Ten years after the first loan was originated online, there is still a surprising lack of effort at mining various lending niches. Mainstream categories, such as mortgages and credit cards, are rife with great marketing efforts. Home equity and car loans are also marketed effectively by a number of players.

But when it comes to smaller niche markets, such as small business or personal loans, the big players have for the most part stayed away.

One exception is Capital One, which recently added a new category to its main navigation bar, "Healthcare Finance (click on inset for closeup).

Healthcare Finance offers personal loans to consumers seeking to pay for the following categories:

• Dental
• Orthodontics
• Cosmetic
• Fertility
• Vision

The website features a 1.9% banner ad, but the fine print says that the rate will vary from 1.9 percent to 23.9 percent, quite a range. Loan sizes vary from $300 to $25,000.

Capital One is using Google Adwords to support its efforts. For example, searching for "loans for dental work" displays this ad (click on inset).

Action Item
Compared to other loan terms, the health care-related terms are relatively sparsely sponsored. You should consider adding these terms to your search-engine marketing plan. To make it pay off, you should build a landing page that speaks to the benefits of using your personal loan or line of credit for such expenditures.

More info: We'll take a closer look at Capital One's Healthcare Finance options in the next Online Banking Report to be published at the end of February (OBR 127).

--JB