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ND Guaranty Casts Its Net

North Dakota Guaranty and Title began noticing television ads for out-of-state banks looking to make home loans to people in North Dakota. But those out-of-state banks would need a local title company that was licensed in North Dakota, like North Dakota Guaranty and Title. So the title company needed to be where those banks could find them: The Internet.

"Everybody was looking to the future, not saying what does North Dakota Guarantee and Title need today or what did we need in the past, but where do we want to be in the future," says Tim Atkinson, North Dakota Guaranty and Title Board Member. "There are people out there, there are businesses out there all around the United States, around the world that could use North Dakota Guarantee and Title but they don't know about us."

The audience they're trying to reach on the web are those outside their comfort zone, the counties they work in every day. "So if someone is watching television in the middle of the night and sees an ad for a low interest loan, we want to be able to tell that lender in Florida or California or Pennsylvania that we do provide services for what they need," says Sharon Hoffer, North Dakota Guaranty and Title President.

The company came to Bismarck's iNet Technology to design the web page. "Knowing Tim and then visiting with Val for just a few short minutes up at their office, I knew exactly the type of site that they would need," says iNet's Jeff Essler. North Dakota Guaranty was looking for a professional image with their new web site.

"We don't want a carnival funhouse look and you see that some times where there's so much going on on the web page that you really don't know what the business is," says Atkinson. "It's fun be none of that had very much to do with our two objectives of getting more exposure for North Dakota Guarantee and Title Company and for facilitating business for the company and it's customers."

iNet wanted the web site to reflect the image the company was establishing in other media outlets. "Even with their print ads. They have an image they've already established, so we're going to try to stay with that image," says iNet's Candace Olson. "A little difference but still maintain what they've already developed. The people will come to their site and recognize that this is them."