By now, you’ve probably heard about Google’s upcoming Core Web Vitals update and are wondering what it means for your site, where you should be looking to learn more, and what you should be doing to prepare.
Back in June, we provided a brief overview of the Google update (officially titled the “Page Experience Update”) and an introduction to Core Web Vitals – the metrics playing the most prominent role in the update.
Recap:
The Page Experience Update is introducing Core Web Vitals to Google’s search ranking algorithm for the first time. Core Web Vitals are a series of pagespeed scores relating to how quickly a page loads, how quickly that page is interactive, and how stable that page is visually. Google started introducing elements of this update to their algorithm in mid-June, with the goal for it to play a full role by the end of August 2021.
Over the past several months, our Carrot Engineering Team has been identifying, optimizing, and improving features and elements that directly contribute to better user experience and site speed metrics.
As that work continues to make our sites faster and better than ever, we’ve compiled some of the most common questions, issues, and misconceptions we’ve seen as a resource for you to be ahead of the game on your end.
DO Understand Testing Tools
We get this question a lot: how do you test your site speed and Core Web Vitals and what tool should you use? At Carrot, we recommend using Google’s PageSpeed Insights Tool because – regardless of which tool you choose – the most important consideration is that you be consistent.
To us, using Google’s own tool makes the most sense. If you’re using the Chrome Browser, the Lighthouse Tool in the Developer Tools is another great option.
That said, we always want to be sure that our members understand the differences and caveats between those snapshot scores provided by tools and the scores that are actually being used in Google’s algorithm. Google differentiates them into two categories: lab data and field data.
Lab Data – Provided By Testing Tools
Lab data is exactly what it sounds like – data collected in a lab, or in this case, a single snapshot report performed by Google’s PageSpeed Insights Tool or any other third-party testing tool.
It uses your own browser or another emulated device to load your website in a simulated environment and capture the key metrics that contribute to Core Web Vitals and Page Experience. These scores are meant to be consistent baselines and are not necessarily reflective of actual user experience.
Just like in a real lab, you want to control for all variables when running experiments and tests on your website. Google’s page speed tool (and most other tools) do this by loading your site on a simulated older generation smartphone with only a 3G connection to determine mobile “site speed” scores.
This is meant to represent the absolute baseline and used as a tool for debugging any performance issues with your site. It’s useful for looking at where you can improve your scores, but it’s not useful for understanding real user experience. Most users are on newer mobile devices with better connections and WiFi.
Their experience is better than in the simulated snapshot and contributes to field data – the real scores used by Google’s search ranking algorithm.
Field Data – Provided By Real User Experience
Like we said above – field data is what Google is actually introducing to their search algorithm. It represents the actual user experiences collected by the Chrome User Experience Report (or CrUX) when users visit your site. Google then looks at the 75th percentile of those scores, and that’s your actual “score” used by their algorithm.
Just like with Google’s more commonly-known ranking indicators, we lose visibility and transparency the closer we get to the algorithm. So while snapshot lab data scores can be accessed whenever we feel like running a tool, user experience field data is more ambiguous and inaccessible.
There are two primary areas where you can gain insights about your real user experience scores if your site has sufficient traffic/data for Google to generate reports. That’s in the Core Web Vitals tab of Google Search Console or at the top of reports in the PageSpeed Insights Tool.
For individual URLs, you may see an error – “Field Data — The Chrome User Experience Report does not have sufficient real-world speed data for this page.” This means that there is not enough CrUX data available to generate a representative anonymous view of your performance.
If you find this to be the case, no sweat – you just need more visitors, and the best way to do that is by focusing on generating great content first.
This leads us into our next section…
DON’T Stop Focusing On Content
Under no circumstance should you stop what you’re doing to generate great content and drop everything to focus on Core Web Vitals.
Here’s some guidance directly from the source – Google…
“While page experience is important, Google still seeks to rank pages with the best information overall, even if the page experience is subpar. Great page experience doesn’t override having great page content.” – Understanding page experience in Google Search results
In other words, page experience and site speed scores are just other ingredients in the complex recipe Google uses to produce search results and rankings.
Relevant, useful, informative, and high-quality content will continue to outperform competitors and other websites – because, at the end of the day, a visitor is seeking content first. Page speed is just another supplemental measurement.
At Carrot, we have always excelled on the content side of things. That’s our bread and butter! So while Google’s Page Experience Update is certainly something to keep an eye on now and in the future, we highly recommend that you continue leveraging our tools and investing your time, resources, and creative efforts to produce high-quality, relevant content above all else.
Another note: Core Web Vitals will only apply to mobile search results. Across our network, we see that nearly 40% of inbound traffic (and leads!) to Carrot sites still occur on desktop. Those desktop search results will not be impacted by this update at all. That’s why content is still so important.
DO Take A Minimalist (And Mobile First!) Approach To Design
Because this update applies solely to mobile search, it underscores the importance of taking a mobile-first approach when looking at your website content and design. Let’s face it – mobile has taken over.
As we mentioned, 60% of traffic across our Carrot network occurs on a mobile device. Keep that in mind when thinking about how to layout and implement content on your site. Sometimes, less is more.
We recently did a series of conversion tests that reiterates this point. We found that simply reducing the amount of content in a website’s main hero section and form, could increase conversion rates by up to 50%!
This test confirmed our theory that by reducing the clutter that a visitor sees, they will be more likely to engage with the lead form.
The same principle applies to site speed and performance. Each additional element that you include on a page requires additional resources to process, render, and place that element on the page. That results in additional time that it takes the page to load.
In the left image, the form is prominent and the page isn’t blocked from loading by resource-heavy elements. In the right image, there are more elements to load, and the form is pushed “below the fold.”
The most common abuses of this also often incorporate some of the most resource-heavy elements – like pictures and videos placed all around the page, or high up near the top of the page.
While we encourage you to continue creating great content to highlight your credibility and experience, we also encourage you to be mindful of how, and where, you deploy that on your site. Run snapshots before and after adding it and see how it impacts your scores.
At the end of the day, the goal of your site is to generate leads. With so many users now browsing on their phones, it increases the importance of improving user experience in more ways than just site speed.
By taking a step back and considering how some of your content elements might be drawing attention away from conversion elements or impacting a visitor’s experience on your site, you’ll also be guaranteed to improve your site speed metrics at the same time.
DO Take Image Optimization Seriously
While we are on the content note, we understand that there are naturally going to be images and graphics you want to include to help highlight your experience and improve your site aesthetic.
We highly recommend being cognizant of the various ways to ensure you aren’t overburdening your site’s speed and performance when adding images.
Just like with content elements, too many unnecessary tracking scripts and third-party codes can also overburden your site and negatively impact your Core Web Vitals scores.
The same concept applies: each script or code snippet you add requires more resources to execute.
We get it – some tracking scripts like Google Analytics, Google Ads, and the Facebook pixel might be necessary for your marketing if you’re making ad-buying decisions based on those metrics. In this case, you have to consider it a trade-off.
In exchange for gaining visibility into those tracking metrics and insights, you’re negatively impacting your site speed marginally. Which is more important to you? In most cases, those tracking analytics will outweigh site speed.
If you aren’t heavily and consistently using these tracking tools, perhaps consider what you really need and what you can get rid of. Over time, the addition of individual scripts and code snippets can naturally bloat if not routinely audited for only the most necessary scripts. This is one of the most common variables we see when reviewing customer site speed report results.
Note: This also applies to any additional third-party scripts and services like chatbots, call tracking, etc.
Finally, DON’T Freak Out…
Core Web Vitals and Google’s Page Experience Update are certainly complicated, but by taking the time to understand the basics and paired with our Engineering Team’s work to optimize your site, you’ll be ahead of most site owners.
Screaming Frog analyzed 20,000 URLs last year, and only 12% of mobile sites and 13% of desktop sites passed the Core Web Vitals assessment. There is a lot of work for everyone to do, and we’re committed to continuing to provide you with the resources and updates you need.
We’re thankful for a great community of members who are really supporting what we’re doing here at Carrot to help transform the way high-achieving real estate agents and investors use the internet to grow their real estate business.
How to Create A Follow-Up Machine That Sells While You Sleep in 4 Steps with Mark Skowron
What message are you sending to your prospective leads? How are you connecting, building trust, and following up?
Mark Skowron is an investor and agent who uses carefully crafted copy to close an extra deal each and every month.
Today we will talk about sequencing, frequency of contact, and what you can say to build instant trust and rapport. Most importantly, you will learn how to turn a small investment of your time upfront, into a potential $240k per year in extra profits.
Read the Full Show Notes Below…
Mark Skowron spoke at a recent CarrotCamp, and I was blown away by his creative use of copy. He approaches his investment business in a unique way, building relationships through genuine, carefully crafted content.
When looking at Mark’s auto-response sequence, you aren’t going to find the same generic stuff that you see from the average investor. Instead, you will see a mixture of social proof, testimonials, lifestyle, and maybe a few pictures of his pugs.
What Mark has built requires a bit of work upfront, but now runs on its own. His automated email sequences lead to an extra deal per month, resulting in thousands of dollars in additional revenue. Here are 4 of the things Mark includes in his copy that lead to deals.
4 “Musts” to Include for Better Copywriting
#1 – Social Proof and Testimonials
You’ve likely heard us talk about adding testimonials to your Carrot site. Whether they are written or in video form, you’ll want to try to get a positive review from every client you work with. Including these in your copy, on your website, and on social media is a great way to build trust and rapport.
Setting up profiles to help build social proof will help to establish credibility. Make sure you have somewhere you can send your clients to – Google, Porch.com, and the BBB are all great ideas.
#2 – A Connection Piece
When creating his sequence for follow-up texts or emails, he isn’t hammering the seller with sales information, offer numbers or the same generic jargon we hear all of the time. Instead, he will use a lot of connection pieces – stories, anecdotes, and situations that his target reader will be able to relate to.
You can use pictures of your dogs, share information from your church, or talk about working out. Whatever you are into, don’t be afraid to share it!
#3 – Teamwork and Cause
Another way to build connection and trust is by highlighting members of your team or causes you support. You can talk about a contractor you work with or a local charity you support.
Sharing these personal aspects of your life and business will help people to better get to know you and what you are all about. You will be seen as a real person as opposed to another faceless buyer who simply wants to “buy your house.”
#4 – Fear of Loss
You can’t buy every house you see. Let your sellers know that you only have a certain amount of time/funds and need to get an answer right away. There are other houses out there, and it’s important that the seller knows that could miss out on your offer if they don’t act right away.
The sense of urgency, combined with the fear of loss, will help your seller more quickly make the decision that will be of the greatest benefit to them in the long run.
Pattern Interruption
In addition to the 4 types of content listed above, Mark also recommends throwing some pieces in there that will disrupt usual thought patterns.
This could be an unexpected joke, a surprising fact, or a bold statement that will cause the reader to look twice. Sprinkle a few of these pieces into your automated sequence grab attention and get people thinking.
Knowing Your Audience
When creating any piece of content, you’ll want to get yourself into the conversation that is happening in a seller’s head. Who is this buyer? Can they really close? What will they do for me? Your content should address these questions rather than going on and on about what you can do.
Figure out who you are trying to reach, and provide the answers that they are looking for. Build relationships, get to know them and be the solution your clients need.
This year’s real estate market has been strong, with high interest in housing across all regions of the country. The strengthening economy and a demographic shift are fueling this growth — and millennials reaching their peak homebuying years have led to increased demand for homes nationwide.
However, there’s another major trend in today’s market: housing inventory is at an all-time low. Simply put — there aren’t enough homes for everyone, so housing prices are skyrocketing and competition is fierce.
Low mortgage rates combined with an increase in work-from-home opportunities due to the Pandemic have fueled greater demand for suburban houses — and buyers are buying up these properties quickly as they come onto the market. Some buyers make offers without even seeing the property in person or including contingencies in their bids, just to win a bidding war with other eager homebuyers.
There’s also an increase in demand among millennials due to the historically low mortgage rates; however, many of them can’t find what they need within their budget. The drastically rising home prices are making affordable housing scarce.
Despite the increasing number of sellers due to increasing home prices and low-interest rates, limited construction activity earlier due to COVID-19 and high lumber prices, and pent-up demand for housing, housing demand is still drastically outpacing supply. So competition continues to be fierce for new homes hitting the market (or being sold off-market) making retail seller leads more elusive — and more valuable — than ever.
These numbers are, of course, offset by the looseness of the definition of “active,” as well as the fact that some real estate agents help to sell homes, while many are purely focused on buyers or simply have an active, but unused, license.
Additionally, we could potentially see over a million evictions in the coming months, while at the same time giving millions of people the means to get into a home. This is fueled by:
The passing of President Biden’s first-time homebuyer credit. This first down payment tax credit “will help families offset the costs of home buying and help millions of families lay down roots for the first time,” according to President Biden’s campaign website.
What does this mean for real estate agents today?
It means that every lead and listing counts and the real estate agents who succeed are the ones that consistently market, generate leads, follow-up, and build high-flying reputations in the area(s) where they operate.
Don’t get us wrong. Today, inventory is low and competition is high. But the market has been through many similar fluctuations in the past and there are no indications that the market won’t balance back out. In other words, you’re in a good industry.
Here’s how, at Carrot, we’re helping real estate agents stand out in their markets and snag listings.
The Carrot Solution
Since CEO Trevor Mauch started Carrot, we’ve made it our mission to always innovate and evolve our software to stay ahead of the real estate market and anticipate our members’ future needs to help Carrot members see success.
It’s the foundation of our company vision — to “inspire and empower real estate professionals to gain true freedom and make a greater impact with their businesses.”
That means building awesome software that helps real estate professionals build authority online today while always staying a step ahead of your online lead generation needs in the future.
One recent innovation inspired by current market trends that we are super excited to launch is our all-new Carrot Agent Seller Site Template that’s designed to help today’s agents attract and convert more retail seller leads.
Our new site features fresh seller-focused content built from top-performing Carrot Agent sites, a modern design to help you stand out online, and — of course — Carrot’s proven SEO and conversion methodologies to attract and convert more seller leads in today’s highly competitive, low inventory real estate market.
How do we know it works?
Because the all-new content strategy is cultivated directly from our highest performing Agent members’ websites…
These sites received astronomically more traffic than the average agent site — across all channel groupings. The average agent site received 664 visitors in Q2. The top-performing Agent sites had 10X more visitors.
These sites converted all traffic between 2X to 5X better than the average agent site.
These sites converted organic traffic 215% better than the average agent site.
And we ensured the new design put you as the Agent at the forefront to help you strengthen your personal brand in your local market and build credibility with more social proof and happy client testimonials.
So we figured… If it works for them, it could work for you!
Check out a screenshot of the image below!
How does it work? Sellers opt-in, you get notified, you call them and do what you do best… voila!
Cool, right?
But that’s just one example of how we’re making it easier for agents to find listings.
Carrot members also get…
Tons of other tools that will help you drive traffic and generate leads in your specific market — UTM builder, SEO Keyword Rank Tracker, SEO Checker, and more!
Access to industry-leading trainings, support, and strategy from our team of product and real estate experts!
But you don’t have to take our word for it!
Check out some of the testimonials below from real estate agents using our software…
“This is much more than a web hosting company…it’s a complete marketing and training program. Carrot has helped our Real Estate Team develop a complete marketing strategy. For the first time…ever…we can see how all the pieces fit together in a cohesive marketing strategy. The results have been an increase in exposure, online leads, and the ability to measure ROI! The training, support, coaching, and customer service have been amazing.” – Tom Townsend
“Carrot has impacted my business so positively! I love the property websites, landing pages, SEO rankings, blog, and overall design of the site. I also love the landing pages that I use to drive traffic from ads that I run. And my favorite is to watch the increase in Google rankings with the more relevant content we produce. Really great web host!” – Shemeika Fox
That’s all for now!
We’ll let you know when we’ve got more cool innovations to share that’ll help you grow your business in a scalable and realistic way.
To your success!
Want to learn more about our new seller site? Check out here.
Unlock Our Newest Agent Site Template
Join Carrot and Access Our Brand New Agent Seller Site Template Today
“The only way to build authority is through content.”
If you’re serious about generating leads, real estatetestimonials can be a key content element because they are unbiased comments that prompt visitors to give you their contact information.
Key Takeaways
Quality testimonials establish trust and authority when formatted correctly with real names, photos, and specific details rather than vague statements or just initials.
Video testimonials represent the highest level of effectiveness as they capture nonverbal communication and emotions that text alone cannot convey.
Ask strategic questions like “What problem did you need to solve?”, “Why did you choose us?”, and “What surprised you?” to gather compelling testimonial content that addresses prospect concerns.
Even a slight increase in conversion rates through properly formatted testimonials could mean thousands of additional dollars in monthly revenue for your real estate business.
Key takeaway: 123% increase in leads for sites with personalization.
We compared a batch of our CSU member’s motivated seller sites over 6 months to see the difference in the lead count.
Now, there are, of course, other factors that play into site conversion. It’s also a great reminder that great-looking sites still need the personalization element to round out.
We compared member sites WITHOUT personalization on the homepage (no testimonials, photos of the member, etc.) and homepages CONTAINING testimonials (1-3) and a personal photo in the about section.
The result?
PROOF: 123% increase in leads for sites with personalization!
Our most engaged members create the most content and get the most leads.
Using real estate testimonials on your site in text or video, you introduce content that will authoritatively promote your business.
You should be using real estate testimonials to help establish credibility and authority. Quality testimonials increase conversions because they aren’t looked upon as sales pitches. If they come across in an unbiased voice, they will build trust. You’re using real people to show success in your service.
In the end, your testimonials will convert more visitors into buyers and sellers if you use them correctly.
According to a study… “Testimonials and case studies are considered the most effective content marketing tactics.” In short, in a crowded market like today, great testimonials for real estate agents and investors formatted correctly can boost your leads and deals. They help add credibility to an untrusting world.
Additionally, as those values go vertical, many aspiring wholesalers start flipping houses, making for increasingly saturated online spaces.
But before panic sets in, breathe. It’s not as bad as it sounds… well, but it’s also an opportunity. It’s a chance to flex your real estate muscles, to stand head and shoulders above that semi-debilitating clutter, to be the solution rather than contribute to the problem.
What I will teach you will apply whether you’re an investor, buyer, seller, or agent.
I will teach you how to build credibility by leveraging testimonials that shine.
Let’s dive in!
What is a Real Estate Testimonial?
A real estate testimonial relays a story from a current to a potential client. The shorter, the better (unless you sacrifice quality). You don’t want an hour-long testimonial.
When a client has a great experience, let them share it. Get real testimonials. Potential clients experience shopping anxiety — you know, that feeling before buying something that says, “It costs too much. It’s not good enough. How do you know it’s what you want?” — and testimonials are one way of shooting down this discouraging devil.
The testimonial says, “Other people have worked with this company and had a good experience. I probably will, too.”
Here are some examples from one of our member sites:
Example Real Estate Testimonials
Why are high-quality testimonials such a big deal?
If used correctly, testimonials for real estate agents and investors are important for website visitors (and your conversion rate).
They can…
Completely eradicate concerns that prospects had about working with your business.
Build immediate trust for who you are and what you do.
Convince prospects to give you their information via an opt-in form or call you on the phone directly).
Consider that 88% of consumers claim that they read at least 10 reviews before deciding whether they can trust a company or not (and they have to trust you if they’re going to work with you) or that 88% of people trust online testimonials just as much as personal recommendations from a friend.
To prove just how powerful testimonials can be (at least the conversion rate side of things), Unbounce reported on an A/B test. Ideal for testing, Version A and Version B are identical save for one difference: Version B includes a testimonial above the website’s opt-in form.
In the end, Version B increased the conversion rate by 34%.
Let’s put that in perspective for a wholesaler’s website.
Imagine you drive 1,000 website visits every month, generating 100 leads per month on your website (a 10% conversion rate — typical for Carrot websites), and you close 1 in 25 leads. That means you’re doing about 4 deals per month at, let’s assume, $10,000 profit per deal.
Boom — you add a glowing testimonial to your website and increase your conversion rate by 34%, from 10% to 13.4%.
Now, you will get more than 130 leads per month with the same amount of traffic (1,000 website visits). And since you close 1 in 15 to 25 leads, you’ll now do more than 5 deals monthly with the same amount of website traffic.
By putting a testimonial on your website, you added $10,000 in monthly wholesale fees (from $40,000 to $50,000 per month).
And the same goes for real estate agents. You can increase your conversion rate and monthly income by adding excellent real estate testimonials to your website.
Of course, I’m not promising that you’ll get exactly those results. I’m just trying to illustrate how powerful a slight boost in your website’s conversion rate can be on your business revenue (at Carrot, we provide high-converting websites out-of-the-box for our members)… and that testimonials can help you achieve that slight, powerful boost.
But… all of this depends on using high-quality testimonials.
You Might Be Doing It Wrong
Most people have testimonials helpful in taking up website canvas, but little else.
To avoid spitting lousy devil killers, I will walk you through the four levels of a quality real estate testimonial. Unfortunately, most people are stuck in levels one and two.
Level 1: The Basic Real Estate Testimonial
The first level is your most basic testimonial:
“Hey, Mark was great to work with. – J.K.”
If a level one testimonial is on your website, it’s best to take it down. It’s not helping. There are no specifics. It doesn’t say what Mark did for you that was so great. It doesn’t say how Mark did it.
It doesn’t end there if this lack of context isn’t enough. The signature says, “J.K.,” the client’s initials. Although the testimonial is made a joke by the initials J.K. (if someone has these initials, don’t even get their testimonial…), initials, even without such inconvenient letters, are impersonal and potentially create distrust in the viewer.
A testimonial doesn’t always help your reputation. Level one testimonials, particularly, can damage it.
Level 2: Be Specific
Level two is better, but still in the sad zone 😢
Do not use painfully vague real estate testimonials.
“Mark did what he said he’d do, closed on time, and I refer him to friends. – John Kennedy”
It says Mark is reliable, timely, and good enough to get a referral. Level two is getting more specific.
When a testimonial is ambiguous, it can work against building trust for your business and create unease in the prospect’s mind. If this testimonial is real, why isn’t it more specific?
Notice, also, that the testimonial used the person’s name, John Kennedy, not his initials. However, skeptics abound even with a real name and an honest, mildly-specific testimonial. The more specific, the better… and fewer critics.
Here’s a sample of a good review for a real estate investor:
“Best Decision I’ve Ever Made!!! I was in a situation where I needed to get out of my house ASAP and Colby came through for Me!!! Nobody else will ever beat his services and I’m relieved I don’t have the financial stress any longer!!! I will forever be grateful for what he did for me!!!”
But specificity isn’t all that counts toward your level. Even if your testimonial is true, you must convince people it’s true. It’s all thanks to that crowded real estate space with no shortage of lies and deceit.
Level 3: Be Real
Unfortunately, being authentic isn’t enough in our world of “alternative facts” and reality television.
It’s tempting just to write your real estate testimonial under an alias name and throw it on your website to increase the conversion rate. It sure would take a lot less time, and it might even boost your conversion rate if you’re a great writer.
But chances are, the testimonial you’ll receive from someone who authentically loves your service will be far more powerful (and conversion-boosting) than something you throw together yourself. Plus, people can usually tell when a testimonial is fake.
You have to convince people you’re authentic.
How?
Well, levels three and level four testimonials seem more believable simply because they include a visual and they’re a bit more specific:
“I inherited a house and couldn’t sell it, but found Mark online. I was skeptical, but their offer was fair, we closed on time, and I’d work with him again. – John Kennedy – Tampa Seller”
Viewers will look at an image or video, and immediately, the dud of a testimonial becomes impactful.
The image could be a picture of you and the prospect at the closing table or their face. It could be you shaking their hand or a short video of them discussing the process.
Your only goal is to make it real, to make it believable. Don’t forget to include a short bio for the testimonial giver; tell the viewer who’s recommending you. Even something as short as “John Kennedy, Tampa seller.”
Here is an example of a good testimonial with an image of the client and the investor:
“Thank you for all your help and walking me through the mess I got stuck with. You explained everything and went over the contract step by step; never once did your answers change. You gave us all the information we needed and we could see you were serious about what you do. If someone asks if I know who could help them, I would not hesitate to name you as a reference as you are an honest person. Once again, thank you so much.” – Louise R. Friel
Level 4: Record Video Real Estate Testimonials
If you want to climb to the testimonial pinnacle, make a video. Record a video of the whole process of your client, recommending you, emotions, and all.
Video captures something text cannot: the human ability to communicate nonverbally. And that’s a powerful prospect.
Here are a few examples of good “real” written testimonials:
2nd Chance Investment Group
“Like many others in this unstable economy, and after looking into other organizations, such as Keep Your Home California, I exercised my options by contacting Second Chance Investment Group in Chino Hills, CA. It was the best phone call I could have made. Now I am doing better than ever – free of debt. And moving forward with a clear mind. Thanks, Ray Foster and Second Chance. Keep up the good work.” – Sheryl Brown-Pearce
Townsend Realty Group
“Townsend Realty Group has been the finest company to work with as we sell our home in Canton. We have sold several homes and have never had such a professional and compassionate company guide us through the process. Their realtors are always a phone call away and are readily available to help in any way. Their team made some great recommendations for selling our home, and they also helped us avoid pouring lots of money into getting the home ready for the market!” – Ray and Patricia Massengale
Florida Cash Home Buyers
“Thanks to all the fine people I have dealt with in the past 2 to 3 weeks. I especially like to thank Annette with the law firm. She was very helpful in processing the closing paperwork. Alejandro kept me aware of my need to show the property to various people. Thanks again to all that helped with the sale and closing.” – Glenda Skaggs
Video Real Estate Testimonial Examples
Here are a few examples of good “real” video testimonials:
Let me end with one final tip…
You Need to Ask Good Questions
Don’t forget to set yourself up for success at the gate. You must ask the right questions to get a high-quality real estate testimonial.
Here are some questions to ask to get POWERFUL testimonials:
What problem did you need to solve,and did we solve it as you expected? — You want to pull out the pain they were experiencing before working with you. What were they going through? Could they even sleep at night? What was the emotional pain like? How stressful was the situation?
Why did you choose to work with us? — You want to understand better what made them decide to solve their stressful situation by working with you. What was going through their head? What was the final straw that made them give you a call?
Why did you choose us instead of some other company? — Why not somebody else? This question will help illustrate your USP and what sets you apart from competitors in your market.
What was your favorite part about working with us? — Being on the other side of that stressful situation, what was the client most enjoyed most during the time they worked with you? It could be how fast you closed or how easy it was.
What surprised you about working with us? — Asking this question can get the client talking about the thing they loved about working with you that was the most unexpected (i.e., how you went above and beyond for them).
Elements of an Effective Real Estate Testimonial
To recap, these are the elements necessary for a killer testimonial. Check these off your list before posting.
Be specific
Be authentic
Be thorough
Emphasize benefits
Include a picture of a face, or better yet, record a short video
Short bio
Ask good questions
Where to Place Testimonials on Your Website
There are several options for placing testimonials on your website. Some investors dedicate an entire page to reviews or testimonials, while others prefer to sprinkle one or two on their homepage and other landing pages. However, it’s important to remember that buyers and sellers researching and wanting to know you better are more likely to visit your reviews page, “How it works” page, or “Our company” page.
Placing testimonials on your reviews page can be especially powerful, as this is where potential customers will go to read about the experiences of others who have used your products or services. You may also want to consider creating YouTube videos showcasing your business on your homepage and city landing pages, as this has been shown to increase search engine rankings correctly.
While you may not see many people watching these videos on your landing pages, once they are shared on your reviews page and other platforms, they can be highly effective in building trust and credibility with potential customers.
Here are a couple of examples of how Carrot members use testimonials:
Kind House Buyers – Reviews Page (scroll on the image to see the full page)
Simply Sold Testimonials Page (scroll on the image to see the full page)
Suppose you’re uncomfortable on video, email past clients the questions above and ask for their answers. Call a friend and ask them to vouch for your character if you can’t think of any clients who’d give you a testimonial.
As your business grows, you’ll get better real estate testimonials, improving your conversion rate even further. But it’s a process.
Testimonials can increase conversion rates if you use them correctly, and there are very few instances where a testimonial would hurt your conversion rate.
So work with what you have.
So embrace it; get some testimonials and add them to your website. Remember, a slight increase in conversion could mean thousands of dollars per month for your business.
You’ll agree that sifting through endless real estate agent marketing ideas is challenging. It’s tough to determine which tactics will generate the highest volume of quality leads while keeping your sanity.
When people think of buying or selling a home, you want them to think of your name. You want them to give you a call. And you want them to work with YOU.
Of course, that’s easier said than done.
Many other real estate agents in the area are fighting for the same attention.
Fortunately, you don’t have to win all the attention to dominate your market – just most of it.
And the best part is…
You don’t even have to leave your computer to get started.
30 Real Estate Agent Marketing Ideas to Win More Deals
I will show 30 real estate agent marketing ideas for dominating your online market in this article.
Instagram is an incredible place to share your listings and get noticed! For real estate agents, Instagram provides a whole new world of opportunity.
With over one billion monthly active users on the platform, there’s no better time than now for you to join in with all these people looking at beautiful pictures daily.
Whether showcasing properties or providing helpful content like tips for staging homes, something here is suited ideally for you!
Most real estate agents become a part of the online “clutter” in their markets when they toss up a website that gets lost in the shuffle. Building a focused and optimized website will help you cut through that clutter with content marketing and adding your industry expertise.
A website will attract more of your favorite clients by using it as an Evergreen Marketing tool.
You can reduce or eliminate relying on cold calling, direct mail, Zillow, and the marketing that’s burning you out when done right.
Service as an educational tool. Add community resources, FAQ, and contact information. Educating buyers or sellers and explaining how real estate agents provide their services can build trust and rapport and earn more business.
Facebook’s LIVE video feature is useful for more than recording your kid’s birthday party. You can also use it to do a LIVE walkthrough of house listings you’re trying to get attention for.
After all, one of the most time-consuming parts of your day is house showings, so why not show a house to your entire Facebook audience with a single LIVE video?
Plus, 70% of homeowners want to list with a real estate agent who does some video marketing to sell their home. This might be your dead-simple, don’t-have-to-hire-a-professional way of integrating video marketing into your service.
Just create a healthy cadence and get in front of your social media audience more regularly.
The more people see your face online and hear you talk about their problems and your solutions, the more familiar your market will be with you.
Video is increasingly important in content marketing for social media. More people are choosing to consume information through video.
Here are some ideas for Facebook live videos to work into your real estate marketing:
Host virtual open houses.
Discuss your community market with a local specialist.
Livestream auctions.
Interview customers for success stories.
Interview a partner or someone you work with… such as an interior decorator.
According to the National Association of Realtors, social media has become a significant way to acquire clients and close deals. Here’s a snapshot of their report:
77% of realtors actively use social media for real estate in some capacity.
47% of real estate businesses say social media results in the highest quality leads vs. other sources.
99% of millennials and 90% of baby boomers begin their online home search. As opposed to in-person referrals.
It’s powerful. Perhaps there’s no better way to generate consistent word of mouth around your brand name and service than by staying in front of your audience.
5. Partner with Other Real Estate Agents in Your Area
As the market gets increasingly competitive and the economy takes a slight downturn, collaborating with other professionals in your market might separate the winners from those who starve.
Don’t be afraid to collaborate with other real estate agents and investors in your area to make the most of the market that you find yourself in.
Sometimes, the best way to dominate your market is to team up with those already dominating it.
6. Message 100 Friends on Facebook and Tell Them What You Do
If you want to generate word of mouth, send messages to your friends on Facebook and tell them about what you do. Maybe you’re offering a new service that you can announce to people, or perhaps you want to say to people that you’re currently looking for new clients.
Either way, a Facebook message can go a long way in generating word-of-mouth for your business within your target market – especially if you personalize each message.
7. Set Your Email Signature to Explain What You Do
If you’re like me, you send at least 3-5 emails daily. Believe it or not, every one of those emails is an opportunity to gently advertise what you do and who you are.
By automatically setting your email signature to populate with business-card style information, you remind people of your company every time you send an email.
Like your email signature, your social media bios are waiting to be exploited for market domination. When someone clicks on your profile to find out more about you (and trust me, they do), you want them to quickly know who you are and what your business does.
A quick bio that describes your real estate expertise ensures you don’t miss lead-gen and word-of-mouth opportunities on your social media profiles.
You might be thinking… “why would listening to a podcast help your online marketing?”
Often, becoming the most successful real estate agent in your market is simply believing you can do it and believe you are the best.
I know it sounds cheesy, but the mindset is crazy powerful for building the business of your dreams and pulling in more leads than you can handle. And a podcast is a great way to regularly test and refine your mindset.
Here are some benefits of listening to podcasts:
Your imagination kicks in.
You learn new marketing tactics.
Your multi-tasking skills will be enhanced.
Your listening skills grow.
You can learn more about people and gain empathy as an agent.
10. Optimize Keywords on Your Website for Search Engines
The most thorough way to dominate your market is to be the first result prospects see when they type “real estate agent” or “sell my home fast” into Google.
If you’re not on the page when people do that, you have a very small chance of being a significant force in your market.
Carrot SEO Keyword Ranking Tracker
People go online to find everything, including a real estate agent to work with. You need to show up at the top of Google results. And to do that, you need to optimize your website to rank in search engines via strategic keyword placement.
If you want to increase the number of leads and deals you’re getting quickly and have some money to invest, then PPC might be a great option.
Whether you choose Facebook or Google Ads (the two most popular options), PPC can generate more leads immediately, increasing your business profitability and market authority.
Did you know that any website’s “About” page is the third most-viewed page? People don’t just want to know what you do or how you do it; they also want to know who you are.
By spending a little time on your “About” page bio – adding core values, a mission statement, and personal pictures – you’ll stand out from competitors who didn’t spend extra time on their “About” page.
Weekly (or monthly) blog posts on your website give you and your audience something to discuss. They give you something to share on your social media pages and give your audience something to discuss.
That’s good – the more interactions you have with people in your target market, the more people will view you as the real estate expert in their area.
Plus, publishing consistent blog posts can also help with your Google rankings and build trust with people who arrive on your website.
Don’t have time? Hate writing? No problem! Create a VideoPost! You could have amazing content to share in 10 minutes.
Upload a video and receive a transcription for your content. Creating content that helps you stand out from the crowd is easy.
14. Record a Case Study Video with a Past Customer
Case studies, or we like to call them, “customer success stories,” are powerful. When prospects arrive on your website, they ask themselves, “Can I trust this person to solve my problem and have my best interest in mind along the way?”
How they answer that question will greatly determine whether they decide to work with you.
The good news is that you can help them answer that question by filming and publishing case study videos of people you’ve worked with in the past and their good experiences.
15. Make Your Phone Number Easy to Find on Your Website
When someone on your website is ready to take action, the last thing they want to do is send them digging for your phone number. To avoid losing leads who want to call you on the phone, put your phone number somewhere on your website that makes it easy to find.
This alone might not dominate your entire market. But when you’re playing against big competitors, details matter.
16. Use a Low-commitment Opt-in Form on Your Website
When someone arrives on your website, you want to make it easy for them to take the first step.
At Carrot, we’ve found that a simple form like the one above with address, phone number, and email is a great starting place. It’s enough to qualify the person (having three different fields) but not so much that it’ll stop someone seriously interested in your service.
By putting a form like this on your website, you decrease the amount of lost quality leads to your website and increase your market domination – even if just slightly.
Words matter. And perhaps nowhere do words matter more than when you’re trying to convince someone who doesn’t even know you to work with you.
Often, the real estate professional who writes the best sales copy and speaks directly to their target market will win the day. Consider spending more time on your website’s sales copy to ensure every word is compelling and persuasive.
If you’re a real estate agent, posting high-quality photos on your website, Facebook page, and house listings is critical. Several studies have shown that high-quality photos can increase how quickly a home sells and what price it sells for.
It will take more than pictures to sell a house, but this is one piece of marketing that can’t be overlooked.
Many real estate agents miss the importance of taking quality pictures. This is one simple way you can beat your competition.
20. Encourage Reviews on Your Company’s Facebook Page
People trust reviews just as much as they trust recommendations from friends. Think of your own experience: before you buy a movie, eat at a restaurant, stay at a hotel, or buy a book, you read the reviews.
And how much BIGGER of a decision is buying or selling your home? Sure – people won’t decide entirely if they will work with you based on your reviews, but your reviews (or whether you have them) will play a big part during the prospect’s early decision-making process.
Facebook is a great place to collect and advertise those reviews.
One of the best ways to convince people that you’re the best person to solve their problem amidst a whole sea of competitors is by targeting them specifically. Rather than simply having a website that targets your city, create different landing pages that target different parts of that city.
There’s probably an entire pool of prospects interested in river-side houses, houses by the golf course, wooded homes, or mountains.
By niching your market down even further with market-specific landing pages, you can speak directly to those people and increase their chances of working with you.
Craigslist is a great place to find buyers and sellers. Mainly because it’s one of the first places that many people go when they start looking for a piece of real estate to buy. Plus, the ads are free to post.
Post consistently with pictures of the homes or property you’re marketing; voila, you’re battling on one more front that your competitors are probably ignoring.
A sales script for your phone calls and email follow-up doesn’t just increase efficiency; it can also increase sales. By thinking about your prospects’ pain points and what makes them tick before getting on a call, you can avoid losing a deal because you forgot to say something important until after the call.
Phone calls are still a big part of the real estate marketing strategy, and how you handle yourself on the phone (with efficiency and salesmanship) is critical to your success.
Tom Ferry shares five proven sales scripts for every real estate agent who needs to gain confidence and win more business.
24. Delegate “Busy Work” to an Executive Assistant
If you want to build a company beyond solopreneurship, you must delegate “busy work” to someone else. “Busywork” is the stuff that has to be done, but it doesn’t need to be done by you. Someone else can take it over relatively quickly and have the same impact.
To grow your business and focus on more important things, outsource the “busy work” to a VA or in-person assistant.
The one who knows their market best dominates the market.
The truth is the agents and investors who know their market the best – who they are, what they like, how they think, how they talk, and where they hang out – are the ones who will dominate their market.
Why?
Those people will most easily sell their services to the market. They understand the market’s pain and strategically position their service to serve it.
Study your market if you’re at a loss for beating your competition. Visit forums, Facebook groups, and pages, or make phone calls and ask relevant questions.
Once you know it, establish credibility and connections by posting market snippets on social media or an email newsletter campaign.
There’s no better way to inject child-like life into your marketing strategy than purchasing a remote-controlled toy.
Drones aren’t just great for having well-deserved fun; they’re great for business. 83% of people selling their homes prefer to work with an agent that uses drones. High-volume realtors use drones 3.5 times more than their low-volume counterparts. Lastly, homes with aerial images sell 68% faster than homes with basic images.
Really, that’s no surprise when you glance at the beautiful photos these flying playthings can capture.
But which drone should you buy? There are many options, and you want to get the best bang for your buck.
Truthfully, I don’t know. I’ve never bought a drone, so I hesitate to tell you which one to buy before I’ve tried it out.
But what type of drone should you use? Here is a list to get you started. Remember that that article probably has affiliate links throughout the list, so take those recommendations with a grain of salt.
Ultimately, I’d trust Amazon reviews above all else (they’re harder for people to tamper with).
27. Create a Google Profiles Account
Most of you have probably already created a Google Profiles account.
But if you haven’t, you might miss out on easy-to-capture SEO traffic. For example, these are the results that Google Profiles can generate for your website.
Perhaps the best part about these results is that they draw the eye even more than normal top-of-page Google results. It’s a great way for your business to cut to the front of the SEO competition, especially if you have more five-star reviews than anyone else.
BONUS TIP: Generating reviews for your Google Business Profiles account is another marketing strategy you might consider implementing. Contact your past customers and ask them to review you on your Google Business page.
If you don’t already have a Google Profiles account, go to the landing page and click “Manage Now” to get started.
28. Create an Infographic
More than likely, you’re not a designer.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t dip your toes in design. In fact, it can be fun to try something you’ve never done — especially when that something has as much lead-generation potential as an infographic.
Here’s an infographic describing why visual content is so powerful.
Said more simply, people love visual content. And an infographic is a more visual and easy-to-digest blog post. Here, for instance, is an infographic that some real estate agents created.
But how the heck do you develop an idea for your infographic? And how do you actually design it?
Well, it’s all easier than you think.
Once you’re done creating it, promote it on your social media channels, email list, and blog.
You might think running a webinar is just for the world’s self-proclaimed B2B coaches and gurus, but it doesn’t have to be. Running a webinar on a topic that appeals to your audience is a great way to build digital relationships and start relevant discussions about how you can help people buy or sell a home.
Accordingly, here’s a far-from-exhaustive list to get you started hosting your very first webinar.
What not to do when buying your first home
X tricks to sell your house for its highest possible value
Should you list your house with a real estate agent?
How to stage your house to sell crazy fast
Remember, though, that most people prefer to watch a webinar for only between 30 minutes and 45 minutes. So try to keep yourself to that time limit and advertise it as being that long in the first place.
In terms of technical webinar setup, this guide by SmartBlogger will show you how to do it for free (skip to the “How to Run Webinars Like a Pro (Without Spending a Dime)” part).
And before you actually do your webinar, test everything and ensure it’s all working how you want it to. There’s nothing quite as embarrassing or frustrating as technical difficulties during a webinar presentation.
Once you’ve assembled your webinar, start collecting sign-ups via Facebook ads, emails, and maybe even guest posts on other blogs.
30. Create a Zillow Profile
You can’t afford to miss out on the opportunity of Zillow. With over 245 million unique monthly users, it gives you an audience for your business that is much larger than any other solution in this space!
You need a profile because when potential clients find listings they are interested in and see that no one has listed them yet at their contact information, chances are high they’ll want to reach out with questions – which means if you’re not sharing those listings through profiles on sites like Zillow. Someone else will be getting all these new leads instead.
To dominate your market, you have to change what you’re currently doing – what you’re doing to generate leads and revenue is great for where you’re at, but it’ll never take you where you want to go.
That’s the truth about everything in life. If you want to go somewhere new, you must make some changes.
What do you think? What has been key for your real estate agent marketing? Which tools and strategies do you use? Please share your thoughts, knowledge, and questions in the comments below!
You do not need to know everything to get into this game. You do not need to know everything to be good at this game. What you need to know is that you need to be comfortable and remember you are talking to a human being.
– Pace Morby
9 Magic Negotiation Phrases Guaranteed to Turn Sellers into Your BFFs
I challenge you to find anyone who gives more in this industry than Pace Morby. His energy, enthusiasm, and eagerness to learn something from every transaction have helped propel his investing career in a highly competitive market.
In part 3 of our series on negotiation, I sat down with Pace to talk about how he connects with clients to win more deals, even when he isn’t paying the highest price.
You’ll learn what to say, what to ask, and how to show credibility even if you’ve never done a single deal.
Read the Full Show Notes Below…
Pace Morby is one of my favorite guests to have on this show. We share a similar philosophy, of putting people first and bringing humanity back into business.
Pace works in a highly competitive market but is able to have a higher lead to close ratio because of his innate ability to connect with others.
This episode is packed with great info including 9 of Pace’s tips (Paceisms) on what to say when to say it, and why.
Paceism #1 – Give the Seller a Magic Wand
When negotiating with a seller, before giving your number, ask them what their number is. If they say they don’t know, have them pretend they have a magic wand. What would the scenario look like for them then?
This way you will get them to open up, learn their motivations, and how much they are hoping to get from the sale.
Now that you have given them the power to create any scenario, they are more willing to give you the number that will get them to sell.
Paceism #2 – Catch Me Up To Speed
This is a phrase Pace uses on almost every single one of his calls or meetings. When sitting down to discuss a property, ask the seller to “catch you up to speed.”
This is an open-ended question, that doesn’t come across as too salesy.
If they aren’t sure what you mean, you can ask how long they have owned the house, what they like about owning, and what they dislike about owning the property.
Paceism #3 – What Are You Being Offered?
Asking this question immediately addresses the elephant in the room if the seller hasn’t yet told you they are working with other buyers.
If you don’t discuss this upfront, you will be up against a silent enemy the whole time.
Plus, it will encourage the seller to be honest with you straight out of the gate.
Paceism #4 – I Want to Learn From You
Pace goes into every deal with a desire to learn something from the seller. He knows that he doesn’t need to be intimidated because it is simply another person on the other end of the line.
In many cases, the seller is older, and even when they don’t wish to sell, he will make it a point to learn more about them, their property, and how they came to own it. In a recent transaction, Pace was able to get $50k worth of training from a mobile home park owner, all in a simple one-hour conversation.
If they have owned the investment for 30 years, that’s 30 years of information they can share with you.
Building this sort of relationship also builds trust, which in the case of the mobile home park, turned into a deal for Pace, even though he wasn’t making the highest offer.
Paceism #5 – Talk About Craigslist
One story Pace often tells is about Craigslist. Everyone has likely sold something online. He will say… “You wouldn’t sell a car on Craiglist without listing a price would you?”
If you listed your car for sale and said to “make me an offer,” you would likely get very low replies. It is likely their largest asset.
If they wouldn’t request offers when selling a car, why do it for a house?
Paceism #6 – Find the Bunnies
When Pace first started, he didn’t even know what an assignment contract was. All he knew was that on his first deal, he had to buy the house for a certain price or he wasn’t going to be able to make any money.
His offer was well below what the seller wanted, but as he was leaving he asked if she needed anything else, moving, packing help, or anything else that goes along with a sale.
This stayed with her and when she was unable to find a home for two pet bunnies, she gave Pace a call. With the help of his Mom, he was able to rehome the bunnies and save the day. The next day the seller called him back and said she wanted to sell her house to him.
Why?
Because she trusted him more than the other guy. Pace advises all his students to look for all of the problems that they aren’t seeing. Find the bunnies.
Paceism #7 – Getting Abducted
Pace has an alien logo on a lot of his stuff and there is a good reason why. He does a lot of creative financing deals and in many cases, the seller will ask him what he will do if he cannot make his payments.
In response, he will gently remind them that he defaults, it may be the best thing that has ever happened to them. And that the only way this would happen is if he were to be abducted by aliens.
Paceism #8 – Planting the Seeds of Doubt
We know what would happen if Pace was abducted by aliens, but what would happen if one of those other direct buyers were abducted by aliens. What is to protect you if all of a sudden a buyer is unable to follow through on their contract to buy outright?
Pace will talk about earnest money, inspection times, and remind the seller that many of these so-called investors are people who have gone to one seminar and are trying to get rich from their mom’s basement.
After planting these seeds of doubt, he will go on to show them his website, testimonials, and the public record of how many properties he has purchased with his LLC.
Paceism #9 – Going Off the Script
People want to have a real conversation, not a scripted, formal speech that has been said a hundred times over. For example, Pace recently met with a seller who pulled up in a Chevy, he pulled up in a Ford.
Instead of introducing himself, he broke the ice by opening with, “you’re not going to kick me off of your property because I pulled up in my Ford are you?”
Instead of the same forgettable chit-chat, Pace opened with some humor to ease apprehension and humanize the experience.
Pace and his team are building a better reputation for the real estate investment industry because they truly care about the person on the other end. It is through this approach of building relationships that he has been able to stop hustling for more leads and instead close more of the ones he is already getting.
When it comes to real estate investor PPC for motivated sellers campaigns, there tends to be a lot of emphasis on the quality and content of landing pages to increase conversions.
Ready To Get More Leads & Close Your Next Deal? Take Your Business To The Next Level
Your landing page is crucial, but to motivate sellers to visit it, you must first persuade them to click on your ad.
The best landing page will do little good if a seller doesn’t see it.
So, how do you make your Google PPC ads stand out from the rest of the clutter on a Google search result page?
Based on the analysis of over 50 Google Ads accounts, we identified the top 10 commonalities with the highest click-through and conversion rates. Here’s a real example of a high click-through (17.39%) converting motivated seller ad (37.50%)…
After their Google search, that little ad has two to three seconds to grab the house seller’s attention.
You get a small headline and a very short amount of copy to convince the seller your site is worth visiting… and that you can solve their problem.
The better your ads perform, the more clicks you’ll get.
The Top 3 Google PPC Ads Get 2-6% click-through rates. Whereas ads 4 and below average 1-2% On A Google Search Result Page
10 Techniques for Creating High Converting Motivated Sellers PPC Ads
As quickly as possible, you need first to grab their eye; second, show them that you can likely help them, and relay a sense of credibility through the ad to make them feel great about clicking the ad to learn more.
Since you only have a few lines and seconds to relay all that, your ad headline and copy need to trigger an instant response.
Give motivated sellers a reason to click. Here are some practical and ethical triggers I use when creating PPC Ads for Real Estate Investors.
These triggers have helped to yield an average 5% click-through rate and an 18.2% visitor-to-lead conversion rate across Carrot PPC accounts that I manage.
People naturally interact with questions. Often that sense of curiosity piques our interest, and it creates an “open loop” in our minds to want to find the answer to that question. When asking a question in your ad headline, you’re triggering this curiosity and making your ad appeal to them personally. Here are a couple of ad headline examples where I used a question:
Other examples of questions you can pose are…
“Did your listing expire?”
“Need to sell quickly?”
“Is Your House In ?”
You get the idea.
Get creative.
2. If Possible, Use Humor:
Sometimes, this is a little harder in the real estate market. People like to laugh. If your ad headline makes them chuckle, they associate your ad with positive emotion. This creates a more receptive message.
A way to do that may be…
“Is Your House A Total Beater?” Sell As-Is. We’ll Pay For Repairs Get A Fair Cash Offer Today www.YOURURLHERE.com
3. Add Credibility
Call out a BBB rating or how long you’ve been in business. Increased credibility equals increased persuasiveness of the ad overall and strengthens your brand’s quality. This can lead to a higher click-through rate.
4. Go Regional:
Depending on your campaign’s demographics, using regional triggers in your ads, such as city or state names, often pays off. Sellers will automatically relate to the area and build more trust seeing a loc ad. Couple that with a local-looking domain name or URL, and that’s even better!
5. Use Power Words:
Several keywords are known as power words. These words are proven to attract attention and sales. They include words like highest, free, fast, super, fair, now, must save, expert, local, limited, and so on. Create a sense of urgency.
Some ways to use some of those powerful words in your ads include…
“Sell Your Boise House Fast”
“Get Your Fair Fast Cash Offer Today”
“Save time and money. Receive an offer today”
“If You Must Sell Now, We Can Help”
And so on.
Again, get creative and test things out.
6. Mention Guarantees:
Guarantees are mentioned in an ad, such as a guaranteed cash offer or a guaranteed offer in 24 hours.
Here’s a quick disclaimer, but never guarantee anything you can’t 100% confidently fulfill.
Don’t guarantee the “highest offer” in the market unless you’re ready to do that.
Don’t guarantee to “close in 7 days” if you can’t do it.
Capiche?
7. Use Personalization:
Similar to ads asking a question, ads that specifically address the audience are much more likely to gain attention. Such as the title Facing Foreclosure?
Here are some other examples…
In Divorce? Sell Your House Fast Avoid costly broker fees. Sell In 7 Days Or Less. Receive a fast – fair cash offer today
Inherited A Boise House? Cash It Out Trade that house for cash today. Receive a fast-fair cash offer
Are You A Tired Landlord? We’re buying local rental houses Get a fair-fast cash offer today
Get creative.
Now… with that said, if you’re going to personalize your ads, you need to make sure you’re also putting these ads in front of very targeted searches. You won’t want to serve up a “tired landlord” ad to someone searching “sell my house fast” or “we buy houses.”
But you may want to test it out to someone searching “tax consequences of selling rental property” or “selling a rental property“… and targeting it to the locations you would buy.
8. Use Benefits + Story:
Searchers are good at recognizing advertising and blocking it out. So your ads can become more effective if they have a storyline and appear less like an ad.
Also, ensure your ads sell the benefit the homeowner will get by working with you. Too many people just mention the service… “we buy houses, “… “local home buyer,” etc. But the benefit they’ll experience is what they’re after.
A fast sale.
Cash in their hands quickly.
Avoid agent fees.
Avoid stress.
You get the idea.
Some examples…
David Sold His Boise House Fast He avoided agent fees and stress. See how you can to today!
Sell Your House Fast-Cash Need to Sell Fast? Close in 7-Days. We buy houses nationwide, No Cost!
Sell Your Boise House Easily Fair Price – No Fees – No Hassle Any Location – Any Condition
Look at the benefits mentioned in those ads that the seller can get working with us.
avoiding stress
avoiding agents fees
no cost
sell quickly (who doesn’t want that!?)
no hassles
fair
I can sell my house fast and be done w/ it
Focus on the seller’s benefits, and you’ll be golden.
9. Use Emotion and Senses:
As well as personalization, your ads can appeal to the five senses of the seller: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. Here’s an example where they can feel the money in their hands.
10. Use A Strong And Clear Call To Action:
It is proven that ads achieve the highest click-through rates if they use a call to action. For example, “sell now,” “offer in 24 hours,” or “close in 7 days”… lay out the benefit they’ll get and how they’ll get that benefit with the call to action.
Additional PPC for Motivated Sellers Ad Copy Advice to Attract Sellers Online
Attract Motivated Sellers with Powerful Ad Headlines The ad headline is likely the utmost important element of your entire ad. It needs to grasp the reader’s attention so they will read the rest of the ad.
Include Intent Keywords To create higher converting headlines, include your keyword in your headline. Keywords have been proven to achieve a higher click-through rate. If a motivated seller sees the keyword they have searched for; your ad is more likely to seem relevant to them and encourage them to read on and click.
Effective PPC Ad Text to Attract Motivated Sellers Once the reader has been drawn in with a solid headline, the rest of the ad needs to persuade them to click on the link that takes them to your landing page, ad text needs to be as relevant as possible. Try to use your target keywords in your ad text and your headline.
Fill In-Display URLs With Keywords While your ad headline and text need to do the core job of convincing the seller to click, your display URL should support your message by logically representing your site. For example, if your ad link takes sellers to a page residing on www.webuy.com/get-a-cash-offer, the display URL should read webuy.com/get-cash-offer.
Use Ad Extensions
As we’ve mentioned in other PPC marketing posts on our blog, test using the ad extensions. We’ve found they can, in some cases, boost your click-through rate a lot… just make sure you have conversion tracking in place, so you know whether those extra clicks are turning into solid leads.
Conclusion
Getting motivated seller leads that convert through PPC or SEO is critical to your survival and growth as an investor.
In the end, conversions are about relevancy – does what you offer to match what they’re interested in, and do you clearly and quickly show them how you can solve their specific problem?
Sometimes it takes various A/B tests to determine what works for your market. Once you find it, keep doing it.
Try these PPC marketing ad ideas out, and let us know the results! One thing you’ll find is that testing new ad copy continually is one of the best ways constantly to improve your PPC marketing results.
Get to work… and let us know what you see works well for you with your PPC ads below in the comments section!
Imagine you build a marketing site to pull in buyers, sellers, or investors. Is your website really amazing? Or is it coming up short when the time comes for closing deals and moving people from browsing to clicking to filling out a contact form?
Ever heard of a heat map? We’ll show you how motivated sellers and buyers interact with your website and how to make sure that more visitors are converted into leads while they’re browsing around.
There are two main problems that we often see on real estate websites:
1) The website is a ghost town…getting no visitors, and
2) The website’s visitors aren’t submitting their information.
The first problem is usually solved with SEO content when:
1) The website doesn’t have good, user-friendly content,
2) The content is not optimized to reach the search terms that people in the local market are actually using, or
3) The site’s competitors are ranking higher in a search.
We have many articles and resources that focus on increasing your site traffic by using SEO, social media, and paid ads. But today is all about the second main problem we see.
What are people doing on your real estate website?
You only get one shot to make a first impression, and your website is that opportunity. In fact, it takes about 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds) for searchers to form an opinion about your website that determines whether they’ll stay or leave.
Conversions are often overlooked when average people create their websites. Too often they hire designers who focus more on aesthetics than results… those folks need to quit calling themselves marketing experts because they’re artists (most art doesn’t sell).
The following key points can help optimize conversions by positioning your services in clear view so buyers and sellers know what’s available… including credibility that builds trust with potential buyers and sellers… and the rest of the content that can help eliminate fears or uncertainty.
Are you trying to create art or are you trying to get leads?
When you’re setting up your real estate site, it’s not how it looks… but how productive and successful the design is.
Listen, I get in this argument with designers a lot – so please don’t send me a bunch of angry emails about how design matters…I know it’s really important. But honestly? It doesn’t matter if something is “pretty” it doesn’t convert visitors into leads.
One of the many tools that Carrot uses to test out its theories about web design is heat maps. Heatmaps are useful because they allow us at Carrot, and more importantly you as a business owner who has entrusted your hard-earned cash with our system, to measure how successful something on the page will be before we commit any resources towards it. We want to know for sure whether or not what works in theory also translates into reality!
So what’s a heat map anyway, and how can agents and investors use it to generate more leads online?
Back to the point, thanks… in this context, a heat map is a generated picture of where visitors to the website move their mouse and where they click on the page.
Below I’m gonna put a few examples of a heat map that we generated for a user’s site, and give you a few key points on what works so well on this design.
Brittany (the owner of http://sellmybaltimorehousefast.com) sent us a quick email after watching one of our webinars, asking for help getting more leads… we were able to increase the conversion rate by 80+% with just a couple of simple changes.
Check out these heat maps (the site is greyed out, with little points of light showing where people have lingered with their mouse or clicked – the “hotter” the click spot, the more often it’s clicked).
What did you notice on that heatmap?
See all of the bright spots? The green and blue spots are where a lot of people click… indicating things that the motivated sellers felt were really important.
First off, 94% of clicks happen on the top of the page. The vast majority of web visitors to any given site don’t bother to scroll down.
Side note: That statistic is valid across websites in general – on our investment sites, we tend to get about 8 seconds per page on average – 4 times more engagement than average, but still a lightning-fast choice to stay or go. You only have microseconds to reach your target audience – just another reason that your content and design matter so much.
There are a few great lessons to learn right away from this click map….
1) People are clicking in many spots across the homepage. The clicks aren’t just happening in one spot, and visitors to this real estate investing website are finding what they need when they click through for more information. This site is designed specifically with sellers of properties as its audience, so it’s a relief that different types of people – those looking for answers about how they can sell their home, found exactly what they’re looking for on the site!
2) Titles matter. The title of a menu is designed to appeal directly to people who need to sell their house, and this top one has some great ones: “We Buy Houses in Louisville, KY”, “How It Works” and a contact form right on the front page that asks people to put in their address, phone, and email first thing.
3) Visitors want to know about your home buying process before they submit their info. Having a solid “how it works” page can be an integral part of your lead generation strategy.
Have a truly excellent “how it works” page that includes:
A breakdown of your service in a series of simple bullet point steps
Include an informative, personal video
Include testimonials to build credibility and trust
Communicate the benefits they gain by working with you
Here’s an example of a well-thought-out “how it works” page
Where is your credibility on your own real estate websites?
It’s a really common problem that hurts a ton of great real estate agents and investors… when people get to the site they need to have a compelling reason to give over their personal information. Think about it… real estate is the largest investment most people ever make in their lives. There’s no piece of real estate more intimate than someone’s home.
And yet…
So many real estate sites don’t build trust or credibility.
In fact, there are 3 key factors that I wanna mention that are critical to successfully designing a site that converts – and I’ll tell you how we’ve used them to design the Carrot sites like this example that are generating great leads.
Credibility, Content, and Contact
Check out this graphic – I’ve broken down the links on the page into numbers so you can see the percentage of page visitors that clicked on each link type.
Even more great lessons for real estate here…
As you can see, 12% of the clicks are for Credibility, 42% is on the Content (which is written to develop trust and credibility while reducing the fear and anxiety that most people buying or selling a home are feeling), and 46% of the clicks on the home page are actually converting – they’re contacting members using the forms.
Keep in mind that the percentages are recording just clicks on the home page – a lot of other conversions happen on the lead pages that we’ve optimized for the local market. That means that people are most often giving their information over to get a free report, such as a home valuation report, or another valuable tool. 46% of the clicks on the home page aren’t always the main source of leads. It just depends on how the site is being promoted, and where the majority of traffic is directed.
The mix of these 3 factors is critical to a successful lead generation site.
Content is a powerful tool to get your message out, but it needs credibility once people arrive or they won’t contact you.
Content has long been seen as the lifeblood of search engine traffic and so much more for businesses looking to stand out online. However, even though content is king, you must know what happens when someone arrives at their site. What can be done after visitors land on your site in order to make them want to work with you?
BONUS: One Tweak That Could Double Your Conversion Rate
One more thing… this one simple tweak that we did on hero sections doubled conversions… it’s so crazy simple that we were totally surprised that it worked so well.
We actually removed content from the hero sections to move the form up on mobile devices.
Yup, that’s it.
Even after doing this stuff for many years, it’s crazy to see what a big difference such a small change can make.
That’s why we’re constantly testing different sites.
We create websites that give your business the edge with a no-nonsense approach.
We’re all about giving clients an advantage, so we design effective and user-friendly sites to stand out from the competition. We want our work to be as engaging for visitors on desktop or mobile devices alike; you never know what device they may use in order to find your site! In fact, over 60% of Carrot member leads come from mobile.
This Is All Built Into Your Carrot Websites Already!
The best thing about using Carrot is that you don’t have to worry about managing any of the technical aspects. We’re constantly running tests with our members and making tweaks in order to make sure your experience on this platform goes smoothly.
We believe in results over anything else and are continually improving our system to help you get better results.
We’re constantly posting tips, tricks, and techniques we use to improve SEO, conversions and get great results for Carrot members. So if you’re not already getting our weekly blog emails, make sure you sign up now! And if you want a website that truly generates leads for your business, go check out our plans to join Carrot and leverage our marketing knowledge and testing to generate more leads for your own real estate company.
You’ve probably heard the phrase “conversion rate” tossed around quite a bit over the years. And that can be a great thing if you’re testing your conversion rates… but not so good if it’s inaccurate and you follow the next “guru” advice blindly without running your tests (or for Carrot members, we do this for them).
Carrot is one of the leading real estate website platforms. We are confident that our members generate 60,000+ leads per month through our platform and nearly 1.7 million sessions each month because we have such an extensive data set available to us from which to conclude.
So first… let’s dive into the basics of conversion rate (specifically for a real estate investor website). Then we’ll dive into why it’s important, how to do it right, and give you a few resources we use to improve our conversion rates.
What Is Conversion Rate?
The “conversion rate” on your website is simply the ratio between the number of people who land on your website vs. the number of people who “convert” on your website to become a lead.
That could be a cash buyer lead, motivated seller, tenant, or private lender.
The “conversion rate” is pretty simple to calculate.
If you have 100 visitors to that page and 15 of them put in their info on that page and opt-in as a lead for you, that is a 15% conversion rate.
In other words, it’s…
Conversion rate percentage = (Number of people who converted on your website / Number of visitors to your website) x 100
At Carrot, we’re constantly testing our customer’s websites to see what converts visitors best.
A Test In Progress On A Carrot Members Website: This is a shot from an actual test we’re running on a motivated seller website.
How Do You Find Out The Conversion Rate?
There are a few ways to determine your website’s conversion rate.
The easiest and most accurate is using a software tool… like the one we use… VWO.com (about $49/month and easy to use).
You have to get a bit of code from the software, put it on your website (really easy to do inside a Carrot account – hit up our support if you need help), and then set up the test in the software. Let the traffic come in; it’ll tell you how many people convert as a lead.
It may take you a few hours your first time to set up a test, and unless you’re getting 100 visitors to your website each month, it’s probably not worth setting up a test (it would take many, many months to come up with any real info because your traffic is so low).
If you’re on a budget and are not a tech person, you can count the number of leads you had in a specific period — then look up the # of visitors in that period on your analytics and divide the two.
*Or, if you’re a Carrot member… and you’re getting over 500 visitors a month to your site and 15+ leads a month, we’ll do your conversion rate and optimization testing for you! Just let us know through support.
What Is A Good Conversion Rate For A Real Estate Investors Website?
One of the biggest misconceptions we hear all the time (and I once thought the same thing) about conversion rates from our members… is that there is a “normal” conversion rate for a website in our industry.
I wish there were.
But in reality… there are so many factors that can affect how many people convert on your website into a lead that a good conversion rate for a motivated seller website… isn’t a good conversion rate for a cash buyer website or rent-to-own website.
Factors include:
Where the visitor is coming from before they hit your website. Are visitors finding your website organically through social media or paid ads? *Paid ad conversion rates can also be deceptive. A Google Ads campaign targeting a state or national can have different (usually higher) conversion rates compared to a local campaign
Whether or not your site is set up to convert well (like all of our Carrot sites are)
Credibility on your website… High-quality testimonials can increase your conversion rate by 34%
Colors
Your logo can sometimes make or break conversions
Button CTA… Changing your CTA can increase the conversion rate by 49.5%
On one cash buyer test we ran… at one point, that website was converting almost 40% of all people who landed on the page to a cash buyer lead (picture of test results mid-way through below):
Cash Buyer Conversion: Results mid-way through a “split-test” on a cash buyer website for one of our InvestorCarrot members. That is a pretty darn high conversion rate… even for a cash buyer website (we’ve worked hard to get our Carrot websites converting high – that’s why so many people LOVE having their websites on Carrot). But later in that same test, the conversion rate settled in the mid-’20s.
Why?
In this case, the website didn’t change… it was mainly a “traffic issue.” She started doing Craigslist marketing which tends to yield a higher volume of traffic but a lower conversion rate.
But on average… we’re seeing cash buyer websites (when people drive the visitor to our home pages which are geared to convert well) convert between 20-40% of visitors to a cash buyer with quality traffic.
Motivated Seller Website Conversion Rates
We’ve heard people ask if our motivated seller websites are converting at “25% as they used to 5 years ago,” and the answer is no, they’re not.
5, 6, 7 years ago, before every investor on the block had a website, before 50%-60% of all searches were on cell phones (and most websites aren’t optimized for mobile). During the recession, when hoards of sellers were in dire straights and just needed out (and were willing to opt into any and every website online they could find to get out of the situation fast), the conversion rates on a motivated seller site could consistently reach 20% or more.
And that’s a stellar conversion rate for a motivated seller website.
But times and markets have changed a lot, even over a year, and conversion rates are a bit softer for motivated sellers.
Sellers today have more choices regarding websites to engage with online and are pickier with who they’ll work with. They want to see a website that feels credible, that they can trust, and that is easy to use.
So we’re seeing motivated seller websites (depending on the quality of traffic they’re sending to the site, and what they have done to their site to improve / decrease the conversion rate) convert from 7% to 20%. 20% is an outlier… and only with organic search traffic (SEO) or direct type in traffic.
What We Consider Average For A Seller’s Website (Your Site Should Convert At Least 8-10%)
Lots of House Seller Leads: This website is a highly trafficked home buyer’s website. We’re building some of our “Carrot Magic” into his website. The same stuff that’s already built into our Motivated Seller websites for our Carrot members.
And another…
What We Consider Solid For Sellers
A Surprising Video Test: This test is on a Carrot member’s website that gets 100% of its traffic from SEO (using our 3 Lead Per Day Training). But we ran a test recently to see if a video would increase the conversion rate on her website — the result is surprising :-)
And another…
What We Consider Stellar (this rarely happens long-term on a website) during this test, this Carrot member got a GREAT stretch of quality traffic. The test is still early… so the rate will likely dip below 20%.
Conversion Rate: This is a shot from an actual test on a motivated seller website.
All in all, you should shoot to have your motivated seller website convert at least 10% of your visitors to leads at a minimum… and work your way toward a 15-20% conversion rate (for a quality lead) on the top end in today’s environment with building solid credibility on your website, great quality traffic.
In a recent conversion test on motivated seller sites, we also found a potential 55% conversion rate increase by making one simple change to the hero section.
Conversion Rate: Hero sections that increased conversion rates by anywhere from 25 to 55%
Rent to Own / Tenant Buyer Website Conversion Rates
Rent-to-own tenant buyers and tenants of rental properties tend to convert pretty darn well when they land on a website set up to convert (like our Carrot sites are). A tenant (or even buyer) tends to be putting in their info on your site to see available properties… so it’s a much lower commitment than a seller’s decision to sell their house to someone.
A Solid (But standard on Carrot) Conversion Rate For a Rent-To-Own Site
Rent To Own Leads Flowing In: In this test on a rent-to-own website of a Carrot member, you can see in the early stages of the test their site is converting on average close to 40%. This isn’t out of the norm on our rent-to-own websites.
Our rent-to-own websites have been performing well. After several rounds of testing (and we continue to test and improve these sites for our customers each month), we tend to see tenant buyers converting between 20-40% on the website.
One member’s website even had a string of several months (and several hundred leads) where their site converted nearly 50%. Their traffic was very high quality coming from a Facebook campaign.
Summing Up The Basics Of Conversion Rates For Real Estate Investor Websites
Improving the conversion rate of our Carrot platform is something we love to do, and it’s fun.
We’re running 50 tests on our Carrot member’s websites… actively working to improve the conversion rate of our platform every month. We do the same thing for our real estate agent websites, too!
Hit Me With Your Conversion Rate Questions Below!
So… do you know the conversion rate on your website? If so, hit me with a comment below! If not, hit me with your URL, and we’ll look at your site and give you some feedback.
And as always, if you feel Carrot may be a fit for your real estate websites and want better results online, we’d love to have you in the Carrot community. Check out our plans and hit us up with questions anytime!
![[Heat Map Results] Where Are Buyers and Sellers Clicking On Your Real Estate Website](https://image-cdn.carrot.com/uploads/heat-map-test-featured-image.png)
![[Backed By Data] What is a Good Conversion Rate for Your Real Estate Investing Website?](https://image-cdn.carrot.com/uploads/what-is-a-good-conversion-rate-featured.png)
