Smart Mortgage Marketing

I’ve just finished reading the SEO Book by Aaron Wall, and I am happy to recommend the book to you without hesitation. It’s full of up-to-date SEO advice and resources, but that’s only the beginning.

If you want to skip past me raving about the book and download it for yourself, you can do so at Aaron’s website here.

I’ve been working with Internet marketing and search engine optimization for several years now, and I like to think I’m pretty well read on the subject. I try to read at least one article per day, on subjects such as blogging, Internet marketing, web development, SEO advice and more. Just when I think I’ve “seen and heard it all,” I download and read Aaron’s SEO book.

SEO Advice - Plus a Lot More

The book provides over 300 pages of SEO advice from somebody who truly lives and breathes all things web-related. Aaron is knowledgeable on SEO topics (obviously), but more than that he helps you see the bigger picture of online success in general.

I would have liked a bit more organization within the book, as far as the progression of topics and SEO advice. But the topics are “modular” in nature, so you can really just jump in anywhere. It’s not something you have to read cover to cover. For example, if you want to brush up on your knowledge of social networking as it pertains to SEO advice … you can dive right into that chapter.

Aaron also keeps the book current by updating it once in a while, so you know you’re always getting the most current SEO advice available. And in the fast-moving, ever-changing world of Internet marketing and search engine optimization, current SEO advice is the only kind that’s worth reading.

I truly hope you download this vast collection of SEO advice today, and I hope it benefits you as much as it has me.

Check out Aaron’s book here

Terminology note: In this article, SEO refers to search engine optimization, which is the act of improving a website for better search engine visibility. Mortgage SEO, then, simply refers to an SEO program on a mortgage-related website.

Would you like an easy way to increase your mortgage website’s search engine visibility / ranking for certain key phrases? I know … who wouldn’t write? Well here it is. You can increase your SEO success simply by writing one page of web content for every phrase on your list of key phrases.

That’s it. Seems pretty simple, doesn’t it? Yet you’d be surprised how many websites lack the most fundamental element of search engine visibility — content!

Side note: You will obviously need a list of key phrases for this process. If you don’t have such a list, or have interest in creating one, you should consider my SEO services.

After you have your list of key phrases (which are those phrases your target audience is typing into search engines), you are ready to start writing website content. To keep this process manageable, just start with the top 10 to 15 phrases on your list. Remember, you’re going to write one page of content for each phrase, so don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Next, you will write one page of keyword-rich content for each of your selected phrases. If one of your phrases were “mortgage companies in Houston, Texas,” then you would write a keyword-rich web page about that specific topic.

In addition to giving your website visitors useful information, you are supporting your mortgage SEO program laying the ever-important foundation of keyword-rich content.

As more and more people use the Internet for mortgage research, search engine optimization (SEO) becomes more important to the modern mortgage professional.

By definition, mortgage SEO or search engine optimization is the act of improving your mortgage website for better search engine rankings … and by extension, better traffic levels.

But most people don’t realize that many of the improvements you make from an SEO standpoint are also good for general website usability as well. Take hyperlinks for example. Now in this context, I am referring to internal links on your website. These are hyperlinks from one page of your mortgage website to another. With some simple adjustments to your hyperlinks, you can improve your website’s usability and search engine visibility at the same time.

In other words, hyperlink optimization supports your mortgage SEO efforts as well as website usability. Here’s how to go about it.

Optimizing Hyperlinks for Mortgage SEO

Putting keywords into your hyperlinks is one of the easiest website adjustments you can make to improve the search engine visibility of your mortgage website or blog. Search engines robots (or “crawlers”) read the text within hyperlinks in order to determine what a web page is about. This text is aptly referred to as link text.

Of course, there are plenty of other factors search engines use to determine a page’s meaning, but link text certainly helps. It’s also an easy way to educate search engines about your mortgage website’s theme or overall category.Also Good for Usability
When you use descriptive phrases in your hyperlinks, you also improve your website’s usability. A descriptive hyperlink tells people where the link will take them, as opposed to the always vague “click here.”

Note the difference:

• Click here for more information. (This is vague for people and meaningless to search engines).
• Get additional mortgage marketing tips in the Articles section. (This tells people where the link goes, and it also tells search engines what the page is about.)

In my training guide on the mortgage web presence, I show you how to “think like a publisher” when it comes to online marketing.

This is a key concept in search engine optimization (SEO). If you take an active approach to your online publishing, you will surprise yourself with how much you can improve the search engine ranking (and traffic levels) of your mortgage website.

If you download the guide, you’ll have step-by-step instructions on all of this. But in the meantime, I can offer some tips on publishing your way to the top of the search engines.

1. Forget the notion of a static website. If you’re serious about your online mortgage marketing, you need to create new content on a regular basis. Sorry, but that’s the reality of it.

2. The easier your web-publishing system, the more likely you’ll be to keep it up. Hint … a mortgage blog is a great way to reduce the concept of web publishing to a fill-in-the-blanks level of simplicity.

3. Look beyond your website when publishing content. Sure, you want to create new articles and resources for your own website, and on a regular basis. But you also want to publish content on other websites. Not sure how to do this? Then get your copy of “The Mortgage Web Presence.” 

What’s the point of mortgage SEO? This is a common question among mortgage brokers, and it’s basically the same as asking what’s the point of marketing.

To understand the point of Mortgage SEO, you first have to understand what SEO, or search engine optimization, actually is. As I’ve defined on the SEO services page, the point of Mortgage SEO is to increase your website’s search engine ranking, online visibility and traffic levels.

In turn, by increasing the amount of qualified traffic to your website you are increasing your potential for online mortgage leads.

But it all starts with having a website people can easily find when searching phrases relevant to your products and services. And that, my mortgage marketing friend, is the point of search engine optimization.