Mortgage Leads: Best Practices

Using Google to Create FHA Mortgage Leads? Here's How to Get Started

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There are three main ways to look at your mortgage web site.  

1. You can use it as a pamphlet, to let prospective customers know who you are and what you do.  For this approach, all you need is to have your site on your business cards, in your print advertising, or recited in television and radio commercials.  Like a pamphlet, it's a way to provide much more information to your prospects than you could fit, otherwise.
2. Your site can be an aid to your existing customers.  This method usually has a way for your customers to "log in" and check on the status of the mortgage application or see where it is in processing.  This is a membership function.
3. And, the third way to look at your page is as a way to produce your own FHA mortgage leads.  For this, you need to drive traffic, either through Inbound marketing (which we'll cover in another post) or through advertising, or a combination of the two.  This article is going to discuss how to get started in advertising through Google.

What is advertising with Google?  Any time that you search on Google, it will show you two different types of results: organic and paid.  Organic results are the ones that you see below the shaded box.  These are the ones that Google "thinks" will be the most relevant to your search.  The paid results, also called "pay per click" (PPC) will appear in a shaded box, directly below the search box, and also on the far, right-hand side of the screen. Every time that you "click" on one of those ads, the advertisers gets charged a fee.  This is Google's main source of revenue.

In order to get started, you'll need to open your advertising account, called AdWords, with Google.  Doing so is very easy and is a testament to both Google's success and its stock price.

First, head on over to AdWords.  If you already use Gmail or iGoogle, it will allow you to add AdWords to your existing account.  If not, enter a valid email address that you use and choose a password.

Set your timezone and currency.  In my case, Eastern Time, US dollars.

Google will send a verification email to your account with a link that you have to click to validate.  Once clicked, viola!  You're ready to get started.

Select a budget.  (And, keep it small on your first time around the block!)

Now comes the REAL work.  (Or, put another way, Welcome to My World!). When focusing on paid advertising you'll want to look at a number of things, always keeping one mantra at the top of your mind: how are my customers using the Internet.  

Choose the kinds of ads that you think will appeal to the kinds of customers that you'd like to attract.  Customize your ads so that they will only appear in states in which you can originate FHA mortgages.  Select the page(s) that you want your customers to land on when they click the ad.  Note: your "home page" is NOT always the best place to direct the click.  (Nor is your "application page," for that matter.)  Instead, choose a landing page that makes the most sense for both the ad and the search term.  For example, if they click on an ad that is specifically about a 203K mortgage after searching for the term "FHA 203K loan", you may want to have them "land" on a page within your site that is specifically about 203K mortgages.

You can, and should, do endless tweaking to this new advertising program.  The overarching theme is that if your website is not on page one for a particular search term, like "FHA mortgage Boise, ID", you can run an ad to insure that those people searching for desired term will find you.

What questions do you have?  Ask me, below, and I'll answer to the best of my ability.

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Five Insider Secrets on Producing Your Own Mortgage Leads

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You do it.  We know you do it.  Let's just get this out of the way and say it: you produce your OWN leads.  (Not to the exclusion of us, of course, or you wouldn't be here, but you do try.)  And, that's okay.  In fact, I encourage it.

For most lenders, buying mortgage leads is, and, should be, a complement to your other marketing efforts.  

You work open houses with comfort and charm.  You teach first time home buyer seminars brilliantly.  You produce a beautiful and informative newsletter (that even other agents read!).  And, you have a compelling web page where you want to harvest your own leads.   So, where the hell are they??

This is where you, the knowledgeable and accomplished loan officer, banker, or branch manager will often fall down.  But, it's not your fault.  Really, it's not.  

Lead generation is its own science.  Being good at these other things does not, in any way, imply being good at harvesting leads: in fact, it's being good at those other things that is probably getting in your way.  So, together let's take a step back, and let me share some of the "secrets" of mortgage lead generation.

1. Don't ask too much.  It's tempting to have your prospects fill out a full 1003 on your webpage, but it's also unnecessary.  And, it's counterproductive.  Your goal is to eventually get them on the phone or into your office.  All you need for that is a name and a phone number.  (And, an email address would be nice, too).  Asking for more information, especially a social security number, leads to what those of us in the business like to call "form abandonment", and, yes, it's exactly what it sounds like.  Shorter equals more likely to be completed.  Period.
2. Get found.  Use long tail keywords.  Yes, you read that right: "long tail keywords".  (And, of course, I'll explain what that is.)  The HUGE lead generation companies (you already know who they are) spend tons of cash on the most general and most difficult to optimize keywords in order to be found on the search engines.  "Mortgage."  "Loan."  "FHA."  These terms are not only too difficult for you to use and be found by, but they are far too general to be of any good to you.  You don't want hundreds of leads from all over the country.  So, what about having a part of your web page with the title of something like "mortgage loan for Bethalto, IL" which would look something like this: www.joesmortgages.com/mortgage_loan_for_Bethalto_IL  With some decent content, our fictional friend, Joe, stands a very good chance of ranking highly for all of his target customers in Bethalto.  Likewise, Joe can work on Rosewood Heights, and Roxana, IL, too.  This is what long tail keywords are: longer, more descriptive variations of the big keywords, likely to get you the prospects that you want to turn into leads.
3. Nothing flashy.  In fact, don't use Flash, at all.  I don't like it.  At least, not on your page.  (Nor, on mine, for that matter.)  Have a basic, professionally-built webpage that looks smart and timeless.  You don't need distractions.  You certainly don't want music that will clue your prospects' employers in to the fact that they're surfing your page while on the clock!   Your customers are there for your brilliant content and your reassuring voice.  Leave the fancy stuff to the Amazons and the Mercedes of the world.
4. Remember your audience.  The most common mistake that I see on bankers' and brokers' sites is that they are writing their content to the wrong people.  In layman's terms, describe the home buying process.  Or, the mortgage application process.  Or, the closing process in your target area.  Mentioning "supporting documentation" and "1003's" are what we, in the business, do every day.  Your customers generally don't know that language, and, more importantly, they won't respond to it.
5. Use a pay per click (PPC) campaign.  ALL of the pros are running PPC campaigns.  Every single one of them.  And, most amateurs, too.  With Google, it's shockingly easy to get your own campaign started.  AdWords at Google will walk you through the whole process of getting your account set up.  A couple of quick suggestions which I can add (which may well evolve into an entire other post): choose which page on your webpage that you want people to land on, set a low daily budget, remember what we said about long tail keywords by picking as many of them as you can think of (and, as Google can recommend) when you get started, and (in the name of all that is RIGHT!!), don't ever, ever forget that your campaign is running!  Costly mistake.  Been there.  Done that.  Would rather have bought myself something nice...

There you have it.  As I read this over before hitting "publish" I fear that I may come across as preachy.  I apologize in advance if I do.  Instead, I would like to be helpful and approachable.

So, what are your thoughts?  How is your own lead generation coming?  What other questions do you have for me?  Ask, and I'm happy to share what I know.

(As I've said before, you are welcome to follow my constant "stream-of-consciousness" updates on Twitter and facebook .)