Hands & Feet Boutique in Clarksville, Tenn., was given an exciting opportunity when Google moved into the city. “Google approached me last year because they're moving a portion of their business to our town, and they were singling out some businesses with offers to do a virtual tour for them,” explains salon owner Angie Prichard. She was delighted and said yes immediately. The online tour gives potential visitors the ability to take Google’s Street View right into the salon, allowing them to see every inch of it.

Google sent a photographer to take the images needed to create the virtual tour. “She took about a million pictures of the salon,” Prichard says. The virtual tour is created from still photos taken from every angle. It took the photographer about half an hour in an empty salon to complete the photography. Prichard received a discount for the virtual tour because her salon was one of the businesses Google selected to be an early addition to the maps in its new location.

When the virtual tour was completed, Prichard got the finished product on a flash drive and was able to embed the virtual tour on her website and Facebook page as well as display it on Google Maps. “Everybody thinks it’s amazing,” she says. “It drew a bunch of people in. I got a whole new clientele from curiosity over the virtual tour!”