Today marks my eighth blog post here on BiggerPockets.com, and you don’t realize how thankful I am to have the opportunity to bring you guys into my world of real estate marketing. Over the past month and a half, I can say that I’ve meet some of the nicest people in the world.
The BP community is so helpful to one another, sharing content and engaging in conversation. I would like to say thanks publicly through this blog post to all those who have reached out to me to tell me your experiences in real estate and to share the things that you will be doing now to change the way you market.
I can’t even start to explain the impact of the success stories that I’ve already gotten through email saying the few blog posts I’ve published are making a big change in their lives. Who would have known that a few wise words on a big platform like this would get the ball rolling for those who are trying to carve their way through this real estate world?
Related: The Power of Using Video For Negotating Apartment Deals
So to those who tune in every Tuesday to read my content, I would like to say thanks from the bottom of my heart. I was once in the shoes of many people out there in real estate who have no sense of where they are going.
Yes, I knew that I wanted to be one of the top real estate investors in my city, but I just couldn’t get over the hump of actually making things happen. Sadly, back in the early 2000’s, there were not as many mentors willing to instruct you to “do this” or “do that.” Now we have tons of people teaching the real estate game, but no one teaching you how to market and scale this thing to an all new level.
With that being said, over the last month and a half, I’ve only talked about building your foundation in real estate. That foundation is creating a website that serves all people in your local market you’d like your message to reach. What I stress all the time is that if your website is not SEO optimized and opened to obtain leads by having potential buyers and sellers opt-in, then you’re in trouble.
If you missed those posts, you can just check out my profile here on BiggerPockets to read my first 7 posts, which are all centered around building your real estate business from the foundation up.
Video is King
This will be the last and final element of building a website foundation that will allow you to dominate your local market. Today after this post, we will focus 90% on the general marketing side of real estate versus on the website side of things.
What I teach in marketing is that 10% of your time should be geared towards your site, while 90% of your time should be focused on other general elements of marketing. But before we can get to the marketing side of real estate, we must think about adding one final element to the website, which is a video.
Hey, let’s be honest. Most of us are very, very and I mean very lazy people when it comes to reading. I’m one of those people due to the fact that in over 15 years of being online, I’ve read thousands of websites. This makes me a lazy person when reading content on a page. Whether you know it or not, the people who come to your website may have that same syndrome.
However, that is not the main reason to have a video on your website. The ultimate reason behind it is to educate the potential lead on what I call a personal level. I see many real estate websites that just have content on the pages — and no personal feel to them at all. The owners of those sites simply state, “Sell Me Your House,” and they leave it up to the lead to make the decision of whether or not to do business with them.
You’ve probably heard the statements:
People buy from those they trust.
People sell to those they trust.
I’m a big believer in selling myself on the front page of my marketing website. One thing that I have is a video right there in front of you to educate you on who I am and what services I provide. What this does for your business is build rapport with a person who doesn’t yet know who you are. If you do this by implementing some of the simple things that I will explain here in a moment, then you will convert more people into selling or buying properties from you.
I can tell you that this works because the vast majority of the time that I initially talk to people over the phone or Skype, they say that they feel as though they can trust me. We never meet or talk up until this point, but with the use of the power of video to introduce myself, I am able to break the ice up front.
Lack of Videos
I’m often asked by many in the real estate industry to take a look at their websites. My goal from the second that I get on the page is to find the personal touch of a video. Not just a simple professional picture of you smiling for the camera. I’m talking about that introduction video where you are talking directly to all of the people out there.
What I usually find is that their websites are lacking, and the truth is about 80% to 90% of those sites don’t even have a video on them. What I’m seeing is that they’re missing out on tons of leads by not engaging with their readers from the second they reach the page.
Take it from a guy who’s made thousands of videos over the years teaching people about marketing. I even had a …read more