Getting your video on Realtor.com

You’ve created a video on PropertyPreviews.com.

You think it looks great.

You’ve posted it to the MLS and to your broker/agent website.

But have you gotten it in front of the largest trafficked real estate website in the US, Realtor.com?  You want people to SEE the video - that’s why you made it, isn’t it?

Realtor.com does not allow agents to directly post video links to their listings, but we can help you do that automatically.

When creating your listing, be sure to place your MLS ID number in the Property ID # in the LIstings Detail section (see below).  Without it, Realtor.com won’t know to what listing to attach your video.

After creating your video on PropertyPreviews.com, you can “Manage Media” for any listing from your home page.

Once there, you’ll see many options, but we’re talking about Realtor.com, so look for this:

You’ll note there are two prices, one for “Showcase” members, and one for “Non-Showcase” members.  Showcase membership with Realtor.com allows you to easily enhance your listings on Realtor.com with the features buyers want most with up to 25 jumbo photos, full motion videos, open house alerts, and most importantly – multiple leads forms so that buyers can contact you directly.  If you’re already a Showcase member, attaching your video is $5.95.  For non-Showcase members, the fee is $24.95 (because Realtor.com charges us more to post to a non-Showcase member’s listing).    We automatically check to see if you’re a member or not and charge you accordingly.   So just add it to your shopping cart, and you’ll be able to see your cost.   Either way, you’re video is now in front of a very large and active real estate buyers’ portal.

To learn more about Showcase membership on Realtor.com, click here.

Good luck!

Why Twitter?

Twitter is becoming the go-to tool to answer the one question on everyone’s mind: What are you doing right now? The two-year-old micro-blogging platform is quickly becoming known as an app that many people have heard of, but only a handful have mastered.

For those who don’t know, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (otherwise known as tweets).  Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them.  Users can receive updates Twitter’s website, SMS, RSS, email, or through an application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.

The question that real estate professional should be asking is: How can this be useful in selling a property? Twitter can be used to take a pulse of the home-buying community. Agents can search twitter to find real estate buyers in the area and get a sense of exactly what they’re looking for – thoughts, opinions, open house, time preferences, whatever.

Once you’ve found out what your prospects are saying, start a conversation. Set up a profile. Get a nice looking picture and fill out the required fields so that people can get a sense of who you are. Next, start following people. Following people allows for other people’s “tweets” (twitter language for messages) to automatically update to your home page. This lets you see exactly what someone is looking for.

You can search other people’s tweets by using tools such as TweetScan. Search for “Open House” or “Trulia” to see who is looking for property information or homes for sale. If someone is looking for a home, they might be posting their thoughts on their home-buying process. Use this to help them find the property they need…

If you have an iPhone, get one of the free twitter applications built specifically for iPhone users.  This will help agents who are constantly on the move showing properties.  You can even sync your twitter account to interact with your Facebook status, enabling you to reach an even larger audience with information on property locations and local real estate news.

This method of interaction with clients also puts a friendly face on a stressful buying process — It allows clients to get a better sense of who is helping them to make what will most likely be one of the more expensive purchases of their life.

Use your own profile to act as a real-time advertising platform; let your followers know what properties you’re showing and give some juicy details. Have fun with it! Twitter is a great way to get into the head of clients and find out what they’re really looking for.

PP.com’s Twitter Profile

Twitter Home

Click here to check out a great example of how Twitter can be used with to interact with customers in real-time — from seomoz.org

Official Company Blog

PropertyPreviews.com, the creators of the free video creation service for real estate agents, has just launched the official PropertyPreviews.com Blog. This blog allows Real Estate professionals to expand their knowledge on low-cost, successful ways to manage their online marketing and learn about emerging real estate marketing trends.

The blog features articles on topics such as marketing properties online, real estate photography, relevant real estate news, as well as articles geared to help agents and REALTORS® increase the perceived value of their properties. Contributors of the PropertyPreviews.com blog focus on helping real estate professionals find focus in a sometimes overwhelming online landscape, and how utilizing online tools can help sell properties better and more efficiently.

About PP.com

PropertyPreviews.com allows you to quickly and easily upload your real estate photos and create a compelling and engaging video presentation of your property in three easy steps. Your online real estate video can then be distributed throughout the Internet to a variety of video hosting sites – all with just a click of a button!

How To Measure and Improve Your Listing’s Visibility

Many of you love the distribution we offer, and we’re happy to make that available to you.    Are you measuring the results of these placements?   Did you know that PropertyPreviews.com provides you with free reports that show you how these placements are doing?

When you log in to PropertyPreviews, you’ll see a “Reports” tab at the top of the screen.

Click on it, and you can then view results of consumers who’ve viewed your ePostcards of all your active or inactive listings, you can sort by date, and you can even download these results to Excel (highlighted below) for further analysis or presentation to your seller in a marketing report.  The headings of the report are also highlighted in the illustration below.

What happens if you’re not getting the results you want? Consider Featured Listing distribution for your listings.   Many sites offer them, and are available to you in PropertyPreviews.com.   While many sites accept listings, when they are displayed, there are a variety of factors that determine where your listing will appear in the search results (and that means buyers may or may not find it).   To rise to the top of the search results, use Featured Listings.  These listings are prominently displayed at the top of the search results, leapfrogging all the others who chose not to pay for placement.   More precious buyers in this market will see your listing, and you’ll increase your chances of talking with them.   Isn’t that why you syndicate listings in the first place?

We know these cost a few more dollars, but these are measurable efforts.  If you try it and aren’t getting the response you need, you can stop featuring your listing on a given site.    Why bother?  Well, look at how you use search engines.    When you do a search, do you find what you need on page 1 or 2 of the search results, or do you go through pages and pages to find what you need?  Chances are you go with the top few results.   Wouldn’t it be great if your listings were at the top of a buyer’s search results?

Beat the odds and consider sprinkling in Featured Listings in your marketing plans.   We bet you’ll be glad you did.