Author: Jamie Saine

5 Ways to Attract Leads in a Competitive Real Estate Market by Standing Out Online
No matter what type of real estate investing you specialize in, finding the right deals makes or breaks the bottom line. And if you don’t want to spend all day, every day hustling and cold calling, having motivated leads come to you online is a great way to keep your pipeline filled.

But how do you stand out in a crowded market and make sure leads find YOU first? Here are some actionable takeaways you can use to make yourself the most successful investor in your area.

KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Putting unique content on your website is key to ranking well in search engines and building trust with potential leads. If you use pre-written blog templates or an AI writing tool, take the time to add your own personality and insights before publishing.
- Getting hyperlocal is a great way to stand out. People prefer working with someone they can trust, and they’re more likely to trust someone from their community versus a nameless, faceless investor.
- Look at your competitors’ websites or top-ranking sites in other areas to figure out what you absolutely must have on your site and get inspiration for how to attract leads.
In a competitive real estate market, you have to find ways to stand out. By doing your research, providing high-quality information on your website, and building trust by being hyper-local, you can stand out from the competition, attract leads, and fill your deals pipeline.

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1. Understand What You’re Up Against … and How to Stand Out

The first step of standing out is knowing your competition. Start by using Market Scout to see how difficult your investment market is, get marketing strategy recommendations, and see marketing insights like average website domain authority in your area, keyword difficulty, and how much paid ads cost.

Glossary:
- What is website domain authority? Domain authority is a score that measures your website’s quality and reputation based on key metrics like organic traffic, authenticity, and quality backlinks. While domain authority doesn’t directly contribute to search rankings, it is a good indicator of how search engines view your site. A higher domain authority score is better.
- What is keyword difficulty? Keyword difficulty is a metric used to understand how many sites are targeting a specific keyword and, in return, how difficult it is to rank for that keyword. The higher the score, the more competition there is for that keyword.
Now that you have a general understanding of the market and know what type of marketing strategies you should double down on (like SEO, content creation, or video), it’s time to dig deeper. Google keywords you want to rank for to see what information and linked websites come back in Google’s AI Overview and which webpages rank at the top of the search results. Take a look at these pages to see what they’re doing — what pages do they have, what kind of information do they share, what keywords are they obviously targeting? Use this as inspiration for what to include on your own website, then do it better!

(Note: Don’t ever copy someone’s website, copy, blogs, or videos exactly. Use theirs for inspiration, but create your own content with your own spin and personality.)

Do you find yourself saying, “But what about this?” when reading a competitor’s website? That’s a great signal that you should fill that gap!

2. Share Unique, High-Value Content

SEO trends are changing, but one thing remains the same: Search engines love unique content that is insightful, helpful, and answers common questions using the same language a searcher would use.

In today’s online world, you can’t simply set up a website with basic pages and expect to rank or generate leads. You have to add additional topical pages, blogs, and FAQs to share your knowledge and gain a competitive edge.

What questions have your clients asked in the past? What concepts do you find yourself explaining over and over? Are there any unique regulations or laws in your area that impact clients? These are all great topics for creating unique content on your site.

You can also use Google’s autofill feature (start typing a search term and look at the phrases Google suggests) and the “People Also Ask” section of the search results to get ideas. These are based on real things people are searching for, so providing that information can help you attract leads.

Looking for unique topics to cover doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explain important terms or concepts your leads need to know just because everyone else does. Just focus on explaining it like you would in person, especially if your area has a specific dialect or uses certain terms. If you can, add details and data specific to your region (this is exactly the type of unique, high-value content search engines love).

3. Localize Down to the Neighborhood

Online search is becoming more and more localized. Even if someone doesn’t specifically search for something near them, search engines often serve up local results anyway. (Do a random Google search and scroll to the bottom of the first page. You might see a shockingly accurate location tag. My location changes when I’m five minutes away from my house because I’m in a different neighborhood within my city!)

To make sure you come out on top either way, launch localized webpages targeting specific cities, towns, and even neighborhoods.

What is a localized webpage?

A localized webpage is a page on your website that uses a specific location as a target keyword. For example, if you’re a wholesaler in Colorado, you might have a webpage targeting Denver. The URL could be something like www.yourcompany.com/sell-house-fast-denver and the text at the top of the page (the H1) would say “Sell Your House Fast in Denver, Colorado.” This gives you a better chance of showing up in search results when someone specifically searches Denver or is in the Denver area.

Set up webpages for more than one location

But if you’re a real estate wholesaler in Colorado, you likely don’t only do deals in Denver. So you’ll want a localized page for every area you want to attract leads in — Lakewood, Westminster, Aurora, Arvada, etc. And remember how Google gets hyper-specific with your location? If you’re in an area with commonly used neighborhood names, set up localized pages for those as well. To keep with our Denver example, you might set up pages for West Highlands, East Colfax, or RiNo. This gives you a better chance of attracting attention from potential leads when they see that you really understand where they are.

4. Showcase Your Local Knowledge

Speaking of connecting with leads on a local level …

Despite living in an always connected, global world, many people still like working with someone local. Think about the last time you needed a home contractor or mechanic. You might have Googled it, but you’re equally likely to have asked your friends, family, and trusted local network for a recommendation. People want to work with someone they can trust, and being local goes a long way in building rapport.

Having a webpage targeting a specific town or neighborhood grabs attention, but what really builds trust is showing how much you know and understand the area. A few blocks can make a dramatic difference in many cities, and towns only a few miles apart might be night and day different when it comes to real estate. A big, national company won’t understand that.

Look at each of those localized webpages you created and figure out what information you can add to highlight your knowledge of the area and give leads useful insights. A few examples include:
- Highlighting deals you’ve done in the area
- Sharing reviews or testimonials from past clients in that area
- Explaining local regulations that may impact your leads
- Calling out trends or local news that might be impacting the market in that area
You can even stand in front of a recognizable neighborhood landmark and film a short video introducing yourself and your services using the specific area name.

5. Build a (Recognizable) Brand

Things like local videos published online help build your brand, which can go a long way in attracting leads and having leads choose you — especially in a crowded market.

One of the five lessons shared in 5 Priceless Lessons from Million Dollar Investors is about getting personal and building a brand. It’s partially about putting people at ease as they decide who to work with, and partially about making sure you’re the one they think about right away when the time comes.

“I want to make sure I have the brand so that if someone is thinking about selling their house in my market, they’re thinking about my company.” — Jeremy Resmer

Traditional tactics like direct mail and bandit signs might help with this, but so do things like posting videos online or sponsoring a local little league team. Bigger ticket items like local TV or radio ads help with brand building, but if you’re creative and keep it local, you can find good opportunities to get your name, face, and logo out there.

“Hey! I know you!” Real-Life Brand Building

Justin Turner owns Turner Home Team in eastern North Carolina. Looking for a way to stand out and generate leads, he turned to a somewhat old-school method of advertising — billboards.

“I’ve had so many people tell me they’ve seen my billboard. It leaves a lasting impression and brings more awareness than other campaigns,” Justin explained. “It makes me visible in my community in a way online ads can’t, helping me build real, local brand recognition that creates a stronger sense of trust.”

It wouldn’t work without his website though. He warns this method (and any other offline outreach, like direct mail) relies on having a professional online presence.

“[You have to have] a website people can research you on — they’re not going to do deals with some sketchy person just because of a billboard.”

Since investing in billboards, Justin’s monthly organic brand searches on Google have more than doubled. After drawing in interested leads with the billboard, he uses his website to build trust and gain confidence by showcasing his experience, professionalism, honesty, and — most importantly — his team.

“People trust those who they can relate to and understand.”

Be Yourself, Just Online

If there’s a theme to all of this advice, it’s to be authentic and helpful. Attracting leads is the name of the game, but the best way to do that is by remembering that leads are people.

“This is a people business and real estate is a byproduct of what we do.”
— Beau Hollis, 5 Priceless Lessons from Million Dollar Investors

Do you find it easier to generate business face-to-face or by building in-person relationships? Bring that spirit and energy to your website. Using a few technical details shared in this post (like launching hyperlocal webpages) can get you in front of new eyes, but it’s up to the rest of your website content to sell your story. Be unique, be helpful, be approachable … be yourself.

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May 15, 2025
10+ Email Marketing Tips to Warm Up Cold Leads with Jay Schwedelsen
You’ve probably heard the email advice: “Don’t use the word ‘free.’” “Keep your emails short or risk going to spam.” “Don’t use emojis in subject lines.” Turns out, a lot of that advice is outdated — and in some cases, flat-out wrong.

Jay Schwedelsen, host of the popular marketing podcast Do This, NOT That, recently joined us on Carrot’s Evergreen Marketing podcast to share updated tips for successful email lead nurturing. Jay is undisputedly one of the top experts in the field and he shared 10+ tips and dispelled some popular myths around email.

If you’ve left email behind in your lead follow-up, it’s time to dust off your list.

“Your email list is probably the most important asset you have. Your email database is your owned asset. It is the only marketing channel for basically no money that you can communicate whatever it is you want to communicate at any given moment. There’s nothing else like that.” — Jay Schwedelsen

Even if you are actively sending emails, you might be unknowingly making some mistakes that are hurting your engagement rate.

Whether you’re an investor following up with cold leads, an agent sending out market updates, or just trying to figure out how to get more replies, there’s something in the episode for you. Here’s a sneak peek at three tips Jay discusses.

Tip #1: Your emails don’t matter if they aren’t opened

“A lot of times when we’re sending out an email, we’re worried about ‘oh what are we writing in the email?’ or ‘oh, what’s the offer?’ and that’s backward,” Jay explained. “If you don’t get the email opened, who actually cares what’s inside the email? So we have to get that email opened and the number one thing that’s going to get that email opened is the subject line.”

When people look at their email inboxes, they scroll through quickly and decide what gets their attention. Jay contends that most people don’t read the entire subject line, instead focusing on the first few words.

With that in mind, front-load your subject lines. Jay recommends starting a subject line with all caps or keeping it super short to make it stand out. Better yet, start your subject line with a number.

“If you start your subject line with a number, your open rate will rise about 20%.”

And forget about avoiding certain “spam trigger” words. It’s true that words like “free” or even dollar signs used to send your emails straight to the junk folder, but that’s not the case anymore. Feel free to write the most compelling subject line possible without avoiding important words!

Need help with your subject lines? Check our Jay’s free subject line grader.

Tip #2: Send more emails (yes, you read that right!)

“You’re probably not sending out enough email. In the real estate market I see this a lot. People will get focused on their email sending for a month or two, and then they move onto something else, and they won’t send again for another 2-3 weeks or a month. The most important thing you can do to make sure you’re getting that business is to be sending enough. You need to be at least sending email weekly — at least!”

Why? Because sending email frequently and consistently actually helps keep you out of the junk folder. It all comes down to email engagement, Jay explains.

“If you don’t send enough email — and we see it in all the data — if you don’t send at least a weekly email to your database, you actually cannot generate enough opens and clicks to stay in that person’s inbox. It needs to be relevant stuff, it can’t be garbage. But sending out more email is step number one.”

Since email engagement is actually what matters, Jay has a few tips to make sure people actually read and interact with your email.
- Paragraphs should never be more than four lines.
- Start your email with something super attention-grabbing. Don’t save the “hook” for the end … some readers won’t get there.
- Restate the main point, offer, or action you want readers to take in a PS at the end of the email (to grab the attention of people who just skim).
“When you have a PS with a call to action, a link in the PS, your click-through rates go up on average by about 15%.”

Tip #3: Make your emails valuable

“Don’t push offers until you’ve established the fact that you’re not annoying.”

Let’s be honest, no one likes being sold to. But as real estate professionals and marketers, it’s our natural default to send offers and promotions. If you’re working on a cold list — or a new one — focus your first few emails on offering value to your leads.

“For the first 4-5 sends, don’t promote anything. Nothing you send out should be a benefit to you the sender, it should only be a benefit to the individual you’re sending to. It’s hard to do because our nature is “sell, sell, sell” but you need to show the people in that database that you’re going to give them value.”

Jay shares some ideas of valuable information to send your leads (you’ll have to listen to get his tips), but whatever you send can’t have a form in front of it. Offering value before asking for something builds trust and gets leads used to opening your emails. When you do send something promotional, they’re more likely to pay attention because of the relationship you’ve built.

“It’s like dating. You can’t be just like ‘Hi, nice to meet you. Do you want to get married?’ It doesn’t work, it’s weird.”

Tips #4-10: More gems from Jay

In less than 40 minutes, Jay shares insights on not only how to successfully use email nurturing, but creative ways to grab attention and make your emails better every time. More tips covered in the podcast include:
- Why the inbox promotions section isn’t as bad as you think
- The best way to benchmark your email marketing success
- How to get people to respond to your emails
- Going beyond basic AI to really make your emails better (including using AI to analyze your competitors’ emails for new ideas)
- Should you use emojis and memes in your emails?
Stop Overthinking, Start Sending

At Carrot, we talk a lot about building a business of freedom and impact. And email — done right — is one of the most powerful, low-cost tools you have to create conversations that lead to deals.

So whether you’re following up with motivated sellers, re-engaging old leads, or just trying to stay visible, start putting these tips into practice. Then hit send. Test. Iterate. Improve.

And remember: It’s not about perfection. It’s about progress.

Listen to the full 10+ Email Marketing Tips to Warm Up Cold Leads w/ Jay Schwedelsen episode to unpack what’s actually working right now in email marketing.

PS – You can use these tactics in your automated outreach sequences in Carrot CRM!
April 4, 2025
Videos Increase Website Conversion Rates Up to 56% — Here’s How to Get Started
Video content is the best way to boost motivated leads without requiring any extra website traffic. This article explains why video is a game-changer for website conversion, and shares practical tips to get the right video content on your website!

Key Takeaways
- Website visitors who start watching a video are 24% more likely to convert to a lead and visitors who watch an entire video are 56% more likely to convert!
- You should have five types of videos on your website to share key information that visitors are looking for.
- You can quickly and easily create videos with free tools like VN and Canva.
If you want to increase your website conversion rate and number of motivated leads, read on to discover how to quickly add videos to your site.

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The Data Behind Why Video Matters

Online video consumption is estimated to hit four hours per day in 2025, according to Oberlo. When sellers do their research on who to work with, they don’t just like to gather information via video, they expect it! That’s why it only makes sense that your website should include videos.

It’s not just a matter of giving web visitors information in a format they prefer. Having videos on your website can dramatically improve your lead conversation rate (how many website visitors turn into leads). Based on recent data analyzed by Carrot, when a web visitor starts watching a video, their chances of converting to a lead increase 24% (over visitors who don’t watch videos). Visitors who watch an entire video have a 56% better chance of converting!

Adding videos to your website also helps with SEO. Google places a lot of weight on “high quality” content that it believes will help users answer their questions and find valuable information. Since today’s users like to watch videos, Google likes when videos are available to answer their search queries. Answering common questions or covering popular topics lets you capture that search traffic more easily.

As people watch videos on your site, they’re also inherently spending more time on the page. Google also views this as a positive indicator that your content (and by extension, your website as a whole) is valuable, which can positively impact your domain authority and search rankings.

The 5 types of videos your website needs

Videos are a great way to answer common questions, highlight your experience, and put visitors at ease about working with you. Think of video as your chance to be “face to face” before you ever meet a lead. You likely get some of your best deals by networking, so bring that same personality and energy online with video! Here are the most important videos to make for your website.

Note: If you’re new to video, get our free Video Marketing Playbook for R.E. Investors for ideas, scripts, and easy steps to recording!

1. “About ” Video

Who are you? What’s your experience? Why should people work with you? Make a short video introducing yourself and let people get to know you so they feel comfortable reaching out.

Here’s a video that walks you through creating an “About us” video as a real estate investor or agent:

2. Working with [Your Company Name] Video

A “How it Works” video can put potential leads at ease by detailing what it’s like working with you. How does the process work? What steps can they expect? What objections might they have?

3. Customer Testimonials

Video testimonials from happy clients talking about what it’s like working with you and how pleased they are with the results are great on websites. Website visitors may be skeptical of a written quote, but watching people talk about their experience generates a lot of trust.

Here’s an in-depth video on exactly what to say to get perfect testimonials every time you close a deal.

4. FAQ Videos: Explain Complex Topics

Odds are your leads aren’t real estate professionals. They may even be dealing with a new-to-them situation, like selling an inherited home, renting-to-own, or selling a house fast for cash. Put them at ease by answering questions they’re likely to have. Leads want to work with an expert, so show off your knowledge!

Investor Brad Woodall is a prime example of someone who went all-in on creating videos that answer prospects questions. He doubled down on probate-related video content which he posts on YouTube and an entire video library on his Carrot website & now consistently generates high-quality probate leads because of it!

5. Share Local Trends

Talking about local trends are great videos to publish on social media channels, and they can add an engaging element to blog posts covering the same topic. If you’re discussing a particularly important trend that leads should know about, you can even add this type of video to your homepage while it’s a hot topic.

Overall, videos build your credibility and put leads at ease, making them pre-disposed to want to work with you!

How to produce videos, easily

Videos don’t have to be complicated or daunting, and you don’t need to start a YouTube channel or become a TikTok star (though you certainly can if you like making videos!). Today’s consumers are used to seeing natural, self-shot videos, so simple videos recorded on your phone or computer work just fine. There are even services that make it easy to produce animated videos if you’re uncomfortable being on camera (though showing your face will build stronger trust with potential clients).

Don’t worry too much about the length of the video, both long and short videos have their place. Let the topic dictate the length of the video. And while you don’t have to worry about Hollywood standards, your videos should look nice and reflect your brand. Make sure the lighting is good and you have a non-distracting background. If you have shirts with your logo, consider wearing it in the video to reinforce brand recognition.

Videos don’t need to be overly produced, but if you want to do a little editing or add your logo or contact information, we recommend finding a video editor on a website like Fiverr.com. If you’re more DIY, VN is a simple (free!) video editing software available for both Mac and PC. If you want to add music to your video, make sure you get royalty-free audio clips. You’ll also want an eye-catching “video thumbnail” (the image people see before clicking on the video). These are easy to create for free with tools like Canva, which has thousands of pre-built templates to match any style. If you’re creating several videos, choose one thumbnail style or one style per video type. This keeps your brand look consistent and professional.

Where to put videos on your website

You don’t want to cram all your videos onto one page, that would be overwhelming. Instead, think about where each type of vidoe makes most sense. If you were visiting a website, what type of information would you expect to encounter on each page? With that in mind, you want to make sure key videos are posted to your most high traffic pages — the home page, about us, and contact us pages for most real estate investor websites.

Introduction videos and video testimonials in particular should be published on your homepage, about us page, and contact us pages — preferably toward the top of the page. In addition to generating the most traffic, these are also the highest converting pages, so putting videos here gets them in front of visitors at critical points in their journey. It also makes it easy for them to contact you immediately after watching the video — remember, visitors are significantly more likely to convert to a lead after watching a video!

If you’re answering common questions, breaking down a topic, or discussing a local trend, add these videos to topical landing pages, blog posts, or niche credibility pages targeting the same topic and keywords. Publishing topical content on your website (especially around commonly searched questions or terms) will help you rank better in search results. The more valuable content you add to these pages — both written and video — the better chance they have of ranking.

Carrot has a video post feature that makes adding this new content to your website even easier. Designed to help you get more leverage from videos explaining topics, trends, or answering questions, the VideoPost feature automatically transcribes your original videos into an SEO-optimized blog post. This is a great way to publish videos quickly.

Here’s how easy it is to put video content on your website. This example ranked #1 for the keyword we were aiming for!

Bonus video publishing tip: Post the same videos on YouTube. It’s easy to create a YouTube channel for your company on posting video to this popular platform give them an even better chance of showing up in search results. Make sure the video has a clear, accurate title with your target keywords and a good description with a link to your website. As a bonus, publishing videos on YouTube make them even easier to embed into your webpages, simply choose the Youtube block when editing the page and drop in the video URL.

Conclusion: Make 2025 the year of video

Video has been a popular way for Americans to consume information for years, and it’s only getting more popular. At the same time, competition in the real estate investing industry is getting stiffer, so any little tactic to give you an edge is a welcome advantage. Video could be the ticket to making you stand out, attract leads, and close more deals in 2025.

In short, businesses that adopt video win far more often than those that don’t.

Don’t overthink it and don’t be nervous about getting started, it’s not as hard as you think! For more on how to get started with video, check out Video Marketing for Real Estate: A Step-by-Step Guide.

Happy filming—You’ve got this!
February 27, 2025
Real Estate Investors: The State of Marketing 2025
Real estate investing is an interesting industry…

Some investors are all in, doing it as their full-time job. Others do a deal or two a year on the side. Some invest in marketing to generate leads, some rely solely on referrals. While there’s no right or wrong way, it’s always insightful to learn what others are doing and where they’re finding success.

Key Takeaways
- Most real estate investors do their own marketing, and they use an average of three strategies (mainly a website, social media, direct mail, and cold calling.
- Real estate investors spend anywhere from $2,000 annually to more than $100,000 annually on their marketing budgets! The median budget for real estate marketing is $12,000 annually.
- The average cost-per-click for a real estate ad was $25.20 in 2024.
Whether you’re brand new to real estate investing or a seasoned pro, this report gives you good insights into what your peers are up to, industry standards, and how you stack up.

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Who are real estate investors?

To help shine some light on the state of real estate investment marketing, we surveyed 90 REI professionals — both Carrot members and non-Carrot members — to learn what marketing strategies they’re using, what their most effective lead generation channels are, their annual marketing budget, and how 2025 will be different from 2024. Investors of all experience levels and a variety of real estate investment specialties responded, providing valuable insights no matter where you are on your REI journey.

Real estate investors mostly handle their own marketing…

For real estate investors, marketing is still very much a DIY endeavor. Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents report handling all marketing activities themselves, while 31% have some outside help. Only 12% of investors have agencies or freelancers handle all their marketing.

Marketing activities make up only a fraction of a busy investor’s schedule though. More than 85% of survey respondents spend less than 10 hours per week on marketing activities, with nearly a quarter of respondents dedicating less than one hour per week. Things may change this year though, as an impressive 71% of investors plan on increasing their marketing time. Only 8% plan on decreasing the amount of time spent on marketing in 2025.

Where should investors focus their marketing?

With so little time dedicated to marketing, it’s important for investors to find strategies and tools that work well and fill pipelines. With a seemingly endless number of marketing solutions available, deciding which to focus on can be difficult. Most investors report using only a few solutions, with nearly 50% of investors using two to three marketing services. The most common are a CRM and website. Investing in a real estate CRM is a smart move in 2025 to keep all your leads (online and offline) organized and streamline follow-up. Investors still relying on spreadsheets for lead management risk falling behind their peers.

Marketing tools support a range of lead generation strategies. The average investor works with three strategies to actively generate leads, but some use upwards of eight. Websites and social media are the most common, followed by direct mail, cold calling, and SEO, indicating that both online and offline lead generation tactics still work a successful investment business. The “tried and true” lead generation approaches aren’t fading, but successful investors are also expanding online to ensure they capture the maximum number of leads.

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While referrals and networking are the No. 1 source of leads for many investors, social media and direct mail are also top lead drivers. When planning your marketing strategy in 2025, a healthy mix of networking plus online and offline marketing has the best chance of driving success. Channels like direct mail & paid social media ads still work in 2025, but judging by the numbers, there’s low-hanging fruit in SEO.

Note: The important part is to treat your website as the “hub” of your marketing — funnel your direct mail, social, PPC, etc., to your website so you can capture those leads more easily!

To capture more leads in 2025, 65% of investors plan on adding additional marketing strategies. Only 3% intend to decrease their number of outreach channels. For those interested in increasing marketing, SEO, paid advertising, and pay-per-lead solutions are popular and effective for many successful investors. Having a high-converting website is also a key piece of the mix, as you need something to optimize for SEO and somewhere to point paid advertising. It’s also good practice to add a website to any offline outreach so potential leads can research you and verify your authenticity before deciding to reach out. When was the last time you worked with a company without checking them out online first?

Marketing budgets vary wildly in 2025

How much real estate investors spend on marketing annually ranges from less than $1000 for the entire year up into six figure sums. The median marketing budget amongst survey respondents is $12,000 annually, though investors who run online advertising likely have higher budgets. Eight respondents plan on spending less than $1000 on marketing this year, while 12 will spend more than $100,000. Three respondents report having a $500,000 annual marketing budget!

And those budgets are only growing for many. Sixty percent of survey respondents are increasing their marketing budget in 2025, while 28% are keeping their budget the same.

How much investors spend corresponds somewhat to how long they’ve been in real estate. Newer investors naturally have a lower budget as they work to close their first few deals. Annual marketing budgets increase as investors become more seasoned, but stay relatively flat for investors with 1-9 years of experience.

Interestingly, there isn’t a consensus on the primary lead source among the top spenders, nor on their most effective marketing strategy. While investors who spend more than $100,000 do utilize more marketing strategies (an average of five instead of three), some top spenders only rely on paid ads or cold calling. The most commonly used marketing strategies for this high-budget cohort are websites and direct mail.

Meanwhile, those with the smallest annual budgets ($2,500 or less) rely on an average of two marketing strategies, mainly a website, social media, or cold calling. Their primary lead sources are more manual and low-cost options, such as referrals and social media.

What to expect from PPC & paid advertising

While only 8% of survey respondents invest in online advertising, it can be a lucrative lead source. To help investors who already run ads or those interested in expanding to PPC in 2025 understand what the investment looks like and what to expect, we asked our friends at Motivated Leads, a digital marketing agency specializing in online advertising for real estate investors, to share some insights.

How much to spend on ads

Last year, the median spend on Google Ads for Motivated Leads clients was $3,000 to $5,000 a month and the average cost-per-click (CPC) was $25.20. Investors running regular Google ads saw an average click-thru rate (CTR) around 5%, leading to an average cost-per-lead (CPL) of $250 or lower.

Ads targeting Illinois, Kentucky, and Delaware had the highest conversion rates, with CPLs dancing around the national average:
- Illinois: $207.18
- Kentucky: $241.03
- Delaware: $279.11
However, things changed slightly for investors who used Google’s Performance Max advertising option. Performance Max can lower your CPC and CPL, however, it may result in less qualified leads without proper campaign optimization.

Performance Max is harder to run and has broader targeting, leaving the algorithm to place ads. With this approach, your ads may appear on display, search, YouTube, Gmail, or other places and may appear to web surfers outside of your local area. This broader approach can impact lead quality because you have less control over who you’re targeting ads toward.

Google’s “regular” search advertising gives you more control over who you’re targeting and where your ads appear, allowing you to specifically target searchers who are more likely to become leads. The cost per lead is higher in this case because you’re focusing on more qualified leads. Investors with smaller advertising budgets should focus on Google search ads and targeting the right keywords to get the most value from their investments.

The most effective advertising

Focusing your ad budget on the right keywords and running ads at the right time can make your advertising dollars go further.

In 2024, the highest-converting keyword themes for real estate investors were:
- Sell my house fast
- We buy houses
- Home buyer
Localizing your target markets and adding local terms to your keywords helps focus who sees your ads, improving lead quality. When adding a location name to keywords remember that your city name may not be unique. Are you trying to reach buyers/sellers in Portland, OR or Portland, ME? Make sure your ad account is properly set up to target the right area and that the landing pages your ads point to include the city AND state.

Once your ads are set up, give them a better chance of being seen by running them at the best times. In 2024, online ads converted best on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday between 1pm and 5pm local time.

Google Ad changes in 2025

Understanding online advertising trends from the past 12 months can help you plan your strategy for this year, but it’s important to remember that the world of online advertising can change quickly. Google algorithm updates and changes to the Google Ads platform can happen at any time and may impact how ads are set up and their performance.

For example, Google Ads performance and strategy underwent notable changes between 2023 and 2024. The cost-per-click increased by 36%, while the click-through rate improved by 17%. Despite these shifts, the cost per lead remained virtually unchanged, with only a slight variation according to Motivated Leads.

A major strategic difference lies in keyword usage. In 2023, marketers focused on phrase and exact match keywords. However, in 2024, Google’s updated keyword match type (leveraging signals and a searcher’s intent) prompted a shift toward broader but still highly relevant keyword themes.

If you run your own ads, pay attention to any shifts or noticeable updates to make sure you maintain optimal ad performance. If you’re not comfortable running your own ads (or simply don’t want to become an online marketing expert), consider working with an advertising agency like Motivated Leads. (Need help finding a PPC service? Check out the Carrot Marketplace.)

Your 2025 playbook for more deals & more revenue

This survey proves there isn’t one right way to generate real estate investment leads. Find what works for you and your budget. If you’ve been avoiding certain marketing strategies, 2025 may be a good time to expand your reach and try something new. If you don’t have a website yet, this is the year to get online. A strong website serves as both a lead generation machine and a central hub for the rest of your online and offline marketing.

Need help knowing where to focus this year? Here are some tips from Carrot CEO Trevor Mauch:

🔥 1. Invest in Your Online Presence – Your website isn’t just a “nice-to-have.” It’s your 24/7 conversion hub. Make sure it’s optimized, fast, mobile-friendly, and ranking in Google. If you’re on Carrot, you’re already ahead of the game. If you’re not — it may be time to consider a switch.

🔥 2. Optimize for Conversions – Most investors waste traffic. Don’t be one of them. Your website should be built to convert visitors into leads at the highest possible rate.

🔥 3. Get Your Follow-Up Dialed In – Leads are ready to act NOW. If you’re not following up fast, you’re leaving money on the table. Carrot CRM helps you track, nurture, and close leads effortlessly.

🔥 4. Take Action — Before Your Competition Does – 71% of investors are increasing their marketing in 2025. If you’re not doubling down, you may find yourself struggling to get the leads and deals you were used to getting last year.

Take inspiration from these findings and double down on your marketing to make 2025 the biggest year yet!
February 18, 2025
Efficiently Manage Real Estate Leads & Deals with the NEW CarrotCRM
Effectively managing leads and deals is one of the most critical elements of a successful real estate investing career. If you let leads slip through the cracks or don’t follow up on a potential deal in a timely and consistent manner, that deal will quickly disappear.

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CarrotCRM Never Lose Track of a Deal
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Unfortunately, proper lead management and follow-up can be challenging or expensive. Either done manually with spreadsheets and direct outreach or with expensive tools.

But not anymore!

Introducing CarrotCRM for Real Estate

We’re proud to announce an affordable real estate CRM designed to grow with your business, from just starting out to managing millions in deal pipeline. CarrotCRM is a robust lead management and outreach tool with the right features for every level of investing.

No more relying on spreadsheets, paying for an expensive CRM before you need one or worrying about switching to a more robust solution as your business grows. CarrotCRM offers a free plan (no “free trial” … just free) and lets you upgrade as your business scales.

This isn’t a half-built “add-on” feature, and you don’t need a Carrot website to access the CRM. CarrotCRM is available to anyone. It is an independent, world-class CRM incorporating the proven technology and features of InvestorFuse.

Why You Need a Real Estate CRM

There are many CRM solutions on the market, but the truth is that managing real estate leads and deals is very different than managing leads in other industries. Basic CRMs include fields like company information and budget, but they don’t give you space for factors critical to a real estate investor. Spreadsheets are customizable, but by the time you add all the information, they can become monstrously overwhelming.

To adequately manage your real estate deals, you need a solution designed to surface information that’s actually important … without a lot of manual customization. CarrotCRM gives you the sophisticated tools and features needed to run a successful real estate business right out of the box.

Key Benefits of CarrotCRM
1. Real Estate-Specific Features: CarrotCRM is designed specifically for the unique needs of real estate investors, offering features like property data, occupancy status, and reasons for selling.
2. Automation: The platform automates tasks like follow-ups and lead nurturing, saving you time and increasing efficiency.
3. Integrated property data: Detailed property data directly in the app helps you make more informed decisions and better offers.
4. Customizable Workflows: Tailor the CRM to your specific needs and preferences, ensuring it aligns with your business processes.
5. Intuitive Interface: The user-friendly interface makes it easy to navigate and use the platform effectively.
6. Comprehensive Data Insights: With detailed analytics and reporting, you can gain valuable insights into your lead generation and deal closing activities.
By leveraging these features, real estate professionals can improve their lead management, boost productivity, and ultimately drive more revenue.

Get Ahead of the Competition With a High-Performance CRM

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CarrotCRM Feature Highlights

The InvestorFuse team spent years perfecting the features real estate investors find most useful to tracking, nurturing, and closing deals. They brought those key findings into the Carrot ecosystem, putting critical lead management tools at your fingertips in CarrotCRM.

Action-Based CRM

Improve your follow-up habits with an action-based CRM that hyper-focuses on the most important next step. Designed specifically for real estate investors, CarrotCRM makes it easy to set a next step that makes the most sense for that lead, whether that’s making a call or sending an offer.

Easily see what needs to be done in the “Actions” tab so you can quickly check off your to-do list. You can also filter by “Pinned Opportunities”, giving your hottest opportunities the most attention. Missed a task? Overdue tasks are highlighted in red to get your attention. No more forgotten follow-ups!

Automated Outreach Sequences

Speaking of forgotten follow-ups, wouldn’t it be nice to automate follow-up actions so you don’t have to personally make every phone call, leave every voicemail, or send every text message or email? Think of all the time you could save and how many more leads you could work. Every level of CarrotCRM comes with Sequences, allowing you to automate your most successful outreach campaigns.

Just set the type of outreach and the timing, add leads to the sequences and CarrotCRM does the follow-up for you. This is ideal for cooler leads who need a bit of nurturing or might not be ready to make a deal quite yet. Add them to a sequence so they’re not forgotten while you focus on more promising deals. Whether they’re ready in a few weeks or a few months, your outreach keeps going without taking up your precious time.

Property Data Reports

Having detailed property data lets you make informed offers. However, too often, real estate investors have to piece this information together from public records and expensive data solutions. CarrotCRM’s in-app Property Data reports show you key information about your opportunities, like:
- Nearby comps
- Ownership information
- Property and lot specs
- Tax information
- Mortgage information and history
- Sales history
- Local demographic information
These reports offer more nuanced details than public listing sites like Zillow or Redfin, giving you a true understanding of the property and the ability to target the right opportunities.

Opportunities Details

All the details you need, all in one place. CarrotCRM is your opportunity action hub, from key opportunity and property information to notes and documentation storage. Set tasks and keep track of the results, see contracts and offers, and more in this all-encompassing view.

Everyone has their preferred way of working, and we want to make it easy for you. CarrotCRM isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Choose from more than 35 data points to customize your opportunity view and see the details you care about most at a glance. Add custom tags for easy sorting and pin your hottest opportunities so they’re always at the top.

Metrics Dashboard

As your company grows, there’s more to keep track of. That’s where a robust metrics dashboard comes in. CarrotCRM’s dashboard surfaces anything you want to know about actions, opportunities, campaigns, sequences, and even team efficiency.

Know exactly how many actions are due over the next week, how many are already overdue, which of your marketing campaigns lead to the most opportunities, how many leads are in automated sequences, and more. Choose the metrics and sections you want to surface to customize your dashboard experience. Knowing the current status of leads, opportunities, and actions keeps you on top of critical tasks so you can close more deals.

Finding Success with CarrotCRM

How does real estate CRM software change your day-to-day? It makes your lead flow simpler, your outreach more efficient, and tells you where you’re most successful. Having everything in one place, easy access to critical property details, and the ability to automate outreach lets you nurture more leads while giving more one-on-one focus to your hottest opportunities.

With CarrotCRM, these efficiencies and insights are no longer restricted to large investors or companies with big budgets. Any investor at any stage in their journey now has access to critical CRM features that can help catapult their business to the next level.

Transform Your Business with CarrotCRM

Get Started Today!
December 3, 2024
Want to make your website stand out? You’ll love block patterns!
There’s a fine balance between ensuring your website performs well and stands out. We’ve spent the past 10 years refining website templates for real estate investors, making them excel at ranking well in search engines, building your credibility, performing lightning-fast, and turning visitors into highly motivated leads.

Carrot has expanded website customization options with new block pattern designs that allow real estate professionals to easily create unique, professional websites that reflect their personality while maintaining high performance.

Key Takeaways
- Block patterns are pre-designed webpage sections organized into categories like Call to Action, Content, Credibility, and Data that can be easily implemented without design expertise.
- The patterns come pre-loaded with your brand colors for seamless integration and allow for customization to create visually appealing pages that stand out.
- Using different block patterns helps break up text-heavy pages, making information more digestible for visitors and creating a more engaging user experience.
With ongoing design improvements planned for the future, Carrot members can now better differentiate their websites from competitors while maintaining the high-converting, SEO-optimized foundation that drives lead generation success.

Table of Contents
Lead generation, at its best

Attract, convert & close more motivated leads

Try Carrot Today

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Join Carrot: How many deals are you losing to an underperforming website?
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But that doesn’t mean we don’t care about how your website looks. Your website is your online business card and should reflect your personality.

That’s why we’re excited to announce that Carrot members now have even more website customization options! Did you know that Carrot has a team of in-house website designers dedicated to improving your site and Carrot experience? Well, they recently added 50 new block pattern designs so you can easily customize your website and make it look as unique as you are.

What’s a “block pattern?”

Think of each webpage as several sections stacked on top of each other. You have the “hero” section at the top of the page (usually with an image and the page title), then maybe a section of text or an image gallery, probably a “call to action” section that lets visitors easily contact you, a section that shows off your customer reviews, and so on. We pre-built many of these key sections as “block patterns.” It simply means a section pre-designed to serve a specific purpose.

We know it’s important to you that your site “doesn’t look like every other website.” Using block patterns is a great way to do that! Carrot offers a variety of block pattern styles for the most important sections of a site. All you have to do is pick your favorite style and add your information. You can use any block pattern on any page. The beauty of pre-built patterns is that you can customize the look of your website without being a web designer. With just a few clicks, you can quickly transform key pages from the out-of-the-box template into something that stands out and fits your style.

Block Pattern Categories

Finding a design to meet your needs can be difficult if you’re searching through a seemingly endless library of options. What if you use one and then find something you like better? Pattern Categories solve that problem.

You can easily browse pre-built sections that meet your needs by deciding what you’re trying to accomplish with that webpage section.

Block pattern categories included:
- Call to Action
- Content: FAQs
- Content: How It Works
- Content: Situations/Niches
- Content: Solutions
- Credibility: Bio/About Us
- Credibility: Meet Our Team
- Credibility: Reviews
- Credibility: Videos
- Data: Experience Stats
The patterns you see are pre-loaded with your brand colors, so they’ll seamlessly blend into your website’s look and feel. Feeling creative? You can edit these patterns and add content, then save them to “My Patterns” for easy use on other pages.

Find your design

Using different block patterns is a great way to break up a page and make it easier for visitors to process information. For example, you can replace a block of text with icons and short blurbs that draw attention and make a big impact. Select from over 500 pre-loaded icons across a dozen categories and customize your icon color so your site truly reflects your business.

Whether you like sharing maximum information or prefer a sleek design, the block patterns give you options. Some patterns are text-heavy, others are very streamlined, and others stylishly mix images and text.

The “Content: How it Works” and “Content: FAQ” patterns, in particular, offer a wide array of styles. If you have those sections on your website, now is a great time to revisit them and refresh your site design.

Not sure exactly which block pattern you like best? Add the section to your page and scroll through the different pattern designs to see how they each look in real life.

More to come

That’s just the latest update. The Carrot design team is working on even more block patterns and other design options to let you customize and differentiate your site further. You can expect to see more features roll out over the next few months, so stay tuned!

Take a free Interactive Carrot website demo and see how we can help you stop losing deals to an underperforming website!
October 17, 2024