Video Content for Real Estate Investor Web Sites

It’s official, there are over 2 billion videos viewed on YouTube each day.  Its simple to say that video is one of our hottest tools.  So why aren’t more real estate investors using video marketing to attract people to their “I Buy Houses” and “My Wholesale” web sites, not to mention the uses it has for just about any business.

In talking with quite a few Kansas City Real Estate Investors I have found there are 3 main reasons why they don’t:

1. Time:  Make time, skip the Chiefs this Sunday and get busy.  Schedule time during the week, this is important.  Or hire someone to do it for you.

2. Technology:  Use the digital camera you already have, the video features on your lap top, or go spend $200 at WalMart for a flip cam.  Then log into Youtube and start playing with it – it’s free for crying out loud!

3. Content:  What do I put in my videos?  What will people want to see? 

This article is here to answer reason #3, and show you where to start when creating content for your videos.

• Testimonials – you have a lot of choices here!  Did you help a past desperate seller?  Did you flip a really great deal to a wholesaler who made a ton of money?  Did you help some lucky family lease to own their way into owning their first house?  Talk to them a bit, give them some ideas, play with the camera and record 30 seconds of video.
• Home Buying Tips – Go through all those how to buy houses articles you already have or go online and look for some on other web sites, that fit what you do – home buying tips, lease to own tips, even getting the most for your rental dollar tips.  You are looking for ideas to create a series of short very focused tips that when you explain take about 2 or 3 minutes.
• Home Selling Tips – You buy houses right?  Think about all those phone calls you have with sellers explaining what you do?  So what if you recorded a series of 2 -3 minute videos on how you buy houses, how short sales work, other options to get their home sold.  You know this stuff, just talk about it and record it.
• Bio – Talk about yourself, how long you have been buying, selling, or renting houses, where you do it, how many you have done.  Make yourself a real person in the viewers eyes.
• Home Tours – these are easy, have a house for sale or rent, walk through the house and create a short video as you walk through the front door to the kitchen.  You may even want to walk through the whole house and talk about all the great features.  You can even create a video with just digital stills using online tools and add music.
• Community Events – As a real estate investor it is very important to support your community where you invest.  Attend events:  ball games, festivals, neighborhood garage sales and take video or stills shots to create into video.  Edit with your web site name over it and then post online.  Let the neighborhood folks know you created a video memory of their event, and they will view it and share it with their friends – instant, free advertising for you.
• Team Players:  Interview some of the key people on your team to find out what they do.  Post to your site, and share with the key player, they share with their friends, that’s what they call going viral, sort of anyway.
• Before and After:  If you renovate properties, a great before and after video will show off your quality renovation and skills.

So after you create the video, you may want to find some online editing tools and maybe record a short intro to add to all of them or to overlay your web site address, so as folks share your video with others, they can find their way back to your web site.

As you post on Youtube, don’t forget to write something about your video in the space provided, use key words – I buy houses, I sell houses, private lending, sell your house fast, lease to own . . . you get the idea and be sure to locate yourself on the map.

Then take the post and put it on your blog.  Be sure to write a bit about what the video is on the blog using key words again.  Then using services that like HootSuite or NetworkedBlogs, have it automatically post to your pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Linked In. 

And did you know the search engines really like video too? 

If you want to get some feedback on videos, be sure to post them to the MAREI Facebook Page so your fellow members can take a peek.