Solved: Running Facebook Ads & Google PPC Ads Myself?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I saw your questions about running ads for your real estate business, specifically for wholesaling, and thought I'd give you some of my initial thoughts and guidance based on what I've seen work. It's a competitive area, for sure, but with the right approach you can definitely get results. I'm happy to lay out a bit of a roadmap for you.

We'll need to look at your customer's nightmare first...

Before you even think about spending a single pound on Google or Facebook, we have to talk about the most important thing, and it's something almost everyone gets wrong. Forget "people who want to sell their house." That's far too broad and will lead you to waste a lot of money on ads that speak to no one.

Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a demographic. It's a nightmare. For a real estate wholesaler, you're not looking for someone casually browsing Zoopla. You are looking for someone in a specific, urgent, and often painful situation. Your customer is in a problem state. You need to become an expert in that problem.

What does that look like in practise?
-> Is it the person who just inherited a property from a relative, it's 200 miles away, in a state of disrepair, and they just want it gone?
-> Is it the couple going through a messy divorce who need to liquidate assets quickly and without the drama of public viewings?
-> Is it the landlord who's had enough of nightmare tenants and is facing thousands in repairs they can't afford?
-> Is it someone on the brink of having their home repossessed, who needs a cash injection *yesterday* to avoid the bank taking everything?

These aren't just "sellers." These are people with a serious, expensive, and stressful problem. Your entire marketing message, from the ad copy to the landing page, has to be a direct answer to *that specific nightmare*. When you define your customer by their pain, your targeting becomes laser-focused and your messaging becomes incredibly powerful. Generic "We Buy Houses" campaigns get lost in the noise. A campaign that speaks directly to "Facing Repossession in Manchester? Get a Fair Cash Offer in 24 Hours" cuts right through. This is the foundation. If you get this bit wrong, nothing else really matters, you'll just be burning cash.

I'd say you should focus on Google Search Ads to begin with...

So, Google or Facebook? For what you're doing, I'd strongly recommend starting with Google Search ads. Here’s why.

On Google, people are actively searching for a solution to their problem. They are typing their "nightmare" directly into the search bar. They have high intent. They are literally raising their hand and saying, "I need help with this *now*." This is the lowest hanging fruit and the fastest path to getting qualified leads. For service-based businesses where someone is actively looking for help, Google is almost always the best place to start. You are meeting existing demand.

On Facebook (Meta), you're doing the opposite. You're interrupting them. You have to try and find people who *might* have this problem, based on demographic and interest targeting. It can work, but it's much harder. You're trying to create demand, or at least make them aware of a solution they weren't looking for at that moment. The leads are often lower quality and you'll need a much more sophisticated funnel to warm them up. I've seen it work for some B2B services, but for urgent, problem-based services like yours, Google is the clear winner for getting started.

Think about it: someone scrolling through photos of their grandkids on Facebook isn't in the mindset to consider selling their home to a cash buyer. Someone typing "how to stop house repossession uk" into Google most certainly is. You want to be the first answer they see.

You probably should structure your Google Ads campaign for conversions...

Alright, so we're going with Google. The next step is to build the machine correctly. A poor account structure is like building a house on a dodgy foundation. It'll collapse, and it'll cost you.

Keywords are your bedrock

Your keywords need to directly reflect the pain points we identified. You want to target "buying intent" keywords, not "research" keywords. For example, "how much is my house worth" is a research keyword. "sell my house fast for cash" is a buying intent keyword. You want the latter.

Here’s a rough idea of keyword groups you could build out, based on different "nightmares":

You'd create separate ad groups for each of these themes. This allows you to write highly specific ad copy that speaks directly to the search query, which increases your click-through rate (CTR) and Quality Score, which in turn lowers your cost per click (CPC). It's a virtuous cycle.

Your Ad Copy Must Be a Lifeline

Now you need a message they can't ignore. We use a simple but powerful framework: Problem-Agitate-Solve.

Headline 1 (Problem): Facing Repossession? Need Cash Fast?
Headline 2 (Solve): Get A Fair Cash Offer In 24 Hours
Headline 3 (Trust): Trusted [Your City] Home Buyers
Description: Stop the stress of repossession. We buy houses in any condition in [Your City], with no fees or agent commissions. Get your no-obligation offer today and close in as little as 7 days.

See how that works? It identifies the problem, offers a clear, fast solution, and adds a layer of trust. It's not clever or fancy; it's direct and solves the searcher's immediate problem.

Your Landing Page is the Deal-Maker

This is where so many campaigns fall apart. You can have the best ads in the world, but if they lead to a confusing or untrustworthy landing page, you've wasted your money. Your website needs a lot of work before you run ads, this should be your first priority. With a weak site, you'll see very low conversion rates, which means a sky-high cost per lead.

Your landing page has one job and one job only: get the lead. That's it.
-> Delete all distractions. No links to "About Us" or "Our Blog" in the main view. Just a clear headline, a simple form, and a big, obvious button.
-> The headline must match the ad. If the ad promises a cash offer for inherited homes, the landing page headline better say something similar.
-> The Call to Action (CTA) must be low-friction. "Contact Us" is terrible. "Request a Demo" is even worse. You want "Get My Free Cash Offer" or "See What We'll Pay For Your House". It's a value exchange, not a demand.
-> Build trust. This is huge. People are in a vulnerable position. You need to look legitimate. Include real testimonials (if you have them), photos of yourselves (not stock photos), a local phone number, and maybe some trust badges like "Registered with The Property Ombudsman" if applicable. A professional design is non-negotiable.

You'll need a realistic view on costs and returns...

Right, let's talk money. This isn't a cheap game to play. For service-based leads, costs can vary wildly. I've seen campaigns for home cleaning services get leads for £5, but I'm also running a campaign for an HVAC company in a competitive area, and they're paying around £60 per lead. For real estate wholesaling, which is extremely competitive, you should probably budget for the higher end of that, maybe even more. Expecting £10 leads is unrealistic and will set you up for disappointment.

But here's where we need to change the way you think about cost. The question isn't "How low can my cost per lead (CPL) go?". The real question is "How high a CPL can I afford to acquire a profitable deal?".

This is where we need to do some basic maths on the value of a deal. This is more important than any other metric in your ad account.

Let's run a hypothetical calculation. You need to plug in your own numbers here, but this is the framework.

Suddenly, that £60 lead doesn't look so scary, does it? In this scenario, you could pay up to £250 for a single lead and still be hitting your profitability targets. This maths frees you from the tyranny of cheap leads. You stop chasing low-quality £20 leads that never convert and start focusing on paying what it takes to get high-quality leads from people with real, urgent problems. This is the single biggest mindset shift that separates amateurs from professionals in paid advertising.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

This is a lot to take in, I know. It's not as simple as just turning on some ads. To make it a bit clearer, here's a summary of the main advice and the steps you should take, in order.

You might want to consider some expert help with this...

Look, you can absolutely do all of this yourself. But I'll be brutally honest, the learning curve is steep, and in a niche as competitive as real estate, mistakes are expensive. You can easily burn through a few thousand pounds very quickly just learning the ropes, money that could have been spent generating actual leads.

Working with an expert or an agency isn't just about saving time. It's about avoiding the costly pitfalls, implementing a proven strategy from day one, and getting results faster. We've run many campaigns for service businesses and know how to structure accounts, write copy that converts, and optimise landing pages to bring down the cost per lead. It's about having the experience to know which levers to pull and when.

My advice would be to get your foundations right first - your ICP, your offer, and your landing page. Once you have that, you're in a much better position to start running ads, wether you do it yourself or hire someone.

If you'd like to chat through your specific situation in more detail, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We could have a look at your plans together, and I can give you some more tailored advice on how to get started. It's often a really helpful session for people to get clarity on their next steps.

Hope this detailed breakdown helps you get started on the right foot!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh