Starting a Virtual Tour Business
A virtual tour business is an ideal opportunity for an entrepreneur who is skilled in new media technology. To start a virtual tour business, you will need a high-quality video camera, and video editing software and skills. Strong research skills and personality will be necessary to provide engaging virtual tours of destinations. You will need to build a website and generate traffic. Your income will be generated by advertising because Internet users are not likely to pay for a virtual tour online. Focus on creating high-quality virtual tours and a search-engine-optimized website to build your business.
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Instructions
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Research the online market for virtual tour businesses. Look at the competition. Think of ways that will allow you to compete within this market. Focus your research on a niche within the industry such as specializing in a certain region or interest that people might tour virtually. Industry research can be conducted online or in trade magazines in most libraries. Research video equipment and editing software as well as any training you may need to execute effective virtual tours.
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Write a detailed business plan based on your research. Define your business goals through a well thought out mission statement. Describe your business in detail. Include an analysis of the market and competition as well as a marketing strategy. Describe the niche that you will serve and how you will generate traffic to your website to attract advertisers. For example, if you were to serve the adventure travel industry, you would want to provide tours of top adventure destinations such as mountain resorts and river kayak adventures. Provide financial projections for your first year in business. Attach any documents necessary to form your business at the end of the plan. The plan should detail your first year in business.
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Fill out and file a business and tax registration form. To be able to film on location, you may need a permit. Check with the local authorities prior to starting a project. Other specific considerations for a virtual tour business may include having release forms signed by individuals who may appear in the footage. A basic form should be filled out stating that you have their permission to film them and present them in a final video tour.
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Purchase a video camera and editing software for your computer based on your research and budget considerations. Take courses, read books or attend workshops to gain the necessary skills to shoot videos and edit them to produce virtual tours within your niche market.
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Plan your virtual tours. Outline the tours that you will video. Write a script for the tour. Go out and video the scenery for each virtual tour. Take video footage as well as still camera shots for promotion. Shoot more video than you think you will need to avoid having to go out and shoot more footage.
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Edit your video footage for each tour and put together the video in a finished format. Preview the videos to be sure that they are free of errors and high in quality. Make any necessary edits to the videos at this time.
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Design an interactive website with the help of a Web designer. Upload all of your virtual tour videos to the site once it is complete. In addition to a virtual tour gallery page, create a forum and a blog. Use the forum to encourage interactivity on the site. Integrate social networking links throughout your website to allow users to share content with people in their social networks. Write regular blog posts on topics of interest to your visitors as well as updates on new tours that will be posted to your site.
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Work with a Web designer to make sure that your site is optimized for search engines. After a period of time you will begin to generate traffic on your site. Use Web traffic data to your advantage when you contact advertisers about placing ads on your site. Focus on businesses that would relate to the content of your tours. For example, if you specialized in virtual tours of top hiking destinations, your target market for advertisers would be outdoor gear companies.
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Tips & Warnings
Provide tours for a popular niche market and establish your site as the authoritative website on the topic.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit tourism image by Imagenatural from Fotolia.com
