Novus Home Mortgage

From Fragmented to Findable: A WordPress Rebuild for NOVUS.

Project Brief.

NOVUS Home Mortgage, a division of Ixonia Bank, is a national mortgage lender committed to delivering a transparent, modern experience for homebuyers and homeowners. With a rapidly growing network of loan advisors and branch locations across the U.S., NOVUS combines customer-first service with a strong digital strategy to empower clients through smarter lending experiences.

Homepage design of Novus Home Mortgage

Client Details.

Services Provided.

  • Strategic Planning
  • Digital Marketing
  • Experience Design
  • Application Development

Project Solution.

NOVUS partnered with Ascedia to completely reimagine its digital presence. Their previous setup included two disjointed web properties (www and www2), fragmented workflows, broken SEO signals, and outdated branding. Loan officer profiles were difficult to manage, and the platform lacked analytics visibility, personalization tools, and efficient governance.
The engagement focused on unifying the digital experience under one domain, delivering a performant WordPress-based platform that would scale with growth, improve discoverability of loan officers and branches, and support marketing, recruiting, and lead generation efforts.
NOVUS needed a modern, flexible platform that could support marketing growth, improve visibility for loan officers, and create a better experience for both internal teams and prospective customers. Major challenges included:
  • Fragmented content split across multiple domains
  • No integrated analytics or lead attribution
  • Outdated DIVI theme limiting design flexibility and performance
  • Difficult-to-manage advisor profile pages lacking search visibility
  • No scalable editorial workflows for compliance and brand consistency
  • Persistent 404 errors and no redirect strategy
  • Technical debt from legacy code and APIs
  • No personalization or content targeting tools
  • Need to migrate to Pantheon for performance, security, and reliability
Strategy & Discovery
  • Held detailed discovery sessions with NOVUS leadership and internal marketing
  • Conducted competitive and peer benchmarking to guide the UX and messaging
  • Created a unified strategy to support brand leadership, advisor engagement, and content governance
Design & Development
  • Built a custom WordPress theme with Gutenberg + ACF blocks
  • Replaced legacy DIVI setup with a scalable, modern content framework
  • Implemented sticky advisor logic for personalized user experiences
  • Reimagined the branch and loan officer directory for performance and clarity
  • Created editorial workflows to support compliance reviews
  • Designed all pages with ADA and WCAG accessibility in mind
Technical Implementation
  • Migrated site hosting to Pantheon, optimizing for performance and version control
  • Built custom post types for advisors, branches, and locations
  • Eliminated long-standing 404 issues with a full redirect map
  • Refactored and optimized APIs (Google Places, Experience.com reviews)
  • Installed Google Tag Manager and GA4
  • Developed a real-time Looker Studio dashboard with performance by advisor, branch, and conversion type
  • Used GSC to validate indexing and improve Core Web Vitals
In the first 7 days post-launch — with only 3 days of activity on the new system — NOVUS saw:
  • +25% increase in clicks, +17% increase in impressions (Google Search Console)
  • 9.4K views, 3.1K total users, 2.8K new users, and 3.7K sessions (Looker)
  • +138% growth in views to branch profiles
  • +190% growth in new users on loan officer profile pages
  • One officer profile saw a +3,100% increase in visibility week-over-week
  • Core Web Vitals: All tracked URLs are now passing as “Good”
  • Zero unresolved 404s, post-consolidation
  • Career, Contact, and Find-an-Advisor pages all showing improved engagement
Ascedia continues to support Novus through ongoing maintenance and enhancements. The redesigned platform provides:
  • Training provided for the internal marketing team and loan officers
  • Custom Looker dashboards support day-to-day insights and performance reporting
  • Clean, scalable WordPress implementation supports long-term flexibility
  • Pantheon hosting ensures enterprise performance, uptime, and support
  • Personalized loan officer tools enable internal adoption and self-service updates
  • Technical SEO and structured data improvements set the stage for long-term search gains
This partnership demonstrates how modernizing a fragmented digital presence can unlock performance, visibility, and scalability—especially in highly competitive, compliance-driven industries like mortgage lending.
Novus Mortgage homepage design
Novus Mortgage loan officer profile page
Novus Mortgage guides and resources page design

Project Outcomes.

Ascedia built a custom WordPress solution tailored to NOVUS’s national footprint, compliance needs, and growth-focused marketing goals. Our approach prioritized a unified customer experience, stronger discoverability for advisors and branches, and a scalable platform that internal teams could govern with confidence. Key outcomes included:
  • Led stakeholder discovery with NOVUS leadership and marketing teams to align platform strategy, messaging, and governance
  • Consolidated two disjointed web properties into a single domain, restoring SEO continuity and streamlining user journeys
  • Replaced the legacy DIVI framework with a custom WordPress theme using Gutenberg + ACF blocks for flexibility and performance
  • Built scalable content architecture with custom post types for loan officers, branches, and locations
  • Redesigned the branch and advisor directories to improve clarity, speed, and search visibility
  • Implemented “sticky advisor” personalization to connect users with relevant loan officers and support self-service updates
  • Established editorial and compliance workflows to maintain brand consistency and review processes at scale
  • Migrated hosting to Pantheon to improve reliability, security, and modern deployment practices
  • Eliminated long-standing 404 issues through a comprehensive redirect map and technical cleanup
  • Refactored and optimized key integrations (Google Places and Experience.com reviews) to reduce technical debt
  • Implemented Google Tag Manager + GA4 and delivered a real-time Looker Studio dashboard for advisor/branch performance and conversion insights
  • Improved accessibility and Core Web Vitals, supporting a faster, more inclusive experience across devices

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Growth in new users on loan officer profile pages