Wednesday 24 April 2013

Mortgage Website Design for an Immaculate and Profitable Web Presence



Sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2006 was the watershed in mortgage industry and mortgage industry is not the same after that, nor will it ever be. Since the process of vetting the mortgage seekers have been tightened, the modes operand for mortgage professionals has also been changed. 

One factor which has become quite significant for mortgage professionals is incorporation of information technology in their business. Off lately, online presence is considered to be a requisite to turn the mortgage firm into a thriving one. Indeed, mortgage websites are rife but very few mortgage firms know the art of coming up with best mortgage website. This article will make four propositions to the mortgage firms for an immaculate and profitable web presence. 

Does it look professional?

Like any other thing, first impression of a website is also very important. just the way first one or two minute after entering into a mortgage office give client an idea about the professional standard of the business; feel and look of the website does the same. Since mortgage is a serious business, make sure everything from color scheme to functionalities looks decent and professional. 

Also, the website should not look too busy. Again, will a potential client feel comfortable with people scurrying around in your office and no one attending him well? Certainly not! Same way, the website with over busy outlook will fail to impress the visitor. Hence, the hallmark of best mortgage website designs is their professional outlook. 

Increase Sign up ratio:

The practice of having visitor filling the form right after sitting in your mortgage office or before leaving your office should be part of your online strategy also. Have customer fill the sign up or registration form on your website by giving away his email address so you can stay in touch with the visitor and continue to share your business news and information with him. 

Saving visitor's time is key:

With umpteen mortgage websites being operated on internet, your website has few seconds to convince visitor to stay on it. Therefore, make sure the website is TO-THE-POINT. Avoid having pages with no information says only "enter here" or something; visitor will click away as there is no point of wasting time on this activity. 

Also, there should not be videos and audios that get start automatically. If you find necessary to add videos, they should be precise and must have information that should better be shared through audio or video rather than written content. if possible, try to mention the duration of audio or video clip so that people can decide easily whether they would like to watch it or not. 

Content should be easy to find:

Most of us by now understand that content is very important in terms of SEO and for visitors both, but very few know the art of placing the content on the website. Content that highlights the key features of your services should stand out on the website and must be presented in a way to grab the attention of the visitor. Mortgage broker website design should be in line with your content. 

Friday 19 April 2013

Does your Mortgage Broker Website has these 4 Things


The new method for mortgage seeker to look for mortgage brokers is internet and websites. gone are the days when people would use yellow pages to look for mortgage brokers; these days its all about searching for mortgage solutions on search engines. That means if you want your mortgage broker websites to fetch substantial amount of business for your, it does not just have to create value for the visitors and potential customers but also fulfill the requirements of search engines to stay on the top ranking. Below, i am going to highlight 5 unconventional and not-so-talked-about tips that can make your websites convincing enough to generate more leads and be in the good books of search engines also.

Firstly, information on your website can create a huge difference, specifically for the mortgage website. Now, many mortgage professionals decipher this point wrongly. Providing information to visitors does not mean long "Abut us" pages. Indeed, information about mortgage firm and services is important, but ideally it has to be the amalgamation of information about company, overall mortgage industry, current trends, future predictions and latest mortgage products. Visitor must feel that he has landed to a right place where he can get all the information and does  not need to search further.

Also, make sure that industry jargons are avoided in the content and even mortgage seeker with minimum information of mortgage industry can extract value out of it. And if some jargons are indispensable, create a glossary then. Have a mortgage website design that will make the important content prominent.

Secondly, add some tools that can help visitor explore their option by themselves. There are many people who like to do some homework before making a visit to the mortgage office, tools like mortgage calculator can be really helpful for them. It will make things easy for customers also as they will come well prepared and things will move forward towards closure swiftly. This is the reason that best mortgage websites offer visitors tool to evaluate their mortgage options.

Thirdly, to ensure your mortgage websites is a perfect representation of your mortgage firm, it must have ample information about the mortgage broker and the entire team. Putting only phone numbers and office addresses is not a good idea for a mortgage website. Add details about all the mortgage professionals working in your firm. Their qualifications, time they have spent in mortgage industry, how many of them are licensed; shortly as much details about team as possible.

Fourthly, testimonials can be a great addition in a mortgage website. Do not construe it as bragging. There is no harm in showing and highlighting the successful work you have done in past to convince the potential clients. Add written notes by the old clients or if possible record their videos having them talking about how your mortgage firm helped them find the best deal for them. 

Thursday 4 April 2013

Ingredients of brilliantly designed mortgage website

In today’s era of technology, irrespective of the scale of business, what connects it to rest of the world is “website”. Unfortunately, while some businesses have made fortunes out of it; others have witnessed a disaster. Website design is the key factor behind success and failure of every website. This article will highlight some web designing ingredients that can make or break the mortgage website.

Web content: it is all about creating a value for the visitor and content is key in this regard. People visit websites to find the information they are looking for; therefore make sure there is ample information for visitor which could easily be fathomed. For instance, if you have a reverse mortgage websites, make sure content essentially is about reverse mortgage. Other than information, content’s presentation has to be very good. Poor spelling and grammar mistakes will make bad impression of a website.

Website’s compatibility with browsers: there are myriad of browsers around. Website must be designed in a way to be compatible with at least all the famous browsers. All the users do not happen to be tech savvy; they either do not have the enough time to upgrade the browser or download new one or they simply do not know how to do it. They follow the simple rule “as long as it’s working; no need to fix it”.  A brilliantly designed website must work with major browsers like Microsoft internet explorer, Firefox, opera and Netscape at least.

Photos and graphics: studies have shown that if a web page takes more than 10 seconds to load; visitor will switch to another website. Therefore, be extremely cautious about the about the size of graphic files and photos on the web page.

Multimedia: multimedia consists of video and audio clips, background music, pictures and flash movies. A good website is the one that cater both kinds of visitors; those who want to see all this and those who do not want to.

Creating a text of the information given in multimedia for those who do not want to see multimedia is also a great facility for the visitor. Also, if a plug in is required provide a link. Last but never the least; never forget the “ten seconds rule”.

Navigation of the site: studies have shown that if a visitor does not found the required information within three clicks; will click away. We can call it the “three click rule”. Ensure that visitor reaches to required area within three clicks from any other area of the website. Navigation becomes more significant in case of residential mortgage websites.

Conclusion: a best website is the one that saves the visitor’s time and provides the relevant information. A website that does it well will certainly lead to success.

Article Resource: http://imortgagesites.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/ingredients-of-brilliantly-designed-mortgage-website/

Sunday 31 March 2013

Mortgage website not working? You must be committing one of these 5 mistakes

Forewords:
Launching a business on internet through website and yielding good results from that website is a laborious task that requires proper homework and lots of efforts. The task becomes more laborious and tough when it comes to representing a complicated and fickle business like mortgage consultancy on internet.

I personally know various mortgage professionals who are struggling with their mortgage websites and worst is they have been unable to find the reason. This article will elaborate 5 most common mistakes that mortgage professionals make and have their money sunk.

1) Do not be a “BULL”:
yes, you read it right. Do not be a fighting bull who knows nothing but to attack the bullfighter. Websites do not work that way. Just the way you would or you had dealt with your new office in other state and prepared all the cash outflows and forecasted the inflows; websites of your mortgage consultancy needs the same attention. Hence, keep your expectations real and prepare the “ROI” and other necessary forecasting.

2) No subscription option:
let me explain this to you by drawing an analogy. Would you say good-bye a mortgage-seeker visiting your office first time without having his contact information and other important details? Never! Same way, how can you let the visitor visiting your mortgage website first time go without getting his important details.

Subscription option should be, least to say, ubiquitous on the website. You should leave no stone unturned to make sure that every visitor subscribed with the website. Whether having subscription option on every page or by offering the subscribers something exceptional; make it your top priority.

3) Inertia is equal to disaster:
is the mortgage industry in state of inertia? Definitely not! Then how come your website is inert? Speculations and news are inherent part of mortgage industry and that makes it extremely unstable and changeable. If you want your website to be the perfect representation of your business, makes sure you add new things on regular basis.

Opt for the option of buying mortgage website templates as it will make you more autonomous and you can add new content easily.

4) Neglecting the post website-creation work:
no matter how wonderful and classy website looks or how amazing functionalities it has; absence of proper marketing plan will never take it places.

I will go even bit far and say that vigorous marketing campaign is more important on cyberspace as competition is tougher. Therefore, pay proper attention to this aspect. Search engine optimization activities that you may have found clerical and not so importance are paramount and can be the make or break point.

5) Not keeping up with latest developments:
cyber space is extremely dynamic and always on evolution. Old techniques and methods, on regular basis, are being replaced by the new and contemporary ones. Therefore, make sure you have an eye on all the latest developments and innovations.

For instance, I know various mortgage brokers who think social media is for fun stuff and cannot be taken seriously. They are in dire need to understand that it can do wonder to your website and business. Another example could be growing trends of buying templates and neglecting the custom mortgage websites.

Article Resource: http://imortgagesites.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/mortgage-website-not-working-you-must-be-committing-one-of-these-5-mistakes/

Thursday 28 March 2013

Highly effective mortgage marketing plan for mortgage professionals on budget

Marketing of a mortgage website and bringing traffic on it is certainly an enduring and difficult task. I have met various mortgage professionals in state of shock and surprise that creating a website is not even equal to getting half of the job done.

What many brokers fail to realize is that setting up a website is one thing and generating leads through website is a different ballgame altogether. Let me draw an analogy to simplify it for you. Does setting up a posh office in best locality of city guarantees you lots of clients? NO. In spite of all the money you have spent on that office; there is still a dire need of using personal contacts and launching a vibrant marketing campaign to let people know about your business and services. A website works the same way. No matter how much you have invested in the process of creating it and how fantastic is the product; strenuous marketing efforts are required to yield the desired ROI of mortgage website.

The spectrum of activities to market the website is too broad. There are unlimited marketing techniques, methods and strategies. In this article, I will highlight a relatively economical and quite effective method of marketing a mortgage website without having you paying thousands of dollars monthly fees to the webmaster which is “social media marketing”.

Social media is still being underestimated in mortgage industry. Many of my broker colleagues feel social media is the play stuff and something for non-serious activities. But let me tell you, if done well; it can do wonder for you. Rest of the article will be about a tried and tested plan to launch a highly effective and economical social media marketing campaign.

Do not open too many fronts in the beginning:

Social media is not just about face book and twitter anymore. Over the last few years, various other platforms have been introduced. I would suggest start with face book and twitter as they are the most popular ones. Once your presence has been established there, then go for other platforms. It’s also important to figure out which social media platform is pertinent to your services and it starts with identifying the target market. If you have reverse mortgage website, figure out at which platform you can find maximum of your target market.

Is it all about We-We?

Your social media activities should not smack of narcissism and arrogance. Keep it easy, light, Informative and entertaining. Intersperse your social media content with industry information and other important development and analysis on mortgage industry.

Is it one-way traffic?

The biggest benefit of social media is the interaction opportunities it provides. Be quick in your response to the queries of social media group. In the ends, it’s not about you but about the potential clients. In some cases, interaction holds utmost importance. For example, if you have a residential mortgage website; your target market will be the people buying home first time or buying second time after ages when their knowledge about mortgage has been faded. In this situation, you are likely to be engulfed with questions from mortgage seekers and timely answer will enhance their trust on you.

Article Resource: http://imortgagesites.wordpress.com/2013/03/28/highly-effective-mortgage-marketing-plan-for-mortgage-professionals-on-budget/

Sunday 3 March 2013

Mortgage Website Not Generating Leads? Here’s a Tried and Tested Strategy

Going online and having a website is more of a need for the businesses these days than an option, and the need turns into an obligation when we talk about an industry as brutally competitive as mortgage industry. However, what most of the mortgage professionals fail to understand is that mortgage marketing and generating leads through online marketing is a lot more than setting up a mortgage website. Marketing of a business needs a proper game plan and strategy, and online mortgage marketing is no exception. Mortgage professionals struggling with their website performance and trying to chart out an online mortgage marketing plan should ask themselves 3 questions given below: is your website social enough?

Yes - a website for mortgage marketing has to be as social and good in networking as mortgage broker himself. Just the way a mortgage broker is always looking to make connections with right and important people, the website should follow the same pattern and make relevant and quality links with other websites. Whether it takes you to trade-off the links or offers some other incentives to get good links, quality back linking is essential to be in the good books of search engine's spiders.

If you think carrying out SEO activities mentioned above is a chore for you, mortgage website templates are the best options for you. Now a day, website templates have built-in SEO setup and make the search engine optimization extremely easy.

Does your website have benefit–driven content?
 
Just the way a mortgage professional with no information and solution for the customer can never win the customer's trust- a website lacking good and informative content can never generate business for you. When it comes to content, the cliché "content is king" is still very much relevant and significant for visitor as well as for search engine crawlers. Content is the one thing that can make your website stand out from the plethora of other websites. Firstly, make sure the content you are uploading is original and not stolen or borrowed from other websites. Also, avoid using jargons and use the language that visitors can relate to.

Secondly, content with identity does not just sound more credible to visitors but also preferred by search engines. For instance, blog written by company’s CEO carries more weight and likely to attract the visitor and search engine more than a blog written by a random person. Therefore, top management should contribute in website content occasionally. Same way, a website which is total clutter, unorganized and leaves visitors clueless and perplexed about which information lies where, will certainly have a higher bounce rate. A good website takes visitors to desired place/page on the website within 3 clicks. Hence, make sure the website is user friendly, informative and saves visitor's time.

Precisely, key thing is to jettison the misconception that setting up a website is all required for online mortgage marketing, and understanding the fact that it is an ongoing process.Custom mortgage websites have made the things further easy for non-techie mortgage brokers looking to market their business on internet.