Ep #4: Truth and Lies About Online Marketing with Scott Shang

Scott Shang breaks down what actually works in online mortgage marketing after 8 years and 10,000+ hours of testing — covering content strategy, niche selection, SEO realities, and Facebook advertising. Best for LOs who are tempted by online lead gen but unsure where to start or whether it's worth the investment.

Takeaways you can run this week

• Open your email sent folder right now and pull out the 5 most common questions borrowers asked you this month — turn each one into a blog post or FAQ page entry, using the question itself as the title (e.g., 'Can I use income from my second job to qualify?').
• Pick one underserved borrower niche — Scott's example: buyers post-bankruptcy or post-foreclosure — and commit to writing 2-3 articles per week on that topic for at least 6 months before evaluating SEO results.
• Add a public Q&A or comment section to your website. Scott generated nearly 3,000 comments and daily inbound calls by answering every question on a single boomerang buyer guidelines page — replicate this by responding to every comment or inquiry publicly so future visitors see your expertise in action.
• Build an email list from your website opt-ins and send every new article to that list. Scott sends weekly to 11,000 subscribers — start by adding a simple opt-in ('Get my next article') to your site and email new posts consistently.
• On Facebook, run a targeted ad promoting an educational webinar — Scott's example: 'Top 3 ways to buy a home with no money down in [your state]' — targeted at first-time buyers or your specific niche, rather than posting closed loan announcements.
• Before writing a single word of content, write down the exact question your target borrower types into Google when they're frustrated or stuck — that question IS your content strategy.

The playbook

1. 1. Identify a niche borrower problem you see repeatedly (e.g., buying after short sale, using part-time income, low down payment options).
2. 2. Write a detailed, plain-language article addressing that problem — written as if explaining it to your parents across a kitchen table.
3. 3. Enable public comments and personally answer every question posted — this builds a searchable, trust-building knowledge base over time.
4. 4. Capture emails from visitors who want future articles; send new content to that list weekly.
5. 5. Use Facebook Power Editor to target ads promoting an educational webinar to the demographic most likely to have that specific problem.
6. 6. When leads call, they already trust you from the content — transition directly to the application conversation.

Worth quoting

“There's got to be some soul in that song or nobody is going to sing it.”

“You can't sell online. The very best thing you can do online is earn somebody's trust.”

Best for

LOs who want to generate inbound leads online but have been burning money on generic content or SEO vendors with nothing to show for it.