 Background:
This website design case study and search engine optimisation case study provides information on the background and implementation of the www.mortgagepaymentprotection.ie website on behalf of Financial Architects Ltd. and carried out by The DG Group.
The Requirement (Phase 1):
The DG Group was approached by the owner of Financial Architects to design a website to promote a new product in the form of mortgage payment protection and income protection policies. The brief was to create a site that allowed visitors to:
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Learn about these two products.
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Run a cost calculation right on the site to see just how affordable the products are.
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Easily contact Financial Architects with some pre-qualified information.
In addition, the client had an understanding of search engine optimisation, but was not sure whether this type of product would be searched for online and so did not want to spend a great deal of funds in this area until the website was 'proven'. However, it was also understood that the website would have to compete with major companies in the insurance industry and so some level of optimisation would have to be applied.
The Solution (Phase 1):
The DG Group built a simple yet attractive and efficient website that met the 3 main objectives. The text content was delivered by the client and edited by The DG Group to fix any minor spelling and grammatical errors. At this stage some initial keyword research was undertaken, with the best keywords and phrases implemented within the metadata areas of each page and also loosely within the body (visible) content. The site was wrapped around a simple to use content management system, allowing the text to easily be modified in the future.
The Results (Phase 1):
The site went live in March 2009 and after approximately 8 weeks we were able to determine its ranking in both Google, Yahoo and MSN searches. For example, searches for 'Mortgage Payment Protection' displayed the site on page 1 for all 3 search engines, but the position differed quite extensively. Both MSN and Yahoo ranked the site in the top position (1), while Google showed it in position 6.
This was an excellent result considering the limited amount of SEO that had been applied, but taking into account that Google represents anywhere between 70% and 90% of searches, increasing ranking on Google would be advantageous.
Despite this however, the results from a business perspective from the client were excellent and by end of May it became clear that the web was indeed an excellent vehicle for this type of product with new business coming in at a tremendous rate.
The Requirement (Phase 2):
Thanks to the success of the site, the client was happy to review how he could increase its ranking on Google. Two major options were discussed:
1) Google Adwords
This option delivers very fast results on a broad range of keywords and the initial cost of implementation is low, however, because this does not involve any optimisation on the site and is strictly an online advertising program, there are monthly ongoing costs, which if stopped means that the site disappears from view again. In the long-run therefore, this approach can be very costly.
2) Advanced Optimisation
This option takes longer to implement and has a much higher initial cost (in most cases full optimisation will cost as much as the website itself), but once completed and active, it improves the organic ranking of the site and so your site moves up the page and stays there for no additional costs.
The client decided that optimisation was the preferred route due to its long-term cost savings and so the advanced SEO project began. However, he would review what additional benefits Adwords might have once the site was ranking well.
The Solution (Phase 2):
The DG Group began with a complete re-write of all the content in order to include the major keywords and phrases into the text, taking into account keyword relevance, proximity and saturation. Secondly came unique metadata for each page and with that done it was time to validate the code. HTML code validation is very important for achieving best results as even minor errors, that most browsers can work around, can cause problems for the search-engine crawlers.
With the code fully compliant, it was time to start on the off-page optimisation elements. An XML sitemap and robots.txt file were created, both of which help the crawlers to better do their job. The site was also registered on a number of directory sites, including DMOZ.org as well as being fully verified in the Google Webmaster tool.
As a final note, one of the most important factors in increasing and maintaining long-term ranking is growing the number of inbound links to the site. We therefore facilitated this with the addition of an 'Add This' button, which allows visitors to easily add links to the site from most of the popular social and business networking sites, such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.
The Results (Phase 2):
The revised and optimised site went live in June 2009 and within 6 weeks it was ranking in top position (position 1, page 1) in all major search engines (as of August 2009). This has delivered a significant increase in enquiries and corresponding business and incredibly, many of these enquiries then lead into discussions on other financial products offered by the client and business in these other areas has also increased.
The key factor however is that the client has enjoyed a return on investment of more than 10 times the website costs.
Summary:
This project is a prime example of how website optimisation can deliver major financial benefits to any business. A website that cannot be found is no better than a brochure that is never sent to a customer. However, optimisation can only be effective on a website that is designed properly in the first place.
At The DG Group, we are delighted with the results achieved in this project and we wish Financial Architects every success in the future.
Find out more about their range of Mortgage Payment Protection and Income Protection products with a visit to www.mortgagepaymentprotection.ie and please feel free to contact us if you have any questions on the content of this page.
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