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  • 15 Best Real Estate Agent Website Builders

    15 Best Real Estate Agent Website Builders

    You’re here because you fall into one of two categories.

    1. You need to use a real estate agent website builder but you either don’t want to botch it or you think you don’t have the time.

    Or…

    2. You are unsatisfied with your current real estate agent website design and want to fix it or create a new one.

    In both cases, you’re not alone: 72% of real estate agents are unsatisfied with the number of leads that their current website generates. That’s not because their real estate agent websites can’t generate leads (at Carrot, we’ve generated over one million leads for investors and agents — all online), but, more often than not, because their website isn’t optimized for it.

    There’s a HUGE difference between having a website and having a website that works. 

    This is exactly why you’re here — to find out what works.

    Real Estate Agent Websites – What’s Important?

    Real Estate Agent Websites | What's Important?

    15 Best Real Estate Agent Website Builders

    You’re a real estate agent, not a web developer. 

    So where are you going to find great user-friendly software to build a high-converting website? Fortunately, you’ve got a lot of options. 

    And we’ve laid them all out for you below… starting with our very own software designed specifically to help real estate agents like yourself grow their businesses!

    Let’s dive in!

    1. Carrot

    Description

    We’ve built literally tens of thousands of websites for real estate professionals at Carrot — not just any websites… websites that convert like clockwork and help grow our member’s businesses. 

    We’ve also got data to back it up. We recently conducted a survey that showed that leads that come through a Carrot site convert 7x better and are 2.5x more profitable than non-Carrot leads (learn why over here). 

    Our tech stack even outperformed WordPress, GoDaddy, Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace in a third-party test. 

    Cool, right? 

    Take a demo over here to learn more!

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that a Standard Carrot Subscription comes with:

    • High-Converting Website
    • Carrot Lead Manager
    • 3 Campaign Tracking Links // to help you track how well your marketing channels are doing
    • 3 Keywords to track // to help you track how well your target search terms are performing
    • Basic website analytics
    • Visual Editor and Landing Page Builder
    • Chat and Email Support

    The SEO Tools add-on will help you research, plan, and executive effective SEO and SEM:

    • Keyword Rank Tracker // track 25 keywords in your Carrot dashboard
    • SEO Dashboard // the most important SEO data at your fingertips to help you might the right adjustments to your strategy
    • On-page SEO recommendations // to help you make faster, better decisions in SEO

    The Content Tools add-on will unleash AI and Automation to save you time when scaling your content marketing.

    • Automated Content Library // to help you Build Authority in your market through content
    • VideoPost // transcribe your videos into Authority-Building content
    • AI Rewrite Tool // rewrite your content to help you create content faster and stand out in your market
    • Niche Authority Builder // launch multiple Authority-Building blogs on a single niche per month
    • 25 Auto-Location pages // scale your SEO lead gen by creating location pages for your surrounding markets

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • Standard Website Subscription: $89/mo
    • Add-ons range from $29 to $69 per month

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates…

    When you’re choosing between different real estate website platforms, there are seven things you need to take into consideration. The best real estate agent website builders have:

    1. Does it offer website hosting?
    2. Is there a Content Management System (CMS)?
    3. Does it offer IDX integration?
    4. Is it designed to maximize lead generation?
    5. Is it optimized for Search Engines?
    6. Will it notify you when you get leads?
    7. Will it integrate with your CRM?
    Carrot real estate agent website example

    2. Placester

    Description

    Placester is a website builder that’s specifically designed for real estate agents. It comes with built-in lead capture and CRM tools, as well as custom templates and design options to help you create a professional website quickly and easily.

    The Pros: 

    • Excellent lead capture and CRM tools 
    • Lots of design customization options 
    • No need to hire a separate web developer

    The Cons: 

    • Limited template selection 
    • Some users find the design customization options overwhelming

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • Lead capture forms 
    • CRM integration 
    • Customizable templates 
    • Easy to use drag and drop interface 
    • No need to hire a separate web developer

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • Monthly plan – $49/month 
    • Yearly plan – $468/year (save $132) 

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates…

    Placester website example

    3. Propertybase

    Description

    Propertybase is a comprehensive CRM and website builder for real estate professionals. It offers everything from lead capture and management to IDX search integration and automatic website updates.

    The Pros: 

    • Comprehensive functionality 
    • Strong customer support 
    • Automatic website updates 

    The Cons: 

    • Steep learning curve 

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • Lead capture and management 
    • IDX search integration 
    • Automatic website updates 

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • Basic: $49/month 
    • Professional: $99/month 
    • Enterprise: Contact for pricing 

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates…

    PropertyBase website example

    4. IDX Broker

    Description

    IDX Broker is a website builder specifically for real estate agents. It integrates with your MLS to give you access to property listings from all over the country (or even the world).

    Pros: 

    • Integrates with your MLS 
    • Great customer support 

    Cons: 

    • Not as many templates as some of the other builders

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • Agency Management: easily manage all of your listings and agents from one central location. 
    • Lead Capture and CRM Integration: capture leads directly on your website and automatically sync them with your CRM software. 
    • Responsive Design: make sure that your website looks great no matter what device it’s being

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • Free: get a basic website with limited features. 
    • Paid Plans: start at $39/month and include more features and support.

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates… 

    IDX Broker website example

    5. InCom

    Description

    InCom is a website builder that’s specifically designed for real estate agents. It offers an easy-to-use platform with all the features you need to create a professional website, including lead capture forms, property listings, and more. Plus, it integrates seamlessly with InListings so you can manage your online presence and marketing efforts all in one place.

    Pros:

    • Easy to use
    • Integrates with InListings

    Cons:

    • No customer support phone line
    • Pricing model is subscription-based

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • Lead capture forms
    • Property listings
    • IDX integration
    • One-click listing posting
    • Customizable templates

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • Starter: $49/month
    • Professional: $99/month
    • Elite: $199/month

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates…

    InCom real estate website example

    6. BoomTown

    Description

    Boomtown provides lead generation tools and a customer relationship management (CRM) system for real estate agents. It gives you the ability to generate leads through its many online marketing tools, including search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media.

    Pros:

    • Lead Generation
    • Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system

    Cons: 

    • May be too expensive for some agents
    • Can be difficult to use

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • A customizable website builder
    • Lead capture forms
    • Listing syndication
    • Drip marketing campaigns
    • Property search tools

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • Starts at $59/month for the basic plan. 

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates… 

    BoomTown real estate website example

    7. Squarespace

    Description

    Squarespace is a website builder that offers users a simple drag-and-drop interface. It’s an easy way to create a beautiful website without any prior experience or design knowledge.

    Pros: 

    • Squarespace offers a wide range of templates that are all optimized for mobile devices.
    • You can try out Squarespace for free before committing to a paid plan.
    • Squarespace provides 24/seven customer support.

    Cons: 

    • Some users find the interface to be confusing and difficult to use.

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • Websites
    • Ecommerce Features
    • Marketing Features
    • Analytics
    • Templates

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • Personal – $14 Per Month
    • Business – $23 Per Month
    • Commerce – $27 Per Month
    • Advanced – $49 Per Month

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates…

    SquareSpace real estate website example

    8. Duda

    Description

    Duda is an easy-to-use drag-and-drop website builder for real estate professionals.  You don’t need any coding skills to create a beautiful website with Duda. 

    Just choose from one of their many templates, customize it to match your brand, and add your listings.

    Duda also offers some great features specifically for real estate websites, such as IDX integration and mortgage calculators.

    Pros:

    • Very easy to use – no coding required
    • Lots of templates and design options are available
    • IDX integration and mortgage calculator built-in

    Cons:

    • Not as customizable as some other builders
    • Some users have complained about the customer service

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • User-friendly drag and drop editor
    • Mobile responsive design
    • Over 280 templates specifically designed for real estate websites
    • IDX integration
    • Lead capture forms
    • SEO tools

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • Free plan with limited features
    • $14/month billed annually for the Standard plan, which includes all the features listed above.
    • $24/month billed annually for the Pro plan, which includes everything in the Standard plan plus additional features like unlimited pages and bandwidth, Google Analytics integration, and more.

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates…

    Duda real estate website example

    9. Wix

    Description

    Wix is one of the most popular website builders on the market. It’s easy to use and offers a wide variety of templates to choose from. Plus, it’s free to get started!

    Pros: 

    • Wide range of templates available 
    • Very user-friendly 
    • Free to get started

    Cons: 

    • Some templates are a bit dated 
    • Limited customization options available

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • Templates
    • Design Freedom
    • SEO Tools
    • Mobile Optimized
    • App Market
    • Unlimited Fonts

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • Combo – $14 Per Month
    • Unlimited – $18 Per Month
    • Pro – $23 Per Month
    • VIP – $39 Per Month

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates…

    wix website template for real estate agents

    10. WordPress

    Description

    WordPress is a popular content management system that helps you easily create and manage your website’s content. It’s user-friendly and relatively inexpensive, making it a great option for small businesses.

    Pros:  

    • User-friendly
    • Inexpensive
    • Great for small businesses

    Cons: 

    • It may require some web development knowledge to use effectively

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • Themes
    • Mobile-Friendly
    • Plugins
    • Everything You Need to Build a Website

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • Personal – $4 Per Month
    • Premium – $8 Per Month
    • Business – $25 Per Month
    • eCommerce – $45 Per Month

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates… 

    Wordpress websites for real estate agents

    11. GoDaddy

    Description

    GoDaddy offers a website builder that is simple to use and helps you create a website quickly. It includes templates for real estate agents, as well as SEO tools to help your site rank higher in search results.

    Pros:  

    • Simple to use
    • Includes templates specifically for real estate agents
    • SEO tools included

    Cons: 

    • Not as many features as some other website builders

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • Email and social media marketing
    • One-time appointments
    • PayPal payments
    • SSL certificate to keep your site secure
    • 24/7 customer support
    • Branded content creation with GoDaddy Studio

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • Basic – $6.99 Per Month
    • Standard – $10.49 Per Month
    • Premium – $13.99 Per Month
    • Commerce – $14.99 Per Month

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates… 

    GoDaddy websites

    12. Ylopo

    Description

    Ylopo is a website builder that’s specifically designed for real estate agents. It comes with all the features you need to create a beautiful and high-converting website.

    Pros:  

    • You don’t need any coding or design skills.
    • A library of beautiful real estate templates to choose from.
    • 24/seven support from a team of experts

    Cons: 

    • Ylopo is relatively new software, so there are still some features that are in development. 

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • Customizable templates
    • Lead capture and CRM integration
    • SEO optimization
    • One-click IDX integration

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • $75/month for the Pro plan
    • $150/month for the Agency plan

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates…

    Ylopo websites

    13. AgentFire

    Description

    AgentFire is a website builder specifically designed for real estate agents. It comes with built-in lead capture and CRM tools, as well as custom templates and design options to help you create a professional website quickly and easily.

    Pros: 

    • Easy to use
    • No design or coding skills needed
    • Custom templates and designs specifically for real estate agents

    Cons:

    • Limited customization options outside of the pre-made templates

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • Custom templates and design options
    • Built-in lead capture and CRM tools
    • Mobile responsive
    • SEO optimized

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • The most basic plan starts at $29/month.
    • The top-tier plan is $49/month.

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates…

    Agentfire websites

    14. Union Street Media

    Description

    Union Street Media is a website builder created specifically for real estate agents. With this platform, you can easily create a beautiful and professional website in just a few minutes – no technical skills are required.

    Pros: 

    • User-friendly platform 
    • Beautiful and professional templates 
    • Integrated lead capture forms and CRM software 
    • SEO optimized for maximum visibility 

    Cons: 

    • Limited customization options

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • User-friendly platform
    • Beautiful and professional templates
    • Integrated lead capture forms and CRM software
    • SEO optimized for maximum visibility

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • $39/month or $348/year for the Basic plan 
    • $59/month or $588/year for the Professional plan
    • Custom Enterprise pricing available

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates… 

    Union Street Media Websites

    15. Luxury Presence

    Description

    Luxury Presence is a website builder that’s perfect for luxury real estate agents. It offers an easy-to-use drag and drop editor, as well as professionally designed templates to help you create a stunning website in minutes. Plus, it comes loaded with features like lead capture forms, photo galleries, and property search tools.

    Pros: 

    • Beautiful and professional templates 
    • Advanced customization options 
    • Integrated lead capture forms and CRM 
    • Built-in photo galleries and property search tools 

    Cons: 

    • Limited integrations with other software platforms 

    Features

    Here are some of the main features that this website builder offers…

    • Drag and drop editor
    • Professionally designed templates
    • Lead capture forms
    • Photo galleries
    • Property search tools

    Pricing

    Here are the website builder’s pricing options… 

    • $49/month for the Basic plan
    • $99/month for the Professional plan
    • $199/month for the Enterprise plan

    Example

    Here’s an example of the website builder’s templates…

    Luxury Presence Websites

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    Your Real Estate Agent Website Builder Must-Have’s:

    Think of real estate website hosting like the building that people walk into to visit a store. If the building is clean, crisp, and fast, people will stick around longer. If it’s dirty, cluttered, and unattractive, then people will leave.

    Particularly, I like this parallel that Salman Mehdi makes:

    “Consider a situation: you are called as a guest to someone’s house. The host serves you with a cheap, rotten, and unhygienic food. What will be your reaction? You would simply not like the experience you have with your host.

    You feel uneasy and there is a sense of you being insulted with the kind of food served to you. You will have a bad opinion about your host. Same is the case with website hosting.

    When you start facing problems with your cheap host, you feel that your money is lost. Your efforts went in vain. You know that you have a bad experience with your so called cheap host.”

    Said another way, website hosting impacts the way that people perceive your website, business, and credibility.

    But it impacts more than that. In fact, choosing the right website host is critical for four reasons.

    1. Support

    There’s no such thing as a perfect website. You’re going to need help at one point or another. Maybe it’s because your website crashed or your DNS records are out of whack or your load speed took a sudden hit.

    Whatever the case, you need people who are on your team, ready to help.

    In the words of Darren Dahl over at Inc,

    “Nobody can prevent glitches 100%, so if and when you find yourself in the middle of one, its best to have someone you can call on to get immediate resolution.”

    This is why, at Carrot, we aim to have a world-class support team.

    With most cheap website hosting options, you’re not going to receive that kind of attention.

    Here’s just a couple of what our 6000+ members say about our support team:

    “James has been extremely patient with helping me fine-tune my website – He responds to all my emails same day and answers all of my questions” – Linda

    “Great support team and awesome features. We had a custom site for years and recently migrated it over to Carrot. We’re very happy with our results so far! thank you” – Omer

    You need to find a company that’s going to help you when you need it, is familiar with industry patterns, and can knowledgeably discuss website changes you can make to drive more traffic and convert more visitors.

    2. Speed

    You need a fast website.

    This is important for several reasons. First of all, most people will outright leave your website if it takes more than two to three seconds to load. End of story. Bye, bye forever, potential lead.

    Second, and equally important, is where you rank in search engines.

    With Google — which accounts for 67% of search engine queries — even milliseconds matter.

    average page load speed vs google position

    (Image Source)

    And a large determiner of how fast your website runs is where and how the website is hosted.

    The easiest way to see if a hosting option produces fast-moving websites is to run one of their websites through this speed tester.

    Here’s how one of our AgentCarrot websites performed, for instance.

    carrot real estate website page speed

    Ideally, you want to be in the green.

    And at Carrot, that green color is completely intentional.

    Here’s what our CTO, Chris, has to say about how we made that happen:

    “The first step for us was moving all of your site assets to a distributed CDN (content delivery network). This means once your website is loaded by a visitor, all the images you have uploaded to your site are served from an additional server located close to your visitor.

    This is faster because we are using a system built for speedy image delivery, and we are spreading the load of serving the whole site onto multiple systems.”

    But tech-speak aside, the best real estate websites for agents have hosting that keeps the website fast so people (and search engines) give the website the chance that it deserves.

    Don’t just take our word. Check out this page speed study done by Fresh Chalk.

    3. Scalability

    I’m willing to bet that you have some ambitious dreams for your business. This year, you probably want to do more deals than last year. You probably want those deals to be bigger, and you probably want to drive more revenue, overall.

    But, all of those dreams mean something to your website. Namely, if you do it right, more people will visit your website and more people will take action on your website.

    As you grow, though, all of those demands can cripple unprepared hosting options.

    This is why it’s important that you choose website hosting that’s going to scale with you.

    Cheap options usually won’t.

    When website hosting is remarkably cheap, it’s often because the company uses traditional shared-hosting. This means your website is hosted on the same server as hundreds or thousands of other websites. That, in and of itself, isn’t a bad thing. But it becomes bad when cheap hosting companies don’t carry the necessary integrations to organize and streamline the demands on your website.

    Here’s how TechTarget puts it:

    “Although shared hosting is a less expensive way for businesses to create a Web presence, it is usually not sufficient for Web sites with high traffic.”

    At Carrot, we use app clusters to split up and clean up the demand on our customer’s websites.

    Once more, here’s Carrot’s CTO, Chris:

    “The first step for us was moving all of your site assets to a distributed CDN (content delivery network). This means once your website is loaded by a visitor, all the images you have uploaded to your site are served from an additional server located close to your visitor.

    This is faster because we are using a system built for speedy image delivery, and we are spreading the load of serving the whole site onto multiple systems.

    Next, we took that same idea and applied it to the initial load of your website – spread that job of serving carrot sites out to a cluster of servers.

    Finally, we implemented a system to control the size of our application cluster, so no matter how many visitors (or bots) are hitting your site at any time, we can keep up with the demand and scale up/down our number of servers accordingly.”

    But, not all website hosts are so scalable. Before committing, make sure that the host is ready to grow just as fast as you are.

    4. Security

    There are a lot of reasons that your website needs to be secure. First off, you don’t want visitor information to get stolen because you didn’t take the necessary security precautions.

    After all, nothing will kill trust faster than a visitor getting their information stolen while on your website.

    Second, you don’t want your own information to get stolen.

    And third, SSL certification (also known as the HTTPS in front of a URL) has some correlation with search engine rankings.

    https google rank positions

    (Image Source)

    So yeah, having a secure website is crazy important — for you and your visitors. However, you probably don’t know the first thing about hacking or website security.

    You’re not alone.

    One report found that the primary reason a WordPress website gets hacked is because of something remarkably simple: outdated plugins.

    That’s why, at Carrot, all websites automatically have SSL certification and our in-house development team is constantly fighting ferocious hackers for you.

    You don’t have to do it yourself and you definitely don’t have to go to college to become a cyber attack specialist.

    Whatever website hosting you choose, make sure it’s equally prepared to protect you from cybercriminals.

    Your Real Estate Agent Website Builder Must-Have: A Content Management System 

    The last thing you want to do is get locked out of your own website.

    I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to that had a designer create a website for them and then said, “Yeah, the website looks great… but I can’t change anything because I don’t know how to code.”

    Ideally, you should build your website on a CMS (Content Management System) that is easy to use and allows you to make changes to content whenever you want.

    WordPress is easily the most popular CMS — accounting for about 25% of all websites — and that’s for good reason. WordPress is one of the most user-friendly CMSs around.

    It allows you to easily add content to your website, includes video and images within that content, and organize all of that content within a dashboard.

    This is exactly why we chose to use WordPress as the CMS foundation for our customers. Of course, we also added some of our own flairs to make things even simpler and more efficient.

    We allow you to view all your website stats…

    carrot real estate leads

    A dashboard with information on recent leads…

    real estate agent website stats

    And we even have a system for automatically transcribing your videos and turning them into written blog posts to gain SEO ranking.

    Carrot videopost feature

    That’s not to mention how easy we make it is to add listings to your website, feature some of those listings, and optimize every single page for search engines with our built-in SEO tool.

    Note: We don’t allow our members to install WordPress Plugins on their websites as a traditional WordPress website would. This is for several reasons. Most importantly, it ensures that your website will remain fast, secure, and consistent. If you do want to make additional changes to your website, then don’t hesitate to contact us — we’d love to help you however we can :-)

    Here’s Shawn Moore from CMS Critic:

    “Third-party plugins are required in many CMS platforms. While seemingly convenient, they can be both a pro and con at the same time. Plugins may save hours of development time and even money in the short term.

    But they can also be developed by a third party who may or may not continue to support the tool consistently or at all, which could leave you in a vulnerable position.

    Plugins can also be a major security problem — even well-established plugins like Yoast, a widely used Google Analytics plugin, can be exploited by hackers.

    In fact, the more widely a plugin is deployed, the more attractive it may be for hackers to go after it.”

    When I asked Danni — one of Carrot’s Customer Success Heroes — to comment on Carrot’s CMS, she said,

    “I feel like our system is crazy simple to use. It’s also a huge perk that the content is fully customizable and fully optimized, and that customers can do their own thing with it if they want to.

    Tyler Ford [a Carrot member] was telling us that he has gotten in a habit of doing a few additional tweaks to his content each week and the dude is crushing the rankings with the help of our blog content.”

    Before choosing a real estate agent website builder, explore the CMS a bit. What does it look like? How does it feel to use? Is it easy to navigate or difficult? If you wanted to make some changes to a blog post, how easy would it be?

    In the end, you want a CMS that allows you to make changes quickly and easily. If the CMS doesn’t allow for that, then find a different CMS.

    Your Real Estate Agent Website Builder Must-Have: Allowance for IDX Integration

    When people land on your website, there are only a few things that they could possibly want to do. Often, browsing through house listings is one of those things.

    Of course, you don’t have time to manually add house listings to your website.

    This is exactly why you’ll probably end up wanting a real estate agent website builder with IDX at some point.

    IDX automatically updates your website with house listings pulled from 3rd partly listing websites. The best part is that you don’t have to do anything to update this system once it’s set up on your website.

    IDX will update automatically and it will even host the listings natively on your website.

    Here’s what IDX allows you to do on a website: view and search for house listings.

    Real-estate-agent-website-idx

    You’re a real estate agent, so you probably should have house listings on your website — IDX is the easiest way to do that.

    This is why we recommend choosing a website builder that at least has the option to use IDX.

    At Carrot, we offer IDX integration to all of our real estate agent customers. You don’t have to use it, but many of you will want to.

    In the words of our most famous Tech Support team member, Jake,

    “Adding IDX to any site is a giant pain in the ass… Having someone you trust to help you submit all the paperwork and get the IDX added to the site itself is a huge burden taken off of a business owner.”

    In other words, don’t just choose a website builder that allows you to use IDX, choose a website builder that helps you along the way. That’s what we do at Carrot and we think everyone else should be doing the same thing.

    Your Real Estate Agent Website Builder Must-Have: A Design Proven to Convert Visitors Into Leads

    Many website builders aren’t niched specific.

    WordPress and Squarespace and Wix are all great website builders, but the theme you choose isn’t necessarily designed to convert visitors. Sure, it might look pretty and navigate easily, but that doesn’t mean that traffic is going to convert once they arrive.

    Here at Carrot, we are niche specific to real estate. This means that we’ve run lots of tests to determine what makes people convert on a website in the real estate industry.

    You’re not going to find that kind of expertise anywhere else.

    And unless you know how to manually design a website that converts, with most website builders, there’s no guarantee that your visitors are going to take the action you want them to take.

    In fact, 40% of salespeople said that prospecting is the most difficult part of the sales process, 36% said closing and 22% said qualifying.

    What if you had a website that helped you sell rather than hindered you?

    Regardless of if you choose to work with Carrot, let me walk you through some of the ways our websites are built to turn visitors into leads. That way, if you do go off on your own, you’ll be better prepared.

    When designing a website that’s built to convert, you really only need two things:

    1. Simple usability.
    2. Compelling credibility.

    In terms of the first, consider that 38% of people will outright leave a website if the content or layout is unattractive.

    And in terms of the second, consider that people said honesty and credibility are the most important factors when choosing a real estate agent.

    This is exactly why we’ve baked these two elements into all of our member websites.

    real estate website credibility

    As you can see, our goal is to build immediate trust with people who land on our customer’s websites. We don’t want them to visit the website and think, “Hmm… is this legit?” We want them to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they’re in the right place, on a trustworthy page.

    The contact information in the upper right corner is particularly important — 44% of website visitors will leave a website if there’s no contact information or phone number.

    Then, as I scroll down the page, you can see that we include easy navigation elements and an un-intrusive “Write a review” CTA that will help build credibility down the road.

    real estate website navigation menu

    Then, the customer has included a video to help make all of it seem more real, and some credibility-building facts to show industry expertise.

    real estate website credibility building

    Then, they share their story, mission, and vision, which further personalizes their business.

    Real estate website mission

    And finally, they end with a testimonial, a friendly note from the realtor, and a CTA.

    real estate website page layout

    Those, of course, are just the homepage elements. There’s a lot more to see on G.Stiles blog and other pages, but those will have to wait for another time.

    The point is this, though: Make sure your website (1) builds credibility and (2) is easy to use.

    Without those two elements, your lead-generation strategy will suffer.

    Try visiting your website as though you’ve just seen it for the first time and ask yourself these questions.

    • What draws your eye first and is that where you want the visitor’s attention?
    • Is your CTA noticeable?
    • How easy is your website to navigate?
    • When you land on the website, does it feel trustworthy? If not, what can you do to change that?

    Your Real Estate Agent Website Builder Must-Have: Search Engine Optimization

    If you want to be one of the best real estate agents in your area — which you do — then there’s no question; you must rank high in search engines.

    Today, Google receives 63,000 searches every single second.

    And the first result in Google receives 33% of that traffic. On the other hand, clicks drastically decrease the further your result falls.

    This means that the higher your website ranks in Google for certain keywords, the more traffic and leads you’re going to generate. Period. End of story. The winner takes all.

    But how the heck do you rank on the first page instead of the 10th, 100th, or 1,000th?

    Well, SEO has a lot of moving pieces; keywords, backlinks, domain authority, internal linking, second-tier links, and anchor text are just a few players. What you need is a website builder that can help you optimize each page to rank in Google.

    Because when someone types in, “Real estate agent in [your city],” you want to be at the top of the page.

    How can a website builder help you, though?

    The sad truth is that most won’t. But, at Carrot, this is how we help our members rank.

    First, we have an SEO tool for all of our members that tell them if their keyword strategy is likely to perform well in Google.

    Carrot SEO Tool

    We even offer a more detailed breakdown telling you what you need to do in order to increase the likelihood of pulling a first-page result.

    We also automatically integrate SSL (or HTTPS) on our customer’s websites, which increases how much Google trusts your domain.

    HTTPs on real estate website

    Then, we keep our customer’s websites crazy fast and mobile-responsive to decrease bounce rates and increase time on page (thus increasing your Google ranking).

    Most website builders wouldn’t even go this far, but we go one step further. We even write monthly blog posts for your website (depending on the plan you choose) that are already optimized for search engines (websites with 51 to 100 pages generate 48% more traffic than websites with 1 to 50 pages).

    In other words, more blog posts equal better rankings which equals more traffic and leads.

    real-estate-agent-websites-blog-posts

    Now I know what you’re thinking. That’s all fine and dandy, but what’s the ultimate result? Does all of that search engine optimization actually work?

    Yes. Yes, it does.

    As you can see below, G.Stiles Realty is the first result after Zillow and Century21.

    real estate agent website Google Rankings

    If your real estate agent website builder doesn’t help you rank in Google, then consider going somewhere that will. Because all of that passive traffic from SEO can quickly turn into passive lead generation — which makes running a business a whole lot easier.

    Your Real Estate Agent Website Builder Must-Have: Lead Notification

    When I asked the team at Carrot why lead notifications is so important for real estate agents, Grady — a Customer Success Hero — said,

    “With all the other agents vying to get prospects as leads, being able to instantly respond to a new lead is key for real estate agents. If the leads bounce to another site where they opt-in and get a response quicker, most likely they’ll go with that company.”

    And he’s right.

    American companies that contact a lead within the hour are seven times more likely to have a meaningful conversation with a decision-maker than companies that wait the full hour. In fact, lead qualification drops ten times when salespeople wait just five minutes to respond, and an additional 400% when they wait ten minutes.

    Plus, 35% to 50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first.

    Sadly, over 50% of companies don’t respond to queries within even five business days.

    Naturally, that’s no recipe for success.

    And it illustrates exactly why you need a website builder that offers a function for notifying you of leads when they happen.

    At Carrot, we offer our customers exactly that. And it’s dead simple to set up.

    real estate lead notifications

    This will then send you a text message when you receive a new lead. This means that within seconds (rather than minutes, hours, or even days) you can contact the lead and increase your chance of turning them into a deal.

    And if our customers are really ambitious, they can even add Olark to their websites and chat with visitors live.

    Chat live with leads

    You need a website builder that offers similar features or integrations. You need to follow up on leads immediately, which means you need to know about leads immediately.

    Your website should help you do that.

    Your Real Estate Agent Website Builder Must-Have: CRM Integration

    Two years ago, I bought a car from a salesperson. I still remember the experience with fondness. Not just because he did a good job during the sale, but because he calls me about every six months to chat.

    Normally, I’d be annoyed and ignore the phone call altogether. But with him, I’m not.

    When he calls, he only ever talks for about five minutes, he asks me relevant questions about things going on in my life and he never pitches me on anything.

    At the end of the phone call, he’ll sometimes say, “And if you know of anyone looking for a car, let em’ know I’d love to help.” I tell him I will and we go our separate ways to chat again in about six months.

    To be honest, he doesn’t feel like a salesperson so much as he feels like a faraway friend.

    How does he pull that off?

    Well, he always uses my name, he always knows what’s going on in my life (if I just had a baby or bought a new house, for example, he’s always sure to ask me about it) and he always keeps it short and friendly.

    And it’s no secret that he’s more than likely using a CRM to keep track of my information.

    Perhaps there’s no better illustration of how powerful and applicable CRM software can be for your business. It allows you to track prospect information (from a phone number and email to interest level and talking points) and then leverage those when communicating with your prospect.

    That’s why you need a website builder that integrates with CRMs and doesn’t block you from all of that follow-up potential.

    In fact, the average ROI for a CRM is nearly $9 for every $1 spent and effective organizations are 81% more likely to consistently use a CRM or some other sales-record system than their ineffective counterparts.

    At Carrot, we have a simple CRM-type tool for all of our customers.

    real estate leads dashboard

    You can use it to tag certain leads as being in different parts of your funnel and track lead-specific information (email, phone number, and address, for instance).

    following up on real estate leads

    For more serious real estate agents that need a dedicated CRM, Carrot easily integrates with Podio, Soho, and more!

    Make sure the website builder you choose offers similar integrations so that you can follow up and convert leads like the friendly car salesperson that calls me every six months.

    Conclusion

    The vast majority of real estate agents are unsatisfied with their website’s lead generation. Either it’s not generating traffic as they want it to or it’s not converting that traffic as they want it to.

    In the end, though, it’s all the same: they don’t generate leads with their website and their business potential suffers.

    We don’t want that to happen to you.

    At Carrot, we’re passionate about helping entrepreneurs build the businesses of their dreams. This is why — regardless of if you choose to work with us — you should consider these seven things before choosing a real estate agent website builder:

    1. Where will the website be hosted?
    2. What is the content management system like?
    3. Does it allow for IDX integration?
    4. Is the design proven to convert visitors?
    5. How easy will search engine optimization be?
    6. Will it notify you of incoming leads?
    7. Does it have or integrate easily with a CRM?
  • EP 316: 1 Zip Code, 30 Days, Almost 200 Leads | How to Optimize Your Digital Marketing for Maximum Conversions w/ Bryan Driscoll

    EP 316: 1 Zip Code, 30 Days, Almost 200 Leads | How to Optimize Your Digital Marketing for Maximum Conversions w/ Bryan Driscoll

    SEO is like owning a house. Paid ads on Facebook is like renting.

    – Bryan Driscoll

    All About Conversion – How to Optimize Your Digital Marketing for Maximum Conversions w/ Bryan Driscoll

    When it comes to generating leads that convert, Bryan Driscoll is crushing it. Using just the standard Carrot site, a few highly-targeted pages, and some PPC, Bryan is bringing in more qualified leads than he knows what to do with.

    In fact, he gives the majority of his leads away, focusing only on one zip code. Today we are going to discover how he got here, what he’s doing that works, and why he’d choose Carrot time and time again vs. any other platform for his website. 

    Read the Full Show Notes Below…

    First, you should know that Bryan isn’t in the real estate business. He owns a digital marketing agency and stumbled into real estate after using a wholesaler to buy a home of his own. He learned about the process and thought, “why don’t I just go get the leads and do it myself?”

    Today, Bryan is generating leads for himself, other investors in his area, and now leads for buyers all over the country.  It means a lot to me that someone who truly understands conversion rate optimization and the dynamics of digital marketing would choose us as their lead-gen platform. 

    I found Bryan through an ad on Instagram. I was scrolling through my feed and his ads kept grabbing my attention. I checked him out and sure enough, he was a Carrot client.

    I found out who he was, discovered he was using just a standard Carrot site, yet somehow he was generating more leads than 90% of our other Carrot members. In fact, he pulled in almost 200 leads in the last 30 days alone.

    So how’s he doing it? We’re about to tell you… 

    Less Can Be More

    The first thing that struck me was how simple Bryan’s website really is. His homepage features our standard content, the design hasn’t been altered, and he has even kept the stock photo that we supply.

    What he has done is create a good amount of city-specific landing pages that generate highly targeted and motivated leads. Bryan isn’t reinventing the wheel, but he is amplifying more than many others in his market. 

    SEO Like a Pro

    Bryan started his real estate SEO journey back in 2005. He created one website for a friend, saw results, and realized he could do this for other people too. SEO used to be easier. You could even add your keywords at the bottom of the page, change the text to white, and make it so search engines could see your text, but your readers were none the wiser.

    Today, Google and the algorithms have evolved. You can no longer manipulate search engines. The content you create needs to be informative and highly targeted. But as stated above, it doesn’t have to be complex.

    Some of Bryan’s landing pages are barely over 300 words. He makes sure his content is spot on, his meta description, title tags, and alt attributes all checkout, and he gives the search engines exactly what they want: great content. 

    The Importance of Pre-Framing

    Pre-framing will walk your potential leads through the entire experience. It will answer questions and blast objections You should have a solid FAQ page letting people know that YOU have the ability to solve their problem.

    Show them that you have the solution, how you will do it, that you are trustworthy, and how they can take action – in that order. 

    Google Ads vs. Facebook Ads

    Bryan works in the Pittsburg market and for him, both Google Ads leads and Facebook Ads leads cost about the same. You’d think Google would convert better as the leads are searching you out vs.

    Facebook where your ad will interrupt the homeowner’s scrolling. However, Bryan sees higher conversion rates from the leads that visit his website from Facebook.

    His theory is that this is because, on Google, your top two competitors will likely have ads right up top there with yours. It can be more difficult to stand out vs. when you advertise on Facebook. Your Facebook ad should be bold and direct. Letting people know that you buy houses plain and simple. 

    Testing it All Out

    At Carrot, we tend to through things out there, then continue to test and modify as needed and we encourage our clients to do the same. For Bryan, he tested out the use of 5,000 incredible-looking postcards, only to be left without a single lead. Now, with his focus on the digital realm, he tests out everything he does modify as needed. 

    We do the same thing with our websites. For example, we have tested our CTA forms using 1-9 fields. We have discovered that 3 really is the magic number. Your form should ask for the address, a phone number, and an email.

    And more importantly – it needs to be in that order. You want to start with the least resistant ask first. Giving up the property address is subconsciously easier than giving up your phone or email. Once they have that first field filled out, they are much more likely to fill out those other two. Of course, it’s essential to have the email addresses collected and run a Google Sheets email verification. Thus you will have a valid list of valid people.

    Getting a high-conversion rate doesn’t have to be complicated. Don’t over-complicate the process or the design of your website. Start with a logo and stack things on as you go. Start building using SEO and high-quality content, using Facebook and Google Ads to fill the gap in the meantime.

    When you follow the process, you too will be able to generate the leads and close the deals you have only dreamed about in the past.

    Workshop: Learn How to Attract More of Your Favorite Clients by Flipping Your Marketing To “Evergreen” at Carrot.com/evergreen

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  • EP 308: The Analytics, Data, and Numbers You Should Be Tracking to Gain Consistency in Your Real Estate Business w/ Greg Helbeck

    EP 308: The Analytics, Data, and Numbers You Should Be Tracking to Gain Consistency in Your Real Estate Business w/ Greg Helbeck

    The Analytics, Data, and Numbers You Should Be Tracking to Gain Consistency in Your Business.

    Be a man or woman of integrity, both with yourself and others. Not only will this build confidence, but it will allow you to hit bigger and bigger goals because you have a track record of following through.

    – Greg Helbeck

    The Analytics, Data, and Numbers You Should Be Tracking to Gain Consistency in Your Business w/ Greg Helbeck

    In the first episode with Greg Helbeck we talked about negotiations, raising margins, and the questions he always asks his leads when talking about their property.

    A lot of his deals are done remotely, which makes it even more important that he stays on top of his analytics. Today we will be diving into what you should be tracking, how you should be tracking it, and who you should be comparing yourself to. (Hint: it’s not other people.) 

    Read the Full Show Notes Below…

    Greg lives in San Diego but does most of his deals in his home state of New York. As such, he relies on the data to tell him what’s working. Just showing up each day and being productive isn’t enough. You need to know what’s working, what’s not, and more importantly why.

    This will allow you to pinpoint where you need to step-up or step-back

    Metrics = Freedom

    For many entrepreneurs, taking action isn’t a problem. They thrive on the hustle and have the motivation to work long hours day in and day out. The thing is – maybe they don’t have to.

    When Greg started his business, he was putting out signs, knocking on doors, doing Craigslist ads, handwriting letters, and everything else new investors do when they are looking for those first few deals.

    What he didn’t realize is while he felt like he was being productive in his goals, what he was doing was actually pushing them further away from them. He wasn’t tracking what he did, when he did it, or what the results were. He was throwing out a net and hoping for the best.

    While his persistence helped him find his initial success in real estate, if he had been tracking, he would have been able to accomplish more, while spending less time and money in the process. 

    What to Track

    When Greg realized he was in the direct marketing business and not the real estate business he had his lightbulb moment. He knew he needed to better gauge his efforts so he could grow his business and find better uses for his time. Greg began tracking his metrics strategically. 

    • Income – Are you really making money? The first thing to do is make sure your books are in order so you know exactly where you’re starting. This will help you to forecast and set the goals to help you get to where you want to be. 
    • Leads – Take a look at your leads about once a week. Where are they coming from? Who are they? How can you help them?
    • Offers – How many offers are you making each week? Who are they for?
    • Deals – How many of your offers are actually turning into closed deals? 
    • Revenue – How much are you making per deal and what could be done to improve your margins on the next one? 

    Once a week Greg will sit down for about 20 minutes to review his numbers. On a monthly basis, he will spend an hour or so to take a more in-depth look to make sure things are staying on track. 

    Putting it All Together

    When Greg is tracking these analytics in his business, he will look at his past performance to forecast the future. If his business isn’t performing how he would like, he can look at the numbers to see where he can improve.

    While building Carrot I have learned that you don’t need to track each and everything, rather focus on the 3-7 KPIs that really matter. If we aren’t hitting our numbers, it’s not the end of the world, but at least we will be able to determine where we need to improve. 

    Playing the Long Game

    Keeping track of your numbers doesn’t need to be a long or intimidating process. A simple spreadsheet can help you quickly compare trends from one week to the next. You’ll be able to forecast and predict your outcomes and if something isn’t lining up, you’ll be able to respond accordingly. 

    When you are first starting out, it can be easy to become discouraged by low numbers. It’s important to remember that in many cases, the efforts you are putting in now, will be rewarded not today, but a couple of months down the road.

    PPC, SEO, and direct mail campaigns all take time to build momentum too.

    Stay the course and always lead with math over emotion. 

    Setting Your Benchmarks

    As Simon Sinek says in his book, The Infinite Game, we are in this for the long haul. There is no end or defined players. Businesses change all of the time and the bell isn’t going to sound for things to stop.

    When setting your goals and benchmarks, it can be so easy to compare yourself to what others in your field are doing.

    Social media can give the appearance of “success” but you never know what is going on behind the scenes.

    To define your goals, all you need to do is try to be a bit better than you were before. It is nice to set targets, but as you grow your business it’s ok to take some of the pressure off and just enjoy the ride. 

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  • EP 302: $420k in 6 Months of Flipping Land with a “Basic” Carrot Site | Learn How w/ Russ Williams

    EP 302: $420k in 6 Months of Flipping Land with a “Basic” Carrot Site | Learn How w/ Russ Williams

    Put the right things and people in your ear. If you keep sitting on it without taking action, opportunity is going to pass you by for sure.

    – Russ Williams

    $420k in 6 Months of Flipping Land with a “Basic” Carrot Site

    Buying and selling land is a powerful investment strategy that anyone can do. With little overhead, low competition, and an abundance of leads, creating a land investment business is a popular strategy we are seeing with many of our clients. Russ Williams has worked as a loan officer, flipped properties, and held a portfolio of long-term rentals. However, it has been land that has allowed him to grow and scale his business without any ceiling. Here’s the story of how Russ made $420k investing in land in just 6 months using a basic Carrot website.

    Read the Full Show Notes Below…

    We don’t often talk about land here at Carrot, however, we should! It’s a great option for those who are new to real estate investment and for those looking to diversify or shift their investment strategy. Land deals are typically pretty simple and do not come with the headaches of contractors, repairs, or tenants. 

    And the sellers are out there, in fact, it’s the third most popular lead type we receive! Here’s how Russ Williams is building a scalable business and how you can too! 

    Transitioning to Land

    Many investors gloss right over land leads because of their low margins and income potential. This is often a mistake as land can prove to be extremely profitable whether it is developed or resold. Plus, it can be a lot less work. Most transactions can be completed remotely, with buyers never even stepping foot on the land before reselling it again. You will not have to pull permits, hire contractors, or worry about expensive holding costs. For Russ, it was these great perks that made moving from residential investments over to land, an easy choice. 

    The Marketing

    Russ gets leads both on and offline. Direct mail does well in his markets as does simply sticking up a “for sale” sign. His letters will include a contract, making it simple for owners to sell right away. Russ was an early adapter here at Carrot and has had a site with us since 2015. When he transitioned to land in 2018, Russ created a stock Carrot site, with very few modifications. He has created some basic city/state landing pages and made sure to upload testimonials after every deal. Over the next year, he plans to hone in on his PPC and evergreen content. 

    Options With Land

    Land allows for different types of contracts and ways for deals to get done. One of those is an option contract which allows the buyer a specified amount of time to buy the property. For the “skinny” deals, Russ will use an option contract, allowing him 3 or so months to buy the property. During that time, he will market the land in an attempt to find a buyer. He will then use the buyer’s funds to close on the property. This helps Russ to maximize his marketing dollars by making some money off of a property he likely wouldn’t have purchased on his own. 

    Taking Back Your Time

    The ultimate goal of many entrepreneurs isn’t to make all of the money, but rather to buy back your time. With its low maintenance, overhead, and hassles, land can be a simple way to build a career in real estate investment. Its simplicity and scalability have allowed Russ to take two months off each summer to spend time with his family – even though through most of his journey he has been a one-man-show. Now Russ is able to scale his business, expand his team, and dive into new markets. It is this type of freedom that we are all looking for within our businesses – and with land investment, you may be able to find that too. 

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  • $40k Profit per Deal | The Power of Inbound Marketing w/ Beau Hollis

    $40k Profit per Deal | The Power of Inbound Marketing w/ Beau Hollis

    How SimplySold has achieved a $40,000 per deal business using Carrot.

    The company is a local, Louisville-based business that uses Carrot’s inbound marketing guidance and resources to gain new clients online.

    Snapshot:

    • Industry: Investor
    • Location: Louisville, Kentucky
    • Carrot Member Since 2016


    Beau Hollis is the founder of SimplySold in Louisville, Kentucky.

    He’s been investing in houses for the past 7 years.

    Currently, the majority of his business involves acquisitions that he does himself. He also has an acquisitions person and a full-time videographer.

    It’s a low-key, small operation, but it has a high intention, and they go aggressively after deals.

    “You know, I spend my time and effort and energy to do this business to provide for my family, not only money but years of my life, getting this up and going to have it, work is worth, the journey is not in vain.”

    From Beau’s Carrot leads, his average profit per deal is nearly $40,000.

    He’s done $400,000 in assignments in his Carrot site alone in the last six months.

    Before using Carrot, he had no online presence and no experience in building websites.

    “I had no world tech experience, and I just didn’t have an online presence. I didn’t want to have to build a website. So Carrot made that really easy for me.

    Obviously, people cannot find you, people have no clue who you are, they can’t find your business, they don’t know if you’re in business at all, and so if they can’t find you, they can’t do business with you.

    So you have no lead flow inbound from a website.”

    At first, his vision was to dominate the outbound marketing space, whether it was cold calling, texting, or other things.

    However, the lifespan of somebody doing outbound marketing all the time is limited.

    “I have come from a background of sales, and I understand that you’re gonna do this one thing all the time, whether it’s cold calling or texting or putting out bandit signs, and there’s a lifespan to that.”

    Outbound versus inbound leads are two things that are drastically different. Outbound leads are when you’re seeking out someone. A lot of work, effort, and energy is going into it before you even think about reaching out to the person.

    Inbound marketing, or evergreen marketing, is a completely different mindset. You optimize your website with content: videos, blog posts, and testimonials.

    Inbound offers a whole other world. People are seeking you out.

    The challenge: Creating the path to the world of inbound marketing

    This is a business to close deals. Serious real estate agents and investors want to make Evergreen inbound marketing a real avenue, not just a little street but a highway.

    Evergreen inbound marketing takes a plan and plenty of patience. It takes a lot of video work on YouTube and on-page SEO with keywords and good content for high rankings.

    “My expectation was that I’m just going to turn it on, get it up and live and then it would just bring in the people just saying, please take my house, that’s why I thought it was at the beginning when I first got, I just got it up and I just had, I just had it out there, I didn’t do any kind of optimization. I did zero, absolutely zero customization to the website.”

    His website had been just sitting there for a long time. Years.

    Then Beau had a conversation with Trevor to get the ball rolling.

    He started implementing on his website and using the tools Carrot provides our members. Keyword tracking, campaign tracking, video postings… and over time and hard work, Beau’s inbound marketing started to click.

    Once he started optimizing his site, he could see a bit of movement in his rankings.

    That movement proceeded forward for a year or two then it was time to dive into the PPC world of inbound marketing. The one-two punch of paid and organic traffic really exploded his business.

    In 2021, Beau’s Carrot leads have had an average profit per deal of roughly $40,000.

    In comparison, Beau’s outbound leads have had an average profit per deal of roughly half that.

    The tools: Carrot features

    Although the real estate niche can sometimes be inconsistent, Carrot brings consistency to Beau’s business. He can count on deal flow.

    It’s good because when you can count consistent leads, it means that you’re not stressed all of the time.

    For Beau, Carrot has become a hub that brings all his inbound marketing efforts together. Since he’s driving traffic from all inbound marketing efforts to his Carrot site, he can track performance across all campaigns and channels, giving him the clarity needed with his marketing.

    Here are some of the tools Beau is using to tie together his marketing efforts:

    Evergreen Training
    Beau needed to get many unqualified outbound leads to close deals. More leads meant more time and expense to sift through the tire kickers.

    He learned inbound online marketing with Evergreen content to attract the most qualified prospects. He’s built trust and credibility with them 24/7, 365 through his Carrot “Authority Hub.”

    Automated blogs
    Carrot’s pre-written automated blog posts have allowed him to stand out in his market as an authority. This saves time and money and puts SimplySold at the forefront of its industry with expert quality content that he can customize for his needs.

    Keyword Tracking
    How do you know if your SEO rankings are climbing? Tracking is easy with Carrot. Simply input the keyword, and we’ll track where that particular term ranks each week, making optimizing accordingly easier!

    Campaign Tracking Links
    Learn how many leads you generate with your ads by following the conversions from them. Easily see which campaigns produce results and create a link to track click-throughs and leads better.

    CarrotCamp
    CarrotCamp is a place where people come to get inspired by other entrepreneurs, hear first-hand stories about how they built their successful businesses and strategies for success. The knowledge Beau has gained from meeting these individuals has been essential in helping him grow his own real estate investing business.

    The results:

    Beau has been successful in implementing an Evergreen inbound marketing plan. He went all-in and began building his SEO content, which he followed up with PPC. Now he has a team and consistently closes inbound deals to grow his business.

    He also knows how to scale his business using Carrot and inbound leads.

    What about you? Are you ready for consistent and predictable growth in your business?

  • How A Pumpkin Farmer Changed My Perspective On Life And Business

    How A Pumpkin Farmer Changed My Perspective On Life And Business

    Everything in my life from the outside in looked amazing. My friends, family, and colleagues in the industry thought I was an example of “success.” 

    I owned 3 separate companies, the world’s best family, amazing business partners in 2 of my businesses, and great customers, and felt I could do anything I set my mind to.

    The only problem was… I was overwhelmed and unhappy.

    In this blog post, I’m going to walk through how I fell into the “too many great opportunities” trap, how it nearly crushed my entrepreneurial and life dreams, and how the advice of a pumpkin farmer changed my perspective on business and life.

    Why am I opening up and writing this right now?

    First, I wrote this post a few years ago, and a lot has happened since then. Good stuff. We’ve grown Carrot to over 8,000 active members and multiple 7 figures in revenue… and I’ve had to use this process multiple times this past year to clear out the “distraction” and focus on the “big pumpkin.”

    So just know… this process I went through a few years ago is one I still use to this day… that’s how much it’s changed my life.

    Also…

    Now is the perfect time of the year to make some mindset adjustments so you can hit next year hard and make it your best year yet. Also, this one shift in my business has made the single most dramatic impact on my income, fulfillment, and impact on the world of anything I’ve ever done.

    This article is for you if you… 

    • Are a high achieving entrepreneur and don’t want to settle for living an average life
    • Feel like you’re working your butt off but not getting closer to your ultimate goals
    • You have all kinds of revenue coming in, but your bank account isn’t growing as it should
    • Find yourself saying “yes” to almost any opportunity that looks “good” and is profitable
    • Start each day feeling overwhelmed at everything you have to do and the little time you have to do it
    • You wish that finally one of your businesses or business ideas would grow to its full potential rather than doing “decent” and leveling off

    If you’re feeling any of those, you’re not alone.

    That Was My Life For 2 Years. Busy. Long Hours. Unfocused. Less Happy. Less Fulfilled.

    The frustration that I felt like I was doing all of the right things and I was “successful” in many people’s eyes… but I just never felt that I could crack through to my potential.

    It seemed like I’d start a bagillion projects because they all had “promise”, but I would rarely take the important things through the finish line.

    I’d always have a backlog of “to-do’s” and always seemed to carry the important “to-do’s” over to the next day for weeks and months on end.

    I’d get to the end of the day and feel totally wiped out because I was really “busy,”… but I’d look back on the day and always felt like I couldn’t pinpoint what important project I actually pushed forward in a measurable way that day.

    Vision… most of the time, I really couldn’t clearly articulate what I wanted in life and what impact I felt that I was made to make on the world… because I was torn by making a vision too specific that it would alienate some of the “important” projects and businesses I’d already committed my time to… but that didn’t jive with what in my heart I knew i loved to do.

    And worse, I felt that the more I took on and the more things I had going in my business and life, the better off I was.

    In that life, being “busy” was a good thing, and when people asked how I’ve been my default answer was always…

    “Really busy as always!”

    … almost like it was a badge of honor to be “busy.”

    I Hit A Breaking Point, And Things Had To Change. So Here’s What I Did…

    I couldn’t do things like this anymore. You can maybe relate.

    If I wanted to live the life I knew I was made to live and to make the impact in life I knew I could make, I had to figure out how to change the way I lived and worked.

    Then, a deceptively simple mindset shift helped me break through to a new way of living and thriving in life and business.

    I now work less, am focused and excited about the vision, am extremely fulfilled, I’m making more money than I ever have, have an amazing team of A-players around me, and I’m helping more people than I’ve ever been able to help.

    Enter the pumpkin farmer. 

    How A World Record Pumpkin Is Grown (and why it matters to you)

    Take a look at this picture below.

    Let it soak in for a few seconds.

    less-work

    This picture is from the book “Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” by Greg Mckeown

    On the left… 

    distracted

    … you have the “busy” and unfocused entrepreneur. Likely you. It used to be me.

    That overwhelm, lack of finishing things, achieving below your potential, lower income, always being “busy” but nothing to show for it, etc.

    That’s how I was during those 2 years of my life.

    I started to see success in my businesses, and that success opened up more and more opportunities.

    I didn’t realize it then, but opportunities are often times just distractions in disguise.

    Each of those arrows is a different project, focus, or thing… that required my energy and time.

    And as you may be able to relate… when you are working on so many things… none of those things can really grow to their full potential.

    On the right…

    energy-level

    … is what happens when you say “no” to 99% of everything (even things that look like great opportunities) and say YES to just the essential few things that are going to help you make the biggest impact in your life and income.

    If you add up the length of all of those little arrows in the first diagram, they equal the length of this one long arrow here. So you’re expending the same amount of energy doing a bunch of unfocused things. None of them do all that well, and you feel like you’re spinning your wheels.

    But what if you focused on ONLY THE BEST opportunity and used that same energy to make that great? The results are a factor of 10x+.

    As a real estate investor, you may try to wholesale, fix and flip, and do that new townhouse development you’ve got your eye on. They all seem related (all real estate)… but each of them requires your focus, energy, and time.

    So unless you build out an amazing team of people, none of those sides of your real estate business will really grow to their full potential like they would if you focused on just one of them… BUT MAKING THAT ONE THING EPICALLY GREAT. 

    That was the decision I made several years back after I read another book called “The Pumpkin Plan“… that hammered home in a very simple way why it was so critical that I trim stuff down in my life and only focus on a few great things.

    Enter The Pumpkin Plan And The Farmer

    influential entrepreneur pumpkin

    I’ve found over the years that many of the answers we need in business and life can be learned from farmers.

    Farming is a 10,000-year-old discipline, and while technology has changed to help make farming more efficient, the essence of what it takes to grow great crops is the same.

    You prep the soil, plant the seeds, water and fertilize those seeds, nurture that crop, and harvest it when it’s ready.

    But looking back today, at that time when I was overwhelmed, bringing in good money but spinning my wheels… I was spending too much time planting seeds… I had too many crops out there… and none of my crops had a chance to grow to their full potential because I had to tend to so darn many of them.

    But in the book “The Pumpkin Plan,” the author talks about an epiphany he had at a similar point in his life after he read an article in his local newspaper where a state record-holding pumpkin farmer was asked how he grows pumpkins that get so damn big. 

    How to grow giant pumpkins according to a record-setting pumpkin farmer

    pumpkin-plan
    Taken from the Pumpkin Plan book. Just do yourself a favor and get the book or get the free PDF of the first chapter online.

    And that process has crazy similar parallels in life and business. 

    Notice in steps 3 – 6 how focused that farmer is on getting rid of everything except that one single pumpkin that seems like it’ll grow the biggest and yield the best result.

    He knows that if he keeps marginal pumpkins that are “good opportunities” just in case, they may be great… or so he has ones to fall back on if that big one doesn’t work out… none of those pumpkins would ever have a chance of growing as big as it could.

    The “ok” pumpkins or “good” pumpkins kill the chances of the great pumpkin from being amazing…

    It’s that focusing all of that water energy, sun energy, and his own personal energy on that one pumpkin that has the most promise that makes the pumpkins so amazingly large.

    If we relate this life and business… it may look something like this.

    How to grow the best life, business, and income possible
    (following a farmer’s advice)

    pumpkin-plan2

    Notice the same essential themes from farming to business.

    • Promising seed = your biggest natural strengths.
    • Water = selling (gotta make those offers and market the heck out of your business!)
    • Weed like crazy = cut all distractions and things that pose as “opportunities” but are distractions.
    • Focus all your attention on the biggest pumpkin = focus on your best and most fulfilling opportunity or strength like crazy.

    Most real estate investors and entrepreneurs think that trying 14 different things at once is the path to success.

    That “trying” direct mail, SEO, PPC, at the same time, is the path to success.

    But it’s not.

    Maybe dabble with each of them for a month just to see what gets a bit of traction… but then quickly recognize the one that you feel has the best opportunity to crush it for you if you give it more focus… and weed out the rest of the stuff. Then, focus on being insanely great at PPC.

    Then once you’re great at PPC, you may want to add SEO.

    Or if you are doing wholesale deals, some fix and flips, or developing an apartment building here or there… you’re likely not doing any of them justice.

    What if instead, you recognized that your fix and flip business was the one that was the most fun and most profitable?

    Then you’d want to weed out the wholesaling and apartment development and laser focus on being the best fix and flip investor in your area.

    Your profits, fun, and fulfillment will all multiply.

    Or, if you’re like me, who is a serial entrepreneur… you don’t have to cut off everything else you’re working on and choose just 1 thing.

    But you should have 1 main thing that eats up 90%+ of your focus for a period of time.

    How I Trimmed The Small Pumpkins

    For me, at that moment in my life when I had several companies going on… and people were throwing new opportunities at me all of the time… this is what I did.

    1. I got laser-focused on what my unique abilities were (I love business and marketing strategy, I’m a big vision guy, and love amplifying people to think bigger in life and teaching).
    2. I trimmed off everything in my business that didn’t BEST help me do those things above.  This also meant a lot of little projects or partnerships that looked like they were a fit at first glance, but they weren’t a “hell ya! I want to do that!” type of project… just a “ya, I could make money on that.”

      There’s a BIG difference. I also started having my assistant check my email so I wouldn’t waste time in my inbox every day… but could focus just on the important emails.
    3. I weeded everything that was taking me away from my focus. At one time, I used to be subscribed to probably 50+ email lists. I’d get dozens of marketing emails daily from “gurus” just in case I’d need them someday or in case they had value. I unsubscribed from all email lists, but my favorite 1-2, turned off Facebook email notifications, deleted the Facebook app from my phone, and deleted the Gmail app from my phone.

      I also started not feeling bad if I didn’t answer back an email from someone immediately… because anything that wasn’t directly contributing to my laser focus became a low priority.
    4. I focused on growing that one thing the best I could. That one thing was Carrot. Before making this decision, I had always treated this “online website thing” as a side project. One of my many little projects that had potential that I put a half-ass effort into.

      But I started thinking, what if I put all my energy into this and made it an amazing company? What if it was so great I could recruit amazing team members, the ideal customers, and could make my business fun and profitable at the same time… while using it as my way to help the most amount of entrepreneurs as possible?

    That’s it.

    Sounds too simple right?

    Well, it is simple. But it can be hard to take that first step because it feels weird.

    It feels like you’re cutting out things that are perfectly fine things that are bringing you money… paying the bills.

    But if you don’t get rid of those extra things and if you don’t laser focus on that “big pumpkin”… and give it all of your energy, focus, and resources… you’ll likely be spinning your wheels this time next year.

    So You Have A Choice…

    And looking back, this choice is pretty obvious now… but it wasn’t easy then.

    Choice 1: Focus on what you do best and what you love; focus on that 1 business strategy/opportunity and work it like mad. Grow that 1 thing. And be less busy, make more money, and be happier. Buy The Pumpkin Plan (thanks, Mike!) and Essentialism if you’re serious about it.

    And… Listen to Mike Line Out How To Plan Your Business For Less Stress And Higher Profits on His Episode of the CarrotCast:

    Choice 2: Keep thinking that “more opportunities” is better. Keep thinking that “being busy” is a good thing. Keep hedging your bets by keeping some of those “small pumpkins” on the table as an option to fall back on and ignore the things your biggest pumpkin needs (your full energy and attention).

    And keep settling for your life and a business that runs you.

    The choice is yours. 

    It won’t be comfortable at first, but you’ll look back this time next year and marvel at how your life changed. A simpler life, with more focus and more time to do epic stuff rather than half-assing a dozen things.

    Follow that pumpkin farmer’s advice and trim your pumpkin vines often (especially at the end of each year).

    Do you feel “busy,” over-extended, and stuck at your current income level?

    Also, do you want more content like this? Showing behind the scenes of our entrepreneurial journey as we build a multi-million dollar company from the ground by doing the right thing and delivering an amazing product and experience?

    If so, we’ll write a lot more about growing your team, creating a culture in your business, hiring, creating income streams other than real estate, increasing productivity, investing your money wisely, etc. If we get enough interest… we’ll start sharing our journey. Let me know in the comment section below.

    Hit me with a comment below on what you think you should trim out before the end of the year?

  • EP 296: The “Top-Dollar Teardown” Deal w/ Keith Sant | Behind the Deal

    EP 296: The “Top-Dollar Teardown” Deal w/ Keith Sant | Behind the Deal

    Answer your phone.

    – Keith Sant

    The “Top-Dollar Teardown” Deal w/ Keith Sant

    Our new series is taking you behind the scenes of some of the most interesting and rewarding deals that our customers are closing. Keith Sant is a returning guest, avid Carrot Camper, and a trusted home buyer based in Tacoma, WA.

    Today we will learn how he found the lead and how the process went while answering all of your questions about the process. Join us every other Thursday at Carrot.com/deal

    Read the Full Show Notes Below…

    Keith Sant named his company Kind House Buyers for a reason. As we go behind this deal, you will see why. In this situation, Keith was able to not only go above the asking price but also make over $30k on the deal. Here’s how he did it… 

    Behind the Deal

    The lead came in from a PPC campaign, from someone who was doing their research on buyers in the area. Because Keith had a credible website and a strong reputation, he was one of the buyers she called.

    Keith answered the phone when other investors didn’t and he was able to immediately set up an appointment to see the property. 

    This property was a manufactured home, with plumbing and electrical problems. There was an unpermitted addition, which had also put a lien on the home.

    The property could not be listed in the traditional sense, and the family wanted to relocate their aging father who was living on the property. 

    Breaking Down The Numbers

    The family owed about $78k on the property and had also spent a good $10k on family-related issues. Keith knew he could easily sell the land alone for $100k.

    After crunching some numbers, he was able to offer more than what they owed, helping to reimburse the family and pay for relocation expenses. 

    Normally Keith would ear down the property and simply add a new manufactured home, He could then quickly resale it as a brand new home.

    However, because of the high demand fr mobile homes, he know this would take a while.

    So instead, he flipped the property to a fellow investor who had the tools and means to fix up the property. In this situation, everyone came out ahead. 

    Building Your Reputation

    There are many reasons why homeowners turn to Keith when they need to sell. One of those is the strong reputation he has built over the past 4 years. Keith regularly adds content to his website, adds customer reviews, and is completely transparent about how he works.

    Recently, Keith was even feated in an article in the Olympian which spoke of this deal in particular. So many times investors will be painted as vultures who are just after a quick buck.

    By being informative and getting his name out there, he is not only building trust but changing the perception of the industry for the better. 

    Tips That Actually Work: SEO Keyword Rank Check Tool

    If you are putting links out there online and not tracking them, how will you know where your leads are coming from? Our keyword tracking tool will help you see where your leads are coming from and which keywords they are searching.

    You will be able to make tweaks to your content to get more eyes on it, thus improving your rankings in Google search results. Look for more data to be added to the keyword tool in the months ahead!

    Join Us Live! 

    Join us every other Thursday on Facebook Live. We’ll be taking you behind the deal with some of the top guys and gals in the industry.

    Get answers to your questions live on air while learning the fundamentals of the business.

    Follow Our Guest: 

    Mentioned in This Episode:

    We want to hear your thoughts on the podcast! Drop them in the comments section below or hit us up on Facebook or Instagram!

  • Optimize Your Real Estate Marketing | A Strategic Whiteboard Training

    Optimize Your Real Estate Marketing | A Strategic Whiteboard Training

    Optimize Your Real Estate Marketing & Lower Your Lead Cost | For Investors & Agents

    Video Transcription

    What’s up y’all!

    As you’re planning out your marketing for the year ahead, you might have a couple of questions popping into your mind. You might be asking, how the heck am I going to reach my goals?

    You might even be asking what are your goals as a real estate agent or an investor?

    What I’m going to be walking through in this video is a simple five-step process, I use it here at our company, and I suggest you use it as an investor and agent as well, to plan out exactly what you need to do in your marketing in the year ahead to be able to reach your goals.

    The cool thing about this is, a lot of people, they’ll look at the goals, write a goal number down, it might be an income goal, it might be a deal number goal, and then you pull back and you say, what are the things that are going to help me get there?

    You might write down a few different projects, and I ran my businesses like this for years. I’d have a goal, and I’d go to the whiteboard and I’d say, what are some of the cool, exciting, fun things I might need to do this year?

    I’d write them down and then that would be my plan. The thing I would forget to do is what I’m going to teach you today, which is mapping down to your marketing channels, so you have an exact clear, ABC step-by-step plan to reach your goals in a fail-safe way.

    As soon as I started deploying this in my own businesses and teaching other investors and agents how to do it as well, you start to get more clarity on your plan.

    The cool thing is, I actually did a podcast on this, the cool thing is this becomes your strategy. The definition of a strategy basically, is a strategy is as much what not to do, as it is what to do.

    What we’re going to be diving into here on my iPad, is we’re going to show you exactly what you should do, so you can say no to so many other things in this year ahead. Work less, gain more freedom, make a greater impact.

    Let’s dive into the iPad now.

    The first thing I want you to do here is, there are five steps.

    The first step is we’re going to set your goal, and if you have to pause this video throughout, as you’re doing your annual planning, or if you’re watching this sometime in the midyear, amazing.

    Optimize Your Real Estate Marketing: Step 1

    You can still do the same thing if you’re not clear on what you need to do in your marketing to reach your goals as an investor or an agent.

    The first step is setting your goal.

    Okay, we’re going to pick an income goal, because deal numbers don’t really matter if you’re doing a bunch of low volume or low dollar deals versus if you do some high dollar deals.

    I always pick an income number because you can map that to the lifestyle that you want, or the freedom or impact you want to make.

    Next, we need to ask what is working? This is a big step a lot of people miss… they set a goal and then they just go, hey, what do I need to do next? We need to first ask what’s working.

    Optimize Your Real Estate Marketing: Step 2

    I’m going to give you a framework in here for exactly how to track and show what’s working in your business in a crazy, crazy, simple way.

    Then what we’re going to say is, what’s the difference between where we currently are to the goal that we’re going for?

    Optimize Your Real Estate Marketing: Step 3

    I call it the Delta.

    Next, we’re going to say cool, now that we know the difference in what we need to make up, what are the biggest opportunities that we see, the one, two, or three max, to be able to hit our goal.

    Optimize Your Real Estate Marketing: Step 4

    Then last, we’re going to craft the plan in a really crazy simple one-page thing that you can use each and every quarter.

    Optimize Your Real Estate Marketing: Step 5

    Let’s go back up to the top.

    For this example here, I’m going to be working with one of our clients who is an A player. They’ve already started to do some deals. They’re a hybrid agent investor, which is what we specialize here in at Carrot.

    The people who have their license, and their investor who can offer cash offers, maybe even flip homes. This person’s been doing deals for two or three years, and they want to get to a $750,000 profit goal.

    Okay, so that’s a big goal. If you are trying to get to your first $100,000, it doesn’t matter.

    Next what we’re going to do, is I want you to write down every marketing channel that you’re currently using to get leads and to close deals.

    Rating Your Real Estate Marketing Channels

    In this example here, you might have SEO or Google pay-per-click, or Facebook Ads, or direct mail, or cold calling, or whatever it’s.

    You might be doing referrals as an agent, or you might be big, big, big on cold calling as an investor agent, whatever it is, write down the channels that generated your leads in deals this past 12 months.

    If you have to hit pause in this video, go ahead and do it. Write down the channels on the left side and come back.

    Next, I want you to pull back into your data. This might be one of those things where you might be going, I don’t know what the channels did, but one of the biggest keys that you can do as a marketer is you have to know and have clarity on what each marketing channel is doing for your business.

    One of the biggest mistakes that I find with people is they end up investing $5000, $10,000, $15,000 a month, and they say, I’m getting deals out of this, but I don’t know which channels are working and which channels aren’t working.

    So they keep on putting more and more money into the marketing, not knowing which half of their marketing’s working and not.

    This is going to help you save tens of thousands of dollars potentially in marketing every year, and help you grow your income in a more predictable way with less work, which is what we’re about here at Carrot. Helping you get more freedom.

    What I want you to do next, is now write down what are your leads. How many leads did you get with that channel?

    Real Estate Marketing Channels: Leads

    In this example, we’re going to say the SEO channel got 115 leads this past 12 months, Google PPC, 75 Facebook Ads, 63, you get the idea. Write those down.

    Then we’re going to say with each channel, how many deals came out of those?

    Real Estate Marketing Channels: Deals

    Now you might be saying, I don’t know how to track how many deals came from the channels.

    Well, what we can do is if you’re using a system like Carrot, our system will actually tell you which leads came from SEO. It’ll tell you which leads came from a Facebook ad, or from a Google ad. It’ll tell you all of those things.

    You can leverage a tool like Carrot to use our campaign tracking links or to use our lead source tool, and it’s going to tell you all that.

    Now you’ll be able to know which leads and deals came from direct mail and cold calling because you want to use a different tracking phone number with each one of those marketing methods.

    You can always say if anyone called from this phone number, it’s from my direct mail, so you can track the leads and deals.

    Okay, now what I want you to do is dive even deeper.

    Real Estate Marketing Channels: Cost per Deal

    If you’re looking at this going, man, I don’t have this data.

    What I want you to know is number one, it’s simple data to track so you can get it, but number two, this is critical data if you want to grow your business, work less, make a greater impact.

    With each one of the channels, say, I’ve got 115 leads at the SEO this past year, 12 deals out of it. How much did you invest in doing SEO that year? Did you pay someone to do it? Did you do it yourself?

    Just take the entire amount of money you invested in the SEO that year and divide it by the number of deals that you did. In this case, we’re just going to say it was about $600 a deal, which was the average cost when we took that amount.

    If it was Google pay-per-click or direct mail same thing, take the entire cost of what you spent on direct mail this year, Google pay-per-click this year, or cold calling, or whatever it is, and then divide it by the number of deals you got to come up with your cost per deal.

    This can be an important number.

    Next, it’s the profit per deal. Do the same thing. Look at the lead sources. What were the profits on those?

    Real Estate Marketing Channels: Profit per Deal

    What were the total profits for the year for that channel, divided by how many deals you did, and fill out the profit per deal column.

    We’re going to end up coming up with these numbers down here in this section down here which is… what was our total profit for the year?

    If we add those up, our total gross profit in this example is about $439,000.

    If we take out the cost for those deals, let’s say it was about $401,000. We netted $401,000, that’s amazing. That’s a huge huge year.

    If your goal is $750,000, and we currently brought in about $439,000, the difference between those two numbers is $348,000, about $350,000.

    That’s the Delta we’re trying to make up in this next year with our plan.

    I’m going to show you guys exactly how to do that in about three to five more minutes in this video.

    The next step I want you to take here, is with each one of your channels, now the way that we decide what we need to do in the year ahead, is we look at each channel and we ask ourselves, let’s kind of give it a grade rating, an A through an F.

    An A means we’re executing it insanely well, and there’s probably no room for growth in this channel. We’ve maximized the channel.

    If you’re doing SEO, and you’re just in one market, and you’re dominating Google for all of your keyword phrases, you’re ranked number one in Google for all your keyword phrases, that’s probably going to be an A.

    There’s probably not a lot of room for improvement there if you’re dominating ranking number one in Google for all of your phrases.

    If you’re not ranking number one in Google for all of your phrases, you’re number six, number seven, number eight, you might be getting a couple of leads here or there, maybe that’s a C.

    Okay, give yourself whatever that rating is. Do the same thing with all of those.

    I’m just going to make up some numbers here. Let’s say we’re a B with Google PPC. It’s working pretty good.

    Let’s say direct mail, we’re a D on that, we tested it out, but we’re not really doing too great. Let’s say cold calling is an F, we got one deal, but man it wasn’t predictable. Let’s say, this is a B on the Facebook ads.

    What we’re doing is we’re asking ourselves, where do we see an opportunity for growth? If it’s an A, we’re saying we’re doing the best we can possibly do, expanded it at the best we possibly could, there’s no opportunity for growth.

    If it’s an F, it means we definitely haven’t maximized it, so it might be on the docket there okay.

    Now, let’s say Google pay-per-click and Facebook ads look awesome, and then I really want to get this direct mail thing working better, so I’m going to go I see an opportunity for growing Facebook or Google pay-per-click.

    Let’s say direct mail number two, and Facebook number three. If I think that there’s a lot of room for growth and we have the skillset to do so.

    Okay, I’m going to come down here now, with what we had just done with those ratings. We’re going to rate those out, and now we’re going to come up with some new goals for these.

    Let’s say the Google PPC, what we had been doing in the past was 75 leads, let’s say we want to increase that now and grow that to 150 leads.

    We want to double this so we can help to start to make up that Delta of about $350,000.

    We know with Google pay-per-click that we’re closing about one in 10 leads into a deal that gives us $20,000.

    That was six deals, now if we can double our Google pay-per-click if we see opportunity there, because we haven’t really stepped into it too much, or we can expand our keywords, that’s going to then take it to 12 deals.

    Let’s say the cost per deal stays about the same, and the profit per deal stays about the same.

    Now that’s going to make it to, rather than us bringing in about a $120,000 in Google pay-per-click that year, that’s going to bring in far more, that’s going to bring in, shoot, about $240,000 with Google pay-per-click that year.

    I’m just going to delete that puppy and let’s make this the goal.

    Let’s say $240,000 total is what we’re going to bring in, and we’re going to bring in $120K extra.

    What we’re determining is how are we going to make up this Delta of $348,000 bucks? Well, now we’ve made up right there $120,000 of it with the Google side of it.

    Now let’s look at Facebook. If we closed three deals last year from Facebook, and an average of about $20,000 profit per deal, how many more deals do we think we can get out of Facebook?

    How many more leads do we think?

    Can we double that? I don’t know. That’s for you to determine, go talk to someone who’s an expert, or you dive into it. Let’s say this doubles to six, and that goes from $60,000 to $120,000 now.

    It goes from $60,000 to $120,000 now, and that is in total. So the extra, the Delta that we’re adding is another $60,000. $120,000 plus 60, that’s about $180,000. You guys know where I’m going with this, right?

    Now let’s say direct mail. We see a lot of opportunities. We just did one test and we want to expand it out. Let’s say we want to take this and see if we can’t expand this to 10 deals this year. We want a 5x this year.

    How many leads do we need to get the whole thing? I’m not going to do all the math here, but you guys see where I’m going with this.

    The things that we want to focus on here, doing some quick behind-the-scenes math, is we want to figure out what channels do we need to expand it by, how much do we need to expand them to get to this number here? The $348,000 bucks.

    We’re going to speed up through TV time, and now let’s assume that we had picked our three or four channels, we’d worked the numbers and we have a plan.

    Let’s say the number one plan is the Google pay-per-click.

    We worked the numbers. We say, I think there’s more opportunity there, maybe we can bump this to 200 leads, and maybe we can bump this to 15 deals, and that’s a couple of extra deals. That’s $160,000, $170,000 there. Bam we found out our plan.

    Q1 now, I want you guys to do this.

    Pick one new idea per quarter and two improvements per quarter. One thing that we oftentimes do is plan way too many projects. Just start one new thing per quarter, and two improvements per quarter.

    This here might be a new idea of direct mail. We barely dabbled in direct mail. We’re going to launch a new direct mail campaign. That’s the big new thing we’re going to do this year.

    Improvement number one is we’re going to expand Google PPC into the second market.

    That’s our improvement. We’re going to expand there. Improvement number two might be expanding Facebook’s audience.

    Then our goal, if our total goal is $348,000 in extra revenue, and our total goal for the year is $750,000. If we divide that out, how much money, how much revenue do we need to bring per quarter?

    I’m just going to grab my fancy calculator here really fast and show you guys this last little thing and we’ll wrap this video, and you’ll have a plan essentially. $750,000 divided by four equals $187,000 a quarter. $187,500 a quarter; $187,500.

    Real Estate Marketing Channels: Craft Your Plan

    You don’t have to make these all exactly the same per quarter, you can make them so you ramp up or whatever you want to do. It’s your plan. Each quarter I’m going to be planning out this.

    Then we say, hey our goal is $187,500 per quarter. You can break it down per month, and then you say, okay how much of this is going to come from our direct mail campaign?

    How much of it’s going to come from our expansion of Google pay-per-click and Facebook ads.

    Then spend the next 10, 15, 30 minutes going, if we did those in the first quarter, what do we need to do in the second quarter?

    It might be launching something else new here. It might be hiring an employee over here because now you’re having more leads.

    It might be now getting a dispositions manager or something like that. It might be adding Carrot in here is that big new project.

    Then each quarter you pick two things you can improve, one thing you can grow on that’s brand new.

    All right, guys. Let me recap this right now, block out about an hour to two hours possibly, as you’re heading into this next year, and this can help you get insane clarity in exactly what you need to do with your real estate marketing as an investor or agent.

    The first thing is you pick your revenue goal for the year. The second thing is you break out a scorecard like this that I’m showing you on the iPad, and ask what is working and break it down by channel.

    Dig into those numbers. If you don’t have them you really need them to grow.

    Then figure out what your profits are, and ask yourself what’s the difference between my goal and what I did this past year?

    Next, we need to say, what’s our greatest opportunity? We need to kind of grade our channels. An A is you’re doing the best you could possibly do, no more room for growth. An F is it’s terrible, and there might be room for growth.

    Then craft your quarterly plan, one new thing, two improvements per quarter, and then map those to your scorecard, which would be bringing in $187,500 per quarter or whatever your number is.

    Guys and gals, we’re going to have some amazing resources for you that are going to help you to do your planning better, that is going to help you to grow your business better.

    If you’re looking to expand your evergreen marketing and buy back more of your time, go to Carrot.com/evergreen, and check out our latest webinar on this topic so you can step into evergreen marketing, win more leads that are the highest margin, highest profit deals while you’re stacking your marketing with your other channels.

    Guys have an amazing rest of the week, plan your marketing, hit it hard, but buy back your time this year.

    Thank you!

  • Are There Less Real Estate Investor Leads In Holiday Months Than Summer Months? (Stats Inside…)

    Are There Less Real Estate Investor Leads In Holiday Months Than Summer Months? (Stats Inside…)

    Are There Less Real Estate Investor Leads In Holiday Months Than Summer Months?

    We’ve been getting some awesome questions from the Carrot community lately so we’re going to be answering some of them here on the blog in detailed posts to help you get an edge on your competition with your real estate investing website.

    The other day, one of our members from Indianapolis (one of the top turn-key rental property sellers in Indianapolis) asked…

    “Hey Jake, good morning, in general, are there less real estate investor leads in holiday months then in the summer months?”
    Francisco 

    (NOTE: This customer is in our Content Pro plan and saw their first leads in their market within the first 2 weeks after launching their sites and implementing a few critical steps.)

    We’ve monitored this trend over the years while also monitoring search levels on many of the top motivated sellers, cash buyers, private lenders, and tenant search phrases out there.

    Now… each type of searcher came up with slightly different seasonal search patterns…. so in this post, we’ll run through some of what we found so you can better prepare for fewer November and December lead volumes when leveraging SEO and traditional Google PPC specifically for motivated property seller leads and cash buyers.

    So… Are There Less Real Estate Investor Leads In Holiday Months Than Summer Months?

    When Are Motivated Property Sellers Searching Google?

    We pulled a chart of 25 of the top motivated seller SEO search phrases and found some really interesting stuff.

    First, let us look at the highest searched highly motivated real estate seller search phrase, “we buy houses”.

    Average Monthly Searches Of The Motivated Seller Search Phrase “we buy houses”

    Average "we buy houses" Searches In Google Per Month
    Average “we buy houses” Searches In Google Per Month: Notice the big ramp-up of searches in the summer and spring months. What’s this mean?

    That’s really interesting… but that doesn’t tell the whole story. So we took the average of the top 25 motivated seller keyword phrases to see overall… is there a seasonality for motivated sellers hopping online and searching for someone to buy their house.

    The graph below shows the average of the top 25 search phrases in the United States for highly motivated sellers on Google across the past 24 months.

    Average Monthly Searches Of The Top 25 Motivated Real Estate Seller Search Phrases

    Top 25 Motivated Real Estate Seller search volume
    Average Monthly Searches In The Past 24 Months: Highly motivated sellers searches on Google trend up in the warm months and down in the colder months… with December being the lowest each year.

    We see a similar ramp up in the warm months… and the number of motivated sellers searching Google with the common highly motivated search phrases dips in the winter months.

    On average… the summer months are getting nearly 30% more searches from motivated sellers than November and December.

    Now, we did cross-check this to make sure it wasn’t a “cold winter climate” vs. “mild winter climate” thing… and overall we still saw very very similar trends. So, for now, we’ve ruled out the climate being the major contributing factor to the seasonality of the motivated seller searches.

    Why Do Fewer Motivated Property Sellers Search Google In November And December?

    There are lots of reasons that could be causing this… but here are a few of my guesses…

    • Fewer people want to move in the winter… especially during the holidays
    • It’s COLD! (in lots of places) so they want to hang out
    • It’s the holidays and people don’t have the time to deal with something else or don’t want to disrupt the holidays
    • Generally, there are fewer properties on the market in general so many house sellers feel that “selling in the spring” is what you’re supposed to do to sell a house fast (even though some data shows houses that sell in the winter sell for higher prices and sell quicker)

    When Are Cash Buyers Of Real Estate Searching Google?

    Overall a cash buyer is in a different mindset than a highly motivated seller. Usually, a person who’s looking to buy investment property tends to look for properties when they are thinking about their financial future.

    There is a bit of seasonality to cash property buyer searches as well.  Fewer searches for the top 20 cash property buyer searches on Google in November and December than most of the other months during the year… but one key thing to take note of, if you’re selling investment properties or just looking to grow your cash buyers list in a bit way… is the single most searched month in the whole year is January.

    Average Monthly Searches Of The Top 20 Investment Property / Cash Buyer Search Phrases

    Investment Property / Cash Buyer Search Phrases
    January Is The Single Most Searched Month For Cash Buyers: This chart from Google search data shows January beating out all other months during the year for investment property buyers looking online for properties. What are you doing to get ready to build your cash buyers list in a big way in January?

    That’s pretty darn cool (and useful) eh?

    Find Seasonal Opportunities

    It shouldn’t be surprising that the real estate industry has seasonal patterns. To validate this… according to Realtor.com, homes are most popular in the summer months when people have their minds set on moving because it’s a peak season for inventory and sales.

    But, the winter months should not be discounted. For example, wintertime can provide a unique opportunity for investors because they know people want their houses sold fast!

    Winter Pro: Serious Sellers

    Winter is known to be the most profitable season for buyers. When it’s cold outside and snowing, there are many more “serious” sellers who want their home sold quickly so they can get on with life in warmer weather; conversely, this means that you’ll find some motivated sellers right when you need them.

    Winter Con: Low Lead Volumes

    Winter weather can be a major factor in the real estate cycle. Cold weather, including elements of rain and snow, can make it more difficult to find sellers. This can have an impact on the buying and selling process, as the limited potential sellers may have an overappreciated value of a home in cold months.

    What This All Means

    What this means to me is that people are looking at their financial goals at the start of the year and saying… “Man, I need to get my butt in gear and pick up some more investment properties to hit my goals this year”… so they dive in right after the holidays and start looking for properties.

    There may also be tax reasons that people are waiting until January to kick up their investment property search… either way… the data shows it’s the case… so now it’s time to act on it.

    So, if you know the single most popular month for investment property searches online is January each year… what are you doing to build your own cash buyer list for your real estate investing business?

    What Can You Do To Prepare Your Real Estate Investing Business For Seasonal Search Trends?

    Really, what this data shows is that there are seasonalities to the real estate investor leads you can expect from SEO for real estate investing and even PayPerClick marketing.

    So keep these things in mind as you’re generating leads for your real estate investing business through your website…

    • Winter months for both investment property buyers and motivated house sellers bring in lower volumes than the summer months (but not drastically lower… at the least… maybe 30% lower on motivated seller leads)
    • Now is the perfect time to start your Evergreen marketing campaigns if you haven’t already so your real estate investing websites rank higher in Google for keywords that matter when the spring and summer come around
    • If possible, try not to rely strictly on SEO or PPC for your only lead generation if you’re not in a larger market in the winter months if possible… so your marketing plan is well rounded and you’re getting leads coming in from places other than just the internet in slower lead months.
    • Get a cash buyer/investment property buyer campaign rolling asap so you can take advantage of the highest searched month of the year for people looking for investment properties. How? Start your Craigslist marketing… go to your REI club in January and start getting your buyers’ list built there… kick on some Google PPC campaigns if you have a bit of a budget to invest… Facebook ad campaigns are doing REALLY well to generate investment property buyers and tenant buyers… basically… get focused and leverage the January cash buyer traffic!!!

    If you’re a Carrot member, you know how well the Cash Buyer websites on our system are converting… so put it to use.

    Also, on the motivated seller side of things… having a real estate investing website with a high conversion rate (how many people land on your website and become a lead) is as important as ever in months with lower search volumes like December… so if your current website isn’t converting like it should… take a look at Carrot to see if it’s a fit for you.

    We’re the only company in the industry as focused on results and increasing conversions on our platform each and every month as much as we are… so you can just focus on growing your business… not fiddling with building websites and trying to learn conversion rate optimization in your “spare” time.

    Hit me with comments or questions below! And leverage these seasonalities in the Google searches to your advantage!!!!

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