Jeremy Williams

By Jeremy Williams

Are you looking for a new way to drive traffic and generate leads?  Are you working with a marketing budget that has been scaled back?  What if I told you that you could do this for free with the exception of owning a computer, simple video building software and a YouTube account?  While reading this blog post, feel free to reference my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/williams4yourhome as an example.

For my business, I use Microsoft Movie Maker software to build my videos.  With this software you can import both video and still photos.  Microsoft Movie Maker also gives you the ability to add slides, including both title and credits. For the most part I used still pictures in my video and essentially create a slideshow. Using Microsoft Movie Maker, you also have the ability to add music to the video and transitions. Once the video/slideshow is built, the newest version of Microsoft Movie Maker has a button to submit the video to your YouTube site.  Of course you will need to have your account established with YouTube prior to this step.

Once your file has been submitted to YouTube, you will want to edit the video by adding keywords to the title, a description including the keywords you used for the title, and tags that reflect both the keywords used in the title and the description. Using this keyword method will help your video be found in the search engines by potential customers.

One of the features on YouTube that I often see neglected is the opportunity to sort your videos into Playlists. This makes it easier for potential customers to sort through your videos that may have some interest between them. For instance I have divided my Playlists into recruiting videos, Summerwood TX Homes for Sale, Kingwood TX Homes for Sale, Lakeshore TX Homes for Sale and Fall Creek TX Homes for Sale. All my videos containing real estate listings in Kingwood are added to the Kingwood TX Homes for Sale Playlist.

The final task is to create a YouTube channel. The YouTube channel is essentially a landing page for your video blog. If you reference the page I have created, you will see a basic description for the page, some stats, a list of all my videos, and (most importantly) a link back to my real estate Web page. The YouTube channel also has a place where users can subscribe and receive notifications of your latest video post, and the channel when logged in gives you the ability to post a bulletin to all your subscribers. YouTube also has sharing features to post your latest videos to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Get creative with the uses of video and YouTube.  Post videos of testimonials from your clients, feature your real estate listings, or give a listing presentation. The uses are endless. Post a comment about how you have used YouTube to drive traffic to your business.

Jeremy Williams of Keller Williams Realty NE in Kingwood, Texas specializes in the residential real estate market of Kingwood, Atascocita, and Humble, Texas.  Visit his Web site at www.williams4yourhome.com.