Archive for category Mortgage Website Discussion
Top 3 Problems That Will Kill Your Mortgage Website (And How You Can Fix Them)
Posted by Kyle in Mortgage Website Design, Mortgage Website Discussion, Mortgage Website Values, SEO on December 2, 2010
Research shows that consumers seek real estate and mortgage services via the internet more frequently than any other medium. We’re in a digital, information-driven age. Sorry, but your ad in the phone book just isn’t going to cut it anymore.
That said, your mortgage website isn’t a magic money machine. You may find, in fact, that your website isn’t bringing in any new applications, leads, or even site traffic. If this is the case, one of the following issues may be at fault.
1. Your website is impossible to find. This is the fundamental reason websites fail. If no one ever sees your site, your site is a waste of time and money.
How you can fix it: Visitors won’t stumble onto your website accidentally, and you don’t want “accidental visitors” anyway. You want real, significant, qualified traffic. The following steps will help ensure that you get it.
- Make sure you have a domain name that is catchy, memorable, and easy-to-read-and-type.
- Fill your site with valuable, relevant content and information.
- Optimize your title tags to reflect the keywords your target market searches for, and integrate these keywords into your content. Consult with an SEO specialist to gain further ideas about how to optimize your site.
- Connect with other sites and affiliates. Get links to your pages out there for others to find.
- Check out these other ways to drive traffic to your site.
2. You have nothing to say. While good, valuable content can help solve your traffic problems, poor or confusing content will turn visitors away from your site once they get there. If your site makes no sense or doesn’t seem to offer anything useful, visitors won’t stick around long, and they definitely won’t call you for a loan.
How you can fix it: Again, content is the answer. Host a blog, post articles, update your pages on a regular basis with graphs, charts, market news, and more. Do anything you can to continuously provide visitors with the information they’re looking for, and organize it in a way that’s logical and easy-to-follow.
- Feature industry news on a regular basis. Offer your opinions on recent events.
- Write pages that cover small, local markets. A page for each local suburb or neighborhood might be good.
- Integrate a blog into your site, and update it with valuable content as often as possible.
3. Your site doesn’t evoke trust. Let’s say you’re getting traffic, you’ve got your content organized concisely, but still no leads. It may be that the way you’ve presented your site to visitors makes them feel pressured or skeptical. If you’re promising pie in the sky, your visitors will sense that you aren’t being honest. If your site is just a big mortgage marketing billboard, visitors will suspect a scam. It’s not easy to establish trust on the internet, but it can be done.
How you can fix it: Transparency and authenticity are key.
- Talk about yourself, but not too much. You need to let visitors know who you are, but don’t make yourself out to be some kind of hero or you’ll lose them. Post a few pictures of yourself and a bio.
- Be realistic. Talk about the true state of the economy, offer practical lending options, and so on.
- Focus on educating your visitors rather than selling to them. This is the best way to establish trust, and sales will follow trust.
Sound like a lot of work? It can be, but it doesn’t have to be. Your best option is to work with a web development company that has the knowledge and ability to address these issues before they arise.
Website or Landing Page: What’s the Difference?
Posted by Kyle in Mortgage Website Design, Mortgage Website Discussion on November 19, 2010
If you’ve researched internet mortgage marketing best practices, you may have come across the term “landing page.” This term may have been left unexplained, and this may have left you wondering. Is a landing page the same as a website? If not, how is it different? We’ll answer those questions here.
First, a mortgage landing page is not the same as a mortgage website. Your website is the face of your business as it exists on the internet, and as such, it ought to say everything to your visitors that you, yourself, would say to a client if you met him or her in person. A landing page should never do this. In order to explain why, we must look at what a landing page is for.
Landing pages are tied to ads. Let’s assume you’ve placed an ad on the internet somewhere. Every time someone clicks that ad, they are taken to a new page, a page that outlines your products and services. This page is called a landing page because it’s the page that the visitors “lands” on. The goal of this page is to convince visitors to buy from you or contact you for more information. Nothing else.
On this page, you don’t want them to read your bio or learn about your work history. You don’t want them to peruse a gallery of photos from the beautiful area where you live and work. You don’t want to introduce them to your pedigreed Pomeranian puppy Shultzy, cute as he may be. You want your visitors to do one thing only when they reach that landing page. You want them to contact you for a loan.
Think about it. You’re paying for advertising, which technically means you’re paying for visitors. You want to turn those visitors into revenue as swiftly as possible. This is why landing pages differ from websites.
A landing page is optimized to convert every visitor into a lead. Landing pages are short, sweet, and to the point. The shorter and sweeter it is, the better it is. The information isn’t the goal. The sale or initial contact is the goal.
A website is optimized to provide visitors with information. Websites are typically stronger if they contain more information rather than less. The more pages and articles and photos you include on your website, the stronger it is as a website.
This is why you shouldn’t link internet ads directly to your website. People who click on ads are often ready to buy. They don’t want to meet Shultzy. A website is important, and you need to start there, but once you’re ready to start marketing, look into a landing page.
Can A Mortgage Website Boost Your Credibility?
Posted by Kyle in Mortgage Website Design, Mortgage Website Discussion, Mortgage Website Values on November 12, 2010
Borrowers don’t often trust the banks they borrow from, and lenders are often cautious when working with borrowers. But it seems that a solid, established mortgage website can actually boost your industry credibility and help you gain customer trust.
Trust has never been more important. The internet, as with any form of media, sees its fair share of scams, scandals, and false advertising, and as the internet becomes a driving force behind more and more consumer purchases, trust will serve as more and more of a competitive advantage. The best way to build this trust on the internet is through your website.
1. Contemporary design. Internet users often make decisions about the reliability and trustworthiness of a site based on the look and feel of the site. If your page has a cheap, shallow design, users will skip it and look for a more contemporary site that meets their needs and offers better usability. The design says a lot about your commitment to the business and your stability is a professional.
2. Straightforward information. Visitors don’t want to read a lot of technical jargon or fine print. If they find information on your site that seems intended to trick or confuse them, they’ll leave. This means your content must be direct and straightforward. Speak clearly on every page.
3. Honest, accurate information. If you want to establish trust, tell the truth. The information you provide must be correct and delivered with sincerity. Don’t just focus on mortgage marketing. Your readers will see through it.
4. Depth. A broad range of content on your website, including articles, tools, calculators, secure login forms, and other elements, can help your visitors gauge your experience and professionalism. Provide information with real depth. Don’t stop at a page or two. Convince your visitors that you are an industry expert by showing what you know.
5. Who you really are. More than anything else, visitors won’t trust you unless they get to know you. Talk about yourself. Include a picture or two. Let your potential clients get to know you as much as possible. If you can establish a personal connection from the start, you’re golden.