As a digital marketing expert with years of experience, I've built numerous workflows that streamline the content creation process, especially for clients in highly competitive industries like mortgage broking. This morning's session with a mortgage broker client highlighted the importance of laying a solid SEO foundation with carefully crafted blogs. But today, I'm exploring how I've evolved my content strategy to blend blogs with video content, ultimately driving better client results.
Starting with the Basics: SEO Blogs
The first step in any project is to build content that establishes authority and trust with Google. For my mortgage broker client, we created a series of foundational blogs. These blogs aren't just about writing for SEO—although that is a big part—they're also designed to answer the most common questions clients in the finance space have. Regarding mortgages, home loans, and personal loans, we begin by targeting the top-of-funnel content. This means covering broad yet highly relevant topics like "What is a home loan?" or "How to get approved for a mortgage."
We begin by setting up about 20 blogs per category or service. For example, 20 blogs for home loans, 20 for personal loans, and another set for commercial loans. I carefully research each topic based on keyword volume; ensuring we address the questions, people search for on Google. The idea is simple: provide value and give Google exactly what it wants. This includes focusing on LSI keywords (Latent Semantic Indexing) that help Google understand how terms relate to one another. For example, a blog about home loans might naturally mention terms like "interest rates," "down payment," or "loan eligibility." This signals to Google that the content is comprehensive and relevant.
The idea is to cover all aspects of a topic with these foundational blogs, helping Google crawl and index the website properly. As I've always said to clients, while this is absolutely for Google, it's also for their target audience. When people read these blogs, they get practical, actionable information that helps them on their journey.
Adding a Video Element: The Shift to Social Media and Visual Content
In recent years, I've started pushing my clients to step outside their comfort zones and become more visible on social media. I always tell them it's not just about adding a service—it's about building trust with Google. Google loves it when traffic comes from diverse sources, whether social media, direct brand searches, or local traffic. The more diverse the traffic, the more Google trusts your site.
Here's where I get more aggressive with video content. The shift has been noticeable, especially with clients in more introverted industries, like finance. Mortgage brokers, financial advisors, and accountants are typically not eager to jump in front of the camera, but they're beginning to realise the importance of doing so.
We take the topics from our blogs, break them into talking points, and give the client a script guide. This is far from a rigid script—more like a structure with key talking points that help the client stay on track. For example, I might provide them with a hook, like "Here's how you can get pre-approved for a home loan in just three simple steps", and a few key points to cover. From there, it's up to the client to record the Video in their voice, adding their personal touch.
Streamlining the Video Production Process
Once the Video is recorded, editing and polishing the footage is the time. I believe in making things as simple as possible for clients and my internal team. After the client records their Video, they upload the footage to a system where the editing is done.
I personally rely on CapCut for basic editing—cutting out any unsavoury sections, adding captions, and ensuring the aesthetics match the client's brand. While CapCut does a great job for most edits, I also use Descript for more advanced editing. Descript makes it much quicker to remove filler words like "um" and "ah," which is crucial for maintaining a professional feel to the content. Plus, the software's ability to generate captions automatically is a game-changer, saving us time and ensuring accessibility.
This is where the magic happens. As soon as the Video is polished, it's uploaded to YouTube and embedded into the corresponding blog. This creates a kind of "Blog 2.0," where visitors can either read the blog post or watch the Video to learn more. It's an excellent way to cater to different content preferences, whether the user prefers to read or watch. The beauty of this system is that once it's set up, it runs on autopilot—content gets produced and published at scale.
The Power of Integration: Blog + Video = More Traffic
I've found that integrating Video into blogs produces far more powerful results than a blog post alone. Video content is highly engaging and helps boost user retention rates. I've seen firsthand how Google rewards websites that feature multimedia content. It's like taking your blog to the next level.
To make this work even better, I ensure that the blog and Video complement each other. For example, the Video is an opportunity to go deeper into a subject or show examples that might be difficult to convey through text alone. The Video serves as a summary of the blog, but it can also introduce new information that didn't make it into the written piece. When a user spends time on the page, watches the Video, and interacts with the content, Google notices. This helps with SEO and improves the chances of ranking the page for various related terms.
Overcoming Common Challenges in the Mortgage Space
In the competitive world of mortgage broking, standing out is crucial. Every bank and financial institution has already written a guide on how to get a home loan. That's why it's important to focus on local SEO and create hyper-relevant content for your target audience. By concentrating on a specific suburb or region, mortgage brokers can carve out a niche that attracts local search traffic.
The key is to be unique. If you're the only mortgage broker in the area, answering specific questions and covering topics your colours haven't, you're already ahead. This micro-win can expand over time, and as your content ranks, the radius of your SEO reach increases.
