In this guide
- Choose the website around the job it needs to do
- Decide between a template and a custom build
- Plan the pages borrowers actually need
- Specify the inquiry journey and integrations
- Agree SEO, content review and ownership
- Understand what affects the quote and timeline
- Use a realistic brief to compare proposals
- Agree how launch and performance will be checked
A mortgage website should make it easy to understand who you help, explore the services you offer and contact the right person. Before comparing designs or quotes, decide whether you need an individual loan officer website, a team website or a landing page for one campaign.
This guide is for US mortgage brokers, loan officers and mortgage teams commissioning a new website or improving an existing one. It covers the decisions that shape a useful brief, the features worth discussing and the questions to ask a website provider before work begins.
Choose the website around the job it needs to do
An individual loan officer website
This suits a business built around one person and their borrower relationships. Visitors need to understand your experience, the services you offer, the markets you serve and how to reach you. A clear introduction, useful service pages, genuine evidence and an obvious inquiry route usually matter more than a long feature list.
Decide whether inquiries go directly to you, to an assistant or into an existing approved system. Confirm how your employer or brokerage needs to be represented before commissioning a separate personal brand.
A mortgage team website
A team website needs to explain the shared business while helping visitors find individual people. The scope may include a team directory, profile pages, shared service information and inquiry routing for different team members.
For a mortgage business using a doing business as (DBA) name, agree how the trading name and the underlying company appear together. Someone on your team should own updates when people join, move or leave. Our Mortgage Team Website project shows a new website we built for a mortgage DBA, including a directory and individual profiles.
A focused mortgage landing page
A landing page suits one clearly defined audience or campaign. It should connect the promise that brought someone to the page with a relevant explanation and a clear next action. A retirement mortgage campaign and a VA mortgage campaign need different content, even when the same business runs both.
Our Mortgage Landing Page Projects show three builds created around different service offers. They demonstrate the design and structure of the work. They are not evidence of a particular conversion rate or number of acquired clients.
Decide between a template and a custom build
A template can be a practical choice when its page structure, editing tools and inquiry functions already match your needs. Ask to see the actual mobile experience and confirm which parts you can change without developer support.
A custom build is more useful when your team structure, brand, content or integrations require a different approach. For example, a shared team website with distinct profile pages and individual inquiry routes may need more planning than a single personal site.
Compare the complete deliverable. A custom appearance alone does not establish better usability, search visibility or lead quality. Ask each provider to show how its proposed approach solves your specific requirements, what you will own and what support remains necessary after launch.
Plan the pages borrowers actually need
Start with a small, purposeful structure. A typical brief might include:
- Home: who the business helps, its main services and the next step.
- Service pages: separate explanations of the mortgage services you actually offer, using content approved by your business.
- About or team: accurate experience, people, company information and genuine credentials.
- Helpful answers: questions that regularly arise before an inquiry, with an owner responsible for keeping the answers current.
- Contact: a short inquiry route, clear contact details and an explanation of what happens after submission.
Add location pages only where they explain a real service area and provide useful, specific information. Decide which pages are needed for launch and which can follow later. A useful brief makes those priorities explicit.
Specify the inquiry journey and integrations
Walk through the journey from a service page on a phone. Can someone identify the right contact action, complete the form and understand the confirmation? Keep the first inquiry focused on the information needed to respond. A general contact form should not ask someone to upload financial documents or enter sensitive application details.
If the site links to an application portal, agree the handoff and make its purpose clear. Do the same for appointment booking, email notifications or an existing CRM. You do not need to buy a CRM simply to commission a website; you do need a reliable owner and destination for each inquiry.
For every integration, ask who supplies the account, who pays any subscription, what access is needed and how success will be tested. A button opening the correct destination and an inquiry arriving in the correct inbox are separate checks.
If you want a calculator, define its assumptions, editable inputs and explanatory text. Agree who checks its calculations and maintains the information. Treat it as a separately specified feature, with a clear explanation of what its output represents.
Agree SEO, content review and ownership
Ask what “SEO included” means in the proposal. A useful launch scope should name the work: page structure, titles and descriptions, crawl and indexing checks, internal links, sitemap inclusion and redirects where existing URLs change. Ongoing content and search improvement should have their own agreed scope.
For Google’s AI search features, Google’s guidance says the usual SEO foundations still apply and that there is no special markup required. Meeting those requirements does not guarantee indexing or inclusion. Be cautious about proposals promising specific AI placements.
Choose who writes and approves the website content before the build. Ask your business’s appropriate reviewer to approve mortgage statements, licensing information, disclosures and any application or advertising language. Website design work does not establish regulatory compliance.
Confirm who owns the domain, hosting, content, analytics accounts and editable site. Identify any licensed components or subscriptions that cannot simply be transferred. Your team should know how to obtain access, request changes and move providers if needed.
Understand what affects the quote and timeline
A meaningful quote follows a defined brief. The main cost drivers are usually the amount of content, number of distinct templates, custom functionality, integrations, migration work and testing. Ten pages using one approved layout are a different scope from ten pages with separate functions.
Ask for the build fee, optional additions and recurring costs to be separated. Hosting, licensed tools, content updates, maintenance and ongoing SEO may be provided by different parties. Confirm what happens when a subscription ends and how extra work is agreed.
Timelines also depend on content, imagery, access, integration readiness and approval decisions. Ask which inputs your team must provide, who signs off each stage and what would change the schedule. Optiseo agrees scope, priorities and fees before work begins; this guide is not a fixed price or delivery commitment.
Use a realistic brief to compare proposals
Consider this illustrative brief for a three person mortgage team. It is a planning example, not a client result or a standard package.
- Goal: explain the team’s offer and help suitable borrowers contact the right person.
- Launch scope: a homepage, team directory, three profiles, agreed service pages and contact.
- Inquiry path: a short form, a named recipient and a confirmation explaining the next step.
- Client inputs: approved branding, profile photographs, service details, company information and content signoff.
- Launch checks: mobile and keyboard use, form delivery, page titles, indexability and agreed analytics events.
- Later work: additional articles or campaign landing pages only when there is a defined purpose and owner.
Give each prospective provider the same brief. Ask them to identify assumptions, exclusions and dependencies. Our website brief guide provides a broader framework, while the Mortgage Broker Websites page explains how we approach this type of work.
Agree how launch and performance will be checked
Before launch, test the actual inquiry journey, including delivery and confirmation. Check important pages on mobile, usable navigation, image loading and any approved integrations. For a replacement website, record existing URLs and verify their intended destinations.
After launch, distinguish visits, form interactions, accepted inquiries and genuine opportunities. A test submission or a supplier sales pitch is not a borrower lead. Review the source, service interest and outcome of real inquiries alongside the available analytics, without sending personal application details into analytics tools.
A new website also needs a discovery plan. Search visibility, referrals and advertising have different requirements and timescales. Agree which activity will bring relevant people to the site and who will review the evidence. A website launch alone does not promise a steady flow of inquiries.