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  • Real Estate Copywriting: Generate More Leads By Starting With Your Audience

    Real Estate Copywriting: Generate More Leads By Starting With Your Audience

    Tips from the world’s top copywriters that’ll make your real estate copywriting stand out from the masses.

    Hordes of people left and right are now bumping shoulders among you and trying to get to the same sellers — all screaming at the top of their lungs: “I can buy your house fast for cash!!!”

    With more options for sellers and more investors on the scene, our efforts are becoming harder. So, what do we do in this populated market where our prospects are well aware of our message?

    The answer is right in your market.

    There’s a plethora of advice on how to stand out from the masses. But in this article, I look to the copywriting giants for help.

    So, the following advice is taken straight from the methods and teachings of great and famous copywriters like Gary Halbert, Dan Kennedy, Gary Bencivenga, John Caples, David Ogilvy, and Robert Collier… names that have had a huge impact on today’s marketing methods and even Carrot’s own content.

    But first…

    The problem with REI marketing

    If you Google “direct mail real estate investors,” you’ll get a host of articles and forum advice on how to get started with direct mail (DM). But who in their right mind would read through every one of those Bigger Pocket’s articles and forum topics? I did!

    When I first wandered into direct mail (before I was aware of copywriting and direct response), I implemented all the advice I gathered from the forums. I even used a famous coach’s DM method exactly as he recommended.

    The results?

    After tens of thousands of dollars spent and hundreds of calls, I got ZERO deals out of it, maybe two motivated sellers. And yes, I did follow up relentlessly and yes, I did send mail for seven months.

    But I wasn’t alone in this. I asked many investors in my area, and I quickly learned that the volume of deals required to obtain consistent results in my area is massive, and very few are successful.

    What was the problem?

    Fast forward to today, now being a young-schooled copywriter, following the masters of the past, and putting my knowledge to the test with Carrot as a professional copywriter, I realized an important thing… the advice given by coaches/gurus and forums in Biggerpockets is completely contrary to the advice of copywriting and direct mail masters; guys like Dan Kennedy, Eugene Schwartz, Bob Bly, and Robert Collier who all devoted their lives to “sales on paper” and squeezing as much money out of every marketing dollar.

    Here’s the difference I found:

    The World’s Top Copywriters say:

    1. Create a laser-focused list and keep narrowing down that list.
    2. Research and study that market relentlessly. Get in their minds. Find out what makes them tick, their fears, desires, etc… Find out what their main problem is.
    3. Create a copy that focuses on them and their problem, agitates their problem, and then provides your solution.

    Real Estate investors say:

    1. Get a list of absentee owners with equity.
    2. Send a simple letter saying, “Hi, my name is… and I want to buy your house at….”

    Here’s the good thing about direct mail in real estate investing: you can generate $20,000 with one deal. So, a .02% response doesn’t really matter if you have the budget for massive volume while still generating a decent ROI.

    Here’s the bad thing about DM in real estate investing: A .02% response can get you broke fast in a crowded market where the customer is well aware of your service.

    If you’re advertising in a crowded market and you’re doing what everyone else is doing… then your prospects are getting the same message from multiple people.

    At this point… your success is determined SOLELY by luck.

    Let’s do better.

    Let’s rise above the masses by learning from the pros who devote their entire lives to what we’re talking about.

    Here are 5 things you can do to improve your marketing message by just looking at your audience.

    Table of Content

    Compelling Real Estate Copywriting:

    Real Estate Copywriting Tip #1: Audience Comes First

    “Tell me about my crabgrass, not your weed killer.”

    Features VS. Benefits

    Your prospects need the utmost attention from you. So, stop talking about what you have and start talking about THEM and their problems.

    Every time your message says something along the lines of “I want to buy your house,” all it says to your prospect is “me, me, me, me!”

    This message only has what’s called a “feature” in your product. And listing a feature right off the bat doesn’t grab attention.

    Now don’t get me wrong, this can work and has worked in a market where your service is brand new and not really heard of. But things are heating up and there are tons of new investors and more options to sellers.

    Instead of talking about your features, re-write them in a different way that places the sellers in the middle: This is called a “benefit.”

    Here are some examples of Features vs. Benefits taken from Bob Bly’s “The Online Copywriter’s Handbook,” selling an alarm clock:

    Features

    1. a) Large illuminated digital display
    2. b) Snooze alarm switch
    3. c) Digital alarm

    Benefits

    1. a) Time is easy to see at a glance­—even at night.
    2. b) Tired? Just hit a button for 10 more minutes of sleep.
    3. c) Alarm wakes you at precisely the right time

    See how Bob changed a simple, boring alarm clock feature into a customer focused benefit? This can be done with any product or service. Take for example the features we use as house buyers, rewritten as a benefit:

    Features

    1. a) All-cash offer
    2. b) Fast close
    3. c) No hassle

    Benefits

    1. a) No more hoping and wondering if you have a sale — A guaranteed sale with one offer.
    2. b) In 5 days you can wave goodbye to your troublesome house and stressful situation.
    3. c) You’ll literally never have to leave your couch until you sell your house.

    Here’s an excerpt from one of my blog articles listing benefits of selling to a buyer…

    “You can have your home sold in 1 week to a buyer today.

    • Get the assurance your house is sold and never risk the mobile sitting for months just losing money.
    • Never deal with headache buyers who are just flakey and disappoint you
    • Never deal with the agent calling you saying, “only one person showed up to the open house today and they weren’t interested”.
    • Never deal with the realization, months after, that you listed the house for $10,000 more than it should’ve (it’s happened to me and it’s not a good feeling).
    • Pay nothing out of pocket
    • Never deal with picky buyers (they don’t like the paint color, or the floor, or they wanted a new a/c, etc.)
    • Sell your property as-is (bugs in all, investors usually take it)”

    Focus on the problems

    Other than listing benefits in the message, you should also be agitating the central problem of your prospects.

    For example:

    1. If you sell a plumbing service, talk about what mold can do when it builds up due to a leaky water pipe.
    2. Or, if you sell a roofing service talk about what a complete roof replacement costs if you wait until the planks get rotted out.
    3. And, if you sell a house-buying-service, talk about how a foreclosed home due to tax delinquency can mean 7 years of ruined credit, losing all your equity in the property, and the embarrassment of losing a house.

    The key to all this is to add emotion.

    Features like “Cash-offer” and “Fast close” don’t trigger any emotion. But benefits that solve a problem and storytelling of emotional real-estate problems can pack an emotional punch.

    The famous negotiator, Jim Camp, once said, “you’re always safe when you’re in the customer’s world.” Meaning? Always go back to the market. Find out what they want, who they are, what they like, what they need, and what they desire and you’ll be better off than most.

    As the marketing giant Dan Kennedy has said in the “Ultimate Sales Letter,” “The goal is understanding. To persuade someone, to motivate someone, to sell someone, you really need to understand that person.”

    If you get this part right, it doesn’t matter how bad the rest is, you’ll do fine.

    But how do we find out what our market wants?

    Here’s an excerpt from one of my blog articles listing problems that communicate emotions…

    “But if…

    you have another mortgage to pay 

    have no money to pay that rent space

    having medical issue and need to move ASAP

    risking eviction

    risking foreclosure

    need to move out of area for another job you just got

    need to pay debt that keeps piling up

    need to move in a week for whatever reason…

    Than, that offer that’s less that what you expected is much better than paying all that money out of pocket AND suffering through all the pain of staying in the house.”

    Real Estate Copywriting Tip #2: Research, Research, Research

    “If I have 4 hours to chop a tree, I’ll spend 3 hours sharpening my ax!”

    Top copywriters spend hours researching, profiling, and diagnosing their audience. To them, this part is THE most important part of marketing. Exploring and getting in the minds of your sellers is a must.

    But how do you do this?

    The best way is to talk to motivated sellers. If possible, talk to your previous sellers. Or go door-to-door knocking and spend time face-to-face with them. In other words, spend time with the market.

    A good tip given by Ben Settle (you can listen to the Carrot Cast with him here): Spend some time on forums and articles and read comments directly from some people right in your market.

    Copywriters like Ben Settle also take time to find out who their audience is in terms of political affiliation, age, gender, race, TV show interests, hobbies, etc.

    The bottom line is that you must find out what they truly desire, what they fear, and what they really want. A “cash offer” is not what they really want. What they may truly want is security, or they may truly fear a complete loss of equity or ruined credit from foreclosure, or they may want convenience and not to deal with anything else or to move forward with life away from their stress—in other words, get into the mind of the seller.

    The Hidden Benefit

    Ted Nicholas (sold over $200 million worth of “how-to” books using direct-response ads in magazines, letters, and newspapers) discusses the importance of emphasizing what he calls the “hidden benefit.” It’s not the obvious benefit, nor is it the first benefit you think of, but the most profound benefit to your prospects.

    Let me illustrate this by telling a story from Dan Kennedy’s book, “The Ultimate Sales Letter.”

    He describes how he had to come up with a marketing campaign for a presentation called “How to recruit more insurance agents under you.” He spent a lot of time amid these insurance agents.

    One day, he was listening in on a conversation between two agents and noted that they had A LOT of interest in golf. Most of the time, they were talking about golf, not recruiting… thus a marketing message was born.

    His new message to the insurance agents? “Puts Recruiting on Auto-Pilot, So That You Can Go Play Golf!”

    That’s genius! What these insurance agents really wanted was NOT just to recruit. It’s to have more time to golf. Recruiting wasn’t their true desire. He asked, “Why do they want to recruit? What do they really want?” It’s to be able to make money while doing what they love: golf.

    Getting to what your prospect really wants is key.

    But that’s easier said than done if you don’t know who your prospects are, where they’re at, and what they TRULY want.

    I know what some of you might be thinking: “Well, that’s hard to do because I only advertise to a large list of homeowners with different interests.”

    Well then, my answer to that is…

    Real Estate Copywriting Tip #3: Narrow Down Your List

    “The only advantage I want is a starving crowd.”

    This is my final piece of advice from marketing expert Gary Halbert.

    We know that we must center the ad on the customer and do some research beforehand. But before you do your research, you must have an audience… a very targeted audience.

    Gary Halbert had once said in his book “The Boron Letters,” “I only want a starving crowd.”

    A list of absentee owners is not a starving crowd. What does a BIG list of homeowners with equity have in common? Nothing… except that they have equity.

    Are they “starving to sell their house at a discount for cash and a fast, as-is sale”? Who knows if there are any motivated sellers on that list? It’s a dice game.

    Combining multiple lists creates a better list that narrows in on problems rather than equity.

    An example would be absentee owners who have inherited a house and have had eviction or credit problems. A probate list containing an out-of-state heir/executor and the property going through probate was owned for at least 20 years.

    Now, I understand these are probably difficult lists to obtain, but the main idea I’m illustrating is that almost every single person on that list has a serious problem with money, a tiresome house, or doesn’t want to deal with unwanted property. If you need a simpler approach, just take an eviction, divorce, or tax delinquency list.

    Does it seem like it’s a little too much?

    Well, Gary Halbert, in the same book, gave away his method for determining a list. In doing so, he cut it down 10 times! That’s right, he used 10 different layers (criteria) to narrow it down to a hotlist.

    A list like that is much easier to research. Now, you can speak directly about their pain points.

    Plus, this produces a MUCH cheaper marketing budget.

    We’ve only touched on the audience in this article. And there’s much more to creating compelling copy.

    Real Estate Copywriting Tip #4: Unleash the Power of AI, But Don’t Get Lazy

    Listen, I get it. You’re a busy investor, juggling a million things. Writing compelling copy can feel like another mountain to climb. But fear not! AI-powered copywriting tools are here to be your secret weapon. Imagine having a 24/7 virtual assistant who can:

    • Craft Initial Drafts in a Flash: Are you stuck staring at a blank page? AI tools can churn out initial drafts based on your targeted seller’s unique selling proposition or property details (square footage, bedrooms, amenities). This gives you a solid foundation to build upon, saving you precious time.
    • Keyword Magic Trick: The right keywords are like gold in the online real estate world. AI can analyze market trends and suggest keywords potential sellers and buyers use in their searches. This ensures your copy gets discovered by the right audience, not lost in a sea of generic descriptions.
    • SEO Optimization Made Easy: Crafting SEO-friendly copy can feel like deciphering an ancient language. AI tools can analyze your content and recommend tweaks to boost your search engine ranking.
    • Grammar Police on Patrol: Typos and grammatical errors can scream “amateur.” AI acts as your virtual editor, providing real-time feedback on grammar, clarity, and sentence structure.

    AI: Your Partner, Not a Replacement

    Now, let’s be clear: AI is a powerful tool, but it’s not here to replace your savvy as an investor. While AI excels at data analysis and technical stuff, it lacks the human touch.

    Storytelling Sells!

    AI can’t spin a captivating yarn that tugs at the heartstrings of motivated sellers or paints a picture of a dream home (or a high-ROI rental property!). That’s where you, the savvy investor, come in. Use AI-generated drafts as a springboard, but infuse them with your unique voice and storytelling skills. Highlight the emotional connection your audience will have with you.

    The Winning Formula: Human + Machine

    The key to success is leveraging the strengths of both AI and human expertise. Use AI tools to streamline tasks, research keywords, and get a jumpstart on your drafts. Then, unleash your inner wordsmith to craft copy that showcases your skills, offers, and solutions.

    Remember, you’re an investor, and every detail counts. Make your copy work as hard as you do!

    Real Estate Copywriting Tip #5: Expanding Your Copywriting Arsenal

    Crafting compelling copy is just the first step in effective marketing. Here’s how you can leverage your copywriting skills to attract the right sellers and buyers and maximize your return on investment (ROI):

    Targeted Website Content:

    Your website is your digital storefront for attracting qualified leads. Compelling copywriting is key to converting visitors into offers:

    • Headline Hero: Craft clear, concise headlines that grab attention and instantly communicate the property’s potential.
    • Data-Driven Decisions: Include data and market analysis to showcase your market knowledge and support your offers.
    • Compelling Case Studies: Feature past success stories with before-and-after testimonials and showcase renovation examples to demonstrate how you’re uplifting the community.
    • Clear Calls to Action (CTAs): Make it easy for interested leads to connect with you. Include CTAs like “Get an Offer Today” or “Download our Free Guide: The Pros and Cons Of Selling A House To A Professional House Buyer.”

    Social Media: Engaging with Potential Leads

    Social media platforms are powerful tools to connect with motivated leads:

    • Captions that Convert: Write compelling captions highlighting your unique selling points (USPs) and using relevant hashtags to reach your target audience.
    • Targeted Ads: Craft engaging ad copy with clear CTAs to drive traffic to your website or landing page with detailed information.
    • Behind-the-scenes Content: Share behind-the-scenes glimpses of renovation projects or neighborhood highlights to build excitement and showcase your expertise.

    Building Trust with Consistent Branding:

    Maintaining a consistent brand voice and style across all your marketing materials establishes you as a professional and trustworthy investor:

    • Define Your Investor Persona: Are you a quick-flip specialist, a buy-and-hold investor, or something in between? Tailor your brand voice to resonate with your ideal buyer.
    • Develop a Style Guide: Create a style guide that outlines your preferred voice, tone, and formatting to ensure consistency across all your written content.

    Tailoring Your Copy for Different Property Types:

    Adjust your copywriting approach to highlight the specific benefits of each property type:

    • High-Demand Rentals: Focus on strong rental income potential, low vacancy rates, and desirable amenities for tenants.
    • Fixer-Uppers: Emphasize the property’s potential for value-added renovations and highlight the cost-saving benefits.
    • Commercial Properties: Showcase the property’s location, traffic patterns, and potential for increased business activity.

    By mastering these copywriting strategies, you can effectively market your investment properties, attract qualified buyers, and achieve your real estate investment goals.

    Every good advertiser starts with their audience

    I know that I’ve mentioned direct mail quite a bit. However, all this info applies directly to any marketing channel, such as Facebook, TV, Bandit signs, and PPC.

    Simply put…

    1. Narrow down your list to hit specific pain points.
    2. Research that list to learn more about your audience, hidden benefits, and pain points (including interests, hobbies, TV shows, age, gender, political affiliation, desires, etc.).
    3. Focus on the prospect and their pain points in the message.
    4. Use AI-powered copywriting tools as your secret weapon.
    5. Expand your copywriting arsenal

    Applying these tips doesn’t matter if you’re in a crowded market or not.

    Imagine your prospect who is tired of her rental and having money issues, and she’s holding two letters in her hand:

    One says, “I will buy your house…” a message she gets every week. The other (yours) speaks of the problems of evictions, the cost, and how difficult it is to sell a house with tenants and then introduces a solution.

    It’s obvious which one grabs more attention.

    However, this is nothing new. This has been tried and made true by hundreds of copywriters who help 8-figure businesses increase their revenue.

    If you implement these, you can put yourself ahead of the game by increasing your ROI (and your success). While others spend $10,000 a month for seven months on a huge equity list, saying, “I want to buy your house…”

  • Google Ads Housing Policy Update – Here’s What You Need to Know

    Google Ads Housing Policy Update – Here’s What You Need to Know

    As announced in August 2020, a new Google Ads Housing Policy, affecting accounts for real estate investors and agents, will change service policies on October 19th, 2020.

    Carrot members have started to receive emails and notifications within their accounts with this “Update to Personalized advertising policies: Housing, employment, and credit” title.

    We wanted to get the jump on the potential changes you’ll be facing and the mindset leading into October.

    This is a pretty significant change for Google Ads. Following Facebook’s move to special ad categories in 2019, Google presents its housing policies.

    The New Rules

    • Potentially impacted members will receive notifications in their Google Ads account, prompting them to acknowledge the housing policy changes and to agree to comply with relevant local laws. If you had not acknowledged these changes when the policy was enacted on October 19, accounts cannot create any new campaigns until they click to accept the changes.
    • Additionally, when the policy goes into effect, real estate advertisers will no longer be able to target audiences based on gender, age, parental status, marital status, or ZIP code. Any existing campaigns targeting newly restricted audiences will no longer be eligible to serve.

    For more information about the policy and how to acknowledge the changes in your account, you can refer to the upcoming policy for housing on the Personalized ads page or on the Google FAQ page.

    What This Means for Real Estate Agents and Investors

    Advertisers will need to update their campaigns before this policy goes into effect to ensure they aren’t negatively impacted.

    It will be determined how this policy affects accounts, but early indications are:

    • Zip Code targeting will no longer be available
    • Zip Code exclusions will no longer be available
    • Demographic exclusions will no longer be available

    Some of the restrictions advertisers can use for excluding certain audiences based on age or income might also be affected. If you’re currently excluding specific income levels or ages, be aware that you might need to remove those restrictions in October.

    Some of those accounts are already seeing warnings.

    Google Ads Housing Policy notice in an account

    What Should I Do Now?

    For now, there isn’t anything to change unless you want to get ahead of the game. You can accept the policy and make the necessary changes to your targeting and/or demographics.

    You’ll see a message in your account like this:

    accept the new Google Ads Housing Policy

    Changes to Consider Making Now

    Zip Code Targeting/Excluding

    If you’re currently using a zip code based targeting strategy, now might be the time to get a headstart. Removing your zip codes and moving into a town, city, or county strategy.

    Here’s What We Recommend: As you make this move, think about taking advantage of the county or city-specific landing pages, as well as adjusting ad copy to match the new locations.

    Age Exclusions

    Accounts using age exclusions will also be affected. From what we know, this won’t be an option if you’re currently excluding such age groups as 18 to 24 or 25 to 34.

    Here’s What We Recommend: We might find something different come October, but for now, there might be an opportunity to add more negative keywords, update ad copy, and utilize ad extensions to make it clear who your audience is.

    Income Exclusions

    There’s also a potential that Google won’t allow for income exclusions. Some accounts have excluded such income levels as “Top 10%” due to the level of houses.

    Here’s What We Recommend: Again, you can focus more on the ad copy and utilizing your ad extensions to communicate the type of homes better you’re either willing to buy or sell. If you’re an investor with motivated seller campaigns, you can also take advantage of better images and niched copy on your real estate landing pages.

    Moving Forward

    We’ll continue to monitor these new policies and send updates as they become available.

    For now, it’s essential to be aware of these changes. This at least gives you an idea of what changes will be coming and how your mindset might have to shift come October.

    We won’t see the full impact until the new policy is implemented, but we can start adjusting both the ads and the website to further speak to the audience.

  • [Updated Data – August 2020] How Has Lead Generation Changed During COVID-19 for Real Estate? – Exclusive Data and Action Plan

    [Updated Data – August 2020] How Has Lead Generation Changed During COVID-19 for Real Estate? – Exclusive Data and Action Plan

    How Has Lead Generation Changed During COVID-19 for Real Estate?

    The COVID-19 crisis is impacting all of us in some way, shape, or form. So what I wanted to dive into is what data we have in our system with over 10,000 real estate investor and agent websites.

    What data are we seeing right now and how the lead flow has been impacted by COVID-19 for real estate buyers and sellers?

    [Updated August 6] New Data Pointing to Conversion Rate Increases

    New Research

    There has been a clear shift towards new lead generation, and how our members are acquiring those in the past two months during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    According to our Google Analytics data, when comparing April and May to June and July, there has been a conversion rate increase of 10.92%.

    Paid Search has seen the largest shift, jumping 39.48% over the past two months. Compared to what we reported in April, it seems paid traffic has begun to normalize.

    Sessions are coming down as more people are feeling confident in the house selling process.

    Here are the numbers for the eight common channels:

    • Organic search: 3.21% increase
    • Direct: 7.84% increase
    • Social: 10% increase
    • Paid Search: 39.48% increase
    • Referral: 21.23% increase
    • Email: 36.72% decrease
    • Other: 0.26% increase
    • Display: 21.43% decrease

    In May, our data was showing sessions steadily increasing:

    We also saw conversion rates have begin to increase since a dip in mid-April:

    Here’s what one Carrot member said recently…


    Some of the main changes we’re seeing are:
    • Overall traffic from all sources has continued to increase week over week… meaning there is more demand right now for buyers and sellers needing solutions to their problems than before.
    • Conversion rates stayed low for a few weeks but are now on the uptick as the overall sentiment in the US is improving and people are starting to get out more.
    • Predictions: I predict once the stay at home orders lift we’ll see conversions go up above where they were for a short period then settle into normal zones.
    • Double down on why it’s important to NOT stop your marketing even if lead costs are higher from lower conversion rates… because the people are still searching… so you need to be getting content in front of them NOW while they’re researching and followup w/ them through retargeting so you’re in front of them when they’re ready. This should create a surge in demand once stay at home orders lift… but only those who stayed in front of the market will capture that demand.

    Additional COVID-19 Articles:

    I pulled up our own Google Analytics account, which is a master account for all of our member websites that are generating the top rankings in Google for motivated house sellers.

    So we have crazy, crazy cool data from every major market in the country.

    The first thing to notice is a report from March 1st through the time that I’m diving into this data, which is April 7th.

    Number one, we’ve reported this data in the past, Monday’s tend to be the hottest time when your sellers and buyers are hitting the internet to search.

    Now this includes Google searches. It does include some direct search, where people are typing your URL directly, but mostly Google search and Google pay per click. When people have that pain point the most, is your Monday or Tuesday.

    Monday and Tuesday have the highest demand for searches.

    Now here’s one thing that we saw as soon as the stay-at-home order took place in most of the cities around the country in early to mid-March.

    Image Explained:

    From March 1st – April 7th. On the right, sessions are “visits to our member’s sites” from sellers and buyers. Notice only about a 10% dip for a couple of weeks then it’s climbed back to normal numbers by April 1st.

    On the left, is the conversion rate on that traffic. While the traffic remained essentially the same… buyers and sellers are STILL searching for solutions. Some of them aren’t submitting their contact info because they’re unsure how to buy or sell during the Coronavirus stay at home orders.

    This EQUALS a huge opportunity.

    While you may be seeing your conversion rate dip on your marketing, the SEARCH volume is still there. You need to create content (VideoPost, our automated content, retargeting ads, around how you can help them during COVID still, etc.) and get it in front of them on your site, update your hero section to link to one of our COVID-19 automated articles (Content Pro and Advanced Marketer) and place retargeting content on FB specific to how you can still help them during COVID.

    You can see traffic to our client’s websites, agents and investors, has not really gone down much. There was a slight blip by about 5 to 10% in traffic volume with house sellers and house buyers.

    Now you can see it started to climb back up. So right here at the start of March before the shutdown started to happen, on a normal Monday it’d be just sub-50,000, between 45,000 and 50,000 people hitting our client’s website each day. And then you can see right there, somewhere between that week, week and a half, we started to see that drop-off.

    organic search volume rising after stay at home orders it

    Image Explained:

    This is organic traffic (traffic from google searches) from March 1st – April 7th. You’ll notice that initial “shock” of COVID dipped organic by 10% or so the 2 weeks after it hit.

    But, the past 2 weeks of organic traffic is increasing week over week again for motivated sellers and buyers (including land). We see this getting stronger as more sellers have more motivation the longer it goes on.

    Now towards the end of the month and even into the first part of April, we started to see traffic go back up a little bit. We think that that’s probably because that initial fear, that initial, “Hey, let’s wait and see what’s going on,” started to fade off and we came into that new normal.

    Here’s the thing that’s really, really important. That data shows that the traffic really has not gone down in a measurable way from your sellers and buyers.

    Now, if I map back to the start of March, the conversion rate of one of our homepages which are geared for lead generation, those range usually between 5 and 25%.

    So when we’re looking at gross conversion rate, that’s all traffic, all sources, any page that they landed on, even non-conversion pages, what percentage of them became a lead?

    Covid 19 conversion rate in March

    And this is a really respectable percentage, between 2 and 4% of all traffic comes to a lead on the Carrot system.

    If you’re driving to a landing page, there might be a 20 to 30% conversion. If you’re driving to a rent-to-own page, it might be between a 30 and 40% conversion rate.

    But here’s what’s interesting.

    Right when the stay-at-home order started to hit around the middle of March, in California and Oregon and Washington and a bunch of other states, conversion dropped off by about 20 to 30%.

    lead volume dip march during stay at home orders

    So what does that mean? If the conversion rate of a website for buyers, sellers, for agents and investors, dropped off by about 20 to 30%, while the traffic of the demand from buyers and sellers didn’t really change much, what does that mean?

    Well, one thing that we’re hearing a lot of, or a good number of even experienced agents and investors say, is you might see your lead cost go up a little bit, possibly.

    Some people are seeing their lead costs down right now because competitors have pulled out of the marketing spaces. You might see your conversion rate of PPC, of SEO, of direct mail, of cold calling, of any of those, you might see that actually go down right now even though the demand is still there.

    What Should You Do Right Now?

    Here’s what I want to give you guidance on. The demand is still here, but many sellers and buyers aren’t sure what to do right now in the midst of the Coronavirus. Do they reach out to you and try to elicit your services?

    Many of them might be nervous about…

    “Well shoot, I don’t want to have someone come to my house right now. Maybe I’ll wait until this is all over.”

    Or, “How can I still sell my house if this person can’t come in?”

    Or, “Where am I going to move if we’re in a stay-at-home order in my state of California?” as examples.

    Direct Action Items

    Here are some direct action items for you right now.

    #1. The demand is still there y’all for buyers and sellers, that’s not going away.

    Actually, even more so you’re starting to see it pick up here and get back to pre-Coronavirus numbers because people are in that new normal. They’re at home on these cell phones and they still have the problem or they have the desire that they’re searching out.

    Image Explained:

    Paid search-demand through Google Ads hasn’t changed much at all. It dipped less than 3% after the stay at home order… but now is growing to more google ads clicks than before Coronavirus.

    The opportunity here… in many markets we’re seeing paid ad costs dip as less savvy investors or agents pull back their marketing budgets (the worst thing you can do).

    Now, many motivated house sellers actually have even more of a desire and even more of an acute problem because their financial situation might be worse now.

    As an investor or as an agent, you can really step up and help them right now and show them that they can still be helped during this pandemic.

    #2. What can you do if you are seeing a softening conversion rate right now?

    Having a lower conversion is natural right now because of the “wait and see” attitude from some buyers and sellers.

    So what can you do?

    Right now you should be creating more content!

    We talk about that a lot, but you need to be creating content and local authority right now as people are still doing their searches. As soon as the Coronavirus is over and we’re back to life as semi-normal, demand is going to pop back and they’re going to be reaching out to the person or the people that they want to have help them.

    So right now, they’re doing the research. They’re digging in and saying, “Who do I want to work with?” As soon as it’s all over they’re going to be moving fast as a buyer or a seller to solve that problem.

    The way that you become the one that they’re working with is by putting out content, put out VideoPosts on your Carrot website to where it’s a short YouTube video.

    You can do it with your cell phone, talking about how they can still sell their home during the Coronavirus. Do a walkthrough in the house through Facebook, or through FaceTime or Zoom or whatever it is.

    You can still protect their safety and their health. Or if they’re a buyer, how can you start to work with them now to ensure that when they’re ready to buy or maybe they are ready to buy right now, that you can pull the trigger on it?

    If they’re a seller, they might be thinking…

    “Well, you know what, I kind of want to wait to sell.”

    What happens if they wait until everything is back to normal and then reach out to you?

    Then they’re going to be behind the eight-ball by two, four, six weeks, and there’s going to be buyers that are hungry and ready to go at that point and they might miss some of that high demand window to get the most out of their property.

    Talk with them with your content and videos. Put the content on your Carrot site using our VideoPosts feature. Put them on Facebook as retargeting sequences so they can shift they’re thinking into…

    “I’m going to start preparing right now and I can still get this taken care of during the Coronavirus pandemic, and I can work with these investors or these agents even right now and we don’t have to meet in person.”

    🔥 Diving Into More Data 🔥

    Let’s dive into a couple of other cool pieces of information.

    Social Media Traffic Data

    Let’s hop over to social media. Social media is actually even picked up a little bit. There are a lot more people on your Facebook as well as other social platforms.

    Social Media Growth During COVID

    That’s where you need to be putting those videos about how you can help them during this crisis, or how you can still help them buy or sell. That content needs to be going on social media right now. We’re seeing traffic picking up on social media over the past month.

    Direct Traffic Data

    Let’s take a look at direct traffic. Now a hunk of this is actually organic search that Google lumps in, and a hunk of it is somebody actually typing in your URL. You can see the same thing. The demand for that has not really gone down at all.

    Direct Search Traffic durning COVID

    Paid Traffic Data

    Looking at paid search, that demand hasn’t really changed, either. It’s actually gone up. On Monday, April 6th, there were 7,730 sessions to our websites through Google paid traffic. A month later we’re actually seeing more traffic.

    Paid Search Traffic During COVID-19

    So while there’s a lot of agents and investors pulling back their marketing right now, what’s happening is we’re in this interesting window where oftentimes your paid traffic through Google and through Facebook is a little bit cheaper because there’s less competition.

    Some are even stopping their marketing. You should not. You should be leaning into your marketing because we’re starting to see that data come back.

    Time Lag Data

    There is a situation called “time lag”.

    Image Explained:

    How many visits it takes someone to turn into a lead. Why is this important, those people who are not sure about how to sell/buy during Coronavirus who are searching but not acting, they need content and YOU to be the trusted Authority.

    Create a COVID-19 update on your home page that links to our new COVID-19 articles (content pro and adv marketer upsell. Link direct to those packs in the article) and also create video posts right now, one per week on how people can sell or buy right now.

    41,628 opt-in conversion leads, not including the 40,000-plus phone call leads that came in through the same time period.

    Look how long it took some of those people to become a lead. The vast majority, become a lead on the first day.

    But then, some of them, it takes weeks if not months to become a lead for you. So this is where putting in really good retargeting campaigns is very, very important, especially right now while some people are waiting it out.

    Length of the path for visitors to actually interact and engage with you

    How many times does it take them visiting your website, especially right now during this time period, to become a lead?

    Right now that time period is lengthening versus our normal because some of those sellers and buyers are unsure how they can best be served during this Coronavirus time.

    You need to be creating content and local authority to help them come back through this time. Think about content topics such as…

    • Where they’re going to move
    • How they can get people into their house right now
    • How they can still stay safe and healthy during this process

    From the last image above, 86% of people on the very first interaction become a lead on your website, agents and investors.

    But then it takes some people over 12.

    So one half of 1%, it takes over 12 interactions. But the sweet spot is six or under.

    The vast majority of people take between one to six interactions on your website to become a lead, and that’s actually lengthening right now.

    Organic Conversion Data

    The one single most consistent, predictable, and highest converting lead source, is organic. It’s putting content online and getting high rankings in Google, which we specialize in. It converts the highest.

    organic conversion rate during covid

    On average, no matter what page they land on, there’s a 5.54% conversion rate percentage and very, very low bounce rate on Google organic search.

    Whereas, social has the lowest conversion rate. It’s lower by almost two thirds. But it still converts well. That’s because people are seeking a solution to their problem in Google organic. Social, you’re kind of interrupting them with content but it still works. Keep that in front of them.

    Paid Conversion Data

    Let’s look at paid traffic. Paid traffic on average is about a 2% conversion rate. That’s still great. You can still make an amazing, amazing ROI with that.

    Paid traffic during COVID 19

    Create evergreen content

    I want to come back to evergreen marketing because that’s what is going to be around in a year, two, three, four years from now.

    How do you do less marketing that performs better?

    How do you do marketing that is consistent, predictable, and momentum-building?

    That’s with evergreen marketing.

    Publishing content online that builds authority, that attracts people when they’re seeking out solutions to their problems, and then once they land on your website, it’s not just the normal broker-provided website or a custom website that looks pretty but doesn’t convert well, or a Wix site that performs terribly.

    It might look pretty but it doesn’t convert well. You need to be delivering amazing authority-building content, which we do with our content marketing tools where we have COVID-19 automated articles now.

    If you’re on the Content Pro plan or Advanced Marketer, we have COVID-19 articles written for you to publish on your website. You can go right now into your system and schedule to tell people how you can help them. Share those on social media.

    Use VideoPosts right now. Create a video every single week. I’m creating a podcast every week about COVID-19 and how you can wade your way through that. Do the same thing with your buyers and sellers.

    We’re here with you. We want to see you start to thrive and crush it in this market. We’re starting to see the traffic grow. We’re starting to see conversions start to go back up.

    The way you wade through this market is creating more and more content, becoming the authority. So when things get back to normal, you’re going to see a pop in demand when all your other competition’s waiting it out.

    Lastly, check out our Authority Building Webinar to learn more ways to stand out in this market, build authority, and build momentum.

  • 19 Lead Generation Tools for Real Estate Agents [Your Guide for 2023]

    19 Lead Generation Tools for Real Estate Agents [Your Guide for 2023]

    20+ Lead Generation Tools for Real Estate Agents

    Most real estate agents can’t afford to miss out on leads and deals. They don’t know it but having the proper lead generation tools for real estate agents is the holy grail of their business growth.

    You probably became a real estate agent because you’re a bit of a “people person”… because you’re great at sales and know how to talk to clients.

    But if there aren’t leads to convert into clients, your business can’t grow.

    No matter how good you are at sales — no matter how convincing, charismatic, or persuasive — none of that matters if you’re not consistently generating leads for your business.

    Consistent, high-quality, and high-volume real estate lead generation is the secret to dominating your market and building the business of your entrepreneurial dreams.

    More leads mean more closings, which means a more successful business.

    Of course, that’s easier said than done.

    So how do you get leads in real estate consistently?

    19 Lead Generation Tools for Real Estate Agents

    Here are 19 of the best lead generation tools for real estate agents to help!

    1. Carrot Website

    Many real estate agents start out by joining a larger real estate group or franchise. Their face gets added to the company website, and they receive a particular share of the leads.

    But it doesn’t take long to realize that if you want to grow your own business, you’re going to need your own website.

    Unfortunately, most agents think their website only exists to represent their business — as a sort of digital business card.

    The most successful agents, though, know that isn’t true.

    Your website is probably your company’s biggest lead-gen asset.

    There are two ways that you can use your website to predictably generate high-quality leads for your business.

    The first is paid traffic. Running ads on Facebook or Google is a great way to drive traffic to your website. But here’s the thing: that paid traffic isn’t worth a lick if your website doesn’t consistently convert that traffic into leads for your business.

    (In fact, driving traffic to a low-converting website is expensive and usually a waste of money)

    And our Carrot websites are built to convert and drive leads right out of the box therefore, can be one of the most productive lead generation tools for real estate agents.

    We start with a compelling homepage header, which transitions into two separate CTAs for buyers and sellers. And we always include the agent’s phone number in the upper right corner for people who want to take action right away.

    Take a look: the entire format is crafted to make taking action as easy as possible for visitors.

    The trick to building a high-converting website is to give visitors exactly what they want, as quickly as possible… and to build trust along the way.

    That’s exactly what Carrot sites do.

    But that’s not all they do.

    While paid ads are a great way to drive traffic to your website, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is just as powerful. SEO is working to rank in search engines (like Google and Bing) for keyword phrases that your target market types into Google. That way, those people click on your website and become leads.

    And SEO leads are usually even higher quality and more consistent than paid leads.

    SEO is a bit complicated but can be one of the best long-term lead generation tools for real estate agents.

    This is why our Carrot sites make search engine ranking as simple as possible. Check out some of our best lead-generation features in the second point.

    2. Carrot Features

    AgentCarrot Features

    Our Carrot sites convert better than any other websites in the industry.

    We’ve generated more than 2 million leads for our members with conversion rates between 10% and 20% (most real estate websites convert at 2%)!

    That means more leads and more closings for your business.

    And you can sign up for Carrot risk-free for 30 days over here.

    But what else do you get by signing up?

    Here are some of our coolest real estate lead generation tools

    • Carrot Lead Manager — When you get a Carrot site and start generating leads, you need a way to keep track of those leads and organize them all. That’s why all Carrot members have access to our Lead Manager, where you can view mission-critical information, categorize prospects, and see how many leads you’ve got in the pipeline.
    Carrot's lead manager
    • Campaign Tracking Links — When you run advertisements or post on social media, it’s nice to know how much traffic that content is driving to your website. With our Campaign Tracking Links, you can create a custom link with a single click, and we’ll track clicks and conversions from that link. This is super easy and a great way to test the effectiveness of your advertisements.
    • Visual Editor — All AgentCarrot sites are built to convert right out of the box. But you can still customize the site however you like, adding your logo, brand colors, and images and changing the copy to fit your business. Our visual editor makes this process super easy. It’s the best of both worlds: lead generation and website customization.
    Carrot's real estate website visual editor
    • SEO Ranking Tracker — Want to know how your SEO rankings are performing? Just tell us what keyword phrases you want us to track for you, and we’ll give you regular updates on how your website is performing. That way, you can celebrate once you break through to page 1!
    Carrot SEO rank tracking
    • VideoPost — One of the most challenging parts of getting your website ranking in search engines is consistently creating content or blog posts. Because the more content your website has, the more keyword phrases you’ll be able to rank for. And with VideoPost, you can record a quick video and then, with just a few clicks, transcribe that into a long-form blog post that can rank on Google. SEO doesn’t get easier than that!
    Carrot videopost tool
    • Carrot SEO Tool — There are a lot of rules to creating a new page or post for SEO. You should include the target keyword phrase a very specific number of times, you should have a certain amount of links, and you should use a certain number of images… all depending on the length of your content. It’s hard to remember everything, which is why we give all of our members’ access to our Carrot SEO Tool, which acts as an SEO checklist every time you create a new page or post. Just keep at it until the light turns green, and then you’re good to go!
    Carrot SEO tool
    • Carrot IDX — IDX is useful because it allows real estate agents to automatically upload MLS listings to their websites. This saves a lot of time. And Carrot IDX allows you to upload listings and then customize those listings however you like.
    Real-estate-agent-website-idx

    Check Out Our FREE AgentCarrot Demo Now!

    3. Silver Street Marketing

    Running Google and Facebook ads is much more complex than it probably sounds… especially if you’ve never done it before.

    If you have tried your hand at paid ads, then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

    You choose the targeting and craft the copy as carefully as possible, then hit launch with your fingers crossed.

    But those ads end up far less effective than had hoped.

    The truth is, it can take years to learn how to craft high-converting advertisements.

    This is why we highly recommend delegating that part of your business to the marketing experts over at Silver Street Marketing if you have the budget for it.

    They will manage every aspect of your PPC and Facebook marketing strategy so you can focus on closing clients and growing your business.

    4. Citation Building Service

    If you want to start building your SEO and website rankings to drive traffic passively to your website, then citations are a great place to start.

    What are citations?

    Well, first, you have to understand backlinks. Backlinks are the term used when another website links to your website, and they’re a critical indication to Google that your website is trustworthy. The more high-quality backlinks you have, the more that Google will trust your website (which means better rankings).

    And citations are a type of backlink that’s easy to get.

    You just go to sites like Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., and list your business information. Doing this on 40 or more sites will typically give you an SEO advantage over your competitors.

    But it can take a while.

    With our Citation Building Service, we’ll go build 40 citations for you so you can keep your attention on more important business matters.

    5. Ballpoint Marketing

    Direct mail is one of the most common lead generation tools for real estate agents.

    Any real estate agents in your market who are trying to grow their business are probably sending direct mail.

    That’s for good reason — direct mail is a great way to build brand awareness and generate leads.

    The problem is, everyone is doing it.

    Which makes it difficult to craft mailers that stand out from your competitor’s mailers. Because of that, many mailers end up in the trash before even getting looked at.

    But Ballpoint Marketing is solving that.

    They offer robot-written mailers that look hand-written (the ink even smudges and indents the paper).

    And these mailers get an exceptional response rate.

    It creates a personal touch that feels authentic and is difficult for people to ignore.

    Why not give it a try?

    6. Mailchimp

    lead generation tools for real estate agents email campaigns

    Your email list should be the backbone of your marketing strategy.

    By consistently growing your email list and interacting with those prospects on a weekly basis, you expand your reach, build brand awareness, and nurture leads.

    It’s like this: your ads and SEO leads to your website, which leads to your email list, which leads to follow-up and eventually closing clients.

    It might not always be a straight line, but that’s the general flow.

    And perhaps the easiest tool for building your email list is Mailchimp, which won’t cost you a dime until you’ve reached more than 1,000 subscribers.

    Plus, Carrot easily integrates with your Mailchimp account!

    7. DocuSign

    docusign

    The real estate business includes a lot of reviewing and signing documents.

    Fortunately, DocuSign allows you to upload, edit, and send documents for review and even digital signing.

    Carrot members love to use DocuSign for contract signing because it’s so much easier and faster than trying to coordinate in-person meetings.

    You might also consider HelloSign, which is a similar service.

    8. Canva

    canva

    Marketing requires a lot of design work.

    Whether you’re creating a logo, designing your website, or posting on social media, graphics are an important element.

    They draw the eye better than text and consistent colors, fonts, and graphics create a sense of continuity, making your brand easier to identify.

    But being able to design graphics is an uncommon skill for real estate agents.

    Well, Canva is changing that.

    With Canva, even real estate agents with no past design skills can create eye-catching graphics. And it’s free to try out.

    Our member love using Canva to spice up their social media posts and create grahpics for their website.

    9. Realvolve

    realvolve

    The bigger that your business gets, the more cluttered internal processes becomes.

    It’s a natural part of hte process. Promising leads slide under the radar and important tasks don’t get finished… all because your business is growing.

    Remember the old saying: what go you here won’t get you there.

    And when your business gets to new heights, you’ll probably find that you need software to help organize and coordinate your leads, workflows, and other internal processes.

    Many of members love using Realvolve for that. You can schedule a demo on their homepage to check it out for yourself.

    10. HARO

    What if you could easily get your business and website mentioned on local publications?

    With HARO — which stands for “Help a Reporter Out” — you can.

    And the benefits are twofold. First, local and even nationwide publications will mention you as an expert at real estate. This will grant you credibility and even give you the chance to put a trust-building bar like this on your website…

    Just add the logos of the places that you’ve been mentioned and voila! You’ll build immediate trust with your website visitors.

    The second benefit is in regards to search engine optimization, which drives traffic to your website when people type certain keywords into Google.

    One of the biggest factors of SEO is how many reputable backlinks your website has — a backlink is when another website links to your website.

    And when other sites quote you as an expert, they’ll almost always link to your website.

    Win, win.

    So how does HARO work, and how do you get leads in real estate from their services?

    Well, you can sign up for free as an expert source for journalists. Then every day, you’ll receive an email with potential articles you can contribute to. Just follow the intstructions and you’ll start getting mentioned in no time.

    HARO is most effective when you consistently and quickly respond to prompts over a long period of time.

    Even dedicating 10 minutes per day to can help to win HARO backlinks, improve your domain authority, and enhance your brand’s visibility.

    11. Craigslist

    Craigslist? How do you get real estate leads on Craigslist?

    Craigslist probably isn’t the first site you think of when you’re working to generate leads for your real estate business.

    But it can certainly help… especially if you’re trying to generate leads in a new market for the first time.

    You can look under the housing category for people who’ve listed as for-sale-by-owner and send them a message like the following…

    Hey,

    I saw your house listing and I was wondering how much interest you’ve got in your home?

    I know the market can be a little tough right now and I’m a new real estate agent in the area who’s looking for people I can help.

    Would you have time for a five-minute chat about the home and how we might be able to work together?

    Mike

    Or something similar… (adjust it to fit your style!)

    Similarly, you can message people who are looking to purchase a home with something like this…

    Hey,

    I saw that you’re looking to buy a home… is this your first home?

    I’m a real estate agent in the area and I’d be interested in learning more about what kind of home you’re looking to purchase.

    Would you have time for a five-minute chat?

    Mike

    Once your business is off the ground, this probably isn’t a strategy you’re going to keep using… but it can definitely help to get things moving.

    12. Aircall

    Answering the phone is one of the biggest, most unexpected challenges of growing your real estate agent business.

    If you don’t answer the phone when it rings, then your chances of losing the lead skyrocket. At the same time, you obviously can’t spend all your time on the phone… between negotiating contracts, house showings, and client meetings, you’re busy enough.

    So what do you do?

    Well, one thing you can do is hire a salesperson to answer the phone for you and make follow-up appointments.

    Once they’re trained, you can use a service like Aircall to create multiple phone numbers, ensure that the phone gets answered when it rings, record conversations, and even assign different leads to different salespeople.

    You probably don’t need this service when you’re just getting started, but it’s something you might want to consider when your team grows and the phone won’t stop ringing (’cause that’s a good thing, after all).

    13. CRM

    warm market sales follow up stats - Tanya Aliza | Business Success ...

    Following up with leads is an extremely important part of running a real estate business.

    Not just so that you can do more closings, but so that you make the most of each lead.

    The fact is, most closings happen during the follow up… people don’t decide to work with you after the first call or even the second call… but after the 5th call.

    And while that might sound discouraging, it really just requires a little restructuring to be able to follow up consistently and effortlessly.

    Really, it takes an effective CRM.

    A CRM helps you organize your contacts, your leads, and your touch-points with them. You can keep track of how many times you’ve contacted each lead, when you contacted them, and tons of other person-specific details that make having a CRM one of the best real estate lead generation tools out there.

    The first choice for most of our member is Realvolve.

    Check it out!

    14. YouTube

    10 Youtube Statistics That You Need to Know [Updated May]

    Like other social media sites, YouTube is a great platform for growing your real estate audience, building brand awareness, and even generating leads.

    But you know what really sets YouTube apart from other platforms?

    Video.

    More than any other media type, people love video content. It’s easier to consume and more entertaining than written content.

    In fact, 54% of people want to see more video content from brands and businesses that they follow.

    10 Video Marketing Statistics for 2020 [May 2020]

    And by creating consistent video content on YouTube, you can establish yourself as a real estate expert in your market and encourage people to reach out to you when buying or selling a home.

    But what kind of content should you create?

    For inspiration, check out the Farr Group’s YouTube channel. They create videos about their listings, their business purpose, and they even offer educational advice.

    Building your YouTube channel isn’t going to change your business or your life overnight, but it can make a big impact over the long-term.

    The main key to building a following on any platform like this is to be consistent with your content creation schedule (publish at least once per week).

    The more often that people see your videos, the more that they’ll view you as a real estate expert.

    But YouTube isn’t just great for generating attention organically… you can also run YouTube ads.

    And one of the greatest parts about YouTube ads is that your competitors are probably not using the platform at all (they’re probably just running Facebook ads). Additionally, you can target people based on location.

    Which means that you can create a “YouTube commercial” that only targets people in your market.

    Why not give it a try and see how it impacts your lead generation?

    15. IDX

    IDX stands for Internet Data Exchange and it’s the tool real estate agents use to bring listings from the MLS to their own website.

    This is really important for a few reasons.

    First of all, if people see house listing that they like on your website… they’re going to call you and maybe work with you.

    (Especially if you have a high-converting Carrot site!)

    If they see that same listing on Zillow instead… then who knows who they’re going to call for help? It’s just a roll of the dice.

    And second, putting listings directly on your website gives you an excuse to drive people to your website, building brand awareness and generating leads.

    Every you add a new listing, you can post on social media and email your list about it… just like the Farr Group does.

    Having IDX on your real estate website allows you to build a real estate business disassociated from big corporations and their listings.

    That way, people will call you when they find a house that they like.

    16. Facebook

    Facebook is one of the most popular places for real estate agents to do their online advertising… and for good reason.

    It’s an extremely powerful platform with billions of people and remarkable targeting.

    With just a few clicks, you can create an advertisement that targets first-time homebuyers, people interested in selling their home, or pretty much any other demographic that you can dream up.

    And not only are Facebook’s advertising options versatile, but it’s also relatively inexpensive, costing between $1 and $3 per click.

    Facebook Stats Every Marketer Should Know in 2020 | Sprout Social

    Of course, before you run Facebook ads, you’ll want to make sure that your website is ready to convert that paid traffic.

    Carrot sites are built to convert, but you’ll still want to make some minor customizations.

    The best way to find out whether your site is converting as you want it to is to do a test run.

    Use this calculator to determine what your budget should be in order to get a single closing, set that money aside, and run some advertisements.

    If you’re getting closings while staying within your budget, then you have a winning system. If not, then tweak your ads and/or your site until you’re in the green.

    It might take some time to get profitable with your Facebook ads, but stick with it and, eventually, you’ll figure it out.

    17. Instagram

    You might be suprised at just how effective Instagram can be for growing your business and doing more closings.

    At first, it seems like just another social media platform that’s easy to get distracted by, but it’s more than that.

    Since Instagram is so visual and so full of images, it’s a great place to show your listings and to encourage buyers to buy and sellers to sell… through you.

    In fact, that’s exactly what Krista and Aaron of the Farr Group have done.

    Their organic Instagram posts are so booming that they don’t even use Facebook or Google ads for their business.

    (Here’s their Instagram account so you can look for yourself)

    As you can see below, their Instagram posts aren’t all that complicated, but they are quite effective lead generation tools for real estate.

    They share new house listings, cool photos, and buying and selling advice.

    And it’s working really well.

    When I asked them about this, they even mentioned that some of their posts don’t get a ton of engagement, but then people will mention those posts as the reason that they reached out.

    So your social media posts build brand awareness and might be having a bigger impact than you think.

    And Instagram is a great place to get started.

    18. 99designs

    We already talked about Canva, which is a great place to go design your own graphics.

    But since you’re a real estate agent — and not a graphic designer — it might be safe to say that… well, you just don’t want to design your own graphics.

    In that case, 99designs is a great website for hiring a high-quality designer.

    Your first option is just to post a job, check applications and reviews, and then hire someone who you think fits the bill.

    But another great option is to “host a contest”, which allows multiple designers to compete for the job. Each designer creates a graphic for the project, you review them, and then choose which one you like the most.

    Pretty cool, huh?

    That means you can see the designers work before you pay for it.

    19. Planoly

    Social media is an extremely powerful tool for building brand awareness and marketing your business.

    Unfortunately, it can easily turn into a time-sucking machine.

    Posting turns into scrolling and scrolling turns into wasted time.

    Why not avoid social media altogether — but still get all of the business benefits — by using a tool like Planoly to schedule your social media posts on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

    This ensures that you won’t get distracted by social media when you’re trying to work.

    And plus, it also allows you to create and schedule all of your posts at one time, so you don’t have to return to social media throughout the week.

    Good for your business… good for your productivity.

    Which of these lead generation tools for real estate agents is right for your business?

    Hopefully, you now know of several lead-gen tools that you’ve never considered using before.

    And more hopefully, you’ll give some of them a try.

    Which ones do you think will be the most helpful for your business? Which ones are you going to use right away?

    Which ones are you still considering? And which one do you think is the best lead generation tool for real estate?

    Let us know in the comments!

  • EP 212: The Biggest ‘Driving For Dollars’ Mistakes You Can Make + Creative Deals During COVID w/ David Lecko of DealMachine

    EP 212: The Biggest ‘Driving For Dollars’ Mistakes You Can Make + Creative Deals During COVID w/ David Lecko of DealMachine

    The Biggest ‘Driving For Dollars’ Mistakes You Can Make + Creative Deals During Covid w/ David Lecko

    Try what you haven’t tried before. Move. Get feedback. Then adjust and keep doing what works. You won’t get that feedback if you just wait and see.

    – David Lecko

    The Biggest Driving For Dollars Mistakes You Can Make + Creative Deals During COVID-19 w/ David Lecko of DealMachine

    We’re all dealing with some crazy times right now, but that doesn’t mean business has stopped. Many of us are “locked-down” but that doesn’t mean people are hiding out in their homes all day every day. The world is still moving, just at a slower pace. 

    We’ve done some great episodes recently with top investors like Mike Hambright, discussing the ways investors and agents can change their strategy during COVID.

    Today, we sat down with David Lecko to talk about some amazing strategies you can use when driving for dollars and how you can use DealMachine and Carrot to amplify your success rate. 

    Read the Full Show Notes Below…

    I first met David about a year and a half ago and I am blown away by his app, DealMachine.

    It’s one of those things that was created from necessity – David is an investor himself, who was looking for a way to simplify the driving for dollars process. His app does just that by quickly loading all of the data you need to learn about the property, find seller information, and even reach out to them right there on the spot.

    Some investors and agents are pulling back, but it’s times like these when entrepreneurs, investors, and agents need to pivot. They need to take advantage of what is out there right now and find ways they can add value for the people who need it most. 

    What is Driving for Dollars?

    Before diving in, what exactly is driving for dollars? It is a term used to describe a real estate strategy for finding deals on houses. The investor drives around neighborhoods until they find houses that fit the vacant or distressed category. They then attempt to buy that home from the owners.

    The simple part is driving around looking for houses. The hard part is the process of buying the home. It can be difficult to find the owners of a vacant house. And, if the home is bank-owned, it is almost impossible to buy it and many homeowners do not want to be bugged.

    Creative Strategies for Investors

    Right now, some of David’s best clients are using DealMachine to find the worst looking homes out there. Whether or not it is an absentee owner or a vacant house, they are adding them to their list and getting in touch.

    The use of direct mail through the DealMachine app is way up – savvy investors out there know that the competition has slowed down, people are feeling pressure to sell, and let’s face it, after sitting home all day, opening mail can be pretty exciting.

    A few ways to up your game would be to: 

    • Hire someone to “bird-dog” properties on your behalf. You can pay them by the hour, adding incentive for each qualified property added to your contact queue. 
    • Change up your mailpiece, letting people know how you can help them during this scary time. 
    • Use Zoom whenever possible and offer incentives such as staying in the house until the virus has passed. 
    • Double down on your marketing efforts. Your competition is slowing down, advertising is cheap, and people are looking for solutions now more than ever. 
    • Don’t quit right away. According to David’s numbers, if you are mailing to 200 homeowners, you will need to mail to them 3 times over 3 months before you begin to make something happen. It can take time to get a deal! 
    • Remember you are building your pipeline now. In 3 months when the market is back and you aren’t closing deals, it will because you didn’t do the work today. 
    • If the deals have slowed, find a skill you are really great at it, and help other investors who need to master it – cold calling, social media, negotiations, etc. 

    No matter what the competition is doing, it is important that you stay consistent and follow-up. You can be the perfect solution for a homeowner when they need your help the most. 

    Creative Strategies for Real Estate Agents

    Just like investors, there are a lot of agents who are slowing things down now, when in reality, it is a great time to help those who need to buy and sell. DealMachine can also help agents find more clients with the implementation of a few creative strategies. 

    • After selling a home, get in touch with the neighbors. You can find contact information and mail a postcard right from the app. 
    • Adjust your content to be Coronavirus specific, letting people know how you will handle the buying and selling process. 
    • Look for vacant or distressed properties and become a hybrid solution by either listing, investing, or partnering with an investor to help a homeowner in need. 
    • Look for landlords or absentee owners who may be struggling to keep up with their own bills because their tenants aren’t able to pay the rent. 

    There are many ways agents can connect with the buyers and sellers who need them during these difficult times. By becoming a community resource and not shying away when others have stopped, you’ll be able to connect with and ultimately help more people. 

    Mistakes Investors and Agents Can Avoid

    Right now, we are seeing two types of agents and investors. We see those who are crippled by fear and we are seeing those who have paused, pivoted, created a plan, and accelerating. Whether you are driving for dollars or launching a PPC campaign, now is not the time to sit around and “wait and see.” Don’t be afraid to double-down, capitalizing on this time when your competition has taken a break. 

    As things get back to normal, make sure you have taken this time to: 

    • Get out the content that is going to connect with people
    • Get DealMachine and drive around your neighborhood
    • Find new ways to pivot within your business and get creative

    Now is the time to try things other agents and investors are pulling back on. Try the things you haven’t tried before and take action. Then you can adjust and do the things that work best for you. Guys, we’re going to bounce back here soon, and it will be those who doubled down who see the most success as things begin to ramp back up. 

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  • EP 207: “Talk to People!” The Secret to Crushing Your Cold Calling w/ Brent Daniels

    EP 207: “Talk to People!” The Secret to Crushing Your Cold Calling w/ Brent Daniels

    “Talk to People!” The Secret to Crushing Your Cold Calling w/ Brent Daniels TTP

    You cant be quiet and wait for business all day, you need to be loud, You need to be proactive, you need to talk to as many people as you can.

    Brent Daniels

    “Talk to People!” The Secret to Crushing Your TTP Cold Calling w/ Brent Daniels

    People are conducting business a little bit differently these days, but that doesn’t mean things have to stop or slow down. 

    With over a quarter BILLION in deals, Brent Daniels knows all about the importance of the hustle and avoiding the doom and gloom attitude. While some investors are pulling back, people like Brent are full steam ahead, even doubling down on their marketing efforts while so many fly by night investors have taken a hiatus. 

    Today, Brent and I will talk about his journey, how he has been able to build a business that is generating 90 leads a week, and why his phone battery dies at least twice per day from talking to buyers, sellers, and agents all day! 

    Read the Full Show Notes Below…

    No matter what industry you are in, the coronavirus is changing how business gets done. While many people are pulling back, others are adapting and getting leads like never before. Brent Daniels, TTP cold calling coach, entrepreneur, and a go-getter who is sharing with us his insanely valuable expertise to help our listeners capture more leads and close more deals even during this crazy time. 

    The simple secret to his success? Talk to everyone! If you are having consistent conversations with distressed sellers, cash buyers, agents, local title companies, and anyone else who can help you, you are guaranteed not to fail. 

    Building A Cash Buyer Database

    So many of our clients have spent time focusing on the seller side of things, which is obviously super important, but you need to have a database of buyers too. 

    Once you have your database, reach out to them and ask them questions about what they are looking for and how they operate. Do they buy sight unseen? What do you need to do to make them confident in buying without seeing the property first? Let them know that you want to be their buyer. You will bring them deals. 

    To find these buyers you can… 

    • Join and participate in fix and flip groups on Facebook
    • Go to meet-ups to connect with the buyers in your area
    • Set a meeting with all of the title companies in your area – let them know who you are and how many deals you can bring to the table. Ask them who is buying
    • Do the same thing with private lenders in your area
    • Once you have a list going, reach out to other investors in your area and swap leads – grow together, there is enough for everyone

    You will need to be very intentional to find out who is buying in your area. 

    Reaching The Sellers

    Brent has a good marketing mix to reach motivated sellers in his area. In his business, he does a lot of cold calling to increase his lead volume and utilizes PPC to find those people who are actively looking for a solution right now. 

    An important thing with any lead is to either answer them live when they call or reach out to them immediately after they fill out a form. Many of our members have the text feature activated to let them know exactly when a lead comes in. If you aren’t able to always answer the phone, hire someone to answer for you. 

    Agent Referrals 

    As a wholesaler, agent relationships are huge. You need to be the guy who gets things done in your town. The guy who people want to bring their deals to. Be loud. Tell them you’ll buy the ugly properties, the damaged properties, and can get a cash offer to their seller almost immediately. Agents don’t want a lot of offers. They want to turn to someone they know can get the job done. The revenue you can collect from agent referrals is insane. 

    To reach agents in your area you can check the MLS or Zillow and get in front of as many of them as you can. Look for the agents representing damaged homes, owned by motivated sellers. Your offer may be exactly what they are looking for. 

    While times are a little crazy right now and you can’t just walk up to people, deals are still getting done. By being proactive, getting in front of people (even virtually) you will go a long way in whether you succeed or fail. Don’t pull back and use this time as a vacation. The money you will be making in three months is based on what you do today. 

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  • Carrot Success Story: How Ben Lovro Wholesales 5 Deals Per Month (11 Lessons You Can Use Today)

    Carrot Success Story: How Ben Lovro Wholesales 5 Deals Per Month (11 Lessons You Can Use Today)

    How do you build a thriving real estate investing business? That’s the question we consistently try to answer here at Carrot.

    Ben Lovro, Founder of EN-VISION HOME SOLUTIONS, and Carrot member from South Carolina hopped on and walked us through how he consistently does 4-6 deals per month.

    Ben has been a Carrot customer for a few years now, and he is someone we’ve have wanted to have on our podcast for a long time.

    His story and transformation are nothing short of incredible. It’s not just a story of becoming a real estate investor or building a business. Ben’s story is about perseverance and overcoming the obstacles that life throw can throw our way.

    We’re excited to share with you his story (from five years in prison to five deals per month), his processes, and his tricks for maintaining a positive mindset.

    Here are the main ways he’s been able to build his success.

    Watch the full success story…

    From 5 Years in Prison to 5 Deals a Month Wholesaling, Here’s How Ben Lovro Does It

    11 Simple High-Impact Lessons to Become a Successful Real Estate Investor

    1. “You Can’t Microwave Success”

    During the interview, Trevor asks Ben…

    “Do you ever just want to quit?”

    Ben sort of laughs to himself and says…

    “More times than I can even tell you about.”

    And he goes on to say something really powerful…

    “You can’t microwave success.”

    That is, there’s no shortcut for building a successful real estate wholesaling business.

    You’ve got to show up, do the work, and show up again tomorrow.

    This stuff often takes longer than you want. But if you’re faithful to proven strategies and processes, then you will succeed… it’s only a matter of time.

    But remember, there’s no way to cut corners.

    If you’re in the midst of a grind, just know that you are making progress and that that progress will pay off sometime in the future. It might just feel like cold, hard work right now… but this season won’t last forever.

    Stay the course… and you’ll reap rewards down the road.

    2. Begin With The End In Mind

    Why do you want to build a real estate business?

    Many new real estate investors or agents are in it for the money… or the sense of freedom that they can acquire.

    And that’s great but it’s probably not clear enough.

    If you’re going to succeed in the long-term, then you’ve got to know why you’re doing what you’re doing.

    Because here’s the thing: it’s going to be tough sometimes. And if you don’t have a really compelling reason for building your business, then you’re probably going to quit.

    So why are you doing it?

    • Do you want to make a positive impact on the people around you?
    • Do you want to lead others?
    • Do you want to provide for your family?
    • Do you want to have more freedom for the things that really matter in life?

    This is a lesson that Ben originally learned from reading The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People and it’s stuck with him.

    Whatever your ultimate goal is, write it down and remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing every single day.

    3. Read Like Crazy

    It’s no secret that consistently reading non-fiction books can make a big impact on your mindset and by association, on your business.

    (Because YOU are leading your business…)

    So here’s a question for you: are you reading consistently?

    Ideally, you should read at least a little bit every day.

    You should read books that challenge your mindset, books that make you think about business differently, and books that teach you practical strategies for being successful.

    The more you read, the more successful you will probably be — in fact, it’s kind of hard to not become successful if you read like crazy.

    So in some ways, this is a shortcut to becoming the person that you want to be and building the business of your entrepreneurial dreams.

    Read, read, read.

    Two books that Ben mentions are The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People and Rich Dad Poor Dad. If you don’t know where to start… maybe start with one of those.

    4. Use A Winning Website

    It might seem a little silly… but the website you’re using can have a big impact on whether or not your business is successful.

    Or at least, how successful your business is.

    Ben started with a basic website provider but received sub-par results.

    It wasn’t until he switched to Carrot, that he started seeing massive results.

    He started generating more leads.

    He started closing more deals.

    And after 6 months of consistently working on his SEO, he ranked position number 1 for his target keyword phrase in Google.

    Now, he attributes a ton of his success to his Carrot website and to his SEO efforts.

    If your website is built to win… your business will win as well.

    You can sign up to get a winning website risk-free for 30 days over here.

    Who knows? Maybe that’ll be a game-changer for your business as well!

    5. Delegate As Early As You Can

    Many entrepreneurs are nervous to start delegating, to start hiring, and to start trusting other people to manage parts of their business.

    That’s understandable, of course.

    Your business is your livelihood… and the last thing you want is for someone else to mess up what you’ve got going.

    But here’s the thing: not delegating is always one of the best ways to hamper or slow your own success.

    By trying to continue as a one-man show, you limit how large your business can grow and you put yourself at a much higher risk for burnout.

    You know all of those things that have to be done but that you hate doing?

    They’re different for everyone — maybe you hate cold calling, maybe you hate acquisitions, or maybe you hate sending direct mail. Whatever the case, those things that you hate doing are going to burn you out if you don’t delegate them soon.

    You should focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses.

    And the good news is that you can actually start delegating pretty early in the life of your business.

    Ben started by hiring someone to help him with cold calling so he could focus on growing his business. He went to UpWork and hired someone who’s now been with him for several years.

    When it comes to hiring people on UpWork (which is an awesome platform), Ben offers some advice…

    • Try to weed out 90% of people — Most of the people who apply for your job aren’t going to be very committed. Try to weed out people by asking them to do very specific tasks during the interview process and then watch to see who does what you asked. Eventually, you’ll have just a few promising applicants to choose from.
    • Ask people why they’d be a good fit for your business — Ben encourages you to ask applicants why they think they’d be a good fit for your business. Do they have past experience? Are they consistent? Are they loyal? These are the kinds of things you’re trying to find out.

    As time goes on, you’ll be able to hire more and more people by reinvesting your profits into your business.

    Ben has two cold-calling people and an Acquisitions Manager, now.

    The sooner you start delegating, the faster your business is going to grow.

    Related Content: Guide To Cold Calling Motivated Sellers (+Free Scripts!)

    6. Don’t Put Everything Into Your First Deal 

    Starting to build a real estate investing business can be tough… especially when you’re trying to land your first deal.

    It’s not uncommon for a person’s first deal to go a bit askew.

    Maybe they don’t make as much money as they thought they would, maybe they can’t find a buyer, or maybe the deal falls through.

    It’s important to mentally prepare for those possibilities because if they happen (and they very well might), you need to keep going.

    Remember: one failure does not equal future failures.

    In fact, those failures are usually an important part of the learning process.

    So embrace them, prepare for them, and do not sink everything you have into your first deal.

    7. Use Our 3-Lead-Per-Day Training

    What if you were getting 3 leads through your website every single day… without running paid traffic?

    That would be pretty awesome, yeah?

    Well we created our 3 Lead Per Day Training to help you do just that — and it uses a little thing we call SEO.

    Basically, SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it is tactics and strategies for getting your website to rank in Google so that when someone types in “Sell my house fast in [YOUR CITY]” or something similar, they go to your website and give you a call.

    From what we’ve seen, this is the most game-changing marketing strategy for real estate investors and agents.

    Many of our members get 5-10 leads per day just through SEO!

    And in this training, we show you how to do that!

    This training is so simple that you can just hand it to a Virtual Assistant that you hired on UpWork, ask them to go through it and follow it step-by-step… and they’ll know how to optimize your website to rank.

    In fact, that’s exactly what Ben did with his VA.

    He went through this training himself. Then he handed it to his VA and he never had to worry about SEO again… but he’s getting inbound leads like crazy.

    Which brings me to the next lesson.

    Here’s why you should try to lean toward inbound marketing.

    Related Content: The Beginners Guide to SEO for Real Estate Strategies, Tips, And Examples

    8. Lean Toward Inbound Marketing Leads

    Paid advertising can me a major part of your business’ success.

    Within a few days, you can run Facebook ads, send direct mail, or use PPC to generate leads.

    And while some of those leads might be tire-kickers, they are still leads. Ben’s close rate, for example, on leads from paid advertisements hovered around 1 in 60, which isn’t unheard of depending on the strategy.

    Most real estate investors, though, explain that inbound marketing leads are much higher quality. Some report getting a 1-in-10 or 1-in-15 close rate.

    But what is inbound marketing?

    Well, let’s first talk about outbound marketing.

    Outbound marketing is paid ads. You go pay to interrupt people’s online experiences… and some of those people are, by happenstance, interested in what you’re offering and they click on your ad.

    But because those people aren’t looking for you when they find you, the quality of those leads is relatively low.

    Inbound marketing, on the other hand, what we specialize in here at Carrot.

    Inbound marketing for real estate is a strategy that focuses on attracting leads from your content. Basically it’s when a lead comes looking for you rather than vying for their attention.

    The most common way this happens is that someone types into Google something like “Sell my house fast in [MARKET CITY]” and they stumble across your website… then they give you a call.

    Because those people came looking for you, they are more motivated and they are far more likely to turn into a closed deal.

    However, SEO takes a long time to get going.

    It took Ben 6 months until he got to position number one in Google for many search terms and two for many other — but once he did, it was well worth the wait.

    Ben Lovro organic ranking number one for carrot member

    That’s why we recommend investing in paid ads to keep your business moving, but investing in SEO over the long-term so your lead-flow will be more predictable and sustainable.

    Outbound marketing can support your business now but inbound marketing can support your business for years to come.

    9. Understand The Difference Between Different Temperature Leads

    Not all leads are created equal.

    Some leads… you don’t even have to negotiate. They tell you how much you want, you pay them that amount, and you’ve got a closed deal.

    Some leads want to negotiate with you for a while. They want a price that you can’t afford, but you follow-up with them hoping that they’ll change their mind.

    And some leads just aren’t super motivated. Sure they are sort of interested in your service… but they aren’t even close to ready to make a commitment.

    It’s very important to understand the difference (and value) of each of these kind of leads.

    Hot leads, warm leads, and cold leads.

    Because once you understand that your business is generating different kinds of leads, you can serve each lead appropriately and make the most of each.

    Hot leads… answer their call, close quick, and make the process as painless as possible.

    Warm leads… negotiate with them, listen to their concerns, help them however you can, and DEFINITELY follow-up consistently.

    Cold leads… stay in touch with them but don’t invest too much time chatting with them. You should keep them on your emailing or calling list and follow up every other month or so.

    The point is… treat every lead how they want to be treated and your business will grow faster.

    10. Create a Morning Routine to Control Your Day

    Ben also understands the importance of having a morning routine.

    As entrepreneurs, it’s easy to get lost in the busy-ness of the day the moment you wake up. Maybe you try to rush out the door to get to important tasks as soon as possible.

    That makes sense… you’re busy.

    But you can’t neglect your morning routine.

    According to Ben, you’ve got to take immediate control of your day by meditating, reading, and even watching an inspiring YouTube video every morning.

    This will set you up to conquer the day and do your best work.

    And what’s the point of putting a ton of work into your business if it’s not going to be your best work?

    So start your day off right and take even just 15 minutes to take care of yourself and get inspired.

    Related Content: Download the Daily Habit Tracker

    11. Let Impact Drive You

    Why are you building your business?

    You probably want to create more freedom for you and your family.

    You probably want to make lots of money.

    But do you also want to impact others?

    Trevor and Ben talk about how money becomes boring after a while and will only drive you so far in your business, but making an impact will always drive you. That is, wanting to help others and leave your legacy on the world.

    It might seem silly, but one of the best ways to grow your business is by caring for others and doing your best to leave a positive impact on your clients.

    Related Content: Carrot’s commitment to making an IMPACT

    Now Get Busy

    Kathryn Orford said…

    “Sometimes our biggest nightmare turns out to be our biggest gift. And it all comes down to our attitude. Life will throw us curve balls and disappointments, even heartbreak. But ultimately we can choose if we’re going to be bitter or better for the experience.”

    Ben not only has chosen a better experience, but he has also crushed it! Now it’s time for you to lace up your boots and get to work. Get organized. Get a strategy. Get healthy.

    We’ll leave you with some questions…

    Why are you proud of the business that you’re building or have built?

    What have you learned along the way?

    Let us know in the comments and let us know how this interview benefited you! :)

  • EP 205: Artificial Intelligence Leads, Creative Investing Strategies, & Thriving Through COVID-19. Behind the Scenes w/ Cody Sperber, The Clever Investor

    EP 205: Artificial Intelligence Leads, Creative Investing Strategies, & Thriving Through COVID-19. Behind the Scenes w/ Cody Sperber, The Clever Investor

    A.I. Leads, Creative Strategies, & Thriving Through Covid. Behind the Scenes w/ Cody Sperber

    One of the most important skill-sets you can have is how to talk to people who are in pain.

    Cody Sperber

    Artificial Intelligence Leads, Creative Investing Strategies, & Thriving Through COVID-19. Behind the Scenes w/ Cody Sperber, The Clever Investor

    Cody started wholesaling with nothing and became a multimillionaire by age 30. Today he runs Clever Investor where he educates investors to follow in his footsteps.

    Get a literal behind the scenes look at his team and office, hear how they’re using artificial intelligence to find their deals, and how they have effectively adapted to doing business during the Coronavirus.

    We’ll discuss the outlook on the economy and what you can do to position yourself for success. 

    Read the Full Show Notes Below…

    Cody Sperber never set out to be an educator, in fact, he wasn’t even planning on doing real estate fulltime. It started as a side hustle, a couple of wholesaling deals that quickly put Cody on the path to a new life.

    By age 28 he had made a million dollars and by the age of 30, he was a multi-millionaire. It’s no surprise that people wanted to know his secrets, From this, Clever Investor was born.

    Cody and his team are passionate about providing people with the tools they need to gain financial freedom through real estate. 

    Tools Cody Is Using Within His Business

    When Cody started, he was a one-man show. He used spreadsheets and smiled and dialed leads he’d find on Craiglist. As his business grew, he knew he needed to bring more people in, but like many of us, was leery about who to hire and who to trust.

    The first thing he did was to document all of his processes. He made videos and step by step documents so anyone could jump into that chair and get the process started. Bringing others in would help him leverage other people’s time, money, and skills to help elevate to the next level. 

    Today, he is a big fan of tech and uses all sorts of systems. But as he shows in the video, one of his favorite tools is his deal board that hangs in the office for everyone to sell. Having a visual motivator, something you can physically walk up to, and change is a big deal. It gets the team excited and pumped on the shared vision. 

    Cody is using a number of tools to help communicate with potential sellers.

    His team uses:

    • Text messaging,
    • Cold calling,
    • Ringless voice mail,
    • Direct mail,
    • PPC,
    • and most recently, he has added AI to his toolbox. 

    Using Artificial Intelligence To Find Leads

    The use of AI to find real estate leads is a fairly new concept. While people have been data stacking for years, AI will factor in millions of data points to help predict the propensity of a seller to want to sell within a specific timeframe.

    He is now able to calculate the odds of someone selling before even picking up the phone. This is a super cool innovation, and as I see it, the future of lead generation. 

    How Cody is Handling the Coronavirus and What You Can Do To Prosper

    We are making history as we speak. The sudden impact of the Coronavirus has impacted lives, businesses, and markets worldwide. Some feel as if we will be out of all of this in 3-5 months, while others feel that is the black swan event that is going to kick off a recession. Either way, you need to be prepared. 

    Many of us in the industry have felt a recession was on the horizon for quite some time, and have planned accordingly. If you are just getting started in the business, taking this time to prepare and to educate yourself is one of the best things you can do. Many people are going to be taking their money out of stocks and putting it into real estate. There will be a transfer of wealth, and it is up to you to determine which side of the shift you want to be on. Cody recommends taking some time to learn: 

    1. More about deal structuring, seller carry-backs, agreement for deeds, and other options you can provide to sellers aside from a standard cash offer. 
    2. Review your state foreclosure process. While the government has seemingly halted foreclosures, for the time being, this is only for government-backed loans. Foreclosures are going to happen and you should have a thorough understanding of the process. 
    3. Sharpen your skills on how to talk to motivated sellers, identify their pain, and determine how you can add value. 

    While nobody is rooting for a down market if it should happen, position yourself as a resource for people. Find ways to help them through this difficult time. Remember, your reputation is worth more than just a few bucks. 

    Take this time we have been given and really lean-in on your education. Watch youtube videos, listen to podcasts, and take an online course. Instead of getting lost in Netflix, you could come out of all of this in a better place and more prepared for what’s to come! 

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  • Google Ads Traffic Has Increased 4% During COVID-19 – Necessary Adjustments to Also Increase Your Leads

    Google Ads Traffic Has Increased 4% During COVID-19 – Necessary Adjustments to Also Increase Your Leads

    Google Ads Uncertainty During COVID-19

    Have you felt like this recently? Are you unsure if you should stop your Google Paid traffic right now?

    You’re not alone, but stay positive. We’re in this together!

    We’ve been answering these questions since March by providing data and challenging our members to shift their mindsets.

    This has led us to create this blog post. We want to show you what we’re seeing, why you need to change, and how to make those adjustments to WIN in Google Ads during COVID-19 and other events that can cause accounts to go haywire.

    We’re here to put your mind at ease.

    Additional COVID-19 Articles:

    What Our Google Ads Data is Showing During COVID-19

    Google Ads real estate investor statistics durning covid-19

    Numbers were compared from January 15-February 29 and March 1-April 15.

    • Sessions from Google Ads have increased by 4.01%.

      Sessions are defined as…

    “A session is a group of user interactions with your website that takes place within a given time frame. For example, a single session can contain multiple page views, events, social interactions, and eCommerce transactions.”

    • Leads have decreased by 13.55%.
    • Across all members accounts, cost-per-click has increased by 39.3%, and to be expected, the cost per lead has increased by 19.4%.

    What does this mean? In “normal times” a conversion issue could mean you’re lacking credibility on your website. Or, not enough website personalization and customization.

    During COVID, it’s most likely due to searchers whose comfort level with the current situation is low. This presents a major opportunity to communicate with your audience in a different, more impactful way.

    So…

    Why Are Leads Down By 13.55%?

    Our best-educated hypothesis… there is a lack of communication between your visitors and your website messaging.

    Visitors need to know, during this time, that they still have options to sell their house right now. If they’re landing on a page that still has the typical message without educating them about what they can do, they’ll likely bounce for now.

    Communication is as important as ever. You need to tell them what they can do during this time where people are uncertain. For example, communicate that they can:

    • Send photos of their house
    • Join a video call
    • Join a Facebook Live for a walk-through
    • Hop on a phone call
    • Get the selling process started without ever meeting in person

    More on this below…

    What Can You Do Right Now to Increase Leads by 33, 100, or Even 225%?!

    The members (not all, but MOST) who have made the necessary steps to communicate to their audiences are seeing an increase in lead volume during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    real estate investor google ads during covid-19

    We wanted to give you some general tips to help make your Google Ads accounts more effective until this time in history is over.

    3 Simple Things You Can Do Today to Increase the Effectiveness of Your Google Ads Accounts

    Tip #1: Communicate and Build Relationships With Your Audience

    During “normal” times, Google Ads best practices dictate that you dig deep into as much data as you can find so you can be all but certain your next campaign will succeed.

    But, we’re in unknown territory holding a lot of uncertainty. No one knows for sure what to totally expect from their accounts right now.

    The ones who will have the most success will be those who take their best, common-sensed, educated move and immediately put their campaigns into action.

    Think of it this way.

    If you don’t try and decide to wait it out, you’ll fall further behind your competitors.

    If you make educated moves but fall short, you’ll at the very least have an idea of how to adjust your approach going forward.

    You don’t have a lot of time to collect a bunch of performance data… we can help with that.

    Your goal should be to find a way to communicate with your audience.

    It can be as simple as creating a Google Ads specific landing page with a COVID-19 message. For example…

    Google Ads Covid-19 landing page message

    Or, adding more content to your website from blog posts. Carrot Content Pro members have access to blog posts such as…

    covid-19 content pro blog post for real estate

    Or, switch it up a bit and shoot a quick video, such as this Carrot member did…

    Can You Still Sell Your House During Covid-19 Lockdown? | Candid Property Solutions

    Now, take your video a step further and create a VideoPost to add to your blog. Simply upload a video and receive a transcription for your content for a blog post in minutes.

    Check this out… “How to Create Real Estate Content in Under 10 Minutes with Carrot’s VideoPost“

    If you need to help to generate ideas for scripts, check out… “The Content Marketing Playbook During COVID-19“

    Tip #2: Refine Your Ad Copy

    This goes for your Google ads and any other paid advertising you create throughout the current pandemic.

    Google Ad’s character limitations don’t allow much room to convey a deeply sensitive and empathetic message, but you can utilize space to communicate that you’re still buying as well as other key points.

    We’ve seen ads use copy such as:

    • We’re Still Buying
    • We Can Rest Your Mind
    • No Strangers to Your Home
    • No-Direct Contact Required
    • You Can Still Sell Your House
    • A Phone Call Is All It Takes
    • We Can Buy Via Video, Phone, and Email

    You want to create ads that showcase the options they have and the value your service can give them during these circumstances your audience is currently in.

    If you can get to the heart of how your services can bring peace and closure to your customers’ lives, during this crisis and other times, you’ll stand a much better chance of surviving and thriving in the future.

    Tip #3: Trim Wasted Ad Spend

    During “normal” times, it can be easy to keep average-performing ad groups or keywords live as long as they’re bringing in some leads.

    But right now a shift to pause those ad groups or keywords and add to negative keyword lists might be a smart approach.

    Of course, you can then revive these ad groups and keywords once we’re out of this pandemic.

    If you need to cut your budget, a simple strategy would be to pause ad groups and/or keywords that haven’t produced a lead in the past month or two. Or, those ad groups and/or keywords that have converted one or two times in the past month or two.

    These might be low-hanging fruit keywords. Choose to pause those for now and hang onto the ad groups and keywords that make the most impact.

    It’s also important to continue to add search terms to your list of negative keywords. 

    Negative keywords will prevent your ads from showing up for future searches that seem to be related to your service but have nothing to do with it.

    We’ve seen terms that seem really good but aren’t converting into leads. Such as…

    “sell my house in 55+”

    So, that term is becoming an exact match negative term for now.

    We’ve also seen an influx of game-related terms, possibly due to more kids being without things to do. Terms such as…

    “how to sell your house in Rocitizens Boblox”

    These are search terms that can’t be predicted.

    Even during times like these, the old saying “you gotta spend money to make money” holds true for paid traffic. Merely pausing your campaigns altogether just isn’t the way to go.

    But, there are just smarter ways of figuring out the most efficient way to keep your campaigns live.

    You should always be looking for the most cost-effective approach to Google ads, but right now, it’s okay to tighten the spending up without feeling like you’re missing out on leads.

    Wrapping up

    The Google Ads industry changed entirely in the last month. Much of what we considered certainties only a few short weeks ago still remain today, but there are things you need to view a little differently for now.

    Adapting during these uncertain times will help you to continue to grow.

    It’s likely that you have already come under pressure to reduce spend or, at the very extreme, you’ve paused your account. These are sensible reactions given the circumstances, but are they the only options? 

    The answers to these questions depend a lot on each individual’s situation, but in this post, we hope to educate you on how to make these positive decisions and how to best adapt Google Ads during these challenging times.

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