4.0 can be downloaded here. Call us with any questions that you may have. Happy New Year and happy Tour Building! Yours sincerely, Team RTV RTV, Inc 866-947-8687 Info@RealTourVision.com http://www.RealTourVision.com XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O / » Building Tours with Tour Builder 4.0 Tour Builder 4.0 is now here! RTV is so excited that this product has been released. Our main goal was to simplify the tour building process, move tour storage online, and make updates and edits easier than ever. We hope we've met those goals. I know a lot of you have burning questions about how to make your first tour using Tour Builder 4.0. The simple directions below are intended for our current dealers and will set you on the fast track to buildingyour first virtual tour using the new system. The directions assume you've built a tour before and that you remember how to do it. If you haven't created your first tour, or it has been a long time, then I recommend downloading the complete manual at this link: Complete Tour Builder 4.0 Manual Everyone else can just forge ahead. If you get stuck go ahead and download the whole manual with screenshots. It's free! The first thing you need before making a new tour online are images to upload. You still need to stitch the photographs on your computer. You can stitch through the Tour Builder software and export high resolution images or you can learn how to stitch through Panavue. Click the link below to watch the video on how to do that: How to Stitch Using Panavue- Zip download How to Stitch Using Panavue - YouTube I recommend saving your images for a tour all in one folder. Also, for the sake of organization and efficiency, when you save the photos name them what you want the scene to be titled in the tour, that way you don't have to change it later. You will also need to rotate your stills so they are upright if you took them with your camera mounted on the rotator. Once your images are prepared you are ready to build a tour. 1. Log into TMS 2. Click the Create HD V-Tours button 3. Choose a tour type 4. Type in the tour title 5. Edit the tour colors if desired. Copy the color codes into the appropriate box or click in the field to open a color picker. 6. Click the drop down box to choose a hotspot 7. Click Continue 8. Press the Upload button in the upper left 9. Browse to the folder containing the images. 10. Highlight the image(s) and press Open 11. Images should be 900 pixels high or less and less than 800 kb. If they are not then they will be adjusted automatically 12. Rename images if necessary 13. Drag and drop images to sort 14. Type in Spinfo scene description 15. Click the Copy Down Spinfo button to repeat the first Spinfo in all the scenes 16. Choose type - TB 4.0 attempts to guess what kind of image has been uploaded. It may guess incorrectly so it is important to check. If the wrong type is chosen the scene may need to be deleted and added in again later. 17. Click Continue to proceed to the next step 18. Place a hotspot by single left clicking in the image 19. Type in the hotspot caption 20. Click the down arrow to access the scene to jump to 21. Click in the Starting Point box to set the hotspot starting point if desired. An overlay of the image will open. Click where you want the hotspot to open the scene. 22. Click Save 23. Place any other hotspots in this scene 24. If it is necessary to delete a hotspot, click on the hotspot and click the trash can 25. Click in the scene starting point box to choose where the scene should open in the viewer. An overlay of the scene will open. Click where you want the scene to open in the viewer. 26. Click on the down arrow next to Tour Scenes to access the next scene in the tour 27. Place those hotspots as needed until all the scenes are done. 28. Choose the scene to use for a tour thumbnail and click Capture Thumbnail 29. Click Continue to the Info/Edit page and Edit as usual, assign to realtor/owner, add attachments, etc Happy Building!!!! » Virtual Staging - To Be or Not To Be? Does your client need a cost effective way to list their vacant properties? Why not consider our virtual staging services. Rather than computer-rendered images, we use REAL preconfigured environments. Your clients can select a configuration or give us the freedom to select an appropriate layout. We charge $180 for 3 rooms and offer RTV dealers a discounted rate (When placing your order, use the code GORTV to receive your dealer discount). Visit our website: Virtual Staging Play around. Check out the samples. Look through the catalogues. If you would like to private label the service, the following can provided to you: : Flash presentation of before/after photos : PDF catalogue of the sample configurations Simply download the files here We can also give you access to our ordering form. That's how we collect the data, receive the photos and charge the customer. Once paid, we will send you a commission of $30 /job. Checks are cut every 2 weeks. We look forward to earning your business and developing a mutually beneficial relationship. Best regards, Michael Basch » The FORMULA - 43 The FORMULA 43 - 'Exposure Engine 2011' Date: Tuesday, January 18th , 2011 Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EST Did you know that BlueLaVaMedia made nearly $6000 in 2010 JUST by offering an Exposure Engine. We sold 310 real estate virtual tours / V-Slides and 295 Exposure Engines were ordered. Now that's penetration! Did you know that Island Digital Images brought in $9300 in Exposure Engine sales in a single year too. Owner Alan Fon called us up on the phone at the year's end thanking RTV for giving his company such an amazing new revenue stream. Does the Exposure Engine take work?? Yes of course it does, but it's 20 minutes of your time that PAYS BIG and if done correctly, gives YOUR COMPANY maximum exposure at the same time. Are you ready to teach every home shopper in your community why they need to use your virtual tour service and get paid for it at the same time? Are you ready to drive your per tour profits up with the most powerful virtual tour add-on ever conceived? If you're ready, you need to come to the FORMULA 43 on Jan 18th at 7:00 Eastern. The Exposure Engine 2011 is going to leave you screaming, Yeah Baby! Sign up HERE » The IMAGE - Shoot Like a Pro The IMAGE The official photography webinar of RTV 'Shoot Like a Pro - Part 3' Date: January 25, 2011 Time: 7pm EST Sign up for the next episode of The IMAGE Would you like to Shoot Like a Pro? Plan to join us as we continue our fantastic new series of The IMAGE - Shoot Like a Pro. In Shoot Like a Pro - Part 3 we are moving on to lighting issues. Many people struggle with getting the proper exposure of an image when there are numerous light sources or when there is very little available light to work with. This webinar is required for anyone who wants to continue working on Tour Track orders and would like to be qualified to accept our higher paying shoots. Join me Ben Knorr on January 25, 2011 at 7pm Eastern as we learn how to Shoot Like a Pro. » Marketing Update There are numerous client types for each service we offer. This month spend some time focusing on selling the HD V-Slide module to real estate agents. This month we created a two page flier and a tradition tri-fold brochure, both can be printed or even sent online because each picture is linked directly to an active HD V-slide tour. Simply enough, these brochures detail the benefits and streamlined process of this amazing, new marketing tool. Spring is just around the corner and this is the perfect time to familiarize and engage agents so that they are up and running before the busiest time of the real estate year. These brochures are easily customizable with your company information. If you have an idea or a need for a specific marketing piece email jill@realtourvision.com and I will see what I can do. Remember all of our marketing materials can be accessed through Rockpointe. http://www.RockPointeMarketing.com » Contacts Sales (866) 947-8687 ext. 1586 info@realtourvision.com Support (866) 947-8687 ext. 1603 support@realtourvision.com Tour Track (866) 947-8687 ext. 1605 jacque@realtourvision.com Setup (866) 947-8687 ext. 0684 setup@realtourvision.com Billing (866) 947-8687 ext. 0687 eve@realtourvision.com Marketing jill@realtourvision.com » Events The FORMULA 43 - 'Exposure Engine 2011' Date: Tuesday January 18th , 2011 Time: 7:00 PM EST The IMAGE The official photography webinar of RTV 'Shoot Like a Pro - Part 3' Date: January 25, 2011 Time: 7:00 pm EST » Links TMS (Tour Management System) RTV Blog RPM Marketing » Partners RTV, Inc. - www.RealTourVision.com, 160 East State St, Suite 104 Traverse City, MI 49684, USA To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?ThisIsATestEmail Thu, 13 Jan 2011 10:44:28 -0500http://archive.aweber.com/rtv_enews/16S4_/h/Virtual_Tour_News_November_2010.htm » Tech Tip - HD V - Slide Update This months tech tip covers a few updates and hints regarding the new HD slideshows. We are continually improving how the slides function and recently adjusted the Ken Burns effect so that it no longer zooms in on random points. The overall effect is much more pleasing. In the near future we will add a control option so that a specific point on the image can be chosen for the zoom effect. We also made the thumbnail carousel area less sensitive to mouse location and reduced the speed of the slideshow. Look for more changes to come as we fine tune this new technology. We are very pleased with how far V - Slides have come and are appreciative of your feedback. Keep sending comments our way so we can create and deliver the features you want and need! We also want to make sure you are aware that our standalone slideshows can be sent to Realtor.com. Our slideshows generate automated hit stats reports that are sent out on Sunday, just like the virtual tour reports. The slideshows also have a Slideshow created by credit in the lower right corner. Last of all, if you plan on putting a slideshow on a virtual tour make sure you upload your HD images BEFORE you make the slideshow. If you make the slideshow first, the low resolution images from the tour will be used. If you do not add HD images, the slideshow will look pixelated when viewed in the full screen version. So take advantage of the full screen option and make sure your images are NOT pixelated by uploading your HD images BEFORE creating your slideshow! XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O / » The FORMULA 39 - Tour Talk The FORMULA 39 - 'Tour Talk' Date: Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EST Sign up HERE Have you got a real stumper of a question burning inside you? Do you need advice on how to roll out or how to price your products? Are you confused as to how you should be selling one of our marketing tools? Perhaps there is a competitor in your town you just can't seem to shake. Whatever the case may be, by now most of you have sat in on an RTV webinar only to find yourself yelling out a question that was left unanswered. Now it's your turn and time for you to 'Stump the Chump' on our very first episode in a series called Tour Talk. Please join myself and a member of the RTV IBA (Independent Business Advisor) staff on Tuesday, November 9th for the FORMULA 38 - 'Tour Talk'. This Episode of The FORMULA will allow you, the listener, to participate in the show by asking questions LIVE during the show. Participants will be chosen randomly and will have an opportunity to ask a sales or marketing related question. We highly encourage you to write down a question or two that you would like to have answered prior to the show so you are well prepared. THE FORMULA 39 - 'Tour Talk' Date: Tuesday, November 9, 2010 Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EST Sign up HERE » The IMAGE - Shoot Like a Pro The IMAGE The official photography webinar of RTV Shoot Like a Pro - Part 1 November 30, 2010 at 7pm EST Sign up for the next episode of The IMAGE Would you like to Shoot Like a Pro? Plan to join us for a fantastic new series of The IMAGE - Shoot Like a Pro. This next series of training webinars is really exciting to me because we are going to cover the aspects of photography that some of you struggle with. Frequently dealers ask me, What can I do to improve my photography? After looking through many of your photos and speaking with our Tour Track team, I created a series of webinars to address the specific areas that we see many of you struggling with. Shoot Like a Pro is the answer! This webinar series is for all skill levels, from the beginner to the seasoned photographer. Even a great photographer has room for growth. During this live webinar you can ask your specific questions and get them answered right there on the spot. Join us and begin your journey to shooting like a pro! Sign up for the next episode of The IMAGE XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = V / XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = W / » Marketing Update Unless, your site engages and captures a potential client immediately, a sale is lost. This simple postcard highlights how immediate consumers are. Most importantly, it reminds potential customers that if their web content is not engaging and informative, then it is most definitely not effective. Our new HD V-slides and HD virtual tours are the logical remedy. This postcard is applicable to all audiences. Take a few moments to customize this postcard with your company's name and contact information, upload to Vistaprint and then distribute. Easy enough! If you have an idea or a need for a specific marketing piece email jill@realtourvision.com and I will see what I can do. Remember all of our marketing materials can be accessed through Rockpointe. http://www.RockPointeMarketing.com » HD V-Slides - Big Hit! Our New HD V-Slide Is A Big Hit in West Michigan! Wow, what a great year it has been for upgrading virtual tour features and releasing new technology! Teaming up with RTV was the best business decision I could have made. RTV is always on the cutting edge of new technology and always quick to roll out upgrades or new products to its dealers, thereby helping us to quickly offer these products and services to our clients. At Frees Frame we have been providing quality, professional, property photography and virtual tours for 3 years now and business has been good, but why settle for good when you can have GREAT! GREAT is what has happened, thanks to RTV and the new HD slide show module! In mid-September, Frees Frame announced the release of the Frees Frame HD V-Slide and it's been a huge hit with the agents here in West Michigan. We have had many new clients call us to get their properties showcased in the new full-screen HD Slide Show! Many of them even mentioned the fact that they previously used other virtual tour providers UNTIL they saw the quality of our photography full-screen in the HD V-Slide. One of the properties we shot for a new client turned out so awesome that the property was chosen to be featured in the Coldwell Banker E-Magazine. Another new client decided to give Frees Frame a try and was extremely pleased when the property sold very fast because our photography showcased in the slide show captured the essence of the home and the hearts of the buyers. This client quickly ordered additional marketing packages for other listings. So A Big THANKS goes out to the Team at RTV for helping to keep my business cutting edge in technology and the preferred property photography and marketing team in West Michigan! Dawn Frees FREES FRAME Exposing Your Property... Virtually Everywhere! 6572 Vintage Drive Hudsonville, MI 49426 Order a Tour Today! 616.334.9750 www.frees-frame.com » Pillars of Effective Social Networking Last week our Nova Scotia virtual tours provider was asked to speak by the Chamber of Commerce on Social Networking for Home Based Business. The following blog is a result of that speech. We've always had the desire to connect, even in the days of cavemen we were forming tribes. Back then the tribes were limited by geography. Today human civilization has evolved to where we are now because we have mastered the art of continually grouping together into teams, tribes, cities, and nations. We have catapulted past the barriers of time and space into a whole new world. Every individual in this massive network is doing what he or she is pre-programmed to do - communicate, collaborate, and continue the march of our civilization's evolution. Ten years ago it was nearly impossible for us to share our art with the world. Today any one of us can have our own television or radio station (on the net.) What has happened recently, particularly with Facebook, is that it has become far easier to transport your REAL identity around the web. This means that increasingly people are joining new social networks with their 'real identity': their real name; their place of work; and other details that define them as a person in a movement - sometimes referred to as the 'Open Web.' Naturally this makes people think more carefully about what they say and how they behave on social networks - because when they 'own' their comments the common rules of society come into play. When a person's reputation is attached to what they say it makes them think carefully about what that comment might mean to others. When considering your approach to Effective Social Networking do it right the first time: Plan - How will Social Networking complement your overall marketing strategy? Who is your audience? What are your objectives? What Social Networking tactics (conversational, promotional, trial, feedback, etc.) will get you there? Which Social Networking tools and technologies make sense? And finally, how will you collect and analyze your results? The 4 Pillars of Effective Social Networking 1. Transparency - Transparency provides the only window - A window lets light shine through and allows us to see what might otherwise be hidden. This is what transparency is all about -- letting the real self be seen. It's unwise to share our innermost thoughts indiscriminately, but the greater tragedy would be to never allow that real self to be known. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines transparent as: free from pretense or deceit; easily seen through; readily understood; characterized by visibility or accessibility of information, especially concerning business practices. The foundational element of transparency is truth-telling, being open, honest and sincere in putting one's self out there. The essence of truth-telling is being comfortable in one's own skin. Why the need for transparency? Trust. All conscious, healthy relationships thrive on the basis of trust, integrity and transparency. 2. Personal Branding - You are your brand - Be you because others are already taken ~ Oscar Wilde. Few things are more powerful than someone who knows who they are. If you know what you're all about and where you're heading, authenticity and credibility naturally result. For one reason. People trust you. Plug in, listen and trust the sound of your own voice. If you've ever wondered why great leaders, companies and brands are able to emerge and endure, trust is always the common denominator. Great brands become that way because they know great marketing begins from the inside. Besides the ability to inspire trust and be open to possibilities, enterprising personalities make their own brand of music. 3. Service - Make and Keep a Promise that Matters to your Customer - Being of Service. Think of social networking as more of a personal relations play than a sales strategy. If you give value -- in terms of content, advice, insight and service -- you develop relationships and trust that will very likely lead to sales and/or advocacy down the road. You must nurture your customers to the point where they become: ~ loyal and raving fans ~ your very own brand ambassadors ~ a free sales and recruitment force ~ at no cost to you. Identify your target market. If you try to be everything to everybody, you will be nothing to nobody. Determine what matters in your community. If we don't take care of our customers, someone else will - Unknown 4. Engage - Identify the emotional fuel to engage your customers. Customer satisfaction is just the minimum; your goal is to engage your customers. An engaged customer is the most valuable asset of any organization. Engaged customers assure a business of sustained and profitable growth. They are the first who will continue to repurchase your products, and the most likely to recommend you to other people. Research from the Gallup Organizations suggest the 4 emotional dimensions to create customer engagement are: 1. Confidence. You will gain the customers' confidence if they feel that the brand or company is trustworthy and keeps its promises. 2. Integrity. Your customers must feel that your business treats them fairly. 3. Pride. More than snob appeal, your customers must feel good about your product or service. 4. Passion. You are able to instill passion in your customers if they view your product as irreplaceable. This is the point when customers say that they love you. Think of social networking as another tool in your marketing mix -- and not some kind of magic pill that will deliver results overnight -- and you will naturally discover ways in which social media can complement and enhance everything from customer relationship building to brand promotion. I welcome you to connect with me, Nancy Elizabeth Bain on Facebook. Or view my fan page at http://facebook.com/NovaScotiaVirtualTours » Contacts Sales (866) 947-8687 ext. 1586 info@realtourvision.com Support (866) 947-8687 ext. 1603 support@realtourvision.com Tour Track (866) 947-8687 ext. 1605 jacque@realtourvision.com Setup (866) 947-8687 ext. 0684 setup@realtourvision.com Billing (866) 947-8687 ext. 0687 eve@realtourvision.com Marketing jill@realtourvision.com » Events The FORMULA Tour Talk Tuesday November 9th, 2010 7 PM EDT The IMAGE Shoot Like A Pro Tuesday November 30th, 2010 7 PM EDT » Links TMS (Tour Management System) RTV Blog RPM Marketing » Partners RTV, Inc. - www.RealTourVision.com, 160 East State St, Suite 104 Traverse City, MI 49684, USA To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?ThisIsATestEmail Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:46:33 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/rtv_enews/1QWiN/h/Virtual_Tour_News_The_Best.htm » The Best News... Team RTV would like to extend our love and well wishes to our own Jason LaVanture and his new bride Heather. We wish you a wonderful journey as you build your new life together. XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O / » HD Slideshow Hit Reports Are LIVE And so is our Realtor.com feed for the slideshow! Check out a live running hit report here: http://www.realtourvision.com/hit_stats.php?slideshow_id=3819 Which belongs to this HD Slideshow: http://rtvpix.com/slideshow/3819 To access hit reports on any of your slideshows simply login to your http://tms.realtourvision.com Click on the Standalone Slideshows button Select one of your slideshows and click on reports. You can view your report on this page and email your customer the link as well. This system also has an auto email option. Each week a hit report can be automatically sent to your customers. It doesn't get much easier. If you have a slideshow that was not created via our standalone slideshow module you can feel free to use the main hit report link: http://www.realtourvision.com/hit_stats.php?slideshow_id=3819 and replace the slideshow number with the number on your HD slideshow. This feature however is not yet currently supported by RTV. For those of you eager to push your standalone HD slideshows to Realtor.com follow the steps above to access your standalone slideshows and use the Feeds page to send to Realtor.com. If you have not yet purchased the new HD Slideshow Module you can still create HD slideshows for all of your virtual tours when you consume a virtual tour credit. You can manually check hit reports using the method above. You will not be able to push to your slideshow links to Realtor.com unless you're using the standalone slideshow module. Purchasing the HD Slideshow module from RTV grants you the ability to create unlimited HD slideshows with unlimited scenes, push any of your standalone slideshows to Realtor.com, and take advantage of automated weekly hit reports. The cost for our standalone slideshow module is currently $249/year. Those who purchase at this rate will be locked in at this price annually. The price will probably increase around the end of the year for those who do not purchase before then. PS. Got friends using competing technology? Did you know that when you convert someone to RTV we pay 20% sales commissions on those customers for life? » Tech Tip - Backing Up Your Tours This month's tech tip is about backing up your tours. One of the most common calls I receive is from a dealer that has had a catastrophic computer problem that caused them to lose everything on their system. All too often the answer is No when I ask if they back their tours up regularly. Backing up tours is quick and external storage is cheap, so if you are not already backing up tours on a regular basis then you need to start now. Pick a day each week to back up your tours and make this simple but very important process part of your daily business routine. Use the steps below. Open My Computer Open the C drive Open the RTV folder Locate the following three things: Projects folder, Eyecons folder, and TourBuilder.mdb file. Copy each item, one at a time, and paste them to your backup location. The Projects folder will take the longest to copy because all the photos are stored in it. That's it! Now if you are ever in the situation where you lose a computer or hard drive, or you have to re-format to fix an unrelated problem, you will have a back up file that is good to the date you made it. If you are buying a new computer or otherwise have a planned move to a new system then do a fresh backup at that point. The process for using your backup is simple. You will need to install the software on the new system. You should be able to use the disk you received with the system if you purchased from 2008 forward. If you purchased prior to that it would be best to download a new installation since we had a major change in 2007 to the installation files. If you need help with installing the software contact setup or support. Once the software is installed you need to go to your backup location and copy the Projects folder and then browse to the C:\RTV folder on the new computer and paste it in. It will prompt you to overwrite. Say yes to this message. Repeat the same process for the Eyecons folder and the TourBuilder.mdb. Make sure you do this before adding new tours into the software, otherwise you will lose your new tours when you copy in your backed up info. Following this process will give you back your tours current to the last backup. If you had done tours since the backup you will lose those, but that is much better than losing several months' worth of tours. » Mobile Sites for Realtors This is an amazing opportunity for RTV dealers to really connect with their Real Estate clients, to offer a service that they will love, and promote their virtual tours at the same time! In an effort to continue to provide agents with the best tools and information available in the industry, we have introduced a new service that will improve an agent's productivity, professionalism, and relationships with buyers and sellers. It's important to note that access to real estate listing information while on-the-go has become mission critical to today's active buyer. Mobile Websites for Realtors is an industry first that not only helps meet the ever increasing demands of mobile buyers but promotes the name and brand of the agent while saving them time and money. Some of you may not be aware of this yet but accessing the internet on a mobile phone is like night and day vs. using a standard website. Unless a website is specifically built to work on all operating systems and for each of the thousands of mobile phone handsets, it will be a difficult browsing experience for any user. The mobile phone is here to stay and as they get smarter and smarter, and people continue to access the mobile web, real estate agents, as well as other businesses, need a mobile formatted website to continue to capture users and promote their services. TxTConnect's mobile solutions help real estate professionals to win more listings, acquire more leads and close more sales, bottom line, make more money. Mobile Websites for Realtors is the most exciting marketing tool for real estate agents available today. It puts all of an agent's listings in the hand of an active buyer at a time when it is most advantageous. The built in GPS functionality will also identify the nearest properties available to where the buyer is when it is checked. This added feature makes it so much more convenient for a buyer to view an agent's other properties nearby for sale. The mobile site is created automatically and gives buyers instant access to the agent's bio, photo and contact info. In addition, the site promotes the virtual tour of every property listed by that agent. So why would you want to pitch the mobile site? 1. Perfect way to promote your virtual tours. 2. Raises the profile of the agent using the service. 3. It is the most advanced tool on the market today to appeal to the mobile buyer. 4. Every listing is displayed with a location map plotting all their listings, a video or virtual tour upload option, up to 10 photos, GPS activation, a full property description and Click-to-call links to contact the agent by SMS/Text, Email or Phone. 5. Plus, it is all automatically created as they upload their listings and they are live within just a few minutes! 6. Buyers access this mobile site either by using 1 single SMS/Text keyword or by an automatically generated QR barcode we create in each account. They can then promote either of these in all their ads, signs, TV, radio, business cards, etc, etc. 7. Custom colors they can select for most of the major brokerages. 8. Like our other SMS/text keyword service for unique property codes, this too captures leads of all inquiries. How much you ask? You say this looks and feels just like an iPhone App? iPhone Apps typically start at $15,000 and most mobile websites start around $5,000. Get this, $29.95 per month! That's it! (Really, no catches). So, get out there and start selling! Existing RTV dealers all have this added within their TxT Connect accounts and even have a free demo. All of those looking to start offering this, along with the other TxT Connect 10 code plans, you can sign up right now at http://realtour.txt2look.com/subsite_signup.php and start selling right away. » The FORMULA - Training Play The FORMULA 36 The Training Play Tuesday, October 12th @ 7 p.m. It's a well known fact that RTV teaches our virtual tour providers to become property marketing experts better than any other company out there. It's also a well known fact that RTV does a better job pushing out leads and getting HOT marketing materials into the hands of our dealer network better than anyone else. Now it's your turn to be the best and use the tools and instruction that we've given you in the areas of Blogging, SEO, Social Media, Property Marketing, and more to your advantage. You would be amazed to find out just how many people there are RIGHT NOW in your neighborhood that are dying to know more about SEO, Keywords, Google Analytics, and META data. There are countless people just around the corner from you right now who are worried sick because they don't have a Facebook fan page setup for their business. Enter the Training Play. It's time for you to take what Mother RTV gave you, spread your wings, and fly to higher levels. And make some really good money while you're at it! Did you know that BlueLaVaMedia made over 3k last year in training classes? And that was with VERY limited time. Please join us on October 12th at 7:00 PM Eastern as we discuss how you can get more involved with your local chamber of commerce and MLS board by teaching classes. Don't think you know enough to teach? Think again! By now most of you have already taken the RTV Social Ignition Course and already know more than 98% of the other local business owners in your area. The time to share your knowledge is now and on October 12th we're going to show you how! I will be joined by guest speakers Robin Duran of www.360imagemedia.com and Dave Hall of www.listingsolutions.net. Be sure to bring your notepad and get ready to take LOTS OF NOTES! See you on the show! Sign up HERE » The IMAGE - The Right Equipment The Right Equipment October 26, 2010 at 7pm EST The IMAGE The official photography webinar of RTV Sign up for the next episode of The IMAGE The surfer heading out to catch a wave makes sure that he brings the right board with him, whether he needs the long board for walking the nose, or the short board to tear up the 20ft swells. The kayaker on a lake excursion uses a completely different kayak than the adrenaline junkie running down the whitewater rapids. For shooting virtual tours you need to make sure that you have the right equipment. From cameras, to lenses, to tripods and flashes, it is important to make sure that you have the right gear. What is the best camera for shooting virtual tours? Will my camera work? Do I need a flash? Do I need a wide angle lens? What tripod should I get? Join me October 26, 2010 at 7pm Eastern as we answer these questions and more about the right equipment for the job. Sign up HERE » Marketing Update This month's virtual tour marketing piece is a two page document that's easily customizable with your company information and can be printed or sent out as an e-flyer. I personally think e-flyers should be used frequently in addition to print advertising, personal calls, visits and so on. E-Flyers are free to send, are immediate, and most importantly they are effective. You can add in hyperlinks to samples like we have done with this piece. Finalize your e-flyer, create your email, load your contacts into your Aweber Account and blast out your new product to your customer base. In this e-Flyer each picture is linked to an amazing HD V-Slide. If you've already started creating your own HD V-Slides samples, you can swap the samples that come with this piece out with your own. Your customers (and new prospects) can then instantly understand the difference between your HD V-Slides and your virtual tours. REACH NEW CUSTOMERS What many of you are finding out is that the V-Slides appeal to an entirely new audience that you've most likely never been able to sell to with your 360 virtual tours. Well now you can! This new product is also packed with all of the same powerful features as your interactive 360 tours, giving you lots to talk about after you catch their attention. Don't worry; your virtual tour lovers will still be attracted to (and purchase) your interactive 360 virtual tours. This product reaches out to a new crowd of people who prefer still images over interactive panoramas. Your V-Slides will bring new people into your showroom that you simply couldn't reach before. Remember that the key is to catch your prospects attention within a few moments whether you are sending out an email, making that phone call, or doing an in-person presentation. These V-Slides of a car dealership, large marine vessel, gated golf community, hotel, and million dollar homes will do just that! If you have an idea or a need for a specific marketing piece email jill(AT)realtourvision.com and I will see what I can do. Remember all of our marketing materials can be accessed through www.RockPointeMarketing.com » Contacts Sales (866) 947-8687 ext. 1586 info@realtourvision.com Support (866) 947-8687 ext. 1603 support@realtourvision.com Tour Track (866) 947-8687 ext. 1605 jacque@realtourvision.com Setup (866) 947-8687 ext. 0684 setup@realtourvision.com Billing (866) 947-8687 ext. 0687 eve@realtourvision.com Marketing jill@realtourvision.com » Events The FORMULA The Training Play Tuesday October 12th, 2010 7 PM EDT The IMAGE The Right Equipment Tuesday October 26th, 2010 7 PM EDT » Links TMS (Tour Management System) RTV Blog RPM Marketing » Partners RTV, Inc. - www.RealTourVision.com, 160 East State St, Suite 104 Traverse City, MI 49684, USA To unsubscribe or change subscriber options visit: http://www.aweber.com/z/r/?ThisIsATestEmail Tue, 12 Oct 2010 09:59:35 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/rtv_enews/23ixe/h/See_you_next_week_.htm Hello there and good afternoon to you. I wanted to invite you to our webinar next week which will be all about - Effective Product Launches. No matter what line of work you're in, rolling out your new products and services in a systematic and effective manner is critical to your success. With RTV having over 1500 virtual tour businesses all over the world I see that many of you tend to get bogged down trying to keep your virtual tour company and customer base updated as technology changes and new technology becomes available. Launching new products and services is especially challenging if most of your day is eaten up by taking care of operations. Please join me on September 21st at 7:00 PM Eastern for a round table discussion on how to effectively launch new products and services for your company. We will be covering how to stay organized, write your press release, edit your website, blog your products, update your marketing materials, and notify your customer base. Register for our show here: https://www.gotomeeting.com/register/153261747 See you next week! Jason LaVanture RTV, INC Virtual Tour Software and Property Marketing 866-947-8687 Ext 4 http://www.realtourvision.com Jason@RealTourVision.com Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:51:31 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/rtv_enews/RK5y/h/Virtual_Tour_News_August_2010.htm August 2010 New HD Slideshow Tech Tip This month's tech tip pertains to the new HD Slideshow. This amazing new option has already become very popular with our dealers and their clients. Below is terminology that will help you along the way: Ken Burns - Ken Burns is a documentary director and cinematographer. The Ken Burns effect is the slow zooming in and zooming out of still photography to portray a sense of motion. When Ken Burns is selected for a slideshow it creates an interesting effect for still pictures where the photos randomly zoom in and out. Pano- A selection used to play a scene as a panorama so it scrolls from left to right. Fit Long - The photo is cropped so that the entire width of the photo is displayed in the viewer. Some height may be lost. Fit Short - The photo's smaller side, generally the height, is shown completely and the width of the photo may be cropped or have a blank border on the right and left sides. For still photos you are most likely to see the whole photo using this setting but it will not fill the screen. Below are the directions to add a slideshow to an existing virtual tour. 1. Log into TMS 2. Locate Tour 3. Click Pencil icon 4. Click Slideshow - There will be a pause while the images load. Important - Be sure to create the slideshow after you have added HD images if you are including them in the tour, otherwise the low resolution images will be in the slideshow. On the left all your pans and stills from the tour will be listed. 5. Click Move All to Slideshow to add all the scenes to the slideshow. The title and Spinfo will be brought over also. If you want to only add certain scenes then drag those scenes onto the gray area on the right and drop them in. Once you have all your desired scenes from the tour in the slideshow you can choose to upload more scenes from your computer (up to 30). 6. Click Upload and browse to your folder of images. If your images are over 1080 pixels high then we will automatically resize them, compress them, and sharpen them. If you do not want that done then make sure they are under 1080 pixels high! 7. Highlight the image(s) and click Open - The more you select the longer it will take to upload. There will be an indicator showing you the upload status on the right. Any uploaded image will default to the Ken Burns effect. If you upload pans you will need to change them to Pano under Select Type above the image name. You can also choose to set all the scenes to the same effect next to Set All Types in the upper right of the screen. These uploaded images will appear on the right with your selected scenes from the tour. You can rename them if you wish or add Spinfo. 8. Once you have the scenes you want in the slideshow you can drag and drop them around on the right to change the order. 9. Once you are done click the Continue button. 10. On the next page you will see your agent info on the left. This is carried over from the tour. On the left are the slideshow colors. The colors are carried over from the tour as well. Type in the code for a color if you wish to change it or click on a box to change that color. A color picker will open. You can use the slider in the middle to choose a general color and then pick up the small round circle in the color area on the left to fine tune the color. Once you have the color click on the 'rainbow' dot in the lower right and the color will be added. Once you are done click Continue. 11. This page will have a View button in the upper right so you can immediately view the slideshow. If you have changes to make you would click the slideshow button again and make your changes. This last page will also show a standalone URL. Copy and paste this if you need it or it will be in the Deliverables. 12. Go into the Buttons editor and put a dot in Yes for the slideshow and click Save at the bottom of the page. You are done!! The IMAGE - Great Exposures 2 Title: The IMAGE - Great Exposures 2 Date: Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT Back by popular demand! Great Exposures, the IMAGE webinar episode from June 2010, was a really popular topic because we all want to take beautiful pictures. Being successful in the photography business depends largely on the quality of our work. The ability to land higher dollar jobs ($$$$) requires great photography. In the previous Great Exposures webinar we discussed camera settings and methods for using the flash to help capture images with great exposures. This month we are going to continue exploring the topic of great exposures. We will discuss software and methods to enhance and create beautiful exposures from the pictures we have taken. If you were unable to attend the IMAGE webinar - Great Exposures in June you can view the recorded version of this webinar by logging into the marketing website, click on the BRC button at the top of the page for the Business Resource Center, and click on The IMAGE button on the left hand. You will find a list of all the previous IMAGE webinars there with a download link for each one. Sign up for the next episode of THE IMAGE Join us Tuesday Night August 31st, 2010 at 7pm EDT and find out what great exposures can do for you. The FORMULA 31- Slideshows 101 Title: The FORMULA 31 Making and Marketing Slideshows 101 Date: Tuesday, August 10th, 2010 Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT So you've been playing around with the new RTV HD Slideshow Module and now you're ready to start pushing product out to your customer base. Please join us on August 10th at 7:00 Eastern for The FORMULA 32 - The Making and Marketing of RTV HD Slideshows. Register now in your TMS. I will be accompanied by Torie Hermel, head of technical support here at RTV. She will be kicking off the show and going through the HD Slideshow creation process step by step. During the second half of the show I will be talking about the ways in which you can market this exciting new product, how you might consider pricing a full service and self service slide show and more. Finally, I'll also be addressing RTV Slideshow pricing, terms and describe to you in full the difference between our RTV HD Slideshow and the new Standalone RTV Slideshow module which allows you to produce unlimited slideshows with unlimited scenes. Sign up now in your TMS. See you on the show and be sure to bring your employees! Reserve your Webinar seat now! After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. Click on the image below to sign up for the current Formula or to view past shows. Choice Photography Rock Stars On August 17th RTV is hosting a very important webinar. It is quite possibly the most important webinar you could watch. Ever! (IMHO) This webinar will be hosting some of RTV's most prominent Choice Photography Rock Stars. These rock stars are dealers that consistently Rock the Shoot for the Choice Hotels orders. We are featuring Brett Weaver, Jim Rector, Mike Metzig, and Dale Hart. These accomplished photographers will share their tried and true techniques as well as be available to answer all of your burning questions. In fact, we are asking you to take some time and email me at Jacque@realtourvision.com some of your questions about hotel shooting techniques in advance so that the guest photographers will be ready with all the answers. So be sure to save the date and get your pad and pen ready for August 17th, 7pm Eastern. Be there or be square! Reserve Your Seat Now - Click Here to Register Marketing Update Attention all RTV Virtual Tour Providers! New Summer marketing pieces are now available in your marketing site. We updated and posted the NEW Full Service Dealer manual complete with current pricing for each of our new Business Bundles and a quick link table of contents. Targeting a niche market is a great way to focus on a property type and strive to gain their business in a systematic manner. Horse stables are another property type that could really benefit from a virtual tour. This is a 2 page flyer that is ready for you to easily insert your company name and contact information. The use of walk in clinics and urgent care centers is rapidly increasing. There are currently over 10,000 walk in clinics and over 1,000 convenient care clinics in the United States. This two page flyer clearly states how their business can benefit from YOUR virtual tours. If you have an idea or a need for a specific virtual tour marketing piece please shoot us an email and we will see what we can do. jill@realtourvision.com Remember that all marketing materials can be accessed through http://www.RockPointeMarketing.com Contacts Sales (866) 947-8687 ext. 1586 info@realtourvision.com Support (866) 947-8687 ext. 1603 support@realtourvision.com Tour Track (866) 947-8687 ext. 1605 jacque@realtourvision.com Setup (866) 947-8687 ext. 0684 setup@realtourvision.com Billing (866) 947-8687 ext. 0687 eve@realtourvision.com Marketing jill@realtourvision.com Links TMS (Tour Management System) RTV Blog RPM Marketing Events The FORMULA Making and Marketing Slideshows Tuesday JAugust 10th, 2010 7 PM EDT The IMAGE Great Exposure 2 Tuesday August 31st, 2010 7 PM EDT Choice Phtography Rock Star Webinar August 17th, 2010 7 PM EDT Wed, 11 Aug 2010 09:51:22 -0400http://archive.aweber.com/rtv_enews/1738m/h/Virtual_Tour_News_July_2010.htm July 2010 The FORMULA 31 - Let it Slide Title: The FORMULA 31 Let it Slide Slide Show 2.0 Date: Tuesday, July 6th, 2010 Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT We all remember the very first RTV slide show 1.0 from five years ago. It did the job, but hey, it's 2010 and we are desperately ready for a new one. We've taken your input and we've listened to your requests and now were ready to Let it Slide! The new RTV Slide Show was just released on Wednesday, June 30th. Get ready to upload your HD images in a dealer friendly drag and drop format. The new slide show has several features we are planning to implement with the new tour building system. That's right! We're just around the corner from showing you a brand new Tour Builder 4.0 Online AND end user experience unlike any before from RTV. Our new HD slide show will be a FREE ADD ON to any virtual tour that you create. Now you have the option of uploading up to 30 additional scenes to your slide show. Best of all, the slide show will play panos from your 360 virtual tour as well! Please join me on Tuesday, July 6th at 7:00 Eastern for FORMULA 31 Let it Slide. We will be discussing how this new technology release will open up additional revenue streams for you and your virtual tour company. See you at the show! Reserve your Webinar seat now! After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. Click on the image below to sign up for the current Formula or to view past shows. The IMAGE - Fantastic Filters Title: The IMAGE - Fantastic Filters and More Date: Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT Sign up for the next episode of The IMAGE After a previous IMAGE webinar we conducted a poll of the viewers and the responders were strongly in favor of learning more about photography techniques. Learning how to take stunning pictures and to do it more efficiently is a key skill for any dealer. We want to help you do just that. Bryan Peterson, a well known photographer and instructor for over 30 years, recently shared information about the specific filters he uses to capture beautiful photographs. This planted an idea in my brain. This month, I will be testing several filters to see how they help capture better images in the field and save time processing once back from the shoot. I will also discuss tips regarding other photography related items. Join us Tuesday Night July 27, 2010 at 7pm EDT and find out what these fantastic filters can do for you. The IMAGE - Great Exposure - Last Month You may have missed our recent webinar the The Image 15 - Great Exposure, but don't fret. All past webinars are easily accessible and a great way to refresh your memory and sharpen your skills. Last month, Ben discussed several methods and the right software for producing pictures with Great Exposure. You can have a great subject, the right angle of view, wonderful composition and still end up with a poor picture because it is over or under exposed. Learning how to expose your whole shot properly will take your photography to the next level! Click here to view past Webinars Marketing Update Summer is officially here and with that the peak time for you to reconnect with past virtual tour clients and reach out to new ones. This month we have several new marketing pieces to help you do just that. First off is a flyer directed towards real estate agents. This flyer delineates our amazing new agent site program. If you are not already sharing this technology with the realtors in your area, now is the time to start. Remember, all of our marketing pieces are customizable within minutes using Microsoft Word. Simply insert your companies contact information, your logo and away you go! Who will sell the first RTV Agent Site? With the end of the school year comes summer fun. That means millions of people are venturing out to amusement parks, putt-putt golf courses, go-kart tracks, batting cages and similar property types. These businesses are perfect for a virtual tour. The images would be interesting and really provide a potential visitor a clear idea of the activities available. We created a traditional brochure and a one page, two sided flyer targeted at amusement centers, both large and small. I am really amazed at the diverse business types that benefit from virtual tours. This two page flyer targets cemeteries. Realistically, many people are unable to visit several sites because of health, driving distances or other limitations. This flyer has a link to a wonderful example of an existing cemetery virtual tour. Last of all, it's time that you all start using the new real estate information packet to pass out to your prospects. We're still updating our manuals and are putting the finishing touches on things but it's a great start. It is up to date and contains all of the amazing new programs and technologies that we offer and explains them in detail. Look for this last one to post soon. If you have an idea or a need for a specific virtual tour marketing piece please shoot us an email and we will see what we can do. jill@realtourvision.com Remember that all marketing materials can be accessed through http://www.RockPointeMarketing.com Marketing Tip - Optimizing Facebook Facebook Fan Pages and Optimizing your Newsfeed Nova Scotia virtual tour genie Nancy Bain, http://www.supernovastudios.ca/about-us shares several tips for Optimizing your Newsfeed on Facebook below. Last fall, Facebook changed the default view of its News Feed from a real-time stream back to an algorithmically-generated view. In the new Top Stories News Feed, stories are chosen for display based on a variety of undisclosed factors, including but not limited to how many people comment and like on stories, who you're close with, and who you interact with frequently, Facebook says. Top Stories increases your visibility and is THE place to be in the Newsfeed. What does this mean for Facebook Pages and Page administrators? Facebook says Page stories will be selected in the same way as status updates and application stories - i.e., depending on how much response the stories get and how much you interact with the Page. However, all Page managers should note that this now means that all of your Page's updates will now no longer necessarily show up in your fans' News Feeds in real time (in the Top Stories view). Now, Page managers need to start thinking about News Feed Optimization (NFO) too. In other words, what do you need to do to maximize your Page's updates in the News Feed? According to Facebook, comments from a user's friends on a Page story is an important factor in getting it to show up, so encouraging comments and likes is now more valuable. Keeping fans coming back to your Page as much as possible is also now much more important. Page updates are indexed by Google. Google integrates Facebook Page updates into its real-time search results. Google started including real-time data in its search results in December. Facebook is only granting Google access to updates from its 3 million Pages, which are generally for celebrities, politicians, brands, and local businesses -- not your average Facebook user. (That's great news for those of us with fan pages) Facebook is getting ready to link geo-location information to your actions although they promise to treat that like any other content you post (for example, it is subject to your privacy settings). You will be able to opt-in choice of whether you want to participate. Look forward to this and take advantage by using your Geo keywords often. Finally, according to a new report from Dan Zarrella (The Social Media Scientist), the weekend is the best time to post content on Facebook as articles posted then are shared the most. One explanation for the phenomenon was that more than half of companies block Facebook. Supernova Studios offers fan pages with dynamic content from $100. View our welcome page at http://www.facebook.com/NovaScotiaVirtualTours?v=app_4949752878 Nancy Bain Please visit our fan page: http://www.facebook.com/NovaScotiaVirtualTours Supernova Studios http://www.supernovastudios.ca/ Photo Tip - Photographers Ephemeris Are you a tour tracker? Do you do virtual tours? Do you have a requirement for shooting twilight? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you need to look at this site. http://stephentrainor.com/tools If you ever need to shoot tours during morning or evening twilight this site will provide you the information you need to create a fantastic shot. After downloading this free site, you can type in any address that you might be photographing as well as the date of the photography. The software will then provide an overlay over Google Earth showing the pathways of light for the three twilights - civil, nautical and astronomical - as well as lists the times that the twilights begin. With a 30 minute or less window, any advance planning you can get is very useful. By using this site before arrival we have pre-determined the best locations for our camera equipment. We also know if we need to provide flashes if we will be facing into the sunlight. Give it a try - it is free, it's easy to use and it is a huge timesaver. Powervision360.com - Virtual Tour Provider for Scottsdale, Arizona Suzanne Feinberg feinbergbr@mac.com Office: 480-284-8177 Cell: 602-770-7149 Fax: 480-393-7777 Real Estate Photography - http://www.powervision360.com Contacts Sales (866) 947-8687 ext. 1586 info@realtourvision.com Support (866) 947-8687 ext. 1603 support@realtourvision.com Tour Track (866) 947-8687 ext. 1605 jacque@realtourvision.com Setup (866) 947-8687 ext. 0684 setup@realtourvision.com Billing (866) 947-8687 ext. 0687 eve@realtourvision.com Marketing jill@realtourvision.com Links TMS (Tour Management System) RTV Blog RPM Marketing Events The FORMULA Let it Slide Slideshow2.0 Tuesday July 6th, 2010 7 PM EDT The IMAGE Fantastic Filters Tuesday July 27th, 2010 7 PM EDT Tue, 06 Jul 2010 09:54:43 -0400