TRID and the CFPB aren’t the only things that have changed the title industry over the past year. Marketing your title agency has changed as well by moving away from pens and donuts. Here are 6 things you need to be doing in 2016 and beyond to market your closing services in order to stand out from your competitors down the block.
1) Mobile website
86% of Facebook’s traffic now comes from mobile devices. Google even penalizes company websites that do not re-format properly on mobile phones by bumping them to the bottom of the search rankings. Why should it matter to you? If your website is outdated and not mobile friendly (automatically format’s properly on mobile phones) it will be more difficult for your customers to find you online – especially with the new generation of millennial buyers, sellers and Realtor’s who do almost everything from their mobile phones.
2) Secure hosting
Does your website start with HTTP or HTTPS? If only HTTP then you should consider purchasing an SSL certificate. Many hackers start by exploring holes in your website to gain access to other systems like email. Secure your website to protect any NPI that gets submitted to you. Not only is secure hosting important for ALTA Pillar 3 Best Practices, it also tells people that you care about their privacy, and like being mobile friendly, Google now recommends secure hosting as a standard. As a result, unsecure hosting negatively affects your search engine optimization and rankings – making it more difficult for new prospects to find you.
3) Video rules
YouTube is the second largest search engine for a reason. Video is easier and more enjoyable to consume than text. In fact 78% of people watch web videos at least once per week. Use video on your website to rank higher in search and in social media to explain otherwise dry topics like TRID. Title agents may decide to produce their own videos for starting at around $1,000 and up per video or purchase a brandable custom library for around $100.
4) Directory sites
Third party sites like Yelp, Google Local, and Zillow not only often rank higher than your website, they also already have their own traffic, mobile apps, and star ratings. Having a listing and a few reviews on these sites give you more opportunities for people to do business with you. Try it for yourself – Google your company name and then a few of your competitors and see what websites come up in the first few listings. Focus on improving the profiles by completing the listings and getting some star reviews on the sites that appear in first couple of pages of Google. Be sure to include a back to your website for the extra boost.
5) Facebook
Facebook is the world’s most active website and has over half of the world’s population as active users. Their advertising platform even lets you target very specific demographics such as “millennials that are in the market to purchase a home that make over $75,000 a year” for example. If you want to reach a specific audience or demographic, Facebook advertising is the place to be. Title agents seem to be experimenting with Facebook but many still seem to be doing it wrong.
6) Remarketing
Have you ever found a product on Amazon or a car on a dealership’s website, only to see that product or car advertised in your Facebook news feed or on some other website? This is remarketing (also called retargeting) and it is a very effective way and underutilized way for you to stay top of mind among Realtors and Homebuyers. To see this in action look out for our TitleTap ads when you leave this page, and contact us if you want your customers and prospects to see your title company’s brand around the web.
TitleTap provides turn-key websites, video, email, and social marketing Title Agents and Attorneys. Click here to get a FREE PDF with the full list of all of the Directory Websites we recommend to Title Agents and Law Firms as we mentioned in number 2 above.