Search results for: “credibility”

[Compare] Carrot vs. Cheap & Low Cost Mass Website Builders

There are a ton of options when it comes to launching a website for your real estate investing business. From cheap and low-cost mass template builders like Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, GoDaddy, LeadPages, and others… to high-end custom websites that may run $6,000 or more.

So, what are the differences between the different website types and what we offer here at Carrot? Well, I shot a video to answer that very question!

Before you dive into the video, I want to introduce the four main things you should consider when launching a website for your real estate investing (house flipping, wholesaling, rent-to-own, note buying, anything). They’re right under the video.

Check out those 4 crazy important things to consider before you launch your website… then I’ll expand on that a bit and show examples in the video below.

Low-Cost Generic Website Builders vs. Specialized Website Solutions Like Carrot

The 4 Most Important Things You Need To Look At With Your Real Estate Website

The first is… your website’s #1 priority should be performance.

Not how fancy it looks. Not whether you think it looks pretty. Not how fancy the CRM is. And not whether you think it looks different from others in your market. It’s…

“If I send 100 qualified people to this website with SEO, PPC, Craigslist, or direct mail… is it going to convert as many of those into qualified leads so my website isn’t a leaky bucket?”

Because every lost lead is a lost potential at a deal.

And as we always like to say…

If you lose 1 deal that would have netted you $10,000 because you were trying to reinvent the wheel or save a few bucks a month and your website isn’t performing like it should… that $10,000 is real money lost out of your pocket.

Before you go out to build a real estate investing website on Wix, Weebly, or Godaddy… focus on making sure what you build your website with is focused on performance (conversion rate optimization) as its main priority because a high performing website means more visitors converted into qualified leads (and in turn, more deals closed).

The second is… ease of use.

There’s got to be some way to ensure you’re using the system well.

We’ve taken 80% of that off your lap and built it into our platform.

Many of our Carrot members don’t even use our system. They hire us to do some of the build-outs through our services, or they might hire some other people or they have their friend use the system, and they just go be the agent or be the investor. So you get to choose how much of the system you will use yourself versus just wanting to pay people to do that for you, so you can do the parts you enjoy and love.

The third is… aesthetic

We want to make sure that number one, you should be proud of the website that represents your business.

Aesthetic is number three in my eyes because aesthetics only matters to you from that perspective. The aesthetic is what you think about your website. Performance is what your prospects think about your website.

The aesthetic is “I think it looks pretty.” Performance is your prospects say it solved their problem and got them to opt-in and become a lead.

So that’s why aesthetic is number three. Many agents and investors put aesthetics as number one. They lower performance and end up having so many lost leads and deals because they think prettiness and aesthetics are more important than performance.

Fourth is… cost.

And then last here is cost. I put the cost as last, where many of you guys might be thinking, “Oh my gosh, the cost is number one for me. I don’t have a big budget.” Because a lot of us look at cost differently than we should. Many of us look at the cost as what’s the monthly payment that I will be paying for that tool, or how much am I going to have to pay my buddy down the street to develop my website for me.

But the actual ultimate cost is not the monthly payment you will pay. The ultimate cost is how much money this website makes or does not make for you. So if you use a website like Wix and it’s going to be low cost, but let’s say it loses you one or two deals every year because it’s not set up for performance. It’s not set up to convert well, for page speed, or to rank well in Google. And if you lose one deal every year, let’s say your average profit per deal is $10,000. That cheap website just costs you $10,000 bucks.

It’s often easy to go with the website solution that looks at the lowest cost monthly.

After all, a $10/mo website with one of those low-cost generic website builders is only $120/yr versus what our average investors pay of $99/mo (for 3 websites, our weekly Coaching Calls, our content marketing system, and high-performance built-in).

But when you look at the return, you get for those dollars and your time… the story changes drastically.

1 extra (or 1 lost) deal because of website performance is a big deal when dealing with real estate.

1 extra deal pays for a Carrot membership for 10+ years.

So focus on performance and the return on investment your real estate investing website system can provide you over the long run.

Ongoing expert guidance and help from those who have done what you want to do.

An often forgotten thing critical to your success in generating consistent leads online today and next year (over the long-term) is the support team behind you.

If you go with one of those low-cost website builders, you can better believe that their pricing model doesn’t allow them to invest a lot into building the team and support structure to make your life easier and more successful over the years.

If you’re paying $6/mo for hosting… you may be able to reach out to them for help with basic technical things… but most of the time, the questions that you need to be answered most are the strategy-related questions that can take you from no or mediocre results… to crushing it.

With Carrot, we have amazing support (just ask around)… industry-leading training to show you exactly what our most successful members are doing to drive leads… and our full-time staff is among the industry’s most experienced online lead generation experts (specific to real estate investors). So if you have questions about your strategy… or your PPC marketing isn’t getting the results you need… or you’re ranked at the top of page 2 for your #1 keyword… who are you going to turn to at those cheap and low-cost website builders for the strategy help to get you over that hump?

Weekly Live Coaching Calls, 1 on 1 Strategy Sessions, Industry Leading Training, We’re Here For You

With Carrot, our weekly LIVE Carrot Coaching Calls, complimentary 1-on-1 Strategy Sessions with us, and fast strategy help are all included as a Content Pro member.

It’s like having the most experienced lead generation expert on call… and it’s included in your Carrot membership at only $99/mo.

The difference between amazing and no results is often the strategy help and expert guidance.

If you want to try to save a few bucks and go it alone… how much extra time and money will you invest? For only $99/mo, it’s a no-brainer for high-level investors who recognize the value of their time and expert guidance.

Getting The Right Tools In Place To Grow Your Real Estate Business (and have less hassle with tech issues)

These days your website is one of those tools that is a really important part of your credibility, lead generation efforts, and the future of your marketing.

More and more people are going online to find solutions to their problems (especially on cell phones)… so getting your web presence right is a pretty darn important thing these days.

Just like you get the right direct mail before you spend that money to send out those letters… take the time to make sure your website is dialed in and will convert a high percentage of your visitors you’re working so hard to get… into qualified leads.

We can help you here with Carrot, and we’d love to review your website and give you honest, candid feedback on what you can improve with your current site if it’s at one of those low-cost generic website builders.

Just leave your website URL in the comments section below and we’ll shoot quick videos walking through changes you can make to your current site to make them more effective.

And as always, we’re here if you feel Carrot is a great fit. Just take a demo or check out our pricing and plans.

October 22, 2015
Annoucing New Property Listing Features & Improved Social Share Buttons

We’re on a roll over here at InvestorCarrot and, just like in farming… we’re making this spring a time renewal, refreshing, and improving the Carrot platform each and every week.

With that said, we’ve rolled out several pretty cool and important updates over the last 2 weeks, with more to come over the next 2 weeks.

Today we’re going to focus on 2 updates to the platform and your real estate investor websites.

One is a pretty major update to our property listing engine based on feedback from members and the other is an improvement on the way your social media sharing buttons work on your websites.

We are really excited about these changes and we know you will be too. If you are a new customer and haven’t used the property feature before you might not appreciate the awesome redesign these Carrot features have undergone. But we won’t leave you out. You can check out the screenshots below to see the changes we have made.

Update #1: The New Beautiful Property Listing Website Engine. Simpler. Sexier.

This major update isn’t one that’ll help you get more leads, but it is a major improvement on how you get your deals in front of your cash buyers, your rent to own tenants, and turnkey investors. Lots of our members were looking for a more modern and simpler way to launch a property listing website for their real estate investing or real estate agent business.

So we set out to make your property listings beautiful, more useful and intuitive, and more powerful in this first update of several planned updates to the Property Listing Engine.

The New And Improved Property Listing Page... help your buyers see more properties without scrolling (plus they look sharp!)

So What’s Different About The Look Of Your Property Listing Sites?

We made tons of updates to the Property Listing Engine on your websites, but here are a few of the biggest.

A Simpler, Easier To Read “Grid” View Of All Of Your Properties

This helps your cash buyers, rent to own tenants, and turnkey buyers see more properties without scrolling down. Plus they look great!

Mark Your Property Status And Type With A Click Of A Mouse

A simple click helps you indicate if a property is sold or rented, plus our system will tag your properties whether they’re a “Home For Sale”, Duplex, Apartment… you get the idea.

Improved Image Gallery That Looks Great On Every Device (especially mobile!)

We moved the image gallery from the bottom of your property listing sites to the top and made the gallery crisp, clean, and easy to use on all devices. We’ve found buyers want to see the visual of the property above all else, so they’re now front and center.

Simpler And Cleaner Google Maps And Street View Display With Clear Call To Action

No Properties To Upload Yet? We’ll Still Make You Look Professional!

In the past, website visitors were faced with a blank page if there weren’t any properties uploaded to the website. Now, our system is helping you build credibility and your cash buyer list even if you have no properties to upload on your website yet.

Nearly 30% Of Your Traffic Is Mobile:
These Property Listings Look Great On All Devices

A New, Simpler Process To Create Your Property Listings

We’ve rethought how listing your properties through your InvestorCarrot real estate investing websites should work, and we’ve simplified it.

Now we walk you through a very simple and intuitive “wizard” to get the property details in place, upload your pictures, and optimize the posting for SEO.

Hop in and try the new Property Listing Engine in your InvestorCarrot account!

Update #2: Faster, Sleeker Social Media Sharing Buttons

In our never-ending quest to always improve the performance of your websites we often will pinpoint very simple changes that we can make that help make your websites even faster than they already are.

In one of our tests, we discovered that there was room to improve the website load time by streamlining the Social Media Share buttons on your websites.

How Did We Improve The Social Media Buttons?

First of all, the new look is much more modern and clean on your website.

But that’s not the main reason we made the change.

Typical social media share buttons have their own separate styling and count of the number of “Likes” or “G 1+’s” made on that page. But every time someone landed on the website, their web browser would contact each of those networks like Google or Facebook to see the current “count” and render the share button on the site.

It’s not a huge deal, but it does decrease the page load speed and can make your site feel sluggish when it is really just waiting on those separate networks.

So these new social media share buttons load insanely fast, look great, and still do the same thing as before in helping you spread the word about your website and boost your social media sharing signals for SEO.

Does This Mean I Lose My Facebook and G 1+ Shares?

Nope! Your shares always follow your domain name… not the buttons. So whatever shares you had on your web page before, they’re still there!

We’d Love Your Feedback Below!
Give These New Features A Try!

This is the first of several property listing updates we have planned and we’d love your feedback.

What do you love about the new property listings on your website?

What would you love to see done to help you market your properties even easier and more effectively?

We’re all ears!

If you’re not an InvestorCarrot member yet, head on over and take our demo or see our pricing and plans. Be a part of the 48,000+ leads per month our Carrot members are pulling into their real estate investing websites with Inbound Marketing each and every month.

March 26, 2015
The Carrot Vendor Marketplace!

Over the year and a half since InvestorCarrot was born, we’ve had a lot of improvements, upgrades, and new features.

Heck in the past 4 months alone we’ve launched hundreds of improvements to make it even easier and faster to launch effective online lead generation websites as a real estate investor, beef up the level of support members get even further than it already is, get your leads faster (sms alerts), make your websites rank better in Google, and convert leads at an even higher rate.

But all of that pales in comparison to what we have in store for InvestorCarrot members over the next 4 months :-)

Today we’re happy as heck to roll out the first version of our Carrot Marketplace to the InvestorCarrot community.

What Is The InvestorCarrot Marketplace And How Does It Help Make Your Life Easier?

As a real estate investor, when getting real estate investing leads online… launching an effective website is just the first step.

We already make that crazy easy. <== See a video of the process there

But if you’re wanting to drive a lot of traffic to your websites (motivated sellers, cash buyers, private lenders, rent to own tenants, note sellers, etc.) you or someone has to roll up their sleeves to get to work.

InvestorCarrot gives you a huge jumpstart with our real estate investing websites to rank better in Google and convert your leads much higher than the industry average… and our support is what we’ve been told time and time again is the best in the industry by far.

So now with our new Carrot Marketplace, we’re making it as easy as buying milk (or carrots :-) at the grocery store to find the vendors, services, and help so you can ramp up your results even faster.

What Will You As An InvestorCarrot Customer Find In The NEW Carrot Marketplace?

Log into your Carrot account and click the NEW Marketplace tab to check it out for yourself.

But here’s a quick snapshot of what you’ll find in there right now… and what we have in store for the marketplace in 2015.

In this first rollout of the marketplace we’re making it easier for you to get access to the services we’ve already been helping you with and offering for months and months… this just streamlines the process and puts the powerfully into your hands.

Online Marketing & Lead Generation Strategy Help And Services

Certified Carrot Preferred Partners: If you want to rank your website better in the search engines, better optimize your SEO, turn on some PPC… we’ve got you covered. Our certified partners have a minimum of over a year experience with our software and our customers before they can be a “Certified Carrot Partner”. Our current partners have pulled top rankings and hundreds of leads for our clients.

Everyday InvestorCarrot customers reach out to us looking for help with their real estate investing PPC (Pay Per Click) campaigns and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to help ramp up the traffic and leads. If you’re in a more competitive market (a town over… say 50,000 people)… you’ll likely have to focus some time implementing our 3 Lead Per Day Training to move up the rankings in Google.

Carrot gives you a head start, implementing the steps in the 3 Lead Per Day Training give it a boost.

So you’ll now be able to connect directly with vetted and Certified Carrot Partners who can do the SEO and PPC work for you if you’d rather just have someone else do it.

These same vendors have been working with InvestorCarrot members for over a year and pulled some pretty amazing results in the process (top Google rankings in markets all across the country and consistent leads each and every day)

Help Customizing And Optimizing Your Websites

Want To Be Hands Off? Our team can handle all of your customizations and branding for you if you want. There’s no excuses for not getting results now ;-)

We’re always focusing on making InvestorCarrot even easier to get highly effective websites up for your real estate investing business quickly… whether you’re a techie or not.

But, if you’d rather have us do the branding for you… and build out your city-specific pages for you… and help build your personal credibility into your websites for you so you don’t have to lift a finger, that’s where this section comes in.

Access our QuickStart service where we ask you 13 simple questions, and our team gets to work customizing your websites to fit your business, branding, and goals.

Plus have our team help you capture more traffic with city-specific / local pages and more!

These are all things you can easily do for yourself inside your InvestorCarrot account… but if you’d rather focus on what you do best and have us do it for you, we’ve got you covered.

Premium Training

The Fire That Fuels Your Growth: Our 2 flagship trainings (only available to InvestorCarrot members currently) are now in the Marketplace. But be on the lookout for more advanced training and tools to help you get an edge in your market.

Our members are generating well over 10,000 opt-in leads per month right now (that doesn’t count phone call leads)… and a huge part of it is the combination of the effectiveness of our website platform and the training you can access as an InvestorCarrot member.

Right now you’ll find our Posts 2 Profits Craigslist training and our 3 Lead Per Day (SEO, PPC, Youtube marketing course) in the Carrot Marketplace.

But we plan on launching more Premium Trainings in 2015 (in addition to our weekly LIVE Carrot Coaching Calls FREE to Content Pro members) to help you market effectively on Facebook, use Retargeting to “fetch back” more leads, and more! So keep an eye out for new Premium Trainings.

Get InvestorCarrot Swag

Why have a company name like Carrot if you’re not going to have fun with it and be loud and proud about it? Right? :-)

Well, now you can get Carrot Swag right in the marketplace.

Want a t-shirt (American Apparel – Made in the USA)? Grab one.

How about some awesome note pads with our Core Values on them… grab those in our “Carrot Swag Bag” which includes a t-shirt, a NEW Carrot Bud doll, Carrot stickers, and our awesome Carrot Idea Pads.

What’s In Store For 2015 With The Carrot Marketplace?

We’re working furiously on developing new features into the software to solidify our place as the leading Inbound Online Marketing platform for Real Estate Investors… which we’ll release to members as we finish them up.

But, we’ve realized that some features don’t make sense to build into every website that is launched. Things like an advanced BirdDog Referral Program system to help you generate bird dogs to find you more deals. Or “built for you” Podio apps to help you better manage your lead flow. Or marketing campaigns that are crushing it for people. Or 1 on 1 strategy consulting with me and our top performing Carrot members to help you bust past your roadblocks and excel… you get the idea.

So be on the lookout for other resources, tools, and website add-ons so you can further leverage InvestorCarrot to reach your goals.

And heck, if you have ideas for great resources, tools, and new functionality for your InvestorCarrot websites please shoot them our way!

Be on the lookout for more announcements about new features and enhancements over the next several months. We’ve got some in store that we know you’re going to LOVE.

Sound Off Below About The New Marketplace!

Hit me w/ comments and questions below… or if you’re not an InvestorCarrot member yet but are considering it, throw your questions my way! We’re here for you and would love for you to be a part of the success that our members are having (10k+ leads per month and growing!).

January 23, 2015
The Surprising Correlation Between Google +1’s And Your Real Estate Investor Website Ranking
Now more and more getting those high rankings in Google for top search phrases as a real estate investor (wholesaler, flipper, rental property owner, note buyer/seller, turn key investment property seller, etc.) can be a HUGE reward… but it isn’t like it used to be to get your real estate investing company’s website ranked high.

How SEO Used To Be For Real Estate Investors

When I started getting really good at SEO (back in 2007) ranking my own websites high in Google because I didn’t have the money to pay for ads or to pay an SEO firm… it seemed kind of like everyone was gaming the system.

All you had to do was stuff a page with the keyword phrase you wanted to rank for (“sell my house fast Portland”, as an example)… go buy a bunch of backlinks from bogus websites pointing to your website… and get your title tag right… and you were on your way to a better ranking.

But over the years Google has been making updates to the way they rank our websites in their search results. The most recent big update came in October… that focused on websites building “spammy” backlinks.

What these Google updates are doing is making people… including you real estate investors… go back to the basics and really focus on putting together great websites that the visitors actually want to go to and browse around… with great content (not sites with barely any content)… solid credibility… get good quality “votes” from other websites (backlinks) and bumps from social media (Facebook “likes”, Google +1’s, etc.).

With that said… since our members generate over 100,000 visits to their websites per month now… and many of our customers have top rankings in some crazy competitive markets using our tools and training… we’ve seen some major correlation to ranking your real estate investing website high in Google to…

Correlation Between Google +1 – Why It Matters So Much In Your Google Search Rankings and SEO

We first started to see this strong correlation in many of the most competitive markets in the country for highly motivated sellers during our weekly LIVE Coaching Calls with our Pro and Content Pro members (these calls are FREE to Content Pro and Pro members).

When a member would send through their website URL during the Coaching Calls and the search phrases they were going for… I’d do a quick “competitive analysis” there on the call and come up with a quick action plan for them to rank well based on what the websites in the top 5 for those phrases tended to have.

And more and more this year… the number of Google +1’s a website has (or even just the fact that they had some) has been showing up as a strong signal in the websites that were ranking in the first 5 results in a Google result for sellers, buyers, tenants, etc.

As an example… here is one of the top markets for motivated sellers and the top 3 rankings on page 1 vs. the top 3 rankings on page 2 and the Google +1’s they have.

Note that since there are hundreds of ranking factors that Google uses… no single factor is the main differentiator. So you’ll see some of the ones ranked high have lots of Google + action… some have low Google + action… but the thing in common is all of the websites in the top 3 in almost every market we’ve searched has some Google + action happening.

Top Results Houston, Texas – “we buy houses Houston”

#1 – 410 Google +1’s

#2 – 9 Google +1’s

#3 – 16 Google +1’s

Collectively in this example… the top 3 ranked pages have a total of 435 Google +1’s.

And a hat tip to Carrot member Guillermo for his #3 ranking (and climbing) in one of the most competitive search phrases in the country for motivated sellers… with his InvestorCarrot website and our SEO service help.

Now the top 3 for the 2nd page in Google…

#11 – 13 Google +1’s (but there are other reasons this site isn’t ranking on page 1 we can go into on another blog post)

#12 – 0 Google +1’s

#13 – 0 Google +1’s

#14 – 0 Google +1’s

In this example… collectively in the 11-14 positions for the same search phrase… they have 13 Google +1’s.

I can show in many many other top rankings in other markets across the country as well that the…

…top ranked sites on average have more Google + and Facebook activity than the sites ranking on page 2 and below.

This Is Just One Example, Does It Mean There Is Really A Correlation Of Google +1 Activity to Ranking Well In Google For Real Estate Investors?

Even though we have access to probably the best data in the entire real estate investor website industry because of the 10k+ leads per month our members generate and the many many many top search rankings they have with their InvestorCarrot websites…

… we wanted to make sure there was actually a correlation.

Recently a report put out by a top SEO firm, showed its own data on the ranking factors that Google is showing right now in their search results. Notice how high the correlation of social media (including Google +) activity they’re finding in the top-ranked websites across the web.

Surprising Google +1 Correlation: As part of a well-optimized website, Google +1’s are showing up more and more in top websites according to this report by SearchMetrics. But, don’t let this blind you from the other important factors that are just as important on your website.

You’ll also notice that just in this one graphic there are many many more things that also are showing up in websites that rank high… so don’t take this article as telling you to go out and buy 100 Google +1’s from Fiverr and your website will rank well.

That’s not the case.

Google +1’s Aren’t The Only Answer Though…

Yes, one of the first things we have our members do now on their websites is share their website with their friends and family to get some Google +1’s on their websites… which we make really easy with our built-in social media buttons that you can easily turn on or turn off.

But we do that just to cover our bases.

Your website still has to be built to…
- Have great content on the whole site that is optimized well for the search phrases sellers, buyers, tenants are typing into Google (which our system makes easier for you)
- Engage the visitor to stay on your website and click around (which Google looks at as a ranking factor)
- Have the elements in the actual website code that Google is looking for (which Carrot sites are built to be liked by Google from the ground up)
- Have solid backlinks pointing to your website (which we have training showing you how to do this)
All this to say… that there’s a lot that goes into getting your website ranked well in Google for search phrases motivated sellers, cash buyers, private lenders, tenants are typing into Google to find what you offer.

Google +1 action is just one of the latest things we’re seeing the top-ranked websites have in common versus the websites that are ranked lower.

So, How Can You Get More Google +1’s For Your Website?

Again, don’t look at this as a quick “SEO fix”. It’s not.

Getting some good social media “likes” is just one part of the puzzle to outrank your competition in Google for your real estate investing business.

But here are some quick easy ways to get some more Google +1 action on your website to give it a better chance of ranking well in your market (if your site is built and optimized with the other SEO factors in mind. If not, take a look at InvestorCarrot to save yourself time and money).
1. Setup Facebook and Google + sharing buttons on your website (just put them on your homepage and your blog post pages).
  You can have your web guy do this for you… or if you’re using WordPress and you want to keep hacking your own site together… grab a plugin and configure it. This is all built into your InvestorCarrot websites and pre-configured so you don’t have to do anything at all.
2. Create your own Google + account and go to your website, and click the “G+1” icon and while you’re there… hit the Facebook “Like” too
3. Share your website with your friends and family via email and Facebook with the quick message below:”Hey [name], we’re starting to really grow our real estate investing business and have been working on our website [insert your URL here]. Can you check out my website and give me feedback? It would help a ton!- [your name] PS – While you’re there… can you scroll to the bottom of the page and click the “Facebook Like” and “Google +1” buttons too?! It’ll help us out a ton. I’ll love ya forever! “Simple eh?
4. Do the same thing with your colleagues at your local REIA, your workplace, etc. Get as many people in your network to G +1 your website
That’s it.

That should get you at least 10-20 likes and +1’s… and give you a great head start.

What’s Next For You As A Real Estate Investor Trying To Rank Well In Google?

First, keep an eye out for new changes from Google.

It seems they come out monthly now.

Make sure you’re subscribed to our blog for weekly updates just like this to help you get better results with your real estate investor websites… and by better results… we mean ranking better, converting higher, and getting more leads and deals.

We send out weekly online marketing updates for real estate investors that’ll help you stay ahead of the competition.

Last, focus on quality and focus on what you do best.

If you’re not a web guy, not an expert on SEO, and not an expert on conversion rate optimization… leave that up to someone else… or another system that makes it easier (or does it for you) like InvestorCarrot.

The reason so many real estate investors are seeing such awesome success with Carrot is because we’re the experts in building websites that make it easier to attract high-quality visitors… and once the visitors get there, our websites convert higher than the average real estate investing website.

Whatever you choose… get out there and focus on getting your website ranked higher whether it’s leveraging our tools or your own time and energy. We have members generating dozens and dozens of leads per month and turning those into multiple deals per month… just from SEO.

Search Engine Optimization has some of the highest return on investment around… it just takes some time and commitment to do the right things on your website to get yourself ranked higher.

Hit me with your questions or just comments on what you’ve seen SEO wise in the comments section below. I’d love to hear from you!!!
November 25, 2014
Real Estate SEO Tips: Everything Investors Need to Know in Under 3 Minutes

Looking for quality Real Estate SEO Tips to help you generate leads? Congrats, you’ve found the best Real Estate SEO Tips out there… at least we think so. :)

Search Engine Optimization can be super confusing. There is a ton of information out there, and most of it is contradictory or outdated.

This video will help you break down in less than 3 minutes SEO tips for real estate investors.

Real Estate SEO Tips (VIDEO):

Real Estate Investor SEO Tip #1:

Don’t rush! SEO isn’t a short term solution. It’s a long term investment in your business. So be patient… and make plans to get leads from other sources (we can show you how, no worries).

Real Estate SEO Tip #2:

Our biggest Real Estate SEO Tip is to Do Your Homework… you have got to know what keywords are being searched in your market and understand what it will take to beat your competition – otherwise you won’t get the results you want. Get your Free SEO Bible here.

Real Estate Investors SEO Tip #3:

Keep on truckin… doing a little bit of SEO work every day (or at least a couple hours a week) will pay off well over the course of a year – if you’re focused and stick to a good plan (we’ll help you learn exactly what you need to know).

Real Estate Investor SEO Tip #4:

Google has, like, the smartest people ever working on this stuff. If you wanna try and beat ’em, go for it… be prepared to suffer the consequences. We’d recommend sticking to a solid, proven content marketing strategy – not cheap tricks. Get a free real estate marketing plan template.

Real Estate SEO Tip #5:

Credibility matters more than almost anything else. Once you prove that you (and your website) have Authority with Google, you’ll find it way easier to get high rankings on additional terms (and generate more leads). A focus on building Credibility for your business will improve your conversions on your site – add testimonials for social proof, improve your bio, and share your site in as many places as possible!

Real Estate SEO Tip #6:

Don’t buy those crummy spammy “instant result” automated SEO services – we’ve seen investors waste thousands of dollars and loads of time, just to find out they need to spend a lot more money on cleaning up the messes that were left behind. Seller intent keywords such as sell my house fast Dallas have much more quality searches for you than say, “what’s the value on my home?” Focus on high quality and you’ll get high-quality results. Our trusted vendors can help – click now to get started.

Real Estate SEO Tip #7:

Make sure you’re driving traffic to your website with at least a few different methods. Think of it as diversifying your marketing portfolio – so if one method crashes (when Google changes their algorithm some sites drop their rankings like a bad stock when the market is tanking), you won’t be left high and dry.

Real Estate Investors SEO Tip #8:

If you’re an expert in SEO, congrats! You’ll find our platform will save you a ton of time. If you’re just starting out on your internet marketing journey, you will want to stick with a proven, tested platform that helps you generate leads… oh hey, that’s what we built! ;) Launching a website on our platform takes less time than you spent to read this blog post – click here to see how fast it is to get started.

Want to get started?

Get access to a free demo of the InvestorCarrot technology platform!

Sign up now!
Pssst… Carrot Members, don’t forget to register for this week’s Live Coaching Call <— click to sign up now

Want to learn more about content marketing, lead generation and SEO?

The majority of search traffic comes from page 1 – these terms are highly competitive, so it’s super-valuable to invest in good SEO in your local market. We can help you. Click to see Brittany’s story of going from zero online leads to multiple leads per day – and how she was able to quit her wage job to become a full-time investor working for herself.

October 20, 2014
14 Real Estate Investor Lead Generation Strategies
Don’t make your real estate investor marketing tough on yourself! Just take it one step at a time. Today’s post will show you expected and unexpected strategies for real estate investor lead generation.

As the real estate market gets increasingly competitive, the search for quality inventory becomes tougher every day.

If you’re like most of our members, you’d prefer to have your phone ring… you don’t want to cold call people from a list, right? I’ve done quite a bit of cold calling over the years myself, and even though I’m pretty good at it, it’s way more work… it’s a whole lot easier to learn solid inbound marketing practices from others, then replicate them for yourself.

My goal here of this blog is to take the best practices from others who are some of the best at real estate investor lead generation and bring them to you. Like a butler carrying a silver tray…. I want to serve lead generation techniques to you with style. :)

We’ve shown you the not-so-secret formula for lead generation is simple: traffic & conversions.

One fun thing to remember: traffic can come from anywhere. If you have a creative, fun or clever way to generate leads: do it! Don’t get stuck in “paralysis by analysis” — trust yourself when you think “hey, this might work.”

Unique Strategies for Real Estate Investor Lead Generation

The Expected:
- Google Search
- Optimize Your Real Estate Investor Lead Generation Websites
- Craigslist for Real Estate Investors
- Bandit Signs and Bus Stops
- Direct Mail
- Bird Dogging
- Develop Properties
The Unexpected:
- Bing, Yahoo and “Off-Google” Search
- Optimize Yelp, Facebook… Everything
- Local Classifieds
- Flyers at Laundromats and Non-Profits
- Door Knocking with a “Down Payment”
- Turn Your Vendors Into Business Partners
- Develop Communities
Expected: Google Search

Carrot Members Ranking Organically on Google for We Buy Houses Los Angeles

Definitely one of our favorite places to generate leads!

A good chunk of our business comes from folks who search phrases like “real estate investor websites” online… then discover InvestorCarrot. They check us out, learn that we’ve got an awesome reputation… then start learning from us, launch a website, follow our training… and then get great results.

Lots of our members are beating their competitors on the top Google keywords in their markets using our sites. It’s super cool to see.

Our sites are written around some of the most frequently-searched keywords that generate >80% of the leads in most markets. We teach content marketing to real estate investors — so not only do you learn the top real estate investor keywords we use for our sites, our training teaches you how to generate leads from Google.

Unexpected: Bing, Yahoo and “Off-Google” Search

Carrot Members Ranking Organically on Bing for We Buy Houses Los Angeles

While Google gets about 66% of the traffic, they seem to get about 99% of the attention.

That leaves almost a third of the traffic out there without much competition. PPC costs are usually way lower on off-brand networks (although the conversion rates are often lower too, it still often ends up being cheaper than Google).

Expected: Optimize Your Real Estate Investor Lead Generation Websites

You know that you should be optimizing your website, right? Optimization is critical to getting found on search.

Fortunately, it’s super easy to optimize your Carrot site… we have the tools built right in, and we can help you rank high in your market.

Unexpected: Optimize Yelp, Facebook… Everything

Did you know that investors are using pages on other platforms to crowd out their competition in search, too?

I’ve seen pages on Yelp, Facebook, YouTube, Zillow, blog sites, and other big platforms used to dominate top keywords in busy markets.

This is a really smart strategy because sites like Yelp and Facebook already have a ton of authority, so it’s way easier to rank your business’s page on their high-credibility site than on your brand new domain name.

I’d love to see more of our members dominating their local search by ranking different websites on the same keywords… and crowding out their competition.

Already a Carrot Member? Check Out Carrot’s Facebook Leads Masterclass

Learn how to drive leads to your site and build an audience with Facebook marketing.

Expected: Craigslist for Real Estate Investors

I love Craigslist, and I’ve gotten lots of real estate business from it. There are lots of investors crowding all over it in busy markets, often running very similar ads… and it’s still a great source of leads. It’s also free. Here’s tips on how to get Motivated Sellers from Craigslist, plus access to our Craigslist Posts-to-Profits training.

[cta offer=”craigslist” color=”orange”]

Unexpected: Geebo, Reachoo, and Other Local Classifieds

The same techniques that work so well on Craigslist also work for other local classified sites. I know one real estate investor who has had the same tiny little ad running for years in his local paper… I think he said it costs him about $80 per month to keep it there, and he makes about $25,000 per year off of the transactions that ad generates.

If you’ve got a local newspaper that doesn’t charge a ton, it’s probably a good idea to run a tiny ad with your phone number, especially if your competitor *isn’t* doing it.

It’s also not a bad idea to post ads on a lot of the free online sites that imitate Craigslist. On some of those sites, you might even get some SEO benefit when you link back to your site from your profile.

Expected: Bandit Signs and Bus Stops

Source: BiggerPockets

Lots of investors have tried putting up signs or buying bus stop ads.

They work, although paid ads are expensive and bandit signs are illegal in many areas (that’s why they got called “bandit” signs… cause they’re breaking the law).

Unexpected: Flyers at Laundromats and Non-Profits

If someone can’t afford to fix their washer, they might need to sell their house, right?

Most laundromats have a bulletin board where you can hang a flyer. Better yet, buy the laundromat. People pump quarters into those things all day long. ;)

Seriously though, make some quality fliers (or if you don’t have graphic design skills, hire someone)… and find the places where people go when they’re down-and-out.

Talk to folks at non-profit agencies who help with foreclosure and probate assistance, and see if they need a partner who buys houses or helps with short sales (depending on your specialties). You may be able to give them a donation from every transaction, depending on referral laws in your state. Check with a good attorney to be sure.

If you can build trust with the right agencies, you’ll have an ongoing deal pipeline for a long time. There are some insanely smart community development organizations who build housing and are solid real estate professionals. Don’t underestimate them.

If you can provide a great service for the same population they serve, they’ll be a great business alliance.

Plus, the partnership that you establish with them is great for press and building future credibility.

Expected: Direct Mail

Direct mail is still a viable real estate investor lead generation option, and it’s easy to replicate. There are a lot of systems for sale out there. It’s pretty expensive, and everyone’s doing it… if you’re in a busy market and using a popular system, you’re probably sending the same stuff as your competitors.

It’s still better than doing nothing. Direct mail campaigns tend to have about a 2-3% success rate, on average… so you’re definitely playing a numbers game.

Unexpected: Door Knocking with a “Down Payment”

I know this real estate investor lead generation method sounds crazy! But I know investors who do really well just walking up to houses and knocking on the door.

Of course, they know who they are targeting… after signs of disrepair, utility notices, etc., they walk up to the door… and if the owner is home, they give that person a $5 bill along with a business card… and let the homeowner know that it’s just a “down payment” when that seller is ready to sell. It’s pretty easy to get their contact info – shoot, let ’em know you wanna send ’em another $5 on their birthday.

I love that strategy… it’s a powerful psychological trigger to take money from someone.

And if you’re thinking “whoa, that’s a fast way to lose $5” – then you’ve probably never run a pay-per-click campaign on Google. If you’re not planning to spend some time and/or money on lead acquisition, you’re not making a serious plan.

Developing a list of people who have taken your “$5 down payment” and actually staying in touch with those people is a great way to get access to properties before anyone else in your market. You don’t want to go around giving away money… but if you can set yourself up to buy houses before anyone else, you’re winning.

Expected: Bird Dogging

Lots of real estate investors team up with “bird dogs” to send them leads. These are folks who (hopefully) do the work of finding potential off-market property sellers and then send you the leads. Depending on the bird dog and the strength of the lead, this might average out to a cost of $50-$1,500 per transaction.

Unexpected: Turn Your Vendors Into Business Partners

Often the people you already know are your key to growing your business… you might just not see the opportunity.

If you know an ambitious person… might be a sibling or a cousin, could be a virtual assistant, a student or a partially retired friend… even your spouse.

If you find someone who isn’t afraid to knock on doors and talk to people, that person could be a great potential partner for your real estate business. Or maybe you’re the type of person who loves to talk but hates technical details — then you might want to find someone who can help you crush it with online marketing.

Depending on the laws in your state, it might even make sense for you to help that person buy property under his or her name – or even together under a new LLC.

There are a lot of creative ways to structure deals.

As many industry veterans will tell you, often the price doesn’t matter as much as the terms.

When you’re calculating your profit from a transaction, what’s important isn’t just the price you paid… it’s the money you made.

If your subcontractor, virtual assistant, and your family are all working to help your business grow – if they have incentives, motivation and a clear path – you’ll have a

So don’t be afraid to partner up with other people who can help you generate leads…. and don’t be afraid to publish in unexpected places!

Expected: Develop Properties

As a real estate investor, you should always be looking for easy ways to add value to properties. If you could spend $5,000 to improve the landscaping and increase your sale price by $50,000 – that would be a no-brainer of a decision, right?

I like to think of my investments on a timeline… where can I add value today that I can pull out for the highest return later?

In other words, if I can get my hands on a fully-rented apartment building with crummy apartments and slowly rehab each one for pennies on the dollar by keeping a few decent workers busy, I’ll make a lot more money by never having to lose my cash flow.

If I build a 30-unit building from scratch, I’d have to have the money to wait until the building is mostly finished before I even take in any money… that means I’d have to take out a lot of loans, which all cut into my profit.

So generally speaking, I look for properties that are already occupied, but not making the kind of cash flow they could be making if they were cleaned up, improved and well-managed.

But either way, it comes down to the money… I like to find properties that need mostly cosmetic improvements because those are the cheapest ways to develop.

Great investors know how to add value to the properties they own to get exponential rates of return.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with some truly great investors along the way, and I’m looking forward to sharing more of what I learned from them… and what I’m still learning today from our awesome Carrot members – we’re lucky to have some of the nation’s top investors as our members, and we’re growing every day.

Unexpected: Develop Communities

As some of you know, I spent a decade in Chicago real estate… actually more when you count the years I spent as a kid getting dragged around to open houses by my mother, who loved to keep tabs on all the neighborhood real estate activity.

I got involved with over $1 billion worth of real estate during my time in Chicago… most of it when I was the managing broker of a really busy real estate brokerage that helped to develop one of the coolest communities – the Wicker Park / Bucktown / Logan Square areas on the city’s Northwest side.

My boss then was a tiger, and I’m sure she still is today. She built an amazing business from the ground up out of sheer will and determination.

She represented some of the top developers on the Near Northside – guys who would buy millions of dollars worth of properties each week, as inventory became available. My boss sold the condos and buildings. I managed the office, training leasing and sales agents. We sold over $100M in sales volume and leased out hundreds of apartments each year. It was the glory days of a booming economy.

But together, we sold a story. It was a story about the neighborhood, about the community… about the histories and cultures of the people who lived there.

After years and years of working in those communities, we saw incredible growth. Now, that wasn’t just from our efforts, or those of our developers… there were huge economic forces in a city like Chicago much larger than anything we were doing.

As successful brokers, we knew how to own the story of the neighborhood.

We sold it to our clients: buyers, sellers, investors, developers, and tenants.

Everyone wanted to participate in something larger than themselves… that’s that feeling of community that feels so good. When you’re really helping others, it shows… and people want to be a part of it.

Your Real Estate Investor Lead Generation Efforts…

should be centered on your community.

We do the same with Carrot: we think of our members first. We want to help you do the best possible marketing for your real estate investment business.

What’s working for you? Any unexpected techniques or tricks we should try? What’s got you stuck? What can we help you improve or understand better?

Let us know… hit us up in the comments section below — and don’t forget to sign up for this weeks Live Coaching Call!
October 7, 2014
YouTube Real Estate Marketing Tricks: Video Optimization To Get Leads
YouTube Real Estate Marketing doesn’t have to be tough, but if you want it to generate leads, you’d better optimize… we’ll show you how.

Want to get great results from your YouTube real estate marketing? Read these tips to find out how to get leads with videos!

Why use YouTube for real estate marketing?

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a YouTube real estate video is worth millions.

People can actually see you. They can hear you.

A video gives people a chance to build trust with you.

That trust is at the core of conversion strategy. Trust is what makes marketing work. People must have a certain amount of trust in order to make a purchase or fill out a form to get more info.

They have to believe in you.

That’s what makes video so great – it’s your chance to reach people, to connect with them, to inspire them to take action… to sell a house, to buy an investment… whatever you’ve got to offer, video can help you connect in a way that no other medium can do.

Think of it this way… a great sales video can keep selling for years, while you’re kicking back with your feet up.

So without further ado, here are the keys to getting great results from video marketing:

#1 – Do your keyword research.

I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to research your keywords.

You must make sure that you’re optimizing for keywords that are actually being searched in your market.

People search on YouTube differently than they do in regular Google search. They often use different terms and slightly different phrases. So don’t assume that the keyword research you did months ago when you were thinking about optimizing your site is going to be enough for a good video marketing campaign.

Unfortunately, Google shut off the tool that told us directly what was being searched on YouTube… best we can see now is what they provide in their Display AdWords Planner – you’ll need a free Google account to use the tool.

Here’s what the Display Tool looks like:

When you’re using Display Planner, make sure to target only your local market to see your *local* search traffic… you probably don’t want or need leads from areas across the world. :) Want some suggestions of terms? Keep reading.

#2 – Use no more than 2 keywords per video

For search marketing purposes, it’s way better to make a lot of small videos on YouTube targeting many keywords than to make one long one.

Think about it… people are searching a specific term, so you want your video to be directly related to that specific term. Sure, you can optimize a generic video a bunch of times with a lot of terms… but that technique won’t get good results.

Here are a few places where keywords might help:
- Title
- Tags
- Description
- Channel name
- Playlist titles
- Playlist description
- Comment field
- YouTube hashtags
- Social media posts that link to YouTube
- Website
- Annotations
- Captions
- Content or script
- Thumbnails
- Graphics in video
- Channel art
- Channel icon
- Custom Bitly links
Remember, Google is very smart. They work incredibly hard to make sure that good results climb to the top of their searches… so if you concentrate on making really high-quality content and optimizing it, you’ll get great results from it.

Don’t try to do too much with one video… make a plan to create new videos often.

#3 – Focus on making a great YouTube Real Estate Channel

Yeah, I know… you wanna just make one video, then call it quits.

But seriously, don’t bother. Trying to make one video will make you nuts. You can’t say everything you need to say in 90 seconds unless you’re super focused on just one or two keywords.

Either prepare to make video marketing a big part of your business, or don’t do it at all.

If you’re gonna do video marketing on YouTube, you’ll want to set up a really great YouTube channel.

That’s the goal… the top of the mountain you’ll want to climb. High credibility, high trust, high views… high revenue. :)

Videos that are on a great channel go to the top of the rankings.

Don’t stress about creating a great channel – it’s not something that will happen overnight. It’s the same offline and online – your focus should be on building high-quality, educational content that helps people in your local market.

That’s a long-term activity for major wealth-building, not a short-term, get-rich-quick trick.

So organize yourself in the way that makes the most sense for your working style.

Can you make one video per week? In a year you’ll have 52 videos… that’s a good amount for a channel.

Need help making your videos?

Organize it as a project instead… plan to make 20-30 videos at once. It takes less time and money than you’d think.

You can totally do it yourself, or hire some help.

You’ll need 3 people to help you:
- A copywriter to help you script out your videos to make great content
- A videographer to help you film and edit your videos
- A search marketer to help you optimize your videos
That last piece is so important… there are so many examples of great quality videos that get no views, simply because they weren’t set up right from the beginning.

But like everything else, just optimizing on the video alone might not be enough to get it to the top of the search.

#4 – Surround Your Videos With Great Content

Here’s where you can really put your Carrot sites to use: embed your videos!

You might not want to put a video right on the top of your home page… we’ve found that those can lower your conversion rates. It’s important not to stuff videos any old spot… but to put them in the right places.

Put them into blog posts or pages that are optimized for the same keyword, and that will help Google (and the other search engines) realize the value of your video and serve it up to the right audience.

You can also send out videos as a part of a well-written press release, too – that will help increase your exposure and connect up your video with your keywords on many sites.

Just like a page, a video needs credibility coming from the outside… the more related places where your video appears, the better. It’s a great practice to embed your video on an optimized Carrot page, then focus on getting high-quality back links directly to that page… that will help increase your site’s ranking and reputation as well as your video at the same time.

#5 – Learn All You Can About Video Marketing

We’re gonna have a special guest for tomorrow’s Live MasterMind Call… and we’re gonna talk a bunch about video marketing, why real estate investors have been too shy to use it well, and what a huge set of opportunities there are gonna be coming up for investors who do the work of setting up a really great video marketing system for themselves.

So make sure you sign up and register here!

If you’re not already a member, sign up now to join Carrot… you’ll be glad you did.

Let us know if that helps… we’d love to answer any questions you’ve got. Happy Marketing! :)
September 23, 2014
The #1 Skill Your Real Estate Marketing Should Include Right Now
Your real estate marketing plan should be based on a powerful story – like the ones told by Windell Campbell, a great teacher, and puppeteer. Our trainings can help you learn how. Don’t worry, you don’t need to like kids or puppets… we do, but it’s not a requirement. ;) You’ve just gotta be willing to learn with us.

Does your real estate marketing tell a story, or are you just advertising?

After all, stories are the most powerful tool of communication, in business and in life.

Humans communicate best through stories. How good are your storytelling skills?

Besides reading this post, what are you doing to develop those skills?

If you’re like most of our members, you’re constantly learning and developing your skills. Most of our members joined because they knew we’d give ’em a website that converted way higher than the typical real estate investor website, but they didn’t really understand our highest value: teaching skills.

Storytelling is one of the most powerful skills you can possess.

You already know that marketing is an insanely valuable skill. Marketing brings leads, and leads bring revenue. That’s obvious.

But here’s the thing that most people don’t get about marketing: it’s all about telling a great story.

STOP! Before going further, take some time to listen to how Max Maxwell Leverages Online Real Estate Marketing and Inspirational Storytelling to Close 1 in 4 Leads

Behind every great brand is a powerful story that most consumers never see. Companies like Nike, Apple, and Coca-Cola didn’t become household names because of their relentless pursuit of quality or their fantastic products – although those factors were certainly critical to their success.

Companies become known for their stories. A great brand story is behind every powerful piece of marketing you’ve ever seen. Every great ad, every flawless logo, every iconic image was all carefully planned to contribute to the way that consumers view that brand.

A powerful story actually creates the company’s identity, building up like thin coats of plaster, brushed on slowly, layer by layer to form a wall.

Think about how many times you’ve heard of Nike, Apple, or Coca-Cola – way too many to count, right?

Every time you heard that company’s name mentioned, it contributed to the story in your mind about that company.

Your brand’s story can be that powerful.

Sure, I know – you don’t have Coca-Cola’s marketing budget. But a powerful story travels, and it takes on a life of its own. A truly powerful story is one that can transform the lives of the people who hear it.

But think about it…
- Doesn’t it transform someone’s life to get rid of a property that has been plaguing them with problems?
- What’s it like for someone to finally get the burden of a pending foreclosure off of their back?
- What’s it like for someone to finally get through probate?
It’s a huge relief. It’s a life-changing experience. It is transformative.

Tell that story. Make your story connect people with your business.

Sure, we’ve done a lot of the hard work for you. When you launch one of our sites for Motivated Sellers, Cash Buyers and Private Lenders, or Rent to Own Tenants, you’re fully loaded with a ton of key components that help you tell visitors to your site a great story about your business.

But if you want to tell a truly powerful story, you’ve gotta get personal.

Here are some questions you should ask yourself when preparing to tell your most powerful story:
- What are the toughest problems facing people who are looking for help from my business?
- How can my business change people’s lives?
- How can my business impact my communities?
- Why am I the exact right person to help?
- What experience do I have that allows me to relate to the person I’m trying to reach?
Those are really tough questions, no doubt. We’ve wrestled with them ourselves while building this business.

There’s a whole lot of benefit to be had in crafting a true story-based content marketing strategy around your Carrot site.

We’re here to help you learn how to tell your best story. We have powerful tools and trainings that help you hone your skills and grow your business… like our weekly Live Coaching Call.

We weave in all kinds of powerful tricks, tips, and techniques into an interactive, lively discussion with some of the top real estate minds in the country.

Some of the top real estate investors in the country are Carrot members, too – they show up on those calls each week because they’re here with us to learn and improve – just like you.

Storytelling is the most important skill that you can learn with us. It’s one of those skills that is considered to be a “mastery” skill – like leadership, music, or golf. You never really “master” those skills – you just keep improving, practicing, and developing them.

Sports legends like Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan (when he was still pro) never stopped working to improve their top skill. If you’re dead set on success in real estate, you need to tell great stories.

After all, every negotiation is kinda like a story, isn’t it?

Think about it… you’re trying to convince the person on the other side of the table to tip things in your favor, aren’t you?

You want to get the best possible price when you’re buying or selling, right?

That’s the story you’ve gotta know how to tell.

But that’s a little later in the process.

When someone is first visiting your website, they are trying to find reasons not to trust you.

You have to give them reasons to believe that you know what you’re doing, and that you can help them with their problem.

If they don’t see that you can solve their problem, they won’t turn into a lead. They’ll leave the page, and call your competitor.

Even if they are trying to solve the wrong problem, they have to see the solution they believe will work.

That’s the secret to our high conversion rates, folks… they establish credibility, and they build trust.

They tell a powerful story.

But if you want the best results out of your business, the skill you have to improve is your storytelling.

Use your Carrot real estate website as a platform to tell your most powerful story.

We’re here to help.

Join up on Wednesday for our weekly Live Coaching Call.

Or if you’re not already a member, get on board – join us now.
September 2, 2014
How to Create Custom Real Estate Reports for Lead Generation
InvestorCarrot websites include some pretty cool Free Reports that will help you generate leads, plus you can create unlimited reports of your own to offer, too! Click the picture to sign up for Carrot right now, or keep reading to find out more about how to get great results from your Report Opt-Ins.

Real estate marketing: should it be based on data or stories?

The answer: Both.

Reports are a great example. A good report is full of credible data, but it also tells a story. A great report builds credibility that helps you get better results in your future negotiations.

So how do you use data to tell a great story that helps you improve your credibility?

Just keep reading. ;)

This post will tell you about the awesome Free Reports that are included with our sites to help you generate leads and conversions, plus I’ll let you know a few awesome tricks and tips to get even better results in your local market.

First off, here’s what’s included in our sites:

Motivated Seller Free Reports In Your System
- Selling To A Real Estate Investor (already inside of our motivated seller websites)
- 5 Ways To Stop or Avoid Foreclosure (already inside of our motivated seller websites)
Free Investor Reports In Your System
- Passive Income Investing Report (already inside of our main company and cash buyer websites)
- Private Lending Report (already inside of our main company and cash buyer websites)
If you’re already an InvestorCarrot Member, you can:

Brand and Customize Your Free Reports

If you want to edit / brand these free reports you can click here to gain access to the Microsoft Word document versions of these reports.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: These reports are the property of Carrot and are only for the use of active / paying InvestorCarrot members. As long as you’re an active InvestorCarrot member you can use these all you want! If you’re not an active InvestorCarrot member and would like to use our free reports, see our pricing and plans and sign up for a plan that’s right for you. All Copyright violators will be pursued.

Once you brand them…
1. “Save As PDF” to save them as a pdf
2. Upload them to your website(s) via the Media tab in your website dashboard
3. Update the download link on the download page on your website to point to this new PDF file
4. Save, and you’re done!
If you need help just hit us up on support or LIVE chat! We’re here for ya!

If you’re looking for an innovative way to stand out in your market, you should:

Create High-Value Free Reports for Your Market

You don’t even have to write these reports yourself.

Most of the time you can find a decent blogger in your local marketplace who is willing to work for cheap… plus, they might even be a good partner to help you drive traffic and build your lists. You never know til you look, right?

But what kind of Free Reports should you create?

I’ll let you know a few ideas for content that will help you reach your target audience.

Start with the end in mind. Who are you trying to reach?

1. Motivated Sellers.

What types of situations can you help solve?

There are countless examples of reports out there on what folks facing foreclosure, divorce, probate can do… so create one that’s specific to your market!

Localize it… check out the rules and regs in your market. Interview a couple of brokers, attorneys, title company reps, folks from local non-profits… shoot, interview anyone who might be able to add a few great local tips and resources for folks with distressed properties and make sure to cite ’em as a source. It will help boost your credibility (and grow your referral network) to include other local experts as sources in your report.

What does someone in your area need to know about the difficulties of selling in your market? Show sellers what you do for them in a transaction. If you can eliminate their hassles, you’ll earn their business.

Make sure your report has a compelling title, like “What _______ Area Sellers MUST Know Before Selling Property in 2014” that reflects the value you’re offering within that report.

If your report has a lot of great value within it, you’ll just have to list out the contents on a Lead Page and you’ll get great conversions from it. Just focus on creating high value with information that Motivated Sellers in your market should know, and you’ll end up with a great Free Report that will generate good leads for your business when you market it (more on that in a second).

2. Real Estate Buyers, Investors, and Lenders.

Can you provide deep insight and analysis for folks in your market who are investing in real estate?

(Or can you hire a good writer and analyst?)

If you can compile local market data, broken down by property type, from a few sources and show the different rates of return that local investors and real estate owners have been able to earn, chances are good you’re well on the way to delivering a very valuable report for your local real estate market.

Investors love data – and a Free Report is a great way to judge a potential partner for future business. After all, opting into a form is a pretty low-risk proposition… so if you can deliver even a decent basic overview of the past 5 years within your market, and perhaps some quotes from local media, brokers, and other sources of information… you’ll have high-quality content to offer.

And that’s the big goal here, folks… it’s all about high-quality content.

Our sites deliver some great Free Reports that you can customize and brand with your information, plus easy-to-implement Lead Pages to accompany each report. That’s included with every plan we offer.

But the best part – you can create unlimited amounts of Free Reports and Lead Pages on each site.

So get out there and start writing!

Or get ready to hire someone who can help you deliver a great Local Market Report.

Use Great Data and Tell Powerful Stories

If you can use data and stories to show folks how you’ll solve their real estate problems, you will win.

In this week’s Coaching Call, I’m going to let you show you exactly how easy this is to do… plus, I’ll show you some easy and free sources of data on your local market that you can use to start building an awesome, totally unique Free Report for your market…. and you’ll get a ton of great ideas that you can start implementing for your business right away.

I’ll even tell you how to turn your reports into Press Releases that get picked up by the local media… I’ve done it before for clients, and it’s the same techniques that have gotten me and my clients interviewed on the radio, by newspaper reporters, and filmed on television.

There is simply no better advertisement for your business than getting covered by the local media… the best part is that it’s totally free!

Much like our weekly Coaching calls… they’re free for our Members, at least.

So sign up for that call right now – I’m looking forward to telling you all about how to add some serious value to your business (and bottom line).

And if you’re not already a member… sign up now!
June 9, 2014

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