In today’s competitive real estate market, virtual tours of homes for sale are fast becoming a real estate agent’s technology tool for capturing website visitors’ attention. Virtual tours can range from a slide show of a home’s interior and exterior photos to a movie of 180 degree or 360 degree panoramic view of different rooms in a house. Virtual tours can also be effective sales tools by capturing a 360 degree panorama of a house’s exterior and the nearby neighborhood, especially if all the neighbors’ flowering bushes are in bloom.

What does it take to set up a virtual tour? There are several ways to start using virtual tours in your Internet marketing program. The first decision to make is if the tour is a slide show or movie.

For creating slide shows, you (or your real estate website designer) can use Adobe’s Flash software. Less expensive software, such as GIF Construction Set Professional allows you to turn your photos into a slide show using animated GIF technology. This technology can also be used for spicing up the images on your website’s homepage.

Creating panoramic videos needs software to “stitch together” a series of still photos. One option is to use application service providers that hire the photographer, process the photos with their software, and post the panoramic pictures to sites like Realtor.com. Another option is to buy monthly subscriptions that allow the option of the real estate agent providing the pictures to a company that processes the photos and posts the virtual tours to various real estate websites. A third option is to buy the software, take your own pictures and create and post your own virtual tours.

Software such as PTGui Pro allows real estate agents to stitch together their photographs and make color and angle corrections. This ability to make corrections in the software comes in handy when you find that you forgot your tripod when you are at the house ready to shoot.

Just as with most technology, there are ways to get extra mileage out of your virtual home tours:

• Give CD-ROMs with the tour to the home owner to hand out to interested people;
• Send a collection of different home virtual tours to other real estate agents so they know what to expect when showing the house; and
• Have them available at your open house;

Virtual tours of the downtown shopping area and any of the area‚s picturesque city parks can also add extra pizzazz to a real estate websites.

Zolve.com is an internet business exchange platform for real estate agents that was created to simplify the hit or miss process of referrals and referral tracking. As a work in process (launched in October 2007), any new feature Zolve adds to its website platform has to answer the question “How can Zolve directly help real estate agents on the street grow their business?” Zolve has taken the marketplace of real estate agents online – to send, track and receive referrals and evaluate real estate professionals around the world.

Zolve is the creation of Colorado Springs real estate broker Brian Wilson while he was deployed in Iraq. In a recent interview, Brian, Zolve’s CEO, told Reggie Nicolay of MyTechOpinion.com, “First and foremost, Zolve‚s platform completely systematizes the entire referral process so it can be executed and tracked online. Secondly, the Zolve network will be comprised of members with online profiles and consumer ratings that simplify the process of choosing referral partners. Of high importance, it helps real estate professional to ‘be found online’ which is no small challenge. There needs to be some reasonable alternatives to every web-based real estate professional in a market all competing for the first 10 search results on the search engine.”

Similar to ActiveRain, once you join you can add your real estate agent or mortgage officer profile and blog or respond to blog entries.  Unlike ActiveRain, the social networking side of the website is not the main focus. It is a useful adjunct allowing agents another avenue to send people to their website and build a reputable inbound link from another real estate industry website.

Zolve.com intends to streamline and simplify the internet-based referral business by:

• Expanding your real estate “sphere of influence” in your local market, but especially to markets outside your local area. Since it is the internet – that means international also.
• Being a reception point for referrals from other agents.
• Sending referrals using a digital referral agreement that provides for automated progress reports and that creates a digital “paper trail” of the referral transaction.
• Allowing the posting of ratings and feedback from customers and referring member agents each time a transaction is closed using the Zolve.com network.

Starting out in the Colorado Springs real estate market, it has already over 2200 real estate agent members all over the United States. That is part of the beauty of having a real estate website: live local, sell global.

As more of the real estate market migrates to the Internet to view property, the bar is being raised on the visual information real estate website’s provide. Being an early adopter of the video technology has a great upside for your real estate website and internet marketing strategy – less competition, more visibility. Besides virtual tours on your own real estate website, using video to sell property on the Internet has ventured into the free for all world of YouTube.

Even though YouTube is known for postings of amateur videos on an astounding array of subjects, it has become an avenue for showcasing real estate. The reason is simple, less competition on keyword searches. For example, to use the keyword search “colorado springs real estate” on 21-Feb-2007 on Google shows 526,000 results. The same search on YouTube.com brings only 337 returns. On Google Video, the keyword search brings 523 returns, which also includes the YouTube videos.

YouTube.com, the free video streaming service that lets people view and share videos online, also has a feature that lets real estate agents embed their YouTube real estate video on their websites. By copying code provided by YouTube, Real estate website designers can easily place YouTube videos into the layout of your real estate website. This allows real estate agents to maximize their video advertising investment.

Recently, YouTube announced an upcoming feature that benefits real estate agents – a new analytic tool that gives agents the ability to see where their viewers are located geographically. Hopefully the analytics will go so far as to present a differentiation of embedded views vs YouTube views, bounce rates, average time spent on the video, as well a list of embeds driving views to your video. These analytics should be similar to website page tracking software.

A 40 second video can feature the attractive selling points of a property with a voice-over as well as prominently positioning the agent’s contact information. By simply changing the voice-over track, real estate agents can use the same video for both English-speaking and Spanish-speaking website visitors.

As more Internet users change to high speed connections, videos will be faster and easier to download, thus paving the way to the growing use of video presentations becoming the new standard for property descriptions.

As video presentations of communities and real estate property become more the standard for real estate website property presentations, real estate agents doing their own filming may want to review some filming tips from the pros. The camera is an unblinking recorder and often little technicalities can ruin an otherwise superb shot of a home for sale.

The first step (similar to writing) is outline and plan your shots of the real estate property. This keeps the time it takes to video the property down and doesn’t leave you short of material when you are editing. After videoing several properties, this outline can evolve into a simple checklist. By turning your outline into a checklist, you can check off and keep track of the property shots as you take them.

In your planning, think about any “perspective on the property” shots, such as a nearby tech park, school or playground. These features can quickly enhance a property’s value beyond the intrinsic value of the house itself. Something about location.

The second tip in filming is to expand time. Did you suffer through the Super8 home movies that were shot trying to get as many vacation shots on one reel? Maybe that was the forerunner of the fast edit music videos. To video a home for sale, avoid “ocular whiplash” and mimic a live presentation by consciously holding a shot for 9 to 10 seconds. Turn off the part of your brain that says “Alright, enough already” when it seems like a long time, but only 3 seconds have passed.

Similar to holding a shot, always video more than you need. With more material, you are better able to pick the best shots and have a very good overall presentation. Plan for a two and a half to five minute video, depending on the property and the file size you want. You can always create a 40 second overview video for YouTube or Google Video that directs the viewer back to your real estate website for the director’s cut version.

Use a tripod. Shaky videos inherently are agitating and mark your shots “unprofessional”. When buying a tripod, test it to make sure the panning (side to side movement) is very smooth. Cheaper tripods may have a stutter step panning that ruins the smoothness of a pan shot.

Frame your shots. Between your video appearing on a small screen and your large nature of the property, make sure your perspectives are correct. Don’t make something look too far away or so close that you don’t capture the entire house or room.

As with any new skill, practice first. Video your own home or office. While editing you can see how lighting affects shots, how furniture placement may change the feel of a room or that next time you will look for the dead plant or odd sock that appeared in the shot. Also check real estate videos online with a critical eye. Note what type of shots made you like a property and what shots left your mouse click finger itching for exercise.

The National Association of REALTORS (NAR) created an online e-Pro course to train Realtors from the ground up on the best and most efficient use of the Internet. The e-Pro course also covers how the Internet continues to change the traditional world of buying and selling real estate.

Why did the NAR feel the course was necessary? The NAR has consistently surveyed Realtors and home owners to keep a close pulse on the real estate industry. From their studies they found:

• Communications with clients has shifted from the telephone to e-mail;
• 80% of home buyers turn to the Internet for their information;
• Information that was once the domain of real estate brokerages is now available on the Internet;

The e-Pro course comes in 4 modules. The first module takes a beginner from dim awareness of the Internet and computers to full knowledge of what the Internet, domain names and hosting services are all about. The way the education is done familiarizes Realtors with communicating with email, autoresponders and through online forums. Online forum communications skills are necessary to utilize that avenue to get your website’s address and your expertise out in front of a larger real estate focused audience.

The second module comprehensively covers all aspects of using email in a real estate marketing campaign. From email, Module 3 moves to understanding the world wide web and real estate websites in particular – what to look for in website design and content to the basics of search engine optimization.

The fourth module finishes the course off with an in-depth study and planning for your own real estate website. The course also educates Realtors on the auxiliary technologies used by real estate websites, such as digital cameras and virtual tours, which add the attention grabbing highlights to a website.

Many real estate agents are, of course, familiar with computers and the Internet (hopefully since e-Pro is an online course), but most learned by hands-on training. This comprehensive course can help fill in the missing pieces that will help real estate agents get the most out of their ability to email and understand their real estate website in more detail.

IMCD Web Design has found that Realtors who have the e-Pro training are quickly able to understand and work with their real estate websites. This translates into a real estate website whose owner understands the “why” and “how” to keep the website updated with current information and helpful web links.

Best of all, each modules have reviews and exams, so when a Realtor is finished the course, they have really integrated the course and are able to put it into action. After the course is over, e-Pro Realtors can still access the listserv discussion forums. As Benjamin Franklin said, “The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.”

Your real estate website’s neighborhood news tool helps make you a more valuable, visible and trustworthy real estate agent. With a few adjustments, it can make you invaluable. Just as in real estate “location” is important, in your website “positioning” is the key to high returns.

How to adjust your neighborhood news tool? Improve its perceived value. To improve perceived value, consider these three questions:

• Is your news specific to your real estate market, instead of generic information any buyer anywhere could use?
• Is your information specific to the buyers and sellers in your market, and
• Can the information you offer be found anywhere else?

Create an evaluation. Instead of offering a “this is what you can find in this neighborhood” information, evaluate schools, coffee shops, or tech centers. Make sure your real estate website gives both your insight and the insights you glean from area residents and business entrepreneurs. Quotes add both local flavor and third party credibility to your news. A little bit of controversy (as long as it doesn’t alienate your market) is a time honored advertising technique to getting attention. (I know honor and advertising aren’t two words you usually put together.)

Show you are active in your market. By giving news such as a new business opening, a school adding a new program or tracking successful “alumni” of a neighborhood, you convey the idea that you have your finger on the pulse of the neighborhood. If you are in a military market, add news of troop deployments or coming home celebrations.

Introduce a neighborhood through the eyes of a recent satisfied client. Report those items that attracted your client to the neighborhood and what makes them happy about their move. This conveys two marketing items at once: that you care about and like to help your clients and seeing a neighborhood through the eyes of the client has the power of a testimonial.

Turning the articles you post on your neighborhood news tool into invaluable aids for your real estate clients builds your “call to action” case to contact you, the knowledgeable and personable expert.

The portable real estate office technology just got smaller, lighter and more impressive. Fujitsu has unveiled their new travel laptop and a portable printer/scanner that, together weigh less than seven pounds! This allows real estate agents to take a full computer and printer setup on the road in one computer case.

At Macworld San Francisco Apple just announced its new MacBook Air ultra thin laptop which runs Mac OSX, Windows XP and Windows Vista (Business or Ultra) using Apple’s Boot Camp software or an emulation program like Parallels or VMWare. So now many real estate software programs can run on new Apple computers.

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 scans up to 8 pages a minute and prints color and black and white at a respectable 600 dpi. Perfect for the real estate agent and mortgage broker is its ability to print legal size paper as well as the standard size. At just over three inches tall and deep by 11.2 inches long, this printer is the size of some laser print cartridges. NewEgg carries the ScanSnap for under $250.

The LifeBook Tablet PC boasts a battery life of 11 hours and Intel’s Duo Core Processor technology. The Fujitsu tablet PC has apparently learned from the Lenovo ThinkPad X60 Tablet PC, with its pointer stick mouse and shock resistant hard drive. As with the lighter tablet PC’s neither the Lenovo or Fujitsu has a DVD drive and both use the standard 12″ screen. Fujitsu has taken advantage of Intel’s ultra low voltage processors to gain the additional battery life, which is 6 to 7 hours longer than Lenovo’s.

For portable real estate website presentations and working on documents away from the office, the ScanSnap S300 and a tablet PC may be just the technology ticket to make your real estate office more portable. Now, if real estate agents could just get all their computer hardware and software to run under Apple’s OSX operating system, that would be a real estate technology heaven – light hardware combined with software that doesn’t crash.