YouTube isn’t just a video-sharing site, it’s actually considered a search engine—and it’s the second most used search engine after Google.

And yet, it still seems like there really isn’t enough good video content out there about mortgages. There’s an untapped market out there of people looking for high-quality information about mortgages.

Let’s look at the best practices for optimizing your YouTube channel and video content to optimize your overall Google lead generation strategy and find more mortgage leads.

This way you’ll reach your target audience, get them to click on your ad, and generate new mortgage leads from YouTube consistently to add to your sales funnel.

Talk to Kaleidico about your lead generation needs.

How to generate mortgage leads from YouTube

If you have an iPhone or a decent webcam, you can create and upload videos that will generate mortgage leads from YouTube and direct traffic to your conversion-optimized website for mortgages.

Once you have a good video, you can turn it into a YouTube Ad that can play before, during, or after related content on YouTube, such as home improvement videos, mortgage-related videos, and other related topics.

Optimize your YouTube channel for more leads

The following tips involve optimizing your YouTube dashboard and customizing your channel’s profile. Turn your YouTube channel into a lead generation hub and extend your digital mortgage marketing strategy.

1. Use your targeted keyword in your YouTube channel name

Most mortgage lending companies have the name “mortgage” in their title, but many still don’t. For example, let’s say your company’s name is “Old American Investments.” 

This name can be confusing and likely won’t get clicked on in a search, because people don’t know it’s a mortgage company.  A simple fix would be to add “Old American Investments: Mortgage Company” after the name on your channel.

Now, when people are searching for mortgages your channel will get more visibility because the term mortgage is in the name.

2. Update your YouTube channel description

Remember how I said YouTube is a search engine? Your YouTube channel’s description is the perfect spot to enter all your targeted keywords. Treat your channel description as you would your “about us” page on your website.

This spot is to inform your readers about who you are, your qualifications, history, and background, and give them calls-to-action to follow, such as subscribing to your channel, visiting your website, or calling your office.

If there are particular things you’re absolutely targeting, like FHA loans, conventional loans, etc., then make sure your sprinkle those keywords throughout your description.

If you don’t add the keywords you’re targeting here, it will be harder to find your channel when people search for those keywords.

3. Add a channel trailer that auto-plays your preferred video

When people go to your YouTube channel profile, create an introductory and welcoming video that autoplay so they can learn more about your company.

Keep this video relatively short, around under 30 seconds, as it’s just a friendly welcoming video. Include calls-to-action (CTAs) in this introductory video by telling people to subscribe to your channel, watch videos, and “comment, like, and subscribe.”

4. Add a featured video that plays for returning subscribers

Did you know you can add a secondary video to your channel that only plays for returning subscribers?

This video could say “thanks for subscribing to my channel.” And then prompt them to download a free guide on our website. 

Your featured video for returning subscribers will only play once, and after it has played won’t be played again for returning subscribers, so make sure to thank them and add a CTA to get them to engage with your page.

5. Upload a professionally branded YouTube banner image

Don’t leave the top of your YouTube profile blank. Upload a 2560 x 1440 pixel banner ad that sits on top of your profile. 

Be careful not to add too much text to your banner, and focus more on your brand’s colors, style, and logo. 

The goal is to impress your audience and have a professional-looking page that has a sense of authority—a page that people would want to subscribe to and follow.

6. Link to your social media profiles

YouTube lets you link to several different social media profiles, which are usually displayed as clickable buttons on the banner ad.

Link to your existing social media accounts, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Spotify (for podcasts), company or personal website, and even a calendar booking page.

Pro tip: Create a call-to-action on your channel. Loan officer Jennifer Beeston links to a calendar booking page, prompting them to apply for a mortgage right from the channel. 

7. Customize your channel’s videos with playlists

Once you create more video content, you can group and categorize the videos into themed playlists.

For example, if you created several videos targeting first-time buyers, make a first-time buyers” playlist that plays a series of videos based on that topic.

Read: Everything you need to know about lead generation.

Optimize your YouTube videos for clicks, views, and leads

Use YouTube’s best practices to extend your online mortgage marketing strategy and improve your video’s click-through rates and engagement. 

Remember, just producing content isn’t good enough. You need to create content that gets clicked on and engaged with.

8. Design a thumbnail image that will boost your video’s click-through rates

Spend time optimizing and designing your YouTube video’s thumbnail image, the main image that’s shown while browsing YouTube.

You’ve probably noticed (and clicked on) thumbnail images that are designed well with overlaying text, a person’s face, and some sort of professional design that catches your eye. These kinds of thumbnails are essential in getting clicks—and they work!

9. Use the right keywords in your video titles and descriptions for better SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) mainly focuses on words. When someone searches for the term mortgages, Google will then display all the relevant videos that have some version of the term in their title.

Be deliberate about which keywords you target, as well as variations on those search terms. If you’re targeting people searching for VA loans, the term VA loans should be in the video’s title, and include it in the description below the video as well.

By the way, you can write extremely long video descriptions on YouTube—up to 5,000 words! 

10. Add timestamps to your video

Have you ever Googled a question and Google showed you an exact video snippet from a YouTube video? That’s because the video had been timestamped. You should do this for all of your videos to improve searchability.

If your video covers a range of topics and is fairly long, then be sure to add timestamps in your video’s description to help people find the relevant section they need to watch.

For example, if you have a five-minute video called “Mortgage Loan Types Explained” and, create a timestamp in the description to help viewers find the exact spot in the video for their topic like this:

• Introduction 0:00 – 0:29
• FHA Loans 0:30 – 1:30
• Convention Loans 1:31 – 2:31
• Unconventional loans 2:32 – 3:31
• USDA mortgage 3:32-5:00

By creating timestamps, your viewer will be more inclined to click around your video and actually watch it, instead of getting overwhelmed and leaving before the video is over.

Adding timestamps can also help your video content get on the first page of Google’s search results.

11. Create calls-to-action (CTAs) to get engagement on your videos

“Comment, like, subscribe!” How many times have you heard this? You may be tired of hearing it, but it works! If you don’t ask people to do what you want them to do, they definitely won’t do it.

You can include graphics or animation CTAs in your video, or just simply ask “if you found this video, please subscribe and give the video a thumbs up.”

Another engagement tactic is to prompt engagement, such as “let me know in the comments any questions you have about mortgages,” or “have a mortgage experience you’d like to share? Please comment.”

Use different types of video formats on YouTube

YouTube currently offers two types of video formats—recorded videos and live videos,  both with a maximum resolution of YouTube is up to 4K.

12. Upload regular video content on mortgages

Unverified YouTube accounts can post videos up to 15 minutes in length, which is usually more than enough for most videos.

However, verified accounts can post a video up to 15 hours long. It’s a bit overkill, but this limit is useful if you plan on uploading a webinar that’s 1-2 hours long (just remember the timestamps for the longer videos).

13. Film YouTube Shorts about mortgages

Did you know short-form content is the highest-growing form of content?

YouTube Shorts let users upload up to 60 seconds of a vertical video, and these videos perform surprisingly well. 

Keep in mind—sometimes you don’t need a five-minute video to explain something in 60 seconds. Because shorter videos are easier to consume, investing in YouTube Shorts may become your main video platform over normal YouTube videos. 

This is why TikTok, Instagram Reels, and other short-form video platforms have exploded in popularity in the past couple of years.

14. Generate leads with a YouTube Live webinar

YouTube isn’t limited to just pre-recorded videos, it also allows for live streaming capabilities which can be super useful for generating mortgage leads.

Depending on your schedule, you can host live webinars each week about a new topic, such as how to apply for a mortgage or advice for first-time home buyers, or even an open-ended Q and A. 

When you archive a stream, your live stream will be uploaded as a pre-recorded video as soon as your video ends, which extends your live stream’s life indefinitely. Even if your lifestream only had five people, over time, the archived version can collect thousands of views.

All you need is a computer, a microphone, and a webcam. As your channel gains popularity (50+ subscribers), you’ll be able to film YouTube live streams on your mobile phone.

15. Embed your YouTube video on your website and landing pages

Create another welcoming and introductory YouTube video and embed it on your company’s website, either on the homepage, about page, or contact page. 

Inserting YouTube videos on your mortgage website is a great SEO tactic that improves your website’s searchability. It may give your website an SEO edge over your competitors who don’t have video content on their websites.

Additionally, you can embed your channel’s relevant YouTube videos onto your landing pages for Google Ads you’ve created. For example, if you created an ad and a landing page for USDA loans make sure to embed your video about the topic onto this page. 

16. Generate leads through YouTube Lead Form Ads

Google introduced new YouTube Form Ads, which are in-stream ads that play during videos on mobile phones.

Also known as TrueView for action campaigns, these lead forms pop up in the middle of related YouTube videos and have a banner at the bottom that the user can click on.

When the user clicks on the banner ad, a form pops up on the screen that asks for contact info like name, email, phone number, and zip code. 

After submitting the contact info, the user gets a thank you message and links to your mortgage’s website. 

17. Sponsor a YouTube influencer in your industry

For mortgages, think of related fields, industries, and topics to find influencers to work with. 

For example, real estate influencers or DIY fixer-upper type folks can be helpful for tapping into an audience of people looking to buy a home.

Ideally, you’ll find an influencer who has a substantial following and a credible background to promote your mortgage company.

To search YouTube for potential influencers, type in searches such as:

• “Sponsored or ad mortgages” 
• “Mortgages + YouTuber”
• “Real estate influencer”

Once you’ve found an influencer, reach out to them to see what their rates are. They may be able to give you a shout-out in one of their upcoming videos. 

Advertise on YouTube using different types of YouTube video ads

Did you know that you can create ads on YouTube without creating a video?

In addition to inserting your YouTube video at the beginning, middle, or end of related videos, you can also create an image-based banner or display ad that pop-up at the bottom of other people’s YouTube videos.

When creating video ads, make sure to come up with a strong call to action for your CTA box, such as “get a free quote” or “apply now,” and redirect visitors to your mortgage website.

When you create your campaign in your Google Ads account, you’ll be able to specify your exact campaign goal for YouTube, such as:

• Website traffic
• Lead generation
• Brand awareness
• Sales

From there, select which type of campaign subtype you’d like. This determines which YouTube ad format you will be using.

Additionally, you will be able to select demographics, interests, and search topics to make sure your videos reach your intended audience.

18. Video discovery ads

Want your video to appear at the very top of the video search results page? Buy a Video discovery ad.

Also known as in-display ads, these ads are essentially sponsored videos that appear at the top of the video search results and are labeled with a yellow “ad” icon indicating these are video ads.

Discovery ads also appear on YouTube’s homepage and below YouTube videos as recommended sponsored videos. 

19. TrueView in-stream skippable ads 

Ever seen a YouTube video ad that you could skip after it played for five seconds? That’s a skippable ad using TrueView.

TrueView is Google’s cost-per-view platform they use to show video ads before, in the middle, or after related YouTube videos. These ads can either be skippable or non-skippable.

If a viewer watches the first five seconds of your ad and skips it, you don’t get charged. However, if they watch 30 seconds or more of the ad, or click on a CTA box or banner ad such as “Start now” then you will be charged, whichever comes first.

20. TrueView in-stream non-skippable ads

In addition to skippable ads, there are also non-skippable ads, which are 15 seconds long and as the name implies, cannot be skipped. These allow for clickable CTA boxes to direct your visitors to your mortgage website lead generation page.

21. Overlay banner ads and display ads at the bottom of videos

You don’t need a video to create an ad on YouTube. You can just create banners or display ads that have a little pop-up graphic or CTA box that pops up at the bottom of related YouTube videos.

22. Short, six-second “bumpers” ads

Bumper ads are six-second, non-skippable ads that get played at the beginning, middle, or end of related YouTube videos.

Hire Kaleidico and make mortgage marketing easy

Kaleidico is a lead generation agency for mortgage lenders with over 15 years of experience in the mortgage industry.

Together, we’ll transform your mortgage website and digital marketing strategies to generate more leads online and close more loans.

Talk with Kaleidico about your goals.

Photo by Christian Wiediger on Unsplash