Of all the marketing tactics that have gained popularity in the mortgage industry over the past decade, blog writing has stood the test of time. But there’s much more to blogging than meets the eye—and everyone from CEOs to sales and marketing execs should pay attention.
First, statistics prove that blogging works as a means of growing business. According to Hubspot, B2B companies that blog 11 or more times per month get almost three times more traffic on their website than companies that blog once a month or less. And when it comes to B2C companies, those that blog at least 11 times per month get more than four times as many leads than those that blog only 4 to 5 times.
We have long known that writing thought leadership articles for targeted media outlets is an excellent means of building a reputation and growing sales. Blogs work the same way—they engage prospects so they want to do business with you. According to DemandGen, a whopping 47% of buyers will view 3-5 pieces of written content before they ever connect with a sales rep.
Whether you’re recruiting loan officers, selling products and services to lenders, or simply want to improve the effectiveness of your sales and marketing, blogs pay for themselves many times over. Yet, there are important nuances to understand that dictate blogging ROI.
Not All Blogs Are Created Equally
You may be planning to write blogs yourself or have a third party write them—or perhaps you’ve already started to blog—but you should know there’s a monumental difference between effective blogs and those that simply try to look the part.
A great blogger will keep the following things in mind:
1. The Headline and SEO
A blog’s headline is incredibly important. It not only impacts readership rates, but also your site’s search engine optimization (SEO). If you want borrowers to find you online based on the search term “Boston mortgage lender,” you’ll get better SEO results if you use your target keywords at the start of your blog’s headline, just as we did in this blog.
You’ll get even better results by using more descriptive and specific keywords. According to WordStream, more than 70% of internet searches are made up of phrases containing more than three words. In fact, Google has changed its algorithm for ranking websites because people are increasingly using full sentences and questions to search for content online.
In the example above, using the keywords “Boston FHA mortgage lender” in a headline will generate highly targeted prospects that are more likely to convert to customers after reading a blog that specifically addresses their needs.
Keep in mind that blog headlines with 6-13 words attract the most web traffic, according to HubSpot.
2. Make Sure It’s Read
You may think that by writing and posting a blog with a great headline, people will read it. But if the blog doesn’t engage, educate or entertain prospects, they may stop reading after the first couple of sentences.
In the mortgage industry, there’s a tendency to have subject matter experts try to write blogs, but the outcome is often dry and boring. The other option is to have your marketing team write them. Yet without decades of experience in the mortgage industry, they are ill-equipped to write a blog that reflects well on the company’s thought leadership.
To truly blog effectively, you’ll need an experienced industry writer who knows how to pull in readers, tell them a story, and make them feel that their time reading your blog was well spent.
3. Think of Frequency
That brings me back to my very first point. Remember, it’s the companies that blog over 11 times per month that are seeing the best results. So how do they do it? After all, that’s a lot of blogging!
The reality is, most companies struggle to produce regular blogs on their own because they don’t have the right staff or the neccessary bandwidth. After seeing the effort it takes, many give up.
Some companies, however, engage an agency like Strategic Vantage to write blogs for them. With minimal effort, they get whatever number of blogs they want per month, each one penned solely for their company by seasoned, professional writers with in-depth knowledge of the mortgage industry.
The bottom line? If you need help writing great content, don’t be shy. Excellent writers who truly understand the mortgage industry are living unicorns. Don’t expect your company to employ one.
If you’d like to witness the difference a seasoned industry writer can have on your business, reach out to us at Info@StrategicVantage.com.
By Rosalie Berg, President, Strategic Vantage
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