If you have a blog on your financial advisor website it will certainly help your advisory firm establish itself as an authority, however, merely writing blog articles alone is not enough. If your blog posts do not reach the intended audience, your efforts will have been in vain.
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The challenge lies in obtaining this critically important exposure to investors in need of financial advisor services and financial information. The proper SEO strategy will help your blog articles move up Google’s search engine results pages, often referred to with the acronym of SERP. Here’s how to do it.
The Strategic use of Specific Keywords
Brainstorm the words and phrases your target clients type into Google and other search engines when they are looking for financial advisors or financial information. Whittle down these words/phrases to the top two or three. These are the keywords and key phrases you should use at an elevated frequency throughout your blog posts. Ideally, your keyword saturation rate will end up in the range of 0.5% to 3%. If your keyword saturation rate is below this range, it will be difficult for investors to find your content in the major search engines. However, if your content is overloaded with these keywords and key phrases, Google and the other search engines will penalize your online content, preventing it from moving up the search engine rankings.
Work in your targeted keywords and key phrases in as natural a manner as possible. Do not jam these essential words and phrases into the content to the point that it feels forced. Though some blog visitors will scan the content, many will read the majority of the content and pick up on the fact that certain words and phrases are forced as opposed to used in a natural manner. The last thing you want to do is alienate these critically important prospective clients with content created for search engines as opposed to content for investors who are seeking financial advisors or financial information.
Use Internal Links
Inbound links, also known as backlinks, featured within your content make it clear to Google and other search engines your blogs are relevant and legitimate. However, it is not easy to convince other website owners and content creators to link to your blog or website. Consider reaching out to fellow bloggers in relevant industries to see if they are interested in a mutually beneficial guest blog setup.
Create a blog post for another company’s website, helping them increase traffic and build their customer base. That business owner/manager then reciprocates the favor, writing a guest blog post for your blog. This arrangement provides both blogs with inbound links that ultimately enhance search engine optimization (SEO), helping to build customer bases that increase over time.
Aside from inbound links, it is also important to link internally to pages on your financial advisor firm website. There are benefits when you link blog readers to your service pages, contact page, and even your social media pages. In fact, such a self-serving strategy is prudent. Readers really will click those internal links to check out the rest of your online content, learn more about your advice and services and ultimately prove that much more likely to become leads or contacts you can convert into revenue-producing clients. Internal linking also serves the purpose of raising your firm’s authoritative and relevant content for Google and other search engines, helping you gain critically important web exposure.
Consider how the Blog Looks and Functions on Mobile Computing Devices
It was not long ago when the average person strictly relied on a desktop or laptop computer to search the web. Today, 62% of Google visits by United States web users are made from mobile devices. Google’s search algorithms are complex to the point that they display mobile-friendly search results for smartphone queries ahead of those that have not been optimized for these mobile devices. In other words, Google’s search engine results are skewed in favor of blogs and other webpages designed for mobile computing devices.
Take a close look at your blog as well as other components of your website from your smartphone, tablet and other mobile devices. Test out the site’s links and menus to ensure it provides full functionality. The best websites are responsive to mobile to the point that they have a single URL as opposed to two. This approach bolsters SEO as inbound links that direct traffic to the site are not split up between a URL for desktop users and a URL for mobile users.
Use Your Selected Keywords and Key Phrases Outside of the Blog Content
It is certainly important to use your selected keywords, key phrases, and localized information in your blog posts. However, this is not the full extent to which the keywords should be used. Keywords should also be used in the:
- Title tag
- Meta description
- URL
- Body of the blog post
In fact, even using the keywords and key phrases in the headers of the blog post will bolster your blog posts’ SEO. The bottom line is Google’s search engine algorithms are carefully designed to recognize the use of specific keywords in each of the blog and website components listed above. Invest the little bit of time and effort necessary to adhere to these SEO elements and your blog posts really will gain the prominent visibility necessary to capture your target audience’s attention.
Blog Post Length, Readability, and Update Frequency Also Matter
There is a common misconception that blog posts should be 500 words or less as attention spans are shrinking. The little-known truth is the blog posts and online articles that rank best in SEO are comparably long. Take a look at the top results for any given online query and you are likely to find most of the top 5-10 results are at least 1,000 words in length. Keep in mind, some users will scan the content as opposed to reading every single word.
Even the readability of the blog post matters a great deal. If the post is not easy to read, it will be penalized by Google’s algorithms. So don’t fall into the trap of assuming the use of financial jargon, phrases and concepts will help your SEO. Strive for content that appeals to the masses and your blog posts will be infinitely more appealing.
Though few know it, Google rewards content that is updated with regularity. If your blog is not updated as time progresses, your content will gradually slide down the SERPs, making it difficult for locals in need of your financial advisor services to find your online footprint. Make a couple of updates to your blog posts from time to time and Google will reward you for those alterations. Furthermore, it is in your interest to update your blog with posts on a weekly or biweekly basis, helping the search engine recognize your fresh content and ultimately move it up the SERPs for necessary exposure.
