There can be a temptation in any business to focus entirely on your own work, trying to make your success stand alone, free from outside influence. However, there is a lot of value to be gained from observing your competitors. Competitor research for mortgage brokers is especially important due to the high level of competition present in this field. Clients have a lot of choice, and you want yours to be the one that ultimately comes out looking best - and understanding what you’re up against can highlight your own weaknesses, creating opportunities for improvement.
Why competitor analysis matters for your website
If you don’t know what the standard is across your industry, you put yourself in serious danger of falling below that standard. This is especially true of your website, which will be measured through the quality of the user experience, meaning that it’s in your best interest to continuously improve the platform. Competitor analysis can help you to improve through identifying your own weaknesses - gaps in your CTAs and getting a better understanding of how to utilise SEO for improved ranking.
What to look for in competitor mortgage websites
When it comes to mortgage adviser competitor analysis, you need to remember that you’re looking to establish your brand as a reliable source of information. You want users to feel safe and confident in your brand so that you become the best and most natural choice. When looking at competitor mortgage websites, get a sense of how they structure their site and content to create the best user journey, as well as how blogs, guides and services pages are presented. The usage of enquiry forms might also be an area where you’re falling behind - but they need to be optimised for mobile, as a form that becomes difficult or frustrating to use by mobile could cost you a conversion.
Analysing SEO performance
Developing good lead generation for mortgage brokers means optimising your website for SEO so that you can appear in search results just as often as competitors. Ensure that you’re checking keyword rankings and monitoring organic traffic so that you can continuously adjust your approach. Identifying backlink opportunities and monitoring meta-titles and descriptions for the best on-page optimisation possible might take a lot of fine-tuning, but it’ll help you to perform well in the rankings.
Learning from competitor content strategies
Effective implementation of video guides alongside blogs, or mortgage calculators can make competitor websites very valuable tools for clients, which is something that then makes conversion more likely. This is especially true if these websites are repeatedly engaging with client pain points that will be searched for regularly, making them effective at targeting the right audience.
Tools to make competitor analysis easier
There are both free and paid tools that you can use to get started with this analysis, including:
Otherwise, SEO audits can help you to get a better sense of what the performance benchmarks are, and setting up alerts to track competitor activity can ensure that competitor analysis becomes a regular part of your work.
Turning insights into action
After conducting all of the proper research, you have to think about how to best turn what you’ve learned into an improved result for your website. Keep your attention on the user journey - every design improvement that you implement should complement this in some way and add to a greater sense of cohesion. In addition, proper keyword strategy and content planning can improve digital marketing for mortgage advisers, while enhancing your calls to action can improve lead generation.
Common mistakes to avoid
The biggest mistake in competitor analysis is imitation. Your goal isn’t to copy another firm’s website but to understand why it works and adapt those lessons to your own brand. Don’t just study the biggest players, smaller, agile advisers often reveal smarter tactics. And above all, turn insight into action; research means nothing if it never leaves the spreadsheet.
Mortgage adviser competitor analysis can only improve your website. In a shifting digital landscape, the optimum user experience is always evolving, and looking at competitors can lead to insights that transform your own approach for the better.
