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Internet
Marketing Questions From Mortgage Web Site Owners
Over the past
month we received numerous emails with regards to internet
marketing for mortgage web sites. Here are a few of the questions
from our readers:
How Can I
Search My Competitors?
We are often
asked how to conduct competitive intelligence on competitors. We
use a free service from Google to monitor certain phrases and
competitors. It is their "alert" system < http://www.google.com/alerts
>. Simply add your keywords and Google will send you an email
update with new listings on that phrase.
More Important
Than Searching Your Competitors Is Searching...
We suggest
that you use the Google alert program to research your own
company.
Be sure to use
multiple versions of your company name to match the various ways a
customer may write your name. In example, if your company is the
Greater San Diego Loan Corporation. Be sure to enter alerts for
other likely permutations of your name; San Diego Loan
Corporation, Greater SD Loan or GSDLC. We also recommend that you
use this service for your own personal name to see if there are
any positive or negative postings about you or your organization.
I Use AdWords
But I Am Not Receiving Clicks. Do Pay Per Click Ads Really Work?
Most often the
answer to this question is one of two things: not buying enough
keywords or not bidding high enough on a keyword to get found.
May companies only buy 20-30 keywords - this is not enough. Buy
also the communities around your city. In example, San Diego is
surrounded by Del Mar, La Jolla, Chula Vista, La Costa, Encinitas
etc. Each of these cities should have, at a minimum, "home loan",
"mortgage loan" and "mortgage" associated with the keywords. In
example, "Encinitas home loan", "Encinitas mortgage loan" and
"Encinitas mortgage" should all be keywords that you buy.
Other mortgage
owners simply bid a small amount in a competitive category. If
you are listed at the bottom of a series of keywords all saying
"Miami home loans" you will not receive many clicks.
And sometimes
we asked the corollary to the above question...
I Use AdWords
And I Am Receiving Too Many Clicks... Do Pay Per Click (PPC) Ads
Really Work?
Many companies
make the mistake of buying words that are only tangentially
related to a mortgage. In example, the search term
Seattle
houses may be bought to try and attract home buyers to your site
for a home loan. In reality it is probably an OK idea,
but it is probably not an OK PPC idea. The information you provide
can be helpful, but in a PPC strategy it is not the best choice of
words to buy.
Another
problem is sometimes buying too broad of a keyword phrase. You
might supply northern Illinois with loan especially in the Chicago
are so you buy the terms Illinois home loans and Illinois home
montages. Then you find you have a number of people in southern
Illinois clicking on your ads; but you can not service them. That
can increase your costs dramatically.
Google's
AdWords allows you target regional and local areas, so you can
reach the prospects who are most appropriate for your mortgage
business. Additionally, you can write ads that highlight special
promotions or pricing based on geography.
Gosh, Didn't
This Used To Be Called Red-Lining?
Google's site
states, "You can select customized targeting if you want to define
your own target area. Indicate your area by choosing a point and a
surrounding radius or by picking points to define a border. The
AdWords system may analyze a searcher's query (for example "London
florist") to establish what location that person is searching for.
The system may also take note of the person's Internet Protocol
(IP) address to see where he or she is searching from."
It seems at
one time this practice was referred to as red-lining.
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Right Click,
Wrong Page.
Another
problem that can cause receiving click, but not many sales, is
by delivering your PPC visitor to your home page not to the page
specifically on what the customer wants. In example, if you
offer farm land loans yet send the visitor to the main page so
that visitor has to search your page to find the link to farm
land; that can frustrate the user and cause them to click away
instead of clicking further into your site. Make the PPC click
advertisement link directly to the page about that PPC word. It
takes a little longer; but the results are worth it.
Still other
issues that can lead to a high number of visitors and few
customers are your content ad appearance. If someone clicks on
your PPC ad and they arrive at a "crummy" designed web site,
they will leave. If the content you offer is uninformative they
will leave.
How Can I
Make My Pay Per Click Ad Better?
Create
straightforward ads targeting your desired customer. In example,
your add subject line might read: "Dallas home loan"
Here are the
first five ads from Google's results of a search on "Dallas home
loan".
Dallas Home
Loan Company
Leading
Mortgage Broker in Texas,
Pre-Apply
Online & Get Free Info!
Dallas Home
Loan
Get a Low
Home Loan Rate from
Texas
Lending and Save Today!
100% Home
Loan Financing
for Good to
Excellent Credit.
No PMI. No
Lender Fees
Dallas Home
Loans
Refinance
today to consolidate
debt, lower
payments & get cash out
Mortgages -
Current Rates
Low mortgage
loan rates from
lenders
nationwide. Updated daily.
You can see
the third and fifth ads don't mention Dallas, while the first,
second and fourth specifically say "Dallas". As a customer,
which ad are you most likely to select?
Test
Multiple PPC Ads
One of the
excellent features of the Yahoo and Google PPC programs is that
you can change/add/delete PPC ads on the fly. You can experiment
with different offers and utilize different keyword phrases to
see what's most effective in attracting your potential
customers. Once you find the right sequence of keywords;
continue to monitor the number of customers generated.
Be sure to
send us an email with any additional questions.
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MortgagePromote.com is a leading Internet marketing web site
that provides hundreds of articles & information tips on web
site promotion, search engine marketing and search engine
optimization; to help loan officers & mortgage companies
increase their online sales. Aries and Farris has been providing
nationwide mortgage leads & Internet marketing services since
1998. Web site: MortgagePromote.com
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