How hyper-local search tools can help mortgage lenders

Mortgage brokers can greatly benefit from the same hyper-local social media strategies that Realtors use to attract customers.

But hyper-local does not mean hype. If you are going to be a successful mortgage blogger you need to provide hyper-local content that is relevant to your community.

Sure, you can talk about mortgage rates. Or new loan programs coming out.

But will that provide enough content for you to post every day? Can you make it interesting enough on a daily basis to attract followers?

Another key strategy is to focus on relevant items in your community. People are always interested in what’s going on in their backyard, especially if they are thinking about moving. Or one of your posts might spark them to think about moving.

Is there a new condominium complex going up in your town? How about a new golf course subdivision? Or a new school?

This is the type of hyper-local content that is going to catch people’s attention.

By now, you know, posting a blog with a gigantic block of text is booorrriiiinnnngggg. On the web, people gloss over blocks of type just like they do commercials.

On the web, you’ve got 3 seconds or less to grab them. It’s not a medium for gabbing. It’s visual, show it to me quick and make it look cool.

That’s where SpatialMatch comes in. It’s the perfect tool to display hyper-local information. The “spatial” part that comes into the play is a user-friendly map that displays information about your neighborhood.

Featured on the map are search icons – for Homes, Lifestyle, Value, Areas and Favorites.

Behind the map is enormous database of hyper-local information – 60 million homes, 12 million businesses, 130,000 schools and much more.

These 105 layers of data essentially provide a local search engine right on your site.

So, if you know there’s a new condo going up, you can not only let people on Facebook and Twitter know about, you can also provide a map showing the location.

And you can also show the amenities that surround that location – the closest gym, movie theater, library and yes, Starbucks.

“Lifestyle marketing is the newest trend in the real estate industry,” said John Perkins, CEO of Home Junction Inc. which developed SpatialMatch. “Consumers are not only looking for a home, but they want an area that fills their personal needs. Today’s savvy marketer supplies them with that information.”

A major benefit of SpatialMatch is that this huge search engine can be embedded into an individual loan officer’s or real estate agent’s website.

What you can do is create “pages” of hyperlocal information. Create a page for that new condominium complex. Or for schools in the area. Or golf courses. The possibilities are endless.

Another huge underlying benefit of all this hyper-local information on your site is, you guessed it, search engine optimization.

That battle for SEO – those high search result rankings on Google, Yahoo and Bing. Think how granular you can get with your pages on local schools, subdivisions or golf courses.

With this relevant, local information, you can target those long-tail keywords – “Martin’s Crossing Golf Community” for example.

And that’s the SEO difference.

Here’s a great example of SpatialMatch in use – www.goodlifeteam.com

(Next week, Part 2 will cover how SpatialMatch can generate leads for mortgage companies.)