Trolling, as I do, through youtube looking for horrible real estate videos, I came across this gem. It is not a “Worst YouTube Real Estate Video” contender, but I thought it would brighten up a Friday Afternoon. The current count of videos on youtube tagged with the term “real Estate” has now risen to 30,000

The Realtor. Sadly, what makes it so funny is the grain of truth to it.

Continuing my quest to find the best and worst real estate videos on the internet, I came across this one using the tag “Hous for sale,” on the basis that I should find some rubbish if I looked for a mis-spelled word or two. Bingo!

After I finished laughing at this one, I realized that this is not actually a “House for sale,” video. This is supposed to be a demo video by a company offering to make a video of your house for sale. Good grief! That’s correct. This is a demonstration of just how good a real estate video can be. I almost feel sorry enough for these people to add a link to their site. Almost.

Some real estate videos on youtube are bad enough, but this person is actually encouraging people to shoot them like this. This is almost painful to watch. The opening shot is of a car for goodness’ sake. Not really very appropriate unless the car is included in the sale. Of course, there is no soundtrack (unless you count the occasional bird chirping in the background) so I have no idea if that is supposed to be the case.

To who ever shot this video. I have one word for you:

                                                   TRIPOD

And if you can’t afford a tripod, Johnny Chung Lee will show you how to make your own steadycam for $14.

If you are interested in seeing just how good a real estate video can be, take a look at these:

Bradford Squared
Victoria House

As much as I may make fun of the crappy real estate videos on youtube, there are videos at the other end of the scale that I can only bow down to in amazement.

This one, for instance was shot by Squint/Opera to promote the regeneration of Bradford city center by the realization of World-renowned Architect Will Alsop’s masterplan. The film was commissioned by “Bradford Centre regeneration,” with the intention of appealing to both real estate investors and the general public. It would appear they succeeded beyond their wildest imaginations and all the projects featured are either under construction or being planned. Bradford will soon realize it’s goal of being one of the most expensive cities in the North of England. Beautiful – they say a picture paints a thousand words, but this video paints millions.

Bradford Squared.

As regular readers will know, I am currently watching the incredible quantity of real estate videos being uploaded to youtube. When I first started this, youtube had 25,300 real estate videos. That has now increased to 29,200, just a few weeks later.

Continuing a look at the crappiest real estate video on youtube, this week, I am proud (if that’s the correct term) to present this one. According to the title, this one is in DEEP WATER!! And includes OCEAN!!! Presumably the extra exclamation mark after ocean means that’s more important.

After watching this one, I though, as usual, why bother? 1.06 minutes of a real estate agent shouting over the noise of the wind. You could argue that it is better than nothing, but I would argue right back that it merely demonstrates unprofessional behavior, although I do agree with his closing remark. It is a good life

It doesn’t take an I.Q in the genius range to see that online video is the up-coming marketing tool for just about any product and service. The rise of YouTube and hundreds of cloned versions has been nothing less than spectacular.

YouTube was launched in 2005 and has since had hundreds of millions of page views. No one questions their “success,” and the recent acquisition by google shows some one values the service. Although, back in 2006, billionaire, Mark Cuban, was quoted as saying, “Anyone who buys YouTube is a moron.”

Regardless, the fact is, everyone and their Grandmother sees YouTube as just another marketing opportunity. Easy uploads, massive exposure and a ready audience panting with anticipation to see the next uploaded video. Or is it? Here’s five questions you should ask yourself before doing so - if you have a luxury property to market.

1. Would you market your property in “Seventeen,” magazine? 

Despite conflicting reports from some sources, Neilsen and Netratings agree, “ Visitors between 12-17 years of age are nearly 1.5 times more likely to visit YouTube than the average Web user."

2. Would you market your luxury property alongside 25,000 other properties?

A search for the term “real estate” at YouTube yielded 25,300 results – many of which are never viewed.

3. Would you wish to have your luxury property associated with some one like this?

Sure, he’s funny, but do you really want the next video a prospective client watches after yours to be this one - on the same page, with the same look and from the same source? 

4. Is it remarkable?

I am a big fan of Seth Godin. Seth Godin’s marketing advice (apart from suggesting that you quit selling real estate) is that for something to warrant attention, it has to be “remarkable,” i.e. some one seeing it should remark upon it.

How remarkable are YouTube videos? I am not sure exactly how many youtube videos there are – in fact, I’m not sure they know, but as of February 2008, there were over 72,000,000. Needle in a haystack anyone? Anyone can upload a video to youtube. My 7-year-old niece can upload videos to youtube. How “remarkable” is that? You need an edge when it comes to marketing something, and youtube is not it.
 

If, as I suspect you did, answered “No” to any or all of the preceding questions, the next logical question is:

5. Where should I market my luxury property video

Here are a few options that offer a far more targeted audience.

Forbes Video Network

Forbes has an extremely high quality, well presented video search facility, which includes luxury real estate. For a good example of the sort of quality available, take a look at this video of one of Donald Trump’s $6 million properties.

Luxury Property

Luxury Property has combined with a number of professional video production services to offer the best possible quality and a peerless venue.

Are you posting your luxury property videos on Youtube? If you are I don’t blame you. That is what some mass market real estate ‘experts’ are recommending. They suggest a video salvo across the web is a sure fire plan for success. Put your exclusive, prestigious property in as many places as possible they say. Boost your SEO. Climb to the top of Google. Take over the world! The illusions of grandeur just keep going. Let’s bring this back to reality.

Youtube is a wild, beautiful cacophony of humanity. Yet, it doesn’t take much searching to realize the inherent problem with posting your property video there. Have you ever looked at the “comments & responses” section under one of these videos? It’s not exactly tea and crumpets down there. In fact, it can get down right absurd, embarrassing, and nasty. I love the freedom of speech, but you wouldn’t put your luxury listing on the back of an adult magazine. Posting your luxury property video on Youtube is like being in Jurassic Park. One minute everything is great as you get an initial boost in your SEO. The next moment T-Rex is gobbling up the poor little goat, chasing down your Jeep, and Jeff Goldblum is chirping “must go faster” in your ear. Youtube is not as good as it seems. Here’s evidence why luxury professionals should NOT post their property videos on Youtube.

The following links are to professionally produced luxury videos on Youtube. It’s important to remember most qualified luxury buyers aren’t searching Youtube for real estate. Even if they are, would they want to read the “comments and responses” associated with the videos at the links below?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mgaa4fw1aVY

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ppP-67CvB8k

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uj_dH9fJq_I

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8edY7bUa18o

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RS_9WNuPfe8

Targeted marketing is everything. Where you put a luxury listing says a lot about it. How you respect a seller’s privacy says a lot about your professionalism.The content, design, and overall appeal of a property’s marketing has a dramatic effect on buyers. When I’m reading the Wall Street Journal I enjoy the real estate. When I am at a carnival (Youtube) it’s best to watch the talking animals and the clowns. They each have their place. Just not with each other.

For targeted online real estate marketing contact LuxuryProperty.com. Your buyers AND sellers will thank you.

Imagine the Greek deity Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders. Quite the load even for someone with muscles the size of Africa. Now, imagine Youtube, the Atlas of internet videos. It carries the weight of millions of videos and users. Its dominance has continued following its 1.65 billion dollar Google buyout last October. According to Hitwise (a web analytics research firm) traffic data shows the market share of visits to YouTube increased 70% between January and May in the United States. To put this in context, the market share of visits to 64 other video sites only increased by 8% during the same time. While Youtube may be king there are still many innovating competitors in the market. The following is an abbreviated version of a who’s who list of video sites posted by the Mashable team on their Blog.

Google Video - Since Google bought YouTube, Google’s Video player is mainly used for for-pay content like TV shows. There is also a search indexes for all video sharing sites on the internet.

Blip.tv - Blip.tv is designed for video podcast makers. It allows for easy uploads with all types and qualities of media. It then sends them to their feed for the users. Advertising options are also available.

Ourmedia - Where you can upload audio, video, images, and text and share them with the world. The OurMedia community contains over 100,000 members.

Veoh – Allows users to watch high definition quality videos and publish personal videos.

DailyMotion - Video sharing platform with multiple video search options. People join groups based on publishing videos with common interests.

Metacafe - A site that helps you discover the best videos through a community that filters, reviews and rates new videos every day. UnCut - Video uploading and sharing community by AOL. Embeds videos into you blog.

Kewego- A video sharing network where you can upload your own videos and view videos by others.

ClipShack - Video sharing community that allows you to upload video clips, make friends, keep a collection of your favorite videos and comment on clips. 5min- Video sharing site with a particular vision: collect videos that can explain anything in five minutes.

Brightcove - Search, click and watch. Music videos, news, travel, recipes, adventure. Thousands of channels, including the best in online video.

Viddler– Allows you to add tags and comments to video that will show up at specific times. It also has unique features like flickr and twitter integration.

Revver - The first video sharing site that provides users with the possibility to earn revenue from the videos they upload.

Yahoo Video- Yahoo’s version of online video. Similar to Google Video.

Livevideo- Video sharing site that lets you create personal channels. Upload your own videos and share them with the world..

VMIX - Another video sharing website; All content is screened.

Grouper- Video sharing site with a big selection of content; enables you to create playlists and upload videos to MySpace.

Videosift- a Digg-like site which lets you submit, vote, and comment on videos.

Stage6 - A video site that uses the Divx player so you can upload High Definition video, This requires longer upload times, and you need DivX support (usually a browser plugin).

Tube Battle- vote for the best videos, organized by category.

Many of these sites are excellant venues for you to syndicate your videos. However, should a luxury video really be posted all over the web? Should luxury professionals really be marketing a high end property on a mass market website? Do discreet sellers really want their property plastered all over the internet? Of course not. Targeted marketing and distribution is paramont. Forget trying to be Atlas and forget trying to carry all your online marketing on your shoulders. There’s help out there…LuxuryProperty.com

Photo: Astramate