Virtual Tours and When They Can Help Your Website
A virtual tour can refer to many things. Technically, anything
that is online that in any way shows your website visitor your
real location is a virtual tour. There are, of course, several
ways to give a virtual tour.
The first and most simple is a series of pictures. They can have
captions explaining each picture, or not. I actually recommend
pictures for most of my clients even if they are also going with
one of the more high-tech solutions. This makes your site more
accessible for those still using dial-up for their Internet
connection.
The second, and one I do not recommend, is using a video of your
location. While this can show your location to potential
clients, it's analogous to using a black and white flyer with
clip art when you have the capability of producing a
professional full-color ad. Unless you have pros producing it,
it ends up looking very amateur and brings down the
professionalism of your site.
The third is using what is generally referred to as a "virtual
tour." Now this can cause some confusion, as the two methods I
previously mentioned can be referred to as a virtual tour. But
when you're using actual virtual tour technology, a visitor to
your website can actually control the tour. They can virtually
stand in a location, look around, turn in multiple directions
and zoom in and out. This is the higher end virtual tour, but is
often more affordable than one might think.
So which of these would be appropriate for your business, if
any? If your business is run from a location that many clients
won't see or just don't need to see, there's no reason for a
virtual tour. I just have a small office, so I do not have a
virtual tour on my website. You would not need one if you sold
product exclusively online. If your business was run primarily
out of a warehouse, there would be no reason for one.
However, if you have a retail location, it is perfect. If you
are trying to rent or sell property, it's a great tool. If you
have corporate headquarters, it's perfect for those clients who
are far away. Basically, if you have a location that you already
have many clients and/or vendors coming to visit, a virtual tour
can be a great tool.
The tour helps visitors to your actual location because they can
already be familiar with it before they even get there. If they
find your website first and visit your location later, they know
that they are in the right place because they've already
virtually visited it.
And if your website visitor never gets around to visiting your
physical location, they still feel like they've been there. This
can go a long way to demonstrating your openness and
accessibility. They feel like they are welcome to visit your
location at any time, even if they can't.