Mortgage Websites: Keys to Converting More Leads

November 29th, 2012 by Wade Schlosser on Financial Lead Generation 0 Comments

Are you getting the traffic you desire to your mortgage websites and experiencing a low conversion rate? There are several reasons why this may be happening, most are relatively easy to fix. In a recent study about the most effective lead generation tactics. 74% of the respondents claimed they were increasing their budgets towards website optimization.

Some specific ways to help improve conversions on your site are:

Know how people read online

With so much information available people cannot spend time reading entire pages of content to find what they were looking for. If a person comes to a web page that is not set up appropriately they will leave the page to seek places that appear more fruitful. Jacob Nielsen, web usability guru, calls this information foraging.

By observing eye movements in test subject’s researchers have found that we tend to read in a scanning fashion, according to Slate Magazine. This employs an “F” shaped pattern. Your clients read a heading, scan down the paragraph and then read the next heading.

Here is what you can do to up grade your mortgage websites readability:

Create scan-able text; utilize bold type for your headings.
Use meaningful sub headings; do not try to be clever it may confuse your readers.
Only discuss one topic in each paragraph.
Cut down on your word count; too much text will make your potential client seek easier pickings.

Tools we use to see how people read and click on your websites are – Attentionwizard.com and Crazyegg.com

Usability

Readers have also developed shorter attention spans. If your site is not easy to navigate readers lose interest fast. To test the usability of your site have friends and family use your site while you watch. You can also use Usertesting.com. If they struggle to navigate successfully you know there needs to be some changes made. After you make a change re-test to ensure you are getting the right outcome.

Some ideas that may help:

Keep your pages clean; clutter will hide what you want your clients attention to be on.
Avoid distractions; if there is no purpose for elements on your site then they should be eliminated.
Check your links often; dead links will also make potential clients doubt your credibility and.
Spell out next steps; don’t assume your visitors know what to do next. Have a clear call to action.

Strengthen your credibility People today are hesitant to give out their personal information on mortgage websites. This is due to identity theft, spam and junk mail. Your company needs to feel trust worthy to the client for them to take the next steps and thus increasing your conversion rate.

Some things you may want to consider:

Address messages to a specific population; to do this you must know which population you are targeting. Write on their level and about things that pertain to their life.
Daily posts; adding a blog to your site that is updated daily shows clients that you are real and your articles will show them that their concerns are being thought about regularly.
Special offers; Advertise special offers on your mortgage websites and also advertise who obtained your deals. This will show potential clients that people like them are interacting with you in person.

Applicable Traffic

A huge step in creating the conversion rate you desire is to ensure the traffic attracted to your site is made up of the right people.

Advertise where your target audience will look; advertise where your demographic is looking. We call this your “ideal client profile.”
Use the correct search engine optimization; SEO keywords are what get your site pulled up with search engines. If you do not optimize your traffic may not be applicable to your business.

Take the traffic that you have worked so hard to gain and make it start working. These steps are small and simple and will help get the results you want.

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Wade Schlosser

CEO at Forward Leap Marketing

I'm the CEO of Forward Leap Marketing. I love creating and contributing to companies' strategies to invoke raving fan customers that ultimately drive significant bottom line results through targeted web traffic, value-added partnerships, and must have products. Please connect with me on Twitter, Google +, and Linkedin.