Search results for: “conversion”

  • How to Find Motivated Seller Leads for Real Estate Investors in 2024

    How to Find Motivated Seller Leads for Real Estate Investors in 2024

    Although there is no single most important trait, finding motivated seller leads can be one of the most critical skills in real estate investing.

    If there’s one thing that separates a struggling investor from most successful real estate investors, they have systems for generating leads. They have processes that work like clockwork day-in and day-out.

    These investors usually generate 20 or more high-quality motivated seller leads per month.

    Does that sound too good to be true? It’s not.

    In 2003, we built our first website to generate motivated seller leads. Since then, we’ve refined our marketing systems, website platforms, and overall strategy on what it takes to drive leads online.

    We’ve brought in over 1,253,267 real estate-related leads alone in the past 5 years.

    The lead generation options that we will teach you in this article have been proven. Although they can take a bit of upfront work, you can generate leads every month once the ball is rolling.

    Ready to learn how to find motivated sellers?

    Let’s do this.

    What We’ll Cover in This Post:


    When You Get Motivated Leads You Need to Close Them!

    Get the fool-proof strategies & step-by-step scripts used by real estate investing’s top closers.

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    What Are Motivated Sellers?

    A motivated seller is a property owner who needs to get rid of their property quickly and meets at least one of the following conditions:

    1. They are willing to sell at a 10-30% price below market value.
    2. They are ready to sell under specific terms. Including no money down and no interest.

    In an ideal situation, you’d want both conditions, but one advantage of working with motivated sellers is that they have reasons they need to sell fast. You’re there to help them solve it.

    Some common types of motivated sellers include:

    • Distressed sellers
    • Landlords
    • Facing foreclosure
    • Relocating
    • Bank in possession of REOs
    • Divorce
    • Inherited houses
    • Recent job loss

    How to Find Motivated Seller Leads

    Find Your List

    Many investors choose to buy lists of motivated seller leads. For example, you might have the option to purchase a probate list that is pulled from courthouse records. Or a list of pre-foreclosures who are likely to sell in the coming two to three months.

    Although finding this information can be time-consuming, if you don’t have the time, you can use services such as DataTree and ListSource.

    You must confirm the accuracy of the data. Some services may have data that is no longer relevant.

    Drive for Dollars

    Driving for dollars can be a great way to generate leads. You simply drive into your targeted neighborhoods looking for distressed or vacant properties.

    While driving, you can create a list of properties to contact.

    Another option is to use Google Maps Street View and apps such DealMachine. You can drive for dollars without leaving your house.

    Find Motivated Seller Leads Online

    SEO, PPC, and social media.

    Let’s start with SEO. SEO for real estate is what we consider the secret sauce of a real estate investing marketing strategy.

    Organic leads are where the majority of leads come from for our members.

    It’s not theory, here’s a real peek behind the scenes…

    Carrot member organic leads

    We focus not only on SEO but also on how it builds into Evergreen marketing.

    Evergreen marketing to generate motivated seller leads

    How Would You Like More Motivated Seller Leads (with no paid ads) Using 1 Proven, Simple Marketing Strategy?

    Watch this Free On-Demand Workshop. We Breakdown Exactly How Our Members Generated Over 450,000 House/Land Sellers & Buyers Last Year


    The definition of Evergreen marketing is: “a: retaining freshness or interest: perennial. b: universally and continually relevant: not limited in applicability to a particular event or date.”

    In marketing terms, it’s marketing you do once, and it works for years… not hours, days, or weeks. Content relevant for a long time serves your best prospects and gets in front of them where they’re searching online.

    Results grow momentum over time = Freedom

    We then amplify Evergreen with paid marketing and even hamster wheel marketing.

    Hamster wheel marketing is defined as: “any situation that seems to be endless without goal or achievement.”

    In marketing terms, any marketing that works for a short time after you do has a limited life span. Then you have to do it all over again to keep results coming in.

    Cold calling, direct mail, posting on social, open houses, etc.

    Results stop when you stop = Stress

    Growing more and more into the Evergreen is where you create your consistency, freedom, and flexibility.

    You can make a more significant impact with your business, but also, that’s where your most valuable and highest converting leads come from.

    If you build a solid lead generation engine for your real estate business, you’ll have leads for life.

    It’s a big goal, but don’t be intimated.

    Here’s some proof…

    Tyler Ford has been getting 2x more motivated seller leads with Carrot than he did with his old site. The Carrot tools and Evergreen marketing content has helped him stand out in my crowded market.

    Here’s his story… Tyler Almost Quit Real Estate After 20 Years – That is, Until He Made these 8 Changes.


    While paid advertising can bring in motivated seller leads immediately and can help your business in the short-term… SEO can build momentum and help grow your business over the long term.

    But what is SEO?

    It’s pretty simple.

    When a motivated seller wants to sell their house fast for cash, many of them go to Google and type in the phrase “Sell my house fast in [MARKET CITY]”.

    Google trends for sell my house fast

    And when they do, Google shows them different websites that it thinks can help the searcher.

    If I search for “Sell my house fast in Dallas”, for example, Google thinks that these websites can help me out.

    Google search for sell my house fast in Dallas

    Now here’s the thing: those websites are getting clicks and traffic from motivated sellers every time someone types that phrase into Google… which is more often than you’d think.

    That traffic then turns into leads (so long as the investor’s website is optimized for conversion) and the investor generates deals every month through SEO.

    You can also pay to get in those search results…

    sell my house fast in dallas paid ads

    And that is a good idea when you’re starting. But it shouldn’t replace your SEO strategy.

    More than 90% of people click on organic results before clicking on PPC results.

    So here’s the question: how do you get Google to rank your website for a high-value keyword phrase.

    Well, it can take time and some patience.

    To start, you’ll need to put the correct title on your page, have a website that loads quickly, and do a few other things. Reference this SEO guide for help.

    And at Carrot, we have TONS of tools to help you.

    We give you monthly SEO-optimized blog post content. Our websites have an SEO-friendly tech-stack. We also allow you to track your progress on target keyword phrases and alert you to optimizations that are missing on any given page.

    Carrot Keyword Ranking Tracker

    SEO for real estate investors couldn’t be any easier than with a Carrot site. :)

    PPC is another valuable asset to generate motivated leads.

    Google Ads can work so long as you have a solid strategy. Year after year, it’s one of our Carrot members’ top lead generation methods (behind organic leads).

    Our real estate investor members consistently get feedback that their Google Ads leads are closing between 1 in 10 to 1 in 15 leads per deal.

    Learn more about Google Ads for real estate investors in this ultimate guide.

    Direct Mail

    Real estate direct mail is one of the most tried and true methods for real estate investors to generate leads.

    Although, a portion of mail ends up in the trash without a second look.

    The average mailbox is packed with junk mail, bills, and other correspondence from various sources telling you about deals or offering their services. It can be easy for an envelope containing information on real estate opportunities to land within the other noise.

    Direct mail still works and offers different opportunities if done correctly.

    • It’s interactive.
    • It’s memorable.
    • It can have an extensive reach.
    • It offers a lot of ways to get creative.
    • You can pair social media and content marketing (websites) with direct mail for an enhanced customer journey.

    Learn more: Check out our Direct Mail Masterclass for Real Estate Investors

    FSBO Sites

    FSBO sites can be a great place to find motivated sellers for free. Sites such as Loopnet and Trulia are good sites to use and you can also find motivated sellers on Craigslist.

    On Craigslist look for deals that have been listed for a long time. This might be a sign of a motivated seller.

    Narrow your search by property type, price, location, and whether a broker or the owner is selling the home. You can also search for apartments, condos, and multi-family homes if it fits your niche.

    Bandit Signs

    Bandit signs are “old school” and not many new investors use them.

    They can still be a great way to find motivated sellers and cash buyers.

    One of the most significant issues with bandit signs is legality. Cities can have strict ordinances about putting them out. As a general rule, it’s a good idea to check with your city before.

    Here are some tips if you find it’s legal:

    • Don’t put your personal number on the bandit sign – rather use a Call Rail Tracking Number, A Google Voice Number, or any number that will not lead back to you if someone were to Google the number.
    • Take your sign down immediately if someone has issues with it.
    • Don’t post signs on private property.

    The Difference Between Inbound & Outbound Lead Generation

    We’ve shared a lot of different strategies on this blog for real estate lead generation: Traffic plus Conversions, and we’ve shown you a bunch of great strategies for building traffic. If you haven’t read those posts, click those links to check ’em out… I’ll try not to duplicate much here.

    Real estate investors can generate motivated leads using outbound and inbound (paid and organic) sources. Both are good ways to generate leads.

    Confused?

    Let me make it more simple.

    “Outbound” marketing are strategies such as direct mail, cold calling, and driving for dollars.

    “Inbound” marketing are Google Ads, Microsoft ads, and Facebook strategies. Also, with good content through organic search rankings or SEO.

    The Simple Motivated Seller Lead Generation Formula

    To generate more motivated seller leads for your business, you first have to understand the simple formula for lead generation.

    That is, how is a lead generated in the first place?

    Different investors will answer that question differently. Some will say that cold calling is how you generate leads, others will say direct mail, and still, others will say by personally connecting with people in the community.

    cold calling stats

    And none of those answers are wrong.

    We know most successful investors also use direct mail and/or cold calling to generate consistent leads for their businesses.

    But they also do something that very few investors don’t do.

    They systematically generate leads by using the below formula…

    TRAFFIC + CONVERSION = LEADS

    Let’s break that down.

    Traffic is when people visit your website. They might come through paid advertisements you’re running (like Facebook Ads or Google Ads) or they might come organically through a search engine (Google) or a social media site (Facebook).

    Wherever they come from, one thing is for sure… you can’t generate leads on autopilot through your website if you’re not generating traffic.

    Paid ads effectively drive immediate traffic to your website while building your organic traffic takes a little more time (but the payoff is massive) — more on organic traffic or “SEO” here shortly.

    What about conversions?

    A conversion is when, after visiting your website, the person takes the action you want them to take. Usually, that’s filling out a form that provides you with their contact information or calling your business directly.

    And voila! You have a lead.

    Those are the two vital elements to generating motivated seller leads.

    You have to drive traffic to your website consistently and consistently convert that traffic into leads for your business.

    website traffic to conversion rate

    And Carrot websites have the highest conversion rate in the industry (usually between 10% and 20%).

    Rent To Own Conversion Rate
    A conversion rate on one Carrot member’s website.

    That’s why we believe in our product so much.

    We know that if someone takes their organic traffic seriously and uses Carrot to create their website, they’ll have everything they need to build a winning business.

    The Magic of Conversion Optimization

    Remember the formula we talked about?

    Traffic + Conversion = Leads

    Well… you need both traffic and conversions.

    It’s not uncommon for us to see a real estate investor succeed at driving traffic to their website through paid ads or SEO… but to convert almost none of that traffic into leads.

    Why?

    Because their site isn’t set up to convert.

    Actually, there’s a big difference between a website that’s built to convert visitors and one that… isn’t.

    Let me show you what I mean.

    Imagine that you search in Google for the phrase “Sell my house fast in Dallas”.

    You’re probably pretty motivated — you want to sell fast for cash and you’re wondering how that’s possible.

    So you click on some results in Google.

    The first website you go to looks like this…

    motivated seller website with no form

    That’s not too bad, but there’s a lot of text to read on the first page… and you’re looking for a quick solution, so you leave the tab open but go to a different Google result.

    The next website you visit looks like this…

    High converting Carrot motivated seller website

    Now we’re talking!

    This site seems to be able to give you exactly what you want… and by just entering a few details, you can get your fair cash offer today — that’s perfect!

    See the difference?

    The first site doesn’t solve your problem immediately, but the second site does.

    Well… that’s because the second site is a Carrot site… and we’ve run hundreds of tests to determine what converts website visitors the best in the real estate industry. We’ve then taken what we’ve learned and baked conversion optimization into every one of our member’s sites.

    That way, as a Carrot member, you start out with a high-converting site.

    Most people who switch to Carrot are seeing a measly 2% or 3% conversion rate on their old site… and then get up to a 20% conversion rate on their Carrot site!

    Here’s a Carrot member with a 9% conversion rate (693 leads divided by the 7,661 visitors).

    Carrot member website motivated seller leads conversion rate

    Ultimately, you need traffic and conversions to generate consistently motivated seller leads.

    How to Negotiate with Motivated Sellers

    When it comes to negotiating with motivated sellers, there are some commonalities.

    We all know that price is not something that’s set in stone. And neither is a seller’s immediate inclination to work with or to not work with you.

    They could call you ready to sell but a few days later lose interest. Or they could call skeptical and leave the call ready to sign.

    Part of what determines these outcomes is how you negotiate. What you say, what questions you ask, and even how you talk could impact.

    So we spoke with some experienced real estate investors and asked them how they negotiate with sellers to close more deals.

    Learn more about negotiating by checking out this blog post and downloading our real estate negotiation playbook.

    Summary

    You now know what motivated sellers are and some common methods to find them.

    The process of finding motivated seller leads and negotiating with them looks doesn’t need to be complicated. Pick one or two quicker lead generation methods and start working on your Evergreen SEO.

    Be persistent with follow-up as you never know what will happen after the third, fourth, or sixtieth time around.

    Succeeding in the real estate investing industry is a matter of patience and persistence. Finding motivated seller leads and knowing how to contact them can take plenty of practice.

    Be consistent and you’ll be on your way to fulfilling your real estate investment career.


  • The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads for Real Estate Investors

    The Ultimate Guide to Google Ads for Real Estate Investors

    Google Ads, when implemented strategically, is one of the most effective lead generation engines for real estate investors, consistently delivering high-quality motivated seller leads that convert to deals at impressive rates of 1 in 10 to 1 in 15.

    Key Takeaways

    • Target motivated sellers through precise keyword research, focusing on intent-based phrases like “sell my house fast” and using appropriate match types (broad, phrase, or exact) to reach the right audience.
    • Create compelling ad copy with strong headlines, descriptive text, and clear calls to action, while leveraging ad extensions for maximum visibility and improved click-through rates.
    • Implement conversion tracking to measure key metrics like cost-per-lead, conversion rate, and ultimately deal conversion rate, allowing for data-driven optimization of campaigns.

    By setting realistic expectations, allocating a proper testing budget, and continuously refining your strategy based on performance data, you can transform Google Ads into a predictable source of high-quality motivated seller leads that generate substantial ROI for your real estate investing business.

    Google Ads for Real Estate Investors: Steps for Successful Campaigns

    Carrot icon
    Lead generation, at its best
    Attract, convert & close more motivated leads
    Try Carrot Today

    Uncertain about PPC advertising? Fear of wasted spend or limited time are common concerns. But here’s the truth: Google Ads, when implemented strategically, is a proven lead generation engine. In fact, it’s consistently ranked among the top methods for our Carrot members, translating into high closing rates (1 in 10 to 1 in 15 leads).

    This guide empowers you to take control and build a Google Ads campaign that can significantly impact your business, just like it did for Carrot member Brian Rockwell…

    adwords for real estate investors success story

    and countless others…


    Real Estate Investor PPC Keywords

    Are you curious what the most profitable Motivated Seller keywords?

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    What is Google Ads?

    Google Ads is an online advertising platform developed by Google, where advertisers bid to display brief advertisements, service offerings, product listings, or videos to web users. It can place ads both in the results of search engines like Google Search and on non-search websites, mobile apps, and videos.

    Google Ads for real estate investors can be a powerful way to reach your target audience, but it takes some knowledge and preparation. Check out this list for everything you need before getting started!

    • Keywords: These are the words or phrases that people type into Google Search, which trigger your ad to appear. When setting up an ad campaign, you’ll pick a list of keywords that you think people might search for when they want what you offer (and don’t worry: we can help).
    • Bid: This is the maximum amount you’re willing to pay when someone clicks on your ad. (Since, with Google Ads, you don’t pay to show up — only when someone clicks on your ad to visit your site or call you.)
    • Quality Score: This metric tells you how relevant your keywords are to your ad and your landing page (i.e., the webpage where people will be taken when they click your ad). A good Quality Score can lower your bid costs and improve your ad rank in the search results.
    • Ad Rank: Ad Rank is a metric that helps determine where your ad will show up, relative to other ads, when it’s triggered to appear on Google. Your rank is determined using your bid, quality score, and other factors.
    • CPC (cost-per-click): The actual amount you pay when someone clicks on your ad. (You don’t necessarily pay your entire bid price for every click — that sets up a range of possible costs-per-click you might pay.)

    In this section, we’ll dive into the foundational elements of Google Ads specifically for real estate investors. We’ll explore the benefits of using this platform to attract motivated sellers and high-quality leads, guide you through setting up your account, and explain how to structure your campaigns for optimal results.

    Why Should Real Estate Investors Use Google Ads?

    Traditionally, real estate investors have relied on networking, cold calling, and yard signs to find motivated sellers. However, Google Ads offers a powerful and targeted approach to reach a highly engaged audience actively searching for solutions. Here’s why Google Ads should be in your real estate investor toolkit:

    • Reach Highly Motivated Sellers: Target potential sellers actively searching for terms like “sell my house fast” or “we buy houses in [your city].” These individuals are more likely to be open to your offers compared to cold leads.
    • Laser-Focused Targeting: Go beyond demographics. Refine your targeting by location, property type (single-family, multi-unit), timeframe (foreclosure, inheritance), or even budget to reach the most relevant sellers.
    • Measurable Results: Track every click, lead, and conversion generated through your ads. Analyze data and optimize your campaigns for maximum ROI and lead generation. Tip: To streamline your project management and efficiently track tasks, it’s beneficial to create Jira filters that help you monitor your Google Ads campaigns’ performance.
    • Faster Lead Generation: Compared to traditional methods, Google Ads can deliver qualified leads quickly, allowing you to act fast and secure deals before competitors.
    • Scalability & Flexibility: Start small and scale your campaigns as your budget and goals grow. Adjust targeting and messaging based on performance data for continuous improvement.

    Setting Up Your Google Ads Account (Step-by-Step with Real Estate Investor Considerations)

    Creating your Google Ads account is a straightforward process. Here’s a step-by-step approach with considerations for real estate investors:

    1. Navigate to Google Ads: https://ads.google.com/ and sign in with your Google account.
    2. Set Your Campaign Goal: Choose “Leads” as you’re primarily interested in generating seller leads.
    3. Target Location: Enter your target market area (city, zip code, or radius) where you’re actively looking for properties. Your location settings will play a role in placement. For example, if you choose the location target option of “Presence: People in or regularly in your targeted locations,” and you only buy houses in Oakland, when someone in New York searches for “sell my house fast,” they will not see your ad. That’s because Google’s main objective is to display ads to searchers within the target location.
    4. Budget: Set a daily or monthly budget that aligns with your comfort level and investment goals. Start small and increase as you gain confidence and refine your campaigns.
    5. Bidding Strategy: Consider “Manual CPC” or “Maximize Conversions” initially to prioritize generating leads within your budget.

    Real Estate Investor Considerations:

    • Business Name & Website: Use a clear and professional business name that reflects your brand. Ensure your website is mobile-friendly and optimized to capture leads (e.g., contact forms).
    • Payment Method: Select your preferred payment method (credit card, debit card) for your advertising costs.

    Understanding Campaign Structure & Targeting (Campaign Goals, Ad Groups, Keywords for Real Estate)

    Now that your account is set up, let’s explore how to structure your campaigns for success.

    • Campaigns: These represent your overall advertising objectives. As a real estate investor, your primary campaign goal will likely be “Leads.”
    • Ad Groups: Organize your ads within your campaign based on a specific theme or target audience. For example, you might create separate ad groups for “Cash for Houses Fast” or “Sell Your Inherited Property.”
    • Keywords: These are the words and phrases potential sellers will use to search for solutions. Real estate investor keyword research should focus on terms related to motivated sellers, such as “we buy houses,” “sell my house fast,” or location-specific variations like “[your city] house buyers.”

    Keywords Match Types and Research

    The different match types give you room when selecting your keywords. Match types tell Google whether you want to match a search query exactly or if your ad should be shown to anyone with a search query that’s somewhat related. There are three match types to choose from:

    Broad match “may show on searches related to your keyword, which can include searches that don’t contain the keyword terms. This helps you attract more visitors to your website, spend less time building keyword lists, and focus your spending on keywords that work. Broad match is the default match type that all your keywords are assigned so that you don’t have to specify another match type (exact match, phrase match, or a negative match type).”

    The syntax for broad match is to simply input the keyword. Below is an example of how a broad match keyword would work:

    Broad Match Keyword:

    Quick Sell Home

    Ads May Show on Searches For:

    quick sale

    private home sale

    1 bedroom houses near me

    Phrase match “may show on searches that include the meaning of your keyword. The meaning of the keyword can be implied, and user searches can be a more specific form of the meaning. With phrase match, you can reach more searches than with exact match and fewer searches than with broad match, only showing your ads on the searches that include your product or service.”

    The syntax for phrase match is to put quotes around your keyword. Below is an example of how a phrase match keyword would work:

    Phrase Match Keyword:

    “We Buy Houses”

    Ads May Show on Searches For:

    best we buy houses company

    we buy houses for cash companies

    we buy houses in colorado

    Exact match “may show on searches that have the same meaning or same intent as the keyword. Of the three keyword match options, exact match gives you the most control over who sees your ad, but reaches fewer searches than both phrase and broad match.”

    The syntax for exact match is to use square brackets. Below is an example of how an exact match keyword would work:

    Exact Match Keyword:

    [Sell My House Fast]

    Ads May Show on Searches For:

    sell my house fast

    quick fixes to sell your home

    sell my houses fast

    If you’re starting out and don’t know exactly how your market will be searching, move away from a broad match to a narrowed approach so you can see which searches yield the best results. You should always keep a close eye on your keywords and modify them as you can gain new data.

    Keyword Research

    Once you have your direction plan, it’s time to perform keyword research for your market, intent keywords, and competition.

    • Define your target customer  Most investors likely have an idea, but newer investors might need to take the time to create a customer avatar.
    • Define your target locations — You can target locations down to the city. You can even exclude cities, counties, or states.
    • Build your initial keyword list — Use resources such as Google Ads Keyword PlannerSEOBook, and Ubersuggest.
    • Identify keywords to block  Called negative keywords, adding these in will help block your ads from showing for the wrong searcher.
    • Sort keywords and identify customer intent keywords vs. research keywords — Research keywords might be on the edge, so be careful when choosing them. You must monitor those to make sure they’re not eating up your budget.
    • Organize your keywords into categories — For example:

    Category: Sell My House Fast
    Category: We Buy Houses
    Category: Sell Your House Quick

    This will help you build your ad groups around your keywords while staying organized.

    Pro Tip: Do some spying on your competitor’s keywords — SEMRush or SpyFu are two great tools that provide helpful information.

    Next Steps:

    In the following sections, we’ll delve deeper into crafting compelling ad copy, optimizing your landing pages, and using advanced strategies to maximize your return on investment with Google Ads.

    Part 2: Creating High-Converting Ads for Real Estate Investors

    Now that you understand the fundamentals of Google Ads for real estate investors, let’s focus on crafting the elements that will grab attention and convert clicks into leads.

    Writing Compelling Ad Headlines & Descriptions (Examples & Best Practices)

    Headlines and descriptions are your prime real estate on the search results page.

    Here’s the amount of characters allotted in a Google Ads ad:

    Display URL Examples

    • www.domain.com/We-Buy-/Houses-Cash
    • www.domain.com/Sell-Your-Home/For-Cash

    Dimensions for Responsive Search Ads

    • Enter your headlines. You’ll need to enter a minimum of 3 headlines, but you can enter up to 15.
    • Enter your descriptions. You’ll need to enter a minimum of 2 descriptions, but you can enter up to 4.

    You can also control where individual headlines and descriptions appear in your ad by pinning headlines and descriptions to specific positions.

    Here is an example of a responsive ad converting at 32.52% with 40 leads:

    Here’s how to write ads for maximum impact:

    Headlines:

    • Keep it short and sweet (under 30 characters).
    • Focus on benefits for sellers (e.g., “Sell Your House Fast for Cash!”).
    • Highlight urgency (e.g., “Get a Cash Offer in 24 Hours”).
    • Use strong verbs and action words (e.g., “Sell Now,” “Get Your Free Offer”).
    • Incorporate location if relevant (e.g., “[Your City] Cash Home Buyers”).

    Descriptions:

    • Expand on the headline’s benefits (e.g., “Skip the hassle of listing & showings. We buy houses in any condition.”).
    • Address seller pain points (e.g., “Facing foreclosure? We can help.”).
    • Showcase your unique selling proposition (USP) as a real estate investor (e.g., “Fast closings, no fees”).
    • Include a clear call to action (CTA) (e.g., “Get a Free Cash Offer Today!”).

    Examples:

    • Headline: Tired Landlord? Sell Your Rental Property Fast for Cash!
    • Description: Get a fair offer in 24 hours and close in 14 days. We handle everything – no repairs, no hassle! Learn More Now!

    Crafting Powerful Calls to Action (CTAs) that Drive Leads

    Your CTA is the final nudge that encourages potential sellers to take the next step. Here are some effective CTAs for real estate investor ads:

    • Get a Free Cash Offer
    • Sell Your House Now
    • Learn More About Our Fast Closing Process
    • Schedule a Free Consultation
    • Download Your Free Guide to Selling Your Property

    Ad Extensions

    If you’re running Google Ads, you should be using Ad Extensions for two reasons:

    1. They’re free
    2. They give users additional information and another reason to interact with your ad.

    These extensions fall within one of these six categories for real estate investor campaigns.

    • Call (Phone number)
    • Location (Link to your Google+ profile)
    • Sitelinks (Clickable links that can drive traffic to different pages on your site, such as your “About” page, “Testimonials” page, and “How We Buy Houses” page)
    • Call-Outs (Non-Clickable points. Great for Calls-to-Action)
    • Structured Snippets (Real estate investors don’t get many options with this one, but can use the “Types” option and list out what types of houses you buy)
    • Image extensions allow advertisers to upload relevant visuals to complement their existing text ads. Image extensions can help drive performance, with compelling visuals of past deals or cash offers that enhance the message of their text ads.

    Landing Pages

    Designing Effective Landing Pages for Conversions (Landing Page Optimization for Real Estate Investors)

    Once someone clicks your ad, they land on your landing page. Here’s how to optimize your landing page for conversions:

    • Focus on a single offer: Don’t overwhelm visitors with multiple options.
    • Match the message of your ad: Ensure the landing page reinforces the benefits and call to action from your ad.
    • Keep it clear and concise: Use bullet points, visuals, and easy-to-understand language.
    • Make it mobile-friendly: You will probably already know that your website needs mobile-friendly. 61% of our motivated house sellers, cash buyers, and rent-to-own tenant leads were from mobile devices last year. If your website is not mobile optimized, you’re likely losing tens of thousands of dollars per year in leads and deals without knowing it.
    • Include a prominent lead capture form: Capture seller information with a clear value proposition for submitting their details (e.g., “Get Your Free Cash Offer Now!”).
    • Build your real estate credibility and/or social proof: Add testimonials from your clients. If you have any media mentions. Some investors are very active in their communities. Let searchers know who you are. Make that connection. List your phone number. Add an “About” or “Our Company” page. Find out which page is… The Most Overlooked But Important Page On Your Website (Backed By Science). Add credibility badges (BBB, real estate associations, Veteran, etc). Ensure you have a “Contact” page and a Privacy Page (required for retargeting).

    Pro Tips: A/B test different headlines, descriptions, and landing page elements to see what resonates best with your target audience.

    Here are some tools to ensure your website is mobile-friendly:

    Leverage mobile — Take a tour of Carrot’s mobile responsive websites

    By following these best practices and tailoring your messaging to the needs of motivated sellers, you can create high-converting Google Ads campaigns that generate a steady stream of leads for your real estate investment business.

    Part 3: Optimizing Your Google Ads Campaigns for Success

    Having a well-structured campaign is just the first step. Now it’s time to fine-tune your efforts to maximize leads and ROI.

    Bidding Strategies for Real Estate Investors (Maximizing ROI with Cost-per-Lead (CPA) Bidding)

    Bidding is the process of determining how much you’re willing to pay for each click on your ad. As a real estate investor, your primary goal is to generate leads. Here’s a bidding strategy optimized for your needs:

    • Cost-per-Lead (CPA) Bidding: This strategy allows you to set a maximum amount you’re willing to pay for each lead generated through your ads. Google Ads will then automatically adjust your bids to acquire leads within your budget.

    In Google Ads, Cost-per-Lead (CPA) Bidding is an automated bid strategy that prioritizes acquiring conversions (leads) at your specified maximum cost per lead. It utilizes machine learning to set bids for each auction, aiming to generate leads within your target cost range.

    Here’s a breakdown of Cost-per-Lead (CPA) Bidding in Google Ads:

    • Focus on Lead Acquisition: This strategy optimizes for acquiring leads (e.g., form submissions, phone calls) at a cost you’re comfortable with.
    • Automated Bidding: Google Ads leverages complex algorithms to analyze various factors, such as user behavior, landing page relevance, and historical data, to determine the optimal bid for each auction. The goal is to acquire leads within your set CPA target.
    • Cost Control & Efficiency: This strategy strives to spend your budget efficiently, acquiring leads at or below your target cost.

    Benefits of Cost-per-Lead (CPA) Bidding:

    • Conversion Focus: Directly optimizes for your campaign’s primary goal: generating leads.
    • Cost Control: Set a maximum cost you’re willing to pay for each lead, providing greater control over your budget.
    • Efficiency & Optimization: Google Ads prioritizes bids on auctions most likely to convert within your target CPA.

    Drawbacks of Cost-per-Lead (CPA) Bidding:

    • Data Dependence: Google’s algorithms require a sufficient amount of conversion data to learn and optimize effectively. This may not be ideal for brand-new campaigns.
    • Performance Fluctuations: Actual cost per lead may vary depending on competition and campaign performance.
    • Limited Traffic Potential: Setting a very low CPA target might limit the number of leads you acquire.

    Who Should Use Cost-per-Lead (CPA) Bidding?

    • Established Advertisers: This strategy works well for those with a history of lead generation through Google Ads and a good understanding of their ideal customer acquisition cost (CAC).
    • Lead Generation Campaigns: Ideal for campaigns where generating qualified leads is the primary objective.
    • Optimizing Existing Campaigns: Effective for established campaigns with sufficient conversion data to optimize lead acquisition costs.

    Overall, Cost-per-Lead (CPA) Bidding is a powerful strategy for advertisers focused on acquiring leads within a specific budget. However, it requires a foundation of conversion data and an understanding of your target cost per lead.

    Here are four additional bid strategies you can test:

    Maximize clicks:

    In Google Ads, Maximize clicks is an automated bid strategy that prioritizes getting you the most clicks possible for your set daily budget. It utilizes machine learning to determine the optimal bid for each auction, aiming to stretch your budget to reach a broad audience.

    Here’s a breakdown of Maximize clicks bidding in Google Ads:

    • Focus on Clicks: This strategy prioritizes maximizing the total number of clicks on your ad within your campaign budget.
    • Automated Bidding: Google Ads uses algorithms to analyze various factors like keyword relevance, user search intent, and historical data to set bids for each auction.
    • Budget Efficiency: This strategy aims to spend your entire daily budget on clicks that are most likely to be relevant to your campaign.

    Benefits of Maximize clicks bidding:

    • Simple Setup: No need to manage individual keyword bids, saving you time and effort.
    • Driving Traffic: Well-suited for campaigns where increasing website traffic and brand awareness is the primary objective.
    • Testing & Awareness: Effective for gathering initial data and building brand awareness through a high volume of ad impressions.

    Drawbacks of Maximize clicks bidding:

    • Conversion Focus Limited: Doesn’t directly optimize for conversions (e.g., leads, sales), potentially attracting clicks that don’t convert.
    • Cost Fluctuations: The cost per click (CPC) can vary depending on competition and auction dynamics.
    • Quality Control Risk: You may attract irrelevant clicks that don’t align with your target audience.

    Who Should Use Maximize clicks bidding?

    • New Advertisers: Easy to set up and manage, ideal for those starting with Google Ads and aiming to build initial traffic.
    • Website Traffic Campaigns: Well-suited for campaigns where driving visitors to your website is the primary goal.
    • Testing & Refining: Useful during the initial phase of a campaign to gather data and refine targeting for better conversions later.

    Overall, Maximize clicks bidding is a user-friendly option for driving website traffic and gaining initial campaign insights. However, it may not be the most effective strategy for campaigns focused on generating high-quality leads or sales.

    Target impression share:

    In Google Ads, target impression share bidding is an automated bidding strategy that focuses on showing your ad a specific percentage of the time someone searches for your chosen keywords. Here’s a breakdown of target impression share bidding in Google Ads:

    • Impression Share Focus: Set a target percentage (e.g., 70%) of how often you want your ad to appear on the search results page for relevant keywords.
    • Automated Adjustments: Google Ads automatically adjusts your bids throughout the day to try and achieve your desired impression share goal.
    • Visibility Control: This strategy helps ensure your ad reaches a specific level of visibility within your target audience.

    Benefits of Target impression share bidding:

    • Visibility Control: Gain more control over how often your ad appears in search results.
    • Branding & Awareness: Effective for building brand awareness by ensuring your ad is consistently visible to potential customers.
    • Flexibility: Based on your goals (top-of-page placement, absolute top-of-page), you can choose different target impression share percentages for various ad groups or campaigns.

    Drawbacks of Target impression share bidding:

    • Cost Focus Shift: Doesn’t directly optimize for clicks or conversions, potentially leading to higher costs per click (CPC).
    • Limited Control Over Budget: Maintaining a specific budget with this strategy can be challenging, as maximizing impressions might require higher bids.
    • Less Data Dependence: May function adequately without a large amount of conversion data compared to some automated bid strategies.

    Who Should Use Target impression share bidding?

    • Brand Awareness Campaigns: Ideal for prioritizing ad visibility and reaching a broad audience.
    • Competitive Markets: Can help ensure your ad stays visible in highly competitive search queries.
    • Complementing Other Strategies: Can be used alongside conversion-focused strategies to maintain brand awareness while optimizing for actions.

    Overall, target impression share bidding is a good option for advertisers prioritizing ad visibility and brand awareness. However, it may not be the most cost-effective strategy for campaigns solely focused on conversions.

    Maximize conversions:

    In Google Ads, Maximize conversions is an automated bid strategy that prioritizes generating conversions within your set daily budget. It uses machine learning to automatically set bids for each auction, aiming to get you the most conversions possible.

    Here’s a breakdown of Maximize conversions bidding in Google Ads:

    • Focus on Conversions: This strategy prioritizes getting you the most conversions (e.g., leads, sales) for your campaign, not necessarily clicks.
    • Automated Bidding: Google Ads uses complex algorithms to analyze various factors like user search queries, browsing context, and past performance to determine the optimal bid for each auction.
    • Budget Efficiency: This strategy aims to spend your entire daily budget efficiently, acquiring conversions at the best possible price.

    Benefits of Maximize conversions bidding:

    • Simple Setup: No need to manage individual keyword bids, saving you time and effort.
    • Focus on Results: Prioritizes conversions, aligning with your campaign goals.
    • Budget Optimization: Google Ads strives to spend your entire budget on clicks most likely to convert.

    Drawbacks of Maximize conversions bidding:

    • Less Control: You don’t have direct control over the cost per click (CPC) for each ad.
    • Data Dependence: Requires a sufficient amount of conversion data for Google’s algorithms to learn and optimize effectively.
    • Limited Transparency: You can’t see the exact bids Google places on your behalf.

    Who Should Use Maximize conversions bidding?

    • New Advertisers: Easy to set up and manage, ideal for those starting with Google Ads.
    • Conversion-focused Campaigns: Well-suited for campaigns where generating leads or sales is the primary objective.
    • Limited Time or Resources: Saves time compared to manual bidding, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your campaign.

    Overall, Maximize conversions bidding is a user-friendly option for advertisers prioritizing conversions and wanting to automate the bidding process. However, it sacrifices some control over cost per click.

    Manual bidding:

    In Google Ads, manual bidding gives you direct control over the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for each click on your ad. It’s a hands-on approach compared to automated bid strategies that Google Ads sets for you.

    Here’s a breakdown of manual bidding in Google Ads:

    • Setting Your Max Bid: You determine the highest cost per click (CPC) you’re comfortable paying for each time someone clicks your ad.
    • Management: You manually adjust bids for individual keywords, ad groups, or your entire campaign based on performance and budget.
    • Targeting: Manual bidding allows for granular control over where your ads appear. You can adjust bids based on factors like location, device (phone, computer, etc.), and time of day.

    Benefits of Manual Bidding:

    • Precise Control: You have the final say on how much you spend per click.
    • Flexibility: Tailor your bids to specific keywords or audiences you find most valuable.
    • Optimization Potential: Analyze data and refine bids to maximize return on investment (ROI).

    Drawbacks of Manual Bidding:

    • Time Commitment: Requires ongoing monitoring and adjustments to maintain optimal performance.
    • Expertise Needed: Understanding keyword research, competitor analysis, and conversion tracking is crucial for success.
    • Potential for Wasteful Spending: Setting bids too high can lead to unnecessary costs, while bidding too low might limit your ad’s visibility.

    Who Should Use Manual Bidding?

    • Experienced Advertisers: Those comfortable with Google Ads and have the time to manage bids strategically.
    • Small Budgets: May be beneficial for keeping a tight control on spending.
    • Specific Campaign Goals: When focusing on maximizing conversions or clicks within a set budget.

    Overall, manual bidding offers a high level of control for experienced advertisers. However, it requires ongoing effort and expertise to be successful.

    Pro Tip: Start with a conservative CPA bid and gradually increase it as you gain confidence in your campaign’s effectiveness and refine your targeting.

    Conversion Tracking & Measuring Results (Key Metrics for Success)

    Tracking conversions is crucial for understanding your Google Ads campaigns’ performance. Here are some key metrics for real estate investors:

    • Leads: The total number of potential sellers who submitted their information through your landing page form.
    • Cost-per-Lead (CPA): The average amount you pay for each lead generated.
    • Conversion Rate: The percentage of people who click your ad and convert into a lead.
    • Click-Through Rate (CTR): The percentage of people who see your ad and click on it.
    • Website Traffic: The total number of visitors your landing page receives from your Google Ads campaigns.

    By monitoring these metrics, you can identify areas for improvement. Analyze which keywords are generating the most leads and adjust your bids accordingly.

    Advanced Strategies: Remarketing & Automation (Reaching Past Website Visitors and Using Google Ads Automation)

    Once you’ve mastered the basics, Google Ads offers advanced features to further optimize your campaigns:

    • Remarketing: This allows you to show targeted ads to people who have already visited your website but haven’t taken action yet. Consider crafting specific messages reminding them of your offer or highlighting testimonials from satisfied sellers.
    • Automation: Leverage Google Ads automation tools to streamline campaign management. Utilize automated bidding strategies to optimize bids for conversions and save time on manual adjustments.

    Remember: Google Ads is a continuous learning process. Experiment with different strategies, track your results and refine your campaigns to maximize your return on investment and generate a steady flow of motivated sellers for your real estate business.

    Part 4: Taking Your Real Estate Investor Google Ads to the Next Level

    By now, you’ve built a solid foundation for using Google Ads to attract motivated sellers. Let’s explore some advanced tactics to elevate your campaigns and maximize your lead generation potential.

    Analyzing Competitor Ads (Learning from Successful Campaigns)

    Keeping an eye on your competitors can be a valuable learning tool. Here’s how to analyze their Google Ads:

    • Search for relevant keywords in your target area. See what ads appear at the top of the search results page.
    • Analyze their headlines and descriptions. What benefits are they highlighting? How are they addressing seller pain points?
    • Identify their calls to action (CTAs). What action are they encouraging potential sellers to take?

    Don’t copy blindly. Use this information to inspire your own creative messaging and identify potential gaps in your strategy. Perhaps a competitor is focusing on a specific seller pain point you haven’t addressed yet.

    Integrating Google Ads Data with Your CRM (Streamlining Workflow for Lead Nurturing)

    Once you start generating leads through Google Ads, you’ll need a system to manage and nurture them. Integrating your Google Ads data with a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool can streamline your workflow:

    • Automatically capture lead information: Eliminate manual data entry by automatically transferring lead details (name, contact information, source) from your landing page form into your CRM.
    • Track lead activity: Monitor how sellers interact with your emails, phone calls, and website visits within your CRM.
    • Tailor communication: Segment your leads based on their needs and interests, allowing you to send personalized messages that nurture them toward a sale.

    Bonus: Common CRM’s for Real Estate

    Other KPI’s to Track:

    • How many leads per campaign
    • How many deals per campaign
    • Deal conversion rate
    • Gross revenue per Google Ads click
    • Net profit per Google Ads click

    By integrating data, you gain a holistic view of your leads and improve your chances of converting them into successful deals.

    Common Mistakes to Avoid & Troubleshooting Tips

    Even seasoned Google Ads users can make mistakes. Here are some common pitfalls to avoid for real estate investors:

    • Targeting too broadly: Ensure your keywords and ad groups are laser-focused on your ideal seller profile. Avoid generic terms that might attract unqualified leads.
    • Neglecting landing page optimization: Your landing page is the final step in converting clicks into leads. Ensure it’s clear, concise, and optimized for mobile devices.
    • Ignoring negative keywords: Identify keywords triggering irrelevant searches and add them as negative keywords to prevent wasted ad spend.
    • Not tracking conversions: You can’t optimize what you don’t measure. Set up conversion tracking to understand campaign performance and identify areas for improvement.

    Troubleshooting Tips:

    • Low Click-Through Rate (CTR): Analyze your headlines and descriptions. Are they compelling enough to grab attention? Try A/B testing different variations.
    • High Cost-per-Lead (CPA): Refine your keyword targeting and consider adjusting your bids to focus on higher-quality leads.
    • Low Conversion Rate: Optimize your landing page. Ensure it’s clear, mobile-friendly, and offers a compelling value proposition in exchange for seller information.

    Remember: Consistency is key. Regularly monitor your campaigns, experiment with different strategies, and adapt based on your data. By staying persistent and data-driven, you can continuously refine your Google Ads efforts and generate a steady stream of motivated sellers for your real estate investment business.

    Part 5: Expanding Your Reach: Exploring Other Campaign Types

    While Search Ads are a foundational element of any real estate investor’s Google Ads strategy, other campaign types can further enhance your reach and connect with potential sellers at different stages of their journey. Here’s a closer look at two powerful options:

    Video Ads:

    • Target Audience: Video ads allow you to showcase your expertise and the appeal of investing in real estate through captivating visuals. You can target these ads to a broad audience searching for real estate-related topics or create retargeting campaigns for website visitors who haven’t yet converted.
    • Campaign Goals: Video ads are well-suited for brand awareness, showcasing your company’s approach and success stories. They can also be used to generate leads by directing viewers to a landing page with a clear call to action.
    • Benefits:
      • High Engagement: Video ads can grab attention and effectively communicate your message in a compelling format.
      • Emotional Connection: Videos can build trust and establish your brand as a reliable and knowledgeable partner for real estate investors.
      • Versatility: You can create various video ad formats, from short explainer videos to testimonials from satisfied clients.
    • Things to Consider:
      • Production Quality: Invest in high-quality video production for a professional and trustworthy presentation.
      • Targeting: Refine your targeting to ensure your video ads reach the right audience at the right time.
      • Tracking & Measurement: Track key metrics like video views, engagement, and website traffic to measure campaign effectiveness.

    Display Ads & Retargeting:

    • Campaign Goal: Display ads are banner ads placed on websites across the web. They can be used for brand awareness, retargeting website visitors who haven’t converted, or driving traffic to specific landing pages.
    • Retargeting: This powerful strategy allows you to show targeted ads to people who have already interacted with your website or mobile app. Remind them about your offerings and encourage them to take action, like filling out a lead form.
    • Benefits:
      • Brand Awareness: Increase brand visibility by placing display ads on relevant websites frequented by your target audience.
      • Retargeting Power: Reconnect with website visitors who have shown initial interest but haven’t converted yet.
      • Targeted Reach: Display ad networks allow for specific targeting based on demographics, interests, and online behavior.
    • Things to Consider:
      • Banner Design: Create visually appealing and clear banner ads that resonate with your target audience.
      • Landing Page Alignment: Ensure your landing page aligns with the message and offer presented in the display ad.
      • Retargeting Strategy: Develop a strategic retargeting campaign with a clear timeframe and compelling message to re-engage website visitors.

    By incorporating video ads and display campaigns with retargeting into your marketing mix, you can create a well-rounded Google Ads strategy that reaches potential sellers throughout their decision-making journey, ultimately generating a steady stream of qualified leads for your real estate investment business.

    Conclusion and Extra Resources

    Congratulations! You’ve reached the end of this comprehensive guide on leveraging Google Ads to attract motivated sellers and propel your real estate investment business forward.

    Key Takeaways & Recap:

    • Google Ads offers a powerful platform for real estate investors to target motivated sellers who are actively searching for solutions.
    • By crafting compelling ad copy, optimizing landing pages, and utilizing effective bidding strategies, you can generate a steady stream of qualified leads.
    • Continuously monitor and analyze your campaigns to maximize return on investment (ROI) and refine your approach based on data insights.

    Set Realistic Expectations for Your Google Ads Campaign:

    Before diving into Google Ads, it’s crucial to set realistic goals and understand market limitations.

    • Market Research: Research your target market’s potential for seller leads. A high budget allows for more leads and targeting broader markets, while a lower budget might be better suited for smaller areas.
    • Data & Optimization: Google Ads needs time to collect data and optimize performance. Give your campaigns a few months to reach their full potential.
    • Return on Investment (ROI): Factor in ROI when planning your campaign. Track key metrics and adjust your strategy to maximize profitability.

    To minimize wasted spending and maximize lead generation, plan your campaign beforehand:

    1. Target Audience: Are you targeting sellers or buyers?
    2. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC): Determine your acceptable cost per lead.
    3. Maximum Cost-per-Click (CPC): Estimate your maximum cost per click based on your profit margin and sales conversion rate. 4. Budget: Set a realistic budget for your campaign, allocating a portion for initial testing.
    4. Test Budget: Allocate a specific amount to test different keywords and identify the most effective ones. Use the formula: Test Budget = (100 clicks) x (Estimated CPC)

    By setting realistic expectations and planning your campaign meticulously, you can create a Google Ads strategy that maximizes your return on investment and generates a steady stream of qualified leads.

    Remember:

    • Focus on the benefits for sellers and address their pain points in your ad copy.
    • Leverage your unique selling proposition (USP) as a real estate investor to stand out from competitors.
    • Track conversions and key metrics to measure success and identify areas for improvement.

    Resources for Further Learning:

    The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving. Here are some valuable resources to stay ahead of the curve and enhance your Google Ads expertise:

    By implementing the strategies outlined in this guide and utilizing the resources provided, you can become a Google Ads pro and unlock the full potential of this powerful platform to grow your real estate investment business.

  • Do You Want a Website That’s Both Stunning and Effective? Here are 10 Beautiful Carrot Website Examples for Inspiration!

    Do You Want a Website That’s Both Stunning and Effective? Here are 10 Beautiful Carrot Website Examples for Inspiration!

    Carrot’s real estate marketing platform has evolved beyond a simple website builder into a comprehensive Lead Generation Hub that helps investors and agents create unique, high-performing websites that convert visitors into leads at a rate 44% higher than industry benchmarks.

    Key Takeaways

    • Carrot websites dominate search results, capturing over 50% of top-3 Google rankings across 225 U.S. markets, giving members a competitive advantage in visibility.
    • Leads generated through Carrot websites are 7x more likely to convert into deals compared to non-Carrot leads and yield an average profit of nearly $14,000 per deal.
    • Despite using the same software platform, Carrot members can create vastly different website designs that reflect their unique brand identity using the Visual Editor and customization options.

    With Carrot, real estate professionals can build websites that cut through online clutter, capture qualified leads, and become valuable assets rather than liabilities in growing their business.

    Table of Contents

    1. Carrot Website Examples
    2. Kauai Cash Home Buyers
    3. MN Nice Home Buyers
    4. KM Homes
    5. 412Houses
    6. KCMOHomeBuyer
    7. Jessica Wilkinson
    8. DHS Realty Group
    9. Unique Property Solutions
    10. TK Properties
    11. Grand Real Estate Investments
    Carrot icon
    Lead generation, at its best
    Attract, convert & close more motivated leads
    Try Carrot Today

    Carrot was an accident — albeit a wonderful one.

    Tapping into his experience as a real estate investor and online marketer, Trevor Mauch, CEO of Carrot, built his first motivated seller website in 2003.

    Almost immediately, the site began generating organic motivated seller leads – it was then Trevor knew he’d found the gap that all entrepreneurs are looking for… where your expertise overlaps the market’s needs. 

    So he built another site. And another. He finally had the grand idea to create a software company called Carrot. He wanted our websites to be so irresistible that motivated sellers couldn’t help but convert… and the investors using them couldn’t help but grow!

    Now we’ve transformed Carrot from being like any other website builder into a Lead Generation Hub, built on a real estate marketing platform with multiple tools and resources to help investors, agents, and hybrids grow their businesses with real impact and freedom. Take a look at some of our member’s performance stats below.

    By attracting the right traffic through SEO, Carrot websites capture over 50% of top 3 Google search results across 225 U.S. markets, meaning Carrot members have a competitive advantage in being seen first by high-quality clients.

    Carrot sites are stunning and effectively converting traffic into leads at a 44% higher rate than industry benchmarks, making Carrot the industry leader in producing high-quality leads.

    Speaking of high-quality leads, Carrot leads are 7x more likely to convert into deals than non-Carrot leads and on average, yield almost $14,000 in profit per deal!

    To celebrate Carrot’s accomplishments over the past decade and hopefully convince you to try Carrot (wink wink), we will share 10 of our favorite Carrot member websites.

    As you read through, notice the versatility of these sites and the significant differences in style and tone… all easily created by the same software backed by the same crazy people with the same crazy dream: to help entrepreneurs reclaim time for the things that matter most in life.

    Gain the most freedom, impact, and growth in your real estate business with highly motivated buyer and seller leads!

    Carrot website examples convert leads into deals 7x higher than non-Carrot leads and 2.5x more profitable.

    That’s the power of Carrot’s real estate marketing platform…with websites so powerful that we had to call it something else: the Lead Generation Hub.

    Take a free, interactive demo today to find out how a Carrot website has helped investors and agents attract, convert, and close more deals than ever before for over 10 years.

    Carrot Website Examples

    As mentioned, we’ve compiled this list of 10 sites representing how Carrot members are actively adjusting their websites. But before that, let’s take a minute to show you how one builds a real estate website.

    To paint a picture, once you become a member at Carrot and are ready to create your unique site, we’ll first have you select Site Type to determine what types of leads you are looking for (ex., Motivated Sellers, Cash Buyers). Next, we’ll have you choose a website template to help you get started on constructing your own design.

    Even if you aren’t a web designer, our websites are easily customizable using Carrot’s Visual Editor. This user-friendly design tool eases the process of making your site stand out without the need for any fancy coding. You’ll be able to drag and drop text boxes, images, videos, and more in real-time without ever needing to leave the page (saving you time and stress).

    If you’ve seen Carrot sites in the past and are asking yourself, “don’t all Carrot sites look the same?” then these examples prove that you can stand out from the crowd with a little effort. 😉

    We want to inspire you with this quick round-up of Carrot websites that our members love. Be sure to scroll through each site to see the endless possibilities!

    Additional website design services with amazing results!

    Some Carrot website examples below have been optimized using our Concierge Set Up services.

    If you don’t have the time to create your website, check out our done-for-you, high-performance Concierge Set Up!

    On average, our CSU sites…

    • Attract more than 3X the traffic of an average Carrot site.
    • Get more than 5X the leads with 3+ additional leads every month compared to the previous.
    • Have a 35% higher conversion rate from lead to deal.

    Kauai Cash Home Buyers

    A fantastic site design that blends local images, colors, and branding. Kauai Cash Home Buyers packs credibility into three testimonials blocks, including six testimonial videos. Their “Watch Our TV Commercial Below” and accompanying video adds “local” as an important call-out for their market.

    MN Nice Home Buyers

    MN Nice is a change of pace from other sites—simple, easy to follow, and practical design. The addition of a “You May Have Heard Us On…” section offers a unique way to call out credibility.

    KM Homes

    KM Homes is an example of a “hybrid” website. The realtor.com and Zillow badges communicate the option to list a house. Further down the page, they also offer an alternative to selling quickly. The website is easy to navigate and uses large images to enhance the clean structure.

    412Houses

    412houses.com presents a professional design, relevant content, and features that contribute to its credibility as a platform for real estate activities in the Pittsburgh area.

    The website showcases a well-designed, visually appealing and user-friendly layout, which can contribute to a positive browsing experience.

    Their “customer reviews” section highlights their past clients suggests a track record of successful transactions and satisfied customers.

     KCMOHomeBuyer

    Overall, the website’s design, content, and features contribute to its credibility as a platform for buying homes in the Kansas City area.

    1. Professional Design: The website features a well-organized and visually appealing design, which can contribute to a positive user experience.
    2. Clear Purpose: The website explicitly focuses on buying homes in Kansas City, indicating a specific and transparent business model.
    3. Contact Information: The site provides clear contact details, including a phone number and an address. This transparency can enhance trust and credibility.
    4. Accreditations: The website showcases accreditation logos, such as the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Senior Transition Specialist, which can further enhance its credibility.

    Jessica Wilkinson

    The real estate website design for San Diego-based Jessica Wilkinson, a Big Block Realty brokerage, is simple yet effective. Whether you want to investigate properties in and around San Diego, get info on housing buying and selling values, or check out some of her informative real estate blog posts and newsletters.

    How Jessica Stands Out with Carrot

    DHS Realty Group

    All aspects of your business are key. That includes your real estate website design. DHS Realty Group utilizes the block editor in a variety of colors to guide guests down the page. The choice of words and color scheme welcomes visitors to their site. The photos are eye-catching, and the icons match the topics.

    Unique Property Solutions

    Unique Property Solutions goes big with videos and authentic local images. Take one look at it, and it’s evident they are a highly engaged “local” business that cares about how visitors learn more about their company and is determined to turn those visitors into leads.

    We tried to create the website on our own and had some initial success however our success paled in comparison to what our Concierge team of Taylor, Lisa, Nate and many others behind the scenes helped us achieve! The team was professional, responsive and super easy to work with and we enjoyed creating a great website with their expertise.

    – Shannon Kolbe – Unique Property Solutions

    TK Properties

    TK Properties’ design is clean and practical by showing off local houses with their motivated seller website. The custom logo and branding show off well. The testimonials and the design’s responsive capabilities across the homepage. Overall, a perfect example of website design.

    Grand Real Estate Investments

    Besides using credibility badges below the hero, Grand Real Estate Investments drives credibility by adding a “Mission” section on their homepage and additional testimonials. They also add local flair with custom location-based images.

    It’s like utilizing that website as your core for everything is the key. That’s definitely the key. But it’s so simple to use. It’s not like a regular WordPress site. I love the simplicity. I know how to do everything. – Robert Grand, Grand Real Estate Investments

    Conclusion

    With Carrot, you can build a unique website that stands out amongst all the clutter online, draws buyers and sellers in, snags their contact information, and becomes an asset (rather than a liability) for helping you grow your business.

    Use these Carrot website examples as inspiration.

    We know that because thousands of Carrot members have done it.

    Will you be next?

  • 9 Real Estate Follow Up Scripts to Close More Deals

    9 Real Estate Follow Up Scripts to Close More Deals

    If you want more deals and outgrow your competitors, you need real estate follow up scripts proven to close.

    You want to own one of your market’s most successful real estate businesses (whether agent or investor).

    There are a lot of things you could do. Sending paid ad traffic to a high-converting website, optimizing your ad campaigns for a better click-through rate, and creating sales scripts can make a massive difference in how many leads you generate and how many deals you close monthly.

    Following up on your real estate leads is one of the biggest determiners of success.

    If an agent or investor has a rigorous and consistent follow-up system, they are far more likely to be successful than those who assume a lead is dead if they don’t get a signed contract after the first phone call.

    But you don’t have to take our word for it.


    Hone Your Follow-Up Skills & Close More Deals

    Cover seller objections, use high-converting warm and cold touch scripts, and follow an easy touchpoint schedule to increase your lead-to-deal conversion.

    Download Now: Free Follow-Up Scripts


    Is Follow Up Worth Your Time?

    We’ve mentioned this in other blog posts before, but the data is pretty clear about whether follow-up is worth your time or not…

    is lead follow-up important

    (Image Source)

    Think about that for a second…

    80% of sales are made between the fifth and twelfth contact.

    Let’s pretend that that is true for your business but that you only follow up once with each lead.

    That would mean that you’re giving more than 80% of your potential deals to your competitors — just outright handing them over.

    Because those leads aren’t just sitting at home waiting for you to pursue them, they’re calling other investors and agents in the area and examining their options.

    If you stop contacting them, they’ll forget about you and work with someone else.

    Over 80%!

    Sound crazy?

    Well, even if that percentage is 50% for your business, isn’t that too much?

    Even 10% is too much!

    Especially in real estate, an industry where one transaction often amounts to tens of thousands of dollars in profit.

    Look — you know there’s money in the follow up, but you still have some limiting beliefs about building a follow-up system for your business.

    So let me walk you through 3 of the most common myths of follow up in real estate.

    Three Real Estate Follow Up Myths

    Myth #1: “I need to have a complex CRM before building my follow up system.”

    Yes. Having a super fancy CRM will help you organize your lead flow, assign tasks to different team members, and ensure that you follow up with every lead, with the same messages, a pre-determined number of times.

    CRMs allow you to organize and automate your follow-up system, making the entire process much simpler.

    But CRMs aren’t always cheap.

    And they also aren’t always easy to use (some are better than others).

    If you think your lack of a CRM or your hatred of technology is an excuse not to follow up with your leads, think again…

    Just keep it simple, use an ESP like MailChimp or InvestorFuse (both of which integrate with your Carrot website), and schedule an automated follow-up campaign.

    Remember, some sort of follow-up strategy is better than no follow-up strategy.

    Myth #2: “Most deals come from first contact, not follow-up.

    Whether you’re an agent or investor, it’s easy to assume that most of your deals come from first contact.

    A motivated buyer or seller calls you on the phone, ready to take action now (they might even already know who you are and trust you), and that call effortlessly turns into a closed deal.

    That’s how many of your transactions happen now.

    But we have to ask the question… do most of your currently closed deals happen like that because if someone isn’t motivated from the get-go, then they won’t be motivated down the road?

    Or because you’re not following up and thus not capturing leads that might require more time and effort?

    The answer is clear.

    After all, no matter how motivated someone is to buy or sell their home, a reasonable person likely won’t just decide to work with you right off the bat — they’ll need to process, think about it, examine other options, and speak with you some more.

    And if you’re following up during that decision-making process, they might work well with you.

    Myth #3: “I don’t want to follow up too much or annoy my prospects.

    This “myth” isn’t false.

    Some real estate follow-up sequences are downright annoying to prospects.

    Suppose you’re sending the same thing every time — “Hey! I want to buy your house right now!” — then that’ll get old quickly.

    But this belief is a myth in that the follow-up sequence you create doesn’t need to be dull and drab — it can be interesting, engaging, and trust-building.

    How?

    Well, we think that one of the best ways to build trust and engage prospects with your follow-up sequence is by providing free value.

    Send them a link to an article on your website that might help them solve a problem. Give them a piece of advice specific to their situation. Or even offer to get on the phone and discuss their options.

    The better the relationship you build with them, the more dividends that relationship will pay you down the road.


    Hone Your Negotiation Skills & Close More Deals

    Get the fool-proof strategies & step-by-step scripts used by real estate investing’s top closers — all in one resource.

    Download Now: Free Negotiation Playbook


    What Is The Goal Of Follow Up?

    Sometimes, a lead follow-up system’s goal is to get your lead to take the next step for conversion — getting on the phone with you, receiving their cash offer, or going to an open house.

    Sometimes, though, the goal will be to get them to accept a cash offer you already made or to stay in contact with them if they become ready to use your services.

    Each business is different, and each prospect is different.

    What your follow-up system should look like depends on when you’re following up with prospects (what stage they’re at) and what action you need them to take.

    Typically, though, the goal of mastering following up is to get the prospect on the phone again so you can work your sales magic — a phone call can serve all purposes.

    The 3 Mediums Of Your Follow Up Strategy: Text, Email, and Phone Calls

    How you follow up with your prospects — whether through text, email, or phone calls (or, even better, all three) — will partly be determined by your target market and how they like to communicate.

    More than one investor, for example, has gotten on the phone with an elderly person looking to sell their home fast, only to find out that they have no idea how to work email.

    So adjust with your market’s tendencies.

    If you know, they don’t look at their emails and texts, then call them. If they don’t answer the phone, send text messages and emails.

    The more you adapt your follow-up strategy to the communication style of each prospect, the better.

    (But remember, progress, not perfection)

    Oh! And here’s the best time to email…

    best days to send a lead follow up email

    (Image Source)

    And the best time to send a real estate follow up email…

    best hours to send a lead follow up email

    (Image Source)

    In other words…

    best times and days to send a lead follow up email

    (Image Source)

    Real Estate Follow Up Timeline Calendar

    Following up is, of course, easier said than done.

    You need to figure out what to say and how to say it (covered in the next part of this article) and determine when you will follow up.

    So to help with the decision-making process, we’ve put together this free follow-up timeline calendar that you can steal if you like.

    Try it, see how it goes, and adjust it as necessary.

    When we put it together, we’d tried to put logical spacing between each text, call, and email so that you’ll sometimes need to use free-value-based follow ups…

    “Hey! I found something you might be interested in.”

    and sometimes, you’ll just be checking in…

    “Hey! Just calling to see if you’re still interested in my services.”

    Hope it helps!

    Note: This calendar is one month’s worth of follow-up for a given prospect who opted-in to your website on Sunday, the 1st. You can follow up more or less than the calendar suggests, but this is a good starting point.

    real estate lead follow up calendar

    Free Real Estate Follow Up Scripts

    To make your follow-up strategy even easier to implement, we will provide you with 3 follow up scripts whether you’re an agent or an investor.

    These scripts are written as if for an automated email campaign, but they can be adapted to fit any medium (including text and phone calls).

    One of the primary ways we recommend reaching out to your prospects is by offering value rather than just asking for the sale each time (which can get annoying quickly).

    How can you provide value?

    Well, if you have a blog on your website (check out our Content Tools add-on where we’ll provide you with expert-written blog content every month), then you can send over links to helpful articles that you’ve recently published, making you look like the expert that you are and keeping you top of mind.

    For agents and investors, here are 3 follow-up scripts you’re welcome to steal. :-)

    1. Hard Ask — Use When Trying To Close The Deal
    2. Soft Ask — Use When Trying To Get Prospect To Take Next Step
    3. Free Value — Use When Trying To Stay Connected With Prospect Simply

    6 Free Real Estate Follow Up Scripts For Agents (3 For Buyers & 3 For Sellers)

    FOR BUYERS

    Hard Ask

    This depends a bit on what you’re trying to do with the buyer. Here, I assume you want them to choose to work with you rather than another competitor.

    Hey [name]!

    Great chat the other day.

    I’ve spent some time thinking about your situation and I know that I can help you find the perfect home. If you’re okay with it, let me find some listings that I think are within your budget and we can go take a look.

    What do you say?

    Soft Ask

    Hey [name]!

    I hope you’re doing well.

    I know you mentioned that you’re interested in finding the perfect home for [purpose]. I’d love to help you with that. Do you have time to swing by my office this week?

    Free Value — Use When Trying To Stay Connected With Prospect Simply

    Hey [name]!

    I just published this article on my website and it’s all about [topic] — super relevant to what you’re going through.

    Anyways, I thought you might find it helpful!

    Hope you’re well. :-)

    FOR SELLERS

    Hard Ask

    Hey [name]!

    I was just doing some research on your home and I’m confident we can sell it for [$XXX,XXX] — want me to get started listing it?

    Soft Ask

    Hey [name]!

    I’d love to help you get top-dollar for your precious home so you can get moving with your big plans. How can I help you?

    Free Value

    Hey [name]!

    I just published this article on my website that talks about [topic] — I thought it’d be super relevant to your situation and you might get some value out of it.

    Hope you’re well!

    3 Free Real Estate Follow Up Scripts For Investors

    Hard Ask

    Hey [name]!

    Are you ready to sell your house fast for cash? I’m prepared to give you cash for what I offered you the other day.

    Money in your pocket and stress off your shoulders…

    Let me know!

    Soft Ask

    Hey [name]!

    I would really like to buy your house for cash. Want to hear my offer?

    Free Value

    Hey [name]!

    I just published this article on my website about [topic] and I thought it might help with your difficult situation. Give it a look.

    And call me if you think I can help you out. :-)

    Conclusion

    These nine real estate follow up scripts should help you get started down the path to more deals.

    Remember, some follow up is better than none. And this is going to get you moving in the right direction.

    Create a follow up system that works for you, your business, and your prospects. Then, you’ll reap the benefits of being a business that consistently follows up with its leads.

    If you’d like more real estate marketing materials like this, click on the link!

  • How to Write a Real Estate Investment Business Plan: Complete Guide

    How to Write a Real Estate Investment Business Plan: Complete Guide

    Building an investing business without a real estate investment business plan is sort of like riding a bike without handlebars. 

    You might be able to do it… but why would you? 

    It’s far easier and more practical to set out on your venture with a business plan that outlines things like your lead-flow, where you’ll find funding, and which market(s) you’ll operate. 

    Plus, according to Entrepreneur, having a business plan increases your chances of growth by 30%. 

    Download Now: Free marketing plan video and a downloadable guide

    So don’t skip this critical first step. 

    Here’s how to do it. 

    Real Estate Investment Business Plan Guide

    In this article we’re going to discuss:

    What is a Real Estate Investment Business Plan and Why Does it Matter?

    A real estate investment business plan is a document that outlines your goals, your vision, and your plan for growing the business

    It should detail the real estate business model you’re going to pursue, your chosen method for lead-gen, how you’ll find funding, and how you plan to close deals. 

    The kit and caboodle. 

    BUT…

    It shouldn’t be overly complicated. 

    Whether this real estate investment business plan is only for your personal use or to present to someone else, simplicity is best. Be thorough, be clear, but don’t over-explain what you’re going to do. 

    As far as why you should have a business plan, consider that it gives you a 30% better chance of growing your business. 

    Also, consider that setting out without a plan would be like — full of unexpected twists and turns — is that something you want to do? 

    Probably not. 

    It’s worth taking a few days or weeks to put together a business plan, even if it’s just for your own sake. By the time you’re complete, you’ll have greater confidence in the business you’re setting out to build. 

    And an entrepreneur’s confidence is everything. 

    How to Create Your Real Estate Investment Business Plan

    Now we get into the nitty-gritty. 

    How do you create your real estate investment business plan? Here are the 10 steps!

    1. Create Your Mission & Vision

    This can be considered your “summary” section. You might not think that you need a mission statement or vision for your real estate business. 

    And you don’t. 

    We know a lot of real estate investors (many of our members, in fact) don’t have a clear mission or vision that they’ve outlined — and they’re successful regardless. 

    But if you’re just getting started…

    Then we think it’s a worthwhile use of your time. 

    Because if you don’t know why you’re going to build your real estate investing business, if you don’t see what purpose it serves on a personal and professional level, then it’s not going to be very exciting to you. 

    You can either use this time to create a mission for your business… or a mission statement for you as it relates to growing your business (depending on your goals).

    For instance…

    • Our mission is to create affordable house opportunities in the Roseburg, Oregon community. 
    • Our mission is to provide homeowners with an exceptional experience when selling their properties for cash. 

    Or you could go a more personal route…

    • My mission is to create a business that supports my family. 
    • My mission is to build a company that gives me more time for what matters most to me.

    Or you could do both…

    • My mission is to create a business that supports my family, and my business’ mission is to provide homeowners with an exceptional experience when selling their properties for cash. 

    Either way, it’s good to think about this before getting started. 

    Because if you know why you’re going to build your business — and if, ideally, that reason resonates with you — then you’ll be more excited and determined to work hard toward your goals. 

    It is also an excellent opportunity to outline the core values you’ll adhere to within your business as Brian Rockwell does on his website

    add core value to your real estate website

    With this information in hand, you’re ready to move on to the next step. 

    2. Run Competitive Market Analysis

    Which market are you going to operate in? 

    That might be an easy question to answer — if you’re just going to operate in the town where you live, fair enough. 

    But it’s worth keeping in mind that today’s technology has made it possible to become a real estate investor in any market from pretty much any location (remotely). 

    So if the market you’re in is lacking in opportunity, then you might consider investing elsewhere. 

    How do you know which market to choose? 

    Here are the 10 top real estate markets for investors, according to our own Carrot member data of over 7000 accounts, based on lead volume…

    • Dallas, TX
    • Atlanta, GA
    • Houston, TX
    • Chicago, IL
    • Charlotte, NC
    • New York, NY
    • Los Angeles, CA
    • Orlando, FL
    • Philadelphia, PA
    • Phoenix, AZ

    And here are the top 20 states…

    • Texas
    • California
    • Florida
    • Virginia
    • Illinois
    • Georgia
    • Ohio
    • New York
    • North Carolina
    • Pennsylvania
    • New Jersey
    • Oregon 
    • Washington
    • Kansas
    • Arizona
    • Indiana
    • Michigan
    • Colorado
    • Missouri
    • Tennessee

    That’ll give you some ideas. 

    But what makes a market good or bad for real estate investors? Here are some metrics to pay attention to when you’re doing your research. 

    • Median Home Value — This will tell you how much the average home sells for in the market, which will impact whether you’ll be willing to operate there. Because obviously, you want to play with numbers that feel reasonable to you. 
    • Median Home Value Increase Year Over Year — Ideally, you want to invest in a market where homes are appreciating every year. And a positive increase in this metric is a good sign that the properties you invest in will continue to increase in value. 
    • Occupied Housing Rate — A high housing occupancy rate means it’s easy to find tenants, and there’s a healthy demand for housing. That’s a good sign. 
    • Median Rent — This is the average cost of rent in the market and will give you a good idea of how much you’ll be able to charge on any rentals you own. 
    • Median Rent Increase Year Over Year — If you’re going to buy rentals, it’s a good sign if rental costs increase every year.
    • Population Growth — When the population grows, it creates demand for housing, both rentals and on the MLS. That’s a good sign for a real estate investor. 
    • Job Growth — Job growth is a sign of a healthy economy and indicates that you’ll have an easier time capitalizing on your real estate investments. 

    Fortunately, all of this research is super easy to do on Google. 

    You can just type in the market and the metric in Google and you’ll get meaningful results. 

    Thank god for technology. 

    Want more freedom & impact?

    From Mindset to Marketing, join our CEO as he unlocks the best stories, tactics, and strategies from America’s top investors and agents on the CarrotCast. If you want to grow your business, you need to check it out!

    3. Choose Your Business Model(s)

    There’s not just one real estate business model

    There are many. 

    And the market you’re in — as well as your business goals — will determine which business model you choose. 

    Here’s a brief overview of each…

    • Wholesaling — Is a prevalent business model in the real estate world. Wholesalers find deals and flip them to other cash buyers for an assignment fee, typically somewhere between $5,000 to $10,000. It’s low risk and requires little capital upfront (you can get started with as little as $2,000). 
    • Wholetailing — Wholetailing is a mix between wholesaling and house flipping. A wholetailer will find a deal, do some very minor repairs (if any), and sell the house on the MLS themselves. It results in large profits with far less work. But wholetail deals are hard to come by. 
    • BRRRR — This stands for Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat. It’s a long-term process for buying and holding rental properties. It’s a great way to build net worth and create generational wealth. 
    • Flipping — House flipping is the most popularized real estate investing method. It consists of purchasing distressed properties, fixing them up, and selling them at a good profit on the MLS, often making upwards of $100,000 per deal. However, this method involves much more risk than the other methods and each deal takes a lot longer to complete. 

    If you’re just getting started, then we recommend choosing just one business model and doing that until you’ve mastered it. 

    Down the road, you will likely want to use multiple business models. 

    We know the most successful real estate investors are wholesalers, wholesalers, flippers, and they own some rental properties. 

    That allows them to make the most of every opportunity that comes their way. 

    But again… to start, just choose one. 

    4. Determine Your Business Goals

    At this point, you should have a pretty clear idea of why you’re going to build your real estate investing business. 

    Are you going to build it because you want to make an impact in your community? Because you want more financial freedom? Because you want more time freedom? 

    All of the above? 

    Whatever the case, now it’s time to set some goals related to your mission for the business. 

    Remember the SMART acronym for goal setting…

    • Specific
    • Measurable
    • Achievable
    • Relevant
    • Time-Bound

    Start by thinking about how much money you’d like to make per month — this should be the first income threshold that you’re excited to hit.

    Let’s pretend you said $10,000 per month. 

    Okay, now take a look at your business model. How many properties do you need to have cash-flowing to hit that number? How many deals do you have to do per month? How many flips? 

    Try to be as realistic with your numbers as possible. 

    Here are some baselines to consider for the different business models at the $10k/month threshold…

    • Wholesaling – 2-3 Deals Per Month
    • Wholetailing – 2-3 Deals Per Month
    • BRRRR – $1 Million in Assets
    • Flipping – 1-2 Flips Per Year

    Now you have a general idea of the results you’ll need to hit your first income threshold. 

    But we haven’t talked about overhead costs. 

    How much will you need to spend to get those results? 

    Your answer to that question will be influenced by the market analysis you already did. But it’s pretty standard for the price of finding a deal to hover around $2,000 for a real estate investor (if you’re doing your own advertising). 

    So now you’re spending $2,000 per deal, or whatever your specific number is. That’s going to have an impact on how much money you’re making. So now we can adjust your goals to be more realistic for hitting that $10k per month marker…

    • Wholesaling – 4-5 Deals Per Month
    • Wholetailing – 4-5 Deals Per Month
    • BRRRR – $1.5 Million in Assets
    • Flipping – 2-3 Flips Per Year

    The idea here is to figure out how many deals you’ll have to do per month to hit your income goals. 

    Then work that back into figuring out how much you’ll need to spend every month to realistically and predictably hit your goals. 

    At $2k per deal and intending to hit $10k/month, here’s what your deal-finding costs might look like…

    • Wholesaling – 4-5 Deals Per Month – $8k-$10k/month
    • Wholetailing – 4-5 Deals Per Month – $8k-$10k/month
    • BRRRR – $1.5 Million in Assets – $6k-$8k/month
    • Flipping – 2-3 Flips Per Year – $4k-$6k/month

    That should give you a baseline. 

    How do those numbers look? 

    If they feel too high for you right now, lower your initial goal — you want to make your first goal something that you know you can accomplish. 

    Then, as you gain experience, you can increase your goals and make more money down the road. 

    Free Real Estate Marketing Plan Template

    Take our short survey to find out where you struggle most with your online marketing strategy. Generate your free marketing plan video and downloadable guide to increase lead generation and conversion, gain momentum, and stand out in your market:

    real estate marketing plan generator

    Download your marketing plan template here.

    5. Find Funding / Cash Buyers

    Are you going to fund your own deals or find private investors? Or maybe you’re going to get a business loan from a bank? 

    If you’re just starting as a wholesaler or wholetailer, then it’s recommended funding your own first few deals — that should only cost $2,000 to $5,000… and why overcomplicate things in the beginning when you’re still trying to learn the ropes? 

    However, as a wholesaler or wholetailer, you’ll still need to find some cash buyers. 

    Here’s a great video that’ll teach you how to do that…

    How To Find A Cash Buyer For Your Wholesale Deal

    To consistently grow your cash buyer list (which is an important part of the wholesaling and wholestailing business model), we also recommend creating a buyer website like this…

    Cash Buyer - Investment Property Website

    Learn more about creating your cash buyer website with Carrot over here

    To scale, you might seek out other sources of funding. 

    Here are some options…

    • Bank Loan — Getting a loan from a bank might be the most straightforward strategy if you’re just getting started. But keep in mind that the requirements for a loan on an investment property will be more stringent than the requirements were for your primary residence mortgage. And the interest rate will likely be higher as well. For that reason, you might seek out some of the other options. 
    • Hard Money — Hard money loans come from companies that specifically serve real estate investors. They are easier and faster to secure than a bank loan and hard money lenders typically base their approval of the loan on the quality of the investment property rather than the investor’s financial standing. 
    • Private Money — Whereas a hard money loan comes from a company; a private money loan comes from an individual with a good chunk of capital they’re looking to invest. That could be a friend, family member, coworker, and acquaintance. Interest rates and terms on these loans are typically very flexible and the interest rate is usually quite good. Private money is an excellent option for real estate investors looking to scale their business. 

    But before you seek out funding from those sources, get clear on what exactly you’re going to use those funds for. 

    Finding funding is even more critical. In fact — if you’re flipping properties or using the BRRRR method. 

    (It’s a key part of the BRRRR method)

    You’ll likely want to use hard money or private money to fund your deals as you grow your business.

    Okay…

    But how do you find and secure those loans? 

    Hard money lenders are easy to find — just Google for hard money lenders in your area and call the companies that pop up to get more details. 

    Private money (which usually has more favorable terms than hard money) is a bit trickier to find but not at all impossible. 

    To find private money lenders, you can…

    • Tell Friends & Family — This should be the first thing you do. Tell everyone you can about the business you’re building and the returns you can offer investors. Then ask them if they know anyone who might be interested in investing. 
    • Network — After you’ve exhausted all your friends and family, make a point of getting to know people everywhere you go. The easiest way to do this is to wear branded clothing so people ask about what you do. Talk to people at coffee shops, grocery stores, movie theaters, and anywhere else that you frequent. You never know who you might meet. 
    • Attend Foreclosure Auctions — Foreclosure auctions are jam-packed with people who have cash-on-hand to buy properties. These people might also be interested in investing in your real estate endeavors. Or they might know where to find private money. Either way, it’s in your interest to build relationships with these people. Attend foreclosure auctions and bring some business cards. 

    Here are some tips on finding private money lenders…

    How to Find Private Money Lenders for Real Estate Investing

    6. Identify Lead-Flow Source

    Now let’s talk about how you will generate a consistent flow of motivated leads for your business. 

    Because no matter which of the business models you’ve chosen… you’re going to need to find motivated sellers.

    And you’re going to need to find those people every single month. 

    There are essentially two parts to a successful lead generation strategy for real estate investing business. 

    Both pieces are critical… 

    1. The Short Term — We call this “hamster-wheel marketing” because it requires you to keep working and spending money to generate leads. Examples include Facebook ads, direct mail, bandit signs, cold calling, driving for dollars, and other tit-for-tat strategies that will burn you out if you’re not careful.
    2. The Long Term — We call this “evergreen marketing” because it requires an upfront investment… but that investment pays off for years and years to come. Examples include increasing brand awareness for your business in your target market(s) and improving your website’s SEO, so that motivated sellers find you

    Short-term tactics are critical when you’re first starting — in fact, they are likely going to be your only source of leads for at least the first few months. 

    Here are some more details on the most popular and effective methods… 

    • Direct Mail — This should be your go-to method in the beginning. Send a few thousand direct mail pieces to the lists below and see how many calls you get in return. Expect to close about 1 in 25 calls (that’s pretty typical for this method).
      • Tax default mailing lists
      • Vacant house lists
      • Expired listing lists
      • Pre-foreclosure lists
      • Out-of-state landlord lists
    • Cold Calling — This might be more uncomfortable than stubbing your toe on a piece of furniture, but it can still be effective for finding motivated sellers. We have an article all about colding calling — it even has scripts for you to use. 
    • Facebook Ads — Facebook ads is another excellent method for generating leads so long as you have a high-converting website to send them to. If you don’t, get yourself a Carrot website. Each Carrot site is built to convert. Here are some more details about running successful ads on Facebook for your real estate investing business.
    • Google AdsGoogle Ads is one of the most popular platforms for real estate professionals needing to provide quick results with a minimal to high investment depending on markets.

    But over time, the goal is to invest in more long-term evergreen marketing tactics so that you can get off the hamster wheel and build a more sustainable business. 

    Check out the video below to learn more about the critical distinction between short-term and long-term marketing. 

    At Carrot, we’ve created an online marketing system that makes generating leads super easy and simple for real estate investors. 

    And it’s 100% evergreen. 

    Here’s an example of one of our members’ websites that converts like crazy…

    Try our free Marketing Plan Generator here.

    7. Gather Property Analysis Information

    We just talked about how you can generate leads.

    But once someone calls you, once you’re checking out a property… How will you know if the property is a good fit for your chosen business model? 

    After all, not every property will be a fit. 

    First, ask the following questions when the seller calls…

    • What is the address of the house you want to sell?
    • How many bedrooms, bathrooms does it have?
    • Does it have a garage, basement, or pool?
    • If you were going to list it with a Realtor, what repairs and/or updating would you say would be needed?
    • How much is owed on the house?
    • Do you have an asking price in mind?
    • Is the house behind on payments?
    • If I come out and look at the property and make you a cash offer to buy it ‘As-Is’ and close as soon as you want, what would be the least you would be willing to take?

    That will provide you with a lot of critical information about what you’re dealing with. 

    Next, once you’re off the phone, do a bit of due diligence and look at what nearby properties of similar size have sold for in the last 90 days or so — that should give you a ballpark idea for the after-repair value of the property. 

    If you decide that the property sounds promising, you’ll want to walk through it and take pictures of anything and everything that’ll need to be repaired. 

    Back at the office, estimate the cost of those repairs — here’s a great resource from REISift that’ll help you estimate rehab costs

    You’ll need to go through this entire process regardless of your business model so that you understand your max offer on the property. 

    So how do you calculate your max offer? 

    Use the 75% rule — check out this video from Ryan Dossey…

    What Is The 75 Percent Rule In Wholesaling And Flipping Houses?

    With that, you’ll know how much to pay for the property, how much to spend on repairs, and how much it’ll sell for. 

    The more you streamline this part of the process, the better. 

    8. Create Your Brand

    Building a company is one thing. 

    Building an easily recognizable brand and known to be reputable in your marketplace is quite another.

    But that’s an integral part of the process. Consider some of these statistics…

    • Using a signature color can increase brand recognition by 80 percent.
    • It takes about 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds) for people to form an opinion about your website.
    • Consistent presentation of a brand has seen to increase revenue by 33 percent.
    • 66 percent of consumers think transparency is one of the most attractive qualities in a brand.

    When it comes to building a real estate investing brand, your goals are to…

    • Establish Rapport 
    • Create Easy Recognizability
    • Dominate The Conversation

    The first step in this process is building an online presence – that means creating a high-converting website (i.e., one that systematically turns visitors into leads by capturing their contact information), running advertisements, and ranking in Google for important keywords. 

    That’s what we can help you with at Carrot

    Out of the box, our website templates are built to convert visitors into leads – and you can customize them however you want with your branding materials…

    real estate investment business plan - branding

    You’ll even receive immediate text notifications when someone signs up to be a lead so that you can contact them right away (speed is the name of the game!). 

    Having a high-converting website is ground zero for brand-building success. If you don’t have a website that systematically converts visitors into leads, then every dollar you spend on advertising is going to be wasted. 

    So that’s where we start. 

    Once you’ve got your website up and running, then – if you’re a Carrot Member and subscribe to the Content Tools add-on – we’ll provide you with blog posts every single month that are written to rank in Google for high-value keywords relevant to your specific market

    real estate investor blog posts

    You just upload, make some minor tweaks, and publish – and the more you publish, the more traffic you’ll drive. 

    To help you become a true authority in your market, we also have the following tools…

    We want to make generating leads as easy as possible for you… so you can focus on closing deals and growing your business. 

    You can try us here risk-free for 30 days. 

    If you get yourself a Carrot website, that’ll take care of the “Dominate The Conversation” part of the branding process.

    But what about these parts? 

    • Establish Rapport 
    • Create Easy Recognizability

    Super easy. 

    Establishing rapport is simply a matter of putting testimonials and case studies on your website. The more of these you have, the more people will trust your brand when they arrive on your website for the first time. 

    real estate investor testimonials

    As for creating an easily recognizable brand, create a simple branding package…

    • Brand Colors
    • Font
    • Logo
    • Brand Name

    And then be consistent across all platforms. Use the same colors, font, logo, and brand name on everything – online and offline. 

    That’ll make it feel like you’re everywhere – which is what you want. 

    So there you go. 

    That’s how you create a brand identity as a real estate investor. You’ll know you’ve done it right if people are coming to you out of nowhere – because a friend of a friend told them about you. 

    And if you want a brand that dominates your market without all of the footwork, we’ve got just the thing – it’s called the Authority Leader Plan… and we’ll do everything for you. 

    9. Set Growth Milestones

    Okay – let’s pretend that you’ve taken all of the steps above. 

    You’ve got yourself a functioning business and brand with funding, you’ve got consistent lead-flow, and you’re even closing some deals. 

    Now what? 

    Well… you want to grow, of course!

    You don’t just want to do one deal per month… you want to do three, five, or even ten deals per month.

    You want to make more money, increase your net worth, grow your business, and have a significant impact. 

    How do you do that? 

    First, you set new goals and milestones for your business’ growth – how many deals do you want to be doing per month in 6 months? In a year? 

    Then break those goals down by quarter – and turn them into actionable to-dos. 

    For example, if you’re currently doing one deal per month and you want to be doing five deals per month by the end of Q2, here’s what your goals might look like…

    • Q1
      • Send 10,000 Mailers Per Month
      • Spend $5,000 on Facebook Ads Per Month
      • Hire Salesperson To Answer Phone
    • Q2
      • Send 10,000 Mailers Per Month
      • Spend $5,000 on Facebook Ads Per Month
      • Hire Acquisition Manager
      • Create Workflow Process

    Or maybe it’ll look a bit different. Make your to-dos as realistic as possible so that if you do those things… you’re virtually guaranteed to hit your goals. 

    After all, what’s the point of having goals if you’re not going to hit them? 

    All in all…

    Set milestone goals to grow your business, turn those into to-dos and break them down by quarter. The next and final step of your real estate investment business plan might be even more important… 

    10. Plan To Delegate

    At some point, every real estate investor has to come to terms with a straightforward fact…

    You can’t build the business of your dreams on your own. You need to delegate.

    You’ve got to partner with other people, build critical relationships, hire people, manage people, create systems and processes to streamline your team’s workflow, and lots more. 

    One of the most important areas that deserve a highlight is your client communications and satisfaction. Consider setting up a robust cloud contact center software to manage all the communications that will lead to long-term partnerships.

    Building a business isn’t so much about hustling and bustling as it is about putting the right pieces in the right place. 

    How do you scale your business? 

    The answer is quite simple: you do the same things you’re doing now… but at scale – that means hiring people, training people, and creating clean-cut systems. 

    That’s how you grow your business. 

    Automate, delegate, and step outside of your business as much as possible to build a real estate investment company that serves you rather than enslaves you. 

    Final Thoughts on Real Estate Investment Business Plan

    Whew!

    What more is there? 

    You know how to create a mission and vision statement, run market analysis, choose an REI business model, set goals, find funding, generate leads, analyze properties, create a brand, set long-term growth milestones, and delegate. 

    All that’s left is action. 

    And reach out anytime with questions – we’re always here to help!

    Featured Resource

    Free Real Estate Marketing Plan

    Generate your free marketing plan video and a downloadable guide to increase lead generation and conversion, gain momentum, and stand out in your market!

  • Carrot Recap 2021: Highlights From The Year!

    Carrot Recap 2021: Highlights From The Year!

    2021 Carrot Review

    Here’s to you Carrot members! You had an amazing year. Here’s a brief recap reel of some of the stories and things that happened in 2021.

    It was another fantastic year for our Carrot members and another year of growth for our team and company.

    Let’s recap some of the cool stuff in this quick post!

    2021 Carrot Review

    A Year of Giving and Inspiring

    It was another year of giving… when all said and done…

    • We made donations in 38 team members names for a total of $16,500.
    • The shareholders chose a few causes to donate to as well for a total of $10k
    • We donated to food banks across the country 10 times for a total of $55,428.86
    • Our team also went out in December and between just over 50 people each handed out $100 for the giving challenge – to things that were important to each individual employee – with things like over tipping waiters,  buying coffee for everyone in line,  buying toys for needy kids,  helping elderly people, helping recently widowed mothers, etc was about $5300+.
    • We also hosted a toy drive here at Carrot HQ and from our community here in Roseburg collected over 130 toys for Toys for Tots.

    The CarrotCast Podcast continues to inspire our audience. Our sales negotiation series was the most popular this year! Catch all four episodes:

    Part 1: How to Deliver a No-brainer Offer & Close More Sales, Faster w/ John Martinez

    Part 2: How to Eliminate Competition by Negotiating With Sellers as a Hybrid Agent/Investor w/ Steve Trang

    Part 3: 9 Magic Negotiation Phrases Guaranteed to Turn Sellers into Your BFFs w/ Creative Finance Junky, Pace Morby

    Part 4: Closing 20 Deals a Month Using 1 Simple Conversation Recipe w/ Beau Hollis & Adam Johnson

    Our team grew by 22 this year as we continue to innovate and be leaders in our industry as well as in our communities.

    We’re Honored Again – Carrot On the Inc. 5000 List for the 4th Straight Year!

    This year we were placed at the 2,509th fastest-growing company in the nation according to the Inc. 5000 list. Again, major kudos to the Carrot team and our members. We wouldn’t be here without an amazing product, team, and amazing members.

    … and more!

    Here we go!


    Hundreds of Thousands of Leads … You’re Crushing It!

    Carrot members crushed lead generation.

    You’re pulling in more SEO, paid, and social media online leads as a collective group than any other real estate investor and agent lead generation platform… by far.

    Keep crushing it!

    Here are some states based on site types…

    Seller Sites

    • 11.1M Sessions, 199K leads

    Buyer Sites

    • 2.6M sessions, 102K leads

    Agent Sites

    • 1.6M sessions, 13K leads

    All Other Site Types

    • 2.9M sessions, 146K leads

    Other interesting stats…

    • 33.3M pageviews across our network
    • ~32% of all sessions came from organic search
    • Mobile accounted for 53.4% of all sessions, steep increase from years past (mobile first is way to go)
    • Mobile conversion rate is 28% higher than for desktop (could be a function of site types and traffic sources)
    • 60.1% of all conversions occurred on mobile compared to 37.3% for desktop and 2% for tablet
    • Paid search saw a big year of growth on our network (sessions up 6.9% and conversion rate up 16.6%)
    • Total organic traffic up 8%

    Major NEW Features Launched in 2021

    We launched many NEW Features for our members.

    Core Value of ours is “Adapt, Evolve, & Always Improve“… and both our members and Carrot continue to push this value. In addition to the features we released in 2021, we helped our members spend more time focusing on their business.

    Here is a look back on some of the features our AMAZING team rolled out in 2021 (but not limited to)…

    • Improved member site speed by up to 50% through our Core Web Vitals optimizations.
    • Added more data and insights to the SEO Keyword Rank Tracking tool to make member sites even more competitive in Google Search.
    • Offered members the all-new ability to purchase more SEO Keyword Packs.
    • Launched an enhanced version of our Visual Editor including new + improved content generation along with a friendlier and more powerful Lead Form creation toolkit.
    • Created and enhanced site templates: Agent Seller, Motivated Seller and Hybrid.
    • Enhanced our IDX feature with a more polished site appearance, advanced map search and made it FREE for Advanced Marketers (minus pass-through fees).
    • Added the Onboarding Checklist to our Motivated Seller site to get members up and going (and producing leads) faster.
    New SEO Keyword Rank Tracking Tool
    Enhanced Visual Editor

    Getting Ahead of Google’s Core Web Vitals Update – We Made Carrot Websites 69.8% Faster Than Custom Websites on Mobile

    Core Web Vitals was introduced to Google’s search ranking algorithm. Google partially introduced the update in June and by the end of August, it played a full role in Google’s ranking mix.

    Our Dev team worked extremely hard to exceed this Google update. Here’s the data behind Carrot sites vs custom WordPress websites…

    [Data] Carrot Sites Now 69.8% Faster than Custom WordPress Websites

    Design

    Carrot members have seen many design elements scattered around their websites. Changes that make it easier to navigate checklists, read reports, and track leads. Shouting out just some of the amazing work the Design team created in 2021!!


    Our Amazing Success and Support Teams

    The Success team made a positive impact on many lives in 2021 by fielding 425 onboarding and strategy calls. These calls help our members succeed with inbound and outbound marketing.

    The Support team also turned in an amazing year.

    Here are some support stats:

    • Total Conversations: 36993
    • Total CSAT: 96%
    • Response time via Live Chat: 2 minutes 9 seconds
    • Response time via Email Support: 59 minutes 22 seconds

      Premium Support Call Numbers
    • Calls scheduled: 1049
    • Impromptu calls: 107
    • Total calls executed: 507
    • Average phone CSAT: 4.89/5

    These two teams always align with our core value: “Craft Amazing Experiences” for our members!


    Excellent Net Promoter Score

    How do you know if you’re providing value and happiness to your members? How do you know if you’re failing? By using “Net Promoter Score”. It’s basically a question that asks how likely you are to recommend Carrot to a friend or colleague.

    how to calculate NPS

    With thousands of responses in 2021, the majority scored us 8-10… leaving us with an impressive NPS of 54%.

    To put that into perspective

    Image Source: Medium

    NPS Scores range from -100 to 100. They vary based on industry and anything above 50 is considered as “Excellent”.

    The Support team’s vision is “Putting customers at the heart of everything we do.

    We’ll continue to go all out in 2022 to help make our members successful, excited, and happy… the way people expect companies to serve them in the future after they experience service the “Carrot Way”.


    Hundreds of “Doses Of Awesomeness” From Our Members

    Hearing amazing stories never gets old! We’re in business to change lives. So much that we have a dedicated #Awesomeness Slack channel.

    Here are just a few examples of notes we get each and every day… not counting the hundreds that happen that we never hear about!


    We Added 1,246 YouTube Subscribers and Accumulated Over 21.3K in Watch time hours!

    2021 Youtube Totals:

    Views:                          220,443
    Likes vs dislikes:         97.4%
    Watch time:                 21,360 hours
    Shares:                        2.093
    Impressions:                1,323,213
    New subscribers:        1,246        
    Videos published:       129

    Our favorite videos of the year…

    The Story of Carrot.com | About Us

    1 Zip Code, 30 Days, 200 Leads | How to Optimize Your Digital Marketing for Maximum Conversions

    $40k Profit Per Deal | The Power of Inbound Marketing w/ Beau Hollis | A Carrot Success Story

    Two Carrot Team Retreats + Growing Our Team…

    Carrot Team First Retreat 2016…

    Carrot Team 2016

    Carrot Team Retreat 2021!

    Carrot Team Summer 2021

    The Carrot team grew by 22 this year as we continue to innovate and be the leader in our industry. Our winter retreat again took virtually but we meet up for the summer retreat in beautiful Hood River, Oregon.

    Retreats are a great way to pull back, celebrate wins, and deep dive into high-level planning for the future.


    CarrotCamp (Spring and Fall 2021)

    Since its inception in 2017, CarrotCamp has been a success for our members. It’s not just a workshop or seminar, nor is it a retreat.

    CarrotCamp is designed to be more like an immersive experience. We deep dive into the campers’ world. We allocate time to unplug and get out of the office and into nature. It’s also time to work with the Carrot team to get massive things done to uplevel business. All the while building relationships with other high-level real estate entrepreneurs that will hopefully last a lifetime.

    Thank you again 2021 CarrotCampers!

    Spring 2021
    Fall 2021

    Be on the lookout for CarrotCamp 2022 Editions. Kicking off May 2022. Learn more about CarrotCamp.


    We Lost One of Our Own…

    Sadly, the Carrot team and the world lost a great person. Adrian Nez passed away in the fall. He is missed by many…

    Headshot of Adrian Nez

    We’re Grateful To Have You On This Journey With Us

    How Was Your Year? 

    How was your 2021? Let us know below in the comments section. The amazing, the fair, and the awful :-)

    Also… want to fire up your 2022 and get momentum building?

    These resources are the most shared and commented we’ve ever made. They can change your life…

    Thank you for all you do and for inspiring us every day to do great things.

    Chat with you in 2022!

  • $40k Profit per Deal | The Power of Inbound Marketing w/ Beau Hollis

    $40k Profit per Deal | The Power of Inbound Marketing w/ Beau Hollis

    How SimplySold has achieved a $40,000 per deal business using Carrot.

    The company is a local, Louisville-based business that uses Carrot’s inbound marketing guidance and resources to gain new clients online.

    Snapshot:

    • Industry: Investor
    • Location: Louisville, Kentucky
    • Carrot Member Since 2016


    Beau Hollis is the founder of SimplySold in Louisville, Kentucky.

    He’s been investing in houses for the past 7 years.

    Currently, the majority of his business involves acquisitions that he does himself. He also has an acquisitions person and a full-time videographer.

    It’s a low-key, small operation, but it has a high intention, and they go aggressively after deals.

    “You know, I spend my time and effort and energy to do this business to provide for my family, not only money but years of my life, getting this up and going to have it, work is worth, the journey is not in vain.”

    From Beau’s Carrot leads, his average profit per deal is nearly $40,000.

    He’s done $400,000 in assignments in his Carrot site alone in the last six months.

    Before using Carrot, he had no online presence and no experience in building websites.

    “I had no world tech experience, and I just didn’t have an online presence. I didn’t want to have to build a website. So Carrot made that really easy for me.

    Obviously, people cannot find you, people have no clue who you are, they can’t find your business, they don’t know if you’re in business at all, and so if they can’t find you, they can’t do business with you.

    So you have no lead flow inbound from a website.”

    At first, his vision was to dominate the outbound marketing space, whether it was cold calling, texting, or other things.

    However, the lifespan of somebody doing outbound marketing all the time is limited.

    “I have come from a background of sales, and I understand that you’re gonna do this one thing all the time, whether it’s cold calling or texting or putting out bandit signs, and there’s a lifespan to that.”

    Outbound versus inbound leads are two things that are drastically different. Outbound leads are when you’re seeking out someone. A lot of work, effort, and energy is going into it before you even think about reaching out to the person.

    Inbound marketing, or evergreen marketing, is a completely different mindset. You optimize your website with content: videos, blog posts, and testimonials.

    Inbound offers a whole other world. People are seeking you out.



    The challenge: Creating the path to the world of inbound marketing

    This is a business to close deals. Serious real estate agents and investors want to make Evergreen inbound marketing a real avenue, not just a little street but a highway.

    Evergreen inbound marketing takes a plan and plenty of patience. It takes a lot of video work on YouTube and on-page SEO with keywords and good content for high rankings.

    “My expectation was that I’m just going to turn it on, get it up and live and then it would just bring in the people just saying, please take my house, that’s why I thought it was at the beginning when I first got, I just got it up and I just had, I just had it out there, I didn’t do any kind of optimization. I did zero, absolutely zero customization to the website.”

    His website had been just sitting there for a long time. Years.

    Then Beau had a conversation with Trevor to get the ball rolling.

    He started implementing on his website and using the tools Carrot provides our members. Keyword tracking, campaign tracking, video postings… and over time and hard work, Beau’s inbound marketing started to click.

    Once he started optimizing his site, he could see a bit of movement in his rankings.

    That movement proceeded forward for a year or two then it was time to dive into the PPC world of inbound marketing. The one-two punch of paid and organic traffic really exploded his business.

    In 2021, Beau’s Carrot leads have had an average profit per deal of roughly $40,000.

    In comparison, Beau’s outbound leads have had an average profit per deal of roughly half that.


    The tools: Carrot features

    Although the real estate niche can sometimes be inconsistent, Carrot brings consistency to Beau’s business. He can count on deal flow.

    It’s good because when you can count consistent leads, it means that you’re not stressed all of the time.

    For Beau, Carrot has become a hub that brings all his inbound marketing efforts together. Since he’s driving traffic from all inbound marketing efforts to his Carrot site, he can track performance across all campaigns and channels, giving him the clarity needed with his marketing.

    Here are some of the tools Beau is using to tie together his marketing efforts:


    Evergreen Training
    Beau needed to get many unqualified outbound leads to close deals. More leads meant more time and expense to sift through the tire kickers.

    He learned inbound online marketing with Evergreen content to attract the most qualified prospects. He’s built trust and credibility with them 24/7, 365 through his Carrot “Authority Hub.”


    Automated blogs
    Carrot’s pre-written automated blog posts have allowed him to stand out in his market as an authority. This saves time and money and puts SimplySold at the forefront of its industry with expert quality content that he can customize for his needs.


    Keyword Tracking
    How do you know if your SEO rankings are climbing? Tracking is easy with Carrot. Simply input the keyword, and we’ll track where that particular term ranks each week, making optimizing accordingly easier!


    Campaign Tracking Links
    Learn how many leads you generate with your ads by following the conversions from them. Easily see which campaigns produce results and create a link to track click-throughs and leads better.


    CarrotCamp
    CarrotCamp is a place where people come to get inspired by other entrepreneurs, hear first-hand stories about how they built their successful businesses and strategies for success. The knowledge Beau has gained from meeting these individuals has been essential in helping him grow his own real estate investing business.


    The results:

    Beau has been successful in implementing an Evergreen inbound marketing plan. He went all-in and began building his SEO content, which he followed up with PPC. Now he has a team and consistently closes inbound deals to grow his business.

    He also knows how to scale his business using Carrot and inbound leads.

    What about you? Are you ready for consistent and predictable growth in your business?

  • EP 300: The “$10k House” Deal w/ Beau Hollis | Behind the Deal

    EP 300: The “$10k House” Deal w/ Beau Hollis | Behind the Deal

    People don’t want to buy a problem. I am inheriting the problem which is why people will sell low.

    – Beau Holis

    The “$10k House” Deal with Beau Hollis

    Imagine making a flippant offer and having the buyer say “yes!” That’s exactly what happened to Beau Hollis when he offered $10k for an occupied rental property.

    In this episode of Behind the Deal, we will learn how Beau got the lead, made the offer, and how he is handling a difficult tenant situation with tact and professionalism.

    Read the Full Show Notes Below…


    Beau Hollis is an investor, entrepreneur, mentor, and frequent guest here on the Carrot Cast. He is known as “The House Buying Guy” and has seen his fair share of deals – both good and bad. In this episode of Behind the Deal, we talked about dealing with tenants, why people will choose to sell for a low price, and how Beau calculates his risk when buying a property.

    The Lead

    When the lead came in, they learned that the property was owned by two investment partners who were in the process of liquidating their shared assets.

    This was the last property they owned together and were both eager to sell and walk away. The house was a 3/2, in decent shape, with tenants currently occupying the space. 

    The Offer

    As the property was in a part of town that is heavy with rental homes. Beau made the offer of $10k, not thinking they would accept, but rather it would be a starting point. Without any counteroffers, the seller quickly accepted $10k in exchange for a fast closing. 

    The Catch

    Immediately upon closing, Beau reached out to the tenant. There was some misinformation provided about what they were paying, the condition of the property, and who was actually living there. Long story short, the tenant wasn’t going to pay, so Beau immediately began the eviction process with his attorney.

    While this process isn’t fun, it will only cost Beau about $1k to remove the tenants, plus the delay in flipping the property. 

    Why People Sell at a Discount

    People sell for less than a property is worth when they are going through something. Maybe a partnership is dissolving, the tenants are trouble, or there are other debts that need to be paid. 

    While some may say that making a low offer to someone in this situation is unethical, what they don’t understand is that people are paying for a solution to their problem. Maybe there is an eviction, repairs, or another problem they don’t have the time or money to deal with.

    In many cases, it can be much easier to pass the problem onto someone else and simply walk away. 

    Calculating the Risk

    For Beau, he has made the decision that $10k is what he can offer for a property in his market and still make a profit. Of course, this number will vary greatly depending on where you are buying. It is through years of experience and knowledge of his local market that Beau has settled on this number. In the case of this house.

    He will likely be able to flip it, making about $20k. With a little fixing up, it could be even more. 

    Tips That Actually Work: Adding Testimonials

    We talk about testimonials a lot here at Carrot, which is why we now offer a great feature for our member sites called testimonial blocks. Using this tool makes it easy to add video, photos, and headlines to your testimonials.

    You should always include a headline on your testimonials that disarms an objection a seller may have. This will help increase conversions and close more deals. 

    Tune in every other Thursday for more Behind the Deal Episodes live on Facebook! 

    Follow Our Guest: 

    Mentioned in This Episode: 

    We want to hear your thoughts on the podcast! Drop them in the comments section below or hit us up on Facebook or Instagram!

  • Carrot Vs. Other Website Builder Alternatives For Real Estate Investors: An Honest Comparison

    Carrot Vs. Other Website Builder Alternatives For Real Estate Investors: An Honest Comparison

    Carrot Vs. Other Website Builders For Real Estate Investors

    Searching for website builders for your real estate investing business?

    You’ve got quite a few options!

    We know a thing or two about real estate investor websites.

    Over 7,000 real estate investors and agents leverage Carrot’s platform to generate over 47,000 leads per month, not counting phone leads.

    We’re often asked questions such as… Carrot vs Minute:Pages or Carrot vs. LeadPropeller, which one is best?” Or, “Carrot vs. WordPress, which one is easier?”

    We wanted to provide an honest, high-level answer. To help you choose, we’ve rounded up all the best website builders for real estate investors. We’ve also included our analysis and pricing information.

    But before we dive in, let’s talk about some of the most mission-critical factors to consider when choosing a website builder.

    Watch this video before you read the rest of the article…

    Wholesaling Websites: Carrot vs. Wix vs. WordPress, Etc. | Real Estate Sites for Agents & Investors

    Factors To Consider When Choosing A Website Builder

    A real estate lead generation website should do more than help you get online. That’s table stakes these days. Everyone is online. Your real estate investing website should… 

    • Work amazingly well on mobile (speed and conversion).
    • Load web pages with superspeed (critical now in the Google Core Web Vitals age we’re in).
    • Have multiple high-converting designs to choose from (but not too many, with the #1 decision factor should be performance, not prettiness).
    • Back up the product’s performance with data. One lost deal as a real estate investor from an underperforming website could cost $10k, $20k, or more!
    • Allow you to integrate your website with other 3rd party systems (CRMs, Investorfuse, Zapier, email marketing systems, etc.)
    • Provide outstanding support so you can focus on growing your business.
    • Be built with content marketing in mind and have a blog and the ability to publish consistent, high-quality content.
    • Tracking and stats so you can see how your website is performing.

    “As an owner of an SEO company with many clients in the REI industry, I can say that Carrot is by far the best website solution that I’ve seen to date. It’s easy to work with for people who want to get up and running out of the gate and it’s flexible enough for experienced site builders and “SEO’ers” to really be able to get additional power out of it.

    Definitely worth the money (in my opinion); I have no connection with Carrot; in fact, we are “friendly competitors” in some areas… but the facts are the facts!!!”

    Michael Cardini

    The thing is, different people need different websites. There’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution. Many real estate investors need much more than the “minimum,”, especially in our high-margin service business.

    Again, one lost deal from an underperforming website could cost you well into the tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue, so looking at performance over the long term vs. trying to save a few bucks today is a solid strategy. 

    But how do you pick the best website builder for your business? It’s not an easy choice, given the number of available options.

    To help you decide, we’ve done an in-depth comparison of the 8 best website builders for real estate investors on the market. You’ll find our top picks, honest customer reviews, and detailed feature lists and descriptions to help you work out which website to keep by your side.

    As we dive into the reviews and comparisons, we’ll point out who each service is ideal for (each has advantages and disadvantages) and why certain types of investors may or may not want to use a particular service. We’ll even tell you where Carrot isn’t a fit for many businesses.

    Let’s get started!

    Who Are The Top Website Builders For Real Estate Investors?

    There are many good website builders for real estate investors on the market. We picked 8 great ones.

    Here they are:

    • Carrot – We might be biased, but our testimonials and case studies speak for themselves. We’ve helped thousands of investors nationwide create a predictable flow of leads and build more sustainable businesses thanks to our high-performance websites (we call them Lead Gen Hubs), SEO content capabilities, and many more features that help you attract, convert, and close more deals than ever before.
    • REI Blackbook – REI Blackbook is for investors who need a better CRM and follow-up system.
    • WordPress – WordPress is a popular choice for those who are tech-savvy or have big budgets to hire a web designer.
    • LeadPropeller – LeadPropeller helps professionals hit their goals and deal with high-converting and SEO-focused websites.
    • InvestorPro – InvestorPro websites have been designed by investors and are created specifically for real estate businesses.
    • REI Leadz – REI Leadz offers a one-time, “done-for-you” website.
    • Minute:Pages – Minute:Pages is for real estate investors who want a user-friendly web design experience.
    • Wix – Wix is for real estate investors with a big budget to create a custom website… or investors with advanced web design experience.

    Let’s dig into the details…

    The 8 Real Estate Lead Generation Website Providers Comparison

    You’ll find detailed descriptions and feature lists for our top picks below. We cover price, design, and the tools and resources in each service.

    Carrot

    Why would you settle for less than the industry leader?

    In 2003, we built our first website to generate free, motivated seller leads. Since then, we’ve refined our marketing systems, website platforms, and overall strategy on what it takes to drive leads online.

    Now?

    We’ve brought in over 1,253,267 real estate-related leads in the past five years alone. Over 7000+ real estate investors and agents use Carrot’s real estate marketing platform to attract and convert more motivated leads. In fact,… not only do Carrot sites convert traffic into leads at a 44% higher rate than the industry standard, Carrot leads convert 7x better to deals and have 2.5x higher profits than non-Carrot leads. (averaging at about $14,000 profit per deal!)

    Carrot members generate 2.5x higher profits vs non-carrot members

    We stay ahead of the online game. When fast websites became part of Google’s core web vitals, we adapted… our websites are 68.9% faster than custom WordPress sites.

    Also, in an independent study of 150,000 websites, our Carrot tech stack outperformed Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, and more, scoring 98 out of 100 for web page loading speed!

    Google pagespeed score for small providers

    Our members generate more high-quality leads than their competitors and grow their businesses sustainably and predictably – using Evergreen Marketing.

    If you’re looking for an industry leader that will help you accelerate revenue, you’ve found it.

    Carrot is the top choice for “high-performance investors and agents.” Our software has helped more than 8,000 real estate investors create a consistent flow of leads and deals through our “Lead Generation Hub” and a process we call “Evergreen marketing.”

    Carrot members organic search leads

    We provide high-converting websites that rank in Google more easily than competitor website builders. Carrot websites capture >50% of all Rank #1, #2, and #3 mentions in 225 markets nationwide.

    Carrot websites rank higher thanks to our powerful content marketing tools, such as the monthly SEO-focused Content Packs in our Automated Content Library, Keyword Explorer and Tracking capabilities, and an amazing team to help our members grow their businesses.

    In short, Carrot’s is more than just a website builder. We’re a real estate marketing platform that helps you attract the right traffic with impactful SEO tools, convert visitors into high-quality leads in a high-performance Lead Generation Hub, and close more deals than ever.

    Don’t Take Our Word For It!

    See what others say about working with us. Check out our reviews.

    Carrot member review: Carter Steph

    What’s Inside Carrot

    What’s inside Carrot’s Starter plan?

    A high-performing website with everything you need to get online and convert traffic into leads.

    • 1 High Converting Website
      SEO Optimized
      Industry-leading Web Hosting
      Visual Editor
      + Add more any time @ $29/Month
    • Carrot Lead Manager
      Lead Source Tracking
      Integrated Google Maps & Streetview
      Immediate Email Alerts & Followup
    • Standard Marketing Tools
      Website Traffic Analytics
      3 Campaign Tracking Links
      3 Keywords To Track SEO Rankings
    • World-Class Support
      Chat & Email
      Weekly Group Training calls
      Written & Video Guides
      Facebook Community Group

    What’s Inside Carrot’s Plus Plan?

    Rank higher in Google with the ability to research, plan, and execute an effective SEO marketing strategy.

    Everything in Starter…

    Advanced SEO Tools & Tracking

    • On-Page Content Analyzer
      Optimize Your Content to Rank
    • Google Rank Tracking
      25 Keywords to Track SEO Rankings
    • Keyword Research
      SEO Competitive Analysis
    • Domain Overview Tool
      Track your website authority score
    • SEO Health Audit
      Monitor & Improve Site-Wide Issues

    What’s Inside Carrot’s Grow Plan?

    Save time and money by using marketing automation & SEO data to generate consistent leads.

    Everything in Plus…

    Content Automation Tools

    • Automated Content Library
      Pre-written and optimized blog posts
    • VideoPost
      Convert YouTube videos to blog posts
    • Niche Authority Builder
      Automate Targeted Lead Generation
    • AI Content Rewriting
      One-click Content Customization

    Premium Site Designs

    • Unique Layouts & Styles
      Drive Higher Conversions
    • Stand Out From Your Competition
      Differentiate Your Brand

    Both beginners and advanced real estate investors or agents want to grow their businesses through proven online marketing systems.

    How much does Carrot cost per month?

    • Starter – $89
    • Plus – $118
    • Grow – $176

    Check out our plans for real estate investors and agents, and learn more about Carrot’s real estate platform in a demo today!

    REI Blackbook

    Overall we think REI Blackbook is a solid product with great features. However, it’s a little more expensive and offers fewer features than some of the competition. It claims to have “Everything you need to run your real estate investing business. All in one place.

    Although it offers websites, REI Blackbook focuses on CRM and follow-up. Their focus on lead generation websites isn’t as refined as others. Their website approach is just that… a place to send clicks from online ads. Not as much big-picture thinking on the website “hub.” Their main purpose is to help track and follow up.

    According to customer reviews, REI Blackbook organizes and follows leads within their CRM system.

    What’s inside REI Blackbook’s “Solopreneur” membership?

    • 1 website
    • 1 call tracking number
    • 5000 contacts
    • 5000 email credits
    • 500 local minutes
    • 250 text messages
    • CRM

    Who is REI Blackbook for?

    REI Blackbook is for investors who need a better CRM and follow-up system. Great for tracking leads and planning follow-up, so possible deals don’t fall through the cracks. 

    How much does REI Blackbook cost per month?

    • Accelerator package – $297
    • Small Business package – $197
    • Solopreneur package – $97
    REI Blackbook pricing

    WordPress Websites 

    WordPress is a custom and versatile website builder. It allows tech-savvy web devs to create high-quality websites without the limitations of more user-friendly website builders. This may help if you have the knowledge, time, and proper planning to build your website.

    WordPress sites also have many customizable options. There are over 6000+ free WordPress themes that you can use. You can choose the theme of your real estate websites and personalize them. Although creating your SEO-friendly, high-converting content could be a huge shortcoming of WordPress.

    However, there are expenses for hosting and commercial plug-ins. There are also continuous updates for specific plug-ins. Those updates are built into most services that are real estate lead generation-specific.

    For example, premium plug-ins run anywhere from $47 to $200 and require education to install them correctly on your website. Additionally, if you plan to hire a web designer to build a custom website, you’ll probably pay upwards of $3,000 to $5,000 — plus maintenance fees whenever something goes wrong.

    What’s inside a WordPress website “Business” plan?

    • Best-in-class hosting (but Carrot has tested as faster in this study).
    • Upload videos.
    • Access to over 50,000 plug-ins.
    • Automated site backups.
    • SEO tools.
    • Google Analytics integration.

    Who is WordPress for?

    WordPress is for real estate investors with big budgets to pay web developers or those with the know-how to do it themselves. It’s useful if you know what you’re doing when creating a website and have the time to create it. It’s also great if you’re big on personalizing the design.

    How much does WordPress cost per month?

    • Most basic website – Free
    • Personal – $4
    • Premium – $14
    • Business – $33
    • eCommerce – $59
    • Optional Hosting – Starts at around $3.95/month
    • Optional Plug-ins – $47 to $200 (charges can be one-time or recurring)
    • Optional SSL Certificate – $17+
    WordPress pricing

    LeadPropeller

    Real estate investor Danny Johnson created lead Propeller. He created a real estate investor website service to remove the guesswork and create sites that drive leads. He’s been using his websites to buy houses for over 10 years. 

    LeadPropeller aims to provide an inbound marketing platform to achieve lead generation goals by focusing on SEO-optimized websites. 

    What’s inside LeadPropeller “Starter” plan?

    • 1 website
    • SEO optimized
    • Automated content library
    • Free custom email address
    • Free domain
    • Local phone numbers
    • Support team

    Who is LeadPropeller for?

    LeadPropeller is for real estate investors who want to create a consistent flow of leads to their website.

    How much does LeadPropeller cost per month?

    • Starter – $49
    • Professional – $79
    • Franchisor – $299
    LeadPropeller Pricing

    InvestorPro

    Lynn and Tammy Hahn created InvestorPro to help real estate investors find motivated sellers and generate leads online. 

    They created their first website for their real estate investing business in 1999 after a seller asked them if they had a website. Over time, they “constantly massaged” their site until they got the desired results.

    What’s inside InvestorPro’s Gold Plan?

    • Customizable
    • Unlimited Domains
    • Pre-Made Templates
    • Mobile Compatible Websites
    • Search Engine Optimization
    • Automated Email Follow-Up
    • Internet Marketing Plan

    Who is InvestorPro for?

    Real estate investors who want a custom website design. 

    How much does InvestorPro cost per month?

    • Bronze Plan – Setup Fee of $395, Monthly Fee of $39
    • Silver Plan – Setup Fee of $495, Monthly Fee of $49
    • Gold Plan – Setup Fee of $595, Monthly Fee of $95
    InvestorPro Pricing

    REI Leadz

    REI Leadz is another website builder for real estate investors. Their sites are SEO-friendly, have no monthly fees, and give you complete control of your website. 

    What’s inside REI Leadz’ Pro Package?

    • Done-for-you website
    • Email notification setup
    • Funnel form setup
    • Website content
    • Follow-Up email series
    • Pre-written Blog Posts

    Who is REI Leadz for?

    Real estate investors who want a done-for-you website or a custom website with a one-time cost (vs. a monthly subscription).

    How much does REI Leadz cost per month?

    • Pro Package – $97
    • Custom Buildout – $500+
    REI Leadz Plans

    Minute:Pages

    Minute:Pages is a recent inbound real estate lead generation platform. 

    The main focus of Minute:Pages is to provide a lead generation website in “minutes.”

    What’s inside Minute:Pages “Pro Plan”?

    • 1 site for basic plan
    • Visual editor
    • Automated blog library
    • SSL certificate
    • Free hosting
    • Live chat
    • Keyword tracking

    Who is Minute:Pages for?

    Minute:Pages is for real estate investors who want a user-friendly web design experience.

    How much does Minute:Pages cost per month?

    • Pro Plan – $49 (1 website)
    • Additional websites can be added for 10-25% discounts the more you need
    Minute Pages pricing

    Wix

    Wix’s main selling point is its comprehensive approach to web design. Like WordPress, it allows users to build custom websites from scratch or by starting with a template. Users must understand how SEO, web design, and conversion optimization work to get the best results. 

    What’s inside Wix’s “Business Unlimited” plan?

    • Accept online payments
    • Remove Wix Ads from your site
    • Replace the Wix favicon in the browser tab with your one
    • Change the free Wix URL to your custom domain (which can be purchased from Wix or another domain host)
    • Free SSL certificate
    • Advanced Shipping
    • Receive Wix Vouchers and Premium app coupons when purchasing a yearly subscription or higher
    • Upload up to 10 hours of video with Wix Video
    • Get up to 35 GB of storage and unlimited bandwidth
    • Get a professional logo and social media logos when purchasing a yearly subscription or higher
    • Events Calendar App – Free for 1 Year

    Who is Wix for?

    Wix is for real estate investors with a big budget to create a custom website… or investors with advanced web design experience. You’ll also need to understand SEO and conversion optimization best practices to get the best results.

    How much does Wix cost per month?

    • Business Basic – $23
    • Business Unlimited – $27
    • Business VIP – $49
    Wix Plans

    Conclusion

    There you have it!

    The top website builders for real estate investors.

    Carrot is the longest-standing real estate marketing platform and website builder for real estate investors and agents alike, with proven data to back it up. We guarantee you’ll have the tools and support to attract, convert, and close deals.

    However, we understand that we’re not the only options out there.

    For user-friendliness, we would say LeadPropellor and Minute: Pages are also options. 

    REI Blackbook is a good option for a solid CRM or follow-up system. 

    Lastly, consider something like WordPress or Wix to go the fully custom, high-cost route. 

    The choice is yours. But if you’re still unsure, we invite you to sign up for a 30-day risk-free Carrot account. We’ve made a massive difference in thousands of investors’ businesses. Can we make a difference in yours?