Jewellery by Michael King, photography and Google virtual tours

Following on from our previous post, we were delighted to do some photography for Michael King Jewellery including a Google Virtual Tour, which we start with here. Try clicking and dragging on the first image below.

Jewellery by Michael King

Jewellery is one of the most complex and difficult areas of photography, due to reflections on polished surfaces and facets in the jewels themselves. Special lighting helps, but mainly it’s experience plus a fair helping of time and patience to get it absolutely right. We think it’s worth it!

Jewellery by Michael King

Michael King has been commissioned for ceremonial crosses for bishops and Elizabeth II, items for films and many other unique pieces of jewellery. They have recently made the designer pieces for the House of Holland consumer experience on the catwalk – see our earlier post.

Jewellery by Michael King, signature piece

Here’s some more of my favourite shots.

Jewellery by Michael King

Jewellery by Michael King

Jewellery by Michael King

Jewellery by Michael King

Jewellery by Michael King

Of course we did a Google tour, which you can find for yourself on Google and Google Maps, and now they are presented like this on the web when you search for Michael King Jewellery (for example using an iPad below).

A vast improvement to what went before, I think you will agree (below).

A pleasure and a privilege to have worked with Jewellery by Michael King. Thank you.




www.sciarts.co.uk

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

Not seeing your virtual tour on FaceBook?

Well, this is a reasonable question. How do I get my virtual tour onto FaceBook?

The first thing to note is that FaceBook uses https by default. ‘https’ means it has secure browsing which helps to prevent hijacking of your pages by others. It has a higher level of encryption.

The impact is that if you want to reference other media (such as a virtual tour) then that needs to be on an https server too! Many people struggle with this. It means that if you try to embed a tour held on a non secure server it will never ever show up on FaceBook.

How do you know if you have a web site on an https server? Easy, look at your web address. If it says http (before the www) then it is not https! You can also check with your host.

Google Street View Trusted tours is https. So these can be displayed easily on FaceBook. We have many examples on our own customised FaceBook tab of 360 virtual tours (above) that we have completed, and many of our clients have included these tours on their FaceBook pages too. They wanted to integrate their tour with their social media. It makes perfect sense. It’s really great for retailers, galleries, restaurants, gyms…. and anyone wanting to make the most of their social media.

You don’t have to use your tour on FaceBook of course, instead you can embed it in your blog and in web sites whether using http or https.

As ever, it’s horses for courses. For instance, we also do customised tours (see next blog) which don’t go on FaceBook unless someone uses https for their web site.

If your expectation is that you want your tour to integrate with your social media then you need the higher level of security afforded by a Google Tour, (unless you have an https web site already). Don’t waste your money on anything less.

Depending on what is requested by a client, we can produce both sorts of tour, all at the same time, thus saving some time, and giving clients both options and freedom of choice.

Next a little more on those customised tours.

www.sciarts.co.uk

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

Another fab Google Tour by Scientific Arts, King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick

Well this was a challenge which included not just an extensive climbing facility, but also children’s play areas and castle, cafe, shop and ice wall.

It’s not everyday that you get to photograph an ice wall. Essentially this is a refrigerated room, where climbers can come to learn how to work with ice. In fact on the day we did the shoot, the guys from Berghaus were there testing out their new gear. We had to work fast and took less than a minute to capture the wall. Here we are looking upwards towards the lights and fans. The ropes are hanging down.

I must do my ‘before’ and ‘after’, so here goes, this is what the centre looked like on an iPad before the tour. It has a poor Street View image.

King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick before the Google tour on an iPad

Now after the tour, we have selected the entrance to the shop and centre as the Street View Image, and this is now more appropriate. The See Inside (tour) and Photos are clear and demonstrate what business is about.

King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick AFTER our Google tour on an iPad

And here are some of my favourite still shots from the day – these and others are newly displayed on ‘Photos’ above.

King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick from the outside

King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick

Dragon at the King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick

Children's Castle at King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick

Ah, Cakes! at the King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick

Coffee and Climbing at King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick

King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick

King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick

King Kong Climbing Centre Keswick

A great place for all the family and for shopping!


www.sciarts.co.uk

Success at Town and Country Interiors Carlisle

See what happens when you get a Google Tour with us! (see our earlier post on Town and Country Interiors) 

Congratulations to Town and Country Interiors in Carlisle who have been voted independent retailer of the year by Carlisle Living for the second year in a row.

See our Google Tour of Town and Country Interiors here. Congratulations once again!

Roll Up, Roll Up, get your new domain name now.

There are lots of businesses without web sites, and there are lots of people with and without web sites who don’t understand the difference between domain names and web hosting.

So let’s look at domain names. A domain name is that ‘address’ everyone quotes such as

myfantasticbusiness.com, or

happinessisourbusines.co.uk

It’s a unique address where you can place a web site if and when you want to. It’s like a plot of land (domain) before you build the house (web site) on it.

You purchase a domain name from domain or domain name providers. There are many domain providers. Expect to pay ‘peanuts’ per year for a domain name such as something.co.uk or somethingelse.com, plus an admin fee in some cases. You can create an account with the domain provider and do it all yourself.

We have been running out of unique names – remember it has to be a unique name (address). So if it’s a common name, chances are that if you have not got your domain name by now, the name that you want to purchase has already been taken.

There is light at the end of the tunnel though – since those that run this industry came up with the notion of ‘generic’ names. So now you can purchase something.gym, something.dance, something.ski, something.london etc rather than .co.uk and .com. The world is your oyster again. However the down side is that you can’t tell where in the world that business is (unless the name is specifically location based such as .london) – so you need to make a business decision whether to use one of these or not. And indeed, if you already have a .com or .co.uk address, do you really need the .ski or .physio or .rest (for restaurants) versions too? You could spend a lot of money on this protecting your brand. It’s a cost/benefit decision.

So if you can’t get the one your want on co.uk or com, look on wiki to see the generic list and select one that might benefit you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains#ICANN-era_generic_top-level_domains

Domain providers tend to sell the ones they find most profitable, so if you want a name that is unusual and you really want to use it, you might have to hunt it out across several domain providers.

The down side is that the price for these is currently at a premium and you might expect to pay £20-30 or more per year for the name plus an admin fee.

And as for payment, when purchasing any domain name, you normally set up an annual recurring credit or debit payment, since if you don’t keep up the annual payments you will lose your domain name. Generally you are given a grace period, but it’s best to automate everything and have it in your calendar as a reminder each year.

Good luck with your domain name.

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

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