Sellsius real estate marketing blog

The problem is the videos end up looking kind of fuzzy and low resolution. I even paid for the upgraded, long playing video. It kind of disapointed me. I'll just stick with Adobe Premiere Pro.

For a free service Animoto rocks! I've used it for both work and vacation photo's. One word review: Fantastic.

Animoto for Business actually let's you create unlimited DVD quality videos, which look terrific on a large plasma and gorgeous on a computer monitor. Here's a link to a hi-res video: http://biz.animoto.com/sample/ArtisansDeFrance.mp4.

In the interest of full-disclosure - I oversee product marketing for Animoto, and I am drinking the Kool-Aid.

Very pretty. Another great find Joe. Should do up your conference pictures this way. Could add some pazzazz! I'll look for the post.

These guys are from New York, so they were easy to spot :)

I create videos with Windows Movie Maker, Camtasia Studio 5, and Animoto. I do not believe that the Animoto videos give the prospective buyer long enough of a look at a feature or room to be effective for listings. I use Animoto for action, people shots and local sites and color video. It is great for that.

One might find my listing videos with stills boring compared to Animoto. However, with hosting on Screencast.com with auto-uploads from Camtasia, I can produce very high resolution videos, control how long each shot stays on-screen, and put music and voice over. Being a real estate broker in this market, you now have my last 2 cents. Thanks for many great posts. One of my favorite feeds.

Jim Kimmons

OK, I dug in the couch cushions and found two more cents. As regards the video and first place search positions, what is illustrated is a fundamental flaw in SEO strategy. If you do as the realtor did, searching on "greenwich ct real estate under 700000" or do it without the "ct", yes there it is very prominently displayed. Change the dollar amount to 699999 or 650000. or leave it off, and the page is nowhere to be found.

It isn't difficult to get into top search positions for long tail phrases that are unlikely to be used by a searcher, as in this case. There may be some valuable tips in the eBook for $47, but this isn't one of them. If you go to Google and search on 'realtors and the emperor's clothes", my post today will be right on top the very first day. I didn't write it with that in mind, and know that it is almost impossible that anyone would use that phrase in a search. The fact that one can get into a top Google position only holds value if the phrase that got them there is used by someone other than themselves.

As always, good points, Jim. Your 2 cents are always welcome and much appreciated.

While Animoto may not allow for the control over the content you can get elsewhere, it does keep viewer interest because of its "movie trailer" quality. It is also very easy to use. So the question becomes: which method will attract the most hits/leads, all other factors being equal? I dont have an answer for that other than Tim Judge has sold homes using Animoto. Also, for what it's worth, he told me one of his clients actually teared up over the video-- surprised and impressed that HE was able to create such effects. Yes, this is anecdotal evidence but given the ease of use of Animoto, I would give it a go AND use your methods as well. I don't think it need be an "either or" choice. In fact, it might prove valuable to send videos out using both methods and measure the results.

Regarding the SEO benefits of long tail tagging. While I am on record as doubting the efficacy of chasing the long tail, I have come to question that position. I now believe long tail tagging is likely more effective to attract the "transactional visitor", especially for the agent working a niche or specialty market. A person who types "Greenwich homes for sale under 700000" is a visitor more likely to be in the market to buy the homes in that price range. Likewise, if I specialize in historic homes in St Paul, MN, a search term (tagging) "Victorian homes for sale in St Paul, MN" would draw precisely the buyers I cater to.
Just my 2 pennies.

Joe:

I still read almost every post on your blog, as opposed to some of the other high profile blogs that I have subscribed to for a couple of years. I've found some cool tech stuff here many times. I'll reverse the order for a second:

I didn't mean to diminish the value of the long tail. I started my new site in December last year, and it has around 600 posts and 50 pages now. I get a LOT of traffic from the long tail. The key phrases people use to get there amaze me. However, since it is a community blog, with the real estate as a balanced (heavy side) component, it's a long term proposition for business from most of the visitors. What I find disconcerting is when those who may be new to blogging, or considering it, are given a lot of "shortcut" tips to getting first position in Google, and those are on really long-shot long tail phrases (focused they may be).

Now that my posts are being indexed in under an hour, and I get Google alerts to tell me, I can do immediate long tail searches on the titles or major key phrases and see great results. However, my goal is still to get in the top five consistently for the top eight or ten phrases that bring the real estate business. In just five months, at a PR4, I'm at position 12 for the toughest phrase "Taos real estate" and hope to see a PR5 soon, with a jump in that phrase position. And what it's going to take is good and consistent content around that phrase and real estate topics. Part of my timing issue is the refusal to do any reciprocal linking. I don't even have a blog roll there, as I'm not sure what Google is deciding about those now. I love links to my site and content, but I just hope that they happen, thus one-way in nature.

I am concerned that new bloggers will spend too much time looking for fast solutions that will keep them from developing great content around real estate subjects like title insurance, price negotiations, repair negotiations, inspections, transaction processes, area statistics, etc. And I do agree completely that anyone typing in "greenwich ct real estate under 700000" will be a wonderful and focused prospect, I just wonder how much time and effort bloggers will be putting into congratulating themselves over number one positioning for fringe long tails while they could be developing content toward grabbing the top spots with the short tail search phrases we all covet.

I do like the exposure from tagging video, and I have around a hundred videos of the area on YouTube. It's a useful piece of the puzzle, but, as a recent post over at The Notorious R.O.B. stated, using video to take the place of poor or non-existent writing is not a good solution. I love tech, and slick video and podcasting are going to be an important part of successful real estate sites. I just hope that new bloggers will give more weight to real estate related content creation.

As for Animoto, I was a very early adopter, recently paying for my second year subscription. I bet the sellers do like it, as it is a slick package. And I am sure that those videos can bring buyers. I may try doing two for my listings, but don't really have the time to try to track which brings a prospect. I do a WordPress blog for each listing, with videos in the front page, so uploading the images to one more site isn't a big deal. I also syndicate with TubeMogul, so one more upload would get them onto YouTube, Yahoo, Google, MetaCafe and Vimeo. Early on, I looked at a home tour I did, and thought that, as a buyer, I couldn't adequately picture the home with the speed of the Animoto presentation (even with very slow-paced classical music). I think I'll take my brand new listing yesterday and do a couple, and I'll see what the sellers think. Maybe them loving it is enough reason to do it.

Again, love this blog, and I decided to come over here and comment more, instead of writing back from About.com. Thanks,


Jim

Thank you for the kind words and your frequent visits. As usual, a thought provoking comment. From the reading of your posts, I can understand your success. I wish you more of it.

I quite agree with the substance of your points, especially that content be real estate related, local and compelling, keeping in mind the transactional visitor, your potential client. And we agree there are blogging best practices ("tips") helpful to new bloggers. They ought understand the nature of the Google beast if they are going to create relevant content that will be found by folks who want to transact business.

Yes, the tendency is to shoot for the top of google & I wholeheartedly agree that one can lose focus. Still, getting a good ranking for your market keywords is helpful (even in the short run) & it is a product of good SEO practices, which includes proper tagging, using market keywords in the title and links, density, links in (you need to know the best practice to get the links in) etc.-- and any future factors that slip out of the Google vault. Content that is not found is not read, though it be brilliant.

As to video, images etc-- IMO Content, while quite noble, is not king-- Context is -- content must be presented in a way pleasing to internet readers/consumers, as well as google. For example, based on the studies of Jakob Nielsen, I do not favor the WOT (wall of text), unless made scanable, and ascribe to the inverse pyramid style of writing favored by journalists. I also think images (which must be tagged too) communicate better in many cases and I favor their ability to create interest & an emotional response (real estate porn?). And certainly crappy copy will not help, but I suspect it might not hurt much-- I'm buying that gorgeous kitchen, not the copy. I am also conscious of the ADD-like nature of the internet "surfer". Thus, I favor techniques that appeal to this behavior. Had I been blogging in the 19th century, I would approach it differently. Wait a minute, there was no blogging back then.

Your comment also raises 2 other critical points to blogging ROI-- traffic & leads. We would all agree we'd trade a ton of digg-like "nonconvertible" (is that the word?) traffic for little traffic that is highly convertible. Thus, while ranking high for "Taos real estate" (a heady term) may bring you more traffic than "Taos real estate under 700000", perhaps the latter long tail term would bring that prized transactional visitor traffic. Thus the $64,000 question--- Do the long tail hits convert better than the head/neck hits? If someone has measured it, let me know. Ultimately, it may not matter since real estate long tail keywords are often combined with the head/neck terms (as in the Taos example).

As always, just my opinion. I am, in the end, a pragmatist and advocate experimentation and testing of traditional notions of "what works", with the emphasis on "testing". Go with what works.

(Interesting video note: one of Tim Judge's Animoto videos stayed at the top of Google for over a year. The house sold. So, Tim slipped another video in it's place. I thought that was quite clever-- using the video as a placeholder.)

Now that video placeholder idea is a good one! I'll have to remember that. I'll also pay better attention to my tags in future.

I think much of our commentary here is focused on the search engines, which is required to be successful. However, I think that the real estate related content over time will help to build our "local real estate expert" persona. Then, maybe even a little old fashioned word-of-mouth about the great site with all of the real estate stuff will actually come into play.

And, you're right about the combination of long tail with head/neck in many cases. Maybe I'm trying to cover too many bases, taking them early or at transaction time. I guess in today's market I'm just getting tired of having to scrape around for my next 2 pennies.

It's all pretty new, so who knows.

You're right. Sometimes it may come down to simply having your contact
information where readers can easily find it.

Joe:

Did you ever notice that sometimes you should just keep your mouth shut? After my bragging this morning, my weekly check of SEO shows that EVERY real estate website in my market lost one PR point since yesterday or the day before. I have been a PR4 for months, and now a 3. I was just one of the group, but Google is dancing again. I'd be interested if it's real estate wide or just my market.

Jim

I went through a PR crisis after I started taking advertising, dropping from a 6 to a 3! Ouch. But the shock wore off after several trips to the bank.

As you know, there are a lot of channels (on & offline) to promote your content which are not Google dependent.

Joe:

You're correct of course. I just did some searches, and indeed there has been a major PR algorithm change, with many pages dropping one rank on all kinds of sites. One SEO guru mentioned that some of his internal pages were now ranking higher than the home page, which he likes, as it helps in long tail exposure. I, however, using the Google toolbar PR indicator, am finding that Google isn't ranking many of my internal WordPress pages, after many months up. Not sure what is going on, but I'll get over it. I'm still in the same PR position relative to the local competition, so I guess it's OK.

Funny. I noticed that my internal pages rank higher than my home page, as
well. We shall survive :)

Sorry for the delayed response but I was a way for the weekend.

I will also post a quick Video response ASAP.

First off thanks for the mention again JF.

I love Animoto but I did not use it to gain the multiple positions for "Greenwich CT Real Estate under 700000" I used another service to make a simple slide show explaining how to search for the most up-to-date real estate listings. The KEY to the multiple listings was syndicating the videos across multiple web2.0 properties.

I recently got a listing in Greenwich because of those results, http://LucySt.com. The sellers asked the question what can you do that we cant get from anyone else.

In the spring of 2008 I created a video that is still on http://17Fern.com and used Animoto for that video and it brought the Seller to tears! People buy with emotion and justify with facts. I think, not enough Realtors are selling with emotion and listening for the specific questions that a buyer may have.

"ITS THE ECONOMY - STUPID"

Its the HOME, not the Realtor, not the mortgage, or the school. If a buyer loves a home they will find a way to buy it no matter the Realtor or the funds or if they have to drive JR to a private school. Its the HOME.

When we as Realtors can paint a picture of the lifestyle that the next homeowner can lead that's when the home gets sold. And that is truly done in person! Not online. If you have ever heard the expression "sell the sizzle not the steak" - thats my point. Online a Realtors job is to get more appointments for showings and listings. Nothing more. I have people right now negotiating on Lucy St from California! They love the pictures the video and the story. But they had to see it first. I have not sold a house over the web just yet but I'm sure the day will come.

Animoto is an online tool that will help the Realtor stand out. Hopefully enough to get some extra showings or an extra listing - Thats what we really want.

Nike says "Just Do IT"
I say "Just Do More"

Tim Judge
HomeSearchTV.com
Sharpest.Realtor.Ever.com

Thanks Tim for stopping by and sharing your experiences. You're right--
home buying is an emotional experience and marketing that creates an
emotional response will get the phone to ring. *Just do more*-- I love it.

Professionally done videos and photography are huge - this sounds like something worth trying.

I think much of our commentary here is focused on the search engines, which is required to be successful. However, I think that the real estate related content over time will help to build our "local real estate expert" persona. Then, maybe even a little old fashioned word-of-mouth about the great site with all of the real estate stuff will actually come into play.