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EP 166: [GREATEST HITS] After 20 Years Tyler Was Going To Give Up Real Estate Until He Made These 3 Changes w/ Tyler Ford

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Listen to the CarrotCast Podcast and Subscribe Below! Long story short, I had my main guy that had worked with for ten years, did all of my rehabs, totally trusted him. I was getting ready to go out of town and he was going to be finished with this job before I got back and I prepaid him and also loaded up a Home Depot card. I can home and no work was done and he was nowhere to be found. Tyler Ford I’m crazy excited about this CarrotCast guest. Let me introduce you to Tyler Ford because his story is exactly why we do what do here at Carrot. People ask us why we do what we do. It’s not for the lead generation side of things. That’s what we do. That’s how we help our clients crush it and grow predictable, consistent, profitable businesses. They finally have freedom, flexibility, finances, and can make an impact. That’s why we do it. That’s what we do. Why we do it is exactly Tyler’s story. He’s gonna walk through how he was … he’s been in real estate for 20 years, and he was about to give up his entire business January of 2017, and he made one change that he’s gonna be talking about on the episode of the CarrotCast that made the years to his real estate career he’s ever had, the happiest he’s ever been in his business, and he’s also growing. It’s still just him and his wife flipping but he’s growing his agent business and he’s insanely happy. He’s gaining momentum, and every one of us wants momentum. As entrepreneurs, momentum is so, so important. When you don’t have it, you can feel it. You’re down, you’re out, you’re getting stressed, you’re tired. You just don’t feel like you’re doing the right things. When you have it, nothing can go wrong and that’s where Tyler is right now. So, if you guys wanna know how he unlocked that momentum, and how he went from almost giving up his 20-year real estate business January of 2017 to now, completely shifted, happy, most profitable as ever, he’s gonna tell you. But first, he mentions a couple episodes of the CarrotCast in here that changed his life, and some of these things were some of those pivotal points for him that changed his mindset, that got him thinking in a different way. So, key into those podcast episodes. One of them is my Five Non-Negotiables episode. We’ve actually done this one twice, go back in the archives in iTunes or on CarrotCast.com. Find the one about my five non-negotiables. That one changed my life and Tyler mentioned it changed his life as well. There are a couple of other resources there, too. I want you to go to carrot.com/Tyler and you’re gonna be able to go to this episode if you’re listening to it on iTunes or watching it on YouTube, and you’re gonna be able to download Tyler’s SEO strategy for real estate investors that he developed in conjunction with our formula during 2017 that helped him get that momentum. So, this is basically a process of formula that you can follow if you’re in a spot in your business to where you’re not having as much fun as you wanna have or it’s not as profitable as you wanna have it. Without further ado, let’s welcome in Tyler Ford. Also, go to the CarrotCast on iTunes and give us a rating and review. And, be sure to let us know how we’re doing. We appreciated your feedback! Listen to the CarrotCast Podcast You might … Continued

5 Pre-Launch Steps to Set Your Real Estate PPC Campaign Up For Success

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When you click that big red launch button… Something’s gonna happen. Either the campaigns that you created will give you a healthy ROI — the phone will ring, leads will flow, and deals will close. OR… crickets. And if you’ve ever tried your luck at PPC ads for your real estate investing business before, then you’ve probably experienced just as many crickets as conversions (or maybe a few more of the crickets…). That isn’t because PPC advertising doesn’t work for the real estate industry. For many of our members at Carrot, paid ads drive business revenue BIG time. If you do it right, then paid advertising can become a real driving force for your business — a tool you can depend upon to create quick lead generation and revenue flow. But getting it right, of course, is sort of the issue. Truth is, the success of your PPC campaign for finding motivated searchers (buyers or sellers) depends largely upon one thing: how you prepare before you launch. Here are 5 pre-launch steps to give your real estate PPC campaigns the best possible chance of success Step #1: Do Market-Specific Keyword Research (Image Source) Perhaps the biggest mistake that new PPC advertisers make is launching a campaign without first doing market research. It’s remarkably easy to assume that you know your market already. After all, you’ve probably talked with your market, done at least a few deals, and maybe even lived in your area of operation for quite some time. Regardless, don’t skip this step. ;) Spending a little extra time to ensure you’re targeting the right people with your PPC campaign and writing copy that resonates with their problems, pains, fears, and desires is the single most powerful thing you can do to increase your ROI and website conversion rate once launched. In regards to PPC, keyword research is the equivalent of market research. You can use Google AdWords Keyword Planner and/or Ubersuggest to perform your research. Here’s what you want to pay attention to… Competition — How many other people are competing for this keyword phrase? The more people you’re competing with, the higher your cost-per-click will soar. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. So long as the keyword phrase is high value and you can afford the cost-per-click while maintaining a healthy ROI, then high competition might be an indicator of a valuable keyword phrase. If you have a smaller budget, though, then you might consider targeting something less competitive. Suggested Bid — In Google AdWords Keyword Planner, this is the number that Google suggests you bid in order to get consistent clicks and impressions. When you see this number, keep your budget in mind and ensure that the two numbers line up for a healthy ROI. Search Volume — This is the monthly number of people who search for a given keyword phrase every month. More search volume means more people to get your ad in front of. Low search volume means the opposite. Intent — This is perhaps the most important part of your keyword research. What is the intent behind the keyword that you’re considering targeting with your PPC campaign? If the person is looking for a real estate agent and you’re a wholesaler, for instance, then the keyword won’t bring you many conversions. Regardless of search volume, competition, and suggested bid, the intent of the searcher, what they actually want when they type that into Google, should make the final decision about which keywords you target and which ones you throw out. Step #2: Analyze Your Competition (Image Source) In addition to doing market research, it’s also worth spending a bit of … Continued

How Long Does it Take a Real Estate Website to Show Up on The First Page of Google?

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You want to rank your real estate website on the first page of Google. And you’re no SEO rookie — you understand that ranking on the first page for your target keyword phrase is going to take some time, it’s going to take some work, and it’s going to take some content creation. But just how long is it going to take you to rank on Google? When can you expect rankings and passive traffic to pay you back for all your hard work? That’s the question I intend to answer for you in this article. But first… just how powerful is the first page of Google anyways? The Power Of Google’s First Page… What is the primary reason that anyone — real estate investors and agents included — want to rank their website in Google? The answer is simple. Passive traffic. High-quality leads. And less money spent on advertising. With that, you can build a bigger business and establish yourself as the go-to real estate expert in your market. Financial predictability and businesses growth — that’s what high rankings promise your business. But here’s the thing… ranking in Google isn’t enough. Most online tools will consider your website as ranking if it’s within the first 100 results for your given keyword phrase. Answer me this, though: when has anyone ever clicked through 100 results after searching for something in Google? Yeah… never. Which is exactly why the first page of Google is the only place with significant click-through rates (1st position takes 35% of the clicks). (Image Source) If your result gets to page 2, 3, 4, or 5, the click-through rate is negligible. In other words, if you want to live the passive-traffic and high lead-gen dream that SEO promises, you must be on the first page. Nothing else will get you the results you’re looking for. Once you pull off getting your website on the first page of Google’s rankings, though, click-through rate isn’t the only benefit — the lead quality is typically much higher than those from paid advertising, meaning a high close-rate for pennies on the dollar. Here’s what Tyler Ford (a real estate agent and investor) has to say about this. Get Your Carrot Website Today and Start Generating Leads in No Time! How Long Will It Take You To Get To The First Page? Okay — so you know how valuable the first page of Google is. You understand that the lead quality is typically much higher, the leads are much cheaper, and they take much less work to generate (over the long term, of course). Note: This isn’t to say that you should ignore paid advertising altogether. Many Carrot members use PPC and direct mail to get leads immediately but then invest in SEO for their long-term business sustainability and financial predictability. But how long is it going to take you to rank on the first page of Google? Unfortunately, I can’t answer that question with a simple number of months. Generally speaking, though, you should expect to see some type of positive movement with your rankings within 3-12 months, depending on a few different factors. Here are the 4 biggest factors I’m referring to. Taking these into consideration, your website should take between 3-12 months to get near the first page of Google for your target keyword phrase, moving up and down that spectrum depending on… The 4 Biggest Ranking Considerations 1. Keyword Competition The more real estate investors or agents that you have to compete with for page one of your target keyword phrase, the longer it’ll take to see the results you’re looking for. Of course, different … Continued

EP 143: You Must Go DOWN Before Coming UP

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What fears do you need to conquer in order to become the absolute best version of yourself? Trevor Mauch, CEO of Carrot I thought I had it all figured out. I was making over 100k a year as my own boss. But I wasn’t happy… I wasn’t who I wanted to become – the best version of myself. I was Insecure. I was afraid of failing. There had to be something more and I was going to do whatever it took to take the leap of faith, even if it meant walking away from everything I’d built. It was time to chase my vision. It was time to take a risk, conquer my fears, my insecurities, and forget about what other people think. It was time to go down, so I could go up. Listen to the CarrotCast Podcast: The Conversation 2:18 – I was miserable… It was 2010 and I’d hit a financial low of making just 16k a year. Something had to change. I knew there was more. More purpose, more happiness, more purpose. I had to transform. 4:48 – Why risks and sacrifices, and ultimately facing your fears must come before success: A tree, a seed, and a bird. 6:57 – 15-20 years the tree is fully grown, producing fruit. What happens when a baby bird learns how to fly? He has to stand on the edge of the nest first. 10:03 – I finally had a breakthrough and netted 15k in one day! At the time I thought I had it all figured out. But I wasn’t happy. I wasn’t where I wanted to be. I had to take a leap of faith and figure out how to make money while being happy, having purpose, and adding value. 12:15 – I’m someone who doesn’t ask for help. I tried to leave it all up to myself and do it alone. I had to get over that. I had to shed my shell, get transparent, and get over my insecurities. 15:04 – “I’ve got a plan” Why any time someone criticizes you for following your own dreams, they’re speaking to their own insecurities or inabilities. 19:35 – Ego was one of my biggest obstacles. I had to conquer that too. 20:56 – I want to give you permission to take a step back, to forget what other people might think, and take a step down, so you can grow up. Let me walk you through writing down your “shells” aka what’s holding you back. What do you need to conquer? 23:39 – Now write down your vision – the seed, water, and the tree. Does it get you insanely excited? Does it give you the energy you need to become your best self? 24:55 – Find your purpose.   RESOURCES FOR YOU Check out our blog! Check out our podcast! ADDITIONAL CARROTCAST EPISODES EP 103: Forgot To Have Fun? Lost Touch With Your Passions? This 7 Minutes Can Change It All For You: CarrotCast EP 101: I Hung Out With 6 People Each Worth $300M+ This Month… 6 KEY Lessons I Learned: CarrotCast EP 36: 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

9 Carrot-tested Resources for Building a World-class Support Team

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There’s a lot of resources available when it comes to increasing your skills. At Carrot, we want to focus on being the best at providing strategies, websites and support so that your business can be the best business out there. We want to share a few resources with you on how you can help serve people you connect with. These resources have served our team well. It’s applicable to anyone who is looking to provide phenomenal service in their business. We are going to keep this as short as possible but would love to hear from you regarding your recommendations and suggestions! Here are 9 Carrot-tested Resources for Building a World-class Support Team 3 Great Podcasts Lee Cockerell – Talks about how to create magic within your business based on your interactions with your business. The episodes are short, perfect for a commute, and rife with applicable information. Beyond Philosophy – A great podcast for those who love the science behind interactions. This podcast talks breaks down the psychology and emotion behind your customer’s behavior. Plus, they’re British! StoryBrand – A novel our team read about how to position yourself in the story of your prospects’ success. We gleaned much from our book club and would love to share this podcast hosted by author Donald Miller. 5 Must-read Books There’s something about the texture and smell of a book that makes you want to cozy up and go on a journey with the author. These books are a handful of the ones we have read and studied along the way of building Carrot. Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose This is the first book members of our team read. Tony Hsieh of Zappos leads you through a biographical encounter for how his business grew by focusing on customer support and learning to listen to his customers and employees. His cultural insights are imperative if you are looking to scale and build a larger customer success team. The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty We love this book and its insight into how our entire world is shifting to self-serve and how quickly things are happening. The Effortless Experience engages its reader and connects the dots between self-service and support. It will walk you through how you can support someone by making things as easy as possible without enabling the person you are supporting. It provides insight into tracking encounters to measure that effort and how likely someone would be to return to your service. The authors dive into the ways someone can experience frustration and hindrance in massive and minute ways. A must-read if you find that your product and service can be a bit complicated at times. Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity Our entire company read this book together and the ensuing candid conversations were priceless. This book is a must-read for any team looking to improve their communications and increase involvement. You must read this book! Turn The Ship Around: A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders Can we make this into a movie? Navy Lieutenant David Marquet recites his experience in turning the worst performing submarine into the best and how it was achieved through the way he spoke with others. His insight into letting folks own their station and to be accountable are unparalleled. Turn The Ship Around is a great book on overall leadership to allow your team to drive the ship and destination. It’s an amazing resource to learn how to encourage ownership. Lean Analytics: Use Data To Build A Startup Faster … Continued

10 Reasons Why Carrot is One of the Fastest Growing Start-ups in the Nation

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Recently, we were placed as the 699th fastest growing company in the nation according to the Inc. 5000 list. If I’m being honest, this came as a surprise to many of us. Sure – we’ve all known for a while that Carrot is growing quickly (I think we hired 4 or 5 people in the last 6 months, making us a team of 20). But for the most part, we’re working, planning new projects, and having a blast while we do it. Finding that we’re within the thousand fastest growing company in all of the U.S. is a bit like shooting hoops every day at the local gym and finding out five years later that you’re one of the best free-throwers in the nation… You were just doing it because you enjoy it, but somewhere along the way, you became one of the best. Really? Why? What did we do differently?  Well, we put together a list of 10 of our most integral beliefs as a company that contributed to landing on the Inc. 5000 list. We think (whatever that’s worth) that it’s these fundamental beliefs which guide our success and could guide yours as well. 1. Culture is More Important than Growth Why do people get out of bed every day? Why do they go to work? What determines how hard they work, how productive they are, or the quality of that work? At Carrot, we believe people work harder and better when they love what they do and who they work with. Every person on the Carrot team was chosen because of their passion for life – creating a culture that prioritizes itself before everything else. The wonderful thing about a culture-focussed business, though, is that growth naturally follows. When people love what they do and have genuine relationships with coworkers, they work harder and they stay around longer. 2. Honesty is More Important than Sales While we passionately believe that Carrot is a good fit for the vast majority of real estate investors and agents around the nation, we also understand that Carrot isn’t a fit for everyone. Some investors and agents have found success elsewhere – through a competitor or a private web development company – and more power to them! We offer a service, we do the best that we can, and we believe that it’s one of the best real estate marketing solutions around. Still, it isn’t for everyone. And we’d rather have a mutually beneficial relationship with our customers than sell them something they don’t need. 3. One Lost Member is a Tragedy Every member cancellation comes through our company’s #General Slack channel – which everyone in the company has access to. When someone cancels, we try to save them if we feel they’ve made a mistake – not through sales-speak and unhelpful promises, but through genuine concern for their business and a desire to help. Many people cancel because they’re discouraged about business in general and they’ve hit a breaking point. These people just need a gentle hand to guide them in the right direction. At Carrot, doing that isn’t below us. If our desire is to help our customers, then that means we have to meet them where they are. Often times, a cancellation is a cry for help. Which is why we treat every cancellation as a tragedy and an opportunity to inspire someone who’s lost hope. 4. Dreaming Big is More Important than Always Succeeding We have an ambitious team of 20 people at Carrot. People from support, marketing, product, services, and sales often have new crazy ideas they’d like to implement. Whether … Continued

Exciting Google Ads Update: Google Is Expanding Search Ads Again! What You Need to Know

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It’s already been two years (2016) since Google first released Expanded Text Ads. Ads expanded by 50% and the possibilities for new ad copy generated excitement. But, as with most things, the newness has subsided. As well as search patterns and the devices we use to search with. More people are using mobile devices with larger displays. A trend that will continue into 2021. That is why Google Ads (previously Google AdWords) is once again improving your expanded text ads by giving you the opportunity to add more ad copy. You now have an option of an extra headline and an extra description (of 90 characters now) to all your expanded text ads! Here is what you need to know for your real estate campaigns. What Options are Now Available in Your Ads The improvements to your expanded text ads give you more character space and, importantly, the OPPORTUNITY to cut through the clutter and stand out from your competition. You now can have three 30-character headlines. Compared to two headlines previously. Also! Google is adding a second description line and increasing BOTH descriptions to contain 90 characters! Compared to just one 80 character description. Ads now give you the opportunity to be nearly twice as large, giving you up to 300 total characters. You Might Be Thinking “Are My Old Ads Going to Go Away?” No. At least not in the immediate future. The ads you are running today will not go away or stop showing. But! As more of the competition starts to adopt the new ad format, the old, smaller, ad formats could be holding you back. So now is the time to start updating your ads. What Does This Really Mean to You We can safely assume that Google has found these larger ads to attract more clicks than the previous ad formats. I don’t think Google would release a feature if it wasn’t in the interest of higher click-through rates. The migration to the new ad format can be time-consuming. Yes, the new additions are great, but they also might not flow with your current ad copy. So, there might be a need to create a fresh batch of ads. Even if this is not the case, adding in an extra headline and description will take time. You can save some by using the Google Ads Editor. You need to text. Just because there is extra space, doesn’t necessarily mean your real estate ads are going to perform better. Start by testing out batches of “old” vs. “new” ad copy in select ad groups and move on from there. You Might Also Be Thinking “Will My New Expanded Text Ads Always Show All 3 Headlines and 2 Descriptions?” Nope. There is not enough space for a 300-character ad on small screens, so your ad may not show the third headline or second description area. But, your ad will shot the first and second headlines and first description just like they do now. IMPORTANT: With that in mind, be sure to craft your ads with two compelling headlines and one compelling description. Create the mindset that you can now use the third headline and second description to reinforce your messaging. Wondering What These New Ads Might Look Like? You’ll receive more ad copy on mobile. Check out the example highlighted in ORANGE. On desktop devices, you’ll be at the mercy of how Google Ads will display your ad.   This news might be an exciting opportunity, it also may be a daunting task to some. Have fun with this opportunity to create different offers and call-to-actions. … Continued

Super-Charge Your Real Estate Investor Lead Generation with Facebook Ads

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For those of you that know me, you know I’ve been a huge advocate of using Facebook ads to turbocharge your real estate investing business, especially as of late. There are only a few things that work really well to get deeply discounted properties (mailing, cold calling, and online ads). Because EVERYONE is mailing the cost per acquisition for mailers has gone through the roof. Cold calling works great, but it is something that most investors won’t do. This is where real estate investor lead generation with Facebook ads fit in: they are just as easy to scale as mailers and don’t require you to pound the phone all day. Unlike other forms of marketing, Facebook ads are extremely predictable. When you mail or cold call, there is a lot of variability on a month to month basis in terms of cost per lead. When it comes to Facebook, you know within a very narrow window what your cost per lead is. Another major benefit of Facebook ads is that they can also be turned up at a moment’s notice. So when you need more leads you can ramp up your campaigns, and vice versa. Facebook Ads for Real Estate: The Why and How of Getting (REAL) Leads Real Estate Investor Lead Generation with Facebook: Making Money on Facebook Leads Now that we know the benefits of Facebook Ads, let’s talk about the execution. The Targeting: For real estate investor lead generation it is crucial that if you are paying to show your ads, that you are showing the right people.  One of the main reasons why Facebook is such an incredible tool and why Facebook is worth so much money as a company is that Facebook knows everything about you. They know your age, whether you are a homeowner, what you like(and don’t like), and much more. And with this information, you can put your ads in front of only the people who are most likely to want to sell to an investor. There are two ways to achieve this: 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. The Ad Itself: One important thing to understand about Facebook ads is that you are interrupting what someone is currently doing. They didn’t come on Facebook to see an ad.  They came to see what their friends were up to. So from a high level, it is critical that your ad stands out, or else it won’t even get noticed. There are a few important things to make sure your ad stands out. The image – this is the most important part of your ad, believe it or not. The picture is what “stops” the person from scrolling. If you can’t stop them from scrolling, they won’t read the ad and you are dead in the water. The wording – once the person “stopped” because of the image that you used, the next thing you need to master is the “copy” or the wording of your ad. Where most people make a mistake is that they write extremely “professional” ads. By professional I mean boring. Again, users aren’t going on Facebook to see ads and they will skip over them if it isn’t interesting. You need to tell a “story” more than list out the benefits of working with you. One thing to start doing immediately is to start reading the Facebook ads in your current news feed and look at how the good ones are written. Then copy the same style. Lead capture: how … Continued

EP 76: The Power of Recognizing the Pivotal Points in Life to Scale Up Your Real Estate Investing Business w/ Tim Oppelt

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Listen to the CarrotCast Podcast and Subscribe Below! I was confident like yeah I’m young but you can play tht in a positive way. I was like, yeah I’m young, I’m gonna hustle, I’m ambitious. You know I really need this so I’m going to work for you. And, it’s kind of how I played it and people respect that. You know I got a lot of “I what to help a young guy make it.” You know I think people root for that to, the bug. It’s bad in one sense but you can use it to your advantage. Tim Oppelt Tim Oppelt, from Opp Real Estate, has endured a lot. He’s worked one of the “worst” jobs possible, been laid off, and made some investing errors. But he’s a big believer in trying to do what you love and creating a new path for others. With that… He’s beginning to crush it! He wants to change some negative perceptions about entrepreneurs into a perception that maybe you can do what you want in life and succeed because you love doing it. Tim discusses spending hours and hours and dollars and dollars working on a website and online marketing but not getting a return. He found what wasn’t working and decided to join Carrot and dive into his online marketing head-on. Now he is having online marketing success by scaling your business. We dive into his strategy for phone leads, how he follows up with prospects, and the importance of creating amazing systems for his clients and marketing. Listen to other CarrotCast episodes at carrotcast.com. Listen to the CarrotCast Podcast Listen to this episode and create a path to scale your real estate investing business. 1:45 – Why Tim is on the CarrotCast. Also, who he is and what his business looks like right now. 3:55 – What drives Tim? What his main passions are right now? 6:00 – His path to real estate investing after being laid off from a previous job. 8:15 – What was the first touch point in real estate and breaking down his direct mail strategy? 10:50 – Saying “Just do it” and leaving the perfection vs. progress attitude for a bit. 12:40 – Feeling that prospects are looking at you differently than others. How Tim got around the “your too young” mentality. 15:15 – When did he move to more of a web-based marketing strategy? And what percent of leads and deals are coming in via the web vs. direct mail right now? 18:40 – Why Tim joined Carrot. I saw real estate investor and website and thought I’m an investor and need a website it made sense. Tim Oppelt 20:40 – What was wrong with his first AdWords campaign structure and how he fixed it. 22:40 – There is more strategy than “implementing the thing”. How Tim’s marketing knowledge has upgraded his business and where he’s focusing most right now. 25:50 – Where and how to scale up your real estate investing business. 26:55 – Tim’s AdWords spending and how many deals he’s been pulling out. 29:05 – What his online deal mix looks like. 30:15 – Hiring his first assistant. Where he was in his business when he decided this would be the right move. 32:40 – Testing phone calls: live answer vs. voicemail. 36:15 – Hiring assistant number 2. Why he made this move and what tasks they are assigned. 37:50 – What are Tim’s dreams, how much he’s working right now, and how much does he want to be involved in the future? 40:30 – The biggest things he’s been able to pull from Carrot and implement into his business. 43:20 – The pivotal point … Continued