How’s that for a title eh! I bet it caught your attention, and so it should!
If you are a professional photographer or someone that regularly uses virtual tour software to create immersive 360º tours, you know how hard it is finding the right software for the best price.
Virtual tour software prices range from as low as 10$ per month to as high as 150$ per month (looking at you Matterport!). This can add up pretty fast each month, so you need to find a better option.
In fact… you don’t want to pay anything at all… but you still want all the features… right?
Well.. Sit tight, because today I am going to show you how you can enjoy professional virtual tour software 100% FREE – in fact…. They will PAY YOU for the privilege of having you as a client!
First – let’s check out the “free” options…
The keyword “free virtual tour software “ has over 1500 google searches each month – but does “free” really mean free these days? And what about “Pay peanuts, get monkeys” – is that also applicable in the software development industry?
Doing a quick Google search, the usual suspects showed up straight away:
- Kuula – the free account does not actually let you do anything… no hotspots, no linking between images, no interactiveness… it basically just lets you upload your 360 images and look at them separately…. Oh joy – why even bother…
- Theasys – Used to be free, now they changed it so the free account lets you upload a maximum of 5 images only… that’s never going to be enough for a professional shoot… Scrap that. (I feel sorry for those that depended their business model on this… that must have hurt! )
- Veer TV – they seem to have a free account option (or so Facebook says) but we couldn’t find it – then on Facebook the comments from users was less than desirable – It is basically a virtual tour software let loose, no one knows how it works, it’s clunky and unstable… I would not trust it to run my professional business with for sure!
- Marzipano – you need to be able to host the tours yourself and the project looks a little abandoned, so you may loose all your work one day when the company decides “actually, software development is a lot of work!”
There are a few more out there but you get my drift… If it’s free, you probably don’t get enough features to run your professional business on, or they are so unreliable, you may lose your work one day and have to start again from scratch! So yes, “Pay peanuts, get monkeys” is definitely true, also in the software development industry!
So what is the solution?? Well… continue reading!
I came across my360tours.com a virtual tour software for professional photographers, estate agents or interior designers & architects. They offered a free trial so I went straight in and tested all the features.
During the free trial I was able to try everything, without restrictions! So adding floor plans, maps, hotspots, pop-ups, videos – the lot. I could also share my tours with my clients and embed them on my website, plus (and this is a BIG PLUS) support was on hand 7 days via instant chat – not a bot, no limits, just chat away!
“Ok, but then your free trial ended and you had to pay… right?, So how is that free?”
I hear you – stick with me here, – this is the interesting part.
The software cost me 45$ per month, so no, it is not free, BUT – they have this really interesting resellers program! And I realised – if I get just 4 people to sign up to My360tours – my monthly fee is scrapped!! That’s right!! I pay NOTHING for this professional virtual tour software now!
Let me give you a moment to reflect on that…
“Right, so the “catch” is that I have to sell the software to someone else… that means I have to do extra work, I don’t want to do that! “
Really?? Not even if that means you can then use a professional software, all features included, even hosting and support… for FREE?? For EVER??
You are already in many social media groups where people constantly ask which software they should use, you may already have a website or a blog or a vlog… adding your affiliate link in those groups, your videos and on your website does not cost you anything and you ONLY NEED 4 PEOPLE to sign up using your link, et voila! Free virtual tour software!
So in my experience, I did pay 1 month of the subscription fee, as I realised too late that the resellers program was available. In that month however, I shared my link with other colleagues in the photography industry as well as real estate clients I knew were making their own tours and it took me less than 3 weeks to get the 4 people to sign up.
But it does not stop there! I then added the link to my website and basically anywhere I thought people looking for virtual tour software would come. This took me less than 1 hour to set up.
I have my link saved, so each time I am in Facebook, Reddit, YouTube or other websites learning more about the virtual tour photography industry, when I see someone asking for recommendations, or where there is place to leave a comment, I add my link. As a result, I now have 15 people to my name (in under 3 months!) and each month I receive a 30% kickback from their subscription… You got that right… each and every month!
I see you need another minute to process…. Here’s a GIF of a cute puppy to look at while you do that…
So now, instead of paying for my virtual tour software, I actually GET PAID for using it! Each and every month, when my users renew their subscription for the month, I get my commission and this pays for my software subscription three times over!
And I LOVE it… I am not going to promote a software I don’t enjoy using myself – in fact, my photography business depends on it, so I really need a software that ticks all the boxes.
My360tours does that for me and that is why I am happy to recommend them wherever I go. It’s a win-win for me!
So forget the monkeys, forget twisting and turning yourself in all sorts of weird plans to get f#-all out of a free software that is unreliable and may disappear on you. The perfect FREE virtual tour software does not exist, but if you put only a small bit of effort in, you may find yourself using a paid professional virtual tour software 100% FREE and even get paid for the privilege to top it off!
Now, of course, I am going to leave my affiliate link under this blog – the least you can do is click the link – since I have just provided you with information that will save you lots of money in the future. Or… you can ignore me and pick one of the many “free software” providers out there… in that case, bookmark this page – I know you will be back 😉
Cheerio!
Click here to start your FREE Virtual Tour Software Adventure!
