Facts checked on October 5, 2026. Vendor pages change, so confirm anything that matters for your firm in writing.
If you are weighing Advisor Websites, start with one question: do its site builder and review workflow fit the way your firm already works? A broker-dealer advisor, an independent RIA, and a firm that already runs on the platform each need different answers before a build starts.
This page is a buyer checklist built from the public Advisor Websites and Snappy Kraken pages on the check date. It is not a hands-on product review, it does not score the vendor, and it does not summarize user ratings. OJay Media Marketing builds client-acquisition systems for advisors, so we have a commercial interest in how firms choose their website and marketing tools.
Who is behind Advisor Websites today
Advisor Websites describes itself on its home page as website software for financial advisors, RIAs, financial planners, and insurance professionals, with a content library, social media sharing, and email marketing alongside the site itself. That is the product most people mean when they search for the brand name.
The company behind it changed. Advisor Websites announced in a May 3, 2022 post that Snappy Kraken had acquired it and that it would be branded as a Snappy Kraken company. Its acquisition FAQ adds that the Advisor Websites name would stay for the near future before that rebrand.
You can see the transition on the site today. On the check date, the website design link on advisorwebsites.com opened the Snappy Kraken websites page, which presents advisor websites as part of the wider Snappy Kraken platform. Before you compare vendors, ask which company will hold your account, which login your team will use, and which support desk will answer you.
Which questions apply to your firm?
Pick the route that matches your situation. Each destination is a set of things to confirm, not a recommendation to buy.
Routes follow the public vendor pages checked on October 5, 2026. Confirm every answer in writing.
- Is your firm already on Advisor Websites?
Existing sites may sit on an older platform version.
- Yes, we already have a site there
- No, we are comparing vendors
- Are you affiliated with a broker-dealer?
The review workflow and some tools differ by channel.
- Yes, a broker-dealer reviews our materials
- No, we are an independent RIA
- Do you want email campaigns and online booking with the site?
Both tools are listed for RIAs on the vendor pages.
- Website together with campaigns and booking
- Mainly the website for now
- Ask about the platform move
Confirm whether your site is on the Legacy or Force platform, what changes in a move, and which add-ons need the newer platform.
- Start with your compliance team
Ask whether your broker-dealer already reviews Advisor Websites pages, which pre-approved content it supplies, and which marketing tools are open to your channel.
- Map the whole marketing stack
Confirm which campaign tools now come from Snappy Kraken, how leads reach your CRM, and how the booking tool connects to your calendar.
- Focus on the build and the exit
Confirm the framework, how many existing pages move over, and who registers the domain.
How a site build works
The build starts from a design framework rather than a blank page. The Advisor Websites FAQ states that onboarding takes roughly four to six weeks to create, revise, and design a new site, and that this estimate leaves out add-ons and broker-dealer approvals. If your compliance queue is slow, plan around the longer of the two timelines.
On its FAQ page, Advisor Websites required the advisor to buy the domain separately. The FAQ also warns that content from an old site cannot always be transferred identically. The Snappy Kraken websites page describes moving up to 30 pages of existing content, so count your current pages and decide which ones deserve to survive the move.
Bring your real page list to the first call. Ask which pages move, which ones get rewritten, and who writes the bio, team, and service pages that the vendor expects you to supply.
Broker-dealer review and archiving
Review workflow is the feature Advisor Websites leans on most. Its FAQ describes a Compliance Engine that gathers your edits into a batch, sends them to your compliance department, and publishes them once they are approved. The FAQ also describes a PreApproval Engine that lets a broker-dealer place pre-approved pieces in its advisors’ content library.
The digital marketing solutions page lists automated archiving, review notes, email notifications, and access to historical content as part of that engine. Those features can shorten the back-and-forth with a reviewer, yet they do not decide what your firm may publish. Your own compliance officer still has to approve the pages, and the workflow is worth testing with one real edit during the demo.
Marketing tools and where they stop
The digital marketing solutions page lists a content library, automated social sharing to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, a lead manager with custom forms, gated landing pages, and a Redtail CRM integration. Two items carry a narrower label. The page marks automated email marketing and the MeetingMaker scheduling tool as available only for RIAs, which matters if a broker-dealer supervises your marketing.
Check the booking tool closely. The calendar scheduling page describes MeetingMaker with two-way sync for calendars such as Google, Outlook, and Microsoft 365. Its FAQ describes the CRM link as limited to the Outlook calendar, so a Redtail connection runs through an Outlook and Redtail calendar sync. If your team books meetings in a CRM other than Redtail, ask to see the exact path a booked meeting takes.
Several links that used to describe these tools now point to Snappy Kraken pages. Ask whether email campaigns for a new account would run in Advisor Websites or in the Snappy Kraken campaigns product, because that decides where your contact list and reporting live.
Your content and the support desk
Ownership is split. Advisor Websites listed the platform, the software, and content from its own staff or library under company ownership in its FAQ. Advisor Websites listed the advisor’s own writing, broker-dealer material, and the domain under client ownership in that FAQ answer. That split matters for planning: pages you write yourself stay yours, while library pieces remain the vendor’s content.
Advisor Websites listed a general first-response time of three to five working days on its support promise page. On the same page, Advisor Websites listed a reply within one working day for an outage or other urgent problem. Advisor Websites also listed a one-hour allowance of website update work each month from its support staff.
Ask for an export of your own pages and media before you need one. A firm that has spent years publishing on one platform should know in advance what a move would involve.
The accessibility add-on
On its AccessAble page, Advisor Websites described an installed widget that adjusts content, navigation, colour, and display for visitors, with an automated scan every 24 hours. Advisor Websites limited AccessAble to clients on its Force platform on that page. Advisor Websites offered a Legacy to Force demo to existing customers on the older platform.
Treat any widget as one part of accessibility work. The W3C guidance on evaluating web accessibility covers manual review as well as automated tools. Ask the vendor what written testing it can share, and have your own reviewer decide whether the result meets your firm’s obligations.
Questions to send before you sign
A demo is most useful when it answers the questions that could change your decision. Send these by email, keep the replies with the public pages you relied on, and compare the answers with what you see on screen.
Tick each question once you have a written answer on file. Progress is saved in this browser when supported; nothing is sent.
- Will our site be built on the Force platform, and which brand will appear on our account going forward?
- Which website framework fits our firm, and how many existing pages will you move for us?
- Which of our pages and media can we download as files, and in what format?
- Does our broker-dealer already review Advisor Websites pages, and which pre-approved content does it supply?
- Which marketing tools are open to our channel, and which ones come from Snappy Kraken instead?
- How does the booking tool connect to our calendar and to our CRM?
- What written accessibility testing do you provide beyond the widget itself?
- What response time should we expect for routine updates and for an outage?
How to decide
Advisor Websites is easiest to justify when broker-dealer review is your main bottleneck and your compliance team already works with the platform. An independent RIA that wants campaigns, booking, and a CRM link should map the whole stack first, because some of those tools now sit with Snappy Kraken and the booking integration has a narrow path. In every case, keep the vendor’s written answers on file before the build starts.
A website is only one step in how prospects find and contact your firm. If that wider path is also on your list, we explain the OJay Media Marketing process separately. For design ideas, our guide to financial advisor website examples looks at what strong sites have in common.
A few common questions
Is this a hands-on review?
No. This page summarizes public vendor pages and the questions an advisory firm still has to answer. It does not report a product test by OJay Media Marketing, and it does not rate the vendor.
Where can I see the current plan options?
On the check date, the Plans link on advisorwebsites.com opened a Snappy Kraken page that listed advisor websites among its products. Ask for a written proposal that names the plan, the add-ons, and the onboarding work for your firm.
Who should look elsewhere first?
A firm that wants full design control of a custom-coded site may find a framework-based builder limiting. Compare that need with the time your reviewers save before you decide.
Related reading
- Financial advisor website examples
- Advisor website design guide
- Email marketing software for financial advisors
- Redtail CRM buying notes
- FINRA marketing compliance
OJay Media Marketing is a marketing agency for wealth advisors. This page is for advisory firms comparing vendors. It is not investment, legal, or compliance advice. Have your reviewer approve your own materials before you use them.
