Steps to Converting Leads That Come to Your Website with Brady Winder

Steps to Converting Leads That Come to Your Website with Brady Winder

On Accredited Investors Only, host Peter Neill sits down with Brady Winder of Carrot to talk about a part of real estate marketing that gets overlooked constantly: what happens after a lead lands on your website.

Most investors obsess over two things: generating leads and closing deals. Brady’s point is simple, but important. There is a huge middle section between those two points, and that middle is where a lot of money is won or lost.

If a business spends heavily on cold calling, direct mail, PPC, social media, SEO, or content, but sends people to a weak website that does not build trust or convert, a lot of that effort gets wasted. A website is not just a digital business card. For real estate investors, it is often the bottom of the funnel and one of the most critical conversion assets in the business.

Why Your Website Matters More Than Most Investors Realize

Brady describes Carrot as a platform built to help real estate investors launch websites that actually convert. Not just pretty sites. Not just boxes checked. Sites built around motivated seller psychology, lead capture, trust, and SEO.

That distinction matters.

A lot of investors treat a website like an afterthought. They spend the majority of their time trying to get attention at the top of the funnel and then scramble to close deals at the end. But sellers do not move through that process in a straight line. They research. They hesitate. They compare. They look people up online. They want proof that the person on the other side is real, credible, local, and capable of following through.

If that experience falls flat, conversion falls flat too.

Brady’s view is that the website should function as a hub. Every marketing channel should reinforce the others and point back to a place where prospects can learn, trust, and take action.

The Marketing Funnel Investors Ignore

One of the strongest ideas from the conversation is that investors tend to ignore the middle of the funnel.

They focus on:

  • Top of funnel: getting leads
  • Bottom of the sales process: closing the deal

But they often neglect the stage in between, where leads are being nurtured, educated, and influenced.

That middle matters because sellers rarely make major decisions instantly. Selling a house, especially under stress, is a big deal. It may involve foreclosure, probate, divorce, inherited property, tenants, repairs, or financial pressure. People do not just want an offer. They want confidence.

That is where content, credibility, and a well-structured website come in. The goal is not just to capture a lead. The goal is to make that lead more predisposed to work with you before they ever get on the phone.

Why Leads That Hit a Website Convert Better

Brady shared survey data from Carrot members comparing website-driven deals to leads that stayed purely offline.

The broad takeaway was striking:

  • Leads that passed through a Carrot website converted into deals about seven times more often than leads that did not
  • Those deals also produced roughly $14,000 more in profit on average

Part of that comes down to lead quality. Inbound SEO and PPC leads tend to be stronger than leads from outbound channels because the seller initiated the search. Someone searching phrases like “sell my house fast” or “cash home buyer” is often further along in the decision-making process.

But the lead source is not the whole story.

The website itself improves conversion by answering questions sellers may never ask on a call. A seller browsing a site for 30 or 45 minutes can quietly work through concerns that would otherwise slow down or kill a deal:

  • Who is this company?
  • Are they local?
  • Are they legitimate?
  • How does the process work?
  • What are the pros and cons of working with a cash buyer?
  • Can they actually close?
  • Have they helped people like me before?

That pre-education changes the conversation. Instead of starting from skepticism, the seller starts from familiarity.

What Carrot Actually Helps With

Carrot’s core offer is built around investor websites, especially for motivated seller lead generation, but Brady explained that the platform also supports buyer sites, land investing, mobile homes, development sites, and even some home services businesses.

For investors, the main appeal is speed plus conversion structure.

According to Brady, a user can launch a site very quickly because the foundation is already there. That includes:

  • Core conversion pages
  • Motivated seller messaging
  • FAQ pages
  • About pages
  • Lead forms
  • Blog structure
  • Local market language

If an investor chooses a motivated seller template, the copy on the site is already written to speak to the concerns and questions of motivated sellers. Carrot also dynamically localizes page language to the investor’s market, so pages can reference the city or region being served.

The point is not to leave everything generic. Brady recommends using the done-for-you structure as a base, then personalizing the right things.

What Investors Should Personalize

Brady was clear on this point: do not break the conversion framework, but absolutely make the site feel like a real business.

That means updating:

  • Your logo
  • Photos of you and your team
  • Your company values
  • Your story
  • Your testimonials
  • Your brand voice

The most overlooked page, in his view, is the About page.

He said it is often the second most visited page on a website, yet many investors barely touch it. That is a mistake. People want to know who they are dealing with. They want to know whether you are local, whether you stand for something, and whether your company feels trustworthy.

A good About page helps bridge the gap between a website and a real relationship.

Testimonials Matter More Than People Want to Admit

One of the simplest conversion boosters Brady mentioned is also one of the most uncomfortable for many investors: video testimonials.

They can feel awkward. Sometimes they are awkward. Brady even joked that some of the testimonials he sees are genuinely cringeworthy.

They still work.

The recommendation was practical:

  • Get a testimonial at closing whenever possible
  • Use a phone if that is easiest
  • Keep it under 60 seconds
  • Ask simple questions

Questions can include:

  • What was it like working with us?
  • Did you have any hesitations before selling?
  • How were we able to help?
  • Did we do what we said we would do?
  • Did we close on time?

Even one real testimonial is better than none. A library of them is much better. Brady compared it to shopping on Amazon. Almost nobody wants to buy the product with zero reviews.

Forms and Conversion Psychology Still Matter

Beyond branding and content, Brady emphasized the less glamorous part of conversion: form design and website structure.

Carrot bakes in what he called “website conversion psychology,” so investors do not have to become experts in page design. That includes placing forms in the right spots and keeping them low resistance.

Why does that matter?

Because a lot of investor websites make it too hard to become a lead. Forms are too long. Pages load slowly. The messaging is vague. The site feels like it was made for the business owner, not the seller.

A high-converting site removes friction. It speaks directly to the seller’s situation and makes the next step feel easy.

What Happens After the Lead Comes In

Capturing the lead is only part of the job.

Brady also discussed Carrot CRM, which grew out of the acquisition of InvestorFuse. The idea is to connect the website directly to a CRM so that follow-up becomes systematic rather than manual.

That means when a lead comes in, it can automatically:

  • Enter the CRM
  • Trigger an immediate text
  • Launch a drip campaign
  • Schedule future touchpoints
  • Support follow-up through multiple channels

Possible sequence elements include:

  • Text message right away
  • Ringless voicemail the next day
  • Additional touches over the following weeks
  • Direct mail later in the cycle

The larger point is hard to argue with: too many investors still lose deals because their follow-up system is either weak or nonexistent. Some are still operating from notebooks, legal pads, or loose spreadsheets. That may work for a highly disciplined operator, but it does not scale well, and it creates unnecessary slippage.

Nurturing should not live in someone’s memory. It should live in a system.

What the Top 5% Are Doing Differently

When Peter asked what the best Carrot members do that others miss, Brady did not point first to a software feature. He pointed to mindset.

The best operators treat their business like a brand, not just a lead machine.

That sounds simple, but it changes a lot.

Instead of operating under a bland LLC name and blending into the market, strong operators create something recognizable. They build consistency across channels. Their name, colors, message, voice, logo, and story all line up.

That consistency shows up in:

  • The website
  • Phone calls
  • SEO content
  • PPC ads
  • Social media
  • TV or radio
  • Direct mail

Brady gave the example of an investor in Sacramento, Laurel Buys Houses, who has built a strong local brand around herself. Her marketing is consistent in tone, colors, and identity. She is recognizable. She is memorable. She gives people something to latch onto.

That is the difference between being another investor making calls and being a trusted local business that sellers already feel they know.

Brands get more deals than people. Even when the brand is a person.

Why Video Content Wins Right Now

Video came up repeatedly in the conversation, and not just for testimonials.

Brady said the strongest operators are leaning into video as an education tool. Not polished studio content. Not cinematic production. Just useful, specific videos that answer real seller questions.

One example he shared was a Carrot member who built a niche around probate. He created short videos answering highly specific probate-related questions people search online. The setup was simple. The production quality was basic. But the content was useful, and that is what mattered.

This matters for two reasons:

  • Trust: people can hear your voice and get a feel for how you think
  • Search visibility: video is becoming increasingly important in search behavior

For investors who resist video because they think it has to look professional, Brady’s message was straightforward: it does not. Helpful beats polished.

SEO Has Changed, and That Is Good News for Real Experts

SEO was another major topic, and Brady’s perspective was refreshingly grounded.

Old-school SEO tricks do not work like they used to. Keyword stuffing, gaming the algorithm, or churning out pages built purely for ranking is becoming less effective, especially as search engines get better at spotting low-value content.

AI is accelerating that shift.

The internet is now flooded with generic AI-generated content. Blog posts sound the same. Social posts sound the same. The average content quality is getting flatter, not better.

That creates an opening for businesses that publish content with actual experience, actual specificity, and an actual human voice.

Brady’s core SEO advice was this:

  • Stop trying to game search
  • Create honest, useful content
  • Answer real questions sellers actually have
  • Use AI as a helper if needed, but do not let it replace real insight

That philosophy applies whether the content is a blog post, FAQ page, or short video.

The Best SEO Opportunities Are Often Hyper-Specific

Everyone wants to rank for broad, high-traffic terms like “sell my house fast” plus a city name. Those terms can absolutely matter, but they are competitive and often take more time, skill, or budget.

Brady pointed out that some of the best opportunities are in highly specific seller scenarios.

Examples include:

  • How to sell a house in foreclosure
  • How to sell a house during a divorce
  • Questions landlords have about selling tenant-occupied property
  • Probate-related selling questions
  • Extremely niche local questions tied to unusual life situations

He shared a memorable example of a search phrase along the lines of:

Can I sell my house while my spouse is in prison in [city], Florida?

That is not a phrase most investors would ever think to target. But for the person searching for it, it is incredibly important. If they land on a page that speaks directly to that exact problem in their local market, the odds of conversion go way up.

That is the real power of niche authority. You do not need to dominate the entire internet. You need to be useful where intent is high and competition is low.

Helpful Content Builds Both SEO and Conversion

One subtle but important takeaway from Brady’s comments is that content does double duty.

Good content helps:

  • Search performance by giving search engines useful, relevant pages to index
  • Conversion by giving sellers answers and building confidence once they land on the site

That means the question “Does this blog post do anything?” has more than one answer.

Even if a post does not become a massive traffic driver on its own, it may still help a seller move deeper into trust. It may answer the one question they were embarrassed to ask on the phone. It may keep them on the site longer. It may make your business feel more legitimate and informed.

That is not fluff. That is conversion.

Where Search and Lead Generation Are Headed

Brady also touched on how search behavior is evolving.

For now, many motivated sellers, especially older homeowners, still rely heavily on Google. But over time, search is becoming more fragmented. People increasingly search through:

  • Video platforms
  • Social platforms
  • AI tools

That shift reinforces his broader argument. Businesses that create helpful, human, multi-format content will be better positioned than businesses relying on old SEO tricks or thin pages.

The future likely favors companies that are discoverable in more than one way and credible in more than one format.

Carrot Beyond Single-Family Motivated Seller Sites

Although Carrot is best known for residential investor websites, Brady noted that the platform is also being used successfully in adjacent niches.

These include:

  • Land investing
  • Mobile homes
  • Development sites
  • Agent-investor hybrid businesses
  • Self-storage in some cases
  • Home services such as HVAC

One interesting point he made was that land sites are often among the highest lead-volume sites on the platform because there is less competition in that space.

He also mentioned a developer in Boston using a Carrot-built development site to attract meaningful deal flow and credibility. That reinforces the broader theme of the conversation: good conversion architecture is not limited to one niche. If trust, local credibility, and education matter, the same principles carry over.

The Real Estate Opportunity Most Investors Are Missing

Near the end of the conversation, Peter brought the discussion back to the bigger picture. In a world where the internet has made everyone more visible, it has also made every market more crowded.

More people can launch a business. More people can market. More people can raise capital. More people can present themselves as operators.

That means the bar for trust is higher.

And in that kind of market, the fundamentals matter even more:

  • Clear branding
  • Consistent messaging
  • Useful content
  • Real social proof
  • Strong follow-up systems
  • A website built to convert

It is not flashy. It is foundational. But foundational work compounds.

That may be the biggest theme running through this entire discussion. The businesses that win are often not doing magic. They are doing the basics with discipline, consistency, and more intentionality than the competition.

Key Takeaways for Real Estate Investors

  • Your website is not an accessory. It is one of the most important conversion tools in your funnel.
  • The middle of the funnel matters. Lead nurturing, education, and trust-building are where many deals are won.
  • Inbound leads are stronger, but conversion still depends on credibility. Good traffic does not fix a weak site.
  • Your About page matters more than you think. Sellers want to know who they are dealing with.
  • Video testimonials work, even when they are a little awkward. Real proof beats polished perfection.
  • Branding is not optional if you want to stand out. Consistency builds trust.
  • Helpful, niche-specific content is a real SEO advantage. Especially now that generic AI content is everywhere.
  • Systems beat memory. A CRM and automated follow-up can prevent deals from slipping away.

For investors trying to improve lead generation, website conversion, SEO, and follow-up, Brady’s message was clear: stop treating your online presence like an afterthought. If prospects are going to look you up anyway, give them a reason to believe they found the right person.

That is not just marketing. That is a deal flow.

If you want to explore more of Brady Winder’s work and Carrot’s real estate investor tools, he pointed to carrot.com/podcast as the best place to start.