ASK MR. INTERNET

Web marketing
Plans with Pizzazz

Take your Web listings to a new level by adding floor plans.

BY MICHAEL RUSSER

Dear Mr. Internet:
All the top associates in my market are doing virtual tours online. Is there something extra I can do to make my listings stand out from the crowd?

Cathy Amendola
Metro Brokers/ GMAC Real Estate
Marietta, Ga.

Dear Cathy:
Differentiation is the name of the game when marketing on the Web. A few years ago, having a virtual tour of your listing would cause “oohs” and “ahs” from your site visitors; not any more. While still a valuable tool, virtual tours are hardly unique.

But adding extra features to your Web listings just to be different isn’t good marketing either. Any enhancement to your online listings should provide visitors with useful, relevant information presented in a unique way. And now there’s a way to take the presentation of your online listing to the next level and add value—online floor plans.

Floor Plans Made Easy

Builders have used online floor-plan images for several years as a way to provide potential buyers with a unique view and understanding of each model being offered. Builders have usually already created these floor plans for use in marketing, so scanning them and putting them on the Web is fairly easy. However, providing online floor plans for resale properties is quite rare in most U.S. markets. Up until now, creating accurate rendering has taken too much time, effort, and money to be practical for any but the most high-end listings. But this will soon change.

To get the floor-plan process underway, you’ll first need to make a rough sketch of each floor of a listing. You’ll need to indicate where doors, windows, and other built-in features, such as fireplaces, are placed. Using graph paper isn’t necessary, but it may make it easier for you to indicate the relationship between different rooms in the house.

Once complete, fax or email the floor-plan to FloorPlanStore.com. In just 48 hours, you’ll receive an e-mail with a professional-looking floor plan in .jpg format. Not only will you receive the .jpg, but if you submit photographs of each room, you'll receive a complete interactive floor-plan for use on your website (example of an interactive floor plan)

Floor plans will be especially valuable if you work with relocation customers. Having a plan on your site will help relos get a better sense of the size and feel of the house before visiting. Floor plans also are a great tool to help buyers visualize where their furniture could go in a home, giving them a sense that the house is already theirs and helping you close the sale.

But adding a plan to your listings is just the beginning. FloorPlanStore.com allows these floor plans to take virtual tours to a whole new level. Imagine having a plan with special “hot spots” that when clicked show photos or even wraparound, 360-degree panoramas of the room. When you present floor plans this way, you provide context to visitors’ experience of your listing and greatly enhance their understanding and appreciation of it.

Clearly, online floor plans aren’t practical for every listing. However, for those of you who want to really stand out, this certainly will do the trick!