Thumbing through the numerous hosted virtual tour options can seem mind-boggling and endless. However one of the best, and free, options I’ve found for search engine visibility has been Google Video.
You’re probably saying, “Wait a minute. They only do videos. I don’t even have a video camera!” Take a look at the current Home For Sale tours on Google. There are many that are simple photo slideshows.
Making Photo Tours
Windows folk can use the free Photo Story software. Photo Story will allow you to easily create a video from your property photos. Here are a few things you can do or add:
- Burn DVDs
- One-click processing (i.e. crop, rotate, auto color, etc.)
- Background music
- Narrate shots
- Titles and captions
- Transitions
Once created, just upload your video tour to Google Video.
What about YouTube for tours?
YouTube and other types of services are very similar. In fact, YouTube is great with search engines. I highly recommend posting your videos to multiple video hosts.
Though If I were to pick one host, it would be Google. Why? YouTube tends to get itself blocked by various corporate and ISP filters.
Virtual Tour Alternatives
Yep, there are a lot. I’m working on a semi-comprehensive list of photo and property tour alternatives. I’ll post it when I have it ready. Any suggestions?
