Most investors I talk to are the kind who still rely on all the classical real estate marketing techniques but they want to succeed with digital marketing and PPC. The problem? They’re stuck with poor advice and bad professionals.
That’s exactly where one of our clients was when they came to us. They were already a successful wholesaling company based in the Midwest — not new to the game. But like many others, they were looking to move away from outbound marketing and build something more predictable that brings in hot, inbound leads — a digital system that could deliver motivated seller leads without having to add more staff like callers or texters.
They knew Google Ads had potential. So they made what seemed like a smart move: they hired a full-time employee to handle it in-house.
Unfortunately, that’s where things went off track.
The person they hired had little to no real experience with Google Ads. For nearly a year, their campaign ran with poor targeting, no conversion tracking, and no clear keyword strategy.
And worst of all — they let Google perform a lot of automatic changes, which turned out to be a disaster. Their ads started showing in both Search and Display campaigns combined (a big, big, big no-no).
The result? A glorified money-burner.
They were flooded with low-quality leads from rural areas, many involving mobile homes (which they didn’t buy). Lead costs were high, ROI was nonexistent, and eventually, they pulled the plug. That employee was let go — and ironically ended up joining an agency, likely getting his first real experience managing campaigns professionally.
Things turned around when the company came across one of our posts, where we invited investors to book a call and get their campaigns audited. They reached out — and after a few strategy meetings, they decided to hire us.
So what did we do in order to put them on track, and finally get them to success?
Step 1: Restructure Their Google Ads Campaign From the Ground Up
When we looked under the hood, their existing Google Ads account was a mess — broad match keywords mixed with phrase and exact match in a completely random way, poor location targeting, no negative keyword strategy, and a shaky landing page that wasn’t converting.
And the worst part? They let Google automations take over — which eventually led to their Search campaign being merged with Display (a big no-no).
So, we used the few stats that were worth keeping (and there weren’t many) and combined them with our own tried-and-tested templates.
- Focused only on high-intent, motivated seller keywords
- Separated broad from phrase/exact match types
- Created tight, multiple ad groups that served the core keyword
- Wrote compelling ad copy and added extensions & assets to boost click-through rates — all while focusing on the main ad group keyword
- Removed most Google automations and optimized ad rotation so we could control the stats we see — not Google
tep 2: Designed a High-Converting Landing Page Based on Their Top Google Ads Competitors
They already had a landing page — but it wasn’t great. So, we conducted market research specifically within their target market, analyzing the top-performing competitors in their metro area and pulling out the best elements we saw across the board.
We then worked with their designer to implement those insights, resulting in a refreshed landing page that positioned them as a bonafide Cash Buyer brand — buying properties for cash across the entire metro.
We fixed the hero image location, updated the visual identity to reflect a professional capital company brand (not just a solo “personal investor” look), and added a lot more social proof to build trust and credibility.
And we were ready to launch with a formed strategy at around $6,000 of an ad spent.
Step 3: Followed Up Relentlessly in the First 2 Months to Validate Lead Quality
The campaign launched — and leads started coming in.
We created a shared spreadsheet with the client where they could update us in real time on lead quality. This allowed us to monitor effectiveness from day one and make fast, informed adjustments if needed.
Within the first two weeks, the client signed three contracts.
This was a critical moment — we weren’t just optimizing for volume; we wanted to confirm that the quality was there. Luckily, the client was a savvy wholesaler and could quickly tell the leads were solid. Now it was on them to work their acquisition magic and get those deals across the finish line.
We follow our 4-legged framework to ensure we’re delivering high-quality leads:
- High-intent, off-market seller keywords
- Strong ad copy focused on benefits, not just features
- Geo-targeting aligned with the client’s investment areas
- A landing page that blends proven elements from top competitors, while keeping their brand identity front and center
Step 4: Building Marketing Intelligence for ROI%
Due to the nature of real estate deals, the first closed deal from those early signed contracts came about 60 days in.
The client was hungry for results and fully committed — willing to spend over $10K/month to keep traffic flowing and the pipeline full.
As more deals started closing, we tracked which locations were producing contracts and began splitting campaigns to target inner-city vs. suburban leads, since the income potential varied significantly between the two.
Our Google Ads optimization never stopped — we tracked performance daily and weekly, refining everything from keywords to bids to landing page elements. But beyond CPL and impressions, we kept our eyes on the most important metric: ROI% over time.
By month five, the campaign had broken even — and from there, it turned into straight profit.
(Quick tip: It’s extremely rare for a real estate PPC campaign to become profitable within the first 30–60 days — that’s just not how this space works.)
Step 5: Focusing on Projected Positive ROI Month In, Month Out — and Increasing Profitability
There are many companies that “do” Google Ads — but very few actually track the health of their clients’ income from the leads they generate.
We’re not like that.
Once we passed the 10-contract mark, we began layering deeper insights into the campaign. We didn’t just aim for lower CPLs — we aimed for predictable monthly profitability, even though actual income from real estate deals tends to show up with a 60–90 day delay.
We tracked everything and optimized the campaigns to ensure that, even with that natural lag, the system was building consistent ROI momentum month after month.
As that took shape, the client began to see steady revenue growth on a monthly basis — not just sporadic wins.
Eventually, the campaign surpassed $400,000 in closed deal income, and did so in under 10 months.
The Summary:
The right campaign setup brought in the right leads — and the right leads turned into contracts.
Once deals started closing, we zeroed in on the profitability and location of each one.
With that consistency, we were able to strategically plan monthly ad spend and lead volume to stay on track for profitability — and we simply executed that formula month in, month out.
