We just updated our iPad tour with a couple of new features.
1. Swipe on the photos. Now you can just use your finger to swipe through images.
2. New Embed FloorPlan view. In addition to the side by side view (photos next to floor plans), you can click the button to see a larger floor plan with photos that pop on top of the floor plan. This enhancement will be added soon to the newer tour templates as well.
To read more about the best iPad tour viewer out there, including how to project the tour to any TV connected to an Apple TV, click here.
Here is an interesting blog post from comScore – 2012 U.S. Digital Future in Focus a report detailing how fast the tablet market is growing, and how it has zoomed passed the growth lines of other tech tools. According to PewInternet, the number of eReaders and tablet users DOUBLED between mid-December and January of 2012. Wow…a popular holiday gift, it seems.
PEW Research Center
As it stands now, there are over 35 million tablets in use in the United States, some 19% of adults own some kind of tablet. Mobile use is also increasing. Companies like Zillow and Realtor.com also report a significant number of users over the weekends come from mobile devices. According to comScore, 20% of holiday shoppers used their smartphones to check prices while at a brick and mortar store. This includes scanning bar codes and QR codes, those funny looking square boxes we have on our property fliers. BestBuy and other retailers are starting to incorporate the use of QR codes more and more at the point of sale….so could QR codes be hitting the mainstream?
Luckily, FloorPlanOnline has tools to meet these growing demands. We recently launched our exclusive iPad Tabbed Tour. You can see most tour content, including the interactive floor plan, video and more, just by opening the tour up on your iPad. You can even connect your iPad to a TV connected to an Apple TV to show it off on the big screen. Pretty cool. Read more on that here. P.S. it works on other tablet devices too.
We also serve up a mobile tour for smartphones so the user can see basic listing content, including an image of the floor plan.
Finally, we automatically create a QR code for each listing. You can easily add it to any flyer and it is available as a download under marketing tools in your account. This helps reduce paper costs by allowing people to scan the code on your flyer in a flyer box for more info.
We are also exploring more advanced mobile tools….so stay tuned!
If you would like to see the comScore report, please see this video.
FloorPlanOnline has been producing free YouTube videos for all your FPO tours for quite some time now. You might be thinking to yourself that YouTube is of little value since there aren’t many people going to YouTube to look for their next home. Think again. The real value of having a video of your listing on YouTube is it has tremendous Search Engine Optimization benefits.
FloorPlanOnline YouTube videos get your property (with the branded tour link back to your listing) listed typically on page 1 of search engine returns when you type in the address. And unlike being on Trulia or Zillow, the viewers are directed directly back to you and your tour where you can engage directly in lead capture, not to some page where there might be 3 other agents waiting to take your lead.
If you pay Zillow to enhance your account, you still benefit…but if you do not, there is no way you can get the lead.
Plus, the tour will show up with the YouTube video icon (like at left), and video we know is one thing that attracts users to click. So you have a higher chance of people clicking on your YouTube video listing and ultimately getting back to you, vs a large real estate portal site.
Adding the new voice over tool (just launched this year) to FloorPlanOnline Videos, further adds to the seo power. Google now listens to the voice overs, traslates and indexes the content!
So, if you want the potential to capture the lead yourself and your listing noticed, just add YouTube to your profile. We will automatically upload the video to either your YouTube channel, or ours. If you do not have a YouTube Channel, you can create one, or we have a Get Social service where we create the YouTube Channel and Facebook business page for you, can connect all of your tours into your accounts. Yes, we also have a Facebook app where your featured listings show in your Facebook business page.
The FloorPlanOnline Team would like to wish all of our customers and business partners a very happy holiday season. We appreciate your past patronage and look forward to 2012!
We have some exciting things planned for new features and functionality, including a brand new enhanced iPad tour viewer, complete with an interactive floorplan. It is a very clean and functional design and will be the best iPad tour viewer out there! So stay tuned right after the new year for that release.
We are also working on adding custom audio clips to your video, separate editing capability for the photo and video view, so you can pick what photos show where. Video clip integration will also come later…so you will soon have a very easy tool to create a great property listing video, and get it uploaded to YouTube, all for free! We are also working to add better floorplan tools, including the ability to upload floor plans and use them without us redrawing them. Just a little work needed to get the floorplan on the property flyers.
Speaking of flyers, we are also working on integrating with a printing partner, so you can get your flyers printed on high quality paper and sent right to your door. We will also work to integrate with select printing companies, like xpressdocs and Merrill., so you just send the PDF or even the images to them. Please contact us if you have a specific request as we are just starting to look into what is possible with other printing companies.
Custom Flyers!
We also now support a completely custom flyer option for your account or company account. Starting at a $399 set-up fee, we can create a unique flyer design for you and your company, that can be the default flyer template for all of your tours! Click here for an example of a custom flyer created for Haring Realty. All Haring agents have to do is add their text, pick which photos they want, and the rest just happens. And because we produce a high quality PDF, it is print ready. It is a huge time saver for agents or agent assistants. We are taking requests…just complete the form below with some basic information.
In closing, we hope 2011 was a great year, and I will you all success in 2012.
Best regards,
Kris Cone, CEO
FloorPlanOnline
Contact us
We would love to hear from you! Please fill out this form and we will get in touch with you shortly.
“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”.
We wanted to get your feedback on the new landscape oriented tour design we are working on. Please view the below sideshow, read the description, and then make your vote. Pleae note we are working on making some of these changes, like how the contact info, photo and logo show, on the current web-page oriented design.
Click on the sideshow for the full screen version
We appreciate your feedback – Please make your vote!
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here:
Cookie Policy
Plus, the tour will show up with the YouTube video icon (like at left), and video we know is one thing that attracts users to click. So you have a higher chance of people clicking on your YouTube video listing and ultimately getting back to you, vs a large real estate portal site.
