Six Ways to Use Video on Real Estate Websites
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Videos. They’re the latest craze online. The search engines are ranking them, people are watching them, and real estate websites are a perfect place for them.
Video Creation Resources
If you’ve been thinking about taking the plunge, here are some resources that can help. First, you need a way to film the videos. Take a look at using a Flip video for real estate applications.
Second, you need a place to host the video. You might want to consider hosting your real estate videos at WellcomeMat.comif you don’t have a host site of your own. Since that post about WellcomeMat was written, several things have changed, including the fact that hosting at WellcomeMat comes in both free and paid flavors. You can get the updated information by following the link in the post. And, if you don’t want to do your own videos, WellcomeMat gives you an excellent opportunity to find a local videographer.
Six Ways to Use Video on Your Real Estate Website
Once you’ve figured out how to produce a video, your next challenge is deciding what kind of a video to create. Here are a half dozen topics to consider:
- Home Tours - If you took a look at the video noted in the post about WellcomeMat, you saw a personally hosted video tour of one agent’s listing. If you’re wondering what the impact is of that type of tour, listen to another agent’s experience. Attracting listing clients can be a lot easier if you first WOW them with one of your other listing’s video.
- Community Information - Think about what someone who is moving across town or across the country wants to know. Any type of community information would be worthwhile in a video. Think about neighborhoods, shopping areas, things to do, parks, recreational venues, restaurants, special events, and well, you get the idea.
- Schools - Especially if you’re selling in a family-friendly area, a video showing schools in the neighborhoods you target would be a welcome show for parents and kids alike.
- Testimonials - If done properly, a video testimonial can be very effective. Make sure that you choose clients who aren’t camera shy and come up with a list of questions or topics you’d like them to address. A rambling testimonial isn’t going to help. The rules for obtaining effective real estate testimonials apply to both written and video versions.
- About Me - Every agent has a page on their website that is intended to introduce them to website visitors. The most effective ones focus on the benefits of the service provided rather than the person themselves. Think how effective a video would be to reinforce who you are and what your business can offer. Are you nervous in front of a camera? If so, you might want to set this video up as an “interview”. Even someone off camera asking questions can give you a safety net.
- Real Estate Tips - Here’s just one example. Let’s say you’re a Buyer Agent and you have a page on your website about Buyer Agency. You can list out all the reasons why a home buyer should have their own representation. But, with a video… you probably have a client who tried to go it without a buyer agent in the past. Why not tape the two of you talking about potential pitfalls and reasons to have representation? Not only can you bring home a very important point, but what better way is there to let your site visitors get to know you as a person?
Got any other good topics? Any experience is using video? Let us know about any tips you can pass along!
From the Web: Uncovering Google’s Wonder Wheel
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From time to time I run across another useful Google tool that I didn’t know existed. This time I saw a new tool in an Active Rain post by Rita Burke who markets Denver Luxury Homes.
Take a few minutes to read that post. Rita did a bang up job with illustrations on how to find and use the Wonder Wheel.
What does the Wonder Wheel do, you ask? It provides a visual “wheel” diagram showing search phrases that Google recognizes as related to a search you’ve just performed.
It could be very handy in identifying those “long tail” search phrases that you’d like to encourage the search engines to rank your site for. Once identified, you can use those phrases for optimizing blog posts, secondary pages on your website, and a host of other things!
Update: 2-25-10 5:30PM
I thought the end of the meeting was rather interesting. Whether you’re for the Democrat or Republican position on healthcare reform, you may agree that something needs to be done. And, the President has set out a challenge to both sides to work together to come up with a reasonable plan now - not another few decades from now. Odd, that’s just what I’ve been saying to my elected officials: stop fooling around and being all political and get something done! It will be fascinating to see if anything actually happens.
Update: 2-25-10 3:30PM
Well, I’ve been listening on and off since this morning. From what I’ve heard, it’s unfortunate that this meeting has not been used to resolve issues. It’s been used as a platform for everyone to explain why they don’t want to do what the “other guys” want to do. It’s no wonder the legislature can’t get anything done.
Guess this post isn’t too Whimsical, but I think it’s important.
President Obama and a host of Congressional leaders are meeting tomorrow to discuss health reform. To start the discussion, the President is bringing a proposal that combines many of the ideas proposed by legislators on both sides. You can find out exactly what is included in the proposal to ensure you have the real story.
I’m hoping that something definitive comes out of this meeting. As an individual healthcare policy holder, I’ve seen my premiums raised 168% over the past five years. It’s way past time, in my opinion, for reform.
According to WhiteHouse.gov, the video below will be showing “the live video of the meeting”. Anyone who is concerned about health care reform owes it to themselves to find out whether our leaders are actually moving toward some meaningful legislation. Stop back at 10am EST tomorrow, Thursday, to see the meeting! I know I’ll be watching!
[Live stream video removed]
About the meeting:
When: Thursday, February 25, 2010, 10:00AM EST
Where: The Blair House in Washington, DC
Invitees:
Senator Harry Reid, D-NV, Majority Leader
Senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY, Republican Leader
Senator Richard Durbin, D-IL, Majority Whip
Senator Jon Kyl, R-AZ, Republican Whip
Senator Max Baucus, D-MT, Chairman of the Finance Committee
Senator Chuck Grassley, R-IA, Ranking Member of the Finance Committee
Senator Tom Harkin, D-IA, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Senator Mike Enzi, R-WY, Ranking Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Senator Christopher Dodd, D-CT, Member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA
Representative Steny Hoyer, D-MD, Majority Leader
Representative John Boehner, R-OH, Republican Leader
Representative James Clyburn, D-SC, Majority Whip
Representative Eric Cantor, R-VA, Republican Whip
Representative Charles Rangel, D-NY, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee
Representative Dave Camp, R-MI, Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Committee
Representative Henry Waxman, D-CA, Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee
Representative Joe Barton, R-TX, Ranking Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee
Representative George Miller, D-CA, Chairman of the Education and Labor Committee
Representative John Kline, R-MN, Ranking Member of the Education and Labor Committee
Representative John Dingell, D-MI, Chair Emeritus of the Energy and Commerce Committee
As you probably know, the government’s new Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA) is going to become effective on April 5, 2010.
One of the outcomes of this new Program should be the simplification of the Short Sale process.
Make sure you know how to take advantage of the new procedures. Take advantage of NAR’s information and online resources that explain the new forms and guidelines!
Do You Leave Your Website Visitors Hanging?
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Most of us hate being left hanging. And, we’re especially testy when it comes to surfing the ‘Net. When we’re looking at websites, we want everything handed to us. Whenever you go to a new website, there’s a certain “learning curve” that you need to work through. You’ll end up with questions like:
- Am I in the right place?
- Will this website give me information or tools that I need?
- How do I find my way around this site?
- How fast can I find what I want?
There are a number of things you can do to address those questions. In this post, I’m going to talk about a couple of the more common issues I see on real estate web sites that really leave an Internet visitor hanging.
Am I in the Right Place?
One of the most obvious problems I see with many real estate websites is this: there is absolutely no indication of a target market. I land on the website, and I’m not sure if the web owner is serving buyers and sellers in Alaska or Maine.
Don’t leave your website visitor hanging. Add an obvious indication of your market area in the header on your site or at the very top of the page. A simple statement like “Atlanta Real Estate” will assure your visitor they’re on the right track.
How Do I Find My Way Around This Site?
This is a question your visitors should not have to ask themselves. Or, if they do, they should find the answer right away. One of the more common ways you may be keeping your website visitors off balance is to make them work for every piece of direction or critical piece of information.
Don’t leave your website visitor hanging. First, what is more critical (hopefully to your visitors and certainly to you!) than an easy way to contact you? Make sure your telephone number and a way to send an email is very visible. We usually create a “contact image” that we put at the top of each page. This image contains the web owner’s telephone number, and an email form is just a click away. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to find a telephone number on a real estate website and came up empty.
Secondly, don’t make your visitors poke around trying to find things on your website! For example:
- If you write “Contact us”, put your phone number in there! It should be something like “Contact us at 555-555-555″. Can your visitor find your phone number at the top of your pages? They should be able to, but why make them look??
- If you direct visitors to anything on your website, include a link that will take your visitor there! I hate it when I see something like “Find more information on our FAQ page”. What do they think - I’m a mind reader? Am I going to take the time to figure out how to get to the FAQ page? I don’t think so.
Besides making navigation easy for your visitors, you need to add links to other pages on your website for SEO purposes. Your “internal linking structure” is one of the ways that the search engines figure out what your site is about.
So, if you are going to refer a visitor to your FAQ page, make sure you use the appropriate anchor text to get them there.
DON’T: For more information visit our FAQ page.
DO: For more detail, visit our Atlanta Short Sale information page.
Are you keeping your real estate website visitors hanging? If so, shame on you! Go fix that - right now!
