Publish a 3D Virtual Tour of Your Business on Google Street View

These have certainly been trying times the likes of which many in the world have never experienced. Through months of economic shutdown due to COVID-19 , real estate offices across much of the country have remained open on the list of essential services to the public. But staying open has not been without its challenges. To meet those challenges, real estate agents have adapted amidst the coronavirus pandemic, many of them turning to online tools such as video meetings and 3D virtual tours .

Still, many consumers remain unsettled about venturing out into the public. Sure, there are some who throw caution to the wind and charge headlong into the community pool, but most are either nervously, or at least cautiously, dipping their toes into the market.

Either way, your responsibilities as an agent remain to serve your clients according to their needs, including their personal safety. So, real estate offices have put in place reasonable social distancing guidelines. They have also adopted measures to clean and sanitize the physical spaces of the workplace and the homes that they show. Services have evolved to include virtual appointments, online document sharing, and even “porch signings”. Agents are limiting the number of in-person contacts and are striving to make safe the ones that are absolutely necessary.

Among the strategies agents are using to engage their clients are (as has always been the case) print advertisements and other communications, the use of social media ,  video tours , and immersive 3D tours of listed properties and the communities in which they are found.

There is another way that an agent can interact with the public to offer consumers assurance that the right precautions are put into place for their safety while at the same time employing a creative strategy to reach more people. That is the use of a 3D virtual walkthrough of their office uploaded to Google Street View.

Why Google Street View?

When consumers search for products and services, they turn to the internet and, increasingly, to mapping products. Forty-four percent of the time, according to Google. And more than forty percent of these online place searches result in a physical on-site visit.

Of course, Google is at the top of the list of search providers. Even when a business is found elsewhere, the mapping is often done on Google. Having a solid search listing is essential for your business, making you ninety-plus percent more likely to be viewed as “reputable” and thirty-eight percent more likely to be used than a business without a listing.

Google Street View presents an opportunity to get your business recognized and promoted in your market, showing up in search results, on Google maps, on your Google Plus page, and your Google local page.

According to a recent Facebook survey of nearly ninety thousand small business owners, managers, and workers, one of the top strategies they are using to deal with today’s challenges is turning to internet tools. To remain competitive, a real estate business needs a consistent online presence.

Why a 3D Tour?

But why present a virtual tour on Google Street View? After all, many businesses feature photographs or panoramic views of the physical property. What might a 3D tour accomplish?

For starters, adding a virtual tour is a way of being proactive about what appears in Google Street View for your business. It allows you to maintain the online presence that fits you best and prevents incorrect imagery from being associated with your business.

But a virtual walkthrough of your business does much more, especially in these times of uncertainty. By providing an immersive virtual journey through your office, you also provide a sense of security, an assurance that the proper precautions have been taken for their health and safety. You also give them a heads-up as to what they can expect when they do need to come into the office.

Additionally, a virtual tour is a creative way to stay in touch with your community, an online outreach. In a market where every strategy aims to give you an edge, an office tour that shows up in Google Street View is a tool you should not pass up. Not only are you able to sell homes faster and at a higher price with 3D tours (which is why buyers, sellers, and agents alike prefer listings with 3D tours ), but you can promote your business in the process.

And then there is the value a virtual tour provides to your website. A tour (such as the Matterport 3D “Virtual Twin”) is shown to help with your SEO strategy . And Google is promoting the inclusion of virtual tours on Google Street View more and more.

A 3D virtual walkthrough of your business gives you a stronger online presence (which equates to more customers), a more accurate online representation (leading to better customers), and a way to highlight your care for your clients, giving them a sense of comfort before they ever step foot into your office. All while boosting your search rankings and making you more visible to the public.

To top it all off, Matterport and Google have partnered together to offer a free promotion. Publish your virtual walkthrough on Google Street View at no cost by the end of July 2020 and it will remain there forever, for free.

The post Publish a 3D Virtual Tour of Your Business on Google Street View appeared first on Hometrack Real Estate Marketing .