For as long as we've been operating, we've had a suite of complimentary plugins made available to mortgage brokers. The most 'valuable' of these plugins is one that we called Funnels - a completely complimentary plug-and-play website plugin that'd create full-featured funnels on activation. To obtain the plugin, we required that a user simply download our (rather outdated) marketing manual and wait for the download link to be sent via email. Every now and again we'd post a direct link to our Facebook Group .

The purpose of the free product is clear: abolish overpriced leadgen companies that deliver a costly, (usually) non-compliant, and fractionalised lead generation experience. When measured against the 'everything-ify' style of service, and the various others floating around the market, our free Funnels product routinely and consistently returns an ROI that exceeds that of pay-per-lead services by around 35X (usually far higher). Our aim was to provide an always up-to-date and ever-evolving product that'd deliver a best-practice, fully-owned, and compliant solution with the click of a button.

Many marketing agencies love to belittle the services provided by their competition, but we've never seen or inherited a product that outperforms any of the free funnel products we've ever given away. Digital has earned an reputation normally reserved for car salespeople and parking officers, so we needed to give away a product that would illustrate in very clear and simple terms how easy it is to improve on the ubiquitous crappy funnel experience provided by "professionals" in our industry, and we needed you to experience the freedom of generating your own leads for a tiny fraction of the cost.

This article describes why we've put a hold on new brokers using the Funnels product (with the exception of those that are delivered the product via our list), and why we'll instead release a new free product called BeliefMedia Finance. The new product takes all the existing products we've previously made available to brokers - albeit with updated functionality - and incorporates it into a single unified product. It is an absolutely game-changing product.

No broker should ever buy a lead. Belief's free product doesn't just deliver more business than paid funnel programs... it adds completely integrated features into your website via a system that is genuinely connected to your broader digital experience. The funnel experience delivered via the existing Funnels product is virtually identical to the experience described in an article titled "A High Performing Mortgage Broker Facebook Conversion Funnel". The very last update to the Funnels plugin includes the stepped Fact Find as described in an article titled "An Integrated Stepped Fact Find Leadgen Form", although, once again, this is the last update the plugin will see before it is deprecated entirely.

Existing Free Mortgage Broker Website Plugin

The suite of plugins we provide brokers is extensive, and altogether they introduce 48 graph types, 5 calculators, 4 search tools, and 127 features to your website. A non-extensive list of plugins is described below:

• BeliefMedia Core. The Core Plugin is the basis for the existing Funnels product, and it is required before any other plugin may be installed. The plugin includes a grid of accredited lenders, simple graph features, QR Code generation tools, free access to the Shor.tt url truncation tool, access to over 30 mortgage related graphing tools, basic link shortcode, and PDF embed shortcode. The primary purpose of the plugin is to provide common code for other plugins, and it facilitates the registration of your API key. The plugin also includes a text-based caching tool. Core also includes shortcodes to return any MFAA/FBAA calculator.
• BeliefMedia RBA. The RBA plugin includes a facility to include the current cash rate in plan text via shortcode, and it permits the inclusion of a dynamic JavaScript Cash Rate Graph and Comparison Graph. The plugin also provides access to dedicated CPI and Inflation graphs. The plugin also includes currency exchange data, live exchange data via shortcodes, and graphs.
• BeliefMedia Bandbox. Bankbox enables you to quickly and easily create bank-themed textboxes for over 90 banks with full stylistic control over how each 'bankbox' is presented. Facilities exist for general textboxes.
• BeliefMedia LMI. BeliefMedia LMI is a complimentary website plugin that will return an estimated LMI Premium (using the Genworth premium for our modeling). The plugin -also includes a basic LVR calculator and Limited Guaranteed Calculator.
• BeliefMedia BSB. The BeliefMedia BSB website plugin provides a simple search feature to search a BSB number from any bank.
• BeliefMedia LMI Postcodes. Lenders assess mortgage applications differently based on the location of the property being offered as security. A lender, or the Lenders Mortgage Insurance provider, will apply more rigid lending policies in high-risk locations to limit their exposure. This risk mitigation assessment often means that your maximum permissible LVR will be lower, and the maximum loan amount that you’re able to borrow will also be lower. The simple calculator returns Genworth and QBE policy data.
• BeliefMedia Postcodes. BeliefMedia Postcodes returns basic postcode and point of interest information to a page. A single shortcode is used to render the search feature. A shortcode is made available that will return a Bing Map in your post or page.

You will note that the Funnels plugin is no longer listed. Funnels was taken offline a short time ago and will soon re-emerge as BeliefMedia Finance, and it will include the functionality from all of the above plugins, with the addition of about a dozen other significant features... not the least of which is a promoted funnel campaigns with functionality previously served by the Funnels product.

Core and Funnels: The Funnels plugin simply added to the Core plugin, so the latter had to be installed first. Most brokers that recognised the value also wanted additional plugins installed, meaning that there were multiple products to manage... and it often confused them. The new system is a simple single product that replaces everything else. As new features are introduced they'll automatically be made available via standard updates.

Tp be clear: simply activating the plugin provides an experience that outperforms virtually every single leadgen company in the country, and is is far more powerful that the products we've seen some charge $14'000 to 'build'. The experience is fully integrated, meaning that it's part of your website. In fact, the plugin creates a landing page post type (not unlike our primary Yabber Plugin), and even includes an archive of always up-to-date RBA Monetary Policy statements (a recent inclusion in our mortgage broker website framework). Depending on feedback, we may also include the BeliefMedia Telstra plugin that enables SMS text messaging directly into your website. The scope of the new plugin is rather fluid at this stage as we constantly evaluate 'complexity' based on some broker feedback.

The new plugin includes dozens of other features, such as post accordions, finance quotes, and a whole lot more. The version currently in test also includes basic lender data widgets, and we're also considering including a basic article submission program at no cost.

Deprecation Schedule

All existing plugins will continue to work forever, although some of them will be deprecated and support will no longer be provided. While direct download links to Funnels were removed from our website, you may still gain access via our email program on the condition that you understand the product will be replaced.

As with all our products, supported plugins are updated regularly, and update links are returned on your website as with any other plugin you have installed.

Why Free?

Our Yabber subscribers will always outperform those brokers that use our complimentary products. In providing a free product that outperforms every leadgen company in the country, we expect that you'll gravitate towards our primary product.

Of course, another reason we're providing a product that essentially nullifies the low-performing leadgen market is to abolish their presence from the industry.

Conclusion

The revised BeliefMedia Finance plugin is currently in test and enjoying brilliant results, so we expect it to be available in early February. Finance will be fully supported by way of video and webinars, and limited phone support will be provided. The product will be drip-fed to those on our various lists well before it is made public, so ensure you subscribe.

There are basic conditions that apply to its use, with the most notable that it cannot be used by leadgen companies to improve upon their nonsense experience. We monitor all activations and quickly disable any product that isn't linked directly to a broker. There's also a blacklist of domains and users, although this won't impact you.