Seventy-three percent of homeowners say they're more likely to list with a real estate agent who offers to market their home or property using video, yet only 4% of Realtors put their listings on YouTube (source: NAR). Real estate agents – it's time to make the most of video!

Photographs are worth the proverbial thousand words. And they are proven to pique the interest of both buyers and sellers when it comes to real estate, and keep them interested for longer. Now video is having its day in the sun – videos are now one of the fastest growing marketing trends for real estate professionals. They are easy to make, easy to add to your property websites, and they can make all the difference when attracting new clients or prompting a sale.

"Video is perfect for a social media and for an internet savvy generation," explains Amanda Cornelius, cofounder and CEO of Properties Online. "Real estate videos provide buyers with a rich experience. They beautifully capture and highlight each listing, and—when included in a single property website—they deeply impress sellers and help you win listings."

Creating a video for your listings is easy with the right tools. Several property website providers include an easy to use video builder for each property website.

Cornelius lists five "Must Dos" for creating a great real estate video:

1. Keep it short

Attention spans on the internet are SHORT. People are busy and don't have time to watch anything that's longer than a couple of minutes. The ideal real estate video is about one minute long.

2. Add a soundtrack

The right soundtrack gets people in the right mood and will help them enjoy the visuals included in the video.

3. Add captions

While you shouldn't include too much text in a real estate video (after all, this is about visuals), it's important to include a few captions that highlight the most important information you would like to share about the property.

4. Upload it to YouTube

To get the most out of your video, you really need to take advantage of the SEO benefits that you get by uploading it to YouTube. After all, YouTube is owned by Google, and Google reserves special space in their search results for YouTube videos. In fact, according to one Forrester Research study, you are 50 times more likely to get a page one search result on Google by uploading a video to YouTube.

5. Have fun

Most importantly, don't forget to have fun! Creating a real estate video is a wonderfully creative process, and one of the best ways to truly showcase a property. The final outcome is always so exciting to watch. Play with your options, have fun, write short descriptive captions, and the end result will be fun to watch and to share online.

To view the original article, visit the Properties Online blog.