Do your graphics integrate well with the entire site? (No flashing mailbox graphics or scrolling text).
Does the home page utilize expert sales wording (i.e. compelling content) that encourages a buying decision?
Does the home page inspire trust and build rapport? (Be aware that security is more of an emotional issue than a technology one.)
Is your contact information easy to find (1-800, address, email, hours of operation)?
Are the smallest details (such as fonts and colors) chosen to maximize sales?
Does the home page compel your visitors to go deeper into the site? Does your navigation or wording actually compel your visitors to want your product?
Does your web site view on all browsers?
AIDA - Tropical Disease or
Marketing Acronym?
I'd like to share a powerful tool from the "real world" of sales because it is just as powerful in the virtual world -- and perhaps even more so. It's known by the acronym throughout all marketing textbooks as "AIDA" (attention, interest, desire, and action).
Every successful sale incorporates these critical elements at every step. These steps drive the process of turning visitors into buyers. So apply the AIDA test to your own home page and analyze your results:
1. Does your home page grab visitors' attention -- in about eight seconds?
2. Does your home page stimulate customer interest and reinforce that they are at the correct web site?
3. Does your home page inspire the desire to take the action of clicking deeper toward a sale?
4. Is "how to take action" obvious and easy?
Once you've tested for AIDA on your home page, test every other page on your site. Are your visitors moving comfortably from your home page, through your entire site, and to your application form?
If you can't answer yes to all four questions; then you've got some work to do. But taking this extra time to do it "right"; will make your web site one of the few that makes money on the Net.
And just like investing your Internet marketing dollars (dough) into achieving high search engine rankings. You also need to invest some dollars (and time) into a well designed/researched home page. The Net is a powerful opportunity to make mortgage sales, you just have to do the "right" things in the "right" sequence.
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