Mortgage Haiku
I Am Customer
My Time Precious, Your's Not
Be Good, Or I Leave Some have forgotten what a Haiku really is; but once you know,
it is easy to understand. This is similar to doing what is right
on your web site; once you know, it is easy too. The Haiku is a form of poetry popular in Japan. It has its own
metric beat and is composed of 3 lines with 17 syllables. The
haiku has five syllables in the first line, seven in the second
and five syllables in the third line. Haiku's typically register
a moment, indicate a sensation, capture an impression, or
dramatize an event. It's almost like a photo of some specific
moment in time. Some Haiku's can make you smile. Here are some Haiku's that could have been written by visitors
to mortgage web sites, who don't like the pages that they have
found. I Visit Your Site
Looking For Information
Finding None, I Leave Over the past six years we have been writing for NAMB. And the
one factor we emphasize again and again is to make the web site
according to what your visitor wants. Many mortgage sites design
their sites according to what the mortgage company owner or the
mortgage company owner's spouse or the web designer think they
want. Spouse Approved Web Site
Visitors Cast Their Cruel Votes
Bad Design, I Leave Remember your site is for the convenience and service of your
customers, not to show off your office headquarters or have an
expansive president's message on the main page. Give your
visitor what they want and make it easy to find.
Seeking Low Cost Rates
I Click On Your Web Pages
Form Appears, I Leave Some mortgage sites still believe that visitors want to take the
time to register in order to receive information on mortgage
rates. Visitors don't like forms or other barriers to entry and
we loosely estimate that for every form on your site, you lose
up to 70% of your potential customers.
Your Mortgage Web Page
Flashing Banners Distract Me
Too Confused, I Leave Probably the primary reason people come to your site, especially
if they don't know of your company, is first to find your
interest rates. They also want to know whether they will qualify
for a loan that they desire. If your web site has too many
distracting images or banners from non-mortgage related
advertisers, you dilute your message and appeal. The net result
is people leave without searching further.
You Have Paid For Clicks
Silly You, No Info Found
Wasted Click, I Leave. We have bought thousands and thousands of pay per click (PPC)
keywords over the years. The single factor which costs mortgage
web site owners the most money in wasted advertising, are paid
clicks that lead to pages that are not related to the keyword
bought. In example, say you are paying for the keyword phrase
"VA Mortgage." Your research has shown at least 3,500 searches
each month for this phrase at Overture.com/Yahoo! With this
amount of searches, you know there is a demand for what you have
to offer. |
Additionally, you see that as of March 2005, the top
five bidders are paying between $4.54 and $5.01 per click. You
decide to enter the top at roughly $5 per click, yet when a
potential customer selects the phrase "VA Mortgage" and costs
you $5 to visit you site, you deliver them to your home page
(instead of sending them to a page about VA Mortgages). This is
a huge mistake as rarely does your main page have the specific
information for all your offerings.
You Want My Business
Yet Your Site Is Poorly Planned
No Business, I Leave
Your visitor now must find your navigational area and
determine, which link goes to info about VA loans. Every
click you require of your visitors causes them to leave. You
must deliver your "VA Mortgage" paid visitor directly to a
specific web page about "VA Mortgages". If you don't, you
are wasting your PPC funds.
I Want To Talk Now
Finding No Phone Number
I Sigh, Then I Leave
Some mortgage web sites have tried to over-automate their
business so all inquiries must come via the net. They go as
far as to only offer an email address in order to inquire
about a loan. As you are aware, obtaining a loan is a highly
personalized endeavor and your customers want to speak with
you. Be sure to include a phone number, and also make sure
you have a toll free number immediately adjacent to the
direct phone number. With toll free rates in the sub five
cent range, you can easily afford this customer convenience.
Another value of a toll free number is that some people may
search for a new loan while they are at their work
(surprise). They may not be able to make a long distance
call on their company system, but they can call toll free.
I Seek a Home Loan
Not Tricky Spelling Contest
Bad Domain, I Leave
If you have a long or hard to remember domain name (HiddenValleyMortgageLoanBrokers.com)
it causes a problem for your customers to recall you. If you
have a difficult to spell domain (look at all the "l's"
Odonellloans.com which could be typed as Odonelloans.com or
Odoneloans.com) you are losing type-in traffic. You can keep
your main domain name, but also consider buying a
descriptive domain so your customers can easily remember you
(SanDiegoLoans.com or EasyLoan.com) that redirects to your
main site.
I Email For Loan
And Wait For Timely Response
No More Wait, I Leave
When we conduct an analysis of the top visitor problems, the
most common problem is the response time between customer
inquiry and mortgage web site response. For every 12 hours
delay you wait, we estimate you lose 10-15% of your
potential customer base. After two days, you will lose over
50% as they have now contacted other mortgage companies.
Having Fixed Problems
Your Web Site Is Now Perfect
Thank You For Reading.
Web site: www.mortgagepromote.com
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