Best Practices for Creating Office Virtual Tours

113 Comments / Blog, Video / By Robert Gazzola / June 7, 2023

A virtual office tour is a great way to help potential clients become familiar with your business and its location. However, a virtual tour is not the same as a video tour.

Instead of walking through your office and taking a video, a virtual tour is created using software that “scans” your office space from a 360-degree view, which gives a more accurate and consistent representation of your physical space.

Having a panoramic view of your office makes your business more memorable and can even increase organic search rankings. So what are some best practices for creating virtual office tours? We have your top tips below.

See Things from a Different Angle

The scan of your office space will be taken from about five feet high, so before you start making any improvements, bend your knees and try to walk through your office space from that height. The goal here is to try and see things like someone walking through for the first time.

What do you notice? Is there clutter, dark areas, dust, or random objects sitting around? Your first step will be to assess what needs to be done to make your space picture-perfect for a virtual tour.

Declutter Your Space

Now that you’ve seen what doesn’t need to be in your virtual tour, it’s time to declutter your office. Clean up anything that doesn’t need to be there, organize items, clean, and toss or donate things.

The cleaner and clearer you can make your space look, the better. Remember, even if an area is organized but has a lot of clutter, it will look even more chaotic on camera and can appear overwhelming to viewers.

Improve Lighting

office video Lighting is huge for any video content, including virtual tours. So replace any missing light bulbs and ensure your space is camera-ready before you start filming.

If you want to go a step further and make your space come to life, replace all the light bulbs with matching bulbs of the same color temperature (we prefer daylight-balanced bulbs). This is a small change, but the difference can be dramatic on camera.

Splurge for Fresh Paint

Although this step isn’t necessary, if it’s time for a fresh coat of paint anyway, go ahead and get it done before your virtual tour. Combined with new light bulbs and decluttering, your office space will look clean, refreshed, and ready to showcase to potential clients.

For best results, stick to white or neutral-colored paints. White, gray, and beige are popular, but if you choose white, go with a softer hue instead of a bright white to help your space look warmer.

Don’t Worry About Getting It Perfect

While you want your office tour to look amazing online, don’t worry about getting every detail perfect. Remember that it’s better to get a tour posted and live so potential clients know what to expect when visiting your space rather than just not having a video.

You can always rescan the space in the future, especially after any remodeling, painting, or furniture upgrades. In addition, the scanning process is simple and generally takes less than an hour, so this is a minimal time investment that can have a big impact on your business.

Choose a Quality Scan Provider

Although you can film a virtual office tour yourself, businesses typically see better results from professional scan providers who know how to capture the space for the best effect.

But another important factor to pay attention to is the quality and reputation of your scan provider. “Any Google-Certified provider using a dedicated 360 camera will be able to capture high-quality images of your business,” says Asa Orrin-Brown, Owner of By Asa Photography.

“But one thing people don’t realize is that Google rates the different scan providers based on how much they have contributed over the years. So the higher the account rating level, the more it provides an added bump to your images when they are loaded onto the platform.”

Have Questions? We’re Here for You

Do you have more questions about making your office space camera-ready for a virtual tour or how a virtual tour can positively impact your SEO and online visibility? Contact Gazz Digital today, and we will be happy to answer your questions!

About The Author

Robert Gazzola

Rob Gazzola has a passion for all things related to Local SEO, PPC ad campaigns and driving conversions. He brings over 20 years of industry experience and is a recognized speaker and author on SEO topics.