Content subscription sites for financial advisors are all the rage. Pay a monthly fee and get unlimited access to fill your financial advisor blog with loads of quality content. Sounds good, right?
Well, I’ve got bad news. Content is king, but in getting potential clients to your site, that should be restated: Original content is king.
Big difference.
The hidden dangers of duplicate content
Content services allow many other advisors to use the same core articles, so you end up with multiple copies on the internet. What does that mean in practice? Best case, that duplicate content acts as pure filler, but it could be something much more sinister. According to the consensus of most search experts, duplicate content at best doesn’t help generate traffic and at worst, may even result in your website getting penalized, lowering your search ranking.
One of the leading search engine optimization software providers, Moz, put it this way: “When duplicate content is present, site owners suffer rankings and traffic losses, and search engines provide less relevant results.”
What’s so bad about non-original content?
Google is set up to ignore duplicated content altogether. Think about it….if Google rewarded non-original content, you would get a ton of duplicate results when you searched for something. That would not be good for search engine users and would defeat the usefulness of a search engine.
Instead, Google’s goal is to keep the online landscape clean. So, sites using duplicate content will not be rewarded and may likely instead be pushed into lower rankings.
So which sites do get ranked highest?
Those with original, quality content are ranked highest by Google’s search engine algorithms.
Does search engine ranking matter?
Absolutely, and especially in a competitive field like wealth management. More people start their quest for a financial advisor with a Google search. If they’re looking for Las Vegas financial advisors, and that’s where you are located, you want to be among the top sites that appear, not be ranked near the end. That visibility is critical in terms of web traffic potential.
So, if you want to start improving your website’s traffic, start posting regular original blog content.
Are there any other benefits to original content?
Absolutely. In the professional services space, blogging gives you a fast track to positioning yourself as an expert. Those looking for an advisor can read your articles as a way to get a sense of what it’s like to work with your firm. This of course is a double edged sword…your blogs need to be well written.
What if you’re too busy to constantly be writing?
Unfortunately there is no easy answer, but not blogging is really not an option. Here’s some ideas.
- Find an associate and agree to review and edit each other’s outlines and draft articles. That can be motivating, help avoid sticking points and the dreaded writer’s block.
- Consider a financial advisor blogging service that can create content specifically for you, as ghostwriters. If you choose one that has expertise in the field and knowledge of inbound marketing, you’ll get the benefit of their additional insights into what works best. This can equate to more traffic and more leads.
- Many busy advisors use a combination of the above. For example, they may be able to find time to write one article per month, then use the writing service to get other articles out in the meantime.
Whatever you choose, blogging is a powerful too, so prioritize it accordingly.
Jeanne Klimowski is the founder of Wavelength Financial Content Inc. Wavelength is a Paladin Digital Marketing Partner.
