Author Archive
SEO Friendly URL’s
Posted by James in New Features on May 20th, 2009
Tired of having long urls’s for your virtual tours? Check out our new shorter and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly url for your virtual tours. Some URL examples are below:
Branded Virtual Tour:
http://www.firsthometour.com/497/branded
http://www.firsthometour.com/virtualtour/497/branded
Branded virtual tours follow the format of “http://www.firsthometour.com/” followed by your virtual tour number, in the above example 497. The last part of the URL can be anything that you want as demonstrated below:
Custom Branded Virtual Tour
http://www.firsthometour.com/497/firsthometour
http://www.firsthometour.com/497/my virtual tours
Non-Branded Virtual Tours (IDX Compliant):
http://www.firsthometour.com/497
This format is very simple, its our domain name followed by a slash and your virtual tour number.
Using these shorter virtual tour urls will make it easier for your users to remember and for search engines to index the content.
Enjoy,
The FirstHomeTour.com Support Team!
Impress your clients with Custom Videos from FirstHomeTour.com
Posted by James in New Features on May 12th, 2009
Your virtual tours can now be converted to videos! The videos will be added to the FirstHomeTour.com video channel on YouTube, the video tab of your virtual tour and will be syndicated out to sites like Google & AOL! Intersted in finding out what your converted video will look like? View our FirstHomeTour.com video samples here:
It is important to note that when you send the video conversion request to FirstHomeTour.com any tours who have High Definition images uploaded will automatically have High Definition YouTube videos created (below). If you’ve uploaded standard images for your virtual tour, a High Quality YouTube video will be created (right). FirstHomeTour.com will automatically use the virtual tour title and description found in your virtual tour for your YouTube videos. The map location in YouTube will show the Geo-Coding used in your virtual tour as well. If you would like your contact information to be a part of the video description – don’t forget to put that into video description section!
Requesting a video conversion is as easy as logging into your account, selecting Manage Multimedia in the dropdown list next to the virtual tour you would like converted and filling out your customized video settings.
Have Your Heard of Microsoft Photosynth?
Posted by James in New Features on April 27th, 2009
Microsoft has released a free technology called Photosynth that takes a series of photos and “automagically” stitches them into one interactive 3D experience that you can embed in your virtual tour with FirstHomeTour.com. Creating a photosynth is as easy as taking the pictures and choosing what photos you want synthd! I have read that people don’t like how long it takes to create a synth. However, I have found when you click the start synth button the reality is you are done after you click the button… pretty simple and quick (and free!).
In order to get a good synthy turnout make sure to overlap your pictures. We used a tripod in the examples below and took about 5 minutes to take all of the pictures. The end result is a cool product that doesn’t take too much extra effort. Creating a synth isn’t for everyone but it does add a lot of fun factor to an otherwise boring experience. Subscribe to our feed on details of how to create a quality synth without taking hundreds of photos!
Got a floorplan?
Posted by James in Tips & Tricks on April 25th, 2009
Interactive Floorplans – Got a floorplan? To use our floorplan feature upload the .jpg of a floorplan you have saved on your computer at no extra charge! If you do not have a floorplan and would like to receive and estimate from our partner MeasureComp.com, click on the MeasureComp.com link under the floorplan tab. Next you will be asked for the zip code and square footage of your property. Don’t forget to enter the promo code “Floor” for $5 off your flooplan measure. Once you have uploaded the flooplan you can click on Mappings to select and drop pictures onto your floorplan. If the image is placed incorrectly, just select delete and the image will be removed from your floorplan. Floorplan Example
Share Your Videos
Posted by James in Tips & Tricks on April 24th, 2009
50% off your first order with expresscopy.com
Posted by James in News, Partnerships on April 16th, 2009
Expresscopy.com has increased their discount for new customers to 50% off on your first order when placed from Firsthometour.com! That means you can fill your customers flyer box with 100 2-sided full color flyers for $27.50 or 2-sided color laminated flyers for $47.00 and both include FREE UPS Next Day Air™. Check out some expresscopy.com products and samples below:
FirstHomeTour.com Partners with ExpressCopy.com
Posted by James in New Features, Partnerships on March 12th, 2009
FirstHomeTour.com is excited to announce their partnership with ExpressCopy.com adding professional print services to a great product! Using ExpressCopy.com, our users will be able to create flyers, postcards, just listed mailers, business cards and many other products from professional or custom templates (ExpressCopy.com Samples). In addition to adding professional features to your listing, ExpressCopy.com is offering 50% off your first order when you create your account through FirstHomeTour.com
ExpressCopy.com is Located in Portland, OR and has over 10 years of experience in quick- turnaround digital printing. Their unique combination of quality, service and price has led to unparalleled success within the real estate industry and other vertical markets. We are very excited to offer such an outstanding product to our customers. If you are not already a customer of FirstHomeTour.com start your free trial now!
Visit with us in San Diego at the National Association of Realtors (NAR) Convetion 2009
We have confirmed our booth space for the National Association of Realtors Convention in San Diego. Below is a map of the convention and our space is marked in red. For more information about the convention keep an eye on the following page http://www.realtor.org/meetings_and_expo. You can also find a full PDF map of the convetion here: http://iebms.heiexpo.com/nar/nar09.pdf.
NAR Convention 2009
We have confirmed our booth space for the National Association of Realtors Convention in San Diego. Below is a map of the convention and our space is marked in red. For more information about the convention keep an eye on http://www.realtor.org/meetings_and_expo