Once you figure it out and repeat the process just a few times a year, real estate becomes a very lucrative and profitable business, with very little overhead.
– Carter Crowley
How Credibility and the Right Partnership Led to 38 Transactions in 2020 w/ Carter Crowley
The importance of the agent and investor relationship is something we’ve been talking about for a while now here at Carrot. We’ve often said that in the future, agents will need to invest, and investors should be licensed in order to better serve their leads.
Well, the future is now.
Now, more than ever, people are looking for ways to sell their homes. With the rise of iBuyers, people are looking to other sources when they are thinking about putting their home on the market. The agent or investor who is able to offer multiple solutions, is going to be able to complete more actions and help more people.
Here’s how Carter Crawley is doing it.
Read the Full Show Notes Below…
Carter Crawley is a Carrot client who is mastering the agent-hybrid model. His business has a healthy mix of deals, and his volume is double that of other investors or agents who try to fit everyone in the same box.
His versatility and ability to offer more than one solution have allowed him to serve more people.
Building That Credibility
Carter Crawley is generating a lot of leads from his Carrot site. His marketing is working amazingly well because he isn’t afraid to put himself out there and let people know what they are all about.
They are currently using Google Ads, Facebook, and a little bit of YouTube for retargeting purposes. They are also running cold calling campaigns and setting up mailers. However, video surrounds the brand.
Their website is laid out very well, with videos explaining exactly who they are and what they do. The website conveys trust and lets them know that Carter and his team can solve their problem.
With his videos, Carter is building rapport and credibility with his clients before he ever meets them.
The Power of 3
There is something about the number 3 that leads to higher conversions. Giving your customers 3 options will often lead to more sales. One option leaves your client with the ability only to answer yes or no. Having two options can make one seem expensive, while the other seeming cheap.
But having 3 options really makes people think. The highest price offering has all of the bells and whistles. The lowest-priced offering is just bare-bones service. While the middle option is the best value and the best service. Everybody wins.
As a hybrid investor agent, Carter can offer several options to his client. He can list the property. He can buy it outright for a lower price. Or he can present it to his network of buyers, allowing his client to sell fast while still receiving competitive offers. Again… everybody wins.
Don’t Be Afraid of Having a Partner
For Carter and his business today, his perfect partner is his dad. They can balance each other out and pick up where the other leaves off. Dad handles the contracts, service providers, and business management, while Carter goes on appointments, handles the financing, and gets the deals locked down.
That said, your partner doesn’t need to be your family member. It needs to be someone you trust who is just as motivated as you are to close deals and help others. Many people avoid finding a partner because they are worried about giving away half of their profits.
When you work with the right partner, your volume will go up, they will handle the aspects of the business that you don’t like, and your volume will go up exponentially.
You will be able to spend your time on the things that give you energy, which will lead to better service, happier clients, and more closed deals.
Loving What You Do
For anyone watching or listening to this podcast, it is evident that Carter is passionate about his work. You can see how every aspect of real estate excites him, especially when he is able to find solutions that truly help people.
Carter and his team aren’t just after the money, they are a true helping hand for people when they need it most.
In markets with little competition, the product and the offering are often the most important factors a prospect uses to decide what company to work with.
But in a cluttered market, with lots of competition, like today’s real estate world… credibility has grown to trump “product” as the main deciding factor to make or break your next deal.
So, what are the top 5% of real estate investors and agents doing to build more credibility in the market and make their competition irrelevant?
Trevor Mauch, CEO of Carrot, dives into specific examples and lays out his Credibility Score theory to help you determine what you should fix ASAP to build your credibility even more.
Listen to the Podcast
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Podcast Timestamps & Highlights
6:10 – What the consumer’s path to find a credible company online looks like. 10:00 – Recognizing competitors’ opportunity to move in and cloud the consumer decision process is essential. 12:00 – Example of an effective self-mailer used to build credibility.
15:15 – Marketing stages breakdown for real estate. What the most important pieces are. 17:45 – Look at your past and present marketing numbers and build credibility after the first contact from a lead. 18:50 – What it takes to build credibility into your real estate website. 22:00 – We’re in the age of trust and credibility. Everyone is online. What are you doing to cut through the clutter? 26:30 – Build a process within your business that adds credibility. 29:15 – Taking a look at Opendoor and Express Home Buyers. Two examples of companies with a good credibility strategy. 32:20 –Diving into Carrot’scredibility strategy. 33:45 –Stanford’s Web Credibility Research Center – 10 credibility score items people view on a website. 37:20 – What is the #2 most visited page on your website? 39:30 – Does your real estate website look good on mobile? And what you need to fix if it doesn’t. Use our mobile check tool. 42:40 – What does credibility mean? And how to do it so you connect with your lead more effectively. 44:00 – Using the credibility score formula and how to build credibility through social media and testimonials. 53:00 – Stacking upon the credibility score – Being picky on your website credibility. 55:00 – Using some how-to’s to beef up the overall impression of your real estate website. And the importance of controlling the conversation around your brand. 1:02:15 – Build things unique to your offerings to stand out from the online competition. Such as badges and logos. 1:04:30 – Creating the connection with credibility and working hard to go the extra mile to show you’re an expert in your market.
Not when it comes to optimizing your websites for conversion. ;-)
Constantly, we’re on the look-out for new ways to improve your (our member’s) website conversion rate. But we don’t just want to increase your conversion rate, we want to make it dead simple for you to make those conversion rate improvements.
In other words, we want to help you convert more visitors in less time.
The Carrot Credibility Bar
Here’s a look at what this credibility bar might end up looking like on your website. This is a version with a testimonial.
And here’s a version with logos.
If that ain’t enough for you, then we even have a custom version where you can add your own text and images to your heart’s desire – like we did with this block quote…
Or video…
Pretty awesome, right?
But this new feature isn’t just remarkable because the dev team here at Carrot did an amazing job designing it and making it easy for our members to use.
No. The feature is amazing for another, more important, reason.
It’s going to help you build more credibility on your website, instantly. But you don’t have to take my word for it.
ConversionXL ran an in-depth test to determine which type of social proof on a credibility bar is the most effective. They used testimonials with and without photos, logos, social sharing buttons, and a whole slew of other types of social proof.
Here’s one example.
Then, they had a control version that ran without any credibility bar.
In the end, one thing was for sure: every single variation of the page with some type of social proof performed better than the control.
And the reason is simple: when people arrive on your website for the first time, they have no reason to trust you. You have to show them that you’re trustworthy. Of course, you want to do that as quickly as possible to avoid them bouncing from your website.
This is why a front-and-center, top-of-the-page, no-scrolling-required credibility bar is so damn effective at building that necessary trust.
People see it the moment they arrive on your website and it confirms for the visitor that they can, indeed, trust you.
Just consider massive organizations like Opendoor, insurance.com, or ourselves ( :D ) that count on a credibility bar for building trust with visitors.
So, you’re probably wondering by now, What should I put on MY website’s credibility bar?
For that, there are a few different options.
Consider…
Displaying a compelling testimonial from a happy customer.
Displaying a series of logos from publications your business has been mentioned in.
Displaying a series of logos from other companies you’ve worked with.
Displaying awards your business has won.
The way you to choose to use this feature will depend on how you want to build credibility with website visitors and the kind of credibility builders you have access to.
But, to help you make an informed decision, here are the types of social proof that ConversionXL found (from the study I mentioned earlier) had the highest recall rate among participants, and thus (this part is conjecture) the highest impact.
As it turns out, testimonials were the most effective at generating website visitor recall.
Whatever type of social proof you choose, every single Carrot member should be able to make use of this feature – whether it’s through a testimonial or a series of company logos. This feature worked with our real estate agent websites as well!
Plus, a credibility bar can help you stand out from other websites online (i.e. the competition), giving you the extra edge you need in your market.
If you still don’t want to use the credibility bar, though, no worries. This feature is completely optional, so you can just leave your website as it is now if you’d rather.
In competitive real estate markets, your online credibility score—the subconscious evaluation prospects make when visiting your website—can dramatically impact your deal flow and determine whether potential clients choose to work with you.
Key Takeaways
Visual elements like clean logos, authentic local images, and properly formatted testimonials with real photos and names significantly impact your website’s credibility.
Your “About” page is typically the third most visited page on real estate websites because prospects are evaluating whether you’re the right company to solve their problem.
Every element on your website either adds to or detracts from your credibility score, including social media links that should only be included if they enhance rather than harm your professional image.
Audit your website and marketing materials to eliminate negative credibility points and strengthen positive ones—from logo clarity to content authenticity—to stand out in a crowded marketplace and earn the trust of potential clients.
But, it amplifies when you have a competitive market. When you’re in a market with a lot of competition but lack online credibility, you have lower deal flow.
When a buyer or seller has multiple choices, they often look at the agent’s or investor’s credibility.
To help you learn how to build online credibility for real estate, we’ve devised the “credibility score.”
Whenever you go to a store, whether online or in person, you go to the grocery store. You’re walking in the grocery store, and subconsciously, there are all kinds of things that you’re doing to size up that grocery store.
Is the floor clean? Are the vegetables arranged in a way that makes sense? Are they rotten, or are they good? Are the people who work there wearing good clothes, clean clothes, or something that’s a uniform that looks like they’re put together? Are they friendly? Is the signage in the grocery store in a make sense way?
All these little things stack up to create this score subconsciously in your mind. You’re probably not going to work with that grocery store because one of those things is wrong.
You’ll probably not choose not to work with the grocery just because the signage isn’t exactly clear and clean. But, when you stack up all those together, and there are these negative credibility marks, what happens is, you leave the store and you go somewhere else, and you’re not sure why sometimes.
You can’t place your finger on why you chose not to work with that company but another one, but this credibility score is subconsciously stacking up in your mind.
We’re going to walk through as an agent or an investor. How do you size your business and find your credibility score?
The first thing you need to look at is to realize people are subconsciously sizing you up, whether you think about it or not. If you’re doing what everyone else is doing, you’re probably not giving yourself many positive credibility marks.
What we’re going to be doing is looking at the website. There are a lot of different things that people are doing when they’re trying to size up your website and size up your credibility score subconsciously.
How to Build Online Credibility for Real Estate
Having Clean Logos Is Important
The first thing they will be looking at is your logo area, your logo area. Is your logo clean, or is it fuzzy? Is it pixelated? Does your logo match the colors and the branding on your website?
I know that’s a little thing, but it’s one of those things that people can go, “Well, there’s something off. I can’t place what it is, but there’s something off,” so make sure you have a very clear, clean, simple logo design that delivers the benefit or delivers the good, warm, fuzzy feeling.
Make sure that the colors on your website match up. That’s a positive credibility mark. Here are a couple of good examples.
Credibility Badges
Are you using specific badges to show that third-party processes and third-party entities vet you? For example, the Better Business Bureau.
Credibility Badges on a Carrot website
Maybe you’re a member of the local Chamber of Commerce. Or, a designation with some entity such as a CCIM in your profession is a respected designation. Those badges help in a big way. Those are all positive credibility marks.
Demo Carrot: How many deals are you losing to your competitor’s website?
Let’s say you have social proof on your site, so you have testimonials formatted correctly. Just because you have testimonials doesn’t mean that’s a positive credibility mark.
We have other content on how to format a testimonial correctly. If you format a testimonial incorrectly, it could be a negative credibility mark because if you just put a testimonial up there that has the person’s words.
Let’s say you just used their initials, TK, with no picture or other context around that testimonial. People think it’s not real, so it could detract from the credibility.
When you’re building out your testimonials, have pictures of the person or photographs of the property. Put as much of the person’s information on there. Tom, whatever, and then their location. Trevor Mauch, location Roseburg, something like that. It adds more credibility to it.
Use Real “Local” Images
Other things, the content, the pictures, all of these things stack up. Are your photographs localized?
Do you have authentic images on your website? Or are the photos stock images? In the studies, we’ve done and other studies we’ve corroborated with, stock photos don’t lend toward credibility, especially if they’re too stocky.
There are stock photos that look amazing and stock photos that look clearly like stock photos.
People look at a website and go, “I can’t connect with this website. It looks like a stock photo. Maybe I’ve seen the same photo on another website.” If you’re a Carrot member, swap all the images with local, real ones for your market.
Get rid of any stock photos of people you’ve not worked with and put pictures of people you’ve worked with. Make sure that the images look like houses that are in the area. If you’re in Phoenix, your photographs should look way different than someone up in the Northeast part of the US.
What are you doing to build a storyline and connection with your prospects?
They’re going to your about page because they’ve already probably discovered that you have a solution. You have a solution that can solve their problem. They’re already past that. They don’t need to know whether you can solve their problem.
They need to know whether you are the company they want to choose to solve their problem, so they’re going to your about page.
If you’re using social media, such as adding your Facebook link, make sure they give you positive credibility, not adverse.
If your Facebook page isn’t built out, has minimal engagement, and stock photos, that’s negative credibility. So get it off.
Don’t put that link on your website. Don’t put the link in your marketing. If you’re going to use social, use it to build your credibility. Never use it as negative or neutral credibility. It’s going to hurt you.
Optimizing Your Website For A High Credibility Score
Audit your on and offline marketing. What’s your credibility score look like?
Go through each thing subconsciously and then start to put a plus or a minus on it and add those up.
One by one, eliminate every single one of those negative credibility points.
Is it easy to read on mobile, or is it not?
Is your logo pixelated?
Does your branding match up?
Does your content make sense?
Does it look localized?
Do you have real images?
Do you have real badges?
Does your social media actually help you?
Make sure you pay attention to this. Go check out your website right now. Let us know what you found in the comment section and what you’ve found to be your biggest credibility driver.
Know you know how to build online credibility for real estate. Implement this, and let us know how it works!
So you’re getting ready to launch your online marketing campaign, but you’re probably thinking “Man, what type of website am I going to build?”
At Carrot, we have general credibility websites and we have targeted websites. Where the targeted websites are specific to a certain type of lead. It could be a motivated house seller. It could be a cash buyer. It could be a retail buyer. There could be a note seller or buyer. You get the idea. Those are very, very targeted towards a certain type of lead.
We get a lot of our clients asking us, “Why can’t I focus it all into one general credibility site?”
Or, “Is a general credibility site going to work well or perform as well as a targeted site specific for, as an example, motivated house sellers?”
Well, this video and post are going to walk you through the data and what the actual results are and what you should do depending on the type of lead you’re looking for.
So, first of all, we’ve got the general credibility site. A general credibility website is mainly focused on, just that, building general credibility for your company.
So, it could be trying to get people there to show them who you are. What types of things you’re doing. What types of things you’re doing in real estate. And it could be multiple things.
Saym, we’ve got this real estate fund and we’re flipping houses, so we buy houses. But we also sell houses and oh, by the way, did you also know that we do rent a home?” So it’s kind of “here’s who we are as a company”, and build that credibility.
You could be looking for private lenders on that website. You could be building a cash buyer list on there and selling properties. That works really well on a main company credibility website.
But it’s a lot of general stuff. It’s not really focused in on any one particular message. And it’s a split message.
Your home page might say, “Hey, we are a real estate investment solutions firm. We buy, sell and rent houses.” But you’re going to be talking about all of that stuff if you’re on the homepage.
So there’s no one focused message if you’re doing direct marketing toward that.
If you’re driving a house seller there, they’re then going to get distracted by other messages. They’re going to get distracted by the message about investments. They’re going to get distracted by the message about looking for cash buyers and private lenders.
If you’re doing direct marketing and paying money to drive people there, you don’t want to distract the message.
But the general credibility website serves a very specific purpose.
If you’re networking at your local chamber of commerce or rotary, you’re probably going to hand them the business card that drives them here. This website is then going to drive people toward your other specific target websites if you’re doing multiple things in your business.
So you might have a link that says, “Sell your house.” And it’s gonna drive to your house seller specific website, ideally. That’s what the data shows works the best.
General Credibility Website
Real Estate Website Design: Targeted Credibility Sites
On the other side, you have the targeted website. So, when we suggest that you focus on using a targeted website, it’s any time you’re actually going to be actively driving people to that website to convert as a lead.
These websites are set up for conversion.
The general credibility websites are not particularly set up for conversion. They’re going to be great on mobile and there will be landing pages on there that are set up for conversions.
But the overall path is not set up to convert at a high, high rate. It’s set up to build credibility for you.
These targeted websites are set up to convert at a high rate for one particular type of lead.
You can see the eye directors on our Carrot websites, the big buttons. The very, very focused message. If you land on a motivated house seller website with Carrot, or if you’re building one, it should be very focused on that motivated house seller. Not on cash buyers, and then rent-to-own tenants and private lenders.
Your entire website should be focusing on how you can help that seller. And that’s what will perform the best for you. It doesn’t distract them away from your messaging.
Motivated Seller Targeted Website
The website is specifically set up to convert one type of lead ideally.
So, if a motivated house seller website speaks to the seller, it’s going to convert them.
If you want to list properties for sale, then you set up another website for that to speak toward that. “Hey, we have discount properties. Join our list or see our properties here.”
Or, you can fit that into the main company site too. You can kind of pull double duty with the main company and cash buyer if you want to.
Buyers Lead Website
Pay-Per-Click Traffic
Lastly, your targeted websites are where you’re going to send all of your paid traffic.
Please do not send paid traffic to the main company website. It’s unfocused. It’s untargeted. It’s building good credibility. But then it has all these rabbit holes that your prospects can dive around and they might go down the wrong rabbit hole and not become a lead of yours.
So, they’re focused on conversion, specifically set up to focus on one type of lead. A very focused message on one type of prospect and how you can help them.
They’re sites that are optimal for paid marketing. If you’re driving paid marketing to a main company credibility website, unless you vastly adjusted it, you’re probably wasting some money.
Ending The Debate Of Credibility Sites Vs. Targeted Sites
So that’s what we would do. That kind of hopefully ends the debate, credibility site versus a targeted website and what you use in certain circumstances. Ideally, if you’ve got your main credibility website and you’re looking to generate any leads online, you’ve also got at least one targeted website for your actual marketing activities.
Join us on our other episodes of the Carrot strategy sketch because we have a lot of other topics to dive into and most are under 10 minutes. They’re going to help you get light years ahead of your competition and shave off months, if not years, on your learning curve.
Also, be sure to check out the CarrotCast, which is our weekly podcast. Subscribe to our YouTube channel so you can see all of our videos before anyone else can. So, check us out and be sure to hit us up with comments and questions.
In a field with low entry barriers and many unethical operators, a credibility-focused real estate investing website is essential for standing out and convincing motivated sellers, cash buyers, and private lenders to choose your company over competitors.
Key Takeaways
Show real people behind your company through photos, names, and bios, as hiding personal information damages credibility and reduces conversion rates.
Highlight your expertise and make it easy for prospects to contact you through the “big three” contact methods: phone number, email, and mailing address.
Borrow credibility from respected sources by showcasing testimonials from established companies, logos of organizations you’ve worked with, and featuring any media mentions.
Implementing at least seven of the nine credibility-building website elements will put you ahead of 90% of your competition and significantly increase prospect trust, leading to more closed deals and business growth.
So, how do you boost your real estate investing website credibility?
Real estate investing is one of those professions where the entry barriers for new investors are so low… there are lots of unethical investment companies out there giving real estate investors a bad name.
So, how do you stand out above the crowd… and make it so that when a motivated seller, cash buyer, or private lender finds your website… they feel compelled to work with you?
First…
Importance Of Building Credibility (and how to do it with your website)
It goes without saying… that today consumers have more options than ever. If you’re a motivated seller going into foreclosure… or a private lender doing your research… one of the first things you’ll look at after you hear of a company is THEIR WEBSITE to see if they are real.
Our society is an internet society now. Just look at the phone book and newspapers… those businesses are in decline… while internet news sources and directories are on the rise. People go to the internet to research companies they’re getting ready to work with.
So, what will a private lender prospect or motivated seller see when they search for you online? Will they even visit a website? If not, people immediately think, “They don’t have a site… are they a real company?”.
If you have a website that doesn’t have the 9 elements below... that could be even worse. Is your website harming your credibility (if I had to guess, I’d say probably 60%+ are).
If people don’t feel comfortable that they want to work with you within the first 2 minutes of being on your website… odds are you’ll lose that business.
So, here are 9 ways to boost your real estate investing website credibility.
See How Carrot Works How many deals are you losing to your competitor’s website?
9 Ways to Boost Your Real Estate Investing Website Credibility
Stanford University did a study called the “Web Credibility Research” project. Stanford compiled 10 elements that your website should address that can either make or break your credibility as an investor… we’ve consolidated them into 9 elements that, without them… your credibility (and profits) are likely suffering. See how many of these your real estate investing company website is doing well:
Show that you’re real people behind your company – Most investors we work with to help them build their online presence for their real estate business are hesitant to put too much personal information on their site. They don’t want their name, picture, bio… anything… on the site. If this is you too… it’s hurting your credibility and results. Ask yourself this… do you like it when you’re on a website, and you can see the actual faces of the people behind the company? Yes, we all do. It increases conversions and leads.
Show that honest and trustworthy people stand behind your site – A lot like #1, your website visitors land on your website with their scam detector running in full force. They want to know that they can trust you to help them solve their problem (save them from foreclosure or get better returns, etc.). How do you do that? A short bio on your site, again… a picture of you and your team (we teach our members ways to build credibility even if you haven’t done deals or don’t have a team), testimonials are a biggie, etc.
Highlight the expertise your company has – Over half of the investors, we work with feel that they don’t have enough “experience” in real estate to put on their site. But, once we dig… they usually have a lot more experience that makes them qualified to provide great solutions to buyers, sellers, and investors than they think. Anything that you feel helps you in your real estate business qualifies. One gal had never done a real estate deal herself… but she was an executive assistant to a mega investor in New York for years, was a certified Draftsman, and had managed rehabs for another investor for a couple of years… that’s an experience that should be on your website. Or, heck… even if you’re just getting started… leverage the knowledge you’ve gained in your education or your mentors’ experience for now. Bottom line… if you don’t feel you have enough experience related to being able to help your clients reach their goals… then you should rethink your decision to be an investor (or go out and get that experience).
Make it easy for people to contact you – Simple. Obvious. But overlooked. Have the “BIG THREE.” Phone number, email, and mailing address on your site. It gives people a feeling that you’re not a fly-by-night operation… and easy to get in touch with if they have a question or problem. You can get a free phone number from Google Voice, and a professional mailing address from your local mailbox store if you don’t have one.
Design your site so it looks professional and clean – Who likes to land on a website that looks like a 12-year-old made it in 1998? Find a nice clean design with lots of whitespace on the site… with crisp, clean graphics. It doesn’t have to be fancy… or flashy. In fact, flashy isn’t a good thing.
Make your site easy to use and useful – Easy to use = not too many links on your site. Give people a few options… don’t confuse them. Useful = providing great content on your website that helps your visitor solve their problem. Your motivated seller site targeted at assisting people in stopping foreclosure could have a FAQ on the foreclosure process, free guides on helping them to stop foreclosure, information on how your company works with homeowners, etc. Give them great information… it builds massive trust.
Update your website content often – Have you ever gone to a website and seen somewhere on the site where it said the last blog post was done ten months ago? Or when you read the site, and it references old, outdated information? This is a credibility killer. Update your site regularly. We teach our Carrot members our process for creating great blog posts, optimizing those posts for Google rankings, and making it so easy that you never have to think about what to write about next. It’s simple when you have the right process and system for your content. But, aim for a new blog post every week if you can… once a month minimum (not only does this help for credibility, but it also helps your search rankings and leads!)
Avoid typos and errors – Enough said.
Borrow credibility from other sources – A great way to build credibility on your site is to borrow it from other credible sources. Have you been on a website and said “As Seen On TV” or “As Seen On Google”… or a site that has a quote from a famous and respected person? That’s all “borrowed credibility.” If you work with a real estate agent from, let’s say… Century 21… get a testimonial from them and ask permission to put the Century 21 logo on the site as a “company we’ve worked with.” Can you imagine the credibility that’ll give you in a website visitor’s eyes when they see the symbols of companies they know and respect on your site?
So, how many of those 9 credibility builders for your real estate investing website are you doing on your website?
If you’re doing 5 or more… you’re ahead of the curve.
7 or more… you’re doing better than 90% of your competitors.
All 9? You’re crushing it and should be teaching this lesson alongside us :-)
Action Plan To Boost Your Real Estate Investing Website Credibility
Real estate investor websites can be a huge tool in building credibility, or they can harm your credibility. If you currently have a website, pick 3 of the 9 elements above and implement them on your website this week. If you don’t have a website, make a commitment to get online this week, but keep credibility in mind as you do so.
Of course, we’d love for you to work with Carrot (and we have many of these 9 elements already designed into our website templates), but if you’re still on the fence, here are what we consider the 10 Best Real Estate Website Builders.
It’s no secret that owning a small business is getting more difficult. With more competition, higher expenses, and clients tightening their spending, winning business is challenging.
One of the most effective ways to generate new business is with a great website. Traditional marketing methods like offline advertising, mailers, bandit signs, and even cold calling can still work. And modern approaches like being social-only have their place for some companies. But when it comes to local businesses and services, the majority of today’s consumers search online and use a business’s website to judge its credibility.
Let’s explore four data-backed reasons your local business needs a website.
Key Takeaways
People not only search online for local businesses, they use business websites to decide who to trust. Even if you’re advertising elsewhere or are social-first, having a modern website can determine if a customer works with you.
A website with easy contact options — like a clickable phone number and a short, easy-to-find form — lets you generate customers outside normal business hours.
A good website is a foundational part of appearing in AI search results.
Your website is the ideal place to showcase your work and customer reviews. Over 90% of consumers rely on reviews before making a purchase or working with a business.
I work for a company that helps local service providers launch a website, so I admittedly have a vested interest in you having a site. But statistics are also on my side. The fact of the matter is, people go online to search for local businesses. Not some people. A lot of people. Approximately 99% of consumers go online to discover local businesses. Yet 27% of small businesses think a website is irrelevant to their industry.
Those holdouts relying on recommendations, old school marketing methods, or social media platforms majorly miss out. Not only on search traffic, but on consumer trust. Having a professional-looking website lends your business credibility.
69% of consumers said a website is essential for a local business to be credible.
Businesses with websites are perceived as 41% more trustworthy than those without.
45% of consumers say businesses without websites feel less “real.”
39% report they have declined to do business with a company specifically because it lacked a website. That figure jumps to 45% among consumers ages 18-44.
If you’re a home services provider, having a website is even more important. DreamHost found that 66% of consumers said they’re more likely to hire a contractor or home service provider with a website.
Even with people continuing to ask friends for recommendations and increasingly turning to social media or AI for searches, a website remains a foundational piece of business credibility. Here’s more from DreamHost:
58% of people check a business website to confirm info they see on social or Google.
Only 35% of consumers consider working with a company recommended by AI that doesn’t have a website.
Having a good website is the second most important trust factor when judging a local business (only online reviews are more important). Social media came in third. Personal recommendations ranked fourth.
The first website was created in 1991. Google Search has been around since 1995. Automatic delivery of the Yellow Pages began phasing out in 2011. Websites aren’t a fad. They’re how people find businesses — and decide which ones to trust — as we move further into the 21st century.
2. Show Up in Local Search (SEO) & AI Search
So people are searching online. How do you make sure you show up in those searches? One of the answers is having an SEO-optimized website.
72% of small to medium-sized businesses say SEO has a medium-high impact on their business, yet only 40% said they have a dedicated website. — Bright Local
Good SEO lets you target potential customers when they’re looking for a specific solution. Here are a few tips for good SEO that will help you rank in local searches:
Be hyper local — When people conduct a local search, they don’t want a business the town over. They want a business in their town. Make sure you target these searchers by clearly including your service areas on your website. Even better, have a dedicated page for each market you serve.
Think (and speak) like a consumer — There may be a lot of technical terms in your industry, but your customers might not know them. When writing website copy, use the terms your customers are most likely to use. Essentially, speak like a human or imagine you’re describing what you do to your grandma.
Instead of talking exclusively about “buying homes in probate,” create web content explaining how you help people “sell an inherited house.”
If you’re an HVAC company, your customers might not know what a condenser is. They’re more likely to search for more generic, simple terms like “AC isn’t working” or “AC repair.”
Answer their questions upfront — When someone is looking to sell their house fast, for cash, or is looking for a home service provider, they have a lot of questions. Answer their most common questions with FAQ sections on your webpages.
Think about the questions your current customers ask you most often, these make great FAQs!
Google’s auto-suggest feature is another great place to learn what people commonly search for and the phrases they use.
These SEO best practices also help with AI search optimization.
McKinsey & Company found that 50% of consumers use AI-powered search. BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2026 found that use of AI tools for local recommendations grew from 6% in 2025 to 45% this year (yes, you read that right, that’s a 650% increase!). AI engines are now the third most popular source of business recommendations, with 40% of consumers trusting AI to provide business recommendations.
To be found by modern consumers, you need to be online. And the best way to control your online presence is with your own SEO and AI-optimized website.
Want help optimizing your website for local AI search? Check out Carrot’s AI Visibility Challenge, built specifically for local services businesses and real estate professionals!
3. Generate Leads & Get Customers — Even after hours
This one should seem pretty straightforward. People are looking online for a local business. Being online gives you a better chance of being found when (and where) they’re looking — especially if your site is SEO optimized.
But it’s more nuanced than that. Your business (likely) isn’t open 24/7, but that doesn’t mean people only look for service providers during normal business hours. In an emergency repair situation, someone searching for a local service provider needs to get in touch with you quickly — no matter what time of day it is. In this case, research indicates they’ll look at your star rating, read some reviews, then go to your website to verify you can solve their problem and ultimately contact you.
Or maybe someone is contemplating a kitchen remodel or a roof replacement and only has time to sit down and do research in the evenings. These people are more likely to look closely at your website and do deep research before reaching out. They may not even want to talk to someone right away and be more interested in filling out a form for a quote instead.
This is a similar situation for real estate investors wanting to attract motivated sellers. The seller may be dealing with a stressful situation and hesitant to reach out directly. Or they may have limited time to dedicate to selling a property and need to fit it in when they can … even if you’re not immediately available. Offering them a free, fast cash offer via a website form can seem like a lower-pressure option for these visitors. (And using CarrotCRM’s autoresponder feature means you can respond to them immediately, even when you’re offline.)
Without a website, you limit potential customers to only the people who know about you without an online search and those who can get ahold of you when you happen to be available.
Here are easy contact methods you should include on your website:
A clickable phone number for people on mobile devices
This is particularly important if you’re a service provider who offers 24/7 emergency services!
A contact form in the hero (top) section of your website
Our testing shows that more than 3 fields dramatically reduces the form completion rate, so keep your initial contact forms to only the information you absolutely need.
4. Build Trust
I already mentioned that people consider businesses with a modern website more trustworthy. But having a website also lets you showcase your business and really build that trust.
When a potential client comes to your site, they want to make sure you can solve their problem and that you’re legitimate. The best way to put their mind at ease is to show them who you are, the work you’ve done, your credentials, and highlight happy past customers. Your website is the perfect place to:
Show before and after photos of projects
Talk about your company’s history and ties to the local area
Show real photos of your team
Walk customers through your process
Publish licensing information
Highlight ratings from Google, BBB, and other review sites
Post local media mentions (like local news appearances or sponsorships)
Most importantly, highlight real customer reviews on your website. SQ Magazine found that 93% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase decision, with 88% trusting online reviews as much as personal recommendations. More importantly, 58% of consumers say they are willing to pay more for businesses with strong reviews!
BrightLocal puts the number of people who read online reviews for local businesses even higher — at 97%. They also found that the percentage of consumers who “always” read reviews jumped from 29% last year to 41% in 2026.
When you finish working with a client, ask for a photo with them and a testimonial. Better yet, see if they’ll talk about your company in a short video. Putting a face to the review lets people know you didn’t make it up. If you want to use Google reviews on your website, take a screenshot of the review and put it on your site as an image for the same level of legitimacy. (Pro Tip: If you’re using images of reviews, type the content of the review into the image’s alt text so it can be crawled for SEO and AI search.)
Websites are a must for today’s local businesses
There’s no escaping the internet, and companies that try to ignore the need for a business website are only hurting themselves. No matter how small your business, who you target, or what you offer, people want to check you out online before they commit. If you’re a real estate investor or a local services provider (like HVAC, contractor, electrician, plumbing, roofing, etc), having a website with good local SEO is non-negotiable.
Zippia found that 81% of consumers conduct online research about a business prior to making a purchase, with 47% seeking information specifically from the business’s website.
People want information before working with a business, and they turn to the internet to find that information. If you’re not online, your business is effectively silent.
Launching an SEO-optimized website for your local business doesn’t have to cost thousands or require technical know-how. Carrot’s AI website builder walks you through the process in minutes for less than $150/mo.
Be easy to find online when local homeowners and landlords need you most.
The home service provider who shows up first and has the best reviews when people search online wins the most business. Carrot’s fast, SEO-optimized, credibility-building websites help you reach the top of the search results.
of data from thousands of local lead generation websites.
30% – 50% of top Google rankings
for top local search keywords.
“Even if you don’t get a ton of traffic, the traffic you do get is really hyper-motivated. These are people that have a problem they’re trying to solve.”
Mike Wall
The SEO tools, support, and resources are unmatched, and they’ve directly impacted my ability to generate quality leads.
Keith Sant
A good website builds local trust
When someone looks for a local HVAC, plumber, roofer, electrician, contractor, house painter, or any other home service provider, the number one thing they’re concerned about is trust.
Is your company legitimate?
Will you do good work?
Is your pricing fair?
Can you solve their specific problem or need?
Are you trustworthy?
A sign on the side of the road or a flyer on someone’s door doesn’t build trust. A modern, professional website that highlights your company does.
Carrot websites are easy to launch, have lightning-fast speed, and are designed to help you build credibility and perform well in search engines and AI.
Image is everything, especially in my trade. With HVAC, a lot of people are skeptical, there are a lot of horror stories. Gaining a customer’s trust is huge, having a professional website adds to your authority.
Chris Steckler
Built for Local Home Service Providers & Contractors
Scroll on each screenshot to see their entire homepage!
Launch your site in minutes, without technical help or know-how. Answer a few questions about your business and our AI website builder produces an amazing, SEO-optimized site for you. No more wondering what to put where, your site is already designed with the must-have sections.
Want to customize the look of your site even more? The drag-and-drop page editor makes it easy to add things like images, customer reviews, FAQs, and services sections.
Built-In Marketing Tools
Built-in marketing tools help you drive new business without a lot of work and get the most out of your marketing. Carrot websites include a marketing strategy optimized to your business, SEO tools, campaign tracking features, and reporting dashboards.
We also make it simple to reach every market you service. Just tell us what areas you work in and Carrot automatically generates pages specifically targeting each of those locations. This is a game changer for local service providers who want customers in multiple towns!
AI Tools
You’re busy running your business and working on jobs … you don’t want to add “do marketing” to your already packed schedule. That’s why Carrot built a suite of AI tools to help.
From the AI Rewrite Tool that helps you update the content on your webpages to SEO auto-optimizations, Carrot’s AI features help you move fast, stay up to date, and make sure you don’t miss a thing … without being a marketing expert.
Site performance matters, and ours is the best.
Does your site load slowly, especially on mobile? People will leave.
Is it hard to contact you? People will leave.
Does your site look outdated or like a generic business that could exist anywhere? People will leave.
What your site looks like, the information and images you include, and how well it performs matter to capturing business. Carrot has spent the past 10+ years perfecting site performance, local SEO, and conversion rates (and we’re still working!).
You can’t get 10 years of testing, insights, and improvements from any other website provider. If you want the best results, work with the company that cares about results.
Does Carrot offer websites for other home service providers?
We’re working on support more home service providers soon! If you have a specific need you’d like to discuss, let’s chat!
There are other Carrot sites in my market. Wouldn’t I be competing with them?
The fact of the matter is, you’re competing with any similar websites in your market. But if competitors using Carrot sites routinely appear at the top of search results and AI recommendations, why wouldn’t you want to use the same winning platform?
Pair Carrot’s proven website structure with your own differentiators and experience to stand out and win those leads.
Can’t I build a website with AI?
There are a lot of AI website builders, but all they do is give you a pretty website. They’re not designed for fast site speed (critical for SEO and to keep visitors happy!) or with website conversion best practices in place. With an AI website builder, you’re often missing important website elements that will cost your customers!
Plus, Carrot handles your hosting, website security, and backend maintenance for you to keep your site fast, secure, and running well.
Does Carrot do my SEO for me?
Carrot sites take care of the heavy lifting: speed, structure, technical SEO, AI content, schema, mobile optimization. You choose keywords (our suite helps) and build authority over time. We give you the race car. You steer it.
A modern website that puts potential customers at ease, answers their questions, and showcases your company can be the difference between winning and losing a new customer. Don’t leave your website performance to chance, work with the local lead generation experts.
In part one of this PPC landing page series, we covered the 4 Major Problems with Your PPC Landing Page (that cost you leads). These are major, commonly recurring issues we see local business owners make when they launch PPC ad campaigns. But they’re not the only thing standing in your way of having an amazing ad campaign that generates lots of leads and revenue. Once you address the common issues, it’s time to take your landing page to the next level.
Here are the 5 elements we see on every top-converting PPC landing page. Revisit your current landing pages to make sure they have each of these elements, and keep them in mind as you launch new ads and campaigns.
Key Takeaways
Make sure the message, key talking points, and exact phrases in your ads are used on the landing page they link to. This “message match” is important for ad quality, but also reassures visitors that you’re legitimate and will solve the problem that made them click.
Directly address a visitor’s main fears or painpoints. This gives them the confidence that you understand their challenges and can help.
Build credibility by including trust signals like real images of your team, client reviews, and specifics about your business (i.e., locally owned and operated since 2006) on the landing page.
Make the button text clear and compelling. Specific language like “Get My Fair Cash Offer” outperforms generic text like “Click Here” by 49.55%.
Before we get into the landing page-specific elements, I want to take a minute to remind you of the importance of having landing pages that match the talking points of your ad.
So what does message matching look like? Here are a few examples …
It might be tempting to personalize your ads by saying something like “Matt Buys Houses.” That personalization isn’t necessarily bad. But if the ad links to a page that only has your business name and doesn’t mention Matt again, you’ll run into message match and credibility issues. Someone clicked on an ad about Matt, but Matt is suddenly gone, replaced by a nameless business. Because the ad doesn’t match the landing page, visitors (and Google) aren’t sure the landing page is for the same businesses as the ad. Visitors lose trust (cautious of a bait and switch), and Google may flag your ad as scammy. The end result is your ad showing up less often and visitors who leave without contacting you.
You can still run the “Matt” ad and include your business name on your website, just make sure to also use the phrase “Matt Buys Houses” on the landing page in addition to your business name. Similarly, if you use a picture of yourself (or a happy client) in your ad, make sure that image is also used on the landing page for continuity and credibility. Whatever talking points you specifically call out in the ad (a certain location, quick response times, fast closings, purchasing houses in as-is condition, etc.) make sure every single point you mention in the ad is repeated in the copy of your website. (We walk through some good and bad examples in minute 37:30 of the original webinar.)
Does that mean you need a specific landing page for every ad you run? If each ad has different selling points, then yes, absolutely. Someone who clicks on an ad for emergency HVAC repair doesn’t care that you also design and install new systems. They clicked on your ad to solve a specific problem, so make sure the landing page attached to that ad directly addresses that exact problem.
Pro Tip: You don’t need a dedicated landing page for each ad if the message is the same, but you’re testing different designs. As long as you cover all the same talking points and use the same language on the landing page as you do in the ads, you can point multiple ads to a single page.
Now, let’s get into how to design a simple, high-converting PPC landing page!
Must-Have PPC Landing Page Element 1: The Winning Headline Formula
Your headline should match the talking points of your ad (I think we’ve covered that thoroughly!), but we’ve also come up with a specific formula that wins over and over again. After spending 10+ years testing and refining landing pages for Carrot members, here’s the most effective PPC landing page headline formula:
[What visitors get] + [How Fast] + [Biggest Fear Removed]
The biggest fear can also be the major painpoint they’re trying to solve for …
Selling a house in as-is condition
A fast closing timeline
Fast or affordable emergency repair for a plumbing or HVAC issue
Wanting a new roof with a long guarantee
Needed a local service provider in their small or remote area
This simple formula captures attention right away and directly addresses the problem a visitor is trying to solve. Nothing complicated, nothing too clever that the visitor needs to figure out, just a straightforward, appealing promise.
Don’t worry too much about length when writing a headline using this formula, just focus on getting your point across clearly and compellingly. (Though you don’t want it to be so long that the visitor just glosses over it). You can also play with the order of the elements, as long as the headline reads naturally. Here are a few examples:
Get a Fair Cash Offer [what they get] Today [how fast] — No Repairs, No Commissions, Close in 7 Days [their fear/painpoint]
We Buy Houses Anywhere in the US [what they get] With Closing in as Little as 5 Days. [how fast] You Pay No Fees and No Repairs [their fear]
A Carrot member uses this exact headline and sees a 41.9% conversion rate on their landing page!
Emergency Plumbing Repair [what they get] Within an Hour! [how fast] Trusted plumbers in Portland for 20 years! [their fear]
Use this formula to test different headlines and find the best combination that inspires visitors to contact you.
Must-Have PPC Landing Page Element 2: Address Visitor’s Fears
Fear is the number one thing stopping people from contacting you. (How many times have you talked yourself out of a purchase or service because you weren’t sure about the quality, how reputable the business was, or if it was worth it? Those are all fear-based holdups.) When it comes to selling a property or hiring a local service provider, fear-based emotions are extra hard to get over. This isn’t buying a new jacket, it’s a major transaction that most people are probably inexperienced with.
The best way to get someone over their fears is to address them directly and honestly. You’ve touched on one or two of the major issues in the headline, but that’s only one sentence. You need to drive the point home repeatedly.
Identify 2-3 major reasons someone might hesitate to contact you or what they might be concerned about. These can also be reasons too work with you. Here are some examples:
A specific closing timeline (5 days, 7 days, “close on your timeline”)
No fees, no commissions
As-is condition, No repairs
Fair offer, free quote
100+ five-star reviews
In business since 2016, In business for over 20 years
Local family-owned business
All techs are background checked
Just below the headline is a great place to address these fees. It can be as simple as a bulleted list in the hero section of the page.
Again, make sure the fears you highlight in your ad are the most important ones addressed on the landing page. You can talk about more on the landing page, but keep the main focus in line with the ad.
Must-Have PPC Landing Page Element 3: Trust Signals
Now that you’ve promised to solve their problem, a visitor’s next priority is making sure you’re a reputable business worth contacting. When someone evaluates a business or service provider, they ask themselves a set of questions:
Is this person/company real?
Have they done this before?
Are they local?
Include credibility builders and trust signals on the landing page to put them at ease. A few of the example fears listed above are also trust builders (in business since 2016, local family-owned business, all techs are background checked). A few other examples of trust signals to include on your PPC landing page are:
Real photos of you and your team
Stats about your business (number of houses you’ve bought/serviced)
Local city/neighborhood references and photos
Reviews and testimonials from real clients
Badges (5 stars on Google, A+ from BBB)
License info
Process transparency (“here’s what happens next,” “here’s our process”)
Here’s what a landing page with good trust signals looks like …
Must-Have PPC Landing Page Element 4: Make Your Call-To-Action (Button) Clear & Compelling
The button language on landing page forms is another thing Carrot has tested extensively over the years. Known as the call-to-action (CTA), what your button says should be specific and detailed.
Clear language like “Get My Fair Cash Offer” outperforms generic text like “Click Here” by 49.55%. That’s because generic button text doesn’t tell the visitor what’s going to happen, what they’ll get, or what they can expect. Making it crystal clear what happens when they give you their information gives them confidence.
Good CTAs
Bad CTAs
✅ Get My Fair Cash Offer ✅ “See What My House Is Worth ✅ “Get My Free Quote
❌ Submit ❌ Click Here ❌ Contact Us
Having a strong CTA in the hero section of your landing page is particularly important. This is the most common contact point for visitors.
Must-Have PPC Landing Page Element 5: Low-Friction Contact Methods
By now a visitor has gotten to your PPC landing page, determined that you can solve their problem, decided that you’re trustworthy, and knows exactly what they’ll get by contacting you. The last thing you want is to have them back out now because your contact form is too long or they can’t find your phone number.
If you want people to call you, make your phone number very prominent both as your CTA and in places that a visitor would expect to find your phone number on a website (at the top and bottom of the page). Neary 83% of PPC traffic comes from a mobile device, so make sure the phone numbers on your landing page have click-to-call enabled and are easy to touch with your finger (meaning there isn’t so much stuff around them that the number itself is hard it hit).
Pro Tip: Use call trackingon your PPC landing pages so you know exactly which campaigns generate the most leads and business!
If your CTA is form-based, keep forms short! We strongly recommend using only 3 fields on your form.
For real estate: Name, phone, address
For home service providers: Name, phone, problem
While it’s tempting to want to gather more information with your form, every field you add above three reduces conversions. Think of each field as a friction point. If the form takes too long to fill out, asks for too much information, or makes the visitor think too hard, they’re going to leave without completing it.
If you absolutely need to collect more information, consider using a multi-step form instead of one long form. Multi-step forms put each question on its own “screen” so the visitor doesn’t get immediately overwhelmed by the amount of information they need to share. This is particularly helpful for mobile users where a long form would take up too much space on the screen and be difficult to fill in.
Keep PPC Landing Pages Simple & Focused
A good PPC landing page isn’t difficult to create. It’s actually the opposite. Keep things focused, address the visitor’s main concerns, and help them understand what will happen when they contact you.
If you want to dig into what makes a great PPC landing page even more, check out our free on-demand webinar, The 97% Blind Spot: How to Get 10x More PPC Leads Without Touching Your Ad Budget. Or use the PPC landing page templates built into Carrot to give you a jumpstart and make sure you don’t miss any important conversion elements!
