Search Results for follow up

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

Why Is My Real Estate Website Not Showing Up In Google? Find Out How Search Engines Work

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Did you launch your website within the last 6 weeks and your website isn’t showing up anywhere on the first few pages of Google yet? Are you not quite sure how Google really works? Then this post is for you. We get this question all of the time… “I have had my website up and I can’t find it in Google yet”… in this video we’ll walk through how search engine’s like Google work, how search engines find websites, and how they rank your website in the search results. Understanding how search engines like Google work is essential for real estate professionals who want their websites to rank higher in search results and generate consistent leads through organic traffic. Key Takeaways By understanding the basics of how search engines crawl, index, and rank websites, real estate professionals can develop effective strategies to climb the search rankings over time, generating increasingly valuable organic leads for their business. Table of Contents Did You Launch Your Site Within The Last 6 Weeks and It’s Not Showing Up In Google? Not Ranked On The First Few Pages Of Google For Your Ideal Keywords? How Search Engines Work How Relevant is Your Website? Need More Online Leads For Your Wholesaling / House Flipping Business? Lead generation, at its best Attract, convert & close more motivated leads Try Carrot Today Did You Launch Your Site Within The Last 6 Weeks and It’s Not Showing Up In Google? If so, this video below is for you. The video is from Module 1 of 6 in our premium 3 Lead Per Day Training where we’re diving into the basics of SEO for those new to SEO. So we decided to yank this video from the course (just $99 for 40+ amazing training videos on PPC, SEO, and YouTube marketing) so it can be a resource for anyone. Basically, go through the steps I show in the video to check and see if your website is being indexed by Google first… if it is, then your work to climb the SEO rankings has begun! If it isn’t, follow the steps in the video to let Google know your website exists by doing a quick Google + posting that tells people about your new site and links to it and find some other ways to get a link to your new website online so Google can find the link and spider your website. We also suggest setting up a free Google Webmaster Tools account and submitting your sitemap to Google so it can make it that much easier for Google to always know when you have new content posted on your website. Give it a few days or a week and do the test above, again, on your real estate website and if it still isn’t showing up on the first few pages of Google for your company name and location, then it may not be indexed yet. But odds are, unless you have some penalties on your domain name from building spammy backlinks, you just need to give it a bit more time. Not Ranked On The First Few Pages Of Google For Your Ideal Keywords? Now, being indexed in Google (i.e. – Google has your site saved in their database) and ranking high for the specific keywords you want to go after are two completely different things. If you show up using the test above but not for the keywords you’re looking to rank for… now it’s time to “optimize” your website for the specific keywords you want to rank for. You can use some of the FREE … Continued

EP 45: Collective Genius: How Top Entrepreneurs Look at Masterminds, How Great Masterminds Are Structured, And Upleveling Your Game w/ CG Founder Jason Medley

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Want To Apply To Collective Genius? Go Here Listen to the CarrotCast Podcast and Subscribe Below! The reality is, the guy flipping 250 homes, when you’re flipping 50, is that he might not be able to teach you a lot about real estate but he’s going to teach you a lot about running a business. His business and his problems are completely and vastly different than yours when you’re doing 50 deals. Jason Medley Many entrepreneurs try to go it alone for the first phase of their business career—the lone wolf. The “I’ll figure this thing out”—the rugged individualist. But eventually, we discover that there are other people out there way smarter in many parts of business and life that we can learn from… and if we can get around a group of amazing people consistently, it can really uplevel our game. I went through that conversation myself 7 years ago and joined my first Mastermind. Don’t forget to check out our other episodes at CarrotCast.com. Listen to the Podcast In this episode of the CarrotCast I talk about real estate investor mastermind groups with my guest, Jason Medley, the founder of the Collective Genius. 4:15 – How Trevor and Jason met and Jason’s path through real estate during the market crash years. 8:05 – Performing market research. How to pay attention to trends, market your business, and drive success. 10:20 – How the idea of real estate investor mastermind groups was born. 15:25 – The benefits of being part of a mastermind. 17:50 – What most wholesalers look at as a key metrics for tracking the market. 21:30 – Why it’s critical for someone who is up-leveling their business to take advantage of mastermind. 30:50 – How often you should focus on #1) ROI and #2) taking time off away from your business. 33:40 – What the structure of a mastermind group looks like.  37:45 – Measuring growth in small numbers, building relationships, and leading for the long-haul. 43:50 – Why you need to set and operate from a clearly defined set of core values. 45:30 – Tax saving tip: 90% of rehabbers don’t know about – The DPAD “Domestic Protection Activities Deduction” 48:00 – Two other tricks to keep money in your pocket: Export 90-days worth of leads and use them with an automated voice mail campaign system such as Slybroadcast. Create an automated follow-up sequence for 12 months. 53:25 – The benefits of retargeting with Facebook by using a custom audience and targeting emails. 57:10 – Why Carrot decided to make Collective Genius an official partner. If you are a Carrot member and interested in joining the nation’s top real estate professionals, then check out The Collective Genius in our marketplace. Learn more about the requirements to join The CG.

REVEALED: Your Real Estate Website is NOT Responsive? You’re Losing Up To 40% Of Your Leads

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This is a Carrot Test Kitchen post – that’s where we break down the secrets of lead generation (building traffic & converting) to help YOU grow your real estate investment business. UPDATED 2/24/14 with thanks to Chris Clothier from memphisinvest.com and new screenshots. Is your real estate investor website mobile responsive? Having a responsive real estate investor website is important because of the types of devices users now have access to. If your website is not responsive then you need to find a template that is…quick. In other words… Does your real estate investing website automatically adapt for the screen on the device that your customer is using to look great to the customer so they engage in your website more easily? Responsive optimized real estate investing websites are critical. (Try our free test to instantly see how your website looks on mobile devices <— Click here) Even though a huge amount of internet use is taking place on tablets, mobiles and other devices, a frightening amount of real estate investor websites aren’t responsive for mobile users. Smartphone visits account for a huge share of the growth of the internet. People are using their mobile devices more frequently for local search – and that matters a lot for real estate investors. Google says that 40% of mobile searches are local in nature, which seems obvious once you think about it. People are using their phones to access information while they’re out and about. That trend is going to continue rising, and fast. If your real estate website is set up to convert well, it can easily capture leads from someone who is searching while stuck in their car, waiting in line, or killing a few spare minutes before a meeting. Plus, more and more people ditch getting a full on computer for their house and just use their cell phone to browse the internet and check their email. Too many real estate investor websites are losing huge amounts of conversions just by not being ready for them. So back to the main question… If you’re not, you should be checking out the InvestorCarrot demo video right now. But don’t worry… you’re not alone on optimizing for a responsive real estate investing websites. I’ll use an example from a really smart and successful investor now – just to show that even great real estate investors aren’t optimized for mobile. This guy has already been named to Inc’s 500 list and is one of Tennessee’s fastest growing businesses, so he’s doing a lot of things right. He’s working really hard to build an awesome business, and it shows. ((My thanks to Chris Clothier from memphisinvest.com – I just spoke to him about using his site as an example… and he’s right, it would have been more polite for me to ask permission first… I have never been good at asking first, but I’m trying to get better, so here’s my apologies along with my thanks to him for being a good sport.)) His site’s template isn’t responsive… it doesn’t automatically adjust the layout to make it easier for mobile phone users, which may or may not (depending on their device) be able to play the video on his home page. His site’s menus will be very difficult to use on a touch screen, and chances are good that he’ll lose any mobile users who may have been interested in his products and services. Just to be fair, Chris does have a nice looking website – here’s a desktop photo below.   There’s a few things I’d change to make it convert better, make it mobile optimized (obviously) and things … Continued

Take Advantage of AI Search to Get Real Estate Leads

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How do you search for information these days? If you’re like the majority of Americans, you’re turning to AI more and more. According to a study by the Associated Press & NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 60% of Americans use AI to find information — more than any other use case (like shopping or writing assistance).  Even if you’re not using a dedicated AI service like ChatGPT, you may have noticed that the top result for many Google searches is now an “AI Overview” generated by Google’s Gemini. So what does that mean for SEO and how you get found online when trying to generate real estate leads? While there’s no guaranteed way to make sure you appear in AI search results, there are best practices that give you a better-than-average chance. Let’s dive into how you can use AI search results to build your real estate business. Key Takeaways Table of Contents What’s Changed with AI SEO? Website Tweaks to Show Up in AI Search Results Solidify Your Entity Include AI-Friendly Elements on Your Website Build Authority by Showing Proof “Off Page” Signals Matter a Lot to AI What is an “Off Page” source and why does it matter? Your secret weapon to search dominance: Reddit Get Ahead with AI SEO Lead generation, at its best Attract, convert & close more motivated leads Try Carrot Today What’s Changed with AI SEO? The truth is, the rise of AI hasn’t dramatically impacted SEO best practices. Experts agree that key SEO cornerstones like producing high-quality, valuable content still have the biggest impact. Get more details in our June post, How AI is Reshaping SEO for Real Estate Investors: What You Need to Know in 2025. What we are seeing is that people are moving away from keywords and deeper into the “natural language” style of searching, where they type entire questions. Or in the case of AI search, they may even give AI engines like ChatGPT entire paragraphs worth of instructions to get highly tailored information. So, what does this mean for you and your online lead generation? First, you shouldn’t sit back and do nothing. AI search is still in its infancy, and if you wait to address it, you’ll find yourself behind in the years to come. What you should do is continue writing high-quality content and answering keyword-focused questions while also incorporating elements that we know AI engines look for. What do AI engines look for, and how do you get cited in AI search results? Glad you asked! Website Tweaks to Appear in AI Search Results Carrot CEO Trevor Mauch recently hosted a comprehensive webinar on Website Tweaks Investors Make to Rank in AI Search to Get Motivated Sellers. He covers what’s changed and how AI works, but most importantly, he gives actionable takeaways you can implement right now to improve your company’s AI visibility.  Here are a few highlights that give you a better chance of appearing in AI results. Solidify Your Entity What’s an entity? It’s complete, unique, and thorough information about your business. Who you are, what you do, and the services you offer in clear, consistent language that AI can read and understand. Start by crafting a clear, compelling bio that defines your business. This can include: Then make sure this bio is the same everywhere your business appears — your website, Google My Business profile, social media profiles, YouTube, BBB account, etc. Also make sure your company name appears exactly the same across all these platforms. As far as AI is concerned, Home Buyers, home buyers, and Homebuyers are all different. … Continued

How Lead Scoring Helps Real Estate Investors Find the Best Leads & Close More Deals

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Hey, I’m Jamie! I’ve been a professional digital marketer since 2010 and have spent a ton of time building lead scoring models over my career. So let me tell you all about lead scoring, how it’s useful, why it’s important, and how to set it up in a way that actually works for you. (Plus, I’ll share a template so you can build your own lead scoring matrix!) Key Takeaways Table of Contents Why Real Estate Pros Should Use Lead Scoring What Criteria to Use for Real Estate Lead Scoring Free Lead Scoring Template How to Set Up Lead Scoring Focus Where it Matters Lead generation, at its best Attract, convert & close more motivated leads Try Carrot Today Why Real Estate Pros Should Use Lead Scoring Professional marketers have used lead scoring for years, particularly at B2B companies. It’s one of the ways we decide who the sales team should spend time reaching out to. Put simply, lead scoring is a way to rate how well new leads fit your ideal customer profile based on their activities and details about the opportunity.  Real estate investment teams with high lead volume should definitely use lead scoring to prioritize the most promising leads. Without lead scoring, you’re likely treating each new lead the same when they, quite frankly, are not. This leaves you vulnerable to wasted time and missed opportunities. Not only does lead scoring tell your team which leads to focus on first, it also helps with lead distribution. Give higher score (more promising) leads to your more experienced managers to ensure deals are done quickly before someone else locks it up. Lower score leads can be routed to newer managers or assigned to AI outreach tools that collect additional information for you while your team focuses elsewhere. Even investors with more manageable lead volume can use lead scoring to decide which leads to follow up with first or more aggressively. If someone isn’t a good fit for your business or isn’t likely to turn into a deal, it’s not wise to spend the same amount of time, energy, and effort trying to close them. A low lead score tells you this quickly, Lead scores change over time based on the lead’s engagement and the intel you collect. This tells you if a particular lead is turning into a stronger opportunity or is becoming less promising. Working with up-to-date lead scores ensures you stay focused and don’t waste your time. If you’re doing lead scoring manually, be sure to update the score each time you gather new information. If the lead stops responding, this should also negatively impact their score. If you use an AI lead scoring tool, the score automatically updates over time and as new information is added to the opportunity.  Essentially, without lead scoring you’re flying in the dark or spending too much time manually reviewing each opportunity to identify the best ones. Focusing only on the best-fit leads helps you close more deals and stop wasting time. What Criteria to Use for Real Estate Lead Scoring Customize your lead scoring algorithm based on what you find most valuable. If you already have a defined Ideal Customer Profile, great! If not, take a second to jot down the attributes your perfect lead would have — the one that is a slam dunk deal that you’d love to see come through your pipeline. Do you have an ideal: Don’t forget to factor in less concrete criteria that nevertheless impact a lead’s willingness or ability to make a deal, like how responsive they are to your communications and if … Continued

6 Things to Avoid When Choosing a Real Estate Investing CRM

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If you’re a real estate investor, having a CRM designed for your needs is important. Generic CRMs don’t have the fields you need for details like property address, condition, asking pricing, etc., features like built-in maps and Zillow integrations, or follow-up tasks designed for real estate deal pipelines.  So if not all CRMs are a good fit for real estate lead management, what should you look for … and what should you avoid? This post goes over six key things to avoid when shopping for a real estate CRM. Key Takeaways Table of Contents What is a real estate CRM? 1. It’s not designed for real estate 2. It’s difficult to set up or use 3. It doesn’t have AI features 4. It doesn’t support integrations 5. It has TOO many features 6. It can’t grow with you How to find the right real estate CRM Lead generation, at its best Attract, convert & close more motivated leads Try Carrot Today What is a real estate CRM? CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management, and “a CRM” is software that helps you manage those relationships. CRMs provide a centralized place to store lead details, communication records, and activities, as well as set follow-up tasks and often include built-in options for communicating with leads via email, text message, or even calls. The goal is to help you actively keep track of leads and move them down the pipeline to a closed deal. Salesforce and HubSpot are some of the more well-known CRMs on the market, but they’re not designed for real estate professionals.  A real estate CRM is CRM software built specifically for real estate professionals, particularly investors, agents, and property managers. Popular real estate investing CRMs include CarrotCRM, InvestorFuse, Resimpli, and Left Main REI. These solutions offer information fields and features unique to real estate lead management, such as built-in property data, nearby real estate comps, and follow-up steps like “due diligence” that you won’t find in a generic CRM. When shopping for a CRM as a real estate investor, here are some key things to avoid to ensure you get a CRM that works well for your business. 1. It’s not designed for real estate Handling a lead interested in selling their house to a wholesaler is very different than managing leads interested in buying enterprise software. Most CRMs have built-in fields for things like job title, company size, revenue, and buying roles — all fields that don’t make sense for real estate investors dealing with individuals. While you can customize most CRMs with custom fields, why spend the extra time trying to make something work when it’s not a good fit? Especially since there are CRMs designed out of the box for real estate investors. A real estate specific CRM has built-in data fields that make more sense for your use case. Fields like: Think of all the information you (or your lead or acquisition managers) would gather when assessing an opportunity. That information needs a dedicated place to live. Choose a CRM that is already built for that information instead of spending time setting it up manually. Some real estate CRMs (like CarrotCRM) even pull much of this information into the opportunity for you via Zillow integrations and additional property data reports. This saves you time and gives you a better understanding of the property and potential deal value. 2. It’s difficult to set up or use Speaking of not spending too much time setting up your CRM, that piece of advice also goes for dedicated real estate CRMs. Some are more complicated than others, and if it’s … Continued