Estate agents have more options than those in other industries to make more from their website. This is due to the creative ways estate agents can showcase properties within property listings. One of the more innovative options being used is virtual tours.
What are virtual tours for estate agents?
Virtual tours for estate agents are tours of a property that can be published to a property listing online. They could be used to help a landlord rent their property or to help homeowners attract more interest in their property for sale.
Virtual tours are usually created in one of two ways, namely:
- The tour could be recorded by the estate agent using a camera. The footage would be edited so it flows seamlessly and then uploaded to the estate agent’s listing
- The tour could be recorded by the estate agent and then recreated as a walk-through reel similar to how you can explore areas on Google Maps. This would then be uploaded to the property listing
Are virtual tours worth the expense?
Adding a virtual tour will help increase interest in properties by creating an opportunity to showcase the property in a more realistic way compared to images alone. They will also help prospective renters and buyers understand the layout of the property which isn’t always easy with just pictures and a floor plan. If your estate agency is helping sell a series of new builds that are identical, taking the time and effort to create one virtual tour for all listings may be even more appealing.
Thus, virtual tours can be worthwhile if you wish to drum up interest fast. However, there may be times when you don’t believe you need to take this additional step because the property market is so hot and enquiries are flooding in regardless. Even in this situation, it could be worth making the effort because virtual tours will have website benefits as well…
What are the benefits of having a virtual tour on your website?
Virtual tours on a property listing can also benefit your website. For example, having virtual tours can increase website visitor engagement which is likely to cause them to spend more time on your website. As a result, your website “bounce rate” would be reduced. This is a measurement of the time it takes for a website visitor to arrive and leave your website.
Extending your website bounce rate is good for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) performance. This is because search engines recognise that people who spend more time on a website must be consuming useful information and are being engaged by the website. Overall, this can contribute to a better SEO ranking on search engines which then makes your website more visible to prospective leads and clients.
Important things to consider
If you’re going to add virtual tours, it’s important to put effort into them and not just upload raw footage taken from a smartphone. These virtual tours will reflect your professionalism and brand so they should be given the attention they deserve.
