Michael Shane, the CEO of Sammamish Mortgage in Bellevue, Washington, is the guest on this episode of Loan Officer Strategy Sessions. Michael has a unique way of finding clients. Rather than building the typical agent-LO relationships, he has built his business primarily using SEO strategy and blogging. He and Andrew discuss how he has been able to get his blog articles to rank high with Google and how this strategy has proved very successful for his company. This helps Michael get clients that are in the early stages of the lending process. Listen to this episode to hear Michael’s tips on using SEO strategy to build a successful mortgage blog.

How does Sammamish Mortgage use SEO strategy through blogging?

Michael’s mortgage business has been built on SEO and blogging. The mortgage industry has changed through time, but not as quickly as internet marketing techniques. The biggest shift Michael has seen in the past few years is for the consumer to get preapproved before they even begin looking for a house or a realtor. This has helped his technique of online marketing. This helps him to get clients in the early stages of the home buying process. Michael has developed an enormous amount of relative blogging content throughout the years which has helped his ranking on Google. Listen to this episode to hear how he developed his SEO strategy through blogging.

How does Michael mix hyperlocal content with general mortgage content?

Michael tries to mix general relevant mortgage content with information that is specific to his local market. He ensures that every title and tag that he uses is location specific so that he is not getting people from other markets looking at his site. He understands that it is a waste of money to target his site to a general population. Michael uses SEO strategy to target potential home buyers in his area. His company employs writers that blog 4-5 times a week, but he controls the topics and the content that they write. Using this technique he has so much excellent content on his site that his company ranks at the very top of Google for many long tail keywords. Listen to this episode to hear how Michael has built his business by using SEO strategy to target a local audience.

How much strategy testing is Michael doing with his website?

Michael has realized that he needs to constantly evaluate his marketing strategy to see if it is working. He doesn’t know everything about marketing which is why he pays professionals to help. They understand internet marketing better than he, but he knows his market well. He used to have a landing page but now sends all potential traffic to his home page. He found that most people don’t enjoy giving up their information for anything. This is why he makes sure that he gives potential clients something of value first. Michael has realized that you don’t have to trick the client to make them contact you. He feels that giving them valuable information is a great way to gain their trust. Listen to this episode to hear how Michael Shane gains trust first before attempting to contact leads.

How does Michael Shane retarget leads that have visited his website?

Michael uses geo-targeting to help capture leads that have already visited his site. Geo-targeting is when your computer gets tagged by a company after you visit its website. Retargeting is a cost-effective way to stay in someone’s memory. Chances are that they won’t remember where they read his blog article but by retargeting the consumer he can offer them a relevant freebie and keep his name at the forefront of their minds. Once you have a decent number of people visiting your website then retargeting is a good way to get conversions. Rather than using a call to action, he finds that this branding works better. Listen to this episode of Loan Officer Strategy Sessions to hear how retargeting leads works for Sammamish Mortgage.

Topics From This Episode

• [4:22] Michael’s business has been built on SEO and blogging
• [8:32] Michael discusses his online strategy
• [12:34] How does he mix hyperlocal content with general mortgage content?
• [23:19] How much strategy testing is he doing?
• [33:22] How does he retarget his leads?
• [38:34] How long would this strategy take if starting from scratch?
• [39:55] What are the most important things to highlight on your website?
• [50:22] Online marketing is a long-term game, not a quick fix

Connect with Michael Shane

• Sammamish Mortgage
• Sammamish Mortgage blog
• [email protected]

Connect With Andrew Soss

• Asoss (at) benchmark.us

Subscribe to Loan Officer Strategy Sessions onApple Podcasts, Google Play, or Stitcher