Great Lakes Commercial Finance has been a trusted resource for small business owners across Michigan for decades, providing SBA 504 financing that makes commercial property and equipment ownership attainable. We cleaned up an overgrown WordPress site, took over hosting and maintenance, and built a brand new SBA 504 loan calculator that doubles as a lead generator.
Challenge & Goals
GLCF had a lot working in its favor. A growing team, an active servicing portfolio of 450+ borrowers, and a lending partner network spanning the state. The website had not kept pace. Years of additions left 85+ published pages and 120+ total pieces of content, much of it outdated, redundant, or running on tools that are no longer supported. Duplicate form builder plugins were installed and running in the background. The loan calculator sitting at the center of the lender experience was clunky and did not work on a phone. GLCF knew what the site needed to do. Educate lenders and borrowers, support the servicing team with easy access to documents, point inquiries to the right loan officer by territory, and explain the 504 program clearly enough that a first-time visitor understands the value and the process.
Our Solution
We started with the foundation. GLCF moved hosting and maintenance to us, and we worked through the content, retiring what was outdated and removing the unsupported tools still running in the background. We cleared out the duplicate form builder plugins so the site runs on one clean setup instead of several. Then we built the calculator from scratch. We used AI as part of our development process to do it, which got a genuinely complex financial tool built and launched faster and at a lower cost than traditional custom development. It walks a borrower through loan terms, project questions, project costs, and third party lender details, then returns a full breakdown covering loan structure, estimated monthly payment, annual debt service, cash needed at closing, and the financed fee detail behind the 504 debenture. It works on mobile. And to get the full estimate as a PDF, the visitor enters their contact information, which turns an anonymous research session into a named lead a loan officer can follow up on. We also mapped the loan officer territories on the contact page so lenders and borrowers can find the right person in one look instead of guessing.
We also mapped the loan officer territories on the contact page so lenders and borrowers can find the right person in one look instead of guessing.
Results
The calculator now doubles as the top of GLCF’s lead funnel, and the servicing team has a site that is maintained, current, and stable. Here is what GLCF had to say.
Client Feedback
“VanDenBerg Web & Creative has truly gone above and beyond for us at Great Lakes Commercial Finance. They have been working hard to create updated products for our website, including a brand new loan calculator and a variety of other designs, all delivered quickly and with an exceptional level of attention to detail. What sets them apart is how they listen and care about what we want for our website. They don’t just build what’s easy, they build what’s right for us. Rebecca and her team have been an absolute delight to work with throughout this entire process. Professional, responsive, and a true pleasure every step of the way. We would highly recommend VanDenBerg Web & Creative for any website needs. 5/5 service!”
If your website has grown past what it was built to handle, you do not have to start over to start fixing it. Let’s talk about what your site needs first and map out a plan.