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Multiple Domains? Thoughts on my plan

by TCstr8
21 replies
I am a co-owner of a small mortgage broker and a few months ago purchased my first domain. Used wordpress and catalyst (theme) to put up a site. It is a blog that I try and post relevant tips, info, guidelines on at least twice per week. 2 weeks ago I purchased another domain, this one a little bit more narrow in its audience. Same thing as the first, blog that I'm posting on at least 2 times per week.

I've already generated 1 closing from my first site, and another one scheduled for this week, and have another client that we just agreed to terms yesterday. So 2 (most likely 3) loans generated already. Figure my investment was roughly $250 (hosting/domains/theme), so I have more than made my money back at this point.

Now I'm thinking of purchasing 3-4 more domains. My main (original) domain is general (basically State + Mortgage), whereas my other domain is more narrow (State + Loan Program). I've found 4 domains that are available for STATE + Loan Program.

My thought was to post original content to the Loan Program domains, then re-write it and post it to the main site. That way I avoid any duplicate content issues. Figure this would give me 5 narrow domains, and if I am posting new content twice per week on each, that is 8-10 articles per week. Not to bad, seeing as I still have to manage the company and close other loans.

I see that GoDaddy has another $0.99 coupon going, but it doesn't apply the discount when purchasing multiple domains at once. If I purchase them individually can I use the coupon each time?

Thoughts?
#domains #multiple #plan #thoughts
  • Profile picture of the author igrowyourbiz
    so all that to ask if go daddy will accept a .99 coupon for multiple domains?
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    • Profile picture of the author TCstr8
      No, just added that as an after thought. Wanted to get input on my plan, like the title of the thread says.
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  • Profile picture of the author igrowyourbiz
    Not clear on your specific question.

    before "Expanding" anything I would speak with the new deals you are closing and get feedback on how much your site played in generating the lead.

    If you are the writing/blogging type, putting out regular content always helps. But you also said you have to run the business. I can see conflicts arising with that in the future.

    Can you outsource the writing?
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  • Profile picture of the author TCstr8
    I could out source it, but with the way mortgage lending changes anything having to do with specific loan programs and/or guidelines I would more than likely need to write myself. As far as the current clients that have/are closing I did speak with them on why they decided to do business with me after finding my sites online. And the 1 that has already closed and the 1 that is closing this week both said they decided due to the information that was provided on the website, and that it gave them the impression that I was very knowledgeable on the loan programs they desired.

    So I'm thinking the more exposure I can get online, as long as I can keep creating relevant content, the more clients I can close. As far as SERPs go, I'm ranking top 20 for my main keyword (ton of competition) for my main site, and #4 and #6 on secondary keywords. My other site is ranking #2 for the main keyword and #17 for the secondary keyword.

    My general impression so far is that even though there are a ton of mortgage related websites, their SEO and relevant content is severely lacking, allowing me to rank quickly.
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  • Profile picture of the author ReplenishSEO
    I'm sure that the .99 deal is a one time deal. If you want to do that for multiple domains, you could ask your family or friends to purchase it for you using the coupon deal.


    Good luck on your sites though, seems like your on the right track, keep posting that content consistently!
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  • Profile picture of the author igrowyourbiz
    if its bringing you new customers keep doing it.

    just always track your conversion to understand how you can improve it.

    How many people are visiting versus how many are contacting.

    Start a newsletter. Create a hotline. Hold seminars.
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  • Profile picture of the author symbolngo
    Hi,
    Sing up for Godaddy affiliate program and buy domain name by your own affiliate link. This way you can save lot of money every time you buy something from Godaddy or any other place.
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  • Profile picture of the author Benjamin Ehinger
    Be careful with multiple domains about the same thing. You may want to host them on separate accounts. I have heard that if google sees that you are running, say 5 mortgage sites on the same hosting account, they actually penalize you for this. I don't know how true that it because I don't do this, but just a thought.

    My other thought is why can't you do categories or pages with children pages for the state/loan programs?

    Benjamin
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    • Profile picture of the author TCstr8
      Originally Posted by Benjamin Ehinger View Post

      Be careful with multiple domains about the same thing. You may want to host them on separate accounts. I have heard that if google sees that you are running, say 5 mortgage sites on the same hosting account, they actually penalize you for this. I don't know how true that it because I don't do this, but just a thought.

      My other thought is why can't you do categories or pages with children pages for the state/loan programs?

      Benjamin
      I hadn't thought about penalties for multiple sites with similar content on the same hosting account. I'll have to look into that.

      I had thought about the categories/pages with children pages, but one thing that I am considering is trying different things out on different sites. Make one a static home page with a popup for a rate quote request, one with just articles on the home page, etc, etc. That way I can see what is working best. My hang up is that the traffic to the more narrow sites will be less than the main site, so what works there may not translate to the main site.

      Originally Posted by igrowyourbiz View Post

      if its bringing you new customers keep doing it.

      just always track your conversion to understand how you can improve it.

      How many people are visiting versus how many are contacting.

      Start a newsletter. Create a hotline. Hold seminars.
      I've been using MailChimp for newsletters, and am in the process of putting a signup widget on the sites. And the traffic hasn't been great (averaging 20-30 unique visitors per day) 67% of which is from search engine traffic. Like I said I've got 2 closings and another one in the pipeline. I've been contacted by another 4-5 people that I wasn't able to help.
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      • Profile picture of the author awdevine
        Even if you're currently only getting 20-30 unique visitors a day, that's 20-30 times 30 days, or 600-900 potential leads you currently aren't collecting any info from.

        In other words, your number 1 priority should be collecting leads via opt-in. To entice leads to sign up, maybe you can give them a free newsletter, report or probably best, coupon for something of value (i.e. free/discounted appraisal, waive loan app fee, etc).

        And, as others have said, you don't have to worry about duplicate content issue regarding 2 separate sites, though I think it would be easy to revise your posts from a more narrowly-defined blog to general one.

        Best of luck to you - sounds like you are on the right path. Keep up the good work!

        Cheers,

        Anthony
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  • Profile picture of the author BulletheadX
    Originally Posted by TCstr8 View Post

    My thought was to post original content to the Loan Program domains, then re-write it and post it to the main site. That way I avoid any duplicate content issues.
    Duplicate content refers to content repeated under the same domain. You don't have to rewrite your content to post it to different domains. If your concern is that your customers might follow links from one site to the next just to run into content they've already seen, then yes, you might want to alter it so that it's more relevant to the topic of that particular domain.
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  • Profile picture of the author Lightlysalted
    Yep go daddy should permit your coupon use on each domain. I think you've developed an excellent strategy for your sites. All the best
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  • Profile picture of the author TCstr8
    Thanks for the input.

    I am planning on utilizing a popup opt in for a free report on my newest site. I want to see how that goes before I start using it on my main site.
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  • Profile picture of the author igrowyourbiz
    i explain conversion like this to my clients.

    If you had 20-30 people walk into your office, and then with the exception of 5 or 6 per month, they all turned around and walked out...would you think you need more people to visit your office?

    No, and you would laugh at anyone who told you such nonsense. You know intuitively as a business owner that if people take the time to come visit you, you need to be helping a good portion of them. Are there tire kickers? yes. Do people go out of their way to do it? no.

    You have enough traffic to make 100+ sales a month with little effort. Work on that before making more sites with poor conversion.

    and making multiple sites is fine in Google's eyes as long as they do not link to each other or a common domain you own .
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  • Profile picture of the author TCstr8
    I would agree with that to some extent. But in the mortgage business, there are many reasons that people would be visiting my site, other than actively looking for a mortgage. And there have been a number of those visitors who were not in my state, so they were not a viable prospect to begin with.

    Realistically for the cost, and the time investment if I am able to secure 1 additional client per month then it is extremely profitable.

    Average monthly cost is roughly $100 (hosting, domain, cost of the theme, images)
    Average fee for a closed mortgage to the company is roughly $3,000. My average income (not taking into account that I'm a co-owner and receive distributions) per closing is roughly $1500.

    Are 3 additional clients per month better? Sure, just like 50 additional clients would be, but I'm looking at the minimum return on investment, and whether it makes sense to add an additional site or two or three to the mix. Obviously at the end of the year I will figure out which sites were profitable and which werent, and either shut those down or tweak them.
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  • Profile picture of the author igrowyourbiz
    I definitely have no value to add to a business owners whose ambition is "minimum return on investment"

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  • Profile picture of the author TCstr8
    Maybe I'm not phrasing it right, but with the competitiveness of the mortgage industry, any mortgage company owner (or loan officer since that is the label that I'm creating these sites under) that thought they would convert a high percentage of online visitors to closed loans is out of their mind.

    The more important figures are that I spent roughly 10 hours working on the sites (adding content, getting them setup, troubleshooting a few things, etc.) at a cost of $100. My return on that investment (not counting my ownership distributions) was $2700. So I made $270 an hour for the work I did.

    Do I want to increase that? Sure. But from reading through this forum, there are quite a few people with unreal expectations. If my expectations were to convert 50% of my visitors, I would be discouraged (real discouraged) right now.

    Now it becomes a matter of tweaking the sites and figuring out what works better, and increasing the conversion rate. But to think that I should be unhappy with that return on my investment is insane.
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  • Profile picture of the author igrowyourbiz
    why is that out of their mind.

    If you open a retail location, and have all kinds of people NOT looking for a mortgage, then something is wrong with your identity.

    Joe's is not the same as Joe's Mortgage company. If people think Joe's is a bakery there is something wrong.

    You should be building a RELATIONSHIP with EVERYONE that comes through your doors, and anyone that comes through, should be a potential customer. (mortgages are not usually something people "window shop" when there is no near term future for -due to the fact few americans really understand what you do - and the difference in a broker, banker and underwriter)

    MAXIMUM return on investment - ie profit is all Guerrilla Business Owners think about (and every owner is a guerrilla owner)

    while you may not convert 50% - 20-35 is a realistic goal. Less than 10% is dismal - less than 5 is criminal.

    Not that you should be unhappy, but you should not be satisfied or even feel that it is good.

    Again, you are losing 100s of customers AND REFERRALS - because anyone who is not a customer, should refer one.

    Thats the difference.
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  • Profile picture of the author TCstr8
    Its not as simple as looking at # of visitors and # of closed loans. As the only viable prospects are those located in my state, as that is the only state I am licensed to do business in.

    And I am not satisfied, otherwise I wouldn't be here. Am I happy? Sure, I am making money, but certainly not satisfied. And again, I'm not going to set unreal expectations.

    Just to give you a frame of reference, at one time we did business with Lending Tree, and purchased leads from them, at roughly $35.00 a pop plus an additional fee when a lead closed. At that time the top companies were converting at best 7-9% (at that was one or two big sweat shop type of companies) of those leads. I agree with what you are trying to say, but I can promise you 20-35% is not realistic. People's intentions when going online for a mortgage is research, not decisions. And that is where I'm trying to set myself apart by providing as much relevant content for them to feel that I am an expert.

    Like I mentioned earlier, I'm going to utilize a popup offering a free ebook and subscription to my newsletter on my new site to see how the conversions go. And if it proves more profitable than my main site's setup I'll be setting it up there as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author igrowyourbiz
    it is exactly that simple.

    "top companies" does not mean they know what they are doing...or else they wouldn't come to us so often.

    For years I have taught that SEO is dead - after teaching SEO for over a decade. Because "search engines" are now merely "research engines"...not what people use for shopping.

    This is why the efforts and dollars put into SEO can be put into much more effective methods...most of which have SEO as a byproduct anyway.

    However, once a person gets to your site, they shouldn't take that info and go buy somewhere else.

    What do you think people do with all that research if not "make a decision".

    Somewhere you set yourself up as a library in people's mind instead of a valueable service provider...that difference in mentality alone can double your conversions.

    And step out the box for a minute...what if YOU were the lending tree selling leads you couldn't use to others MB's in other states?

    hundreds of things you can do to improve conversion, and so far I have only heard you mention one or two methods that sound like they came from a 2005 ebook.

    I can promise you that 20-35% is realistic, but it requires both a different approach and business model than you have experienced.

    Because you can't fathom it being possible, for you that is your true perceived reality...but it is not the real truth.

    for years I have said and proven:

    You Can't Improve what you Do Not Measure, You can't Measure what you do not Plan, and you can't Plan what you do not Know
    -Maurice W. Evans


    best of luck to you
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  • Profile picture of the author elzafonv
    if your site is a new one, i would def keep working on it, tarck your sales from it, try to increase roi, improve it and make it more profitiable. if i were u, i would not jump to the next site. i would fucos on that site and try to milk every cent possible can out of it.
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