Turbo-ized Virtual Tour

radar testing floorplanonline tours

Photo credit: Robin Buckson / The Detroit News

“Faster” didn’t cut it. Neither did “new and improved”.

Recent improvements to our code and system have resulted in your tours loading 25-50% faster! Over Thanksgiving we were down for scheduled system maintenance. (We hope you were not inconvenienced).

Faster tours translate to greater effectiveness.

The new high speed floor plan virtual tour will further set your listings apart and ahead. We’ve done the work for you – check out your faster FloorPlanOnline tours to see for yourself, or check out the featured virtual tour of the week.

FloorPlanOnline – Simple, Effective and Affordable.

Have you used the fast and cool Embedded FloorPlanOnline Tour? Test drive one below. The Embedded Virtual Tour is FREE with every FPO Virtual Tour and can be placed in your blog.
Log in, and click Marketing materials then “Embedded Tour Beta”.

Stars Shine with FloorPlanOnline

This week was FloorplanOnline’s First Star Power Event, my first time at a Star Power Conference and my first time in Nashville TN. What a cool (Read HOT) town!
Thanks to Nashville expert and National TV personality Brian Copeland (@nashvillebrian) I had the hot tips on where to eat via Twitter. The best was Mad Donnas. I give it 4.5 stars – the same number of stars you could see at any given moment at the Star Power Convention.
A “Star” is selected and crowned each month. The August 2010 Star is FloorPlanOnline customer Sue Adler (@sueadler) I believe there are around 200 current stars, with most of them at the event. Typically Stars are the top 1/2 of 1% of agents nationwide. They sell tons of listings, give tons of referrals and in my experience are very approachable, humble and willing to share information with their competition. How cool is that? Also willing to share and help people was former real estate agent and the events Headliner Dave Ramsey Dave’s talk was inspirational, helpful and entertaining.
The Event, classes and hallway conversations included talk about Marketing, technology and how to grow business in today’s social online market. There were cool people to chat with around every corner. Ive long admired Chris Smith (@techsavvyagent) who walked up to our booth and was so impressed with FPO 2.0 he recorded an interview with me on the spot!
Below, check out my brief review of the event that includes photos and video.
The video was created on my iphone using the cool ReelDirector app.

Official Press Release for FPO 2.0


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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FPO 2.0 Virtual Tour Website for Realtors and REal Estate

Why you should be on Zillow

I attended the Seattle REBar event yesterday, and listened to Spencer Rascoff of Zillow talk about why real estate agents should put their listings on Zillow.   I agree it makes sense, and here are the main reasons.

1. They are a top 1 or 2 real estate site now with OVER 8 million unique visitors and it is growing over 70% year over year – you will never get that many people to your site.  A study by CAR showed that 55% of California Sellers use Zillow.

2. About 2/3rds of buyers are on Zillow to buy/sell NOW.

3. Can post your listings for free – there are broker feeds (they suggest this), agent manual or tour companies can post (we will be adding this soon).  Virtual tour links come through the feeds if the process is set up correctly

4. Zillow is mobile.  Their iPhone application has been downloaded over 700,000 times, by far the most popular application in any category.  On weekends, 20% of Zillow’s traffic comes from iPhone users – 20%!   FloorPlanOnline just launched a multi-device, mobile optimized site…so now basic content can be seen on virtually any mobile device.  So upload your listings and include the foorplanonline.com link.

5. Use the Zestimates as a tool to show your real estate expertise.  Zillow admits and clearly publishes the fact that the Zestimate is just an estimate…and with better data it can get better.  This is where you can use your expertise as a Realtor to explain why you would price a home or why the Zestimate is not correct.  Also, when you list a house for sale on Zillow, the Zestimate falls to the bottom and what is most visible on the map and property details is the listing price.

PS. Join their Advice forums and be the local expert for consumers in your area.  Just watch the hard sell, as people want information, not to be inundated with hard sales pushes.

-Kris Cone, FloorPlanOnline.com