Many of you have blogs here on ActiveRain, and I'm sure some of you also have outside blogs—or at least post your ActiveRain content to your own websites. Most of those blogs are probably text blogs (like this one).
Photo and video blogs are also an option, however. Video blogs (also called vlogs), especially, are becoming increasingly popular. They're a little more difficult to put together, but they have several advantages that can make the extra effort worthwhile.
If you're interested in video blogging, here are some tips to help you get started.
Advantages of video blogging:
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It puts you on camera. Why do we all put our photos on our business cards? Because we know that putting a personal face on our business fosters success. Video blogging takes that personal touch to the next level, enabling prospective buyers and sellers to “meet” you, even if you're in another state.
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It's flexible. Video blogging opens up many doors that aren't even available with conventional blogging. You can do video home tours with voiceovers (HouseLens can help with that!), tours of your market's hottest neighborhoods, and attention-getting interviews with other experts (e.g., home inspectors, loan officers, and contractors).
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It broadens your market. There are plenty of potential customers who aren't interested in reading blogs but who will watch a short video. Video blogging helps you reach out to those individuals.
Suggestions for video blogging:
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Take it easy. If you're interested in video blogging but don't feel like you have the time or expertise to do a blog that's 100% video, try just incorporating more video into your conventional blog. If you have a daily blog, do one video post per week; or if you have a weekly blog, try doing one video post per month.
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Hire a professional. Producing a good vlog involves much more than just putting your video camera on a tripod and pushing “Record.” If you want to look professional and represent your business well, you've got to understand lighting, sound, video editing, and uploading. (HouseLens can help you with this, by the way.)
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Stockpile your content. If you hire a professional, it will cost less to pack several posts worth of content into one shoot, instead of doing a separate shoot for each post. Since most blogs have a scheduling feature, stockpiling content also makes it easier to keep your blog current, even if you have interruptions in your workflow (you do want to go on vacation occasionally, right?).
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Synch up. If you participate in other social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter, be sure to post links there to your latest vlog entry. This will help you reach a wider audience with your content.
I hope you've found these tips helpful. If you have a video blog, do you have any tips to share?
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