In the old days, people looked in the Yellow Pages to find a business. Nowadays, people let their fingers do the walking on their electronic devices for answers. Utilizing SEO effectively on your credit union website is more than a sound business strategy for increasing your member base and revenue. SEO is also a smart investment in terms of the marketing strategy used to attract and keep those members.
- SEO for credit unions brings opportunities for growth.
- SEO for credit unions produces a high return on investment.
- Final Words
Opportunities for Growth
When people shop around for a financial institution, banks and credit unions are at a unique disadvantage. Unlike other service businesses, credit union members don’t have to be located in the same city as a brick-and-mortar branch. In other words, your competitors include credit unions that exist only in the cyberworld as well as the credit union around the corner. With this in mind, when it comes to online searches, the SEO for your credit union ensures you have leg up on the competition virtually and geographically.
According to Google Trends, web searches for the term “banks near me” has steadily increased over the last five years, growing almost eightfold since 2015.
Search trend for “banks near me”
Online searches for “checking account” has doubled. A website optimized for search engines will get you at the top of search result pages.
Search trend for “checking account”
High Return on Investment (ROI)
You may not realize it, but your website may be the most efficient and cost-effective tool in your marketing arsenal. With traditional advertising, such as print ads or radio commercials, including your web address as a call to action to drive members to your site is a no-brainer. You might also utilize digital advertising and social media to encourage click-through to your site. Advertising budgets are often limited and are the first thing cut when money is tight.
You’re already spending the money to have a well-designed site available 24/7/365. So, if you’re not doing SEO on your credit union’s website, you’re wasting an opportunity to reach members for a lower cost than you might spend on traditional advertising or other digital marketing methods.
A 2014 study performed by Conductor found that only 12% of website traffic is a direct visit where the user has entered the URL directly into the browser tab. These visits could be current members or potential members directed from ad exposure. Only 6% of web traffic occurs from click thr0iughs from paid online advertising, and 2% comes from social media. Compare this to organic searches—searches performed on search engines, which drives 64% of traffic to a website.
Furthermore, a PM Digital study discovered that SEO drives 30% of web traffic and 20% of online revenue. If you don’t have the budget or manpower to get your advertising message out there, SEO for your credit union’s website is your ROI solution.
Final Words
Incorporating SEO provides current members with a consistent, satisfying banking experience. It also prevents your credit union website from being overshadowed by competitors, pushing your website to the top of search results. Because you’re paying for your website anyway, adding SEO should not be an added cost, ensuring a high ROI compared to other marketing methods.
Don’t have the experience or the time to optimize your credit union’s website for search engines? In addition to web hosting and web design, CUWebsite™ offers SEO services so you get your money’s worth.
