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

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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 The Coronavirus Pandemic Means for Agents & Investors & Why We’re Doubling Down The Coronavirus Podcast Series: For Real Estate Investors & Agents How to Win with Content Marketing During COVID-19 | Playbook Emerges How Has Lead Generation Changed During COVID-19 for Real Estate? – Exclusive Data and Action Plan What Our Google Ads Data is Showing During 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. 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 … Continued

What The Coronavirus Pandemic Means for Agents & Investors & Why We’re Doubling Down

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It’s surreal right now. We’re in the middle of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a big deal. Additional COVID-19 Articles:  The Coronavirus Podcast Series: For Real Estate Investors & Agents How to Win with Content Marketing During COVID-19 – The Playbook Emerges During this article, I’m going to be talking about how you cope with these major changes in the economy, real estate, and the way that we’re working and living and thriving. Get Quick Context About This Blog Post Before Diving In… Listen to the Full Podcast Episode Below Now everybody’s going to be impacted in some way, shape, or form. But, you don’t have to be impacted negatively. There are people that I know, businesses that I know, that are actually doing better than ever right now because they’re geared and they’re set up and they planned for things like this. Or, maybe they just got lucky and they have certain products, of course, that are just in high demand for these times. I’m going to be talking about how to better prepare for what’s to come. How Do You Come Out on the Other Side of This Stronger? How do you as a real estate investor or agent plan and prepare for what is going to happen? I’ll be the first one to admit that I didn’t treat this seriously enough early on. I thought, it’s just this, like a lot of people were saying right, it’s this cold, it’s this flu. The flu numbers kill more people than this is killing. And that was honestly just a full misunderstanding of how pandemics work, a full misunderstanding of how math actually works in these types of situations. Preparing for the Financial Impact The financial side is what I want you guys to prepare for. What happens with all the shutdowns? The shutdowns are where the devastating part is on the financial side because there’s the health side of it, which is a huge deal, but it’s going to likely be shorter-lived, months rather than years. The financial side though is where it gets really, really interesting and possibly scary for many people. So if you have stay-in-place orders in California and Washington (now in Oregon) and all over the place, and kids are out of school here in Oregon until the end of April now rather than just spring break… That leaves over a month and a half to where parents have to figure out a way that they can work at home while trying to take care of their kids still. We’ve got team members who have multiple kids at home, who are working and they’re trying to do their best work. So we’ve put policies in place to give our team members more flexibility and more leeway during these times. And we said, “We’ll take it two weeks at a time during the next two weeks.” But, we’re not pumping the brakes. This is when we actually need to hit the gas more than ever to help our customers more than ever, to help you guys wade through and win in this market. And that’s where I’m going to come to next because there are so many people doing amazing right now still because so many people are pulling back and I’m going to show you guys exactly how to do that, but we need to be doubling down and helping you guys win even more right now, not pulling back ourselves and going, “Hey, let’s wait and see.” Don’t Pump the Brakes… Give It More Gas I think if you have a wait and … Continued

5 Real Estate Blog Post Templates to Make Your Writing Easier

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We talk a lot about content marketing for real estate agents and investors. Writing blog content for your website doesn’t just help you generate more passive traffic through SEO (Search Engine Optimization); it also allows you to engage with your ideal market and provide them with free value. But for all the buzz around writing blog content, recording videos, and posting on social media, it can still be a challenge to create that high-quality content that ranks in Google (generating passive traffic to your website), engages your ideal market, and gets “shares” on social media. So, we put together this resource for you with five easy-to-follow real estate blog post templates for real estate agents and investors. Or, if you want to skip the legwork and have Carrot tools create high-ranking, share-worthy blog content for you, become a Carrot Member and subscribe to the Content Tools add-on ;-) Otherwise, let’s dive right in! How Powerful is Content Marketing For Real Estate? Content marketing is, quite simply, publishing content (blog articles, social media posts, YouTube videos, etc.) to brand and grow your business. And it’s effective for pretty much every industry, real estate included. In some ways, content marketing is more effective in the real estate industry than in other industries. If I want to create content consistently and I’m in the travel niche, for example, I’m going to have a ton of competition—there are just a lot of content creators in the travel niche. Not so much for real estate. Especially if you consider that you’re only competing with content-creating real estate professionals in your area of operation, there’s even less competition. That’s good! It means you’ll have less trouble standing out. But if you’re still not convinced that consistent content marketing can be crazy powerful for your business’ growth, consider these stats… Yeah… Content marketing can certainly give your real estate business the boost it needs. We also have a few other resources on this topic that you might find helpful. And if you want to fill your blog with high-quality, high-ranking content without spending hours creating that content… …check out our Content Tools add-on! Either way, here are five blog post templates for your real estate website content. Keep in Mind Before You Write Here are some things to remember before you start writing your blog posts. Need help finding keywords for your blog posts? We did it for you! 5 Real Estate Blog Post Templates You Can Steal Blog Post Template 1: The Listicle The listicle blog post template is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a “list” of reasons, tips, tricks, or hacks that provide easy-to-scan value for your audience. This blog post is a listicle. Listicles are easy to write and easy for readers to digest, and they tend to do well in Google and social media. A few examples of listicle posts are… The template for a listicle is pretty basic. Here it is. Title Options Introduction Write a short introduction, between 50 and 150 words, that empathizes with your ideal market’s current situation and briefly explains the problem your article willd solve. Middle – Points List your article’s points as H2 headings and write between 50 and 150 words for each point, expanding upon the core concept. Conclusion Write 50 to 150-word conclusion which overviews the article’s content and calls the reader to take action. Your CTA should often encourage the reader to work with you. Here’s an example of a listicle post that we wrote a few weeks ago: 9 Ways To Be a More Productive Real Estate Professional & Business Owner. Checklist Before Publishing Blog Post … Continued

EP 199: Direct Mail Masterclass #4 | The One Missing Piece To Your Direct Mail Marketing w/ Christina Krause

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Direct mail is all amount momentum and consistency. Once you have that momentum, don’t break it, keep it going and you will see the magic begin to happen. Christina Krause Direct Mail Masterclass #4 | The One Missing Piece To Your Direct Mail Marketing w/ Christina Krause We’re coming at you with part 4 of our 4-part series on direct mail marketing for real estate. In the last two episodes of this series, we sat down with Todd Swaggerty of Yellow Letter HQ to get his take on direct mail marketing for real estate, what you should be mailing, and when. We talked about lists and how to hone in on your ideal clients.  Today, we are sitting down with Christina Krause of Postal Impact and Virtual Lead Managers. She’s been with us at CarrotCamp and at our Market Leader Summit. I am super excited for this episode as we sit down and dive deeper into tracking, training, metrics, and all of the insanely strategic things Christina does for her clients. So get out a pen, get comfortable, and get ready to learn about what your direct mail campaign may be missing: DATA.  Don’t Miss The Other Episodes In This Direct Mail Series! Read the Full Show Notes Below… Deleted: Here at Carrot, we will always advocate for a well-rounded marketing mix. Your PPC, your direct mail, and your social campaigns are all just pieces of a larger puzzle. When done correctly, each part of your marketing mix will amp each other up. Your offline marketing supporting your offline marketing and vice versa. This is why we are so excited about this series covering direct mail for real estate.  To close out the series, having Christina on was a perfect choice. Her data-driven lead-gen has been helping real estate investors all over the country get more leads and close more deals. While her company isn’t a mail house, they do oversee the campaign from start to finish. They will generate leads, oversee the mailings, and most importantly, track the data throughout the entire sales pipeline.  Mailing To The Right People For her clients, Christina will often run a direct mail campaign that is 90% postcards and 10% letters. According to the data, letters have a higher response rate but will cost more to send. As such, the letters are reserved for the highest value leads. To find the highest value leads, you’ll have to get the right lists, study the data, and track everything! Using Direct Mail For Real Estate? What You Should Be Tracking…  You see the threads on all the real estate websites. People will say to do this or don’t do that. Put this on your mailpiece. Don’t put this on your mail piece. Taking the advice of people online can help you learn a thing or two, but to know what is going to work for your business you’ll have to do some testing. You want to put your money into things that are working, not hearsay from things you read online.  Tracking your results is the only way to know what works. Christina recommends these three KPI’s or Key Performance Indicators.  Your Response Rate – This is anyone who called you because of your postcard. Even if they asked to be taken off of your list, your mailer got their attention and initiated a response. Be sure to remove any dupes, only counting unique callers.  Your Net Lead Rate – Now how many of those people who called actually had a house they are ready to sell? This is your net lead rate. Even if … Continued

EP 185: The Most Important Lessons In 2019 From America’s Top Real Estate Investors w/ Mike Hambright of Investor Fuel

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Being an entrepreneur can be lonely. If you aren’t plugged into the right information, connected to the right people, or in a space where you can ask questions, your business is going to suffer. Mike Hambright has been investing in real estate since 2008. Since then he has been busy with investments, coaching, and finding ways to give back and add value to others. Today we talk about the impact of community, plus what Mike has learned this year from some of the top investors in the country. Listen in! Read the Full Show Notes Below… The Most Important Lessons In 2019 From America’s Top Real Estate Investors w/ Mike Hambright of Investor Fuel As an investor, who do you turn to with your questions? Who do you bounce ideas off of before diving in headfirst? For Mike Hambright, his business has thrived simply by providing a community for others with shared interests. Today, in addition to investing in real estate, Mike hosts two incredible podcasts, The Investor Fuel Podcast and FlipNerd. He works with many of the top real estate investors in the US! Mike also leads a mastermind which I am incredibly proud to be apart of, called Investor Fuel.  Mike first got into investing when he realized he wanted to be in charge of his own destiny. His whole life he had done the things he thought he was supposed to do. He got the degrees and the corporate jobs, but at the end of the day, his fate lied in the hands of someone else. In 2008 he had had enough of the corporate life and dove into real estate investing with a no-fear attitude. That attitude allowed him to close on 65 properties that first year alone.  Mike continued to close these deals year after year but things began to get a bit more complicated. Instead of just flipping houses, now Mike was handling rentals, tapping into other types of real estate investment, and coaching up and coming investors, helping them to find their footing in this business.  Be A Go-Giver At Carrot, a big part of our business relies on how we can give back. The Go-Giver was a book I read early on in my career which has completely altered the way I see business. Mike has adopted the same principals within his business, providing a forum for like-minded investors to connect. He has created a safe space where people can be open, vulnerable, and comfortable sharing details about their businesses.  Back when Mike first got into real estate, the internet wasn’t what it is today. People weren’t meeting and discussing ideas in the ways they are not. People kept information to themselves out of fear that someone was going to steal their next big deal. It was then that Mike realized there needed to be a greater sense of community surrounding real estate. So many people were experiencing the sale triumphs and setbacks, yet had nobody to talk about it with. They were unable to find people who could relate and offer the insight they needed. One small idea shared from someone you may not normally connect with can completely alter your business for the better. It is through these connections that incredible success stories take place.  Sharing Your Best I’ve noticed at CarrotCamp and other networking events in the past, that people can come into these situations with a bit of apprehension. They may not be open to being vulnerable about their defeats or they may be hesitant about sharing too much of their propriety information. They are guarded and are … Continued

7 Ways to Generate 100+ Land Buyer Leads in 30 Days

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Do you find, finding sellers hard? You’re not alone. With most real estate investing business models, finding motivated sellers can be difficult. You have to send direct mail that stands out, run attractive PPC campaigns, and rank in Google for terms like “sell my house fast for cash in [market].” In fact, here’s an article we wrote which is dedicated to helping you find motivated sellers.  But with land investing, the entire thing gets flipped on its head. Finding land sellers is usually pretty easy. For about every 250 mailers, you can expect to find a motivated seller. Finding land buyer leads can be the hardest part.  And of the land buyer leads you do get, a lot of them are tire-kickers who think owning a piece of property would be cool, but just end up wasting your time.  In the end, you might find about one motivated buyer per 25 or 30 leads (give or take some depending on your market).  If you could increase the number of leads you get, you would also increase the number of motivated buyers you find and deals you close.  And in the land business, that’s one of the biggest factors which determines your business growth. Are you finding motivated buyers consistently? To help you, here are 7 ideas for increasing your land buyer leads to 100+ in 30-days. Carrot member land buyer leads in 30-days 1. Lift Your Land Buyer Website’s Conversion Rate We’re starting off with the most important tip in this article.  Because look — if you generate more traffic to your land buyer website, but none of that traffic opts-in and gives you their info, then they might not have visited your website at all.  (If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, did it make a noise?) And make no mistake, optimizing your website’s conversion rate can make a massive difference. Consider this math.  Imagine it takes you 25 leads to close one deal. Further, imagine that you’re currently getting 500 website visits per month with a conversion rate of 5% (which means that you’re generating 25 leads and thus closing one deal per month). If you increase that conversion rate from just 5% to 10%, you’d generate 50 leads and close 2 deals per month with the same amount of website traffic. Related content: Use Carrot’s ROI Calculator Would it be worth it to you to optimize your website for conversion so you could close one more land deal per month (and maybe more)?  Of course, it would! At Carrot, our members consistently see conversion rates between 15% and 30%. And to us, it’s simple science…  We’ve run tons of conversion rate tests on our member’s websites to determine what converts the best and we’re absolutely relentless about ensuring that our member’s sites continue to convert like their businesses need them to.  You can check out our free 16-point conversion optimization checklist over here to start optimizing your own website. 2. Create Consistent Content to Find Land Buyer Leads Consistent content marketing is probably one of the most powerful things you can do for your land investing business. With it, you can: It’s also probably one of the most under-valued lead-generation strategies. Which is good! It means if you do create consistent content on your website, you’ll quickly and easily stand head-and-shoulders above your competitors that aren’t creating any content.  But… what kind of content should you create? What should you talk about? When should you create it? Great questions! Carrot members can create awesome long-form blog content in under … Continued

EP 181: How to Create Freedom in Your Real Estate Business

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Since starting Carrot, I’ve discovered that the biggest struggle for agents & investors is marketing. For anyone new to business, or even those that have been in it for years, focusing on just one thing can be a struggle. With so many options like Facebook Ads, PPC, SEO, networking, open houses, it can be tough to know what strategies to use and when.  Our goal at Carrot is to provide people the information and tools they need to succeed. We are constantly hearing from Carrot users that doing the marketing is too much work, that it is too expensive, or that it simply isn’t working. The good news is that you don’t have to do it all. When you focus on what works, creating a solid foundation, your marketing will begin to work for you, allowing you to get off the hamster wheel of endless marketing tactics. Listen in as we dive in further to help you create a marketing plan that will work for your business! Read the Full Show Notes Below… Your Real Estate Marketing Blueprint | How To Create A Business That Actually Sets You Free Whether you are an agent or investor, using the right real estate marketing strategies is critical to your success. You need to get leads in the door, but with so many options, how do you know where to go all-in? We hear from clients all of the time that doing the marketing work is too much work or that it is too expensive. When you are doing the wrong things, it can be. But when you are able to implement smart strategies and create a unique selling proposition, your business will begin to market itself. And always remember, as mentioned in one of our Truck Talks, people don’t buy your business but they are buying a better version of themselves.  Getting Off The Hamster Wheel I use the example of hamster wheel marketing vs. building a wall quite often. Hamster wheel marketing I consider to be things like cold calling, throwing up random social media posts, and anything else that if you stopped doing, the leads would eventually disappear. While this strategy is great when you are just starting out or when you just need to get some leads in the door, building a wall will help ensure that if you were to take a break, the leads would keep rolling in as normal. When you build a strong foundation for your business, you will be able to get off the wheel for good!  Setting A Strong Foundation When looking at our marketing strategy, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed if you are trying to handle all of it. The trick is to focus on your unique gift, getting that message across to your potential clients. This will help you to build authority, and if you’ve been listening for a while, you know how important creating authority is to the success of your business. Try to do this by offering your own USP, telling your own story, and doing things a bit different from your competition. If you are an agent, don’t just tell them you’re an agent and here are some houses. If you are an investor, you need to say more than you will buy houses fast. In one of our Truck Talks, I lay out exactly how you can create a USP that will stand out from the competition!  Our Marketing Plan Generator We’re thrilled to be very close to launching our new Marketing Plan Generator which will lay out exactly what you need to do when … Continued

EP 177: Journey From Day Job to $100k/year | Every Single Step To Closing 8 Deals in One Month w/ Keith Sant of Kind House Buyers

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When others were out drinking on a Friday night, I was putting up signs or creating Craigslist ads. – Keith Sant We love Keith not just because he’s an awesome guy, but because he doesn’t have anything to hide. His story proves that if you want something bad enough and you’re willing to put in the work, anything can happen. Since closing his first wholesale deal two years ago, he’s tried everything under the sun to build a valuable investing business. Today he shares his entire strategy & marketing mix, everything he’s doing to crush it in such a saturated market. After this, there are no excuses. Let’s get it! Read the Full Show Notes Below… Journey From Day Job to $100k/year | Every Single Step To Closing 8 Deals in One Month w/ Keith Sant of Kind House Buyers For Keith Sant, Kind House Buyers is more than just the name of his business, it is how he conducts business and his life. I first got to know Keith just a few weeks ago at our most recent CarrotCamp, and right away I was struck by his hunger, drive, and gratitude. These are the things that have led him to create a very successful wholesaling business in the Pacific Northwest.  Keith believes in treating everyone the same. He talks to his sellers the same way he talks to investors. He grew up not having much, so his sincere gratitude for all he’s achieved shines through when you talk to him about his business.  A while back, Keith heard a podcast I did about CarrotCamp, the benefits, the highlights, and what people could expect to take away from the event. He knew it was something he needed to attend, but he wasn’t making the 100k per year that he needed to qualify… yet.  Don’t wish it were easier. Wish you were better. Jim Rohn Instead of feeling defeated, Keith got down to it and closed the deals he needed to. He was able to close eight deals in one month, in a very competitive market nonetheless. Needless to say, Keith made it to the next CarrotCamp, and we were thrilled to have him join us.  In The Beginning In order to get where he needed to be, Keith knew he had to buckle down and do the work. Before real estate, Keith was working in screenprinting. He never referred to himself as an entrepreneur, but he has always known he wouldn’t be able to work with someone who didn’t value him or his contribution.  Eventually, Keith went back to school. There isn’t a degree for entrepreneurs, so he studied marketing instead. Why? Because he didn’t think he was that great at it, so he figured he should learn.  Real estate was always an interest, but the entry barrier seemed too high. He had a friend in Texas doing flips and wholesaling houses. Keith worked with him for a while, then brought his business to the Pacific Northwest. He worked hard, got his first wholesale deal, and it was on from there. This year he’s looking at doing about 25 deals, with an average profit of $15,800.  Initial Marketing Bandit Signs Keith started with bandit signs and a lot of them. To be effective, the signs needed a few key elements.  Keith got an easy to remember, repeating digit phone number The phone number was HUGE so people could see it He included his website as it was something people could remember and look-up when they got home He was strategic in where he put the signs. He didn’t put them … Continued

How to Find Cash Buyers: 8 Creative Ways to Get More Leads

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Serious investors need to know how to find cash buyers. Why? Let’s say you hustled and got a house under contract. You ran the numbers and figured you could profit $10,000 or more on this one property! You’re excited, nervous, and ready to finish the deal. But what now? After all, having a house under contract isn’t enough. You also need someone on the other side willing to pay you cash for that property. And you can’t just have one buyer — you need a whole list of people willing to buy the properties you put under contract if you’re to turn your side hustle into a successful, growing business. (One buyer probably won’t want to buy all of your properties) And while finding cash buyers is typically easier than finding motivated sellers, it still takes some work. To help, here are some tips you can use to find buyers, build a trusting, long-term relationship with them, and get them to purchase your deals in no time. What is a Cash Buyer? A cash buyer is an individual or entity (such as an LLC formed by a group of real estate investors) with the money to purchase a home outright without financing. An actual cash home buyer will check these boxes: A cash buyer offer will most likely land between low and high offers in the multiple offer situation. Experienced investors typically have similar pricing calculations. Offers may not be the highest because investors know how vital an agreement is and don’t want to make false promises or fail to deliver. Many sellers are looking to sell to a cash home buyer because they need to sell quickly and easily. How to Find Cash Buyers 1. Post On Craigslist (Best Option for a Deal Under Contract Right Now) Craiglist is a great place for finding motivated sellers and cash buyers (plus it’s free). By posting a few simple ads every day in your area of operation, you can collect buyer’s leads in no time. Because remember, the cash buyers you’re looking for are probably already looking for properties to buy, and Craigslist is one place that they’re going to look. If they see your ad, they’ll likely reach out to you and you can add them to your buyer’s list. It’s a free and easy way to grow your buyer’s list. What’s not to like? 2. Utilizing Facebook Groups Facebook can a great place for finding local cash buyers. There are many local real estate Facebook groups that you can tap into. Here’s an example of a local group. Active groups are always posting their deals. Simply post within the group… “who’s dealing in [market city] area?” Then wait to see who you can start building relationships with. 3. Call Real Estate Agents Real estate agents usually have their fingers on the pulse of their market. They know how the housing market is doing, they are typically friendly, and they know tons of different people with different real estate interests — from first-time homebuyers to million-dollar cash buyers. And that’s exactly why they’re such a great resource for you when you’re learning how to find cash buyers. Make a list of 10 real estate agents in your area, call them, introduce yourself and what you’re doing, and ask them if they know anyone who might be interested in purchasing your properties. You might be surprised at just how many names you get (heck! Some real estate agents are also investors looking for good deals, so you might even get some buyers that way). 4. Go To Property Auctions Property auctions … Continued