Joel Burslem from the Future of Real Estate Marketing and I (Rudy) had the pleasure of experiencing a live demo by Christian and Phil (Video Phil) from Wellcomemat this morning. The demo included many new features and upgrades that real estate agents and bloggers will find appealing.
More and more, Real estate agents are utilizing video to promote themselves and their business. As validation to this point, I learned that Wellcomemat has become an approved partner with new Realtor.com. That’s right, Realtor.com! They will provide feeds for their videos to Realtor.com and participating agents will have the ability of embedding videos on their listings. That’s hot!
Current members of Wellcomemat will have the ability to upload all their videos at no charge. Sometime in the future, there will be a per video, per month fee - possibly $29.95 per video. Any video that is already in the system will remain hosted for free. So get all your videos uploaded now! Should you decide that you need a more professionally produced video, just search through the videographer directory of over 600 professionals and the $29.95 per video fee will be waived. There will also be a transactional system implemented so that videographers can be rated.
The new video profile widget will allow you to create a video profile of yourself or business and then paste that virtually anywhere, including Craigslist and My Space. If you uploaded 10 videos onto Wellcomemat, instead of pasting 10 videos into your sidebar, you can now paste one video player that will include all 10 of your videos. Just click to see the next video. Hey, blog real estate is valuable you know 
I am looking forward to adding this widget in our sidebar.
More Wellcomemat Video Player Details
Embed Menu:
5 players to choose from to post on your blog/site
New Improved Player:
Sleeker player. Better user experience. Now includes a member-designated background Image within player. No more black box! Upload a photo, and it sits in the player
Complete Channel Manager Upgrade:
Update, edit and manage your videos all from one page. Add scenes with ease and power your video.
Channel Public View:
Brand your channel with a business logo and background color.
Flyer Public View:
You can still present your channel as a flyer if you wish!
Channel Promotion Page:
Launch promotions and feeds straight from your promo page. Including….
Your Personal Channel Widget:
All of your active videos in the size of two vertical business cards!
Craigslist Ads for your properties:
Cut and paste Craigslist Ad revamped
Revamped Videographer Directory
Search by radius makes videographers able to cover multiple towns/cities.
Technorati Tags: Wellcomemat, Real Estate Video, Vlog, Video, Real Estate, Blog, Bloggers, Sellsius
w0w. Or should I say ow….
I don’t know if it will boost the real estate business but certainly it would boost the videographer’s market.
Scribo, do you think video could replace the virtual tours used by realtors?
Video can never replace traditional advertisement and thus virtual tours used by realtors. But, market is always crazy after gimmicks. It will take some time for promoters to realize it.
Having used WellcomeMat’s services for a bit now I have to say that they have one fantastic product. Will videos eventually replace virtual tours? I believe that they should. Keyword is should. Real estate agents generally haven’t been the most accepting of new technology.
The possibilities are exciting. Looking forward to their announcement of all their new features.
Thanks for all the feedback guys. Is video a gimmick?
Love what WellcomeMat has to offer, but aligning themselves with Realtor.com and charging $29.95 (or anything for that matter) may be a deadly mistake.
Realtor.com is losing market share by the day and new listing sites are popping up almost weekly. Plus, you can post a video on Yahoo, YouTube and other for free.
Great execution and I hope that they adjust their business model if need be so that they stick around.
I wouldn’t say on-line video is a gimmick - what with me being a long-time video producer and all. However, in the realm of say, weddings (sorry for the comparison…), it seems like photography has been embedded along with such traditions as tuxedos, flowers, and over-priced chicken dinners while “preserving” the day’s event on video is not quite a requirement. Thus, a gimmick. However, in the world of business, especially within e-commerce, video is well on its way to being the next best thing to have.
Yes. There was a book that I read during my college days here in Boulder called “Ways of Seeing.” It talks very much to the merits of photography, through a lense of feminism. But, video isn’t-in my opinion of course-the “next best thing to have!” It’s the only thing.
My question was directed at Scribo (Is Video a Gimmick?). I simply cannot fathom looking at pics/virtual tours and saying that video cannot displace them. And, btw, I love virtual tours. Why on Earth would I say this? A virtual tour-at one time-was considered pushing the envelope. They were high-tech, and the best thing that a realtor/property marketer could do to show their spaces. Things have changed, but that doesn’t force me into discounting VT(s). They were a necessary step in the evolution, and literally made WellcomeMat happen. WellcomeMat isn’t just a business to me: I love doing what we are doing. I’ll say it again: VT(s) made this happen.
I think it’s been a waiting game on the net for video to become widely accessible.
While the real estate market might not be the early adopters, they follow the scent of sales.
The success story is all that will be needed to plow through a new market.
I am thrilled with the new wave of video. As one of the pioneers of virtual tour real estate web sites, I can certainly see the video tour becoming de facto.
You know I think that wellcomemat has a great idea. The user interface is very slick, I’d say on par with brightcove, and much hotter than youtube.
That said, if wellcomemat were to charge $29.95 a month per video that would be absolutely prohibitive for most realtors. Especially when they can create a channel for free on youtube and upload video listings until their hearts are content.
I certainly understand that storing all of that video for free is not an option for wellcomemat. Perhaps, a flat fee per month and unlimited video uploads is the way to go?
I don’t know! Wadaya think?
Long time no speak Peter! Hope all is well.
I guess it comes down to two questions: when (not if) the other video companies out there do begin pushing ads out with your content, are you willing to accept that? Do you want control of ads that follow-or preceed-your content? If so, the best time to think about this is now, before you invest all your time uploading content to another site that might not have your best interests in mind.
As for the charges specifically, the $29.95 is a starting point, and will easily be bought down with volume, or by hiring a video pro through our directory.
Hi Christian,
Nice hearing from you. I remember we spoke last summer, Julyish.
There is no doubt that pre roll ads and clever ways of inserting ads in user generated videos will be a staple in the not to distant future.
Users, in this case, realtors, will have two options.
Option 1: Have your video monetized by youtube, or other video sharing sites, and pay zero.
Option 2: Have your site hosted by a company such as wellcomemat, and have more control of the look and feel of your content.
I certainly see the value in wellcomemat….video is the future, and I think you have cornered a fantastic niche.
I can tell you that generation x and generation y will demand video, realtors that are Luddites will go the way of the dinosaur.
We’ll just have to see what everyone on the intertubes thinks about how video ought to be distributed and what business model will be acceptable.
PS. I signed up for wellcomemat today….nobody is gonna call me a Luddite….lol.
i love your blog , continue