Category: mortgage website

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Maximize Your Facebook Engagement with High-Converting Landing Pages

Engaging with your audience on Facebook by switching to a professional profile and leveling up the type of content you share is a strong start, but if you’re not converting those clicks into leads, you’re leaving valuable opportunities on the table. Facebook offers an expansive platform for reaching potential borrowers, but without a clear path to conversion, engagement often fizzles out.  

That’s where high-converting landing pages come in. 

Unlike most social media post that are meant for engagement, web traffic, and branding, landing pages are purpose-built to drive conversions and generating leads. By focusing on a single action—whether it’s submitting a form or requesting a quote—landing pages give your audience a direct way to engage with your business. And the beauty of it? You don’t need paid ads to make landing pages work for you; a well-crafted landing page can capture leads from organic engagement alone.  

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Here’s how landing pages bridge the gap between casual interest and actionable engagement.  

Why Landing Pages Are the Secret Sauce for Facebook Lead Capture 

Keep Attention Laser-Focused on Conversion 

Landing pages are the powerhouse in your social media strategy when it comes to driving conversions. While blog links, polls, and other mortgage content work to engage your audience and build trust, mortgage landing pages are designed to take things further—moving followers from interest to action. With a laser-focused call-to-action (CTA) and no extra distractions, landing pages create a streamlined experience that’s all about conversion.   

Tailored Messaging to Speak Directly to Each Audience 

With a landing page, you speak directly to a specific buyer and address exactly what matters to them. Running a campaign for gig worker homebuyer? Customize your page to highlight resources and loan solutions that resonate with their unique needs. Targeting a veteran’s looking to refinance? Adjust your language and offers accordingly. This kind of targeting is what makes landing pages so effective—they meet each visitor where they are, offering something directly relevant to them. 

Maximize Your ROI with Every Click 

Landing pages don’t just enhance Facebook engagement; they turn it into measurable, actionable value. Instead of a passive boost to your profile, a landing page captures contact information so you can build relationships off the platform, add them to your pipeline, and lead them to application.  

Every click that leads to a conversion offers a clear return, and that’s what makes landing pages essential for any mortgage pro serious about growth and lead generation. 

Capture More Qualified Leads Compared to Facebook Forms 

Facebook’s lead gen forms are quick but often fail to generate high-quality leads. With a landing page, you’re attracting visitors who are interested enough to take an additional step, which naturally results in more qualified leads. This extra commitment indicates a higher level of interest and often brings in leads with genuine potential. 

Proven Practices for High-Converting Landing Pages 

Ready to build your landing page? Here are some high-impact tips to keep in mind: 

  1. Hook Your Audience with a Clear Headline

The headline is your page’s first impression, so make it count. A strong headline tells visitors exactly what they’ll gain and why they should act now. Focus on benefits, keep it concise, and make sure it aligns with the specific prospective borrower you’re targeting. 

  1. Direct Action with a Strong, Visible Call-To-Action

A landing page without a bold, action-oriented CTA is like a sales pitch without a close. The CTA should be prominent, straightforward, and unmissable—tell visitors what they’ll get and how they can take action. 

  1. Prioritize Clean, User-Friendly Design

The best landing pages are visually uncluttered and focused. Limit text, use clean visuals, and make sure your CTA button stands out. A visitor should know within seconds exactly what to do next, without distractions pulling them away. 

  1. Optimize for Mobile

With more users browsing Facebook on mobile than ever, mobile optimization is a non-negotiable. Make sure your landing page loads quickly, looks great, and is easy to navigate on smaller screens. 

  1. Showcase Social Proof to Build Trust

Adding testimonials or client success stories gives visitors the assurance that others have benefited from your services, boosting their confidence in taking action.   

How LHP3’s Landing Page Builder Makes It Easy for Mortgage Pros 

Creating a landing page doesn’t have to be a heavy lift. With LHP3’s Landing Page Builder, you can build and launch high-converting, branded landing pages in minutes. Our AI-powered website builder is designed with mortgage professionals in mind, offering pre-built landing page templates you can customize without any coding skills. Each template is optimized to encourage conversion, and the built-in lead capture forms let you collect contact information instantly.   

Plus, with easy tracking and seamless CRM integration, you can automatically capture and organize lead information, keeping your follow-ups timely and personalized. This data-driven approach not only shows you what’s working but also helps you fine-tune future campaigns, making each landing page more effective at converting visitors into valuable leads. 

Ready to See How Landing Pages Can Transform Your Facebook Engagement? 

Explore how the LHP3 and the Landing Page Builder can help you take your social media strategy to the next level. By converting Facebook engagement into actionable leads, you’re not just boosting your online presence—you’re driving real business growth. See this quick demo video and start capturing the leads you’ve been missing out on. 

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Jason November 8, 2024 0 Comments

Loan Officers: Using Social Media to Improve Local SEO and Drive Leads

While it’s not entirely clear whether social media signals directly impact Google’s ranking algorithm, what’s certain is that social media can indirectly improve your website’s ranking.

Loan officers who tap into the power of social media are more likely to see an improvement in their overall search engine rankings and, as a result, increase mortgage lead generation. In this post, we’ll break down how social media can boost your website’s local search ranking and share some loan officer marketing ideas for boosting SEO that you can start using immediately. 

The Connection Between Social Media and SEO 

Before getting into strategies, let’s clarify how social media impacts SEO. It’s a common misconception that simply being active on social media directly improves your Google search rankings. In reality, the relationship between social media and SEO is more nuanced. 

Google has openly stated that social media signals such as likes, shares, and followers aren’t direct ranking factors. However, that doesn’t mean social media isn’t valuable for SEO.  

Done-For-You Social Media for Loan Officers

Here are a few ways social media indirectly impacts SEO for mortgage websites: 

  1. Increased Website Traffic: Sharing your content on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, and LinkedIn brings more eyes to your site. Increased traffic signals to Google that your site is valuable.
  2. Content Resharing Leads to Backlinks: When your content gets shared, it increases the chances of earning backlinks from reputable sites, building your site’s authority. Backlinks remain one of the most important ranking factors.
  3. Brand Visibility and Engagement: The more people engage with your content, the more your brand gets recognized. High engagement can enhance your authority and credibility, factors that Google considers for ranking.

The Role of Social Media in Local SEO 

For loan officers, Local SEO is critical. Unlike national SEO strategies, Local SEO focuses on optimizing your online presence to attract clients within your geo-targeted area. When done effectively, local SEO can position your business at the top of search results –even above nationally recognized mega lenders –when potential clients are searching for mortgage services in a geographic area. 

Marketing Tip: When people search on mobile devices, the results are automatically tailored to their location. Even desktop searches tend to prioritize local businesses. This means loan officers can outrank big lenders in local search results by focusing on location-based SEO strategies. 

Using Social Media to Drive Local SEO and Generate Leads 

  1. Geo-Targeted Posts: Creating location-specific content on social media helps establish your relevance to a particular area. For example, when you publish a Facebook post discussing housing trends in your city or neighborhood, you increase your chances of being found by local users.
  2. Local Hashtags and Tags: Incorporating local hashtags in your social media posts makes your content more discoverable to people searching for services in your area. For instance, hashtags like #SanAntonioRealEstate or #SanDiegoMortgage will help you show up in local searches.
  3. Collaboration with Local Agents and Influencers: Partnering with local real estate agents and referral partners can boost your online presence by reaching their audience, thereby increasing the visibility of your content in local searches.

Marketing Tip: Consistently include location-specific keywords in your social media bios and posts. For instance, adding “San Antonio loan originator” to your LinkedIn profile will help with local visibility. 

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Leveraging Social Media for Mortgage Lead Generation 

Now that we’ve covered the SEO benefits let’s focus on how social media can be a powerful tool for mortgage lead generation. You can attract potential clients organically by consistently posting relevant, engaging content on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, X, and Instagram. 

Here are some actionable social media strategies to generate more mortgage leads through social media marketing: 

  1. Post Educational Content: People searching for mortgages often look for reliable information. Posting educational content, like blog posts explaining the differences between FHA and VA loans or tips for first-time homebuyers, positions you as an expert in the field. Drive traffic back to your site by sharing snippets of this content with links in your social posts.
  2. Share Financial Wellness and Homeownership Tips: Go beyond just talking about mortgages by offering broader financial advice, such as budgeting tips, saving for a down payment, or improving credit scores. Content that supports overall financial wellness can provide extra value to your audience and position you as a helpful resource in their homeownership journey, not just a loan officer. This builds trust and keeps your audience engaged with your brand.
  1. Share Local Market Insights: As a loan officer, providing updates on local housing market trends is a great way to engage your audience. Share data, infographics, or insights about home values, interest rates, or real estate opportunities in your area. This hyper-local content boosts your credibility and enhances your local SEO efforts, driving more traffic to your website.
  1. Collaborate with Real Estate Agents and Referral Partners: Use social media to collaborate with them by sharing each other’s content, creating co-branded posts, or other types of content. This strengthens your relationship and exposes your business to their audience.
  1. Share Client Testimonials and Success Stories: Highlighting positive client experiences is a powerful way to build trust and credibility. Share testimonials and success stories of past clients who found their dream homes with your help. A branded graphic with a direct-quote review, video testimonials, or before-and-after stories can make an even bigger impact. Don’t forget to include a link to your site for prospects to learn more about your services.
  1. Engage with Your Audience: Interaction is key to driving leads. Engage with your followers by answering questions, responding to comments, and creating polls or surveys. The more you engage, the more trust you build with your audience, making them more likely to reach out when they need mortgage services.
  1. Share Community-Focused Content: Go beyond self-promotion by highlighting local events, businesses, or causes that matter to your community. Whether it’s supporting a charity, promoting a neighborhood event, or featuring a local business, this type of content shows that you’re invested in the community. It helps build goodwill and keeps your brand top of mind without being overly promotional.

BONUS: Practical Tips for Loan Officers to Improve SEO 

With all this in mind, here are some practical tips to help you get started with social media marketing to improve your SEO: 

  1. Link Back to Your Website: Make sure every social media post that shares a blog, article, or resource links directly back to your website. Whether it’s a call to action at the end of a post or a direct link in the content, driving traffic from your social channels to your site helps boost your website’s SEO performance over time.
  2. Post Consistently: Consistency is key when it comes to social media marketing. Create a content calendar to ensure you’re regularly posting valuable content, such as mortgage tips, client success stories, or local housing market updates.
  3. Incorporate Eye-Catching Graphics: Visual content like branded images catch more attention than text alone. Well-designed graphics not only drive engagement but are also more likely to be shared, expanding your reach and boosting SEO.
  4. Optimize Your Profiles: Your social media profiles should be optimized for SEO for mortgage websites, meaning they include keywords that support your website’s SEO. Include relevant keywords like “loan originator,” “mortgage broker,” and your local area in your bio and profile descriptions. This will make it easier for search engines to index your profiles, increasing your visibility.
  5. Repurpose Your Best Content: Don’t let your best-performing content go to waste. Repurpose them into shorter snippets or videos to reshare on social media and continually drive traffic back to your site.

How LHP-3 AI-Powered Website Builder Simplifies Social Media Management 

Managing your social media presence doesn’t have to be time-consuming or complicated. With LenderHomePage’s LHP-3 AI-powered website builder, you can easily maintain a professional, engaging presence across all your social platforms—without the hassle.  

Here’s how the LHP-3 social media feature can help you elevate your marketing efforts: 

  1. Ready-to-Go, Branded Content: LHP-3 delivers professional, branded content that’s ready to post. It’s designed to engage your audience and keep your name top of mind. Whether it’s market insights, mortgage tips, or client success stories, the platform provides high-quality, relevant content that aligns with your business.
  1. Create Custom, Branded Content in Minutes: Even if you’re not a content expert, LHP-3 makes it easy to create custom posts that speak directly to your audience’s needs. The platform’s streamlined content creation tools allow you to personalize posts for your market in just a few clicks. Whether you want to share local housing trends or promote your mortgage services, LHP-3 ensures your content hits the mark.
  1. Publish Across All Platforms with a Few Clicks: LHP-3 allows you to publish your content across multiple social media platforms with minimal effort. This ensures your brand stays visible and consistent without spending hours creating and posting.

By using the LHP-3 AI-powered platform, you can keep your social media efforts on track, maintain a steady stream of content, and ensure your online presence is both professional and engaging. It’s the perfect solution for loan officers looking to grow their brand while saving time. 

Mastering Social Media Marketing to Boost Local SEO  

While social media may not directly influence Google’s ranking algorithm, it plays a crucial role in driving traffic, building backlinks, and improving brand visibility—all of which can indirectly boost your website’s SEO. By leveraging social media for Local SEO and mortgage lead generation, loan officers and mortgage brokers can stay ahead of the competition and attract more clients. 

Want an easier way to manage your social media and improve your online presence? Discover how LHP-3’s AI-powered social media tools can help you automate posts, engage with your audience, and drive more leads. Click below to see it in action! 

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Jason September 12, 2024 0 Comments

10 Winning Strategies for Cutting Through the Noise and Standing Out in Mortgage Marketing


Securing a steady flow of top-tier leads for your pipeline is already a daunting task –but you knew this when you got into this industry. But when you factor in the current formidable market conditions with the already fierce competition, the pursuit of prospective borrowers seems like an even greater Herculean endeavor.

We get it.

That’s why we put together this list of the top 10 mortgage marketing strategies specifically chosen because of their proven effectiveness at helping you stand out from the crowd and uniquely position your services as one that goes above and beyond –making for a powerful and persuasive offer that organically feeds your pipeline with leads.

Make no mistake –while these strategies may appear straightforward (and several are quite manageable to implement), they possess the remarkable power to grant you a necessary competitive edge.

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Craft a Captivating Website: Your Secret to Converting Prospects

Your first impression is a primary determinant of whether a prospect will convert or not, and nowadays, these impressions happen online. Chances are, a prospect will land on your website as the final destination before reaching out to you, so you need to strategize a way to effectively make them fall in love (or at least be curious) right from the start.

Your site also needs to entice them to explore further; whether that means learning more about the company, consuming information, or starting the application process. 

In other words, you don’t want to be ‘just another website’ that the prospect will likely forget. You need to create a memorable visitor experience. 

Creating one doesn’t require a lot of time or know-how if you begin with high-converting website templates like one from LenderHomePage.

Speed Matters: Turbocharge Your Mortgage Website for More Leads

A fast-loading website propels visitors through the lead funnel. If your website is using a poor hosting service, has too many plugins, and/or has excessive lines of HTML, CSS, and Javascript code, your audience will abandon your website before it fully loads. 

Search engines are very strict about this and are quick to push down your website to the bottom of results, so you want to make sure to keep user experience at the top of your priority list.

Mobile Optimization: Your Ticket to Mortgage Marketing Success

Mobile devices drive 62% of web traffic, making it absolutely essential that your site is mobile-friendly. Furthermore, Google favors mobile-friendly sites over sites that are not optimized for hand-held devices. No need to hire a developer to overhaul your site –LenderHomePage sites are already mobile-optimized. 

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From Click to Client: The Art of Boosting Conversions on Your Website

To encourage prospects to share their information, you may need to offer something in exchange. For example, an ebook or a quick quote could be offered in exchange for their name and email address. 

You also need to have a dedicated ‘Contact Us’ page to include more detailed information, such as directions to your office, map, address, email, and anything else that would encourage prospects to reach out.

Rise Above the Competition: Mortgage Marketing with Strategic Automation

While your competitors are mainly focusing on getting their name out there to get leads, you can do the same, but with a focus on the consumer’s value in working with you.

The combination of consumer-facing software + automation is a great way to delight your audience. In the mortgage environment, all your audience needs is a simple and fast homebuying experience where they are properly guided through the entire process. Mortgage software that automates the intake process also allows you to scale profits.

If you want to simplify the home-buying experience for your customers, look no further than Loanzify. Loanzify provides an easy-to-follow timeline to help guide clients every step of the way. 

Some useful features include an interview-style questionnaire for the initial intake process, the ability to track all communications between your company and the client all in a single platform and mobile app, and much more.

Out-Perform the Competition – Get a Demo

There are also numerous branding features within the software, such as the ability to customize colors, add a logo and profile picture, etc., to better strengthen the relationship between your clients and your brand.

Timing is Everything: Navigating Mortgage Marketing in the Digital Age

Today’s audience is not easy to market to. With attention spans decreasing due to short-form content apps such as TikTok, you need to be smart about how you approach your target market. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to churn out content every day. In fact, the pressure to post daily content may reduce the quality of the content and make you feel burnt out. 

Sure, there are benefits, such as the opportunity to put out various types of posts and see which ones your audience interacts with most. Posting daily can give you some good insights but does not always benefit you in the long run. 

Instead, start noticing when your audience is most receptive. For example, many businesses like to send out newsletters on Fridays when the work day is not as busy, and everyone is getting ready for the weekend vs. on a busy Monday. 

In the case of your target audience, which is potential homebuyers, notice changes in homebuying patterns and market accordingly. A good time to hit your audience with powerful and convincing messaging to buy a new home is when the market is good for buyers.

Solving the Mortgage Puzzle: Focus on Solutions, Not Just Loans

The only way your marketing messaging can resonate with your crowd is if you provide a solution to an existing problem they are experiencing. This message can be as simple as loans for homebuyers with poor credit, but oftentimes, prospects are looking for much more than that. 

Here are some other pain points you can resolve for clients:

  • Simple Application Process: This requires a shift in your way of thinking. Mortgage software, like an LOS, streamlines the application process, but it does so for the originator –not the borrower. So when considering how you can beat out your competition with your application process, meditate on what the borrower experiences with the application. 

Once you’ve pinpointed the precise messaging about how you make applying for a loan stress-free and transparent, it should be clearly addressed in your marketing messaging.

  • Personalized Guidance: If your messaging revolves around how you guide homebuyers along every step of the home-buying process, you’ll win hearts instantly. After all, it’s not easy for clients to navigate technology that potentially confuses them and sometimes, they need a human to explain the technicals, such as terms and requirements. Excellent, personalized support combined with easy-to-use technology is a powerful way to stand out above the noise.

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Lights, Camera, Action! Leveraging Videos for Mortgage Marketing

Video content is dominating today’s world. We can see this with current social media trends, and how people view videos is presented quite clearly in these trends. For example, short-form video content is preferred over a 20-minute video explaining the same concept. 

Next time you think about writing a whitepaper or other long-form content, ask yourself whether you can effectively communicate the same content in a video. If the video becomes too long, you can easily break it down into smaller digestible videos or even upload a crash course on YouTube. 

Popular types of video content tell an intriguing story, are testimonials, informational or tutorial, or lighthearted for entertainment.

Know Your Competition: A Winning Strategy for Mortgage Professionals

Mega banks aren’t your only competition. Local lenders and originators are too, so it’s worth checking out what they’re up to –where they’re winning and losing. 

You can see your competitors’ strongest and weakest points by reading online reviews. You can check out their social profiles and get content inspiration. You can also see what types of content they produce are getting the most views, which will give you an insight into the hottest topics in real estate. 

A good strategy is viewing your competitors’ content and asking yourself how to make it 10x better.

SWOT Analysis: Your Blueprint for Mortgage Marketing Mastery

A SWOT analysis is a report you can create that lists your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This helps you steer your marketing strategy to focus on growing your strengths, recognize your weaknesses so you can act accordingly, take advantage of opportunities, and become more aware of threats, whether they are in your control or not. 

  • Strengths: This involves a comprehensive evaluation of your unique selling points, such as specialized expertise, exceptional customer service, or a vast network of real estate referral partners. By understanding and highlighting these strengths, you can emphasize your competitive advantages and effectively communicate them to potential clients to set you apart from competitors.
  • Weaknesses: Assess any areas where you may fall short, such as limited product offerings, inadequate technology infrastructure, or a lack of brand recognition. By acknowledging weaknesses, you can develop targeted strategies to address and overcome them, improve you overall service, and enhance your market position.
  • Opportunities: This may include emerging market trends, changes in regulations, or new customer segments. By staying attuned to these opportunities, you can tailor your marketing strategies to capitalize on them. For example, if there is a growing demand for eco-friendly home improvement loans, a loan officer could position themselves as a specialist in this area.
  • Threats: This may include increasing local competition, economic fluctuations, or evolving customer preferences. By addressing threats head-on, you can adapt your marketing strategies to remain resilient and competitive.

When You’re Ready To Take Your Lending Career to the Next Level –LenderHomePage

If you’re ready to take your mortgage business to new heights and see these strategies in action, we invite you to experience an on-demand demo to discover how we can empower your marketing efforts to gain a competitive edge and achieve greater success in your mortgage business.

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Jason October 5, 2023 0 Comments

Mortgage Website Page Speed for SEO & Ranking: Understanding It’s Impact

The time it takes for a web page to load can make or break a user’s experience, influencing their decision to stay and explore or abandon the site altogether. As a mortgage website owner, you understand precisely how fierce the competition is and how critical it is to grab a digital prospect’s attention from the first click –and prioritizing website page speed is the battleground that cannot be ignored in the aspect.

In an increasingly competitive mortgage landscape, even a single additional second of loading time can jeopardize valuable leads and tarnish your company’s reputation.

Start Winning With an AI-Driven Mortgage Website

Stay tuned as we cover all the essentials about website page speed, helping you understand what factors are at play and a list of free tools you can use to check your site speed.

What is Website Page Speed?

Your website’s page speed measures how quickly the page content loads, including text, images, animations, links, and all other elements present on your website, page by page.

In technical terms, page speed is the amount of time it takes between the browser’s request for a page until the browser completes processing and rendering the content. How fast a web page loads depends on many factors, which we will get to later.

So why should you care about page speed?

Website speed directly affects the user experience. After all, who would want to endure the irritating loading sign for even a mere 5-10 seconds? Many lose patience quickly. A survey from early 2022 revealed that more than half of web users expect a web page to load in just three seconds or less.

If you delay webpage speed improvements, you risk losing a staggering 90% of your visitors with little chance of them returning.

Therefore, you need to make a good impression on your potential homeowners now so new visitors are enticed and returning visitors keep returning.

Meet LHP 3.0: Mortgage Sites Built For Speed!

How Page Speed Impacts SEO

Along with user experience, Google and other search engines are favorable toward websites that load quickly. Google algorithms are moving towards pushing out pages that are helpful to the audience, and a slow page does the opposite.

A slow site leads to higher bounce rates (percentage of website visitors who leave a webpage without interacting with it further), which causes search engines to deprioritize ranking your site higher than other websites with lower bounce rates.

Imagine losing out on hundreds of interested home loan buyers because they leave your website too quickly due to slow load times. This is the last thing you want in an already competitive market.

Additionally, search engines can crawl fast-loading pages faster and more easily. When thinking about page speed to optimize for mortgage SEO, we can’t forget optimization for mobile devices. Luckily, there are free tests you can run online, which test for mobile too, which we will cover here.

What All Affects Mortgage Website Page Speed?

To fix your website page speed, you need to first understand the various factors that slow down your website.

Number of animations and eye-catching elements

Did you know that around 50% of online users prefer a fast-loading site over cool-looking animations? Animations are created through Javascript, and using too much Javascript on your website can severely slow it down.

If you’re able to balance using the right amount of Javascript so site speed is not sacrificed too much, then there should be no problem. However, you should be able to determine when it becomes detrimental to your visitors’ experience.

You also want to be careful about which website theme you choose. Certain eye-catching themes do no good for your user experience. That captivating GIF on your homepage? It’s likely that only 3 out of 25 people who land on your site see it since it’s the last element that loads.

Luckily, most mortgage websites are simple and to the point while having a professional look and feel, so there’s no need for advanced animations.

Large file sizes

Building upon the previous point, there are other types of files along with Javascript that reduce site speed. Websites can have redundant lines of HTML and CSS code, which wouldn’t harm your user experience if you took them out; it would only improve the experience.

If a certain line of code serves no purpose to encourage your audience to talk to you, you should eliminate it. A large file size is not worth even 10 seconds of your audience’s time, as most will leave after 3-5 seconds.

Images and videos

Website owners don’t normally think too much about images affecting site speed. You may upload an image that’s 732KB followed by an image that’s 3.3MB, and it may never catch your eye. That’s until your site starts loading at a turtle’s pace.

To resolve this issue, manually compress images or use a website platform like our newly launched LHP3 to automatically compress images and videos as you upload them to your website.

Number of plugins and widgets

Having a few good plugins that help improve operations and save you time should be no biggie.

However, every new plugin you add makes your site slower and slower, and you eventually reach a point where it harms your conversion rates.

Plugins are also notorious for downloading certain harmful software onto your website, such as viruses and malware. Even if you ensure that you download a plugin from a trusted source, it’s still easy to download an earlier version of a software that has vulnerabilities.

That’s why you want to keep this to a minimum.

Redirects

It makes sense that redirects slow down your website because users are directed to one web address and then immediately taken to another, resulting in the loss of valuable seconds.

Redirects are sometimes necessary to point traffic to a new URL when you have to retire the old URL, and they also forward authority, or the number of links to your web page from other domains, which gives you good SEO benefits.

However, site owners should keep redirects minimal because they play a major part in slowing down your website. The best way to avoid redirects is to carefully name your URL the first time you create a new page. Ask yourself if the URL name will work 2, 5, or even 10 years from now.

For example, if you are writing an article about ‘Everything You Need to Know About FHA Loans in 2023’, you must realize that you may come back and revamp that same post for next year. So your URL can be ‘websitename.com/fha-loans-everything-to-know’, eliminating the year from the slug so it’s not constrained by time.

Hosting service

All websites have to rely on a hosting service to help their website run. However, certain hosting services have slow servers that directly impact the performance of your website.

It’s important to choose a good hosting service that has little to no downtime. Luckily, if you do happen to choose a bad hosting service, you can always migrate to a new service with little to no extra charge.

LenderHomePage websites already have dedicated servers that can host your mortgage website. One of the key components of our new LHP 3.0 website templates is impressive load times backed by our lightning-fast servers to ensure optimal lead generation numbers.

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Tools to Monitor Page Speed

Did you know that there are a handful of free tools online that allow you to monitor the speed of your web pages and present you with detailed suggestions for fixes? Here are a few of our favorite ones.

Google PageSpeed Insights

Google’s PageSpeed Insights is one of the most reliable page speed tools since it comes directly from Google. This tool tests the speed of your mortgage content on both desktop and mobile.

PageSpeed Insights assigns a score to the webpage based on its performance, ranging from 0 to 100. A higher score indicates better performance and faster loading times. Additionally, you are presented with helpful suggestions to improve your page’s speed.

GTMetrix

GTMetrix is another reliable tool similar to Pagespeed Insights that tests your website for free. It assigns a grade (A, B, C, D, or E) to your website, with A being the best score. The neat part about this tool is that it also tests your core web vitals.

The tool’s report includes specific recommendations for improving elements such as page caching, image optimization, JavaScript and CSS minification, and server response time.

Google Search Console

Another powerful tool by Google, Google Search Console not only shows you how well you rank on Google for different search queries but also what elements of your website are slowing it down. The Speed report breaks down URLs into three different categories “Slow, moderate, and fast”. 

The data in Google Search Console connects directly to Pagespeed Insights to give you a better idea of each issue and gives you a list of ways to accelerate page speed.

WebPage Test

This tool provides detailed insights into various aspects of webpage loading, including load times, rendering, and resource usage. Upon completing the initial test, WebPage Test provides a performance summary broken down by site loading time, usability, and resilience with actionable next steps.

What’s unique about this tool is that it provides you a visual of each millisecond so you can see how long the screen remains blank before the content loads and which elements load first.

As online users become increasingly impatient and demanding, mortgage website owners must prioritize optimizing their page loading times to remain competitive. 

A fast-loading website not only enhances the user experience but also improves search engine rankings, increases conversion rates, and ultimately boosts overall business success. 

Now that you understand what website page speed is and what factors affect it, how will you ensure that your website runs properly and loading times are prompt? 

Whether you are redesigning your website, getting your website up for the first time, or simply trying to improve your website speed, LenderHomePage’s mortgage website templates offer solutions for all mortgage companies, regardless of size. 

Our templates are built with mortgage website page speed optimization at the top of mind. Instead of downloading a pesky plugin that automatically compresses your images and files as you upload them to your site, LHP’s templates have a built-in file size compressor tool to keep your site speed optimal.

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Jason September 21, 2023 0 Comments

How to Audit Your Mortgage Website to Boost Visibility

Your mortgage website is your digital real estate (no pun intended). But while you have the freedom to design it any way you want and the obligation to deliver an ideal user experience, you also must ensure that your website’s visibility is optimal. This is where a mortgage site’s structure comes into play.

As a mortgage provider, you may not have a team of web designers to help guide you through this critical process. That’s why we created this ‘mortgage website audit checklist’ where we guide you through the most critical aspects you should focus on, ensuring that you’ve maximized your website’s visibility and indexability.

What is a Website Audit?

A website audit is an assessment of every page on your website to determine elements that need correction or improvement. While it may be easy to spot issues on your homepage, an audit combs through your entire site, looking for visual and technical problems that can negatively impact user experience and search ranking.

Common issues that an audit may uncover are broken links, duplicate pages, missing meta descriptions, and not mobile-friendly.  

Thin or non-original content and slow page loading are typical but significant issues that most mortgage websites suffer from, and it’s no surprise. Creating pages upon pages of original, quality content isn’t fast or simple.

And designing a website that provides optimal page speed often means a complete technical redesign of its framework –an overhaul that other website providers aren’t willing to invest in.

But we did…

Meet LHP 3.0 — Websites Built For Speed!

 

But let’s get back to website audits.

Why Bother Auditing Your Mortgage Website Anyway?

There are numerous reasons why you should conduct an audit of your mortgage website.

Gives you insight into your website’s framework

Unless you understand the ins and outs of your site, you won’t know what to alter to improve your search ranking. 

Optimizing for SEO

Only through a website audit can you determine how to improve your website’s SEO. Conducting a site audit can help you find what errors you have made so you can correct them and also identify any missed opportunities to gain more SEO benefits.

Better convert visitors

Track your visitor’s journeys by identifying where your audience clicks and whether they fall off at a certain point. A website audit gives you a chance to spot these issues and get them fixed.

Beat competition

With a competitive website audit, you can see what is working for them so you can possibly replicate it. For example, SpyFu is a great tool for learning about the most popular keywords that your competitors use.

Backlinks analysis tools such as Ahrefs and Ubersuggest allow you to examine your competitors’ backlink profiles and compare them to yours.

How to Conduct a Website Audit

There are many tools you can use to conduct a website audit. Free tools such as Google Pagespeed Insights and Google Search Console give you an excellent view of what’s going on with your site.

There are also paid comprehensive website audits, although the information overload may leave you with more questions rather than answers. 

So which audit road should you take? 

We recommend starting off with a mortgage website template that addresses the most common offenses right off the bat.

Get a Demo

 

After that, follow the list below of the primary areas you’ll want to focus on.

DIY Website Audit Tips for Loan Officers and Mortgage Brokers

Use a site audit tool

The tools previously mentioned are great for pinpointing the most overlooked website issues, such as 404 errors, technical errors, duplicate content, crawlability issues, etc. Any red flag warnings should be the first ones your fix.

Review and Elevate Your Web Content

One crucial aspect of this audit is assessing the existing content on the website. Content not only serves as the voice of the business, but it’s foundational to search engine ranking and conversion. However, editing and creating content is much easier said than done.

But that’s where AI-powered editing and writing tool comes to your aid! Audit your content using AI tools that check your spelling, grammar, and tone. Depending on the tool, it may also suggest keywords to strengthen your SEO.

When it comes to content creation, professionals can use AI to efficiently generate first-draft content that helps expedite writing web content. Can it really be that simple? See for yourself!

Our newly launched LHP 3.0 websites come with built-in AI-writing tools, empowering loan officers and mortgage brokers to effortlessly craft compelling and relevant content for their online platforms. With this advanced feature, you can streamline the content creation process, optimize search engine visibility, and connect with your audience more effectively than ever before. 

Take a closer look at your website’s user experience (UX)

Nobody wants to stay on a website that is hard to navigate. Is your homepage clean with a clear, concise message? Would first-time visitors know where to navigate different pages and your contact page? Ask yourself these questions and make any changes accordingly.

Once you have done all of the above, make a list of recommended changes and hand it over to your developer(s) and or designer(s).

If you rather not bother with all of these design issues, your best bet is to go with a mortgage website template from LenderHomePage that is already designed for an optimal borrower experience and lead generation.

Book a Demo

 

Features That Every Mortgage Website Should Have

Are you missing any of the below features on your website? If so, it’s time to start creating a plan for implementing them.

An ‘About’ Page

Your clients want to know exactly who they are working with, so it’s highly essential for mortgage companies to provide an ‘About Us’ page on your website telling them who you are and what makes you different. 

Loan Officer Pages
Loan Officer pages give your team a way to promote themselves, your company and bring traffic to your website. To provide a more personal connection, add short bios under each team member’s photo. Add the ability to apply with each loan officer and potentially schedule meetings with them directly. This is a great value add to clients and a feature that helps with attracting and retaining originators.

If you are the sole owner and employee at your company, you can include a longer bio next to your photo since you’ll have a lot more real estate on the page.

Testimonials

A website should not just be an avenue to increase online presence. You can also leverage it to build trust. How do you build trust? By showcasing customer stories.

Having high-quality and relatable case studies on your website can ensure prospects that you are an expert in your field and have benefitted others with your work. 

Especially in an industry such as real estate, where your clients have to make important decisions and invest a lot of money, you absolutely need to have case studies on your site to move your leads along the funnel.

Reviews

Client reviews serve as a validation of your business’s credibility and reliability. During the consideration phase, prospects seek out feedback from others who have experienced your service and expertise first-hand. 

By having a collection of genuine client reviews readily available on your website, you provide valuable information that assists potential borrowers in their decision-making process. By prominently displaying your reviews, you demonstrate that real people have had positive experiences with your business and brand, strengthening your reputation and making it easier to convert web visitors into mortgage leads.

Interactive Tools

Once a visitor has landed on your website, you want them to stay. To do this, you must provide free interactive tools and resources that engage prospects. 

It’s fine if you want to create gated content to collect lead information, but be sure to provide a handful of ungated resources as well. Not everybody wants to provide their information, but this doesn’t mean they will not make a good client. An example of a free tool that every mortgage company should have on their website is a free mortgage calculator

Sometimes, popups can be interactive. However, you want to keep these to a minimum as nobody wants to keep hitting the ‘x’ button to see the content that they came to your website for in the first place.

Social Media Icons

You may come across many websites where you scroll down to the bottom footer and find a line of social media icons for LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. What’s the real purpose of linking your social channels to your website?

Although it may seem counterproductive to lead key prospects away from your site, you should consider that the people who will click these icons are your site visitors who are taking the time to learn more about your company. They are likely deeply invested and just need to see that you are an expert in your field before they convert to a customer.

Make sure that you’re consistently posting high-quality content to each of your channels to have a positive impression among your crowd. This is your chance to showcase that you are knowledgeable about the mortgage process. You can share your blogs, testimonials, infographics, social tiles, and any other information that can better convince your audience that they should choose you as their lender.

You should also include a link to your website through your social channels. This allows your social media audience to get one step closer to contacting you, which should be your final goal.

Optimize with LHP 3.0 – Request A Demo Today!

 

Lead Magnets / CTA Buttons

Encourage your audience to commit further to you by incorporating lead magnets and call-to-action buttons on your website.

A lead magnet is an element where you offer something of high value for free (such as an ebook or guide) in exchange for their contact information.

A call-to-action (CTA) button is similar. It contains only a motivational message that encourages visitors to take additional action that moves them closer to a funded loan.

That action could be to interact with your chatbot, call your office, use your online mortgage calculator to estimate a monthly payment, or even begin their online application. The messages on the buttons are typically short (ex., ‘Inquire Today,’ ‘Schedule a Call with Us’).

Blog

If your website does not already have a blog, you should create a section for it. Blogs help you showcase your expertise and knowledge while also helping you show up better and more frequently in local search queries. 

Decide how often you will create content and post. A healthy schedule is to post about once a week. 

Have writer’s block? Use our AI mortgage writing tool to blast through it! Available on LHP 3.0 websites.

Effortless Website Optimization: Utilizing LenderHomePAge Mortgage Website Templates for Increased Leads

There are so many improvements you can make on your mortgage website to increase leads and encourage prospects to reach out to you faster. By making even the most simple adjustments, such as moving around certain elements on your website, you can greatly improve the visitor experience.

If working with website design elements is not your strongest area, leverage a mortgage website template from LenderHomePage.This out-of-the-box solution establishes a strong baseline that checks off most of the audit list. Then, you can use the tips provided in this guide to fine-tune your site as you see fit.

Elevate Your Mortgage Site’s Visibility: Get A Demo

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Jason August 24, 2023 0 Comments

4 Advanced Link-Building Tactics: Leverage AI To Boost Mortgage Marketing

Link building plays a vital role in SEO and is one of the factors Google considers when determining search rankings. While actions like improving page speed can provide an immediate impact on ranking, link building is an endeavor that focuses on enhancing your website’s authority over time.

Although it may require some patience to see tangible outcomes, each high-value backlink compounds your authority, propelling and solidifying your site’s position in top search results for your target market.

Over time, backlinks increase website visibility and lead-generation opportunities.

While directory sites are a popular and effective link-building tactic, there are more advanced strategies that offer even greater advantages. Uncover the simplest and most impactful method to obtain high-quality backlinks for your mortgage website using AI, empowering your website to enhance credibility, authority, and achieve higher rankings.

SEO-Friendly Website Templates –Demo Today!

Link-Building 101: Understanding The Basics

When you “build links” to a website, you are essentially inserting your URL on other domains, which tells search engines that your website is important, and, therefore, should be ranked higher in search results. This is one of the main link-building benefits for mortgage websites

However, the catch is that you can’t just add any backlinks. It has come from a site with a related niche and also has some authority of its own. More on that later.

It’s also important to note that tackling backlinks to increase your site’s visibility is best done after foundational content and technical SEO strategies have been implemented, such as: 

  • SEO mortgage content with meta titles and meta descriptions (continue reading to learn how we make this easier with our AI-enabled content creator on LHP3)
  • Responsive, mobile-friendly design
  • Optimized site architecture
  • XML site map
  • Optimized page speed

Now let’s discuss best practices for link building.

Pro Tips for Effective Link Building on Mortgage Websites

There are so many complexities involved with link-building. Here are some practices you should steer away from to avoid getting penalized by search engines.

Avoid paying for links (Sort of)

Google does not like it when sites attempt to artificially enhance their ranking, and this includes buying backlinks that go to sites whose purpose is just to host backlinks. This is called link farming and is penalized by all search engines. 

However, paying a marketer or agency to attempt to secure backlinks on your behalf is allowed. But buyers, be aware! Some marketing agencies may still employ “link farming” tactics in their services. This is because building links takes time and effort. Avoid getting penalized by never buying farmed backlinks, work with a reputable marketing agency —or do it yourself with the tactics we’re about to teach you!

When guest blogging, post on sites related to your niche.

Google and other search engines quickly pick up on the type of websites linking to you. As a mortgage broker or loan officer, you may not want to post on sites about general pet care, for example. Otherwise, search engines assume your site is about pets and will not help you rank for mortgage, real estate, or location-specific keywords.

Get rid of outdated practices, such as commenting on blogs with your website link.

Simply adding your link and a sales pitch to the comment section of a popular website is a very spammy practice and does not make you or your company look good. Instead, provide engaging and thought-leadership commentary along with your website link for the best results.

Loan Officers: Try Our Game-Changing Mortgage Websites

4 Link Building Hacks for Mortgage Websites to Rule the Rankings

On the other hand, here are some practices you should opt for to improve your link-building efforts and ensure you are building links in an ethical way.

Use Web Content as Ego Bait

Ego bait is a strategy that involves creating content specifically designed to flatter or appeal to influential individuals or potential referral partners. The goal is to attract attention and generate backlinks by tapping into the “ego” or self-interest of these individuals.

Ego bait content can be in the form of an article or interview, but listings are fast and easy ways to gain traction from many individuals from just one piece of content. 

The key to successful ego bait backlinking is to create engaging content that showcases the targeted individuals in a flattering, authentic way while also providing relevant value to your business and prospects.

For example, you can create a listicle highlighting the various yoga studios in your target location, like traditional, hot, prenatal, etc, and detail the differences between them.

Another option would be to use local professionals to create content. A piece titled “Omaha Home Inspectors Answer Your Toughest Questions” is an example of a type of content that may perform well for SEO using keywords but also gives you an opportunity to create a backlink.

Reach out to the business and let them know that you’ll be featuring them on your site. Share the link and ask if they can add it to their site –creating the backlink!

They’re also likely to share it on social media, so remember to tag them on any social posts you create from the content.

When executed effectively, ego bait can not only attract valuable backlinks but also establish relationships with influential figures or brands in your industry, potentially leading to further collaboration and exposure.

Struggling to find the right words or short on time to craft captivating content? No worries, we’ve got you covered! Introducing our game-changing LHP3 website platform with its supercharged AI-enabled content creator. Simply share the topic, throw in a catchy title, and let our AI work its magic to generate an incredible first draft. It’s like having a wordsmith sidekick on demand!

All that’s left for you is a quick polish, and you’re ready to publish. Don’t let time or inspiration hold you back – unleash the power of our AI content creator.

Try Our AI Content Creator: Book a Website Demo Now!

 

Thought Leadership

If you have been actively searching for guest blogging opportunities, you may have come across some that are seeking experts on a specific topic. For example, there is a website called HARO, which stands for ‘Help a Reporter Out.’ You can offer your knowledge and expertise to publications to gain valuable and high-quality backlinks.

Other ways to do this are by carrying out original research, doing podcast interviews, speaking at relevant industry conferences, creating and posting infographics to your socials, etc.

Besides the backlinks, you will also benefit by better gaining your audience’s trust. Everybody wants to work with a savvy, well-spoken loan officer. Let’s also remember that high-quality content often leads to increased trust and higher rates of conversion.

Broken Link-Building

There are so many broken links on the web, and these can badly impact a website. Take some time to research sites in your industry that have broken links. The goal is to either create new content or use your existing content and encourage the webmaster of that website to replace the old content with your new content.

Before reaching out, always make sure that the content you are pitching adds value to the page and is not just there for the sake of link-building. Explain what value it will add to that page when you reach out.

Here is more information on broken link building

Do Directory Submissions

Directory sites are a great way to build links to your mortgage website. To get the most out of this tactic, you’ll want to create two lists: top general directories and industry-specific directories.

The general directories are those that every business should be listed in (ex. Google My Business, Yelp, Bing, etc.) plus any locale-specific directories. The niche-specific directories will be ones that are related to mortgage or real estate (ex. Zillow and MortgageBite).

When getting listed in directories, prioritize that that allows for a website URL. The ones without a URL are still good for exposure but will not help you with link-building.

Another thing to keep in mind is to ensure all of your company’s information is consistent throughout different directory sites; otherwise, this can negatively impact your SEO.

LenderHomePage: Empowering Loan Officers to Excel in the Digital Age

Unleash the power of link-building! Elevate your mortgage website’s authority and boost search rankings effortlessly with our AI-enabled mortgage content creator. Book a demo now and experience how our tools simplify the creation of quality content that attracts backlinks and builds your online presence.

Level-Up with AI -Schedule Website Demo

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Jason July 13, 2023 0 Comments

Leveraging Customer-Centric Technology to Close More Loans

While mortgage tech has helped streamline many aspects of origination, there’s a massive disconnect that nearly all tech stacks are neglecting, and it’s causing you to bleed thousands in potential revenue.

Allow us to explain. 

Most mortgage technology is focused on the compliance side of the transaction —that’s where components like automation and integrations take front and center, and for good reason. Modernizing lending is long overdue, and strides made in recent years to advance mortgage tech and regulations have been an insurmountable win. 

Mortgage Tools that WOW

But can you recall the last time compliant-focused software like your LOS helped initiate a loan?

Do you know which facets of your LOS encourage the borrower to keep up the momentum and complete the application?

As you might have guessed, no aspect of an LOS or other compliant-focused tech helps sell loans.

In fact, digitizing the intake process has actually made it more challenging for the consumer!

Here’s why –

Your prospects don’t care about compliance. All they want is to get approved for a loan they can afford in the most straightforward and enjoyable way possible. 

Lenderhomepage all-in-one customer facing mortgage technology stackObviously, compliance 100% matters to your business, but when it comes to your clients, relying on compliance-focused mortgage tech rather than customer-centric will make you lose every time. 

An LOS is an enabler but is not a complete intake solution. 

A recent study demonstrates this idea clearly. When consumers were asked what factor most positively influenced their interaction with a business, only 32% specifically mentioned technology (PwC, 2018).

In contrast, nearly 50% pointed directly to experience as the most important and influential factor. That’s not to say that technology doesn’t matter, but rather it points to how crucial the experience with the technology is –because THAT’S what they value the most. Experience, not functionality.

Furthermore, this study revealed that you have few chances to get it right. 59% of consumers said they would walk away from a business after several bad experiences, while 17% said they would leave after just one bad experience!

And in an industry where your services are needed once every seven to ten years, losing them now could mean losing them forever!

Can you afford to lose over half of your prospective borrowers?? 

Of course not! No one can afford to lose clients. But that’s precisely what happens when you entrust your revenue to an application focused more on compliance rather than conversions.

Your All-In-One Customer-Facing Tech Stack

Customer-Centric Mortgage Tech is EVERYTHING To Your Business

When it comes to converting website visitors into borrowers, customer-centric technology and how it’s implemented in the borrower’s journey play a crucial role. But what exactly makes tech “customer-centric,” and why is it so crucial for selling more loans? 

Simply put, customer-centric mortgage technology places the customer at the center of the intake operation. It engages and involves the customer at multiple touchpoints to unburden them from the mechanics of origination while empowering and motivating them to complete the necessary tasks. 

It also fosters a positive experience throughout the journey –from first discovering your brand to considering your service to starting an application to finally completing it –and maps out a path that significantly increases conversion rates and grows your business by creating loyal clientele.

Are you forcing a process on your clients or making it easy for them to send you a loan?

lenderhomepage mortgage technology for winning teamsNearly 50% of consumers will abandon their mortgage application, and friction from a compliance-focused application is likely the reason. Check out the main culprits of high application abandon rates:

  • Consumer is confused by the process and is unable to find assistance
  • Consumer is overwhelmed by the requirements
  • Consumer doesn’t understand the terms or requirements
  • Poor user experience from inferior application design and/or technical problems

Burdening your clients with a compliance-focused app because “it gets the job done” completely ignores your client’s needs. And without a client, is there even a loan? 

If your LOS is compliance-focused, what helps your loan officers sell more loans?

Competing solely on rates or products will only take you so far. The rest lies in your unique value proposition and the borrower journey you create with your customer-centric tech. This is the battleground for communicating your competitive advantage and how your loan officers will sell loans!

How does your client-facing technology match up with the big-box lenders?

If you’re using a traditional compliance-focused intake, you’re essentially holding the door open for your prospect to walk out and choose a big-box lender. 

Never forget that being a pioneer isn’t the only reason that Rocket Mortgage surpassed mega lenders like Wells Fargo and JP Morgan. It was also their keen awareness that the customer’s online experience was how they would win over the consumer.

The same rings true for you. Even more so!

Not only has Rocket Mortgage climbed to the top of the heap to the tune of $340 billion in originated loans a year, but they’ve also revolutionized consumers’ expectations of how online lending should be.

And the boom of online shopping only reinforces this expectation! Anything less than a positive and intuitive online borrower journey is trash. 

Now more than ever, a positive borrower experience with customer-centric tech is mandatory for a successful mortgage business. 

LenderHomePage has the technology and resources to help you quickly shift your business to a customer-centric model that engages prospects from the first touch, enhances their interactions with your company, encourages high conversion rates, and wins them over to become advocates for your services. 

Explore our website and learn more about how we help you captivate prospects and maintain motivation until the loan and loyalty are yours.

Get that WOW Experience NOW

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Jason March 14, 2023 0 Comments

Is Your Website Enough to WIN in 2022?

Mortgage websites are unlike traditional business websites. As a highly regulated industry, lenders have a slew of compliance requirements in addition to state and federal regulations like the CCPA in California and WCAG 2.0 across the nation.

But having a mortgage-compliant website isn’t the only thing you have to worry about.

A mortgage professional’s website must also incorporate crucial structural, design, marketing, branding, and functional elements –all while delivering a borrower experience that delights and converts!

Does your current site meet the standards of 2022 consumers?

Check out this list of the most critical and essential elements your site should have right now.

Essential Elements of a Mortgage Website

Clear Site Navigation and Architecture

Several avenues may lead a user to your site. Google My Business could have directed them to your homepage, or maybe a search query landed them on one of your mortgage blog articles.

Or perhaps a real estate partner or former client forwarded them an email resulting in the user clicking over to your site. Where ever the user came from, it’s important that they can easily find what they are looking for.

Navigation should be located both at the top and bottom of the site. Nest categories in the menu to minimize clutter and include a link to a site map at the footer.

Also, make sure the navigation is intuitive to the visitor’s device.

View Template Gallery

Visible Call-to-Action (CTA)

Again, depending on the page the user landed on and their intent, you’ll want to provide clear direction as to what to do next, and there are several key spots where you want to include a CTA.

Your homepage should include a lead capture form, and it’s good practice to have an apply now at the top of your navigation –visible on every page they visit on your site.  Including a CTA at the end of every article and a lead capture form on key evergreen content is also an excellent idea.

The CTA can vary in wording, but essentially you want to encourage the user to continue through the sales funnel and get closer to completing an application. This can be accomplished by:

Telling them to contact you for more details on a particular program

  • Pre-qualify using your online form
  • Download your mortgage mobile app
  • Subscribe to your newsletter
  • Read more articles about a specific topic on your blog

Mobile-Friendly Version

There’s some confusion about what constitutes a “mobile-free” website. Mobile-friendly isn’t just about its site resizing to fit on a smaller screen. According to Google, a website must have these features to be classified “mobile-friendly” by their Google bots:

  • Avoids software not commonly used on mobile devices –like Flash.
  • Uses text that is readable without zooming.
  • Content fits the screen without requiring users to scroll horizontally or zoom to view
  • Places the links far enough apart so that the user can tap on the correct one easily.

Well-Defined Mortgage Business Brand

Your brand is what makes you memorable and unique. From a mortgage consumer’s perspective, a well-defined brand makes them feel at ease and familiar.

It can also give them a sense of happiness and satisfaction -both rooted in the emotional connection that digital consumers build with brands they find trustworthy.

When it comes to your website, make sure that you communicate your brand throughout your site –from your logo and tagline to mission statement and “about us” pages.

Even font and color scheme elements communicate your brand to the digital consumer, so be mindful of that when customizing your mortgage website.

Mortgage Content and Resources

Many loan applications begin with questions like, “how do I…?” or “the truth about…” or something similar. In other words, it’s unlikely that a digital consumer landed on your site because looking to apply for a loan at that time.

A consumer typically lands on a mortgage site researching loan or real estate services and topics, making it essential to have a library of well-written informational articles on your site. Note that relevant content goes hand-in-hand with your SEO efforts and search engine ranking.

Reviews From Previous Happy Clients

Positive reviews from past clients underscore a phenomenon called social proof. Social proof is the idea that others place a higher value on something simply because someone else has placed a high value on it.

Social proof also encourages people to follow suit. In other words, if a prospect is unsure if using your services is the correct course of action, seeing that someone else had used your services and was happy with the result will reinforce the idea using your services is the best action to take.

So while positive reviews raise the trust factor,  reviews also make your services more valuable and desirable. This is why this element is necessary for your site.

Pre-Designed Mortgage Websites by LenderHomePage

A well-built mortgage website that connects to a digital consumer takes more than just looks.

It must also be compliant, well-branded, and positioned as a reliable, professional resource for all mortgage needs –all of that in addition to easy to navigate and designed to capture leads!

Our flagship product, mortgage websites, is still one of our most highly-praised digital mortgage assets. We’ve maintained this reputation by consistently improving and evolving with the needs of our clients, their digital borrowers, and search engine trends.

Explore our gallery of templated mortgage sites –including designs tailored for personal branding –and try it free for 14 days.

Choose Your Mortgage Template

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Jason September 22, 2022 0 Comments

7 Essentials For Strong Company Branding

Mortgage company branding is more than a logo. It’s part of the entire consumer experience, how your customer perceives you and is an indispensable factor in your ROI. Everything from the individual graphics to your website and mortgage app appearance to social media posts to online chats is part of your brand. 

Because branding is a critical element of your business, it’s vital that you know the fundamentals of a strong one. By the way, this is true about personal branding as well. Whether you’re a team on 1 or 100, your mortgage brand is your DNA and promise to consumers. Here’s how to do it.

Purpose 

A strong brand reflects your company’s purpose. It’s the reason why your business was established and answers the key question: why should a consumer choose your business over others? 

This is the starting point for your entire branding plan. The more specific you are, the more defining the difference between you and your competitors. Answer these three questions, and you’ll have the foundation to your overarching purpose that is part of your brand strategy:

  • What is your business best at?
  • What is your business passionate about?
  • What difference can your business make?

Consistency

Consistent branding increases familiarity. The more a consumer is familiar with your brand, the more they begin to trust –and even prefer– your brand and business. And when it comes to online consumers who are comparison shopping, consistency and trust can tip the scales in your favor, turning a web visitor into a prospect. 

Graphic elements and color schemes are visual ways to create consistency but don’t forget how your mortgage business tech stack works with your branding. A similar and predictable look, feel, and tone should be apparent in the entire Borrower Experience.

Captivate

One of the hallmarks of a great brand is that it grabs the attention of consumers. That’s not to say that it must be loud or aggressive, but optimally, it should contain some pivot –enough to make a consumer do a “double-take” when they come upon it while browsing for local mortgage brokers and lenders.

Keep in mind that the double-take is more than a cool logo. Captivating with your brand also involves offering the “remarkable” with your services, such as instant quotes or self-generated approval letters. 

Personality

A strong mortgage brand also has a recognizable personality that makes it relatable to its target consumer. We can see this in action with well-known brands like Nike (motivational and inspirational) or Apple (innovative and fresh). 

Authentic brand personality permeates everything from running the company to campaign messages, helping to build rapport and loyalty from your target mortgage consumer. 

Emotional Hook

Consumers are often persuaded more effectively by emotion than logic. A recent collaborative study analyzing 35 years of research into emotions’ impact on decision-making revealed that emotions are a pervasive and predictable driver in decision making.

Thus, a strong mortgage brand needs an emotional hook that emphasizes the benefits to the consumer. This emotional hook (the benefits) excites consumers and motivates them to convert into borrowers.

Community

Your current and past mortgage consumers can be your most effective evangelists and be a rich resource for new mortgage leads by sharing their experience and recommending it. A strong mortgage brand is one that your consumer advocates are thrilled to share. It’s professional, clean, and trustworthy -everything they can get behind to share and go viral. 

Authority

When it comes to the lending industry, authority is a must. Anything less than unshakable authority will cost you business. Ways that you can build authority with your branding include:

  • Mortgage content like a blog, videos, and email marketing
  • Infographics and eBooks
  • Digital mortgage tools like a mortgage app and professionally build mortgage website
  • Publish content on industry-respected platforms
  • Consistent and active presence across the web, including review sites and social media

LenderHomePage Builds Your Mortgage Brand

A strong mortgage brand sets you up for success. It defines fundamentals like your mission and company values, rallies employees around your vision, emotionally hooks prospective mortgage consumers, excites advocates for your business, and overall helps to facilitate a thriving ROI. So when it comes to a digital mortgage partner, choose one that’s built for branding as well as scaling. 

Try us out for free for 14 days and discover why top producers and enterprise originators trust LenderHomePage for all their digital mortgage platform needs. 

Start A Trial

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Jason August 11, 2021 0 Comments

Mortgage Website Creation: Why It’s Not As Simple As Pictures and Text

Getting a website online for any business is relatively easy nowadays, there are several quick and cheap options. But a website that’s also a hub of your business –central to lead nurturing, acquisition, branding, marketing, and Borrower Experience requires another level of sophistication. 

In this week’s post, we’re going to show you exactly how to create a mortgage website that meets all of these criteria, plus how you launch an attractive, professional, high-functioning mortgage website in less than five minutes

Best Mortgage Website Building Practices

Website Creation: Pictures and Text Are Not Enough

A quick search on launching a website will bring you over 360 million results, with the top generic website builders being Wix and Squarespace. But that’s just it –they’re generic. While the general design and launching are fast, the appearance is still bland, and its functionality is miles away from where it should be for a professional mortgage website. 

Of course, there’s much more to it. There’s also the matter of search engine optimization, content for conversion, and Borrower Experience. By the end, you’ll have the ability to decipher a generic website from a high-level mortgage website and know how to go about creating a mortgage website that supports your business needs, meets online ending industry standards, and modern consumer buying habits.

mortgage buyer journey mapping workbook lenderhomepage

Responsive 

Responsive design is often mistaken for simply adjusting to the screen. While this may have been innovative ten years ago, modern responsive websites must also adapt their functionality. That means that items like lead capture forms, menus, videos, and any integrated 3rd-party applications must work and view properly without any effort from the user. No matter the device or operating system, the best mortgage websites are built for this level of user experience from the ground up.

Modern and Branded Mortage Design

As mentioned above, although there are plenty of clean website designs possible with generic website builders, a mortgage website that reflects modern design principles and the flexibility to brand is key to making your online business front stand out and above the rest. 

When it comes to designing, mortgage website templates from LenderHomePage offer a powerful and fast jumping-off point. With 45 attractive prebuilt mortgage designs, mortgage professionals of all sizes –from individual to multi-branch –can easily find a site that reflects their business. 

With some simple adjustments to the color scheme and the addition of your logo, both of which can be done without coding and matched your POS platform, your mortgage website will have a dynamically branded look and feel across the entire Borrower Experience.

Interactive Mortgage Tools

Online mortgage consumers crave an immersive and personalized shopping experience and interactive mortgage tools on your website are how to deliver this experience. Accurate to their location and loan program, online mortgage tools such as our mortgage calculators estimate down to the penny and move curious borrowers deeper through your lead nurturing strategy.

SEO Mortgage Copy

Search engine optimized copy is a precise craft of persuasive writing combined with researched keywords. This particular combination is aimed at helping to position your website for both a high-ranking organic search position and high conversion rates. This means that the words and the formatting must meet specific standards for search engines and consumers.

If you’d like to attempt it yourself, reach this previous article where we give a brief overview on how to DIY your mortgage SEO copy. Otherwise, we recommend taking advantage of our mortgage marketing services with professional and custom mortgage SEO content.

High-Value Content

Along the same lines as SEO copywriting is high-value mortgage content. The mortgage content can come in articles, videos, graphics, e-books, or white papers and, as expected, doesn’t come as part of any generic website design. 

While custom high-value content comes with additional costs, our mortgage website templates come with hundreds of pages of mortgage articles that can be edited as you see fit –or launch as is! Need additional help and resources? We got you covered. Our team of marketers is available for custom mortgage content and strategy development to guide how to make the best use of it on your website. 

Seamless Integration with Digital 1003 and POS

Last but not least, a mortgage website needs a seamless integration with your digital 1003 and POS. In today’s touchless environment, your mortgage website is more than an online presence –it’s also the hub of the Borrower Experience, and that includes your digital 1003 and mortgage POS platform. More than placing a simple link, integrating all the three platforms in such a way that captured leads, is branded, and is intuitively functional is vital to your competitive advantage. 

Want to see all this in action for free? Sign up for a free trial. Click here to get started –no credit card required! In only 14 days, you’ll be convinced that our mortgage website templates and support team are immensely better than what any generic website can offer. 

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Jason August 4, 2021 0 Comments