FloorPlanner Partnership Press Release

July 16, 2010

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) July 16, 2010

FloorPlanOnline.com, the leading provider of Interactive Floor Plan Tours for real estate listings in the United States, announces a major upgrade to its virtual tour platform with the launch of FPO 2.0, a customizable virtual tour system that features floor plans and photos in dedicated property websites. As part of this upgrade, FloorPlanOnline is including a new RoomPlanner tool, which allows buyers to drag and drop furniture, rugs, and other household items onto the floor plan, at no additional cost. The RoomPlanner tool is powered by FloorPlanner.com, a leading provider of online floorplanning tools.

Future upgrades to the RoomPlanner tool will allow buyers to see the floor plan in 3D view with 3D objects, which will enhance the capability to take a “virtual walk through” of the property when combined with the other media on the FloorPlanOnline tour. It will also allow real estate agents to “virtually stage” a home as part of their FloorPlanOnline account. This future enhancement will also allow customers to edit floor plans in real-time and eventually, allow them to draw their own floor plans and add the plans to their virtual tours automatically.

“The addition of the RoomPlanner tool as been a great enhancement to our new FPO 2.0 Tour. It is interesting to see how the tool has engaged buyers – some of the designs buyers have created with the RoomPlanner tool are amazing! We have even received a phone call from a buyer who used the RoomPlanner on a home she was purchasing in another state. She loved the functionality so much, she is creating a tour for the home she is selling, ” said Kris Cone, CEO of FloorPlanOnline.com. “The functionality is part of an ongoing upgrade path to make FloorPlanOnline the most comprehensive service for selling or renting real estate. And it all centers around the floor plan! Buyers want to see it, and FloorPlanOnline’s goal is to provide the most comprehensive content and tools online to meet this very under-met need.”

“According to independent research, buyers want to see photos first, with floor plans a close second, in terms of essential information for real estate listings. Yet, most listings today have few floor plans (not to mention interactive ones) and often, the photos have a ways to go in terms of meeting the online buyers’ needs. Floor plans are hard to get, so they get ignored, and things like online videos get more hype,” said Cone. “Yet, we make it pretty easy to get a high tech solution from a low tech process. We can do floor plan clean-up of existing architectural drawings, marketing brochures, or hand drawn sketches; or we can use one of our authorized service providers to visit the property to create a floor plan from scratch. With service in 49 states, we’ve got most of the metro areas covered with floor plan services. We can also do a self service tour anywhere in the world.”

“We are excited about our new relationship with FloorPlanOnline,” said Jeroen Bekkers, CEO of FloorPlanner.com. “This technology agreement is part of our licensing plan to work with key website properties around the world and enable them with the FloorPlanner tools. FloorPlanOnline obviously has a great customer base that values the services they provide to make getting a floor plan easy, and we are excited to help enhance their product offering with the RoomPlanner tool.

Their strategy is right on – one of our integrated partners in the Netherlands, Funda.nl, just had interactive floorplans overtake videos as the most popular premium feature on Funda.nl. Buyers want to see floor plans and plan their new potential home…and why not, it is the most expensive purchase decision most people make in their lives!”

About FloorPlanOnline.com

FloorPlanOnline was co-founded by Kris Cone on 2004, and it started commercial service in 2005. It has created thousands of Interactive FloorPlan Tours over the last 5 years on a self and full service basis. It serves many of the top real estate brands and has thousands of registered users. FloorPlanOnline has maintained over a 95% customer satisfaction rating and continues to get high marks for its tours and its customer service. FloorPlanOnline has country specific service offerings in the Unites States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and South Africa. Learn more at www.floorplanonline.com.

About FloorPlanner.com

FloorPlanner.com started business in 2006. Jeroen Bekkers, a trained architect, heads up a small interactive design shop in Rotterdam called Suite 75. He created Floorplanner to get, much more simply, the same results that professionals gin up with sophisticated computer-aided design software. FloorPlanner.com has partnered with many real estate oriented properties around the world to bring their drawing tools to their users and customers. Learn more at www.floorplanner.com.

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New Tour Feedback Survey

June 23, 2010

Hello FloorPlanOnline Customers

I would like to take a few moments to get your thoughts on the new and old tour formats to help guide our summer development efforts.  Please click here to open up the short survey.

You will also get an email on this topic and there will also be an online message once you are logged in, so please only complete the survey one time.

Thank you in advance for your help in making FloorPlanOnline the most robust tour in the marketplace!

Sincerely,
Kris Cone

Official Press Release for FPO 2.0

May 19, 2010

FloorplanOnline® version 2.0 provides Buyer, Seller and Agent valuable resources

ISSAQUAH, WA –FloorPlanOnline® (FPO), an interactive floorplan website that offers buyers and real estate agents the ability to virtually tour properties online announces the launch of FPO 2.0, a redesigned and upgraded version of its interactive online floorplan tour.

The new version includes a more user-friendly integrated website that consists of upgraded navigation with different property content and multiple tour customization options. The advanced site presents the consumer with a myriad of Media options; including a Floor Plan Viewer with zoom-ability and full screen, Photo Viewer with large, high quality photos, WalkThruTM Video, and the new RoomPlanner that allows the user to drag and drop furniture onto the floorplan to experiment with furniture placement and design. The site also allows the listing agent to perform search engine optimization (SEO) on individual properties and do their own tracking via Google Analytics (or other tracking programs).

“FPO 2.0 brings a new, high level of information to the home buyer about a listing. Our goal is to provide the most robust content platform for properties online,” said Kris Cone, CEO of FloorPlanOnline®. “To be able to see the floorplan of a home, click on a room and see the photo of that room – it’s a powerful tool. To then further make it your own with the RoomPlanner gets the buyer interested and engaged. We are taking great care to offer this premium service affordably and efficiently through full or self service options.”

FloorPlanOnline® launched in 2005 to provide home buyers with an accurate depiction of property online including big crisp photos, video, disclosures and floorplans. The new and upgraded version of the original floorplan website builds upon the success that FPO has already established, including being mentioned by real estate guru, Barbara Corcoran on the Today Show in 2009.

Research completed in 2009 by the California Association of Realtors showed that 20 or more photos online reduced the time a home is on the market up to 50 percent. Other independent research has shown that floorplans were second to photos when buyers were asked what they wanted to see when looking for a home online. FPO provides both.

Top agents and companies like Shea Homes know how important statistics like these are and have called upon FloorPlanOnline to help them market their homes. Recently, universities like UCLA have also asked FloorPlanOnline to build interactive campus and building maps for new and prospective students.

About FloorplanOnline
FloorPlanOnline created the Interactive FloorPlan Tour to fill the gap in the market created by traditional virtual tour services – namely, the inability to see the property layout before an actual site visit. FPOs products can save the Buyer, Seller and the Real Estate Agent valuable time while providing them key information that has been requested for years. FPO can be used for residential or commercial real estate listings, leases, retail centers and land development.

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New FPO 2.0 Virtual Tour – In a One Min Video

April 26, 2010

FloorPlanOnline launched the new FPO 2.0 Format on May 1, 2010.  Your orders will now automatically receive the new enhanced premium virtual tour.  
Enhancements are everywhere – Video, Photos, FloorPlan and Room Planner all with new crisp wide format, new easy to use navigation and built in local link tool, Google maps and Street View,  Social Media and  SEO.

New To FloorPlanOnline? Registration is FREE HERE.
For More info on FPO 2.0 check out this post.

FPO 2.0 will bring a high level of information to the home buyer about a listing.  Our goal is to provide the most robust content platform for property online. We are taking great care to offer this premium service affordably and efficiently.

FPO 2.o by FloorPlanOnline Real Estate Marketing

Simple – We can Photograph, Measure and Produce
Effective – Buyers want to see Floor Plans with Photos
Affordable – Feature Rich without a Long Term Contract
Premium Virtual Tours for Top Agents

Room Planner Is Live!

March 15, 2010

FloorPlanOnline is excited to give you a glimpse at FPO 2.0 with a cool new floor plan tool – the Room Planner!  The Room Planner allows buyers to move furniture and other items into your FloorPlanOnline Virtual Tour.  And the best part – for the Spring Listing Season,  Room Planner is FREE for any tour produced and approved on or after March 15, 2010. That is a $20 value provided at no additional cost!   To learn more, watch the Room Planner Video below or  click here to see a sample tour. Just click the  icon in the floor plan area to open the Room Plan tool.

How to order. The Room Planner will automatically be added to all tours produced AND approved, on or after March 15, 2010.  There is no need to do anything! You should expect to be Planning rooms on your tour within 1 business day after your tour approval.

If you would like the Room Planner added to an existing tour created before March 15th, call or email us and we can add it to your tour for only $10. (50% off the retail price!)  Just call 866-810-3816 option 3 or use the form below and select the Room Planner option.

Floor Plan Online is proud to offer Premium Marketing tools for top of the line Real Estate Agents. Our Products are Simple to use, Effective with buyers and Affordable – feature rich with out a long term contract.

New to FloorPlanOnline & Want to Get Started? Click here to Register Fast and Free!

If you do not want this tool on a specific tour, its easy to remove.  You can elect to not have it created for your tour as you place the order, under Tour Upgrades – see the Tour Upgrades box right after you confirm your tour to remove it from your order.  Alternatively, the Room Planner can be removed if it has been added to your tour by going to Manage Orders>then Edit Tour>then Edit Photos on FloorPlan – just drag the RoomPlanner icon to the right under Pictures Library and save.

New Listing Tools Posted

February 22, 2010

We are pleased to announce the addition of two great listing tools for you to use under the Tools menu option from our main website.  We have added 14 different company branded Listing Presentation Templates as well as a generic presentation you can use to customize for your own brand if we do not have it listed.  Just make the applicable edits to the different pages and save.  We provide both a PowerPoint and Google Docs version.  You can either print the materials out, or save to your computer and take your laptop with your and use as a tool to showcase how you will use FloorPlanOnline to market the seller’s home! you can also embed the Google doc version right into your website, just like below…so you can provide some key information to users browsing your site.

In addition, we added two printable one-page handouts on FloorPlanOnline under Tools>Marketing Downloads.  One is for the Seller that you can leave as a handout and the other is something you can print out and hang up at your office.

Agents that have incorporated the FloorPlanOnline Marketing System into their listing presentations often get the listing – EVERY TIME!  It can help demonstrate to the Seller that you know how to market a home, and in the most important place – ONLINE.  After all, 96% of buyers in the key buying group use the Internet to search for homes.  Don’t let your seller’s home be left out!

If you do not see a version for you company, just let us know and we can try to customize something for you.  Just use the form below or on the Listing Presentation Template page.

New Tour Highlights Beta Feature

January 27, 2010

We are excited to highlight new FPO tools and one Beta Tool on the FloorPlanOnline “Tour of the Week” Today.

The FPO Custom Hotspot tool launched this month and allows agents to link youtube video, neighborhood websites or other FPO tours directly on the interactive floorplan.  On this tour the hotspot tool is used three times to link various other content. Two “house” type hotspot icons on the right side of the floorplan take you to a tour of the area Clubhouse and amenity’s.  The second “house” hotspot links to the Naperville Park district website.  Imagine how buyers will appreciate the custom information and ease of use.

Statistically Neighborhood Quality is the number one factor in deciding on a property (according this years NAR data).  Thus  – the more you can highlight about the quality of the neighborhood the better.

Secondly, the longer a visitor stays looking at a listing online, the more emotionally attached they become to the property.  With the Beta FloorPlaner tool (gray icon to the left of the floorplan) buyers may select furnishings and move them into the home digitally.  Select a couch, chair or lamp, and drag, rotate and click it into place.  Its still in Beta testing, so not bug free – but a cool look at the possibility’s.  Test the new tool here or on the tour above and give us your feedback!

Finally, we introduced the mouse over feature on all listings as well.  Simply mouse over the camera icon on the floorplan to view a thumb nail or click it to view the large photo.

This listing is in Naperville IL, (Chicago Suburb) and located at www.floorplanonline.com/56464

If you wish to volunteer one of your upcoming listings for future Beta testing send an email to chris@floorplanonline.com.

FloorPlanner Tool…Sneak Preview

January 22, 2010

Hi FloorPlanOnline users.
I wanted to give you a sneak preview of a floorplanner tool we are working on and get your thoughts. Can you review the tool below and then complete the poll on what you think. We are working to bring this, and some other exciting enhancements, to our tours soon. The embedded version is below, or Click Here to see the full screen version (so the icon library is not over the plan as in this embedded version).

Mouse Over & Embed Enhancements

December 29, 2009

Mouse Over with Photo Thumbnails. Today, we released a small but useful feature – Photo Mouse Over. Now, when you are viewing an Interactive FloorPlan Tour, you can mouse over a camera icon and a small thumbnail image of the photo will pop-up next to the camera icon. Click, and the photo will change on the left. This new feature will allow users to quickly preview photos of interest, and then click to get a larger view.  It is available and live today on all tours – you do not need to do anything!

Embedded Object Enhancement. We have also enhanced the embeddable object for the Interactive FloorPlan to include the mouse over feature, although a larger size photo does show. In addition, we have included navigation buttons on the photos to allow for easier navigation between photos – just click the arrow buttons to go forward or back.  The old way required you to click a camera icon, then close it, and then click another camera to navigate between photos.  This new feature should make it much faster to view photos on the embeddable FloorPlan Tours.

You can easily add an Embeddable FloorPlan Tour to your blog sites or on many company sites (like Windermere, John L Scott, Coldwell Banker Bain, and others).  Just think of the SEO benefits of creating a blog post for each of your listings – name the Post the address of your listing, add your marketing text, and then include the embeddable FloorPlan Tour.  You can also add the video if you want as well!  It adds more content to your website, keeps browsers there longer and turns them into buyers!

To configure your tour’s embeddable objects, just go to Manage Orders, then click the View link under Marketing Materials, then click the Embeddable Object button to get to the set-up page. You can change the colors of the buttons and the text on the buttons, and you can elect to show a “Full Tour” button (or change it to other text), which when clicked, will open a new window with the complete branded tour.  All you need to do when you have completed your customization is hit the Apply button, then click the link above the code and right click your mouse to copy the embeddable object code. Then, go to your blog or listing detail page for your listing and right click your mouse to paste the code in the desired location. Add additional explanatory text on top or below the code, and save. That is it! It is cool, effective, and keeps the buyer on your website longer to become a buyer!

Just try the example below to see how it works.

Featured Tour of the Week

December 11, 2009

This week’s Featured Tour

11607 Mohawk Ln. Leawood, KS 66211

Holiday Sale!

December 3, 2009

Seasons Greetings!

To celebrate the Holiday Season and to show our appreciation, we are providing our great customers a special offer. Save $10 on any tour during December by using code Dec2009 in the coupon code field when you place an order. The offer is valid for only one tour per account, must be used when you place a tour order, and the code expires December 31, 2009.

In addition, we are introducing the Value Pack Offer. If you prepay for a certain number of self service tours, you can save anywhere from $5 to $25 per tour, depending on how many tours you pre-buy. While the discount is based on self service tours, you can use the coupon on any tour type or service level. For customers in North Carolina and Washington, we may be able to offer you larger discounts.  The coupons expire 1 year from the date they were created.

This is how it works, just prepay for a Value Pack Offer of 5, 10, 25 or 50 tours, and we will provide you with a coupon code good for the value of the Value Pack you purchased. For example, if you bought the 25 Value Pack for FloorPlan Tours, it will cost you $975, but your total tour value is $1,475, a total discount of $500 and $20 off each tour!

To request more information, please call one of our sales representatives at 866-810-3816, option 2, or use the form below to submit your request.

Thank you for your past patronage and we look forward to a happy 2010 and the return of healthly real estate markets!

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New Website Launches!

December 2, 2009

We are proud to announce the release of the new FloorPlanOnline.com website!  It is built using Wordpress so it is completely search engine optimized and we can easily manage the content to provide our customers with more relevant and timely information.

We welcome any comments or suggestions.

MRED Photo & Tour Upload!

November 18, 2009

MRED Photo Upload and Automated Tour Linking. Hey ChicagoLand customers – we now are automatically linking your tour to MRED upon your tour approval.  So no need to go to your MLS and add the unbranded tour link manually!   In addition, we are now uploading 9 photos into MRED for you automatically.   The first 9 photos selected for the flyer on your tour at the photos we will automatically upload.  In order to enable the automated linking and photo upload, just select MRED and MRED Photos under Edit Profile>Edit Linking Details and add your Agent ID from MRED in the applicable field.  Then approve your tours, and the tour will be posted.  We will upload the photos as soon as we produce the tour. Please note we do need a valid MLS number for your listing and your Agent ID as supplied by the MLS.