Video is becoming ubiquitous on the Web. In fact, web users are beginning to expect it in many situations. And since some 80% of home sales begin with research done online, it is in your best interest to know that you can do place video in your listings, too.
You can even post a video Press Release online, as here for the Great Southwest Home Show.
If you use a Content Management System (CMS), such as WordPress or Joomla!, it makes the job of inserting video into your website a whole lot easier, but it can be done with any website.
First, you need to create your video. If you have any number of devices from a camcorder, to a modern still camera, through an iPhone or Android smartphone, you are in business.
Editing and adding titles, callouts, etc. can be done in a number of programs, such as iMovie and MovieMaker, for Macs and Windows respectively.
Here’s a video done by MHMSM.com Publisher L.A. ‘Tony’ Kovach on his iPhone. It may not be a Steven Spielberg, but it gets the point across. It was edited in iMovie and inserted here and in its original location using a video player plugin for WordPress.
Videos such as this can be used on your own website and can be uploaded to video hosting sites, such as YouTube. A properly titled and tagged video on YouTube with a live link in the description can bring you traffic and possible sales from out-of-town as well as your own locale.
Don’t worry if you aren’t up-to-speed on this stuff yet. We’ll be putting together some instructional events and tutorials on this in the near future so watch out for it and get ready to boost your marketing efforts.