As a financial advisor, having a website is no longer a luxury, but a necessity. Building a strong online presence is critical to attracting and retaining clients as a financial advisor – and key to any successful financial advisor marketing strategy.
A well-designed website can be a powerful tool for showcasing your expertise, building credibility, and generating leads. However, many financial advisors struggle to unlock the full potential of their websites, either due to lack of technical knowledge or time constraints.
In this article, we will explore how financial advisors can build a strong website that reflects their brand and helps them achieve their business goals. Let’s dive into our roadmap for building a successful website as part of your own strategy for financial planning – and how you can take your marketing efforts to the next level in the ever-evolving digital world.
The Benefits of Having a Website
As a financial advisor, having a website can offer numerous benefits that can help to expand your reach, attract more clients, and improve your overall business.
Increased Visibility
A growing number of people are searching for financial advice online. If you have your own website, you can increase your visibility to potential clients who are searching for a financial advisor. With the right search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, your website can appear at the top of search engine results pages (SERPs), effectively driving more traffic to the site and increasing your chances of gaining new clients.
Cost Effective
Marketing can be expensive – especially if you’re running ads. Creating a website is a cost-effective way to promote your services and reach a wider audience. It can be much more affordable than traditional advertising methods like print ads or radio commercials. And once your website is up and running, it requires minimal maintenance and upkeep.
Builds Credibility
Having a professional-looking website can help establish your credibility as a financial advisor. Potential clients are more likely to trust you and take you seriously if they can see that you have a polished online presence. A website can showcase your credentials, experience, and testimonials from satisfied clients, all of which will solidify your reputation.
Assists with Lead Generation
Lead generation and a strong website go hand in hand. By offering a free consultation or downloadable resources in exchange for contact information, you will generate leads and build a strong client base. Additionally, a modern website will allow you to track and analyze visitor behavior, empowering your marketing team to refine and strengthen lead generation efforts over time.
Increased Client Retention
Any successful marketing plan for financial advisors should include lead generation strategies through your website. A website can make it easier for clients to contact you, provide easy access to account information and allow visitors to engage with valuable financial resources. These efforts will save you time, provide value to your clients and improve the authority and visibility of your firm.
How to Build Your Own Website
Any strong business plan for a financial advisor must include building and launching a website. Creating a website for your business can seem like a daunting task, but with the right approach, it can be a fun and rewarding experience that adds significant growth to your business.
Pick a Domain Name – and Provider
The first step in building a website is to choose a domain name. Your domain name should be memorable, easy to spell, and relevant to your business. Ideally, it will include a keyword related to the services you provide, such as “yourbostonfinancialadvisor.com” or “Bostonwealthmanagement.com”.
Decide Between a Website Builder, Developer or Agency
Next, you need to decide whether you want to use a website builder, hire a solo web developer or a team of experts to get the job done. Website builders like Wix and Squarespace offer easy-to-use templates and drag-and-drop interfaces that allow you to create a website without any coding experience. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that using a builder (which requires keeping the site on the proprietary platform) can limit what’s possible as your company expands. The design is also often predetermined and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) capabilities can be limited.
Hiring a web developer, on the other hand, will give you more control over the design and functionality of the website. However, not all web developers are designers, SEO specialists and/or content creators. It’s important to speak to a number of website professionals to get a sense of what’s possible and all potential costs that may be incurred.
If you don’t have the bandwidth to run or oversee a website project, (you are building a business after all!) perhaps it makes sense to speak to an agency. A qualified marketing agency will step in and run the project from start to finish, requiring your attention only when important decisions or critical feedback is required. A qualified marketing agency will have deep industry experience, writers on staff, a design team, web development team, SEO specialist and project manager. A major advantage to working with an agency is having access to an entire team as opposed to a single website developer.
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Create a Website Design
Once you’ve chosen a website builder or a web developer, it’s time to start designing your website. Your website needs to be visually appealing, of course, but ensure it’s also easy to navigate with all the key pillars of your business.
Write Valuable Content
Believe it or not, the content on your website is just as important as the design. As a financial advisor, you should focus on creating articles and assets that will educate and inform your visitors. These elements include blog posts, e-books, whitepapers, or videos. Make sure your content is well-written, informative, and relevant to your target audience.
Optimize Your Website for Search
Last, but certainly not least, comes your website optimization. Proper website optimization will help your website rank higher in search engine results and attract more visitors. Some key elements of SEO include:
- Keyword research: Identify the keywords and phrases that your target audience is searching for – and include them in your content and metadata.
- Metadata: Make sure your website’s title tags and meta descriptions accurately reflect the content on your website and include your relevant keywords.
- Content optimization: Use headers, bullet points, and other formatting elements to make your content easy to read and scan. Make sure your content is also optimized for keywords and includes internal links to other relevant pages on your website.
- Backlinks: Get other websites to link to your website, which can improve your search engine rankings.
Best Practices for Financial Advisor Websites
Your website can be a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. As a financial advisor, having a professional, compelling and informative website is crucial for attracting and retaining clients.
Provide Value-Added Content
Providing value-added content is a key pillar for any financial advisor marketing strategy. Think of your website content as a thought leadership platform – not as a sales platform. When you position yourself as a leader in your industry, and write compelling content that adds value for your audience, customers are more likely to trust you. And when customers trust you, they are more likely to go to your business when they need help.
Include Clear Calls-to-Action
Your website should have clear and prominent calls to action (CTAs) that encourage visitors to take specific actions, such as scheduling a consultation or signing up for a newsletter. This helps drive traffic – and ensures that anyone visiting your website can contact you or take action easily. Make sure your CTAs are easy to find and use strong action verbs, such as “Schedule a Consultation” or “Download Now.”
Ensure Your Website Is Easy to Navigate
There’s nothing worse than a convoluted, confusing website. Your website should be easy to navigate and use, with clear menus and intuitive design. Make sure your visitors can quickly find the information they need and that your website works well on all devices, including desktops, tablets, and mobile phones (more on this later!).
Update Your Website Regularly
Regularly updating your website with fresh content and new resources will help keep your visitors engaged and improve your search engine rankings. Make sure your content is up-to-date and relevant to your target audience with new posts and new services. In addition, consider adding new features or tools to keep your website useful (such as a client portal, for example).
Ensure Your Website Works Well on Mobile
Did you know that most people browse the internet on their phones? Having a mobile-optimized website isn’t a nice-to-have feature, it’s a necessity. In fact, search engines like Google will penalize a website if it isn’t accessible and navigable from all devices. A mobile-optimized website means that your website should be easy to use on smaller screens, with clear menus and easy-to-read text. Make sure your website loads quickly on mobile devices and test it on a variety of devices and screen sizes.
Key Takeaways
By following these best practices, you can create a website that reflects your brand and helps you achieve your business goals. Remember to focus on providing value to your visitors and making it easy for them to take action, and your website will be a powerful tool for growing your business. With the right marketing strategy, financial advisors can unlock their full marketing potential online.
