Results from Search Engine Journal shows that SEO efforts leads have a close rate of 14.6 % whereas outbound efforts leads like print advertisements or mails have a close rate of only 1.7 %. Even then, most of the websites of financial institutions are not built with SEO –friendly structures and also not actively engaged with SEO strategies.
If your website design fails to engage its targeted audience and have them converted to members, it will not be doing a good job hence it is time for rethinking the marketing strategy of your credit union.
What does SEO entail?
SEO strategies entail tactics and techniques used for increasing visitors to a website through increasing ranking of the site on the big search engines like Yahoo, Bing and Google. These search engines usually rank websites depending on various factors; off-page and on-page elements included.
The following are the most important factors in ranking that need to be considered:
- Type of content
- Links
- Local Listings
The target is based on four areas of SEO including: Strategy of content. Local listing, the reviews online and site’s health/analytics.
Areas to Focus on
Content Strategy
Since content is the entry to mentions of social media and external links, SEO calls for a strategy of good content. This means building new links, increasing the number of keywords that search engines indexes and which in turn increases opportunities of brand awareness growth. Content should be created and digitally shared. Once you put in place a content strategy, you should test, measure and improve the strategy. The required tools for content strategy are:
- Keyword research
- Content audit
- Content and social calendar
- Plan of content governance
- Plan of content promotion
Local Listings
Besides proving users with an opportunity of sharing their story, they assist search engines to locate every branch. Ensure that every branch has got all the top local listing claims and filled completely. If there are duplicate listings, claim one and remove the other. For every claimed local listing, monitor them constantly for responses and new reviews.
Online Reviews
The search engines are usually local and local results are produced depending on popularity. Popularity can be measured depending on number of reviews and external back links. Your rankings can be improved through online reviews which then convert targeted audience to new members.
Members should always be encouraged to share their story or leave a review on the main site as well as on third party sites like Google+, Hotfrog and Yelp. Online reviews can be monitored by tools like Google Alerts, Moz Local and Yext.
Monitor the Site’s health and Analytics
For their users, search engines offer the users a positive experience by means of ranking sites that offer relevant content and providing good user experience. Thus, it is important to monitor Bing Webmasters and Google Webmasters (Google Search Console). These metrics can be documented in a spreadsheet which allows you to easily identify trends over a long time period. Spend time frequently in Google Analytics. Monitor conversion trends, traffic, user behavior and trackbacks to establish areas requiring attention.
Too Long; did not Read (TL;DR)
SEO strategies may generate potential members, leads quality and also offer a better experience for the existing members. In your SEO strategy, ensure to include local listings, content strategy, and online reviews .Also monitor your site’s health.