Are you leveraging your web properties as well as you could be?
Financial institutions (FIs) already know that having an online presence impacts the success of their business. One point that FIs may not be particularly clear on is the role that search engine optimization (SEO) plays in that process. The way that consumers research and make major purchases has changed and today 80% of purchases over $500.00 start online. In order to be the FI that is chosen over all others, the content of the page you want to guide consumers to needs to clearly position you as the obvious solution to their need.
SEO is an ongoing process of determining what search terms consumers are using, creating meaningful content, and staying relevant to the major search engines. For community banks and credit unions, competing with national brands brings about some challenges, but SEO provides a level playing field so that the services offered by a smaller FI can still compete in keyword searches.
Optimizing your website is basically telling the search engines where to find what you offer; so that when your prospective clients or customers are searching for a product you offer, they can find it easily. When banks and credit unions use SEO properly they ensure their websites have proper titles, while emphasizing content in keywords in hyperlinks, headings, and URLs. By actively participating in SEO, FI’s ensure that consumers shopping for cars, homes and home improvements can find help making those purchases from a local brand.
It’s also critical to smaller community financial institutions to optimize their website for local searches. There are several on-page factors that are crucial to optimizing a website for local searches. Things like title tags, URL, headings, image tags, copy, meta-description and your physical address and phone number all help you control the way search engines see you and your solutions.
There are no shortcuts to rise to the top of search results, but with Conotext’s Voyager powered by BrightEdge, one of the most powerful web analytics platforms available, we can help put your FI in the unique position of being able to focus on content that is relevant to your target markets.
