Five tips on creating a “sticky” XSite

If you're like most mortgage brokers, you're always trying to figure out what makes your website "sticky" – the term used to describe a website that's interesting, interactive and engaging enough to keep a visitor on the site and coming back to it again and again. Here are a few tried-and-true tips from fellow Mortgage XSite website owners to increase the "stickiness" of your site:

Avoid clutter. Of course one of the benefits of having an XSite is the availability of more than 90 content pages. But don't add all 90 pages to your XSite just because they're available. Make sure they relate to the rest of your site and the clients with whom you do business.

Keep your images small. A picture is worth a thousand words, but not if it takes a thousand seconds to download. Make sure you optimize your digital images for online viewing. Click here to view a website that will help you calculate download times. [Note: Your XSite's Flash headers and pre-loaded images are already optimized to download as fast as possible, even on a slower, dial-up connection.]

Allow visitors to interact. Include a call to action on your content pages to give visitors a reason to get in touch with you by using one of the provided lead generation forms such as "Got a Question?" or by creating your own. When filled out, the visitor is sent an automated response from you, letting them know their information has been sent to you.

Give them tools

they can use. People love interactive websites and online tools are what tend to keep visitors on a website the longest. With more than 17 different mortgage calculators, your prospects can run numbers on different loan scenarios to see how much house they can afford.

Change it up. Don't add too many pages to your XSite at once. One of the best ways to keep your prospects coming back to your site is to update it periodically with fresh content. Consider adding pages that relate to a specific season such as the "Improvement Loan Insurance" during the summer months when homeowners are more likely to do work on their homes or the "Winterize your Home" page for fall.