Video Testimonials

Do you take video testimonials of your clients? If you don’t and you want something easy, pick up a Flip Video camera.

If you do here is a neat little plugin for adding them to your Blog’s Side Bar.

If you are reading this by email or a feed reader click on over to my blogs main page
Future of Real Estate Technology and take a look at the top right to see the plugin in action. Currently I have four video testimonials loaded but I will add more later.

To make this work I actually modified the theme to create a third sidebar that is a combination of the widths of the two smaller side bars.

The plugin I used is Daiko’s YouTube Widget and after installing the plugin all I had to was drag the two widgets that are part of the plugin to the new sidebar I created. The plugin is very easy to configure and the player part of the video can be made to any size you want.

Would video testimonials help potential customers choose you to be there Real Estate Agent? I can’t guarantee it will but it wouldn’t hurt to put them up on the front page or maybe create a category and have a special menu of Testimonials.

If you would like me to modify your theme to do something similar, contact me at 866-987-8324.

Loren Nason
Real Estate Technology Coach

5 Comments

  1. Brad Nix on April 21, 2008 at 7:50 am

    Great use of the Flip!

    I think video is a great to differentiate yourself from the competition.

  2. Matt Dollinger on April 21, 2008 at 1:20 pm

    Loren,

    Great idea with the incorporation of video into the testimonial aspect of the business. I agree that this is a great way to leverage your testimonials and bring them into a whole other area of involvement with potential clients.

    Here are a couple of cautions I might throw out there however:

    1. Are the clients you’re interviewing a representation of those that you want to work with in the future? (I sold a house to my college roomate, but lord knows I’m not putting him on camera!)
    2. Does the technology you’re using to capture the video reflect the level of quality in your business or your technology? (i.e. flip phone camera versus having a microphone, lighting, etc.) Make sure the video looks as good as your business.
    3. Like a regular testimonial letter, clip and edit. Pick the points that work into your “You Factor” and highlight those. Don’t focus on 2+ minutes of how they knew you because of your brother’s, wife’s, second-cousin’s, college roomate.

    Done well… I think this is powerful and brings an identification factor to your business.

    Done poorly… well, I think you get the picture.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_K_P7CG5MU&feature=related

    Stand out… but make sure it’s a reflection of your overall brand!

    Matt

  3. Loren Nason on April 21, 2008 at 4:27 pm

    Well said Matt.

    Video is great but be careful as to what video and video of whom you put up so as to not portray an image that makes it worst. You are SO RIGHT in this.

    I will say that quality of video isn’t SUPER important but yet it is important. It depends on what is the subject of the video.

    If the video is of a house for sale then the video shouldn’t be super crappy and at least should have some good lighting. Having crappy video of a house for sale does not do any justice to the house.

    Testimonial video isn’t as much of a concern since even to me as I am expecting something off the cuff and not professionally done.

  4. Overland Park Real Estate on April 22, 2008 at 11:55 am

    I like the idea of Video Testimonials. I need to get some put together becuase I feel that is a much more effective way to show past client Testimonials.

  5. Henry DelAngelo on April 22, 2008 at 7:20 pm

    Video is a great way to get your message accross in a personal way. Yes, you need to pick and choose the right ones for your site. I am not sure YouTub is the best way to add the video as most people would not know how to configure the tool bar as you indicated. I am amazed that businesses would use YouTube on their site and brand YouTube. Often when you use that service your video is on page with thumbnails of other videos in a similar catagory which will lead people away for your page to others.

    I would never want my web visitors to leave my site and possibly being let to a competitor.
    Here is the personal video library I created on my site http://www.helloworld.com:80/members_embed.aspx?ID=DelAngelo&target=video

    It is easy to establish and cost effecitve.

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