Are you interested in the virtual reality industry? Want to learn how to make a virtual tour? Wondering how virtual tours can benefit your business?
Continue reading this article to find out!
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What is a Virtual Tour?
Virtual tours are quite common in many industries, especially real estate. I'm sure you have seen at least one virtual tour of a home, where you can click and drag to move the camera around inside the property.
Now, these virtual tours are being added to other establishments too, such as bars, restaurants, arcades, malls, and what not.
They make it easy for people to take a closer look at establishments to see if their worth a visit. Similar to Google's Street-view!
And that takes us to...
The Benefits of Virtual Tours:
Are virtual tours worth it? What are the benefits of virtual tours?
Let me set up a scenario:
You want to try out a new restaurant, so you whip out your phone and search for the listing on Google maps.
The problem is the listing only shows reviews, and some customer's pictures, but nothing about the decor or environment.
What if you drive over there only to be disappointed?
That's where a virtual tour would help because it lets you look around the interior of the establishment, even taking "steps" to see more.
It really makes it easy to get a feel of the location before you start heading over. And if everything looks good, there's a good chance you'll visit.
According to Google, 44% of people use Google maps to search for businesses.
On top of that, businesses that include media rich content such as photos and virtual tours, are twice as likely to generate interest in their business.
The best part is all of this is free, if you have the equipment, of course. Not to mention in industries such as real-estate, the virtual tour could save you trip over there!
Note: With some apps, you can easily create 360 photos on your phone.
But if you really want a professional virtual tour, I recommend purchasing a 360 camera, so you not only can take photos, but videos too. (Yes, 360 videos are now a thing!)
For an example, take a look at this Google Map's listing for a mall in Mexico:
How to Make a Virtual Tour for Free:
Tight on cash? Well, if you have a smartphone with a decent camera, you can make your own virtual tours for free.
Google makes this quite easy, since it's a feature they're adding to Google Maps. What you need is an app called Street View.
Don't worry, the app is free, and it's designed by Google. With Street View you can create your own 360 images, called Google Spheres, and upload, share, or publish them to certain listings.
Now this is more of a budget way to create virtual tours, and the app has some issues, although it is a start.
Google has another service, called Tour Creator, which lets you upload 360 files to create virtual tours.
With this tool, you'll notice there's the option to upload files. The Street View app will let you create 360 files with your phone, or 360 camera if it's connected.
That's one way to create virtual tours for free!
The Best Way to Create Virtual Tours: (and Get Paid!)
But free isn't always the best. I promised I'll show you how to make money with virtual tours, so here's it:
If you have a decent 360 camera, and the necessary accessories, you can get paid to create virtual tours for businesses. As it turns out, Google makes this quite easy fro you, and even recommend the best equipment for creating the content they need.
See, most business owners don't have time to figure out all the technical details that go into creating virtual tours. You can save them time (and benefit their business as well) by creating these tours for them.
Here's what you can do:
Reach out to business owners who are most likely to benefit from these virtual tours, such as restaurant owners, real estate agents, and others.
Sell them on the idea, the benefits, and how you can help them, and settle on a payment.
Hint: You can contact businesses through Google maps!
If you don't have the equipment, consider asking for an upfront payment, which should be enough to cover the expenses. Head out, buy a 360 camera, a tripod, and whatever else you might need, and head down to the establishment.
Inch through the area taking 360 pictures, head back home, upload the files to Tour Creator, stitch it together, and boom - a virtual tour.
As you can see, it's really not that difficult. And if you can get paid $500 or so for a tour, it can add up to some nice side cash. The cool part is 360 cameras don't actually cost that much.
There's also the option to become a trusted Google photographer, if you follow all the guidelines, and manage to upload 50 unique panoramas of undocumented areas.
As a verified photographer, you can upload images to Street View or Maps at any time, and your information will be made public in the Work with a Pro section on Street View's website.
Is It Sustainable?
Here at Learn to Grow Wealth Online we are always looking for sustainable ways to make money online.
On this site, we talked about a lot of ways to make money, and hopefully they'll inspire you to take action. For example:
- Selling CBD Oil Online
- Creating an Ecommerce Business
- Offering Freelance Services
- Taking Surveys
- And a lot more.
Creating virtual tours is another one to add to the list, and most of it can be done online, although you will need to visit the establishment to capture the pictures.
The only downside is it is not sustainable. You have to work for the cash. What we want is to build a system that will always bring in cash no matter what we do, if we're on vacation or not.
To do this, I recommend affiliate marketing because it's the easiest business to get into. Very little upfront investment required, and if you play your cards right, it can turn into an extremely profitable business.
Where Do You Start?
Do I have your attention? No, I'm not going to send you to a random get-rich-quick scheme. What I recommend is an online training center that thousands of people use to build their businesses.
The training center is called Wealthy Affiliate, and you can check it out completely hassle free. No credit card required.
Thanks for taking the time to read this article about how to make a virtual tour.
It's another skill to add to your arsenal, and you can use it to make a quick buck here and there. Plus, creating 360 videos and pictures is a lot of fun!
Leave a comment below if you have any questions and I'll do my best to answer as best as I can.
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