“Soft opening, grand opening. When they opened The Flamingo, one day it was closed, the next day it was open. End of story.” Saul, Ocean’s 13
In this quip from Hollywood blockbuster Ocean’s 13, veteran hustler Saul is complaining to Danny and Rusty about a “soft opening” versus a “grand opening” of a Vegas casino.
Saul doesn’t care for the new way of doing things, but he knows that if he wants to cash in, he needs to adapt.
It’s like that with mortgage websites, too!
“Business as usual” is no longer Works because digital mortgage is here
A plain mortgage webpage is no longer competitive.
Keyword stuffing and backlink farms are dead and ranking high on search engines for “mortgage” isn’t really a practical path to a booming online business.
Are you stuck in the old-school ways of getting referrals?
If you are, it’s killing your lead generation potential!
Find out what the most common mistakes are and be like Saul — adapt to boost your online mortgage leads!
Mistake #1 Not Investing Enough in Online Lead Generation
Think back to when you first started in the lending business; did your first loan land on your lap without any effort?
Unlikely! There was hustle behind that first loan and a real investment with time (and maybe even money) to earn it.
Getting traffic to your website works the same way. You need to hustle and invest in promoting your mortgage website — aggressively and continuously.
Investing could be paying for ads on Google or Facebook or hiring a mortgage marketing team to create a comprehensive lead generation plan.
Your investment could also be in the form of time. Taking the time be active on social media, responding to others’ posts, send out emails to your loan prospects, and creating great content for your mortgage blog.
Whatever mortgage marketing tactics you use, you must invest aggressively and continuously to generate mortgage leads from online sources.
Mistake #2 Putting Too Much Effort on “Broad” Keywords, Not Enough on “Long Tail” Keywords
Here’s another common mistake that mortgage professionals make when it comes to optimizing their websites and online brands: they waste time trying to rank for broad terms like “mortgage” and “home loans.”
Even long tail keywords like “how to get a home loan” are difficult to rank for.
Instead, aim to be a specialist.
For example, if you’re a lending firm that specializes in investment properties in Arizona, it’s better to rank for those keywords. Here are some ideas for long tail key terms:
- How to buy investment properties in Arizona
- Investment property lender in Phoenix
- How to be a property investor in Tuscan
- What types of properties should I invest in Gilbert, Arizona
- How much do I qualify for investment property in Scottsdale
- Best investment property lenders in Mesa, Arizona
- How to manage properties in Chandler, Arizona
- Help with applying for investment property loan
Forget about trying to rank for “mortgage” or “apply for a mortgage” because it won’t happen. The online space is just way too competitive.
But that’s okay! There are plenty other opportunities (like those shown above) for you to generate meaningful, organic traffic to your mortgage website.
Mistake #3 Ignoring Metrics
Be honest —how often do you look at your website analytics?
If you wanted to see which keywords you rank for and what page they land on, would you know where to find that information?
It’s all in your Google Analytics!
Google Analytics is a free service by Google that gives you insight into traffic, reach, ranking, audience, and many more metrics.
All you need to do is set up a free account, and paste a small code into your site. Our mortgage website templates have a neat little box for you to paste the code without going into the code.
After about a day, you’ll be able to go onto Google Analytics to see all your website metrics and get an honest view of how well your mortgage website is working for you.
Mistake #4 Not Defining Goals (The Right Way)
You probably want more leads, but how much is “more?”
3?
15?
Or maybe you want to increase web traffic from SEO keywords — by how much and by when?
The only way you’ll know you’ve achieved your goal (and the only way you can create a plan to reach it) is by defining it in a way that is specific, measurable, and time-sensitive.
Here’s an example of a well-defined goal:
Increase SEO-generated web traffic by 15% within 12 months.
You can see how much easier it is to reach a goal when you define it the right way!
Mistake #5 Misinterpreting Metrics
Along with defining your goals, you also need to know what metrics matter. For example, if your goal is to get more first-time homebuyers to fill out your lead capture form, ranking #34 for VA refinance is of little consequence.
Here’s a less obvious example: More traffic does not equate more leads!
It’s more important to focus on getting the right kind of traffic and converting them with an enticing offer on your site than it is to have tons of non-converting and meaningless traffic.
So when you review your Google Analytics, make sure that you are looking at data that is meaningful to the goal you are trying to reach.
Mistake #6 Not Using the Right Tools
Google Analytics is but one tool you have available, which also happens to be free. You have other tools that can help your cause significantly.
Google’s Keyword Search tool helps you identify what keywords have decent search volume but not too much competition, and hence attractive.
Hashtagify helps you to find the best hashtags to use in your tweets.
Canva.com helps you to create professional graphics for your site and social media posts.
Use the free images on Pexels.com to customize your mortgage website template and stand out from the rest.
If you’re already a LenderHomePage client, we also provide you with mortgage landing page templates to create a high-performing mortgage marketing campaign and brandable mortgage mobile app.
You also have a free library of marketing tactics right here on the LenderHomePage blog!
All these mortgage lead generation tools are available to you — are you taking advantage of them?
