YouTube can be a powerful source of lead generation for real estate agents. In fact, last year, I earned over $100,000 in GCI in my real estate business just from leads I generated off of my Real Estate YouTube channel.

But I know alot of real estate agents do struggle to get views, subscribers and most importantly leads from their YouTube channels. This despite many of their videos doing very well on other platforms like Facebook or Instagram.

So today I am going to share with you 5 hacks I have learned over the past 6 years as a YouTuber to grow your real estate YouTube channel so you can start generating leads for your business as well.

1. Create More “Clickable” Titles

So be honest, have you ever titled one of your real estate YouTube videos something like “Home Buying Tips” and then wondered why no one watched your video?

Before someone can watch one of your videos, they need to first CLICK on your video and of the biggest factors if someone will click on your video or not, is your video title. THIS is why titles are REALLY important on YouTube.

A lot of real estate agents look at their video titles as if it was a label. They may label their video "Seller Tips” or “Best Restaurants”.

But instead, you want to look at it as if it was a headline. Just like the headline of an article or blog post.

For example, a better title for your video might be "These Home Buying Tips Will Save You Thousands" or maybe "5 Home Buying Tips Your Parents Did Not Tell You". These types of titles will get someone's attention and make them want to click your video.

For examples of great headlines, check out blogging sites like Buzzfeed.

2. Master Custom Thumbnails

Like titles, thumbnails need to compel a user to want to click on your video.

You need to upload a custom thumbnail for every video that you make and these thumbnails should be bright and colorful to get a user's attention.

You also want to design them to be viewed on a mobile device because that is where the majority of your views are coming from.

So this means if you are using words in your thumbnail, they need to be large enough to easily read on mobile devices. It is generally best practice to keep the text under 5 words if you use text at all.

If you are using your face in the thumbnail, again, it should be large and easy to see on a mobile device. I generally crop from either my waist up or chest up and have my image go to the top of the thumbnail frame.

You can easily make a custom thumbnail using free software like that on Canva.

In fact, here is a video I have walking you through how to make a great looking YouTube thumbnail on Canva.

3. Be Selective In Your Topics

To win the click, there is one thing even MORE important than the title or thumbnail of your video and that is the actual topic.

For example, if you were to make a real estate video about escrow accounts, explaining what an escrow account is, why they are important, ect. no matter how good the title or or thumbnail are, a video about escrow accounts will never get a lot of views on YouTube!

Instead, try making a video about 10 Real Estate Terms You Should Know Before Buying a Home. And escrow accounts can be one of those 10 terms. This topic is going to get far more clicks and views!

4. Keep Them Watching Longer

One of the MOST important metrics YouTube monitors on your real estate videos is how long a user watches it for.

If a user is only watching your video for 30 seconds and then backs out, YouTube can see this and will be less likely to promote or rank your video with the search term you were going after.

They measure this with both % viewed, which measures what percentage of your video users watch on average, and also “watch time” which is the average length in minutes a user watches your video for.

It is important you keep a user watching your video for as long as possible. This can be challenging if you are covering a topic that may not be all that interesting, like real estate sometimes can be.

There are a few tricks you can use to make even the most mundane topics more entertaining though.

You can use text or graphics in your videos, change your camera angle often, play music in the background, or use b-roll (which is other video or images that plays overtop the main video of you talking).

All of these tricks will help keep the user's attention and keep them watching longer. YouTube will see this and start promoting your video to more people and ranking it in search.

5. Nail The First 30 Seconds!

The very beginning of your YouTube video is typically when most of your viewers will back out.

Maybe your real estate video was not what they thought it was going to be about, maybe your video or production quality is not high enough for them or maybe they just got bored.

This is why it’s important that you nail the first 30 seconds of your video!

Unfortunately, most real estate agents start their YouTube videos off by talking about themselves and how you should call them if you are thinking about “buying, selling or investing in real estate”.

This is a huge mistake and could be WHY your YouTube videos are not performing.

What you want to do is start your video off with a hook.

A hook is when you hype up the value the user is going to get out of your video.

For example, if you start off a video by saying “today I am going to give you my home buying tips”. That is not very interesting or exciting.

Instead, you could try to “hook” them by saying “today I am going to share with you the exact home buying strategies my client recently used to save $10,000 on their home purchase and stay tuned until number #7 when I share a strategy with you I bet your real estate agent does not even know about”.

At the start of your video, you also want to validate that what you promised in your title and thumbnail is in fact what the viewer is going to get out of your video.

The truth is, there is still a lot of clickbait on the internet today and users want that reassurance that the video is going to be about what you promised.

And then get into the content as soon as possible! I generally try to get into the actual meat and potatoes of my content within the first 30 seconds of the video.

By hooking your audience, reassuring them what the video will be about and getting into your content as soon as possible, you will keep them watching longer and your videos will start performing better.

Conclusion: YouTube For Real Estate Agents

The truth is YouTube does have a learning curve to it and it can take a little time to figure things out.

You need to learn how to optimize your content for the platform and the audience. The good news is, by optimizing your content FOR THE AUDIENCE, you are optimizing it for the YouTube algorithm at the same time.

It’s still a platform worth learning though, especially for real estate agents. I am a full time real estate agent in Annapolis Maryland and YouTube is my primary sources of leads for my real estate business. By following these 5 strategies to optimize your video for the platform, YouTube can become a source of business for you as well.

Now that you know HOW to optimize your real estate video for YouTube, check out this article I wrote here about 10 Killer Video Ideas For Real Estate Agents and start generating leads with your videos today!