^#319

Video Home Tours

Advanced Access is always on the lookout for great ideas you can use to make your clients happy.  Most real estate professionals are familiar with using online Virtual Tours.  A video tour goes a step further and can be easily shared thanks to some great online services such as YouTube or Google Video.

Your sellers will love the videos and forward it to their family, friends, and colleagues.  This means happier clients and more traffic to your website.  It's also a great link building strategy to benefit you in the search engines, and again with more traffic.  Potential buyers will love this special preview of a property before they even step across the threshold for a tour in person.  Appearing in your videos can be beneficial as well (that's, of course, a matter of personal preference) to give you the chance to provide a more personalized introduction.

Advanced Access client, Andrew Ingram (Grand Rapids, MI) finds that having a page on his website with the tours listed is very productive as well.  "My sellers really like it.  They appreciate the extra effort.  In fact, one of them has a huge mailing list (400+) that she plans on e-mailing the link to.  That's great exposure and a good way to network."  Visit Andrew's page and scroll down to the section called, 'Recent Listings'.  He has used the Slideshow Builder program in his Virtual Office to create a quick preview, and has provided links to the videos on YouTube.

Once you upload your video to a video service, you can even embed the tours so they play right there on your page by using a little HTML (we can help you with that, and both YouTube and Google Video actually provide you with that code as well making it even easier).

Feeling technologically challenged?  We know there is a lot of technology out there, and it can all be confusing, but this is something I think we can all tackle.  It can be easier than you might think.  Andrew even provided some good instructions on the forums for getting started:

"If you have Windows XP, then you'll already have Windows Movie Maker.  (Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> Windows Movie Maker).  It walks you through it pretty well.  Upload the pictures you took and add all of the fading effects, text, before and after credits and sound.  Once you're happy with it, save it to your computer.  It should be in .wmv format for YouTube.  You'll need to create an account at YouTube and then all you have to do is upload it.  That's it.  You'll feel like Steven Spielberg once you're done.  Once it's done uploading you're provided a link to the video and you can send that to your sellers, mailing lists, and you can also link to it in the Virtual Tour section of ListNOW for display on your Featured Listings."  Check out one of Andrew's listings here.  Click on the 'Virtual Tour' icon.

You can use videos to create a tour of your area, advertise your real estate services, and more... be creative!  Good luck and be sure to let us know how your clients loved your videos at MarketingTips@AdvancedAccess.com.

Printer-friendly version (article only)
 

Advanced Access
8101 East Kaiser Blvd, Suite 300 Anaheim, CA 92808
Toll Free: (866) 518-1571
Monday - Friday, 7:00 am - 6:00 pm (Pacific)
Saturday & Sunday, 7:00 am - 4:00 pm (Pacific)
Email: Support@AdvancedAccess.com
Website: http://www.AdvancedAccess.com

Back to Main Page