VIRTUAL REALITY
Even putting virtual tours on the portals is easy. “Rightmove is very simple; once you’re registered as an approved virtual tour supplier it’s very easy to get your virtual tours uploaded.” Incorporating the tour into the agency
website is also easy. Most new agency websites are designed with video functionality, as have the portals. It’s not currently being used, but it’s there, Lee Hilliar says. It used to be the case that 360 degree photos and walk-through tours needed plug-ins. This of course wasn’t popular with users. Jonathan Watkins says, “People don’t like to download plug-ins, especially if they’re looking at the internet in the office.” Fortunately, technology providers have worked hard to make life simpler. Audioagent, for instance, doesn’t need Flash, so that it can work on Blackberries, iPads and iPhones.
mind the quality It’s getting the quality right that is the difficulty. For instance, Lee Hilliar points out that fish-eye lenses distort some aspects of a photo, so for top-of-the-range work, a professional video camera will give a better results. Elliott Rowland at Datography agrees that professional photographers are vital, “This isn’t a DIY job!” Ben Quinley says many virtual tours are too long; “None of our tours are over one minute fifteen seconds, users just get bored.” That’s why agents head for professional services companies. Buyers have probably watched stately home tours or interior decoration programmes on TV, they are used to professional quality. That applies not only to the photography, it applies to the voice-over and presentation. Lee Hilliar says “I really hope we don’t get the Handycam guy in an agency doing videos – that would devalue the whole concept.”
‘At the very top of the market it’s possible to create walk-through
tours that accurately replicate the experience of a real-world visit.’ jonathan watkins rescom media
refurbishment. Her answer? “Put a voiceover on the video and say what you need to say.” Cost is a big objection. But as Jonathan
Watkins points out, virtual tours are not the only feature that cash-strapped agents are resistant to paying for. “If they’re not willing to pay £1.50 for basic photo editing, Photoshopping in a blue sky instead of a grey one, Photoshopping away the wheelie bins, they won’t pay for video.” With the enormous growth of online
Poke around the bedrooms without getting out of bed!
monitoring value Agents also need to think about the back end. Having a good virtual tour or video is one thing; getting it properly distributed, and monitoring the response effectively, is another. Agents will only get benefits in terms of Google page rankings if they put the video on their own site first, if it goes on YouTube first, Google give the benefit to the bigger site. Monitoring the viewings that a video gets is also important. Audioagent has a back end which delivers the statistics agents need, how many views, how many clickthroughs.” Ben Quinley says. Many agents are still dragging their feet about virtual tours and videos. Lee Hilliar thinks agents are worried that the video will become a barrier between the agent and the client, that it shows the property ‘warts and all’ without the agent to point out, for example, the potential for
agents and property portals, it’s even more important to get your online presentation right because competition has never been so fierce. Amanda Lindsay of
Virtual360.net says that they try to make their virtual tour and video service irresistible; “We have competitors who charge around £40 for an audio tour just using still images. An average estate agent might want to do perhaps five of these a month, meaning costs of £200 or more per month. “We take a different route. For just £150
per month, we loan a camera to the agent which he is able to use for stills as well as virtual tours, we loan him everything he needs to do his virtual tours, it’s all very easy for him, we do all of the processing and hosting for him, and he can have audio on his virtual tours. For just £15 he can have an audio virtual tour. We don’t limit the number of virtual tours he can have for a property. It’s a no brainer really!”
traffic and seo impact One certainty is that video attracts web traffic. Stephen Gravett says, “Agents that are using it see more hits on the website,” and Ben Quinley says “We’ve seen large increases in click-through rates, and in dwell time.” Neither can see whether video helps improve the conversion rate, though. Lee Hilliar points out that not only can video get more traffic coming to the agent’s site, it can improve the agent’s search rankings. Google is now making video a priority, so video ‘scores’ in terms of SEO, moving a site up the rankings, potentially saving the agent money spent on pay per click advertising such as Adwords. That’s not the only cost that a virtual
EstateAgentsOnFilm.co.uk on location, using professional presenters and crew.
tour can save. Lee Hilliar says, “You need to look at it in terms of saving you 10-12 viewings.” One client used to make video tours for each of the country houses he sold. With a 2,000 strong database to email, he got ten replies for each email, asking for a viewing; from the viewings, two offers. “Video will definitely save you time and money.”
PROPERTYdrum NOVEMBER 2010 29
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