Most independent loan officers are aware of the importance of having a well-designed website. But if you’re operating under one of the bigger mortgage company websites, you may have a false sense of security. The reality is that having a single landing page on the company’s site is going to do little to nothing for you. What you need instead is a dedicated loan officer website that helps build your personal brand and utilizes SEO to attract prospects.
Top Benefits of Mortgage Originator Websites
If you truly want to succeed in the world of mortgage loans, you’re going to need to take a lot of initiative. It doesn’t matter if you operate independently or under a major company. Either way, a website that you own is one of your most powerful marketing tools.
Truly effective sites do four key things:
1. Help Build Relationship Sales and Transparency – Relationship sales is an important concept for every industry. Even though you’re operating as a lender who gives people the funding they need, it’s still wise to look at the process of acquiring each client’s loan as closing a sale. With that in mind, you’ll want to create a transparent approach, which definitely includes having your own mortgage broker website.
Keep in mind that 73 percent of consumers value transparency over price. In other words, if prospects believe they can trust you, they’ll be more likely to work with you over another lender who can get them a slightly lower interest rate. Building this trust starts with having one of the best loan officer websites in your area.
2. Provide a Solid Business Asset – No matter how happy you are with your current company, there’s always a chance that you could move on in the future. With that being said, it’s wise to protect yourself by investing in your own mortgage broker website with a design that’s unique to you. That way, if you ever do join another company or decide to become an independent broker, you’ll already have a strong online presence to support your transition. This is also the perfect way to let your existing clients stay in touch with you, which could easily lead to future business.
3. Make Prospects Feel More Comfortable – Let’s face it; there are tons of lenders and mortgage broker websites trying to attract the attention of every prospect. Making sure that your site stands apart with excellent SEO, content and the overall design is imperative, and we’ll look at that in more detail later on.
For now, the first and most crucial thing you need to know is that 87 percent of the people who need a loan are going to use the internet to research their options. Therefore, if you don’t have a site, they not only won’t find you but they also won’t feel as comfortable with you if they do happen upon your business in another way. The bottom line is that a nicely designed website builds credibility and boosts consumer confidence, so you need one for those reasons above all others.
4. Save You Money with Inbound Marketing – Every advertisement you place costs money and is viewed as outbound marketing because you’re reaching out into the marketplace to try to find new clients. Inbound marketing is a better approach because it ensures that the people who visit your site are actively looking for a loan.
One of the top sources of inbound marketing is well-written content. If you were to visit the best mortgage websites for loan officers in your local area, you’d almost certainly find frequent blog posts that contain high-quality writing and useful information. By utilizing the power of inbound marketing, you can double your site conversions and save an average of 61 percent for each lead.
What Sets the Best Mortgage Broker Websites Apart?
A good mortgage website design is even more important than having an online presence. After all, three out of every four visitors will judge your abilities as a loan officer based solely on your site’s appearance. Therefore, unless you’re a design wizard and also an experienced content writer, it’s best to work with a professional design team.
The sites that stand apart from their competition all have a few things in common, including:
1. They’re Easy to Navigate – Consumers are notoriously fickle when it comes to websites. So much so, in fact, that 40 percent of them will only give your homepage three seconds to load and impress them before they’ll bounce to another lender’s site. Therefore, loading speed is absolutely essential, and you also need to have a mortgage website template that is super easy for visitors to navigate. If a prospect cannot quickly find the information that they’re looking for, they’re going to become frustrated. As soon as that frustration kicks in, your odds of closing a deal become infinitesimal.
2. They Don’t Have Any Errors – We live in an internet world where people constantly misspell words and butcher grammar. Despite this, any mistakes that are found on mortgage websites are quickly held against the applicable loan officers. Studies show that 15 percent of all internet users will rule out a business that has a spelling or grammatical error on their site.
3. They Have a Responsive Design – The days of people looking through multiple pages from their desktop computer are long gone. Now, 37 percent of Americans stick exclusively to their smartphone for personal internet access. This means that you must have a mobile friendly design if you want to remain competitive with the best mortgage websites in your local area. Sites with a responsive design have become the preferred standard due to their fast load times, nice appearance and easy to use top menus.
How Do Loan Officer Websites Generate Leads?
Having an attractive website that’s easy to maneuver through is a major component in lead generation. But if you want to really improve your overall lead generation and conversion rates, you must ensure that the site has everything where it counts behind the scenes too. The very best mortgage lead generation websites were built with this in mind, and yours can be too!
To get the type of lead generation that every mortgage officer dreams of, you’ll need a website designer that can address a few crucial topics:
1. Emphasize SEO Techniques – Search engine optimization, more commonly referred to as SEO, is the lifeblood of every website. Without it, your visitor count will remain woefully low, and you’ll be extremely unlikely to show up when people search for local loan officers on Google.
SEO is much more than simply putting a bunch of keywords onto a page. Those who engage in such outdated practices often hurt their traffic instead of helping it. Google changes their SEO standards regularly, so you need to have an expert on your side who knows exactly what tweaks are needed after each Google algorithm update. That’s where our company comes in; we stay on top of the latest SEO requirements and techniques, so that you don’t have to!
2. Eliminate Coding Errors – Spelling and grammatical errors aren’t the only problems you have to contend with when building a mortgage broker website. Coding errors, broken links and dead images will hurt your conversion ratio by diminishing consumer confidence. Approximately one out of every 10 visitors will stop considering your company if they encounter a single coding error.
When you consider how hard it can be to catch the attention of new prospects, you’ll instantly understand how expensive and wasteful it is to let silly errors rob you of the opportunity to convert a lead into a client. Fortunately, a professional website design builder knows how to prevent coding errors and other unsightly mistakes from occurring.
3. Content is Still King – Strong content is your very best inbound marketing tool. Delivering well-written content and blog posts will signal Google that your site deserves a higher search engine ranking. Additionally, putting up blog posts that educate consumers and help solve their problems is a much more successful marketing approach than simply relying on a sales pitch. By working with a marketing company, you can ensure top-notch content that’s well-poised to boost your conversion rate.
We Create Mortgage Broker Websites
Don’t waste a lot of time and energy trying to build something that’s outside of your wheelhouse. Our experienced team knows how to design mortgage lead generation websites that really work. We will take your existing branding techniques, including your logo, color scheme and any preferred fonts, and create a site that will keep your visitors engaged.
We’re here for you when it’s time to upgrade from an old-fashioned, brochure styled site. We’ll deliver a fast loading, aesthetically pleasing site you can be proud to list on your business cards. Contact us today to learn more about the many ways we can assist loan officers with their website and marketing needs!