Inbound marketing for real estate investors is essential for business growth. BUT…
… for some of you, false ideas and beliefs are holding you back.
They disempower you from taking action and making progress — because when you believe something isn’t going to be worth it, then you’re not going to do it and, you’re certainly not going to invest in it.
And not doing something that would help your business grow is detrimental.
That’s why it’s essential, as real estate investors, that we examine our limiting beliefs for fallacious thoughts and ideas.
If you believe some of these myths… you’re leaving $1000s in potential deals on the table!
Believe it or not… Here are the 10 inbound marketing for real estate investors myths
The ideas that limit growth and hold you back from true success.
1. “I Get All of My Leads Offline, I Don’t Think I Need a Website”
We’ve found that real estate websites can convert higher and are more profitable than offline leads.
Plus, your website will be the central hub to track all of your marketing efforts. Even offline leads, from cold calling to direct mail.
So, why do you need a website?
The first is that you want to own your brand. You want to have a website to secure your name within your market, and a website is a perfect way to do this.
You want to connect the website to your name, your company, and your brand since that’s what consumers are going to search for online, and you want to be sure that your website pops up and not a competitor’s.
And this is true, too, about owning your name. You want potential buyers and sellers to Google your business name. Having a website will help to solidify yourself, your brand, and your company.
Think about it: even when you give a seller a business card, they’re likely going to lose the card or not even look at it when searching for your company.
You want them to be able to Google your name and find your website easily. Start with that fundamental assumption that they are going to Google you and that having a website to lead them to after this search will help you keep them in the long run.
Besides lead generation and owning your brand, last but not least, a reason to have a website is convenient for you and your clients.
Often, sellers, even if they’re very interested in working with you, will appreciate the convenience of filling out your contact form and then having you get back to them.
Potential leads also like to search websites to call or reach out on their own time, which a website helps them do by providing them with contact information and on-site fill forms.
So just having that simple convenience of looking you up whenever they want and for how long they want will increase the likelihood that they will engage with you.
It’s essential to control the conversation around your brand.
2. “Evergreen” Marketing Can’t Support My Business
In this blog post, we talked about the difference between two types of marketing efforts.
We called them…
- Hamster wheel marketing
- Evergreen marketing
Hamster wheel marketing refers to inbound marketing efforts that require you to keep working in order to get results. That includes running paid advertisements, sending direct mail, cold calling, and so forth.
These tactics are beneficial for real estate investors..
But they’re not long-term or lasting.
They only work for as long as you work.
Evergreen marketing, on the other hand, refers to marketing efforts that have a lasting impact. You work on something today and it delivers results for years to come without any additional effort on your part.
This includes building your website’s search engine rankings and creating a well-known brand in your community that generates word-of-mouth.
These strategies are what we help investors with here at Carrot.
We know that businesses built on the foundation of Evergreen marketing are much more resilient, profitable, and predictable.
Check out the video to learn more about this distinction…
And we’re here to tell you that Evergreen marketing can support your business — thousands of our members have experienced the difference for themselves.
That doesn’t mean you won’t still do some hamster wheel marketing to fill in the gaps, but Evergreen can be the foundation and driving force for your business.
And when it is, everything changes.
3. You Can’t Determine the ROI of Online Marketing
Let’s think about online, inbound marketing, practically for a moment.
If we’re talking about word-of-mouth and SEO (Search Engine Optimization), how are you going to prove the ROI of your marketing efforts?
The ROI of SEO, for instance — the best Evergreen marketing tactic we know of — is inherently difficult to track.
And if you hire a content writer, an SEO agency, and a custom website designer… then the cost will climb fast.
Heck — it might take years to get a positive ROI from your investment.
That’s why we’ve made the process easier.
With specialized real estate website services, such as Carrot, you get…
- A website that is built to rank in Google AND to convert visitors into leads.
- Done-for-you content every month that’s optimized for various keywords in your market.
- Keyword trackers that report your SEO rankings.
- An SEO tool that helps you easily optimize the content on each page of your website.
And more…
This makes it easier to rank in Google, and it makes it easier to prove the ROI of your efforts.
Our highest-level plan is $199 per month — it includes all the goodies and features to get your website ranking as quickly as possible.
Per year, that’s $2,388.
How much is your average profit on a deal? $5,000? $10,000?
If you sign up for Carrot and get just one deal over the next 12 months from SEO… you will make at least double your money.
And chances are, you’re going to get more than just one deal through SEO.
4. Online Marketing Lead Quality Isn’t That Good
To some degree, SEO puts the power in the hands of the searcher and website visitor — they can browse, click, and read whatever they want.
And so you might be tempted to think that, since the power is entirely in their hands, lead quality is going to suffer.
The opposite is true.
Lead quality can skyrocket when you focus on SEO.
Our members’ survey found that Carrot leads convert 7x better and are 2.5x more profitable than non-Carrot leads!
That’s because “Carrot leads” often come through Google rankings. But, this can be from any website ranking on the top of Google.
And it makes sense that Evergreen marketing leads would be higher quality than hamster wheel marketing leads.
Think about it…
Paid advertising, direct mail, and cold calling are all types of interruption marketing methods. You interrupt the person when they are doing something completely unrelated to what you want to talk to them about.
(Which the exception of Google Ads)
For SEO, however, the person is actively looking for your services.
Maybe they type in “Sell my house fast in ” or “Cash buyer in ”.
Either way, those people are looking for your services and they’re going to…
- Turn into deals more regularly
- Be willing to accept lower offers
These people are already looking for you online in your market… your job is to improve your website’s visibility so that you’re the one they come to visit.
5. Online Marketing is Too Expensive
This objection is very similar to the second objection we talked about — that you can’t prove the ROI of Evergreen marketing.
And it should be a concern if you plan to spend thousands of dollars per month on your Evergreen marketing efforts.
If possible, you need to make sure that that investment is paying off.
What if there were a less expensive and just as effective way to improve your rankings and drive results?
What if there were a way not to hire a web designer, an SEO agency, and a content writer?
That’s what we, as well as other real estate services, offer — all of the above gets packaged into one affordable monthly plan.
Carrot gives you a high-converting website, monthly SEO-focused content, and all the tools you need to improve and track your rankings with ease.
And our plans start at just $69 per month.
6. My Business Just Relies on Word-Of-Mouth
Maybe you don’t have a website, and you don’t think you need one.
Maybe your business relies on word-of-mouth to generate leads and close deals.
First of all, good work. Creating a business that generates word-of-mouth is an enviable feat — one that you should be proud of.
BUT…
If you don’t have a website, then you’re missing out on…
- Having a more streamlined business
- Having a more predictable monthly income
- Generating consistent leads and deals
In fact, for five years, Robert and Ricky Grand — real estate agents and investors in Eugene, Oregon — depended on word-of-mouth to find deals.
And it was going okay.
But here’s what they said after joining Carrot…
“I’m 100% all-in with Trevor and Carrot. They know what they are doing. Yes, they are a business with the goal to be profitable, but these guys care and are totally on our side.
Honestly, working with Trevor and his team is refreshing. I trust them and don’t second guess anything. If Carrot gives us feedback, we implement it without wondering if there is a catch.
Hope it helps to hear it from someone who is a customer. I happily spend the money to work with them.”
– Ricky Grand, Grand Real Estate Investments
In just four years, these guys transformed their word-of-mouth-based side-hustle into a full-time 7 figure business in large part because they dove headfirst into Evergreen marketing and supplementing with Google Ads.
Check out their story here.
7. A Website is a Website
Maybe after reading that last section, you think that you do need a website.
Your next thought might be, Well, I’m just going to keep it simple and build a basic website with WordPress or something. “I can get WP and hosting for under $10/mo or Wix for cheap.”
Because a website is just a website, right?
Wrong.
Not all websites are created equal. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into building a high-converting website — from tech stack and page speed to sales copy and conversion optimization.
There are many options, but services such as Carrot are designed for real estate professionals. We have proven data to back up our claims that we will help our members rank higher and produce more leads to close more deals.
Everything from the fastest page speeds to custom-written SEO content and an automated content delivery system. They are guaranteed to help you rise above the competition.
You don’t just need a website.
You need a website that…
- Ranks in Google for high-value keyword phrases
- Converts visitors into leads systematically
That’s what we offer at Carrot.
We’ve spent over a decade studying the psychology behind motivated sellers. And we’ve taken what we’ve learned and baked that right into our website templates…
… so your website is virtually guaranteed to convert better than your competitors.
And to give you a glimpse of just how much better our tech stack is than other popular website builders, check out this article.
A third-party examination of 150,000 websites found that Carrot’s tech stack outperforms practically every other website builder…
So no… a website isn’t just a website.
You need a high-performing website.
And at Carrot, we worry about that so you don’t have to.
“We couldn’t be happier with the site so far…What we have seen is a DRAMATIC increase in web leads. Since switching to Carrot, the leads we are getting are converting to purchases at a MUCH higher level.
Things have been moving so fast that we haven’t had the opportunity to accurately determine the lead to purchase ratio, but I would estimate it is in the 25 to 35% range, which means the leads we are getting are significantly better than our historical average.
Thanks for everything and we are now looking at expansion because of the success we have had in such a short time.”
– Carter Steph, 18002SellHomes
8. Paid Advertising is All My Business Needs
Many real estate investors solely rely on hamster wheel marketing methods to keep their business afloat…
- Direct Mail
- Facebook Ads
- Cold Calling
And as we’ve said before, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
We think that those tactics should be a part of your business — they’re a great way to build brand awareness and create a consistent flow of leads.
But should they be the foundation?
We don’t think so.
Because the moment you stop spinning the wheel is the exact moment that deals stop coming through your day.
What if, instead, you could build a marketing system that generates traffic and leads for your business for years to come without any additional effort or budget? What if those leads were high quality and turned into deals at an exceptional rate?
That’s the power of Evergreen Marketing.
You might not need it.
But “need” is just a matter of perspective…
If you want to create a business with predictable monthly lead-flow, if you’re going to generate more high-quality leads and make more money on every deal… then yes, you need Evergreen marketing.
9. My Website Doesn’t Need to Be Mobile-Friendly
This is a myth that’s easy to knock down.
If you think that your website doesn’t need to be mobile-friendly, consider the following statistic we’ve pulled from our Carrot member’s sites — and keep in mind that these investors come from different places all over the nation…
Over 60% of our member leads come through mobile devices.
So yes, your Carrot site does need to be mobile-friendly.
And lest you try to build your custom site and make it mobile-friendly — which will cost you a ton of money — every single one of our website templates is automatically optimized for both desktop and mobile.
Let’s take, for instance, one of the most recent Google Algorithm updates… Core Web Vitals. Page speed on mobile devices was a hot topic. If mobile page speed isn’t up to par, your Google ranking could suffer.
10. SEO Takes Too Long to See Results
Maybe you think that you can build a WordPress site and just do a little bit of SEO research and then do a little bit of optimizing.
You could.
But should you?
Here’s what we know — if you do a little bit of SEO work, that’ll result in a little bit of SEO traffic (if you’re lucky).
Any reputable SEO agency will tell you the same thing, SEO takes time.
And if you want a lot of SEO traffic, then you’ve got to put in a lot of work.
While some can see quicker results, it is ultimately determined by different variables before seeing how rankings settle in 4-12 months.
Some of these variables include:
- Relevant keywords and topics
- How much content you have relating to those keywords and topics
- Quality of content
- Age and speed of the websites and domain
- Website design, including ease of use
- The average time a user stays on the site
- Geographical location
- Competition
- Level of social activity
- Page-speed
Again, we know this takes time and hard work. But, once your Evergreen – SEO marketing kicks in, you can sit back and reap the benefits. Highly qualified leads will come to you rather than you seeking them out.
You could just get yourself a Carrot website and we’ll do it for you or check out our guide for real estate SEO.
Overall, there’s no shortcut to ranking in Google.
Make These Myths a Thing of the Past
Hopefully, you’ve acquired a new perspective on some of your limiting beliefs.
As we said at the beginning, having a misconception of inbound marketing for real estate investors can limit your business growth.
If you’re not a Carrot member yet and are curious to see if this can help you generate more leads online (motivated sellers, buyers, tenants, note sellers, etc.), take our demo and check out what Carrot has to offer.
But enough from us — what limiting beliefs have you had to overcome in order to move forward in your business? We’d love to hear about it in the comments!