When you run a Google search, and you see a video pop up on the results page amongst a sea of text, aren’t you more likely to click on the video first? If you were a home buyer or seller and you searched for a real estate agent in your area, wouldn't you click on the agent who has an array of online video clips before anybody else?
Statistics show that video improves online visibility and drives more people to your website better than plain images and text.
As a real estate agent, you are working with a great way to utilize online videos – virtual home tours. From online video sites to video production companies, there are so many resources out there for you to use to make your audience feel as though they are actually visiting one of your homes. There are also various other ways you can use online videos including tours of your community and more. As a real estate expert, I am sure you have a lot to offer confused home buyers and sellers. Why not showcase your expertise on video?
Whether you want to ease into it or go full force, here are a few ways you can establish an online video presence for your real estate business:
Visual Tour Sites:
Many of you have already discovered still picture visual tour sites such as VisualTour.com, HomePix.tv, and FloorPlanOnline.com. If not, this is an easy first step towards your foray into online video. All you have to do is take the photos and send them to your real estate virtual assistant. Your VA will put together descriptions for each slide, upload the pictures, and send you the final link for your tour – one branded for use on marketing sites, and one unbranded for use on your MLS. If they really know their stuff, they should also be able to upload the video file to YouTube as well. This is a very important site to establish a presence on, as it is the largest online video sharing website in the world.
Video Production:
If visual tour sites are old news to you, and/or your clients, then you are ready for the next step in online video - real video footage. Whether the video features a tour of a home or a short news clip on the state of the market in your area, these are the kind of videos that will really make you stand out on the search engine result page. Because local businesses are often not tech savvy, it will not be hard to show up on the search engine sites before them if you have a video and they don't.
Still not quite getting it? Here area a few examples of what has worked for our clients:
Gretchen Papineau, a real estate agent in Andover, MA, has us create a VisualTour.com Visual Tour for each of her listings.
Tom Makinney, Elmhurst Illinois Real Estate Agent, tries his hand at online video for a home tour in which he walks the viewer through the home.
Chicago Real Estate Agent, Ryan Gable, frequently uses online video to share news and tips for First Time Home Buyers in the Chicagoland area.
Online video is perfect for sharing your hobbies to connect with your viewers. Texas Real Estate Agent, Joy Rice, shares her Pet Tips and Real Estate Talk on her website and her YouTube channel.
As a real estate virtual assistant, I don't claim to be a master of video production. I can, however, provide you with a website that I stumbled upon that would prove to be a great resource for real estate agents looking to promote their business...
It’s called Pixability and they will send you an easy-to-use Flip cam so that you can shoot whatever footage you want, send the camera back in a pre-addressed envelope that they provide you, and then you get the video back professionally done - complete with music, transitions, titles and your logo.
When your priority is to stand out from the hundreds of other real estate agent’s names that show up above your name on the search engine results page, then online video is definitely one of the next steps you need to take.
Give your real estate virtual assistant a call and ask them how they can help you with this. They may not make you the next Spielberg, but if your SEO competition is a cheesy un-edited website by Joe Realtor, then you don’t have to be.
Happy Monday!
Stacey Clarke
Marketing & Copywriting Coordinator
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