Category: Inbound Marketing

Looking for quality Real Estate SEO Tips to help you generate leads? Congrats, you’ve found the best Real Estate SEO Tips out there… at least we think so. :)

Search Engine Optimization can be super confusing. There is a ton of information out there, and most of it is contradictory or outdated.

This video will help you break down in less than 3 minutes SEO tips for real estate investors.

Real Estate SEO Tips (VIDEO):

Real Estate Investor SEO Tip #1:

Real Estate SEO Tip #2:

Real Estate Investors SEO Tip #3:

Real Estate Investor SEO Tip #4:

Real Estate SEO Tip #5:

Real Estate SEO Tip #6:

Real Estate SEO Tip #7:

Real Estate Investors SEO Tip #8:

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Want to learn more about content marketing, lead generation and SEO?

The majority of search traffic comes from page 1 – these terms are highly competitive, so it’s super-valuable to invest in good SEO in your local market. We can help you. Click to see Brittany’s story of going from zero online leads to multiple leads per day – and how she was able to quit her wage job to become a full-time investor working for herself.

Don’t make your real estate investor marketing tough on yourself! Just take it one step at a time. Today’s post will show you expected and unexpected strategies for real estate investor lead generation.

As the real estate market gets increasingly competitive, the search for quality inventory becomes tougher every day.

If you’re like most of our members, you’d prefer to have your phone ring… you don’t want to cold call people from a list, right? I’ve done quite a bit of cold calling over the years myself, and even though I’m pretty good at it, it’s way more work… it’s a whole lot easier to learn solid inbound marketing practices from others, then replicate them for yourself.

My goal here of this blog is to take the best practices from others who are some of the best at real estate investor lead generation and bring them to you. Like a butler carrying a silver tray…. I want to serve lead generation techniques to you with style. :)

We’ve shown you the not-so-secret formula for lead generation is simple: traffic & conversions.

One fun thing to remember: traffic can come from anywhere. If you have a creative, fun or clever way to generate leads: do it! Don’t get stuck in “paralysis by analysis” — trust yourself when you think “hey, this might work.”

Unique Strategies for Real Estate Investor Lead Generation

The Expected:

• Google Search
• Optimize Your Real Estate Investor Lead Generation Websites
• Craigslist for Real Estate Investors
• Bandit Signs and Bus Stops
• Direct Mail
• Bird Dogging
• Develop Properties

The Unexpected:

• Bing, Yahoo and “Off-Google” Search
• Optimize Yelp, Facebook… Everything
• Local Classifieds
• Flyers at Laundromats and Non-Profits
• Door Knocking with a “Down Payment”
• Turn Your Vendors Into Business Partners
• Develop Communities

Expected: Google Search

Definitely one of our favorite places to generate leads!

A good chunk of our business comes from folks who search phrases like “real estate investor websites” online… then discover InvestorCarrot. They check us out, learn that we’ve got an awesome reputation… then start learning from us, launch a website, follow our training… and then get great results.

Lots of our members are beating their competitors on the top Google keywords in their markets using our sites. It’s super cool to see.

Our sites are written around some of the most frequently-searched keywords that generate >80% of the leads in most markets. We teach content marketing to real estate investors — so not only do you learn the top real estate investor keywords we use for our sites, our training teaches you how to generate leads from Google.

Unexpected: Bing, Yahoo and “Off-Google” Search

While Google gets about 66% of the traffic, they seem to get about 99% of the attention.

That leaves almost a third of the traffic out there without much competition. PPC costs are usually way lower on off-brand networks (although the conversion rates are often lower too, it still often ends up being cheaper than Google).

Expected: Optimize Your Real Estate Investor Lead Generation Websites

You know that you should be optimizing your website, right? Optimization is critical to getting found on search.

Fortunately, it’s super easy to optimize your Carrot site… we have the tools built right in, and we can help you rank high in your market.

Unexpected: Optimize Yelp, Facebook… Everything

Did you know that investors are using pages on other platforms to crowd out their competition in search, too?

I’ve seen pages on Yelp, Facebook, YouTube, Zillow, blog sites, and other big platforms used to dominate top keywords in busy markets.

This is a really smart strategy because sites like Yelp and Facebook already have a ton of authority, so it’s way easier to rank your business’s page on their high-credibility site than on your brand new domain name.

I’d love to see more of our members dominating their local search by ranking different websites on the same keywords… and crowding out their competition.

Already a Carrot Member? Check Out Carrot’s Facebook Leads Masterclass

Learn how to drive leads to your site and build an audience with Facebook marketing.

Expected: Craigslist for Real Estate Investors

I love Craigslist, and I’ve gotten lots of real estate business from it. There are lots of investors crowding all over it in busy markets, often running very similar ads… and it’s still a great source of leads. It’s also free. Here’s tips on how to get Motivated Sellers from Craigslist, plus access to our Craigslist Posts-to-Profits training.

[cta offer=”craigslist” color=”orange”]

Unexpected: Geebo, Reachoo, and Other Local Classifieds

The same techniques that work so well on Craigslist also work for other local classified sites. I know one real estate investor who has had the same tiny little ad running for years in his local paper… I think he said it costs him about $80 per month to keep it there, and he makes about $25,000 per year off of the transactions that ad generates.

If you’ve got a local newspaper that doesn’t charge a ton, it’s probably a good idea to run a tiny ad with your phone number, especially if your competitor *isn’t* doing it.

It’s also not a bad idea to post ads on a lot of the free online sites that imitate Craigslist. On some of those sites, you might even get some SEO benefit when you link back to your site from your profile.

Expected: Bandit Signs and Bus Stops

Lots of investors have tried putting up signs or buying bus stop ads.

They work, although paid ads are expensive and bandit signs are illegal in many areas (that’s why they got called “bandit” signs… cause they’re breaking the law).

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Unexpected: Flyers at Laundromats and Non-Profits

If someone can’t afford to fix their washer, they might need to sell their house, right?

Most laundromats have a bulletin board where you can hang a flyer. Better yet, buy the laundromat. People pump quarters into those things all day long. ;)

Seriously though, make some quality fliers (or if you don’t have graphic design skills, hire someone)… and find the places where people go when they’re down-and-out.

Talk to folks at non-profit agencies who help with foreclosure and probate assistance, and see if they need a partner who buys houses or helps with short sales (depending on your specialties). You may be able to give them a donation from every transaction, depending on referral laws in your state. Check with a good attorney to be sure.

If you can build trust with the right agencies, you’ll have an ongoing deal pipeline for a long time. There are some insanely smart community development organizations who build housing and are solid real estate professionals. Don’t underestimate them.

If you can provide a great service for the same population they serve, they’ll be a great business alliance.

Plus, the partnership that you establish with them is great for press and building future credibility.

Expected: Direct Mail

Direct mail is still a viable real estate investor lead generation option, and it’s easy to replicate. There are a lot of systems for sale out there. It’s pretty expensive, and everyone’s doing it… if you’re in a busy market and using a popular system, you’re probably sending the same stuff as your competitors.

It’s still better than doing nothing. Direct mail campaigns tend to have about a 2-3% success rate, on average… so you’re definitely playing a numbers game.

Unexpected: Door Knocking with a “Down Payment”

I know this real estate investor lead generation method sounds crazy! But I know investors who do really well just walking up to houses and knocking on the door.

Of course, they know who they are targeting… after signs of disrepair, utility notices, etc., they walk up to the door… and if the owner is home, they give that person a $5 bill along with a business card… and let the homeowner know that it’s just a “down payment” when that seller is ready to sell. It’s pretty easy to get their contact info – shoot, let ’em know you wanna send ’em another $5 on their birthday.

I love that strategy… it’s a powerful psychological trigger to take money from someone.

And if you’re thinking “whoa, that’s a fast way to lose $5” – then you’ve probably never run a pay-per-click campaign on Google. If you’re not planning to spend some time and/or money on lead acquisition, you’re not making a serious plan.

Developing a list of people who have taken your “$5 down payment” and actually staying in touch with those people is a great way to get access to properties before anyone else in your market. You don’t want to go around giving away money… but if you can set yourself up to buy houses before anyone else, you’re winning.

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Expected: Bird Dogging

Lots of real estate investors team up with “bird dogs” to send them leads. These are folks who (hopefully) do the work of finding potential off-market property sellers and then send you the leads. Depending on the bird dog and the strength of the lead, this might average out to a cost of $50-$1,500 per transaction.

Unexpected: Turn Your Vendors Into Business Partners

Often the people you already know are your key to growing your business… you might just not see the opportunity.

If you know an ambitious person… might be a sibling or a cousin, could be a virtual assistant, a student or a partially retired friend… even your spouse.

If you find someone who isn’t afraid to knock on doors and talk to people, that person could be a great potential partner for your real estate business. Or maybe you’re the type of person who loves to talk but hates technical details — then you might want to find someone who can help you crush it with online marketing.

Depending on the laws in your state, it might even make sense for you to help that person buy property under his or her name – or even together under a new LLC.

There are a lot of creative ways to structure deals.

As many industry veterans will tell you, often the price doesn’t matter as much as the terms.

When you’re calculating your profit from a transaction, what’s important isn’t just the price you paid… it’s the money you made.

If your subcontractor, virtual assistant, and your family are all working to help your business grow – if they have incentives, motivation and a clear path – you’ll have a

So don’t be afraid to partner up with other people who can help you generate leads…. and don’t be afraid to publish in unexpected places!

Expected: Develop Properties

As a real estate investor, you should always be looking for easy ways to add value to properties. If you could spend $5,000 to improve the landscaping and increase your sale price by $50,000 – that would be a no-brainer of a decision, right?

I like to think of my investments on a timeline… where can I add value today that I can pull out for the highest return later?

In other words, if I can get my hands on a fully-rented apartment building with crummy apartments and slowly rehab each one for pennies on the dollar by keeping a few decent workers busy, I’ll make a lot more money by never having to lose my cash flow.

If I build a 30-unit building from scratch, I’d have to have the money to wait until the building is mostly finished before I even take in any money… that means I’d have to take out a lot of loans, which all cut into my profit.

So generally speaking, I look for properties that are already occupied, but not making the kind of cash flow they could be making if they were cleaned up, improved and well-managed.

But either way, it comes down to the money… I like to find properties that need mostly cosmetic improvements because those are the cheapest ways to develop.

Great investors know how to add value to the properties they own to get exponential rates of return.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with some truly great investors along the way, and I’m looking forward to sharing more of what I learned from them… and what I’m still learning today from our awesome Carrot members – we’re lucky to have some of the nation’s top investors as our members, and we’re growing every day.

Unexpected: Develop Communities

As some of you know, I spent a decade in Chicago real estate… actually more when you count the years I spent as a kid getting dragged around to open houses by my mother, who loved to keep tabs on all the neighborhood real estate activity.

I got involved with over $1 billion worth of real estate during my time in Chicago… most of it when I was the managing broker of a really busy real estate brokerage that helped to develop one of the coolest communities – the Wicker Park / Bucktown / Logan Square areas on the city’s Northwest side.

My boss then was a tiger, and I’m sure she still is today. She built an amazing business from the ground up out of sheer will and determination.

She represented some of the top developers on the Near Northside – guys who would buy millions of dollars worth of properties each week, as inventory became available. My boss sold the condos and buildings. I managed the office, training leasing and sales agents. We sold over $100M in sales volume and leased out hundreds of apartments each year. It was the glory days of a booming economy.

But together, we sold a story. It was a story about the neighborhood, about the community… about the histories and cultures of the people who lived there.

After years and years of working in those communities, we saw incredible growth. Now, that wasn’t just from our efforts, or those of our developers… there were huge economic forces in a city like Chicago much larger than anything we were doing.

As successful brokers, we knew how to own the story of the neighborhood.

We sold it to our clients: buyers, sellers, investors, developers, and tenants.

Everyone wanted to participate in something larger than themselves… that’s that feeling of community that feels so good. When you’re really helping others, it shows… and people want to be a part of it.

Your Real Estate Investor Lead Generation Efforts…

should be centered on your community.

We do the same with Carrot: we think of our members first. We want to help you do the best possible marketing for your real estate investment business.

What’s working for you? Any unexpected techniques or tricks we should try? What’s got you stuck? What can we help you improve or understand better?

Let us know… hit us up in the comments section below — and don’t forget to sign up for this weeks Live Coaching Call!

YouTube Real Estate Marketing doesn’t have to be tough, but if you want it to generate leads, you’d better optimize… we’ll show you how.

Why use YouTube for real estate marketing?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a YouTube real estate video is worth millions.

People can actually see you. They can hear you.

A video gives people a chance to build trust with you.

That trust is at the core of conversion strategy. Trust is what makes marketing work. People must have a certain amount of trust in order to make a purchase or fill out a form to get more info.

They have to believe in you.

That’s what makes video so great – it’s your chance to reach people, to connect with them, to inspire them to take action… to sell a house, to buy an investment… whatever you’ve got to offer, video can help you connect in a way that no other medium can do.

Think of it this way… a great sales video can keep selling for years, while you’re kicking back with your feet up.

So without further ado, here are the keys to getting great results from video marketing:

#1 – Do your keyword research.

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to research your keywords.

You must make sure that you’re optimizing for keywords that are actually being searched in your market.

People search on YouTube differently than they do in regular Google search. They often use different terms and slightly different phrases. So don’t assume that the keyword research you did months ago when you were thinking about optimizing your site is going to be enough for a good video marketing campaign.

Unfortunately, Google shut off the tool that told us directly what was being searched on YouTube… best we can see now is what they provide in their Display AdWords Planner – you’ll need a free Google account to use the tool.

Here’s what the Display Tool looks like:

#2 – Use no more than 2 keywords per video

For search marketing purposes, it’s way better to make a lot of small videos on YouTube targeting many keywords than to make one long one.

Think about it… people are searching a specific term, so you want your video to be directly related to that specific term. Sure, you can optimize a generic video a bunch of times with a lot of terms… but that technique won’t get good results.

Here are a few places where keywords might help:

• Title
• Tags
• Description
• Channel name
• Playlist titles
• Playlist description
• Comment field
• YouTube hashtags
• Social media posts that link to YouTube
• Website
• Annotations
• Captions
• Content or script
• Thumbnails
• Graphics in video
• Channel art
• Channel icon
• Custom Bitly links

Remember, Google is very smart. They work incredibly hard to make sure that good results climb to the top of their searches… so if you concentrate on making really high-quality content and optimizing it, you’ll get great results from it.

Don’t try to do too much with one video… make a plan to create new videos often.

#3 – Focus on making a great YouTube Real Estate Channel

Yeah, I know… you wanna just make one video, then call it quits.

But seriously, don’t bother. Trying to make one video will make you nuts. You can’t say everything you need to say in 90 seconds unless you’re super focused on just one or two keywords.

Either prepare to make video marketing a big part of your business, or don’t do it at all.

If you’re gonna do video marketing on YouTube, you’ll want to set up a really great YouTube channel.

That’s the goal… the top of the mountain you’ll want to climb. High credibility, high trust, high views… high revenue. :)

Videos that are on a great channel go to the top of the rankings.

Don’t stress about creating a great channel – it’s not something that will happen overnight. It’s the same offline and online – your focus should be on building high-quality, educational content that helps people in your local market.

That’s a long-term activity for major wealth-building, not a short-term, get-rich-quick trick.

So organize yourself in the way that makes the most sense for your working style.

Can you make one video per week? In a year you’ll have 52 videos… that’s a good amount for a channel.

Need help making your videos?

Organize it as a project instead… plan to make 20-30 videos at once. It takes less time and money than you’d think.

You can totally do it yourself, or hire some help.

You’ll need 3 people to help you:

• A copywriter to help you script out your videos to make great content
• A videographer to help you film and edit your videos
• A search marketer to help you optimize your videos

That last piece is so important… there are so many examples of great quality videos that get no views, simply because they weren’t set up right from the beginning.

But like everything else, just optimizing on the video alone might not be enough to get it to the top of the search.

#4 – Surround Your Videos With Great Content

Here’s where you can really put your Carrot sites to use: embed your videos!

You might not want to put a video right on the top of your home page… we’ve found that those can lower your conversion rates. It’s important not to stuff videos any old spot… but to put them in the right places.

Put them into blog posts or pages that are optimized for the same keyword, and that will help Google (and the other search engines) realize the value of your video and serve it up to the right audience.

You can also send out videos as a part of a well-written press release, too – that will help increase your exposure and connect up your video with your keywords on many sites.

Just like a page, a video needs credibility coming from the outside… the more related places where your video appears, the better. It’s a great practice to embed your video on an optimized Carrot page, then focus on getting high-quality back links directly to that page… that will help increase your site’s ranking and reputation as well as your video at the same time.

#5 – Learn All You Can About Video Marketing

We’re gonna have a special guest for tomorrow’s Live MasterMind Call… and we’re gonna talk a bunch about video marketing, why real estate investors have been too shy to use it well, and what a huge set of opportunities there are gonna be coming up for investors who do the work of setting up a really great video marketing system for themselves.

So make sure you sign up and register here!

If you’re not already a member, sign up now to join Carrot… you’ll be glad you did.

Let us know if that helps… we’d love to answer any questions you’ve got. Happy Marketing! :)