Search results for: “credibility”

  • 9 Backlink Strategies to Grow Your Real Estate SEO

    9 Backlink Strategies to Grow Your Real Estate SEO

    Having good real estate backlinks can provide a huge boost in your organic rankings. However, if you do them wrong, the effect can devastate your rankings, sending them into the Google abyss. That is why educating yourself before starting a link-building strategy is critical.

    Table of Contents


    In the world of real estate websites, backlinks are like gold. They’re essentially links from other websites that point back to yours. Search engines see these backlinks as a vote of confidence in your content and expertise.

    The more high-quality backlinks you have from relevant real estate websites, news outlets, or local directories, the higher your website will rank in search results for local homebuyers and sellers. This translates to increased online visibility, attracting more qualified leads and ultimately growing your real estate business.

    Backlinks are a major piece of the SEO (search engine optimization) puzzle.

    They go together like peanut butter and jelly. You need one to make the other better.

    High-level, here are four quick reasons why it’s important to have a good backlink strategy:

    • Backlinks are how Google (and other search engines) find your pages.
    • Backlinks are a way to show Google that you have a solid reputation. Search engines will push searchers to websites they can trust.
    • Relevant backlinks can boost your authority.
    • Backlinks drive more traffic to your website.

    Here’s an example. When someone types “sell my house in [market city]” or “real estate agent in [market city]” into Google, you want your website to come up on the first page.

    top Google search rankings

    If it doesn’t, you’re missing out on a lot of website traffic, leads, and, more importantly, deals.

    Some 93% of internet experiences start with a search engine, including the real estate industry. When people — your target market — are looking for help, they go to Google.

    And if you show up on the first page, that’s good for business.

    Two of the most powerful factors for ranking in Google are website traffic and backlink portfolio.

    most powerful search rankings

    In other words, the more traffic and backlinks a page on your website receives, the better that page will rank for your target keyword phrases.

    Unfortunately, getting traffic and backlinks is one of the most difficult things. This article will give you practical tips for promoting your content and building links to your website.

    Related Content: How Many Backlinks Does it Take to Start Ranking Your Real Estate Website in Google?

    Here are nine real estate backlinks strategies to help improve a website’s authority and credibility in the eyes of search engines.

    1. Consistent Content Creation

    This is your first step on the way to building your SEO rankings. Without consistently creating blog content for your website, you might rank for a few keyword phrases on your homepage. Still, you won’t rank for any longtail keyword phrases (like “how to deal with foreclosure” or “how to sell my how during a divorce”).

    Think of every piece of content like a door to your website. The more doors you have, the more people can visit your website, and the more opportunities you have to rank in Google. A good rule of thumb, though, is to create only one piece of content for each keyword phrase you’re targeting.

    While consistently creating content can be time-consuming, our Grow plans at Carrot include done-for-you blog content. You just need to customize about 25% of each post and publish it!

    Many of our members, like Ryan Dossey, consistently get SEO leads from those done-for-you blog posts!

    real estate website traffic every month through SEO

    But maybe you want to create your own unique content—no problem! We’ve created VideoPost, which you can use to transcribe video content into a blog post with the click of a button—learn more here.

    2. Building Backlinks with Local Citations

    Getting listed in relevant directories isn’t just about backlinks, it’s about building your online presence and local SEO. Here’s why citations are crucial and how to find the best ones for your real estate website:

    What are Citations?

    Citations are online mentions of your real estate business, including your name, address, and phone number (NAP). These mentions can appear on various online platforms like:

    • Local Business Directories: Yelp, Google My Business, Bing Places for Business, Angie’s List, HomeAdvisor, etc.
    • Industry-Specific Directories: Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia, LoopNet (commercial real estate), etc.
    • Local Government Websites: City or county government websites often list licensed real estate agents.
    • Chamber of Commerce Listings: Joining your local chamber can provide valuable directory listings.

    Benefits of Citations:

    • Improved Local Search Ranking: Search engines like Google rely on consistent NAP citations across the web to verify your business legitimacy and location. The more accurate and consistent your citations are, the higher your website will rank in local search results for relevant real estate keywords.
    • Increased Online Visibility: Citations help potential clients discover your business when searching for real estate agents online. These listings often display basic contact information, reviews, and sometimes even links to your website, directing more traffic your way.
    • Backlink Potential: Many high-quality directories provide backlinks to your website, further boosting your SEO.

    Finding the Right Directories:

    • Focus on Relevance: Don’t just submit your website to every directory you find. Prioritize directories relevant to your location, the real estate niche you serve, and those trusted by potential clients.
    • Local Directories First: Start with local business directories and industry-specific real estate platforms.
    • Use Online Tools: Several online tools like Moz Local or Yext can help you find high-quality directories and manage your citations across different platforms.

    Maintaining Accuracy:

    Once you’ve claimed your listings on relevant directories, ensure your NAP information is consistent across all platforms. Any inconsistencies can negatively impact your local SEO. Regularly monitor and update your listings as needed.

    By building a strong citation profile through local directories, you establish your real estate business online, improve your local search rankings, and potentially earn valuable backlinks to your website. This comprehensive approach strengthens your online presence and attracts more qualified leads.

    3. HARO

    HARO (for Help A Reporter Out) is a great way to build backlinks and market authority simultaneously. Journalists sign up for HARO to get quotes and contributions from market experts. You can sign up for HARO (for free) to become a source of expertise for journalists.

    Oftentimes, if they choose to quote you, they’ll also give you a backlink.

    Heck, you could even outsource this to a VA if you want. You can learn more about using HARO to build backlinks.

    4. #Journorequest

    The hashtag #JournoRequest is another direct line to journalists writing online articles and seeking expert contributions.

    By searching the hashtag on Twitter, your page will populate with many different online writers looking for specific types of contributions. They’ll have no problem providing a backlink in return most of the time.

    #Journorequest for real estate backlinking

    Again, this is so simple that you could pay a VA to scour Twitter for you and look for backlink-building contribution opportunities. You’ll have to provide them with expert quotes when they find one.

    5. Establishing Yourself as the Local Real Estate Expert: Building Trust and Backlinks

    Becoming a local resource in the real estate market isn’t just about generating leads; it’s about building trust, establishing expertise, and attracting backlinks through valuable community engagement. Here are some strategic ways to position yourself as the go-to expert:

    1. Offer Free Consultations and Resources:

    • Free Consultations: Provide potential clients with free consultations to discuss their buying or selling needs. This allows you to showcase your knowledge, build rapport, and demonstrate your commitment to their success.
    • Host Educational Seminars: Organize workshops or seminars on topics relevant to your target audience, such as “First-Time Homebuyer Tips” or “The Benefits of Selling Your Home in Today’s Market.” This establishes you as a thought leader and positions your website as a resource for valuable information.
    • Create Free Downloadable Resources: Develop downloadable guides, checklists, or market reports that provide valuable insights for buyers and sellers. Make these resources freely available on your website with clear calls to action encouraging visitors to explore your services.

    2. Participate in Local Events:

    • Industry Events: Network with other professionals at real estate conferences, workshops, or association meetings. These events provide opportunities to build relationships, exchange knowledge, and potentially collaborate on future projects.
    • Community Events: Actively participate in local community events like charity fundraisers, neighborhood clean-up initiatives, or local festivals. This demonstrates your commitment to the community and fosters positive brand recognition. Sponsor local events to gain further visibility and establish your brand as a trusted local partner.

    3. Partner with Local Businesses:

    • Strategic Collaborations: Partner with businesses that complement your real estate services, such as mortgage lenders, title companies, or home inspectors. Cross-promote each other’s services and leverage each other’s audience reach.
    • Local Publications: Connect with local newspapers, online publications, or radio stations. Offer your expertise as a guest speaker or interviewee on topics related to the real estate market. This provides valuable exposure and potential backlinks when your website is mentioned as a resource.
    • Offer Free Content to Local Websites: Contribute informative articles or blog posts to local publications or neighborhood websites. These guest posts establish you as an expert and can include backlinks to your website for further information.

    By actively engaging with your local community, offering valuable resources, and demonstrating your expertise, you build trust and brand recognition. This can lead to local publications featuring you as a resource, potentially including backlinks to your website, further boosting your local SEO and attracting organic traffic. Remember, becoming a local resource is a long-term strategy that pays off with increased brand loyalty, trust, and ultimately, more qualified leads.

    6. QuuuPromote

    QuuuPromote is a service where you can pay to get Twitter shares for your content. Here’s how it works…

    There are two sides to Quuu’s business model. The first side comprises “influencers” who want to post quality content on their Twitter feed automatically — they pay Quuu to do just that.

    The second side of Quuu’s business model is made of people (like you!) who have good content and want to get that content shared on Twitter — Quuu then posts that content on the “influencer’s” Twitter feeds.

    So yeah… from a business model perspective, Quuu is having their cake and eating it, too. But it’s relatively inexpensive and worth trying if you want more shares and clicks (inside your Quuu dashboard, you can see how many clicks your promotions get).

    7. Leveraging Social Media Promotion for Backlinks:

    Social media platforms offer a powerful tool to promote your real estate content and attract backlinks. Here’s how to maximize your efforts:

    1. Identify Your Target Audience:

    • Platforms: Not all social media platforms are created equal. Focus on platforms where your target audience spends their time (e.g., Facebook groups for local residents, LinkedIn for industry professionals).
    • Communities: Join relevant Facebook groups, online forums, and subreddits focused on real estate in your area or niche.

    2. Content Strategy for Backlinks:

    • Post Consistently: Regularly share valuable content like blog posts, local market updates, home buying tips, or visually appealing property listings.
    • Optimize for Sharing: Include clear calls to action, encouraging viewers to share your content. Use relevant hashtags and engaging visuals to increase shareability.

    3. Engage and Build Relationships:

    • Be a Valuable Contributor: Don’t just post your content and disappear. Participate in discussions, answer questions, and offer helpful advice. Establish yourself as a trusted resource within the community.
    • Collaborate with Others: Look for opportunities to collaborate with other real estate agents, lenders, or local businesses on social media campaigns. Cross-promotion can expand your reach and attract backlinks from their audience.

    8. Turn Dead Ends into Backlink Opportunities

    Broken link building is an effective strategy for acquiring backlinks by identifying and replacing outdated or non-functional links on relevant real estate websites. Here’s how to refine this tactic and maximize your chances of success:

    1. Finding Broken Links:

    • Free and Paid Tools: Utilize free tools like Check My Links or Broken Link Check. Consider premium tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush for more advanced features and website crawling capabilities.
    • Focus on Local Relevance: Prioritize websites related to real estate in your local market. Look for local news outlets, neighborhood association websites, or even competitor websites (avoid anything malicious).
    • Target Relevant Pages: Focus on pages that discuss topics relevant to your content. For example, if you have a blog post on “The Best Schools in [Your Neighborhood],” target websites with broken links on pages about local schools or family-friendly neighborhoods.

    2. Crafting Your Outreach Message:

    • Personalize Your Approach: Avoid generic templates. Research the website owner or editor and personalize your email with their name and a brief mention of their website.
    • Highlight the Issue: Concisely explain that you discovered a broken link on one of their pages (mention the specific page and URL).
    • Offer a Valuable Solution: Present your website and a relevant blog post or resource that offers valuable content as a perfect replacement for the broken link. Briefly explain why your content aligns with their website’s theme and audience needs.
    • Focus on Mutual Benefit: Frame your message as a win-win situation. You’re helping them improve their website while potentially earning a valuable backlink for your own.
    • Include Call to Action (CTA): End your email with a clear call to action, politely requesting them to consider your suggestion and replace the broken link with your content.

    3. Increase Your Success Rate:

    • Quality Over Quantity: Focus on reaching out to high-quality websites with relevant traffic and domain authority. A few backlinks from high-authority sites are more valuable than many from low-quality sources.
    • Track Your Efforts: Use a spreadsheet or CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool to track the websites you contacted, the broken links you reported, and the responses you receive. This helps monitor your progress and identify areas for improvement.
    • Follow Up, But Don’t Be Pushy: Send a polite follow-up email a few days after your initial contact if you haven’t heard back. However, avoid being overly persistent.

    By implementing these steps, broken link building can become a valuable strategy for acquiring backlinks from relevant websites. Remember, focus on providing a genuine solution and building relationships with website owners. This approach leads to higher success rates and strengthens your online presence in the real estate market.

    9. Mastering Guest Blogging for Real Estate Backlinks: Attract New Clients and Boost SEO

    Guest blogging on relevant websites is a powerful strategy for building backlinks, establishing yourself as an expert, and attracting potential clients in a new market segment. Here’s how to maximize your guest blogging efforts for real estate:

    1. Identify High-Impact Websites:

    • Go Beyond the Obvious: While local news outlets and mortgage lenders are good starting points, delve deeper. Consider websites like:
      • Local Business Associations: Chambers of Commerce, neighborhood associations, or niche-specific business groups often have publications or blogs.
      • Community Websites: Look for websites catering to your target audience, like local parenting blogs, neighborhood guides, or relocation resources.
      • Industry Blogs: Target real estate blogs with a national reach that allow guest contributions, focusing on topics relevant to your niche (e.g., luxury properties, first-time homebuyers, investment real estate).

    2. Craft Compelling Guest Post Ideas:

    • Focus on Value, Not Sales: Your primary goal is to provide valuable information to the target audience of the host website. Research their readership and tailor your content to their needs.
    • Address Local and Regional Trends: Offer insights specific to your market. This can be anything from “The Benefits of Owning in [Your Neighborhood]” to “Local Market Update: Rising Interest Rates in [Your City].”
    • Target Buyer Personas: Craft content geared towards specific buyer personas, such as “First-Time Homebuyer Mistakes to Avoid” or “[Your City]’s Best Neighborhoods for Growing Families.”
    • Showcase Your Expertise: While offering valuable information, subtly weave in your expertise. Briefly mention relevant past experiences or successful transactions to establish your credibility.

    3. The Art of the Pitch:

    • Research the Editor: Don’t send generic emails. Identify the editor responsible for the blog section and personalize your outreach.
    • Highlight Your Value Proposition: In a concise email, explain who you are, your area of expertise, and how your guest post aligns with the website’s audience and content strategy.
    • Provide Content Samples: Include links to your best blog posts or published articles showcasing your writing style and expertise.
    • Negotiate Backlinks: While not always possible, politely negotiate the inclusion of a backlink to your website within the guest post or author bio section.

    4. Building Relationships:

    • Go Beyond the Single Post: Don’t treat guest blogging as a one-time transaction. Engage with the website after your post is published. Respond to comments, participate in discussions, and build rapport with the editor and audience.
    • Reciprocal Opportunities: If the website allows it, explore collaborative opportunities. You could offer to host a guest post from their editor on your website, further expanding your reach and promoting valuable content exchange.

    Here are a couple of cold outreach templates to get you started.

    For podcasts…

    Subject: Quick idea…

    Hey [name of person or business]!

    My name is [name] and I’m a real estate [investor/agent] in [location]. My business has [build credibility with revenue numbers, media mentions, or a testimonial from a past customer]. And I’d LOVE to be a guest on your podcast to discuss [pitch a relevant topic you’d be comfortable discussing].

    What do you think? Is that something we could set up?

    Let me know! I’d be happy to get it on the calendar. :-)

    Cheers,

    [Name]

    For blog posts…

    Subject: Quick idea…

    Hey [name of person or business]!

    My name is [name] and I’m a real estate [investor/agent] in [location]. My business has [build credibility with revenue numbers, media mentions, or a testimonial from a past customer]. And I’d LOVE to write an article for your website. Here’s my idea: [pitch a relevant topic you’d be comfortable writing about].

    What do you think?

    Let me know! I’d be happy to get started on it right away. :-)

    Cheers,

    [Name]

    By implementing these strategies, guest blogging becomes a powerful tool for building backlinks, attracting new clients, and establishing yourself as a trusted real estate expert within your local and potentially broader online communities. Remember, guest blogging is a long-term strategy focused on building relationships and providing value, ultimately leading to increased brand awareness and website traffic that converts to qualified leads.

    Regarding SEO, it’s not just important to use the right strategies. It’s also important that you don’t use the wrong strategies.

    Shady link-building tactics- often called “black-hat SEO”- can penalize your website by Google and completely destroy your rankings.

    For that reason, we recommend avoiding the following link-building tactics…

    1. PBNs

    Look, building backlinks is difficult. It’s time-consuming, expensive, and soul-crushing.

    We all know it.

    Which is exactly why PBNs are so darn tempting…

    These services promise to build backlinks to your website at a remarkably low cost and get your website ranking quickly. They won’t say much about how they will build those backlinks, but the promise of seeing your website on the first page of Google’s results is enough to persuade most of us to enter our credit card information.

    Since they won’t tell you how they build your website backlinks, I will…

    In a nutshell, they purchase hundreds or thousands of expired/unused domains with a bit of SEO juice built from the previous owners. Then, they go to all these domains and plug a backlink to your website.

    After a bit, your website starts to rank, and you’re thinking, “Wow! These guys are awesome!”

    PBNs

    Here’s the problem: PBNs cheat the system. Google explicitly says that using a PBN won’t only get the PBN company in trouble but also penalize your website.

    It’ll all be good and fine until Google finds out. And they almost always find out.

    Once they do, your website will take a massive dive in the rankings (or get banned from indexing altogether) – and recovering from that loss will be harder than trying to get a new website ranking (because you’ve lost Google’s trust).

    SEO Private Blog Networks (PBN's): The Pros and Cons

    2. Paying for Backlinks

    Paying for backlinks can be a bad idea for a few reasons:

    It can hurt your SEO: Search engines like Google frown upon unnatural link building practices. If they catch you buying backlinks, they might penalize your website, causing it to rank lower in search results instead of higher.

    Low-quality links can be worse than no links: Not all backlinks are created equal. Buying backlinks often means getting links from irrelevant or low-quality websites. These links won’t help your SEO and might even hurt your reputation.

    Wasted money: There’s no guarantee that the backlinks you buy will improve your rankings. You might be throwing money away on ineffective strategies.

    Unsustainable: Building backlinks naturally takes time and effort, but it’s a more sustainable strategy. Paid backlinks are often temporary, requiring constant reinvestment to maintain any SEO benefit.

    Risk of getting flagged: Google has sophisticated algorithms to detect unnatural link building practices. Getting caught can lead to serious penalties, harming your website’s visibility for a long time.

    Google explicitly says it doesn’t want people paying for backlinks, but this no-no has a caveat.

    If you’re going to pay for backlinks, pay for good white-hat backlinks — ones that come from real sites with real domain authority in Google’s eyes. And be very careful about buying cheap links from sites that promise quick and fast results.

    You can check the SEO spam score of a website over here for free…

    website authority score

    Ideally, your real estate backlinks should come from sites with low spam scores. Ask any SE firm you’re considering hiring how they build backlinks and where those links come from. That will tell you a lot about whether those links are high-quality.

    1. Backlink Analysis Tools:

    • Help you discover backlinks pointing to your website and competitor websites.
    • Analyze the quality and source of backlinks (authority, relevance).
    • Track the number of backlinks over time and identify any lost backlinks.

    Examples: Ahrefs, Moz Link Explorer, SEMrush Backlink Tool, Majestic

    2. Link Building Tools:

    • Help you identify link building opportunities.
    • Suggest relevant websites where you can potentially acquire backlinks.
    • May offer features like outreach management or content creation suggestions.

    Examples: Ahrefs, SEMrush Link Building Tool, BuzzSumo, BuzzStream

    3. Broken Link Building Tools:

    • Help you find broken links on relevant websites.
    • Allow you to suggest your own content as a valuable replacement for the broken link.
    • This can be a great way to acquire backlinks while helping the website owner improve their content.

    Examples: Check My Links, Broken Link Checker, Ahrefs Broken Backlinks report (part of their Backlink Analysis Tool)

    4. SEO Suite Tools:

    • Offer a comprehensive suite of SEO tools, including backlink analysis, keyword research, on-page optimization tools, and website crawling capabilities.

    Examples: SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz Pro

    Important Note:

    • Some of these tools are free, with limited features, while others require a paid subscription.
    • The best tool for you will depend on your specific needs and budget.

    Additional Tips:

    • Focus on building high-quality, natural backlinks from relevant websites.
    • Avoid buying backlinks or participating in link schemes, as this can hurt your SEO in the long run.
    • Combine backlink building with other SEO strategies like creating high-quality content and optimizing your website for relevant keywords.

    How to Track Your Rankings (Pay Attention to These 3 KPIs!)

    You can build real estate backlinks and drive traffic to your website until you’re blue in the face, but if you don’t track your progress and the results of those actions… then, well, it’s hard to know if all that hard work has been worth it.

    So here are the primary KPIs you’ll want to pay attention to and exactly how you can track those KPIs…

    • Target Keyword Rankings — When discussing SEO, this is the first thing you should pay attention to. Is the page you created ranking for the phrase you want it to rank for? Is it fluctuating up or down the rankings? As a Carrot member, you get access to our easy-to-use keyword ranking tracker that will alert you to any recent fluctuations in position.
    real estate keyword tracking tools
    • Page Traffic Volume — Page traffic is an important element of SEO progress because 1) more traffic typically means better rankings, and 2) well… more traffic is an excellent thing for lead generation. The easiest way to watch website traffic as a Carrot member is right inside your dashboard’s “Stats” tab…
    real estate keyword stats

    Scroll down to see how much traffic each page of your website gets and even where all that traffic is coming from.

    real estate keyword traffic sources
    • Page Conversion Rate — This is the end goal, right? If you build backlinks and promote content, even if you drive traffic to your website, but those visitors don’t convert into leads, what’s the point? You should expect at least a 2% conversion rate from your blog posts and 10% from your homepage. If your conversion rate is lower than that, check out this article. To check your conversion rate as a Carrot member, go to your “Stats” dashboard, scroll down, and look at the “Conv. Rate” column.
    real estate website conversion rates

    Now that you understand what KPIs to monitor for your SEO efforts let’s discuss how to promote your content and get backlinks!

    Conclusion

    There you have it!

    You should now understand how to build your SEO rankings with real estate backlinks and content promotion.

    If you have any more questions, feel free to ask them in the comments, and we’ll help you out however we can! Good luck!

  • EP 195: Cold Calling Their Way to $900k in Profits. How Max Maxwell and Tony Robinson Have Used Carrot and Calls to Their Advantage

    EP 195: Cold Calling Their Way to $900k in Profits. How Max Maxwell and Tony Robinson Have Used Carrot and Calls to Their Advantage

    Cold Calling Their Way to $900k in Profits Max Maxwell & Tony Robinson Discuss How They Do It.

    Listen to the CarrotCast Podcast and Subscribe Below!

    People that are beginning don’t have to look at our business model and mimic exactly what it is because the reality is, of you’re a Solopreneur you need one deal a month. That is it. I say you’re one deal away. That deal is going to change your life. Max Maxwell

    One of our missions here at Carrot is to help you grow that freedom, grow that flexibility, increase those finances and finally make the impact that you want to make. That’s really the entrepreneurial dream that we’re all after, is getting that freedom, flexibility, finances, and impact.

    One of the ways to do that is by what we call stacking your leads.

    Stacking your leads means finding one thing that works and then stacking more things on top of that. It adds diversification. It makes it to where you can really scale better and go deeper into your market.

    One of the ways that a lot of people are doing that is with cold calling.

    Now, the cool thing about any kind of real estate marketing, whether it’s direct mail, cold calling, anything at all offline, radio and TV, is your website if you do it right, is actually going to help amplify all of that marketing.

    Every single day whenever you’re putting out that marketing, people are taking out their cellphone and they’re going to the internet and they’re going to research you. Your company name, the phone number on your direct mail pieces, or the phone number you’re calling from, possibly your personal name and your competitors.

    If you have a tight strategy and you’re leveraging Carrot to rank well and then perform amazingly on mobile and convert those people into leads and build credibility, you’re going to be winning more of those deals. Every single day there’s tons and tons of deals are lost because people aren’t focusing on the performance side of their online performance side of their offline marketing.

    People are dropping balls in leaky buckets everywhere when prospects are hitting the web, after seeing your online marketing … Or after seeing your offline marketing or getting a cold call from you and you’re not closing the deal on your website.

    This call right here is about cold calling. Amazing, amazing clients of ours, Max Maxwell and Tony Robinson, they were at the CarrotCamp recently here in Roseburg, Oregon at Carrot HQ and they really showed how they’re on their own journey to go over $100,000 a month. At that time at CarrotCamp, they were already at about $900,000 in wholesale profits, which is amazing!

    The primary source for that is cold calling amplified by their Carrot website and a little bit of pay-per-click that they’re doing. We said, “You know what, Max, Tony? Come to my office, let’s talk about what you guys are doing in the cold calling. Let’s go up a couple of levels.”

    We’re not going to get into the weeds in this call, but we’re talking about what these guys are doing to pull out so many deals in their market with cold calling. What processes and what tools they use. Also, who they’re hiring and how to pay them.

    They dive into it fully here and they also talk about a new tool that they released, which is really, really cool, that they have been using and their students have been using.

    In addition to that, we actually brought Max onto a training program that we created this last year called the Market Leaders Reveal training program. It’s a 10 week, 10 person training where we walk you through the top eight to 10 clients of ours, or just some top eight to 10 clients of ours who are crushing with different types of marketing where online amplifies all of it. One of those types that Max is using, once again, is cold calling.

    He dove into that process in crazy great detail. At the end of this call, I’m going to give you a link that you can go to get that training, to invest in that training. You get access to everything that Max has, including the cold calling scripts and tools he uses and all that stuff to amplify what you learn in this particular episode.

    Without further ado, I’m going to introduce Max Maxwell and Tony Robinson to talk about how they do cold calling, how they’re pulling out so many deals in the market with cold calling, and I’m just insanely proud of these guys and to have them as a part of the Carrot community.

    Learn from them, and I’ll meet you on the other side of this podcast with the link where you can access our Market Leaders Reveal training.

    Enjoy and be sure to hit us up on Facebook, please give us a rating on iTunes, watch other episodes on YouTube, or read the Carrot blog and share your thoughts. We’d love to hear them!

    Listen to the CarrotCast Podcast


    [podcast-subscribe]

    Cold Calling Their Way to $900k in Profits. How Tony Robinson and Max Maxwell Real Estate Investors Have Used Carrot and Calls to Their Advantage

    1:25 – Max and Tony intros and what their business looks like right now.
    3:25 – Breaking down their cold calling process and why they take advantage of it.
    5:35 – What is RVM? (Ringless Voice Mail)
    6:15 – How many cold calls do you need to make it worth it?
    8:25 – What are the biggest roadblocks other investors have when they contact them.
    9:35 – How many cold calls they are making now compared to when they started out.
    11:30 – How they utilize data and RVM’s.
    14:15 – What is REIRail and how they use it.
    16:10 – Connecting Carrot and a real estate investor website and cold calling

    LINKS TO ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FROM THIS EPISODE

    • Max Maxwell + Tony Robinson Unplugged: The Struggles, Lessons, Failures, and Keys That Led to a Multi-million Dollar Real Estate Business: CarrotCast
    • $15M++ Revenue in 5 Years… How Raul Bolufe Has Built the Momentum to Crush Wholesaling in a Very Competitive Market: CarrotCast
    • 8 Ways To Kill Your Goals (And How To Avoid Them) w/ Trevor Mauch and Adrian Nez: CarrotCast

    FREE RESOURCES FOR YOU!

    We want to hear how we can make our products better and what we can do to help you! Drop them in the comments section below or hit us up on Facebook.

  • EP 192: How To Use Social Media to Build A Powerful Brand & A Business You Love w/ Record Producer Turned Real Estate Agent, Peter Lorimer

    EP 192: How To Use Social Media to Build A Powerful Brand & A Business You Love w/ Record Producer Turned Real Estate Agent, Peter Lorimer

    How To Use Social Media to Build A Powerful Brand & A Business You Love w/ Peter Lorimer

    I would rather fail under my own volition, than fail because of mediocrity.

    Peter Lorimer

    Meet Peter Lorimer. He’s responsible for over 30 #1 Hits, the host of his own Netflix series, and an agent that is dominating his own niche in real estate.

    You’re going to learn how Peter positioned himself as an expert, created and dominated a brand new niche, built an insanely powerful brand, where 90% of his leads come through real estate social media, and, most importantly, how he does all of this while having the time of his life.

    Read the Full Show Notes Below…

    How To Use Social Media to Build A Powerful Brand & A Business You Love w/ Record Producer Turned Real Estate Agent, Peter Lorimer

    Peter has a great backstory. From leaving home as a young teenager to conquer the music industry to diving into the real estate industry head first, determined to become the top sales agent in LA, Peter refuses to take no for an answer. His unrelenting optimistic attitude will not let him fail. His gratitude for his life, his family, and his spot in the universe propels him to be even greater day after day. 

    Today, Peter has over 200 agents on his team and is known to many as the “Rock n’ Roll Realtor.” He has built his brand, his niche, and his client base through attraction and energy. He knows exactly who he wants to work with and what his unique power is that he can use to help them. His obsession with data has helped him plan – keeping himself poised to be in the right place at the right time. 

    Using Data To See Into The Future

    Peter is one of those who thrives on data. He watches the numbers, runs the math, and makes decisions based on what the facts tell him. In 2012 or so, he knew the record industry was about to make a major change, so he graciously walked away with his winnings. He saw that he was able to purchase investment properties in the LA area for a fraction of what his mom’s house in London was going for, so he went all in.

    When Google was brand new, he recognized the innovation and potential – quickly buying up stock as soon as it was available. He was able to do the same thing for Netflix and Facebook.

    The moment Peter saw social media switch from Myspace to Facebook, he knew that paper would have little to do with his marketing going forward. 

    Personalizing The Playbook With Your Custom Content Formula

    A very loose formula Peter uses when scheduling social media posts is to break it down into thirds.

    • The first third of the content is personal (Puppies and lattes as Peter puts it.)
    • The second third is industry related. Things like interior design articles, landscaping, and other fun things can go here.
    • And the final third is you in your element. For example a video at an open house or property inspection. 

    When I talk with real estate pros I can sometimes get frustrated. I want to help them out so much, but I cannot provide a playbook that isn’t theirs – it’s inauthentic and won’t help them build the trust and credibility they need.

    Personally, I run my business on energy. If it isn’t working or isn’t fulfilling, I will stop and change things up. Following the playbook that is meant for you will give you more energy than trying to copy any script.

    It’s so important to find out what works for you and your business so you can become genuinely likable to the clients you wish to work with. It’s all about the connection you are able to make. 

    It’s Easy To Stand Out When You Do Things Differently

    Peter was with Keller Williams for over five years. When he first got started, he thought things would be easy. He thought all of his music industry friends would instantly want to buy a house and that he would be the one they’d turn to. As it turns out, things weren’t that easy in the beginning. 

    Instead of becoming discouraged, Peter told his assistant that she was looking at LA’s next top agent and he began stacking the bricks to make it a reality. His background in music gave him a strong work ethic.

    He had no problem spending 10 hours a day at the office, giving it all he had to get every deal he could. While other agents were clocking out early, Peter was on the phone, sending emails, and making sure people knew that he and The Keller Williams Entertainment Division were here and ready to serve them. 

    During his training at KW, he was told to knock on doors, focus on one geographical area, and to cold call. While this can work, Peter knew that if everyone else was doing it, he would need to do something different.

    When he swapped his suit for his Metallica shirt and his script for genuine listening, things really took off. He began to see them as people – not just prospects. Doing things differently aligns perfectly with our #1 core value here at Carrot – “Have Fun and Be Different.”

    Keeping Your Head Out Of Expectation

    Instead of focusing on the results, Peter focused on action. He was relentless in reaching his goal, sitting any open house that came up. He knew that he would rather fail due to his own volition than fail because of mediocrity. 

    After leaving Keller Williams, Peter founded PLG Estates. Using his content formula and remaining authentic, he was able to attract a certain spere of people to prospect to, segmenting them into different audiences for marketing purposes. He looks at it like this: 

    • Group A is your 100 closest connections
    • Group B is the next 500
    • Group C is the next 2,000
    • Group D is the next 7,000 or so

    The people in Groups A, B, and C did not need to be reminded that Peter was a real estate agent. They didn’t necessarily want to see real estate content all of the time.

    The content directed toward them was more personal. This helped to build credibility, trust, and show people what a likable guy Peter is. By sharing these moments with his followers, people felt like they already knew him before having the first phone call. 

    Hamster Wheel vs. Evergreen

    I’ve talked about this quite a bit in the past and that is knowing when to jump on the hamster wheel and when to focus on growing your evergreen content. The hamster wheel will bring in leads, but won’t do anything for your long-term goals.

    Evergreen marketing is creating things like blogs and videos – things that will always be around and searchable by your potential clients. This is the stuff that builds momentum for your business. I loke to think of it as stacking bricks. While it might be slow going in the beginning, before you know it, you’ll have a mighty wall. 

    Remember – The Client Is The Hero Of This Story

    So many people will brag about being #1 in their content or tell people why they should choose them, but this isn’t the way to grab people’s attention. Your client needs to be the hero of your story.

    Don’t send them something with your logo as a closing gift, send them something memorable that will become a keepsake. Making your clients feel happy, both within your content and in person, will ensure you find yourself a client who will stick by you for years to come. 

    Being Grateful For Today

    Every day, Peter gets to wake up in LA, in a beautiful house, with his wonderful wife, and great kids. From the moment he wakes up he acknowledges that he has already won.

    Being grateful to live in a country that offers so many more luxuries than anywhere else in the world is a big deal and Peter knows this. He believes in the power of the universe. If he hets a listing – he was meant to.

    And if he doesn’t – it was supposed to go to someone else. Instead of worrying about expectations, Peter is always taking action, propelling himself forward no matter what the market may be doing. He knows if it all goes away tomorrow – he will jump out of bed in the morning and say, “ok, what’s next?!” 

    For Peter, what’s next is a big expansion for PLG Estates. Be sure to look out for him and his team in 2020!

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  • Carrot’s 30-Day Challenge: Ready To Obliterate Your Best Month’s Lead-Gen Record?

    Carrot’s 30-Day Challenge: Ready To Obliterate Your Best Month’s Lead-Gen Record?

    Carrot's 30-Day Challenge

    What if you could take a system that’s proven to generate high-quality leads — a system that has made hundreds of investors and agents around the nation millions of dollars — and implement it right into your business in just 30-60 minutes per day over a 30-day period?

    Sounds too good to be true, yeah?

    Well, that’s exactly what we’ve created… We’re calling it our 30-Day Authority Building Challenge [CLICK HERE TO JOIN].

    And in it, we’re going to walk you through how to brand your real estate business, how to drive traffic, and — most importantly — how to get high-quality leads (and even how to obliterate your best month’s lead-gen record).

    Are you ready?

    Carrot's 30 Day Challenge for Agents & Investors
    Carrot 30 day challenge
    “I did this challenge and learned so much. So glad I accepted this challenge, without it I never would have got my website together. Easy… no. Challenge… that is the name of the game… worth it… 100%.”

    At Carrot, we’ve helped countless real estate pros beat their most aggressive market competitors, generate more than one million leads, and build businesses that support themselves and their families.

    Over the last few years, we’ve learned a lot about what real estate marketing tactics work… and what doesn’t.

    And we thought to ourselves…

    “What if we created a tried-and-true, fool-proof lead-gen system for agents and investors — a system that would help our members become the go-to experts in their market, drive leads passively to their website, and build the business of their entrepreneurial dreams?”

    This challenge is helping people even more than we could have imagined…

    One of our long-standing members, Chris Wojciechowski, said he wishes we would have created this challenge 3 years ago!

    Carrot 30 day challenge success
    “This was a great journey. Although I had most of this completed, it did help me fill in some blanks. I make this a mandatory requirement for new members. I have been a member for 3 years, this would have been so helpful back then!”

    So…

    Are you ready to create a marketing system for your real estate business that generates leads like clockwork, that makes your business more predictable and sustainable?

    Moreover, are you ready to spend just 30-60 minutes per day over the next month to make it happen?

    Great! Click below to join!

    got my first lead from the Carrot 30 day challenge
    “I got my first lead!!!!”
    website ranking with help from the Carrot 30 day challenge
    “I Googled my Carrot website keywords plus location and what a surprise. My website showed up #3. When I Googled location plus keywords, I showed up #2. Niche marketing plus Carrot website.”

    A Glimpse At The 30-Day Challenge Gameplan

    We’ve recorded a ton of in-depth content for this challenge. We’re going to show you how to set up your website, choose the best keywords to target, leverage social media, convert leads like clockwork, and lots more.

    Not only will we teach you how to do those things, but we’re also going to keep you accountable — each day has a checklist of items you need to finish. You’ll need to set aside 30-60 minutes for most days.

    By the end of it, you’ll have a website set up to convert leads, a traffic plan to drive high-quality prospects to your website, and an irresistible, trustworthy brand image.

    Pretty sweet, right?

    Here’s a little peek at the agenda for investors (and below that is the agenda for agents).

    A Glimpse At The 30-Day Challenge For Investors

    Week 1 – Mindset & Marketing Plan ✍️

    • Launching your site
    • Building credibility
    • Localizing your site
    • Adjusting your content strategy
    • Schedule your content

    Week 2 – Creating Your Content Plan 📋

    • Content, content, content
    • Integrate with 3rd party services
    • Connect your social media accounts
    • Set up your data hubs

    Week 3 – Drive Traffic 📈

    • Create your first Craigslist post
    • Setting up your paid traffic sources
    • Set up your first Google Ads campaign
    • Start working on your SEO

    Week 4 – Put Your Content Hyperdrive ✍️

    • How to create citations
    • How to create Backlinks
    • Creating your first video
    • Launching a buyers website
    • How to create buyer list

    We’ll also teach you…

    • How to set up a Facebook retargeting pixel
    • Learn how to create a Google Business profile
    • How to Create Unique Content for SEO

    And tons more…

    INVESTORS: Ready to beat your best month’s lead gen record? Join the 30-day challenge below and let’s make it happen!

    “It was great! I enjoyed every minute, great content… don’t change anything. I loved it, I know that some tutorials are outdated but it made me search and seek harder! Keep it up Carrot gang”

    – Blane Daretz

    “Anyone who has not done the 30 day program needs to sign up. Great Accountability” – Kathy Denworth via Epic Planning Call

    A Glimpse At The 30-Day Challenge For Agents

    Week 1 – Mindset & Marketing Plan ✍️

    • Building a business with the right mindset
    • Standing out in a shifting industry
    • Incorporating Carrot into your marketing
    • Agent Marketing Plan: content pyramid & your mission and finding your niche
    • How to perform SEO keyword research

    Week 2 – Launch Your Carrot Site 🚀

    • Launch your website
    • Why and how to build credibility
    • Customize to stand out in your market
    • How to set up IDX & adding properties
    • Integrating 3rd party sources & domain setup

    Week 3 – Build Your Foundation 📋

    • How SEO Works
    • How to create location and landing pages
    • Using Carrot’s VideoPost feature to create blog posts
    • Getting your backlinks started

    Week 4 – Driving Traffic 📈

    • How to create a niche VideoPost
    • Get your featured property listings started
    • How to create featured property landing pages

    We’ll also teach you…

    • Creating and Dialing in your Facebook Campaign
    • Setup Facebook Retargeting

    And tons more…

    AGENTS: Ready to beat your best month’s lead gen record? Join the 30-day challenge below and let’s make it happen!

    “Hello, Carrot Team. First of all, I’m in love with my new website, I’m working crazy daily on it making the changes and adding more stuff. I’m on the 30-day challenge.”

    – Rafael Zanette

    INVESTORS & AGENTS: You Ready To Obliterate Your Best Month’s Lead-Gen Record?

    Ready to turn your website into a lead-gen machine? Ready to build the business of your entrepreneurial dreams? Ready to beat your own personal record and your most aggressive market competitors?

    If you said “yes,” then we made this 30-day challenge for you.

    Join the 30-day challenge over here and we’ll show you exactly how to win, step by step, day by day.

    See you on the inside!

  • EP 186: Carrot, Fix my Business! Behind The Scenes Strategy Session w/ Real Estate Investor + Agent, Robert Grand

    EP 186: Carrot, Fix my Business! Behind The Scenes Strategy Session w/ Real Estate Investor + Agent, Robert Grand

    Carrot, Fix my Business! Behind The Scenes Strategy Session w/ Real Estate Investor Robert Grand

    Hey Guys and Gals!

    Today we are doing something a little bit different for this episode of the CarrotCast, we decided to do a 45-minute business teardown where we hop on with an agent or investor and unlock the biggest pain points in their business, so you can get a behind the scenes look at the journey of someone just like you and find out what it takes to get on the fast-track to success.

    We sat down with Robert Grand, owner of Grand Realty and Eugene House Buyers to take a look at his business and his websites and how they could be improved. I do 3-4 of these calls each week, but have never recorded one until today! 

    We touched on some exciting topics including easy tips for content creation, creating a follow-up system, and restructuring deals to better capitalize on leads. Listen in as we breakdown Roberts’s business and discover ways to help him and his team find massive success, thus creating a major community impact in 2020. 

    Read the Full Show Notes Below…

    Carrot, Fix my Business! Behind The Scenes Strategy Session w/ Real Estate Investor & Agent, Robert Grand

    If you are an investor or an agent, you will want to do all you can to maximize your marketing efforts. With a few small tweaks and additions to your site, you will be able to create credibility and gain traction in your SEO efforts. 

    Robert Grand is a former firefighter who has been a real estate agent since 2012. Together with his partner, he runs a traditional real estate agency, a property management company, and does investments. Robert has two sites with us, one for Grand Realty and another for Eugene Housebuyers. We did a quick rundown of each, providing some tips to really make the site stand out and grab the attention of potential clients. 

    Eugene House Buyers

    Eugene House buyers is set-up with the Hemlock theme. I always advise Carrot Clients to do a quick google search of words they want to rank for and take a look at any of the Carrot sites that pop up. In order to stand out, you’ll want to do something a little different with your theme, content, and message. 

    The site looks good and has a great local picture. The CTA stands out and matches with the company’s branding. Your call to action should always stand out, being one of the first things people see when visiting your site. 

    The content doesn’t appear to be updated from our stock content, which is ok, but it may not be so great for SEO. I always advise clients to go in there and tweak a few things to make it more personal. Ideally, 100% of the content should be different, however, just by editing 30-50%, Google will recognize it as unique content. 

    Updating the About page is extremely important. It provides a connection between you and your potential clients. You’ll want to make it personal, showing who you are and what you do. And of course, you should have a few pictures! On the realty side, Robert has a great about page, I suggested he grab some of that content and bring it over to the investor side. 

    Follow-up is another issue we addressed. If someone wasn’t interested in the cash offer, they were just letting the lead go instead of referring them over to the realty side. If you offer both services, be sure to provide dual offers and options for your clients! Robert left about $100k on the table last year just because the wasn’t passing the leads to the reality side. 

    Testimonials are great for your website but there are a few things you can do to make them even better. First off, if possible use full names as opposed to just initials. Try to include a photo with yourself and the client or better yet, get a video testimonial. If you aren’t able to achieve either, take a pic of the house, even a screenshot from Google maps will do if you aren’t able to drive-by. 

    For both sites, I advised Robert to get his Facebook retargeting set-up. I consider this another form of follow-up as you will be able to keep hitting those potential clients with new content every day. 

    Video, video, video. You hear me talk about this a lot, but including a video, with your face, will help you to get more leads and close more deals. Talk about what you can offer, who you can help, and why you’re doing what you are doing. 

    Grand Realty

    Until signing up with Carrot, Grand Realty didn’t have a website. Their business did pretty well simply from word of mouth – they closed 45 transactions the first year. After getting the sites set-up, they didn’t do much with them for the first 4-5 months. 

    The first thing we talked about was knowing where the leads were coming from. In the “Campaigns” section, you can enter your information and find out! For this situation, we wanted to know how many people were coming to the site via the Eugene House Buyers site. This will let Robert know if people are actually clicking the link he has up. 

    If you are working with buyers and sellers as a real estate agent, why not set up landing pages for both? So many of our agents only create city-specific landing pages for homebuyers, without anything targeting home sellers. Since Robert focuses more on listings, I advised him to get some pages up there to attract home sellers in his market area. The more you niche these pages into seller specific situations, the easier it will be to get them to rank. 

    A question Robert had about his site was if he should market as Eugene or Eugene and Springfield, and which way would be better for SEO. If you search Google for real estate in Eugene and you see results or related searches for Springfield, you’ll know that Google looks at them as one and the same.

    Since we did find Springfield results, and since his pages are ranking well, leaving them as Eugene and Springfield is the way to go. I do recommend that Robert create separate landing pages for each city. Adding in some great backlinks can help to bump up these pages even higher. 

    If you are creating lots of pages for your site, you don’t need to have them all in the primary menu. For example, Zillow will rank #1 for everything and they have millions of pages, but you don’t see links to all of them on their homepage. It’s once you search within Zillow, and you see all of the subpages and related searches that those other pages come into play. You can set up your site in the same way. 

    Immediate Action Steps

    By doing just a few small things, Robert will be able to maximize the value of the sites he has with us. Here is what we have advised him to do… 

    • Amp up the about pages
    • Implement Facebook retargeting
    • Utilizing our Campaigns feature to know where leads are coming from
    • Update stock content
    • Create better follow up and offer multiple solutions to clients
    • Create landing pages for sellers on the reality side
    • Add credibility to testimonials using photos or even video

    By taking these few simple steps, Robert and his team will be able to reach more people, build credibility, and begin to establish themselves as the authority when it comes to real estate and in the Eugene area. 

    Making An Impact

    A couple of years ago Robert shifted the way he did business. He, along with Ryan Fletcher created the Impact Club in the Eugene area as a way to give back. One of the initial projects gave $10k to The Clarity Water Project and to date they have been able to donate over $94k back into the local community. For Robert, it is all about building those finances so he can have the greatest impact on his community as possible. 

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  • Carrot Success Story: How To Drive 7 Figures Through Your Carrot Site With Ryan Dossey

    Carrot Success Story: How To Drive 7 Figures Through Your Carrot Site With Ryan Dossey

    “If you had to give a ballpark guess, how much money would you say your Carrot site is worth to your business?” I asked.

    I reached out to Ryan Dossey for an interview because first, he’s been a Carrot member since like 2014 (long enough that he can’t remember exactly when he signed up) and more importantly, because he’s a wildly successful entrepreneur and real estate investor.

    He has been mentioned and/or quoted in Forbes, Time, Money, Entrepreneur, and Yahoo Finance.

    In the last 18 months, his business, Christopher Ellyn Homes (which does a little of everything — wholesaling, flipping, and buy-and-hold) acquired $8.8 million in rentals.

    In terms of cash flow, his real estate investing business typically generates somewhere in the high five-figure range every month (they’ve hit 7 figures a few times).

    He’s also the founder of Call Porter and Ballpoint Marketing.

    “Oh man. It’s hard to place a number on that. But I’d say that our Carrot site is easily worth 7 figures to our business,”

    Ryan responded…

    “I mean, we’ve done 7 figures in assignments through that site. If it wasn’t for my Carrot site, I wouldn’t have the same credibility I have today in my market.”

    Talk about some awesome feedback!

    He also offered some tips for real estate investors who are looking to grow their businesses and cut through the clutter.

    5 Ways Ryan Dossey Generates Consistent 7 Figures

    #1: You Gotta Get a Carrot Site

    Back in 2012, Ryan was just getting into real estate investing. And the first site he created for his business was hosted on Lead Propeller — one of our competitors that many of you are probably aware of.

    But eventually, Ryan got fed-up with painfully low conversion rates and moved to Carrot.

    More specifically, his Lead Propeller site was suffering to the tune of a 1% or 2% conversion rate. His Carrot site now receives about an 11% conversion rate.

    He gets far more leads. And because of that, he’s able to build a sustainable business with predictable lead-flow and income.

    Even when sending direct mail, Ryan says,

    “It’s my website that build credibility when people are trying to learn about my business. If I didn’t have a trustworthy site that loads fast and looks like a million bucks and converts well, then my business wouldn’t be as profitable as it is today — plain and simple.”

    Which begs the question: is your site doing all of those things? If it isn’t, then you might consider getting yourself a Carrot site. Our sites load even faster than Google and we’re constantly optimizing tech stack, SEO, and design. To quote Ryan once more,

    “My favorite thing about Carrot is that they’re constantly optimizing so you don’t have to.”

    #2: Customize Your Carrot Site

    Christopher Ellyn Homes - Carrot Site

    Having been a Carrot member for 4 or 5 years, I thought Ryan would be the perfect guy to give advice to new Carrot members about how to get the most of their membership.

    So I asked him,

    “What would you tell new Carrot members to do with their site to get the most bang for their buck?”

    His response was simple:

    “Customize it. You have to make it your own. You have to create a brand image for your business.”

    Specifically referring to his own Carrot site, he said,

    “We customized the hero image on the homepage, we rewrote and customized the entire ‘Our Company’ page, and we replaced all of the stock images with real images of our city or the people who work in our business.”

    And he recommends that all Carrot members do the same thing.

    “Carrot provides a great foundation, but you have to customize your site if you really want to stand out from the competition.”

    Ryan and his team even went so far as to create separate landing pages for different markets where they operate (something we highly recommend doing — you can learn more about optimizing your city pages).

    Originally, Ryan did all of these customizations himself to save on money. But recently, he decided to sign up for Carrot’s Concierge service, where we make all of these site changes for you, specific to your industry and business.

    Of our Concierge service, Ryan commented,

    “We noticed some pretty solid changes. Actually, our bounce rate went down and our sessions duration went up after going through Carrot’s Concierge service.”

    I asked him for specifics and he said that his bounce rate went from 70% before the Concierge service to 65% and his average session duration went from 2:18 to 3:18.

    Pretty cool, huh?

    Related Content: Here are 13 Changes You Can Make to Differentiate Your Carrot site in Under 10 Minutes

    #3: Publish Regular Blog SEO Content

    Value of real estate investor blog posts

    At Carrot, we talk a lot about the power of maintaining a blog on your real estate site. It helps make your site appear more active to visitors and it gives your website more opportunities to rank in Google (which means more chances to generate free traffic and leads).

    And we’re so adamant about the importance of having a blog on your site that our Content Pro and Advanced Marketer plans include monthly content.

    That’s right — every month we’ll send you content for your blog so you don’t have to spend hours writing and researching your own content. The Content Pro plan includes 12 articles every month and the Advanced Marketer plan includes the same 12 plus 12 more exclusive articles.

    From our experience, more content equals more leads.

    And when I asked Ryan what his favorite thing about Carrot is, he said,

    “I love the blog content that Carrot provides.”

    When I asked him why he loves it, he said,

    “Well, first, because it fills out our site and makes us appear more active. But also because those articles are actually generating leads for our business every month.”

    And while we recommend customizing about 25% of the articles that we give our members to avoid duplicate content, Ryan and his team just post those articles on their website without any changes.

    And still, those articles are generating about 10% of all of their website’s traffic every single month purely through SEO.

    real estate website traffic every month through SEO
    We highlighted the URLs which are blog articles on Ryan’s site.

    Sure — you could publish your own blog content. But you have enough other work to do — you don’t need to add consistent content marketing to your plate.

    Why not let us write the blog articles for you?

    Plus, if you really want to create some of your own content on top of what we provide you with, then we’ve made it dead-simple and lightning-fast through a little tool we call VideoPost.

    Related Content: On-Page SEO for Real Estate: 16 Steps to Optimize Your Websites

    #4: Target Competitor’s Keywords

    bidding on competitor keywords

    One day, Ryan was doing some SEO research for his real estate website. He typed “Christopher Ellyn Homes” — the name of his company — into Google to make sure that they were ranking first for branded search terms…

    …but wait — what’s this?

    Looking at the Google Ads, he noticed that some of his competitors were spending money to target his branded keyword phrases.

    After doing some research on the ad strategy, he decided to do something similar. Now he targets some of his biggest market competitor’s branded keywords with his own Google ads.

    What’s more? He’s even generating a few leads every month with this strategy! And the even cooler part he mentioned is that the cost-per-lead with this strategy is dirt cheap — specifically, $15.

    So why not give it a try yourself? It’s worth a shot, especially if your competitors are already trying to steal your own leads. ;-)

    Related Content: Learn How To Find High-Intent Real Estate Keywords and Dominate Your Market’s SEO Rankings

    #5: He Doesn’t Use Yellow Letters & Postcards – Instead, Goes Color

    real estate direct mail yellow letter
    (Image Source)

    Yellow letters are extremely common among real estate investors.

    And the reason is simple: they get opened. After all, if you received a yellow letter in your mailbox, you’re going to open it simply to see if it’s as important as it claims to be.

    There are a few problems with sending yellow letters, though. First, it’s very competitive — so if you do it, too, you’re just joining in with that clutter. As Earl Nightingale once said…

    “Look at what the majority of people are doing, and do the exact opposite, and you’ll probably never go wrong for as long as you live.”

    Second, a yellow letter can be portrayed as dishonest. The implication of a yellow letter is that it’s some sort of legal warning. But, of course, that isn’t true. So when someone opens up your letter, there’s a serious chance of frustration because they feel deceived.

    Ryan Dossey makes a strong case against yellow letters and postcards, saying, “They are just the same old thing. If you want to get a higher response rate, you have to do something different. You have to stand out.”

    Instead, Ryan uses full-color, custom branded pieces. And he says that he gets a higher response rate from his direct mail than anyone else in his market. “It’s a huge advantage,” he says.

    So consider ditching the yellow letters and postcards and trying something else — something that none of your competitors are doing.

    Conclusion

    At Carrot, we take our member’s success very seriously. If our members succeed at building businesses that provide them with financial and personal freedom, then we count that as a win.

    In fact, our mission at Carrot is to “Add humanity back to business and give people more time in life for the things that matter.”

    If you feel like you’re on the hamster wheel with your business, constantly grinding away but never see real promising results, never building tangible momentum that can carry your business forward for years to come, then we might be the solution you’re looking for.

    We’ve generated millions of leads for thousands of real estate professionals around the country, and we’d love to do the same for you. Give us a risk-free try over here and let’s build the business of your dreams together. :-)

  • EP 184: [REPUBLISH] The Quickest Way to Break Through A Mental Funk – A.N.T.S. in your P.A.N.T.S

    EP 184: [REPUBLISH] The Quickest Way to Break Through A Mental Funk – A.N.T.S. in your P.A.N.T.S

    EP 141: Ants In Your Pants: The Quickest Way to Break Through A Mental Funk

    It is our job to get of our funks so we can bring other people along… we can not accept negative energy around us.

    Trevor Mauch, CEO of Carrot

    We all have bad days. Stuck in a funk, bummed out, just not feeling it… this was me last week. But, I realized something needed to change. I needed to deal with my A.N.T.S – Automatic Negative Thoughts.

    This episode isn’t about real estate, ya’ll. This is about how to be happy, how to amplify others and how to show up every day giving your absolute best.

    I’m going to share with you how I went from being reactive to being proactive, took control over my thoughts, flipped the switch, and regained my momentum.

    Listen to the CarrotCast Podcast:


    [podcast-subscribe]

    The A.N.T.S. in your P.A.N.T.S Conversation

    2:49 – Recognizing that you’re in a funk.

    6:53 – If you’re like me – ambitious, but low on willpower, you might need habit triggers.

    9:35 – What are A.N.T.S… Automatic Negative Thoughts? And how do our thoughts affect how we feel physically? We can do everything to make sure we show up our best every day, but sometimes forget to care of our minds.

    11:07 – P.A.N.T.S: Positive, Aspirational, New, Thoughts inject positivity into your brain! “This is easy!” “I can do this forever” “My energy is high!”

    15:03 – Stop letting the negativity around you weigh you down. Use your energy for positivity, add value, add growth, and get excited about what you’re doing!

    16:37 – Own your thoughts with affirmations for specific situations and tell your thoughts where to go.

    22:32 – Future pace: Be grateful for what you have at the moment and have a vision for where you are heading.

    28:32 – Create a culture of energy within your business. Become a power plant for energy. What companies like Dutch Bros and Carrot are doing in rural America to make an impact on millions of people.

    33:20 – Wrapping it up… We’re launching ASK CARROT! A weekly Live Q&A with Trevor. Head over to Carrot.com/ask or YouTube.com/InvestorCarrot starting February 14th at 1 PM PST to ask him anything!

    RESOURCES FOR YOU

    ADDITIONAL CARROTCAST EPISODES

    • The Secret To True Happiness For Ambitious Entrepreneurs w/ Seth Buechley: CarrotCast
    • My Struggles And 8 Success Lessons Learned… From Paying Taxes With My Credit Card To Multi-Million Dollar Businesses: CarrotCast
    • What’s Your Credibility Score? The Top 5% Of Earners Are Doing These “Simple” Things To Build More Credibility In A Cluttered Market w/ Trevor Mauch: CarrotCast

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

    [podcast-subscribe]

  • EP 183: How I Grossed $1.6 Million Flipping Land Using Leads Other Investors Are Ignoring w/ Willie Goldberg

    EP 183: How I Grossed $1.6 Million Flipping Land Using Leads Other Investors Are Ignoring w/ Willie Goldberg

    $1.6 Million Gross Profit Wholesaling Land Deals Other Investors are Ignoring

    What’s up, everyone! If you’ve listened to the CarrotCast in the past, you’ll know that we’ve done a few episodes on flipping land and how beneficial it can be. I don’t think most investors recognize the value of vacant land.

    You won’t have to physically visit the site, there aren’t any plumbing, roofing, or heating systems to maintain, and best of all, the competition is usually much lower. 

    Willie Goldberg has been a real estate investor for only 2.5 years. While most people are throwing away land deals, he’s made $1.6 million gross in the last 12 months!

    Using his Carrot sites, he’s been able to generate 60 deals in the past few months alone! 

    Today I’m super excited to sit down with Willie to discuss how he first got into land, what he’s doing to capture his leads and to learn his strategy of how he plans to close 500 land deals over the next 12 months!

    Read the Full Show Notes Below…

    How I Grossed $1.6 Million Flipping Land Using Leads Other Investors Are Ignoring w/ Willie Goldberg

    What do you do when you get a land lead? While many people throw these leads away, for Willie Goldberg, it is how he has built his business. After learning about many types of real estate investment, Willie settled on land when he realized there was incredibly low overhead and he could buy and sell from anywhere. 

    Will Goldberg first started his business in April of 2017. Since college, he had worked in finance, but he knew it wasn’t the lifestyle he was after. Becoming an entrepreneur through real estate became his goal, and in May of 2018, he was able to quit his job to pursue it full-time. 

    Today, Willie lives in Chicago, but his primary market is in Southern California. He is also buying and selling land in other places such as New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, and a few other states. His current team consists of a partner, a salesperson in the Chicago office, a Transaction Coordinator, and a VA in the Philippines. 

    Finding Land Sellers

    Even with an excellent Carrot Website for your land business, you’ll need to have a way to direct them there. For many land investors, direct mail is how leads are initially activated. That initial piece of contact will direct them to your site.

    For Willie, his direct mail piece is a simple and to the point offer letter. He mails to micro-geographic areas with blanket offers for vacant lots. 

    Determining Offer Prices

    The first recommendation Willie has when it comes to creating his offers is to not overthink it. His strategy is to use Datatree while pulling comps from Zillow, Realtor.com, and Landwatch. He will determine an offer price that is fair and will still get him a deal, and out the mailers go.

    Of course, if someone calls in and their land is actually valued much higher or much lower, Willie and his team will present a counteroffer that makes more sense.  

    Finding Land Buyers

    For Willie, as with many other real estate investors, Facebook Marketplace has proven to be an excellent place to capture leads. He has a VA who manages Facebook, answering all of the inquiries from ads they post. Their emails are collected to create a huge potential buyers list. 

    Willie also offers to his buyers is owner financing. This has been monumental in his success. By offering owner financing, he is able to get the lots sold faster, all while creating a guaranteed monthly income for himself, something many real estate wholesalers often lack.

    Another great way to bring buyers in the door is through videoposts. I am always a big proponent of video to build credibility and connection with potential clients. Your videos don’t have to be complex. A quick cell phone video of you in front of your computer can be very powerful. 

    You can take your videos one step further by using our awesome video post feature, which will allow you to shoot and post a transcribed video in less than 10 minutes! 

    Building Credibility As A Land Seller

    Right on his website, Willie allows buyers to use a credit card to purchase a property through owner financing. But in order to covert, he has to make sure people realize that his company is real and that they will actually receive the land they are paying for. To do this, it is important to build trust and credibility as a land seller. 

    Willie has done this through video, email campaigns, and with the information provided on his about page. He has done a very good job of this too. Willie landed on our radar after we saw his site was generating 3,000-4,000 leads!

    His customized Carrot site was generating high-quality leads that he is now helping others do the same with his Land Flipping Course. He now has over 75 coaching students, with more and more learning his methods by the day! 

    If you are a current Carrot customer who is interested in land, head over to Carrot to check out our land sites. You can get one up and running without much customization or effort! Stop throwing away your land leads, follow in Willie’s footsteps to start generating revenue from an often overlooked niche! 

    Follow Our Guest:

    Check out Willie’s websites:

    Mentioned In This Episode:

    Both CarrotCast episodes featuring Jack Bosch –

    #1: You Can Achieve Financial Freedom and Build True Wealth

    #2: He’s Flipped 4,000 Pieces of Land… Why It’s An Amazing Time To Start

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

  • It’s easier, faster, and more powerful. Say hello to the Visual Editor

    It’s easier, faster, and more powerful. Say hello to the Visual Editor

    Carrot Visual Editor

    The power of Carrot + the simplicity of a drag-and-drop editor!

    Almost 6 years ago, we founded Carrot based on a single huge frustration in the market. The traditional website builders were built to launch and edit a site easy, simple, and cheap… but they all sacrificed the most important thing to you.

    Performance and results.

    That means getting more qualified people to your website, converting them into motivated leads at a higher rate, plus building trust and authority. Hence, they want to work with you over your competitors.

    Performance & Results or Easy Editing? The Choice…

    Like anything in life, there are trade-offs. The “big” low-cost website builders out there (think Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress themes) chose to go all-in on “ease of use” and sacrifice performance for their clients. You’d save a bit of time, but it could cost you tens of thousands of dollars (or more) in lost revenue from underperformance.

    At Carrot, from the beginning, we’ve gone all-in on performance and, until now… had to choose to limit your ability to have an easy, drag-and-drop editing experience on your websites.

    Over the years, our members have raved about the results Carrot has helped them get.

    1. You control MORE top Google rankings than any other system in the real estate industry for phrases your best prospects are typing every month.
    2. You’ve converted over 3 million inbound online leads from your websites.
    3. And you enjoy the fastest website platform in the industry.

    And today, we’re proud to introduce that now you can enjoy all of the performance the Carrot platform is known for with the visual editing experience of a slick drag-and-drop editor.

    Introducing… the all-new Carrot Visual Editor

    Carrot Visual Editor Adding Credibility to Your Real Estate Website


    This is where it gets exciting! The new Visual Editor offers a simple way to create, edit and add content to your posts and pages without sacrificing the performance you expect from your Carrot site.

    Once you get the hang of it, [the Visual Editor] makes customizing the site a breeze! Saved me so much time as compared to the original format.

    – Tyrone T. (Advanced Marketer Beta user)

    What will the new Visual Editor help you do?

    I’m glad you asked :-)

    A few benefits you’ll enjoy with this powerful FREE upgraded Visual Editor include…

    • No more switching back and forth from editor to page – now see all of your edits in real-time, including your hero section, forms, and more!
    • Use Drag and Drop tools to easily create and edit pages with movable and reusable content blocks!
    • Make your website stand out visually without having to use any fancy code.
    • Enjoy the new “Full-Screen Mode” to have the most beautiful, clean, and simple editing experience possible… without the distractions (try this mode, you’ll love it!)
    • SEO Grader updates: 1) Your SEO grade for the page will update in real-time without you having to save the page, and 2) Now get SEO grades for multiple keywords for the same page! (this is huge)
    • No loss of page speed – yay!
    • … and more

    How does the Visual Editor work?

    The Visual Editor uses intuitive drag and drops content blocks to speed up the creation of pages and content within Carrot.

    You can now add blocks for headings, videos, paragraphs, images, tables, and so much more. There are also several pre-built blocks that are created specifically for your site.

    Blocks are portable, making it super easy to insert and rearrange any content. Plus, you can save your favorite blocks and use them again later.

    Choose from several block types and styles

    With the Visual Editor, you will be able to create and edit pages more quickly and see those changes in real-time right on the page! You can further customize your experience with full-screen mode – a personal favorite of mine. Give it a try when you have a chance.

    Using blocks to edit a website

    Check out the new Full-Screen Mode In Action! Clean eh?

    Bonus! Upgraded SEO Tool

    While we’ve been building you a state-of-the-art editing interface, we uncovered an opportunity to upgrade the SEO Tool – so we did that too! Our updated SEO Tool provides several nice benefits:

    • Smart auto-generated post descriptions
    • Rank better by auditing and updating your content with multiple keywords
    • New options for social sharing
    • And.. much more. If you’d like to know more about it read here!

    How do I start using the Visual Editor?

    Advanced Marketer members always get exclusive early access to new features, so the Visual Editor began rolling out to them a few weeks ago. The feedback and response have been amazing!

    “…the Visual Editor just flows so much better when making edits and new pages. I like the flexibility of the various blocks and formats which we can use to differentiate our Carrot site and cater to our personal look and feel while still keeping all the Carrot awesomeness!”

    – Shaun K. (Advanced Marketer beta user)

    Access is now in existing Carrot member accounts.

    This will be a completely new editing experience, so those comfortable with the old editor will likely experience a small learning curve. The Carrot Help Center has already been updated with tutorials and FAQs to help guide you as you make the transition.

    We are confident you are going to love this new editing experience! And we want your feedback! Members can contact our support channel for help, provide feedback, and ask questions.

    Here’s to amazing future innovations to help you stand out, build authority, and grow a business that helps you get more freedom, flexibility, and finances… so you can make a greater impact.

    – Trevor and your friends at Carrot

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