Every real estate agent should at least be considering online video as a potential mechanism to advertise your listings and/or your personal brand. I’m no video expert, but we’re lucky to have a GeekEstate contributor who is — Michael Price. I asked him several questions in the hopes of better understanding the online video landscape and how it can and is being utilized by real estate pros.

Q: How are brokerages & agents utilizing online video to build their brands or advertise their homes?

A: When it comes to brokers and brand building, I think Real Living really stands out as a leader in the use of video. They have done a great job of porting their television commercials to the net. In addition, they have developed some of the best community content on the web. They understand that just having great content isn’t enough, they have done a great job of distributing it across the web including having the videos converted to video podcast format and submitted to a wide range of portals, including iTunes and MLBroadcast. At an agent level, you will find a wide range of video content from do it yourself YouTube videos, to professionally produced slide shows converted to video format, to complete big budget productions. The real power of video for listing content lies in the ability to distribute the content to so many different venues on the web. It’s a well known fact that combining visuals with audio increases substantially the amount of information a viewer retains. We also stress the ability to increase an agent’s brand awareness through the use of community videos. A quick afternoon of shooting photos of landmarks and amenities in a neighborhood along with well written community copy can be an outstanding addition to any agent’s marketing arsenal. Most community content on agent web sites rarely changes from site to site, IE the same old links to the chamber of commerce etc. This technology allows an agent to stand out in the demonstration of their unique understanding of the markets they farm.

Q: Can you highlight several agents who are doing a great job with video and tell us what they are doing?

A: Obviously I am a little biased in that regard, so I will point out a couple of our clients that have really grasped the concept of brodcasting and how to implement it as a marketing strategy. PearlDistrict.Com, an agent team in the Portland area have done a good job of combining listing and community content into video format. Victor Chelf is a Coldwell Banker agent in the Houston area that does an outstanding job when it comes to writing compelling marketing copy to be converted to voice narration. He has also grasped the concept of distribution and more importantly, how to communicate that to his clients. You can see a wide variety of listing and community content from around the country at http://www.mlbroadcast.com/directory.

Q: What are the SEO benefits to using online video to promote listings?

A: Video podcasting is by far the most powerful way to improve search results for listing or community content. Many people confuse the technology by thinking that just putting an audio or video file on a site or blog constitutes podcasting. By creating a podcast compliant broadcast feed and including individual video “episodes”, you are able to create meta content specific not only to the broadcast, but on an individual listing level. The most commonly accepted format for a podcast feed is based upon the iTunes document standard. Keyword rich podcast feeds are also very search engine friendly. Victor Chelf, the agent we referenced earlier wanted to improve his chances of being found in organic searches for Cy-Fair Houston Real Estate. If you look at the results of a Google search for that key phrase carefully, you will see that 7 of the top ten results link directly to his video content in a number of different directories on the net. Video sharing sites like Yahoo Video and YouTube also provide the ability to add keywords and descriptions that increase SEO potential greatly. We’ve found Yahoo Video to generate almost twice as many views as YouTube for listings.

Q: What type of technology does MLBroadcast use to produce videos for real estate professionals?

A: I’ve been working in the real estate listing enhancement world for a long time now. I knew video was going to become an important element. I also knew that the agents do not possess the budget or skills to produce slick video productions, nor are they necessary. Shooting video of objects that do not move or make sound isn’t really much different than stitching together still photos with wipes and fades. So we decided to create a system that would do just that, and then add the elements of video to it. Agents can add professional music scores to the background. We also have professional voice talent record the marketing copy. We use a combination of automated and manual processes to generate a podcast compatible video format. The end result is a professional presentation an agent can be proud of. That’s really just the sizzle, the steak is in the widespread distribution we provide by submitting the broadcast and videos to a large network of directories and portals. In addition to podcast format videos (mp4) we also submit videos to YouTube and Yahoo Video, which are converted to flash format.

Q: What is the extent of your deal with First American Title Co. & how will it help bring video to more real estate professionals?

A: Technology for real estate professionals is like water coming out of a fire hose. There are only so many “early adopters”. There is no elevator pitch that can explain syndication and broadcasting. By using resellers like title companies, we have the ability to sort of “train the trainers”. A title sales reps’ job is to be in front of agents. By empowering them with this product, they can take the time to help agents implement it as a part of their marketing strategy. We have personally trained 14 reps that now have the ability to provide agents with knowledge and back up marketing materials. It gives the agents a great deal of confidence in a listing presentation and more importantly, an edge on their competition when it comes to listing distribution. We’ve barely launched the program and it has already been a great success. We’ve received quite a few inquiries from other title companies and real estate service providers about the program. We definitely see it as a tremendous model of success for our ourselves, the service providers, agents and sellers facing a pretty challenging market for the foreseeable future.