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Top Ten Video Sites

If there is one thing that is obvious this year more people will be creating and viewing videos. Just when you thought that the consumers appetite for new technology's might slow down, BAM, you get it right between the eyes.

Yes the video boom is on its way and this year portends to be a banner year. Like most technologies once they catch on they take off like wild fire. So don't get caught behind the learning curve. Get on the band wagon now or be left behind.

Some quick observations about video that I have learned about while trying to get set up. First and foremost, most video sales people do not have a clue. Sure they know which cameras the boss wants them to sell. Mine is a Panansonic_40GB_HDD . They also may know about a few practical features that they have either read about on a review some where or a satisfied customer has told them about.

But practical issues like ' Will I be able to download video directly from this camera to my software? ' Or how about this one, ' If I make a mistake while reccording can I back up and start over ? ' Trust me all cameras are different and some of those simple ideas you are not able to accomplish with every camera.

Even the software is confusing at times. Most of the software packages all say something like " download your videos and use our special features to create movies your friends will admire". Getting those movies into the software and out again is a challenge exam.

All this however is in the learning curve. Once you have taken, edited, added all of the Titles, Sound track voice overs, stills and perhaps some back ground music it is time produce and upload your movie to a video site.

Yet which video site should you post to? We all have heard about used and enjoyed Youtube. Yet this may not be the best avenue for you. Youtube has become the poster child for video sites and does have the majority of the videos on line.

************************** Update ***************************

New group started for video's. Please be sure to join submit and comment. Let's get this thing started. Show us your First Video. Let us share in your trials and tribulations.

Join_the_My_Video_group_today

For real estate however this is not exactly the best site. Choosing a site can be a daunting task to say the least. There are hundreds if not thousands. So this past week I have been doing just that. Looking for a site that might be the right place for my videos.

Here is the criteria I was looking for. :

Preferably a site that was real estate oriented or at least business oriented.
A site that currently had real estate videos on it ( more than just a couple ).
A site who's viewing pain was medium to large size.
A site that provided the link codes for easy downloading to your web pages or blog.
A site whose real estate video's were getting a fair amount of views not just a couple.
And a site that did not clutter the video up with advertising.

After personally going through more than 350 sites here are the top 12 in no particular order.

Photobucket Break Metacafe Live_Video VodPod Wonder_How_To Viddler Clipser Spike Seven_Load WelcomeMat Zipvo

***** UPDATE ****** as per Fred Light - Real Estate Video Tours for MA and NH (Nashua Web Design | Nashua Video Tours) who took the time to post a comment. The following sites do not allow commercial postings as outlined in their Terms Of Service agreement, and your videos may be removed and your account disabled should you add them there . Spike, Blip and Vimeo. Also AOL has stopped accepting user generated video.

Of course there are the other more famous name sites like :

Google_Video Yahoo_Video AOL_Video and of course Youtube . The search engine sites however are not all that good when it comes to video.

So play around with it and see what you think. If you have a site that you like that is even better than this group then by all means share the info and I will update it here. If it measures up that is!

Herb's_Youtube_Video_of_132_SE_71st here is one of my first attempts.

My future video's will not be longer than about two minutes.

Be sure to stop by my Portland_Oregon_Real_Estate_Web_Site for more photo's and Portland area information.

Search Portland Oregon Homes For Sale Right Here

" A Real Estate Transaction with Herb is one YOU will Profit from "

Posted by Downtown Portland Real Estate Broker~Herb Hamilton on 01/11/2009 12:25 AM

Comments (19)

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Originally posted at: Herb's Portland Oregon Real Estate Blog your RE/MAX Agent: Top Ten Video Sites

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19 Comments on Top Ten Video Sites

JAN

Herb - You certainly did your research, and thanks for sharing since I have not considered some of those sites.

This is good to know....it's something that I've vowed to get more involved with ... thanks for the direciton to these sites. I need to get more into video marketing.

Great info Herb! I've used some of the sites on your list and will try the ones I haven't. I just need to DO IT... but haven't taken the time yet because of my main RE blog and a new horse website.

I am just starting to experiment on video for my homes. Also my website gives me audio capabilities on the virtual tours. Oh what more to learn.

Jennifer,

Thanks for stopping by. Have you found any other sites that you find really good?

Larry,

I think that we all need to because that is the direction the consumers are going towards.

Susie,

So much to do so little time. Thanks for stopping by.

Laura,

My website also has the audio available. It is a stuggle for them as well to continue to offer the applications of new techologies.

Wow you've done lots of research and time into this undertaking! I posted a professionally done video tour here for comments recently and received lots of good criticism - poor transitions, etc and it made me realize that I'm not up for the challenge of producing great video tours - I'll keep hiring the pros! If there is only one chance to entice a buyers it's got to be great! (Interesting to see your listing on SE 71st as I grew up on SE 72nd!)

Margaret,

It is a small world huh? I do understand about first impressions. Poor impressions are often worse than no impression at all. I really do like working with the video however and know that there are several factors in producing better quality that I can improve on.

A good Camera is one very important fact. My first one was a JVC mini tape. The quality was really quite poor. MY Panasonic hard drive on the other hand has really produced some very clear videos.

Two other factors are very important as well. The software that you use to produce the video and the codex that it will employ uploading to a video site.

And the Site its self. They are not all alike as well in regards to quality. Many of them really produce have poor quality.

My advice is to take the sites I have given above and try a video on each of them. Compare the results before you settle on a choice.

Yup. I got a video camera from Santa. I will be one of those creating Real Estate Videos as well

Thanks

Don

Don,

Be sure to show us your first production. Good luck and have fun. What kind of Camera do you have?

Video has been around now online for a few years, but no doubt more and more realtors are looking at getting into video!

One thing you need to be careful of when uploading real estate videos to ANY website:

Many do not allow commercial or real estate videos. Be sure to read their terms of service carefully. Otherwise, generally you will receive an email AFTER they have deleted your entire account and ALL of your videos.

For example, of those you listed, Spike does not allow real estate video. You will be zapped. Neither does Blip.TV. Neither does VIMEO.com AOLvideo no longer accepts user generated video.

Your best bet at the moment if you want to upload to a third party site is to use a real estate video site such as WellcomeMat.com or Zipvo.com

They specialize and are created FOR real estate, so you won't likely have a terms of service issue with them!

As far as 'search engine sites not being very good with video' - not sure what you mean by that. Search engines LOVE video. I can upload a video this morning and it will be on page ONE of Google tonight for the #1 keyword search term. Try that with your website!

There are also plenty of video groups here on Active Rain if you want to get your feet wet with video:

And I'm sure many more!

Fred,

Thanks for providing us all with your valuable insight. One of the points that I intended to make and follow in my original flow chart of this post was about the terms of service issue. Then I got side tracked and completely forgot all about it. Thanks for the reminder I will update the post.

In regards to my comment about search engines. What I meant by the comment was that the Search Engines listed did not have a large volume of Real Estate oriented videos as did some of the other sites.

I do agree whole hartedly however on submitting to them. I also found that sites like Video Post Robot can post your videos to a variety of sites.

Never heard of Video Post Robot and their site is gone... so I'm not sure how reliable THAT one is!

A good site for doing that type of thing is TubeMogul - it's free for most (of course I exceed their minimums most months... darn!), but they submit to multiple video sites with one click, as well as give you some metrics on how often they are viewed.

Thanks again Fred. The Video Post Robot I found via someones review. I did book mark it but did not join because it was a pay for use site after a trial period of 7 days.

I wanted to make sure that I had enough videos to make it worth my while. However I will now be using TubeMogul instead.

Thanks for the info. I would like to get more into video and will have to check out your site for guidance. Thanks!

Kristi,

It is a growing industry for sure. This year we will see a lot more video's as an advertising medium for real estate.

I just really haven't done a thing with video. I had a chance to watch Kristal Kraft in action and it inspired me, but I still didn't commit. *sigh*

I am not worried about you Chris. For when you do decide you will put most people to shame.

JAN

You can upload as many videos and listings as you like to Global www.viewr.com at no cost and Instantly gain Global Exposure for you and your properties. Full HD is coming soon.

We can also auto import entire databases of Agents and Properties as well as videos.

--- Karl