dsRadio - Internet Marketing for Real Estate Professionals

Selling swimming pools doesn’t sound all that exciting. Let alone blogging about selling swimming pools.

After all, what’s there to say? Well, a lot as it turns out...

Marcus Sheridan started a swimming pool company, River Pools and Spas in 2001. Finding himself selling in a tough economy, he turned to the web to help market his business. Several years later, business is good and it basically runs itself.

Ok Ricardo, but what does this have to do with real estate?

Everything! Think about it. How many of you have found yourself in Marcus’ shoes? The market is tough, you know you should be using the web to market your business (it’s affordable, it’s far reaching). But what do you say? Where do you start? After all, writing about real estate isn’t all that glamorous.

Well, writing about pools isn’t all that sexy either. But saving $1,000, $10,000 or even $20,000... Well, that is. That’s smart. And the same thing applies to real estate or any other industry. The trick is, to get inside your consumers head. Educate them. Find ways to help them save money on the largest, most emotional transaction of their lives and they’ll talk about what an awesome Agent you are to their friends and family.

Ask yourself, what does the consumer want to know when it comes to content? Then answer those questions day-in and day-out. Remember, with each email, each article they read, they’re getting closer and closer to making a buying decision.

In this episode, join me as I interview Marcus Sheridan (otherwise known as “The Sales Lion“) on the steps he took, to build a thriving business via the social web.

Click the flash-player below to listen:

[podcast]http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-97558/TS-569286.mp3[/podcast]

In this episode we discuss things like:

• Learn to think like your customer (and why that’s important).
• Learn how often you should be writing per week.
• How to use email to drive people back to your content.
• Why it’s important to track the behavior of your site visitors.
• How to use content to sell.
• How to quickly and efficiently create an ebook out of your previously written blog content using a simple WordPress plugin.

...and more.

Other listening options:

• Click here to subscribe via iTunes
• Click here to subscribe to the RSS Feed (non iTunes) | Subscribe to dsRadio by Email

Additional resources and notes from the show:

• Download Marcus’ free Inbound Marketing eBook at The Sales Lion.
• Follow Marcus on Twitter @TheSalesLion.
• Use the Anthologize WordPress plugin to transform your blog content into an ebook.

If you’ve listened to any of our episodes and have found them helpful, I’d love it if you would head on over to iTunes and gave us a review!

Content Management Systems, like WordPress, make it ridiculously simple to maintain a website. You can publish a blog post, edit a page, manipulate the layout and more.

But just because it’s easy, doesn’t mean it takes care of itself.

Maintaining a website is like maintaining a home. You have to mow the lawn every week, and occasionally you need to trim the hedges. A few times a year you might plant flowers, or re-seed the lawn. If you don’t do these things, the landscaping becomes overgrown, and it looks like no one cares.

What happens then? Site visitors click away in search of another reliable source of information.

How do you turn things around? What do you need to do to attract and engage visitors so they’ll spend more time looking at your offer?

Join me with Branding Expert, Pamela Wilson as we discuss:

• Why blogging matters for your business
• How to establish a writing habit even if you feel like you’re not a writer
• How to build a manageable To-Do List for managing your website
• Design techniques to attract visitors and build trust
• Techniques to make your content more engaging and readable

Click the flash-player below to listen:

[podcast]http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-97558/TS-512277.mp3[/podcast]

Other listening options:

• Click here to subscribe to the RSS feed (non iTunes) | Subscribe to dsRadio by Email
• Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Additional resources and notes from the show:

• Download the e-book – Reboot Your Website: How To Get Your Neglected Site Back on Track. Totally free. No forms to fill out, no opt-in required, just click the link to download now.
• You can catch up with Pamela Wilson at BigBrandSystem.com
• Follow @PamelaiWilson on Twitter
• Sign up for Design 101 (free) for more lessons on how to polish up your marketing and grow your business with Pamela Wilson

So, how does your website stack up? Do you need to do a little house-cleaning? Tell you what, if you want some quick feedback, drop a comment with a link to your site and tell me what your single biggest challenge is. I’ll reply with some thoughts for you to turn around and implement now...

There are lots of business out there that are reluctant to embrace social media – blogs, social networks, et cetera.

Both for fear of putting themselves out there, and for fear of negative comments.

What if someone says something bad about my company? I don’t want that on my blog or on the web...

That’s just it though, consumers are having those conversations. You can either engage and shift the conversation to a more positive discussion about your product or service, or you can turn your back on it and let what they’re saying shape your image.

That’s the basis of our discussion today with guest expert, Mari Smith. She’s the author of two books and is often referred to as a relationship marketing whiz, and the “Pied Piper of Facebook” (by FastCompany). Basically, when it comes to making sense of social media and building relationships, Mari’s your girl.

Click the flash-player below to listen:

[podcast]http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-97558/TS-570152.mp3[/podcast]

In this episode we discuss things like:

• How businesses are failing with social media (and what to do about it).
• How to become a social business to service customers and increase sales.
• How to find and curate high quality content to establish yourself as a knowledgeable expert resource that people want to follow.
• How to manage your time and put better systems in place.

...and more.

Other listening options:

• Click here to subscribe via iTunes (If you liked this episode, visit iTunes & give us a review! Here are instructions on how to submit a review).
• Click here to subscribe to the RSS Feed (non iTunes) | Subscribe to dsRadio by Email

Additional resources and notes from the show:

• Keep up with Mari Smith and all her latest on her website here.
• You can download a free chapter of Mari’s new book “The New Relationship Marketing” here.
• Learn more about training services with Mari Smith here.
• Follow Mari Smith on Twitter.
• Subscribe to Mari Smith on Facebook.

How are you using social media in your business to either increase sales or provided an added layer of customer service? Have any great examples of how social media has helped improve your business? What’s your biggest challenge implementing social media to become a social business?

How much is a #1 Google Ranking worth to your business? (That’s a rhetorical question by the way)

Sure, you know SEO (search engine optimization) is important, but do you know how to effectively do SEO?

Well, we know someone who does. And we thought him to be the perfect candidate to help us kick off our new bi-weekly(ish) podcast (but we’re not actually calling it a podcast, we’re calling it a Radio show). That special guest is Internet Anthropologist and SEO Ninja, Jim Marks from Virtual Results.

In this episode, Jim Marks and I discuss:

• What SEO is and why it matters to your business
• The two pitfalls you need to avoid for having a website that ranks well in search engines
• Why WordPress will help your site rank straight out of the box
• The secret recipe to finding the right keywords to help you get more customers in a hurry via search
• How to use Google’s Keyword Tool to effectively SEO your posts
• How to tweak your site to avoid duplicate content

...and more.

Hit the flash player below to listen now:

[podcast]http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-97558/TS-479605.mp3[/podcast]

Other listening options:

• Click here to download the mp3 file | 39.4 MB | 43:04 (right click and “save link as”)
• Click here to subscribe to the RSS feed (non iTunes) | Subscribe to dsRadio by Email
• Click here to subscribe via iTunes

The Corcoran Group is the largest residential real estate brokerage in New York. They’re the winner of Inman News’ 2011 Social Media Innovator of the Year Award – and rightly so.

If there’s anyone that “get’s” social media, it’s Matthew Shadbolt, Corcoran’s Director of Interactive Product & Marketing.

Join us as we discuss their step-by-step strategy in using some of today’s top social networks to build their brand and engage in conversations about real estate with consumers everywhere.

Click the flash-player below to listen:

[podcast]http://recordings.talkshoe.com/TC-97558/TS-566731.mp3[/podcast]

In this episode we discuss things like:

• Why and How to use Twitter to connect with prospects and engage in conversations about real estate.
• How to use the world’s largest social network (Facebook) to grow your database.
• How to find, create and publish engaging content people find share-worthy.
• Why mobile matters and insights into the Corcoran Group’s location-based marketing strategy.
• Spanning more than 10+ million users, learn some of the unique ways the Corcoran Group is using Google+ to engage with their audience.

...and more.

Other listening options:

• Click here to subscribe to the RSS Feed (non iTunes) | Subscribe to dsRadio by Email
• Click here to subscribe via iTunes

Additional resources and notes from the show:

• Learn more about the Corcoran Group by visiting corcoran.com.
• Follow the Corcoran Group on Twitter at @Corcoran_Group.
• Like the Corcoran Group on Facebook.
• Check ’em out on Google+.