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How Can Google Ads Benefit Mortgage Brokers?

Google Ads are a benefit mortgage brokers because you can target borrowers that are actively searching for home loans. No other marketing channel offers advertisers access to a steady stream of prospects like this. Google Search Ads are so effective because the leads are pre-qualified. Some would say they are “warm” leads. We know the searchers are interested in mortgage products and services because they had to type in search phrases to find your ad. No other platform offers targeting options like this. 

In this article, we will explore how to set up an effective Google Ads campaign using first-time home buyers as an example, enabling you to tap into a vast pool of potential borrowers that are searching for home loans and propel your business to new heights.

Example - Google Ads Lead Generation

But first, here’s an example of leads from a first-time home buyer campaign. It produced a steady stream of leads from Google search ads with a modest budget. Don’t forget that larger ad budgets equate to more exposure and leads. These leads were contacted by the lender, qualified, then if funneled into a long-term email and SMS lead nurture sequence if they were not ready right now. 

HOW TO SET UP A WINNING MORTGAGE LEAD GENERATION CAMPAIGN

Step 1: Choosing Your Google Ads Marketing Objectives

When setting up your Google Ads campaign for mortgage lead generation, you have the flexibility to choose the most relevant objective that aligns with your specific goals. 

As you go through our recommendations, remember we are using Expert Mode, not Smart Mode, within the account. If you are using Smart Mode, your options are severely limited, and I do not recommend that setup for many reasons. 

With Expert Mode, here are the two campaign objectives :

Leads

By choosing Leads as your campaign objective, you focus the campaign on conversion actions such as calling you, filling out a form, or requesting information from you - which is what we want, leads. The Leads objective is the ideal option once conversions are set up and tracked in the account and you enough data for the campaign. If your campaign is brand new, I encourage you first to choose Website Traffic to build enough conversion actions for your campaign. Then, once you have at least 15 conversions over 30 days, you can switch to Leads. Related article here, https://www.seroundtable.com/google-ads-15-conversion-in-30-days-machine-learning-32915.html

Website Traffic

If your campaign is new, use this objective until you have enough conversion actions.

Here’s an example of the marketing campaign objectives inside Google Ads in Expert Mode: 

Step 2: Conducting Keyword Research

Exploring relevant keywords related to mortgage loans and home financing

When conducting keyword research for your mortgage lead generation campaign, it's essential to explore relevant keywords that align with the type of leads you are targeting. Consider terms directly related to mortgage loans and home financing, such as "mortgage lenders," "home financing options," "mortgage brokers," or “ground-up building loans.”

Additionally, think about specific loan types you want to attract, such as "FHA loans," "conventional mortgages," or "VA home loans." By delving into these keywords, you can ensure your ads reach individuals actively searching for mortgage-related information, increasing the likelihood of capturing valuable borrower leads.

Utilizing keyword research tools to identify high-volume and low-competition keywords

To supercharge your keyword research, use powerful tools like Google's Keyword Planner, free to use right in Google Ads, or SEMrush (affiliate link), among other paid tools.

These tools provide valuable insights into search volume, competition level, and related keywords. Look for high-volume keywords that reflect popular search terms among potential borrowers.

However, it's equally essential to identify low-competition keywords. These hidden gems present opportunities to capture leads with less advertising competition. By using keyword research tools, you can strike a balance between high search volume and manageable competition, maximizing the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaign.

Creating a comprehensive list of targeted keywords for the campaign

After exploring relevant keywords and leveraging keyword research tools, it's time to compile a comprehensive list of targeted keywords for your campaign. 

Group them into relevant categories or themes, such as loan types, homebuying stages, or borrower needs - these groups will form the basis of Ad Groups.

Ensure your list covers a range of keywords, including broad terms and long-tail keywords that capture specific search queries. Long-tail keywords, like "mortgage lenders in [city name]" or "how to get a mortgage with bad credit," often have less competition and can help you target niche audiences if you’re ok targeting those types of borrowers. By creating a diverse keyword list, you can reach a broader spectrum of potential borrowers and increase the chances of attracting qualified leads.

Mortgage Keywords Examples and Ideas

The only caveat to how many different keyword segments to target has to do with your budget.

If your budget is modest, focus on one segment, such as first-time home buyers. A modest Google Ads Search budget is $1,000 per month or less. You can spend less than this, of course, and you can spend exponentially more. How much you allocate for ad spend depends on your goals and what you’re comfortable with spending. I have a related post here on how to calculate your Google Ads budget.

Step 3: Creating Compelling Ad Copy

Understanding the components of a successful Google Ads search ad:

To create a successful Google Ads search ad, it's crucial to understand its key components. Google uses responsive search ads that are made up of many variations of each of the following elements:

With responsive search ads, Google will mix and match your headlines, descriptions, and assets to find the best combinations to achieve your ad goal. 

Each element is vital in grabbing attention, conveying your value proposition, and encouraging users to click through to your website.

Writing compelling headlines that grab attention and highlight the benefits of your mortgage services:

The headline is your first opportunity to capture the attention of users. Google allows you to create 15 different headlines. 

A best practice is to make the headlines compelling by incorporating keywords, emphasizing the benefits of your mortgage services, and addressing your target audience's needs and pain points. You only have 30 characters for headlines, so make sure they count. 

Here are some headline examples:

Here's an example of what that looks like inside a Google campaign:

Craft headlines that resonate with potential borrowers and make them curious about your offerings.

Crafting concise and persuasive ad descriptions that encourage click-throughs:

Compared to headlines, descriptions are 3x the length, giving you 90 characters to write a compelling description. You can create up to four descriptions. 

In the ad description, make every word count. Then, craft a concise and persuasive message highlighting your mortgage services' unique selling points. 

Focus on your value, whether it's competitive rates, personalized customer service, or a fast approval process. 

Use language that evokes trust, urgency, or exclusivity to encourage click-throughs. Remember to align your ad description with the keywords you are targeting to increase relevance and improve the quality of your leads.

Utilize ad assets to provide additional information and improve ad visibility, click-through-rates (CTR), and overall improve results:

Ad assets include the following:

Here's an example of what images look like next to your ad on mobile devices:

Assets like sitelinks, callouts, and other asset options provide valuable information and increase the visibility and prominence of your ads and increase the CTR (click-through-rate) to your landing page. Take advantage of relevant ad extensions to make your ads more compelling and informative.

Step 4: Optimizing Landing Pages

Dedicated Landing Pages

This is an essential element for a successful Google Ads campaign. I wrote a post about how to align your landing pages with your Google Ads, so read that for a deeper understanding. 

But to maximize the effectiveness of your Google Ads campaign for mortgage lead generation, it's essential to create dedicated landing pages for each mortgage product you’re running ads for. 

These pages should cater to the needs and expectations of potential borrowers. The copy and keywords should align closely with the keywords.

For example, if you’re offering first-time home buyer programs, ensure the page is all about that. If you’re offering VA loan programs, the page needs to be about that.

Do not mix the content from different topics - landing pages should be specific to that topic and user. This alignment between keywords, ads, and landing pages helps provide a seamless and relevant user experience. Tailor the content to highlight your mortgage services' unique value proposition and address your target audience's pain points. 

Mobile Responsive, Quickly Load

Optimizing landing pages for mobile devices is crucial in today's mobile-centric world. Ensure your landing pages are mobile-friendly and responsive, adjusting to different screen sizes and providing a seamless experience across devices. Additionally, optimize the loading speed of your landing pages to minimize bounce rates and maximize user engagement. Users expect quick and easy access to information, so a fast-loading landing page is essential for retaining their attention and encouraging them to explore your mortgage offerings further.

Incorporate clear and persuasive call-to-action (CTA) buttons

A well-designed landing page should include clear, compelling call-to-action (CTA) buttons. These buttons should be prominently displayed and use persuasive language to encourage users to take the desired action, such as:

Use contrasting colors, clear typography, and positioning to make the CTA buttons stand out. 

Implement lead capture forms to gather essential customer information

Lead capture forms are an essential component of effective landing pages for mortgage lead generation. Design and implement user-friendly forms that capture necessary customer information, such as name, email address, phone number, and perhaps loan requirements. Keep the form fields concise and relevant, balancing gathering the necessary information and ensuring a smooth user experience. Additionally, assure potential borrowers that their information is secure and provide reassurances about privacy. 

Do not, however, ask for too much information. The more information you ask users for, the lower your conversion rate which means the fewer leads you will get. 

The big mistake I see is that brokers will ask for too much sensitive information to better pre-qualify the user. But this approach is equivalent to meeting someone for the first time and right away asking them sensitive questions before you establish any rapport - it doesn’t work. Don’t put the burden of the sales process on your form. 

Step 5: Set Conversion Tracking

How can I track and measure the success of my Google Ads campaigns in generating borrower leads?

Tracking and measuring the success of your Google Ads campaigns in generating borrower leads can be done through various methods. Implement conversion tracking in your Google Ads campaigns to track specific actions taken by borrowers, such as completing a loan application, calling you, setting an appointment with you, or requesting more information. Additionally, you can utilize Google Analytics to gain insights into user behavior, including bounce rates, session duration, and goal completions. Additionally, you can assess key metrics such as cost per lead (CPL), conversion rate, and return on ad spend (ROAS) to evaluate the overall effectiveness of your campaigns in generating borrower leads.

Optimize Your Campaign for Conversions

Now the exciting effect of tracking conversions is that once you have recorded at least 15, you can change your campaign objectives and bidding to focus specifically on those conversion actions - phone calls, form submissions, or specific button clicks, versus just traffic to the landing page. This further improves your lead volume and return on ad spend.

Plus, now you can precisely measure the impact of your Google Ads campaign on lead generation. These data allow you to identify the most effective keywords, and landing pages, enabling you to optimize your campaign for better performance and improve your return on investment. This is also why campaigns mature over time and perform better the longer they run - a positive feedback loop.

Step 6: Continuous Refinement

Regularly Analyze Campaign Performance

To ensure the ongoing success of your Google Ads campaign for mortgage lead generation, it's essential to analyze its performance and make necessary adjustments regularly. 

Keep a close eye on key performance metrics such as click-through rates (CTRs), conversion rates, and cost per lead. 

Identify underperforming keywords, ads, or landing pages and take proactive steps to optimize them. 

This might involve refining ad copy, adjusting bids, or experimenting with different targeting options. You can consistently monitor and fine-tune your campaign to improve its effectiveness and create even better results over time.

Scaling Successful Campaigns

When you identify successful campaigns that are generating a steady flow of high-quality mortgage leads, it's time to consider scaling them up. 

Expand your keyword lists by adding new relevant terms, allowing your ads to reach a broader audience. 

Experiment with different ad variations to find the most compelling messaging that resonates with potential borrowers. 

Consider expanding your targeting options to include additional geographic locations or demographics that align with your target market. 

Conclusion

Creating an effective Google Ads search campaign for mortgage leads demands careful execution of key steps. 

It all begins with the following steps:

As we conclude, let us underscore the utmost significance of ongoing optimization and refinement. The digital landscape is ever-evolving, and only by consistently analyzing campaign performance, making informed adjustments, and staying attuned to market trends can you ensure your Google Ads campaign remains effective. 

Monitor key metrics, fine-tune ad copy, explore new keyword opportunities, and refine targeting options to maximize the return on your investment. Embrace the ethos of constant improvement, and witness your campaign thrive and flourish.

At 39 Celsius, we wholeheartedly encourage you to seize the remarkable opportunity that Google Ads presents for generating high-quality mortgage leads. 

With its unparalleled reach, precision targeting capabilities, and robust advertising tools, Google Ads empowers mortgage brokers and loan originators to connect with motivated borrowers actively seeking their services. 

By leveraging the steps outlined above, you can unlock a world of possibilities, propel your mortgage business to new heights, and thrive in today's competitive market. So embrace the power of Google Ads, and let it be the catalyst that transforms your lead generation efforts into a resounding success.

YOUR NEXT ACTIONABLE STEPS

Who this post is for?

That want to learn how to fill their sales funnel using Facebook Ads. You will DISCOVER that successful lead campaigns are not only possible but can be used on an ongoing basis to generate a steady flow of mortgage customers.

In this post, I will share six secrets that set you up in the right direction with winning campaigns that generate ongoing mortgage leads.

Our goal with Facebook Ads is to reach the ideal target customer with an ad at the right time – when a prospect needs your mortgage products, and then increase the likelihood of conversion for you, the mortgage advertiser, once the prospect sees the ad.

Our targeting is achieved via Facebook's ad platform – one of the most amazing and robust ad platforms ever offered to advertisers.

Case Study Results: 5 to 10 Leads Delivered Daily

Campaign overview: this lead generation campaign was run in northern California targeting first-time home buyers and first responders. Ad budget was $100 - $150 per day. 

Leads are the top purple line, lower line is cost per lead.

Case Study Results: 5 to 8 Leads Delivered Daily

Campaign Overview: This campaign is running in the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. The campaign is targeting new construction, ground-up developments, and home renovations. 

And regardless of the changes by big tech companies to limit consumer tracking, for example, consumers using Apple's iOS or with Google products, Facebook's ad platform has not lost a step. Facebook still cranks out mortgage leads when you have the correct pieces in place.

To increase the likelihood of conversion, however, we need to reduce friction (built-in skepticism, reluctance to listen to your message and offer) during the ad process.

How is this achieved?

1. First, effective creative (messaging/copy and imagery) so that you build rapport quickly and lower resistance to your messaging.
2. Second, through targeting the right people and cutting out the waste of showing your ad to people who are not interested

In this post, I will use case study examples and go over the most critical factors of a successful Lead Ad campaign so that you can profitably generate mortgage leads on an ongoing basis to fill your sales funnel with eager customers, and feel confident you are saving time and doing it right.

Stay with me here...

What Are Facebook Lead Ads?

Simply put, Facebook Lead Ads are part of the Lead Generation campaign objective that allows you to capture leads right within the Facebook interface efficiently – easy for you, easy for the customer.

The Lead Generation objective is one of 11 different campaign objectives that Facebook offers advertisers. Each of these campaign objectives aligns to a different business outcome, whether that's brand awareness, traffic to your website, video views, or actual leads, as we're focused on here.

You Can Spend As Little As $1 per Day

Facebook's ad platform gives you complete control of how much you spend. You can spend as little as a dollar a day to thousands a day in ad spend. Either way, you have an amazing opportunity to succeed regardless of your budget.

And considering that your potential prospect's eyeballs are focused on Facebook and Instagram (Facebook owns Instagram) daily, you would be wise to embrace this advertising channel in some form.

Consider that the amount of time people spend on the next five most popular social apps does not sum to the amount of time people spend on Facebook, let alone adding in time spent on Instagram. So be where the eyeballs are.

Facebook Is Pay To Play

But keep in mind, without ad spend, you have no leverage on the platform. Organic non-paid posts have almost no reach or exposure whatsoever. But with ads your reach and exposure on the Facebook and Instagram is unlimited. And the larger your ad budget, the bigger your results. 

As a side note, if you have ever done a Boost Post or are considering it, here's why the Boost Post ad is NOT an effective campaign objective to ever use if your goal is leads. 

Example Lead Ad 

This ad is targeting Millennial Renters as first-time buyers. Once someone clicks on the Learn More button, the form fill opens up. Facebook will pre-fill this form with the prospects information which makes this process uber simple and seamless.

The image and the content of the form can all be edited to align with your customer avatar. You can also ask pre-qualifying questions if needed to screen out people that may not be a good fit for your particular loan program. Once someone submits their information, it can be sent to you via email, stored in a secure doc, or integrated directly into your CRM.

Benefits of Lead Ads:

6 Critical Success Factors To Successful Mortgage Lead Ad Campaigns on Facebook

You have the ability here to focus on specific customer types within Facebook. Do you want to push re-fi, target first-time millennial homebuyers, do you have a special program for first responders? 

Identify who you want to target.

Your choice here will determine the following:

Why is this important?

Your ads will have higher conversion rates and lower costs if you write ads that align to each customer segment.

Writing generic ads and trying to be all things to all people lowers the conversion rate with your ads. Lower response rates will cost you more money, and your ad will not perform as well.

How you speak to a millennial first-time buyer is different than someone financing a jumbo loan, or a cash-out Re-Fi, or a VA customer, for example. Each customer persona has different wants and needs.

Customer Persona Targeting Examples:

First-Time Millennial Home Buyers

To build our audience, we have detailed targeting such as Mortgage Calculator, First-time Home Buyer Grant, Pre-qualification Lending, etc, which gets us close, but then we narrow this down further using, "And Also Must Match," and choose additional targeting criteria that narrows the targeting. We cannot age discriminate by selecting the age ranges for millennials, so we have to be more creative in how reach them with Facebook's Detailed targeting. In addition, your ad copy and imagery will help down select for Millennials, too.

First Responders Targeting

Now for First Responder targeting,  you will have to rely more on your ad imagery and ad copy to segment out those people in that industry. Facebook's detailed targeting is limited so it's more challenging to segment specifically for that niche. This does not mean you cannot reach First Responders - you can, but your ad copy and imagery will help down select for these customers.

You can specifically target each of these personas and others too within Facebook and Instagram.

Here is an example of First Responders Facebook ad creative - in this case it is a Carousel Ad which allows the Facebook user to scroll through different images within the ad. Writing your ad with your ideal customer avatar in mind will resonate them far better than a generic ad targeting everyone. 

Compare those two ads to the home loan video ad below – it's more generic messaging, not specific to a particular customer like first-time millennial buyers or the first responders.

The bottom line is that the more you speak precisely to a customer's needs and wants, the more success you will have. The above ad might be ok for general branding and awareness but not optimal for a Lead Generation ad.

Below is an image showing the ad sets setup by customer persona (Renters, Union Workers, First Responders, Military) - to the right you can see how many leads, Reach, and Impressions. 

You want to cast a wide net geographically that will encompass the largest audience possible. So that might mean targeting a couple of counties or a 50 - 60 mile radius depending on the population density.

A good barometer to use is that if you can serve someone in the area you're targeting, and they would likely want to use you even though you might be a bit of a drive, then target that area to start with.

You can continually refine your targeting later, too, if you find it's too wide geographically and you're getting leads that are too far away.

What is important is that you make your initial audience as large as possible. Facebook's algorithm works better at delivering ideal results with a larger data set.

Here's an example of targeting three counties in northern California. You can also do radius targeting (e.g., 20-mile radius from your office) or you can type in zip codes, city names, among other geographic targeting options.

One of the additional options for geotargeting is down-selecting to one of the below options.

You can toggle between these two options and see the audience size change within the Facebook ad interface while you're building the ad and before it is published live.

Using the option, People living in our recently in this location, allows you also to target people who are home shopping in areas that they don't currently live in versus just people living in that specific area, which is the second option.  

Here's where you see the real power of Facebook targeting – Interests, Behaviors, and Demographics. Facebook has unrivaled consumer behavior signals you, as an advertiser, can utilize.

Because you're advertising mortgage-related products, you are subject to the guidelines of the Fair Housing Act and Facebook's policies to prevent advertisers from discrimination.

Mortgage and real estate ad campaigns are labeled a Special Ad Category by Facebook so some targeting options are not available that otherwise are for a different niche.

But fret not…

LOTS of leads are still there for the taking to fill your sales funnel to the brim. 

In this example, I'll use first-time home buyers.

Potential interests and behaviors:

Keep in mind; this is just a sample of some of the interest options you can use for first-time home buyers. You would also modify these targets, of course, if you were targeting VA, or Re-Fi, etc. But for this example, we're looking for people that have an interest in:

There are many more targets than the shortlist above.

How great are those Interest targets? 

These are unambiguous clear signals that allow you to get in front of the right person that needs your services.

Now let us focus this even more...

If your customer avatar is renters looking to buy their first home, you would also consider layering on the following interests as an - AND - operator – meaning they must meet both the above criteria AND the below, allowing us to down-select for potential first-time buyers:

Now you have narrowed your targeting on the customer persona of first-time buyers.

No other platform provides that level of targeting with so much flexibility and control over all aspects of your advertising campaigns.

You can use a similar approach to target any number of different customer avatars that you want – Teachers, First Responders, Cash Out Re-Fi loans, FHA, Jumbo loans, and more.

One of the more compelling reasons why using Facebook ads to sell mortgage products and services is so effective is that you can retarget people that interacted with your ad (i.e. clicked on it), but never submitted the form to you. For whatever reason, these people either got cold feet or were distracted and were just not ready to submit their information. 

This is normal consumer behavior.

But Facebook has a solution for us advertisers.

We can create what is called a Custom Audience from those people that interacted with the ad but did not submit it. You would choose Lead Form, then click Next.

And then choose the 2nd radio button option in the drop down. Leave retention to 90 days (the max that it can be set to). Give it a recognizable name and click on Create Audience.

Once you have created your Custom Audience, you can use it now in an ad with copy and creative specific to those specific people. Instead of targeting that we used under Interests, Behaviors, and Demographics, we will use this saved Audience as our targeting - there's no need to down select for anything else.

Budgets are critical to success and will directly impact how many mortgage leads you get. Therefore, the larger your budget the more leads you will acquire.

What's the correct monthly budget?

How much should I spend on Facebook ads?

The answer to that question depends on many variables such as your goals, what marketing budget you have, audience size, competition, and more,

BUT…

Here's a process you can use to determine the proper Facebook ad budget. Start here and adjust as you see the campaign results. (a related post here, how should you spend on google ads).

Since we are focused on lead generation, start with an estimate of the cost per lead and back into the spend you need to reach your goals.

For example, If the cost per lead is $10 and you wanted on average 50 leads, then you would start with $500 per month in ad spend.

For mortgage leads, the cost varies from $10 to $40 per lead on average. Your mileage will vary, of course, and not everyone that signs up is ready for a mortgage at that immediate time. So perhaps start with a reasonable $15 per lead cost – just as a starting point and adjust as you see the data.

So, if you wanted to generate 33 leads, you would need to spend approximately $500.

But the bare minimum ad spend you could set for one month with Lead Generation as the campaign objective is $300. You can set lower budgets, of course, with different campaign objectives, not with Lead Generation. With lower ad spends it can be hard to generate results ideal results as Facebook has a harder time learning. 

The next step is to estimate your lead to customer conversion rate. How many of these will convert to actual customers?

This is the point where marketing leaves off, and your sales processes and sales skills come into play.

How quickly did you respond to the initial lead? Do you have a program that meets their needs?

For those who are not ready to sign up, do you have a lead nurturing campaign for those leads that adds value and builds rapport ongoing?

All these factors play a role in the percentage of prospects you convert from a lead to an actual customer. And the longer you run ads; the more your sales funnel will fill full of potential prospects. 

Landing pages, in this case, are not as critical since we are using Lead Ads that capture the customer's information right within Facebook, but custom landing pages do help squeeze even more value from your ad spend.

When someone fills out the Lead Ad form and submits it, you have the lead. From there, you can include a link to a landing page after the prospect submits the form where the prospect can click through to a landing page on  your website.

Your Landing Page would have content that speaks to that customer persona needs, and includes trust marks, testimonials, background on you and specifically how you will help them – all elements that reduce friction in the sales process and build rapport and excitement for what you have to offer them.

On  your landing page, you could then include a link to your online calendar where a potential customer can book a meeting right away, or you can add a click-to-call button to get you on the phone right away.

Just as we did with the ad content with the images and copy, align landing pages use similar images and copy here, too. Always use images and copy that speak to the customer that she can relate to.

Not all the leads you capture on Facebook are ready for a mortgage at the same time. Maybe they are not sure what neighborhood they want to buy in, they are still saving for the deposit or other factors. (read this related post on Lifecycle Marketing and Marketing Automation for Mortgage Brokers)

The below infographic illustrates this point.

The volume of leads is the largest when the customer is beginning her search for mortgage products. Customers at this stage - the top of the funnel - are the least expensive since they are furthest away from needing you right now. 

As you move through the customer journey over time, the mortgage customer gets closer to needing help right now and economic value increases - these customers are the fewest and most expensive since everyone wants these leads and is bidding for them. 

How can I focus more on the bottom of the funnel where the prospects are that need my services now?

There are a number of changes you can make to emphasize people that are closer to making a decision now.

1. Add pre-screening questions in your Lead Ad form before they fill it out
2. Add pre-screening questions to your landing page
3. Adjust a setting in Lead Ads that tells Facebook to go after "higher intent" leads

Keep in mind, making these edits will raise your cost per lead.

But just because a customer in the beginning stages of a search at the top of the funnel does not mean you should avoid these leads.

How Do I Convert Leads That Are Higher Funnel, Longer Sales Cycle?

Those most successful at marketing mortgage leads will put these prospects into an email lead nurturing sequence that drips valuable, helpful content over time, thus squeezing more value out of the ad spend. 

For leads that are not ready right now, do not pitch constantly - people hate that.

Nobody wants to hear you talk about how great you are or how great your company is. 

Be a problem solver and help them through this journey.

Always have a call-to-action in your emails, of course, but make it a priority to deliver value and be helpful first and you will be far more successful with much happier customers.

Where do I start with lead nurturing emails?

So think about the most common questions and pain points these longer sales cycle customers have and include solutions for them and add value in each email that is dripped out over time.

Lead nurturing campaigns require some work upfront to get them going – creating the content that you're delivering, pacing the email delivery out over time, are you including any behavioral signals for when the emails are triggered? Will you be using a more robust marketing automation platform? But once these email campaigns are going, the ongoing maintenance is less.

Read our related post here on the benefits of Lifecycle Marketing and Marketing Automation and how it can significantly scale your lead generation efforts. 

In Summary:

Facebook ads are a powerful way to fill your sales funnel and reach potential customers on an ongoing basis that need your services. 

If you're a mortgage broker or loan originator looking to generate leads from Facebook ads, these are the 6 most important factors to consider.

Related Posts:
Common Facebook Campaign Questions and Answers

Mortgage Broker SEO

Every day people search near you for thousands of topics and answers to home financing and mortgage questions. But if you don't have content on those topics, Google has no reason to show you or your website and thus that traffic is left to your competitors. The good news is that many mortgage lenders don't have any SEO or content strategy to capture this traffic - so for those companies that embrace it, you have an opportunity you can capitalize on. (read our related post on Funnel SEO to maximize leads and sales). 

Diversify Your Lead Generation Sources

Take the opportunity to diversify your mortgage lead sources when everyone else is forced to cozy up to realtors for referrals. A data-driven content strategy combined with SEO will insulate you and your company from the down fluctuations in mortgage demand. 

Plus, now you have content to share with your prospects which you can send out via email newsletters, break it up into smaller bite-sized pieces for social posts, and include it in lead nurturing programs. If you have no content, you have nothing to say and it's hard to position yourself as the trusted guide to someone for such an important and emotional commitment as a mortgage loan. 

Dear Mortgage and LO Professional,

It was in San Diego in the early 2000s that I came to understand the transformational power of SEO content and Google organic searches and traffic 

My wife and I had started our own retail company importing furniture and home décor. She stayed with her job to support us while our company got going. 

Stay with me here...
I promise it will tie into your mortgage niche. After all, home mortgages and furniture do correlate well. 

Because we were a retail store, all our startup money was tied up in inventory - we were cash-poor and asset rich. This led me to build our company's first website and focus all my attention on ranking in Google for economically valuable terms. Google organic traffic is on 24/7 with people searching for what we had to offer and not tied to any ad budget in Google Ads. 

Ranking Hundreds of Keywords

After lots of hard work, we ranked in the top 3 positions for dozens, and hundreds of terms in Google, Bing, and Yahoo. It was crazy. The exposure was great. All the while, the big brands were sleeping on this "free" traffic and were nowhere to be found. And many are today, relying too much on conventional marketing tactics and channels.

Business Took Off

As a result of this exposure to daily searchers, we started receiving orders from people around the country. They would call or email me, "Hey Toby, I was searching on the web, and I saw a table you have on your website. Are you able to ship that to me?" The result was that we went from being a little local store in a suburb of San Diego to having a national distribution of our products. All because of SEO.

So while that story is in a different niche than mortgage finance and home loans, the situation is NO different for you.

You see, every day, all day long, 24/7, people search in Google for thousands of different terms around mortgages. But if you don't have content on your website for those topics and questions people are searching for, then you won't see any of that "free" traffic. It will instead go to your competitors that are creating that content. (read to the bottom to learn how our story ends...it's not what you would expect).

But here's where it gets exciting…

Let me demonstrate what I mean. 

Example Mortgage Keywords People Search For

Here's a small sample of the different topics and questions people search for with just one mortgage subtopic related to "types of home loans." 

The intent of this query is likely someone just starting information gathering, so definitely worthwhile to get this type of searcher to your website and into a lead nurturing campaign.

The monthly search volume for this sub-topic within the mortgage niche is almost 20k! And 593 keyword variations (see screenshot below). I guarantee a good portion of these people needs a mortgage soon. The question, will you be the one to provide those services?

But there are even more variations to this topic - look at all these questions people are asking. There are questions under What, How, Why, Can, Are, and more. 

What Questions:

How Questions:

Why Questions:

Can Questions:

Are Questions:

The opportunity is there. People are asking Google questions and searching for information non-stop. And you don't have to be a big player to capitalize on this "free" traffic. But you do have to have a content strategy combined with SEO.

Take a look at this example: "Buying a Second Home "

This keyword niche has a total of 3k total searches per month.

Notice all the variations? 

Lots of niche opportunities to capture this search traffic. And there are hundreds, rather thousands of different topics like this you can capture.

So, where do you start?

 Whom do you want to target? 

This will dictate your keyword research and content strategy. 

What each of these customer segments is searching for varies greatly. And how you speak to them is different from one to the other, too. 

Customer Persona Worksheet

Develop a customer persona worksheet for each customer segment. Things to include are:

This first step helps you write content with that ideal customer in mind and ensures everyone is on the same page about who it is you are targeting and what their needs and wants are. The latter helps develop calls-to-action (CTA) and lead magnets. 

We'll use three free Google Tools

Let's assume one of your targets is first-time Millennial buyers. Without access to paid SEO tools, the first place I am going for topic and keyword research is Google Ads and Google Trends, both of which are free.

Google Trends for Keyword Research

Google trends will give top-level analysis with suggestions for other phrases and topics. It's big data.

Let's type in "first-time home buyer" and see what the chart looks like. 

We can see how that search term has been trending since 2017 (you can change the date range - in this case, I chose the last 5 years). 

Here's another important search phrase that reflects older people, "hot to buy a second home" - this term is more niche and lower volume, as you can tell in the line chart variability swings.

Related Queries

Now, if we scroll down, there's a table that shows Related and Top Queries. 

Google Trends gives you the bigger picture with suggestions for additional ideas. But it's big data, so some niche terms may have minimal data.

But here's an example. The first is the Rising queries - queries that are gaining in search interest. And we can see that some of these terms are labeled "Breakout" meaning they are trending up right now.

And then there are the Top queries - the most searched variations.

Use these to help you see the bigger picture trending and identify additional topics and keywords you can write about for SEO purposes.

Google Search for Keyword Research

You should also use a standard Google search to help you generate additional content ideas. For example, I typed in, "buying a second home." 

You will notice for this query a section called People Also Ask. These are actual questions people are asking Google related to your search that you can include in your content or use as standalone articles. 

And if you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see even more ideas. In both of these cases, Google is telling you exactly what else people are searching for in addition to your search phrase - so, take a hint and utilize these topics, too, since it was important enough for Google to display.

Google Ads Keyword Planner

Take these ideas and phrases and use the Google Ads Keyword Planner to get more granular search data that will help you refine your selection about what content to produce. 

You'll have to create a Google Ads account first to use the tool, but it's free. After that, you can get to the Keyword Planner under Tools and Settings and Planning. 

Then, you will have two options for keyword research - start with, Discover new keywords.

Then, after you have chosen Discover New Keywords, you have two options - Start with keywords or Start with a website.

For this demonstration, we're starting with keywords.

So type in, "buying a second home." 

I won't go into all the features of this tool, but right away we can see that it gives us valuable data, such as Avg Monthly Searches, Google Ads cost-per-click (a reflection of economic value), and Competition. And at the top, it even suggests additional search terms you can add and re-run the tool.

How to Decide Which Keywords to Go After

One of the ways you can sort which exact phrase to go after is by looking at keyword volume and then competition. The ideal situation, of course, is high volume and low competition (provided the intent of the search phrase is valuable). And those keywords do exist even though mortgage finance is a competitive space - remember, 15% of the searches Google sees in a day it has never seen before.

More competition for a search phrase means it will take longer and require more work to gain meaningful traction. A suggestion for you is to export these keywords to Excel and create a column that takes volume and divides it by competition, which will give you a normalized number to compare terms with.

The important thing with this approach to developing content is that we're developing a data-driven strategy for SEO - not random mortgage and home loan topics that people think you should write about.

Add these terms to a spreadsheet you can refer back to for developing your content. 

Now it's time for more qualitative research - observational notes. Once you have an idea of the topics, look at the top 5 - 10 pages that rank for that term and pay attention to the following:

Now you know how much content the highest-ranking pages are using to cover the topic sufficiently and other features of the articles. 

Your goal before writing is to think about how you can improve upon the content. 

Can you represent any data as an infographic? What other images can you include that would be helpful? Remember, image search has significant volume, so include images in your post. And some images or graphics can be for aesthetics to just break up the content.

What about embedded video? 

Can you have someone on your team create a short video, host it on your YouTube channel and embed it on the page? Not everyone likes to read. And, equally important, it gives you another opportunity to rank on the video tab in Google Search. Below is an example of my site ranking a page in the number one spot within the Google Video tab with an embedded YouTube video (related post here about using embedded YouTube videos for better SEO)

And it's not just producing the content but also developing a strategy to rank in multiple places - FAQs, People Also Ask, Image Search, the Video Tab, and more. 

 Below is an example of what that content calendar might look like. In this example, we were writing four articles per month. We also included a field for the subtopics to be covered in the article along with the approximate estimate of the content length. 

Our content calendar example is too large to show clearly below, but we have columns for:

Leverage your SEO template and customer persona worksheet that you developed earlier while writing your post. Everyone has their own writing process, so I won't go into depth about writing, but writing is one of the final steps.

Conclusion

So, I hope this has helped you understand Mortgage SEO and how to approach the process of writing content that helps you capture search traffic in Google. There are additional steps to SEO, including Local SEO (a different process than outlined here), site architecture, internal linking and silo strategy, additional on-page SEO considerations, ranking in different areas of Google SERP, and technical SEO, but it all starts with content. Without content - textual content, images, and video - you have nothing to rank. (Related post here on, what is local SEO?).

Ending Of Our Story Above

The irony to our personal SEO story was that we ended up doing so well with ranking in Google that our main furniture supplier, which represented about 70% of our sales, was getting complaints from other retailers nationwide that we were stealing business from them because their customers were finding us online. And sadly, as a result, the supplier decided not to sell to us anymore. Oh, the irony. 

Mortgage SEO Services

If you need help with your SEO, please reach out to me directly. We can help in all aspects of SEO - developing data-driven content roadmaps, website SEO, YouTube SEO, Facebook ads, and more. And if you're local to the Temecula area of southern California, reach out to us today about our SEO services. 

Then lifecycle marketing and marketing automation can alleviate many of these issues and for very little investment. (learn more about Keap Marketing Automation)

Read on…

Lifecycle Marketing

Lifecycle marketing is a strategy. It’s a continuous process from start to finish of prospecting, nurturing prospects, delivering results to the customer, and then asking for referrals and reviews, which feeds new customers back into the process.

Here’s an infographic that illustrates this:

Each of these three sequential steps - Collect Leads, Convert Clients, Create Fans - can be addressed through systems and processes with marketing automation software to squeeze many more leads out of your market. And it’s not expensive to implement.

Let’s look at each step in Lifecycle Marketing

Marketing automation software can help you significantly increase your capture rate of leads through the use of a Lead Magnet.

Lead magnets are any information that the prospect needs that is helpful in their customer journey that you provide in return for their name, email, and/or phone number.

A lead magnet can be in the form of:

The options are endless. What’s important is that it be something of value that the prospect wants and needs.

Below an example of a simple lead magnet on a related blog post.

If someone wants to save my Facebook Ads For Mortgage Brokers post to read later they just click the below button as illustrated below, then enter their email and name, and my marketing automation system automatically sends them a PDF of that blog post.

I also include my contact information in the PDF and the PDF links back to my site as well, so if it gets passed around to others, someone can always reach out to me.

When someone clicks on the button, a popup with a form appears where they fill out their information. These people can then go into a lead nurturing sequence of emails and/or text messages where I deliver relevant and timely content to them.

Every mortgage broker, loan originator, or bank needs new mortgage leads ongoing. If you stop farming your areas, whether through advertising or networking, the leads soon dry up.

The challenge is that advertising and marketing are expensive but necessary, and networking for referrals is time-consuming and thus costly as well. Cost per lead can get out of control if you’re not careful.

Here’s an infographic from Forrester that highlights the importance of lead nurturing and its impact on your profit and costs.

Companies that lead nurture see far more sales-ready leads at a much lower cost per lead. Who doesn’t want more leads at a lower cost?

But what if you could squeeze more out of your existing advertising and marketing, lower the cost per lead, and increase the volume of leads?

Regardless of the industry, but particularly for the mortgage and real estate markets, most leads acquired are not ready to act right now. And if they are, they are not ready on a first interaction to answer many sensitive financial questions.

There are many reasons why a prospect is not ready to act right now. For example, they just started searching for information about buying a home and what is involved in that process. Or, they are trying to understand how best to fix their credit so they can buy a home, or they want to understand better how much home they can afford.

As people move through their unique customer journey, they get closer to making decisions. As a mortgage broker, you want to be their “guide” through this process regardless of where they are.

Estimates are that a prospect needs from 7 - 50 touch points before a customer buys from you.

Why so many?

Because you have to reach a certain level of familiarity - a familiarity threshold, if you will. People need to know, like, and trust you. If you give up too early, you never get to that threshold as they move through the customer journey.

And some statistics in the industry indicate that many loan originators and brokers give up on prospects after 3 - 5 touches.

But what we know for sure…

Is that it’s guaranteed that if you stop reaching out to the prospect, stop being the “guide” through the customer’s journey, they are not going to ever to use your services. Instead, when the customer is ready, they sign up with your competitor who has maintained awareness or had the last touch with the customer.

But….

With marketing automation, you can feed leads into lead nurturing sequences.

What are lead nurturing sequences?

Lead nurturing sequences are emails and/or text messages “dripped” over time to the prospect that delivers useful and helpful information to the prospect. This ensures you are top-of-mind and the go-to resource for all their mortgage needs - you are positioned now as the “guide.” You’re a trusted resource for their journey to buying a home.

These lead nurturing sequences can be over as long of a timeframe as you need.

As an extreme example, I have a friend that stayed on an email list for 20 years. She never bought anything. Eventually, however, she did buy but after 20 years. Now that’s rare, of course. But you get my point. And the effort to keep reaching out to that person was minimal.

To be effective with lead nurturing, you always want to position yourself as the “guide” for the customer’s journey. So you need to deliver valuable, helpful information. Content that addresses their pain points, their questions. Become that trusted resource and advisor they need. But certainly, you should not relentlessly close on them or pitch them constantly…that doesn’t work and will alienate them from you. Nobody likes that.

But here again, is where marketing automation can automatically funnel customers into a sequence that pre-screens for happy customers and prompts them for a review.

We use the 10-point Net Promoter Score (NPS) question to pre-screen for happy customers. The NPS asks on a 10-point scale with 1 Highly Unlikely, and 10 Highly Likely.

 “How likely are you to refer us to a friend or colleague?”

Only the happy customers - the ones that are considered “Promoters” and rated you a 9 or 10 - are then presented with links to leave you a review on whatever your chosen platform is (Google, Yelp, Facebook, etc).

Those customers who rate you an 8 or lower are not prompted to leave you a review or presented with your review links. Instead, they are presented with a simple form to leave their comments that are sent back to you.

Then using marketing automation, you can automate emails that go to your team to follow-up with phone calls, perhaps to find out more about why they were unhappy. And conversely, when someone rates you well, a note goes out to the whole team notifying them.

Reviews can significantly impact social proof - people will check your reviews. They will look how current they are and dig into whatever negative comments people have made. Nothing kills lead generation faster than an overall negative rating.

And then, based on the high NPS scores of 9 or 10, the Promoters are funneled into a sequence asking for referrals.

All this can be automated at each step. And far more can be done as well.

Summary

Using a framework like Lifecycle Marketing combined with Marketing Automation significantly improves your lead generation efforts. The potential is huge. And the impact is significant to your business. It sets you up for long-term success. Reduces the chaos and labor it takes to run your business so you can focus on the things you do best. And the best part, is that it's like having a full-time assistant automatically working behind the scenes to grow your leads and lower your costs.

KEAP Marketing Automation Software

At 39 Celsius, we have been using Keap marketing automation for more than 4 years for our clients and our own company. Learn more about Keap:
What is Keap Marketing Automation

In the digital era, an individual LO/mortgage broker can compete effectively at a local level and grab more market share in its area than it’s fellow 800 lb. gorilla competitors.

Deciding which tactics to implement to reach your new customer goals is overwhelming – especially when the costs of advertising in traditional media are so high. Even though there are many marketing options to choose from, one marketing tactic stands out from the rest that will consistently drive the highest volume of new customers at the lowest cost per lead – ongoing – and that will work for you 24/7 365 days a year is local SEO. (Related post here on, what is local SEO?)

Pillars of Success for Effective Mortgage Broker Local SEO

When your site ranks well organically in Google for hundreds of terms, you have the ability to drive new customers consistently month after month at a very low cost. And, organic search is always on 24 hours per day seven days per week 365 days per year – when pages on your site rank well people will find them day or night. 

Why Search Engine Optimization (SEO)?

When someone needs to find a local bank where they can get a loan, Google is one of the first places new customers go to find lending services. With the penetration of smartphones, your new customers have access to information whenever they need it, searching from wherever they are. Consumer behavior has changed drastically in the last few years which affects how you do your marketing. Some studies assert that consumers check their phones 150 times per day, spend 3 hours or more on their phones, and almost 90% of consumers have their phones with them day or night. With that kind of access, you have to be where your new customers are – online and searching for information on mobile and desktop. If you don’t appear well in Google’s organic search (meaning on the first page and above the fold), you are missing out on one of the best opportunities to grow your mortgage leads. Google is the dominant search engine by a large margin on both desktop and mobile devices.  (related post here on Mortgage Broker SEO)

The Local SEO Solution

To be successful at driving new leads month after month, a holistic local SEO strategy implemented over the long term and that leverages several tactics is required.

#1 Claiming your Google My Business profile

If you are a business, you must have a Google My Business profile. An optimized Google profile is what gets displayed with the map when someone is searching and Google deems the best results to display are local businesses.

When someone clicks on the company name the Business Profile appears with some basic information. This profile includes reviews, plus address, phone number, hours, and images.

If you search for your company’s own listing and you have not “claimed” your own business but Google has it listed then your profile will have a link that reads “Own this business?” From here, you want to claim your Google My Business profile.

If after searching for yourself or your company and nothing comes up in Google search results or Google Maps, go to Google.com/business and walk through the steps of creating and claiming your Google My Business profile.

Creating an account with Google is the first step to optimizing for Local Searches.

Once you have a verified account with Google, then you can start to build your profile.

When building a profile, make sure you’re thorough and include as much information that is relevant. Your business profile is highly important so make sure you’re diligent when filling out the fields. Include images and video if possible. Although claiming and filling out your profile is just one step in local optimization, it is a very important step.

Answers to all these questions can be published to your Google My Business page that you have now claimed with a link back to the corresponding page on your site where you can capture that lead. 

#2  Having positive reviews online (Yelp!, Google)

Online reviews are not only important from a Search Engine’s perspective but are also extremely important for potential customers. A negative review profile can directly impact your Google My Business profile from showing as well as it could otherwise. 

Customers want to make sure they’re going to hire someone that has a good reputation. A good online reputation is not something you can get quickly, or you can fake (well I suppose you can fake reviews, but definitely not something I would ever recommend) . 

It takes good service ongoing, and diligence in asking your happy customers to leave an online review for you. Asking your friends and family to leave reviews will have a minimal impact – but asking customers ongoing will have a great impact. The algorithms of some of these review sites know these tricks and will not fall for those.

To ensure you continue to get positive reviews throughout the year, you need to have a concrete effort to reach out to your customers and ask them to share their experiences. (related posts here: Consumer Survey: Google Leads Yelp As Most Important Review Site, How to get rid of bad Yelp reviews, and How to respond to negative online reviews.)

#3  Valuable Content on Your Site

Content is critical to the success of a mortgage broker SEO marketing campaign and one of the first steps to building out a larger organic, non-paid presence in Google.

When we talk about content, we are primarily referring to textual content (i.e. as new web pages or blog posts), images or infographics, or video content – AND we’re talking about UNIQUE content, written by you, not some corporate content on the corporate page of your parent company.

Lots of quality content provides the opportunity for your website to show for hundreds of highly relevant queries in Google that potential new clients are searching for giving you the opportunity to capture traffic and leads if you rank well. But for certain, you won't rank well if you don't have the content living on your site or within your Google My Business profile and that traffic will go to a competitor that does have the content the searcher is looking for.

What this means is that an effective mortgage broker SEO strategy requires a website with rich content about all your service areas and content that covers common questions new customers have and are actively searching for.

For example, for the topic of "Buying a house" – there are many related topics and questions people are searching for.

Here is a small sample list of the types of questions people are asking and searching for related to Buying a House:

But the world of questions and topics that people are searching for in Google is far broader than above. Below is a visualization of some more topics related to "buying a house". These topics and questions are data-driven - meaning that people are actively searching for answers to these topics in Google. 

And within each of those individual topics above are more topics and questions that searchers have queried for.

And yet more topics and questions your potential customers are searching for...

Suffice it to say, there's plenty of useful, and helpful content you as a loan originator can be producing right now to get more qualified traffic from Google. 

Video Content

If you're really serious about your Google SEO strategies, Video content needs to be part of that equation. All the above questions and topics can be used as well to produce helpful video content. 

Not everyone wants to read content, so embedding video content on a relevant page is useful and helpful. 

Video is also a user engagement factor for SEO which can affect your page's rankings as well. In other words, Google knows if website visitors are interacting with the video on the page.

Video content can and should be repurposed as well in email newsletters if you have email nurturing campaigns setup, or posted to social media, or to your GMB page. Content can be leveraged very well across platforms to make your marketing efforts integrated.

Overall, there’s more to marketing and ranking a page well for all the different mortgage related phrases people search for, but the content that you produce on your website is the beginning of that process.

While content is key to getting your site ranking for dozens, if not hundreds of terms, having your mortgage broker website show in Google’s Local Pack requires additional steps.

Stay with me here...

#4 Citations

Citations are other websites that list your office with the same NAP (name, address, and phone). For example, Yelp, Superpages, your page on the local Chamber of Commerce, Yellowpages, your Facebook page are all citation sources.

Google uses the consistency of NAP information across dozens of websites as a trust signal that you are who you say you are so Google can feel confident they can provide that information to a searcher. 

The last thing Google wants to do is serve results that are not reliable.

#5  Mobile-Friendly Websites & Core Web Vitals

Having a mobile-friendly website is critical. Google uses a mobile-only index which means if your site is not friendly on mobile devices, but looks great on a desktop, your site will still suffer in ranking relative to your competitors that do have mobile friendly sites. 

In June of 2021, Google rolled out its Core Web Vitals (CWV) update to its ranking algorithm. Core web vitals are looking at user experiences on mobile devices - how fast does your site load? How long does it take before someone on a mobile device can interact with the site? Does it load correctly on mobile and more factors?

Many site owners will take a long time to respond to the new Core Web Vitals, but if your competitors are improving their sites' CWV signals you're not, you will lose out in the organic traffic battle.

#6 Local Links

Links that point back to your website from other websites are one of the strongest ranking factors for Google – links act as third-party validation or a vote of confidence that you are important.

For local SEO, links from local organizations send strong signals to Google that you are relevant for that particular city, town, or area. For example, links from the local chamber of commerce, or local alumni associations, or other organizations that you belong to. Do you volunteer anywhere locally, or do you sponsor a local sports team – links from these organizations will help your site rank for the city or town you’re in.

Rounding It All Up

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, a holistic SEO strategy is the best approach to perform well - meaning, you need to work on multiple areas on and off your website to rank well.

That does not mean that you cannot implement parts of this strategy and still have success, because you can. Everything related to ranking well organically through local SEO is relative to your local mortgage competitors. 

Your goal is to be least imperfect in the eyes of Google!

If you need effective website marketing and SEO – we can help. Call us or submit a form on our site for a free consultation or more information. And if you're local to Temecula and need an SEO company, we are located just off Temecula Parkway in Vail Ranch Towne Square in the yellow 3-store building between Meadows Parkway and Mahlon Vail Road. 

Want to learn about other ways to increase leads?  Read our posts about Facebook Ads for Mortgage Brokers: Facebook Ads For Mortgage Brokers and Lenders – A Case Study

And our latest post on Lifecycle Marketing and Marketing Automation for Mortgage Brokers.