Customised virtual tours on-line

So you want something different. Customised virtual tours on-line

This is the fourth in a short run of posts about virtual tours on-line. The first three have been about Google Trusted Tours. But right now I want to turn my attention to non-Google tours, our own customised tours.

These are great if you want something out of the ordinary.

Anyway, to give you an idea of what we are talking about here’s a few that we made earlier. Click on the images in this post to access the tours. You can click on the maps or click on the ‘targets’ on screen, or use the icons at the bottom to move around the businesses. These are virtual tours.

Cockermouth Leisure Centre customised virtual tour

Cedar Gallery Windermere customised virtual tour

Artemis Gallery customised virtual tour

These are ideal for large establishments, or places with geographically widespread facilities or rooms. It means that there is no need to ramble through plain corridors to get from one room to another or from a swimming pool to a gym area in a large sports complex for instance. 

A customised virtual tour can be designed around what you want to show. They help turn virtual footfall into real footfall and present important value considerations to your potential customers.

www.sciarts.co.uk

http://www.sciarts.co.uk/GTP/GTP.html

Another fab Google tour from Scientific Arts Limelighting Cockermouth

I don’t put up every tour we do, and here we have a particularly interesting one. Limelighting is a lighting shop set inside a vintage cinema/theatre, so the layout is very unusual. There are layers of lights resting where the seating on the steps would have been arranged and the ceilings are vaulted. My goodness do they do a lot of lights! It's on two floors. Clearly a unique location.

We loved it. And it was very challenging to photograph.

Here’s the tour, just click and drag on screen……

Here’s the Google knowledge card before the Google tour when viewed on a pc:

Before the Google tour on a pc, Limelighting Cockermouth

Now the result AFTER the Google tour with us, clearly now it’s presence on the web is very interesting and inviting and you really know what the business is about:

AFTER the Google tour on a pc, Limelighting Cockermouth

It's even better if you Google 'lighting shops Cumbria', Limelighting is the first on the list and now has a great knowledge card. The pin on the map shows you exactly where they are and you can be a virtual tourist in the shop. Try Googling it now.

Result when Googling Lighting Shops Cumbria

Here's a few of my favourite photos from the shoot - you can see them when clicking 'See Photos' if you bring up the knowledge card by Googling 'Limelighting Cockermouth' or 'lighting shops Cumbria'.

Limelighting Cockermouth

Limelighting Cockermouth

Limelighting Cockermouth

Limelighting Cockermouth

Limelighting Cockermouth

www.sciarts.co.uk

Another Fab Tour, The Chapel Gallery, Hawes

Well, yet another of my favourite tours in Hawes, a super gallery, which has the advantage of having a cafe.

Here’s a few pictures that went with the tour and these appear on ‘Photos’ when you search on Google. Very nice.

Glass Bird Chapel Gallery Hawes

Cafe Chapel Gallery Hawes

Pictures at Chapel Gallery Hawes

Details at Chapel Gallery Hawes

Wood vessels Chapel Gallery Hawes

In order to demonstrate the change in web presentation when searching, here we have a ‘before’ and ‘after’ the Google Tour demonstrated on an iPad.

Before the Google Tour Chapel Gallery Hawes on an iPad

Below, after the tour you see inviting and appropriate images, all professionally presented.

After the Google Tour Chapel Gallery Hawes on an iPad

Another really great gallery, and of course the more retailers that take a Google Tour up in one place the better it gets for all those businesses.


www.sciarts.co.uk

Another Fab Google Tour - Lilly's at Hawes, Collectibles Store

Here’s another of my favourites coming right up – this time a collectibles store. Worth a browse I think! You can do it on screen now!

I especially like the improvement of the data thrown up on an iPad when you search for Lilly’s, see before and after the Google tour here. Take a look on your tablet and see what you find…

Lilly’s data on an iPad before the Google Tour

Lilly’s data on an iPad AFTER the Google Tour - more inviting and more appropriate

A Google Tour makes such a difference to the way a business is presented to the awaiting world. In this case, you can see how lovely the shop really is.

The Lake Artists Society, Grasmere Village Hall 2015 Summer exhibition

We were pleased and delighted to be asked to do a Google Tour for The Lake Artists Society Summer Exhibition in Grasmere. This is a very prestigious art society featuring art in many styles and media. It is a very exclusive group.

Doing the tour is rather special for us too, since this is a time bound live event - an exhibition. It is easy to forget that Google Tours can also be used for live events. In fact in our opinion it just doesn't happen enough for promotional purposes.

This exhibition is opening in the next couple of days (from the date of this post). It's been running here for more than one hundred years and is only available to view in person for 6 weeks. By contrast, this Google tour will continue to share the artists work with the world and has the potential for enquiries and on-line sales.

Established in 1904 The Lake Artists Society was always at the forefront of its art and is now jumping into the world of virtual reality still at the cutting edge.

Delightful and exciting! Below there’s a taster of some of the great shots taken at the show - If you want to see more of them then simply - Google ‘Grasmere Village Hall‘ and see all the photos for yourself by clicking on ‘See photos’.

Enjoy.

Shown at The Lake Artists Society summer exhibition 2015 Grasmere

'Kate Moss' Shown at The Lake Artists Society summer exhibition 2015 Grasmere

Shown at The Lake Artists Society summer exhibition 2015 Grasmere

Shown at The Lake Artists Society summer exhibition 2015 Grasmere

Shown at The Lake Artists Society summer exhibition 2015 Grasmere

Shown at The Lake Artists Society summer exhibition 2015 Grasmere

Shown at The Lake Artists Society summer exhibition 2015 Grasmere

www.sciarts.co.uk

Another fab Google Tour – Gallery Artemis Cockermouth

Here’s another fab tour, this time of a super art gallery in Cockermouth called Gallery Artemis.

It’s yet another one of my favourites!

The entrance is through a door and up some stairs so when walking along the street –  it is easy to miss. However this process gives the gallery some good exposure on the web for art enthusiasts, who can now seek it out easily.

Included in the shot were professional photographs, these are some of my favourites. It’s great promotion for the gallery and the artists.

Artemis Gallery Cockermouth Time is a Wolf, sculpture by Mark Gibbs

Artemis Gallery Cockermouth wood bowls by Johnnie Walker

Artemis Gallery Cockermouth interior

And finally the before and after of the Google tour.

Knowledge Card before and after the Google tour

What started as a messy knowledge card with an inappropriate Street View image has changed into good, appropriate and inviting images.

Now back to the Google knowledge card…..

www.sciarts.co.uk 

What else can you do with a Google Tour?

Going beyond your Google+ page and See Inside on your Knowledge Card, there are more things that you can do with your Google Tour.

For instance, you can integrate it onto your website. I’ve created websites including Google Tours for clients – example below.

Example of a Google Tour embedded in a Web Site

(Alternatively your web designer can incorporate the link for you in your web site – we can provide them with the code, or they can click the right buttons on Google to get the embed code for themselves. If your web designer says it can’t be done – then you need to employ a different web designer)!

You can also incorporate the tour onto your Facebook page. It’s straightforward to do, and again, your web support should be competent enough to do this, otherwise get in touch and we can sort it out. Most people can figure out how to do it for themselves without my help or web support. Whatever anyone says – IT CAN BE DONE! (We will talk about the mechanics of how to do this in a later post anyway).

Example of a Google Tour embedded in Facebook

Then, share the links on all your social media – especially Twitter, plus anywhere else you advertise – yell, 192, printed materials, adverts etc. And get people to follow you on your Google+ page.

Let’s think! You could even get yourself a QR code that would take a customer straight to your Google Tour on a mobile phone or tablet.

OK, I can tell that last one maybe, is just one step too far for any newbies reading here….

So what else goes on your Knowledge Card/Google+ page?

www.sciarts.co.uk

Another fab Google Tour – Focus on Felt Andrea Hunter Artist

Another favourite of our tours is presented here. Completed for a wonderful artist called Andrea Hunter, (who also by the way stars in the documentary Connections: Sheep to Chanel). In the picture below you can see where she works her magic in felt. Try clicking and scrolling and moving around on screen:

The impact on the search results is priceless. Here before the tour on an iPad (other devices show similar results):

Not bad, but could be better – so here it is AFTER we’ve uploaded the tour and photos inside the Google system.

A picture can paint a thousand words. Try searching for Focus on Felt in the UK, and see what YOU see on screen!

Onwards and upwards!

www.sciarts.co.uk

Part 3 The Modern Industrial Revolution

Is the high street doomed or will it contract a little or will it adapt?

We’ve spoken to hundreds of retail and service suppliers and we are observing some trends. Many small to medium retailers are change averse and want to struggle on just as they are.

The changing customer habit in high street retail.

In this respect, for some there is a self fulfilling prophesy:

…I get no customers from the web – so I don’t bother to cater for web customers…
…I don’t cater for web customers – so I get no customers from the web…
…and so on

There’s a lot of ‘I don’t…’ and ‘I have never tried…’ and ‘I’m happy with the way things are….’ in the language used. There’s an unfamiliarity and state of mind issue for some.

Perhaps in order for the high street retail to survive going forwards the mindset needs to change and there may be a different breed of retailer to embrace their customers new behaviours on the web and work with it.

Like any business – there are many things you need to do

• you have to do the accounts
• you have to do the tax returns
• if you employ people you have to know about employment law and pensions
• you have to…
• you have to…
• you have to embrace the web…..or do you?

And that last point IS THE POINT. All the rest you HAVE to do. Embracing the web, well, many are in denial, ignorance is bliss, but it’s tragic to behold.

So many are not yet adapting to the new industrial revolution happening around them. But the customers have embraced this revolution ALREADY and in some cases completely.

It really is now the survival of the fittest and I am sure the best will win out in the end.

As Einstein is reputed to have said ‘Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting something different to happen.’

Make the web work positively for you and embrace the new revolution. With the squeeze on cost of living, this means that it is even more important to do so.

Next up what else can you do with Google Tours?

www.sciarts.co.uk

© Arenaphotouk | Dreamstime.com - Victorian Shops, Dudley. Photo

Part 2 The Modern Industrial Revolution

Why are some businesses impacted more than others?

The revolution means that customers shop in different ways. They check out a web site, a Google+ page, a Google Tour and might even compare prices whilst looking in your shop window.

This means that retail and services need to ‘integrate fully their physical stores, on line sites and other channels such as social media coherently’, in other words improve their on-line activity including social media. See the UK Centre for Retail Research (http://www.retailresearch.org/retail2018.php)

We have come across towns in traditional tourist hot spots which are struggling to survive, whilst others are doing very well thank you. The best high street retailers attract tourists and shoppers and these days these retailers do that by going on-line and working the web.

Retailers have an on-line presence whether they like it or not, whether they want it or not. No web site, and no customer interaction through social media or email, means a poor web presence in comparison to others. It doesn’t do justice to their shop or their town (although no amount of web tech will give you a sale if you are trying to sell goods no one wants to buy of course).

And speaking of tradesmen, a colleague of mine said that he was looking for a plumber, but ‘some of them don’t EVEN have a website’. Note the language ‘don’t EVEN have a web site’. He ‘just wanted to know more about them’ before contacting them. In this day and age you are expected to ‘communicate’ and reach out to potential customers and that EVEN includes tradesmen.

People make decisions about whether to visit a town by what is presented on the web. Less and less do they visit through loyalty to a specific business. If they don’t see what they want, they won’t come. There can never be too much information out there.

The question is – is the high street doomed or will it contract a little or will it adapt? See Part 3

Part 1 The Modern Industrial Revolution

Survival of the fittest.

We are in the middle of a modern industrial revolution. You might not realise it, but we are.

New ways of shopping

It is no less disruptive than the age of steam, weaving looms and mechanisation. The difference is you just can’t see it happening around you and nobody seems to care about the hundreds of thousands of job losses. It’s almost imperceptible.

Yes, I’m talking about High Street Retail and Services. But what’s the threat you might ask? Well, it’s the web itself if retail does not adapt to it. If retail embraces it, then the web will be its saviour.

I’ve just re-read an article by the UK Centre for Retail Research (http://www.retailresearch.org/retail2018.php) predicting what will happen between 2013 and 2018 to high street retail. We’re now half way through that time frame.

In the article, they said that store numbers would fall from around 280,000 to 220,000 by 2018 in the UK, along with job losses of 100’s of thousands of people.

And it said that on-line retail would increase from 12.7% to 21.5%. It also stated that ‘UK retailing has the highest proportion of on-line retail sales’ in the world, and that ‘Retailers with a strong web offering need just 70 high street stores to create a national presence compared to 250 in the mid 2000’s’.

This means that a proportion of town centres will lose more than 27,000 stores (that’s more than 5,000 a year). These will be predominantly in disadvantaged areas – they stated Wales, the North and the Midlands.

Looking at the web, it seems that they may be right. In 2012 more than 7,000 stores closed (approximately 20 per day) and in 2014 more than 5,800 stores closed (16 stores a day). It is estimated that there are more than 50,000 retail units vacant in shops and leisure.

In Part 2 we look at why some businesses are more impacted by this than others.