Do you really need a professional to get more website leads?

[Rod Smith]

Hi All,

i have a website that has been underperforming, but that is because I haven't put enough time and effort into learning more about SEO and done more to customize it. I have been in discussions with someone that specializes in SEO and lead generation for real estate investors, vetted him through references, and he seems to be as advertised. My question is, is there really a "magic formula" that only the Pros know, or can I optimize my website myself? If the answer is the latter, is it possible I would lose the money I think I would save by missing deals while trying to learn and upgrade my site myself? 

For context, I have a Carrot site and can follow instructions, but am a total novice when it comes to websites, and no nothing about code.

Thank you in advance to anyone that took time to read my post and provide advice/feedback.

[Chris Seveney]

@Rod Smith

I would not spend any money on seo- best seo is bigger pockets and making contact with people and networking

[Trevor Mauch]

@Rod Smith Great question man! 

Happy to help at no cost man! 

Pop over your URL and I'm happy to shoot back a loom video with some thoughts on ways to optimize it a bit more. 

But at a high level... there isn't a magic formula only the pros know... but the pros put in the work to learn how to make a website really perform well... which does take putting in the time and the work to learn it. 

It's like anything, there really aren't any secrets, just people who have put in the work to learn what makes things really perform well. 

That's one of the benefits w/ Carrot is we can help you cut that learning curve and make it easier and faster for you. 

The first step tends to be getting your website dialed in for credibility. Lots of people focus on "SEO" to get new leads first... but really the only SEO anyone should focus on first is ranking well for your company name and brand searches (like "[your company] reviews"). The reason for this is your sellers are researching often times before making a big decision like selling their house, and they'll go to google and search for your company name and search to see if you're credible. People wouldn't believe how many deals are lost at what I call the "decision phase" where a lead from an offline marketing campaign goes to research you, and doesn't find good credibility online (which includes the website). 

So that's where I'd start Rod. Dial in the credibility on your site. We did a series of youtube videos on how to dial in that credibility on your site here. Dive in there for free and we can help you nail it. 

But pop over your URL and I'll dive into it and we can help get you on the right path man! 

@Chris Seveney I agree everyone should focus real energy on building a stellar network. 100% agree. But I'm curious why you feel SEO isn't a good marketing channel to invest in? SEO according to data across thousands of deals we've researched with investors tends to have the highest lead to deal close ratio and highest average profit per deal, mainly because of the motivation. Yes there are pros and cons for sure and like any marketing channel, SEO takes work and investment to master, but it's among the best and most consistent lead sources for motivated sellers.  I'm extremely open to changing my mind though, SEO just keeps pulling such amazing results. I do advocate for mixing SEO w/ a strong offline strategy because they work together so effectively.  

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[Sathish Ganesh]

The answer really depends on your target market.  Do you have enough demand for services from prospects that comes through online search or ads? This is where you must start.  (Keyword research, competitor research, surveys, speaking to prospects on how they heard)

If your research proves that there is demand, I would recommend you  to either hire a good agency who has proven track record in your industry or  hiring a fulltime  employee with relevant seo skills who can manage this.

SEO/Paid ads with consultants or agency would be challenging as the results depends on various things such as your website, market, content, offer etc. So assuming your consultant is an expert, there are so many things that can lead to not seeing a result.  However, in 2024, everyone who's selling online must have a professional website. This is like your retail office. The first digital presence your prospect will check. So having a professional site with active social media is a key as it will indirectly attribute to the conversions and your brand credibility.  

In 2024, there is no bad marketing channel. It only depends on your bandwidth and expertise. As any channel can be used effectively for lead generation. (Youtube, SEO, Ads, BP etc). 

[Don Konipol]

Quote from @Rod Smith:

Hi All,

i have a website that has been underperforming, but that is because I haven't put enough time and effort into learning more about SEO and done more to customize it. I have been in discussions with someone that specializes in SEO and lead generation for real estate investors, vetted him through references, and he seems to be as advertised. My question is, is there really a "magic formula" that only the Pros know, or can I optimize my website myself? If the answer is the latter, is it possible I would lose the money I think I would save by missing deals while trying to learn and upgrade my site myself? 

For context, I have a Carrot site and can follow instructions, but am a total novice when it comes to websites, and no nothing about code.

Thank you in advance to anyone that took time to read my post and provide advice/feedback.

I was only able to take SEO to a certain level. 2 years ago we hired outside help.  Since then our leads tripled, and our business doubled in volume at a relatively small cost.  BUT, everyone claims to be expert.  There’s a lot of crap out there and some true professionals.
Should you do it yourself?  I don’t know. Ever heard of division of labor, free trade theory, efficient market hypothesis?  Do what is most important to your business and what you do best and what you enjoy doing.  

[Rod Smith]

Thanks!

[Sharon Barnes]

Hi Rob, Sorry I am late to the party but here are my two cents. Traditional SEO is dying and the advent of AI is changing how you should even build a website. People are now engaging AI tools to ask questions and expect a response in a natural conversation format than go through a myriad of links. In my opinion (what I learnt from my tech partners) is to 

Build multiple source of referrals to your website and make your website an information hub. Spending lots of money on your website will not give the kind of results you need. Create short videos with links to your website, post relevant content on guest and 3rd party sites and post link back to your website and also participate in forumns like bigger pockets where people can check your website as you are more engaged.

A month of consistency with these will get you more results than SEO in my experience.

I will be happy to share more and to connect.

Stay blessed