Mortgage Web Designers Are From
Pluto,
Mortgage Customers Are From Earth.
My partner and I
receive about 300-400 emails a day between us: inquiries, leads,
customers, Spam and moderated newsgroup info. One of the
emails I received was from a PhD business school candidate with a
barrage of questions regarding his thesis on financial e-commerce
web sites and what ‘works’. Two of the questions were
interesting because they apply to all mortgage web sites:
#11. “What is the
most important factor a successful financial company needs to know
about designing web pages?”
And #37, the last
question: “Can you tell me the coolest website you have
designed?”
What Do You Think?
First, “What is the
most important factor a successful company needs to know about
designing web pages?”
I ended up speaking with him and said that my answer would be
biased towards the mortgage industry and would involve web sites
that actually generate revenue. In essence, I stated that it is
not what the designer thinks, it is not what the owner of the site
thinks, it is what the customer thinks of the web site.
The biggest problem facing the online mortgage industry is that
most web designers don’t know how to design for the needs of
potential loan customers.
The PhD candidate then said, “Oh, you mean mortgage web
designers are from Pluto, and mortgage customers are from
Earth?”
I smiled and said that an owner can not give
artistic latitude to a web designer just because a designer
designs. Web design companies don’t sell AND they do not
know how to market. A ‘pretty nice’ web site does not
equal ‘pretty good’ revenues. I then mentioned there are
five types of designers…
Poor, Average, Good, Great Or Exceptional?
A poor web
designer makes a page to please themselves. An average web
designer makes a page that pleases the client. A good web
designer designs a web site that pleases the customers. A great
web designer creates and constructs a web site that pleases BOTH
customers and client.
How Does An Exceptional Designer Design?
An exceptional
mortgage web designer does more than just design, they understand
the entire Internet experience, and they have a comprehensive
approach. Their technique includes:
-
Understanding the
mortgage client and when necessary, challenges the clients
business model if it does not meet the needs of the customer.
-
Understanding the
customer needs and wants and creates a site to mirror the
information they are seeking.
-
Creating a ‘look
and feel’ which conveys trust, professionalism, acceptance
and presents the clients range of loans in the most favorable
position.
-
Lovingly hand
crafts the graphical elements and user interface for maximum
usability.
-
Creates a clear,
concise navigational system to allow customers to easily
access the entire spectrum of the site.
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And exceptional web designers do one additional element very
well...
Exceptional Designers
Design With Words In Mind
Exceptional designers, not only
create sites that are pleasing to owners and compelling to
users, but they also create your site so they are optimized
for the search engines and search directories. Unless
you are E-loan.com or Countrywide, spending hundreds or
thousands of dollars per client and millions of dollars to
advertise, you have to rely on search engines and
directories to drive traffic to your site.
Exceptional designers also
embed your keywords into the web pages…the keywords your
mortgage customer will type into the search engines and
directories so that your customers can flow to your mortgage
site.
I know that this makes sense,
but if you look at most mortgage sites, they do NOT have the
keywords they want to offer to their clients. Or it they do
have the keywords, the keywords are actually an image, not
actual text, so they are virtually useless in getting your
web site indexed by the search engines.
So the most cost-effective
method to direct ‘targeted traffic’ to your web site is
via top rankings in the search engines - especially using
search engine optimization, ranking techniques and promotion
methods incorporated into the design and text of your web
site
An exceptional web designer,
before they even design a ‘look’ for your web site, will
first determine which key words you want to build their your
mortgage web site around and then design your web page
layout and graphics. In this way your web site will be…
More Than A Pretty Face
Subtle? Yes. Difference? HUGE!
End result - a nice looking web page... that produces
tremendous results. Designers may design, but exceptional
designers create highly effective pages intended to market
your web site and drive targeted traffic.
Oh, One More Thing... You
Can Also Create Revenue.
It seems that with most sites on
the net, revenue is a hopeful by-product. With proper
web design, compelling written content, hard work, and great
products/services; your revenue becomes the end product. You
must design your mortgage web site so you can be of service
to your earthbound clients and thus create revenue.
And question #37.
The PhD candidate then said,
“OK last question, can you tell me what the coolest
mortgage website you designed?”
I had to pause for a moment, maybe he was a slow learner,
but then said, “Hmm, we have done quite a few cool sites,
but appearance is not the determining factor. One of
the coolest sites is one that produces as much as $100,000
per day in Internet generated loan commissions for an
40-person mortgage company.”
- “I guess that is pretty
cool web site design,” the PhD candidate concluded.
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