Having a blog is a great way to educate your clients and prospective clients, but it should also provide lead generation for financial advisors.
For some advisors, moving from simply “having a blog” to bringing in tangible business can be a challenge. If you fall into this category and aren’t sure how to utilize a blog to generate leads, here are a few steps to consider. It’s important to get the most from your blogging efforts.
Using a Blog to Drive Conversion Rates
For some financial advisors, having a blog can be a time-consuming effort, so it’s paramount to make the most out of your efforts. Instead of viewing your blog as simply a means of providing information to clients and prospective clients, you need to see it for what it really is – a lead generation tool.
Typically, starting a blog was a way to supplement a financial advisor website, provide information about the stock market and retirement, and address common questions surrounding the investment space overall. But with the evolution of the Internet as a main resource for information, blogs have also evolved into major lead generation and sales conversion tools. The key is to understand how to leverage the content on your blog in a way that speaks to the readers and compels them to take the next step toward conversion.
Step 1: Grab Your Clients’ Attention
Content is the most important aspect of any blog. Without compelling and relevant content that’s updated regularly, you’re not giving readers any incentive to continue reading, share the content or reach out for additional information.
Of course, this content should be original – not already published on the Internet. Google ranks original content higher in a search result, grabbing a potential client’s attention before your competitors can. Original content can be about anything you feel is relevant to the industry, from market volatility to college plans and IRAs. Just be sure to keep it original, within compliance and targeted toward the correct audience.
It’s also a good idea to have a good mix of current markets/events as well as evergreen topics that can be shared multiple times. Guest blog posts can be from anyone relevant to the industry or topic. Having a different perspective and voice on your blog can bring in new readers if the guest blogger shares the post through social media or email.
Great content will keep potential clients reading and engaged. If the content is regularly updated and compelling enough, readers may even return to your site with additional questions or to see what else you’re covering.
Another factor in attracting readers is proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Using popular keywords in your blog, both in the meta description as well as in the content itself, will help your blog rank high in results for search terms relevant to your business. A meta description gives search engines, such as Google, a better picture of what your blog post is about and helps display your post within relevant search terms. Remember to include terms such as your local city name and state and any other keywords that are related to the specific services your firm provides.
Once you’ve grabbed your clients’ attention, you then need to encourage them to take action.
Step 2: Turn Leads into Prospects
Once you have the readers, and hopefully a nice following, your blog should keep leads engaged with backlinks and effective Calls To Action (CTAs).
Backlinks are any outgoing links to another page – in this case, to another place on your website. This could be gated content behind a CTA, a free offer that trades something your clients want, such as a complimentary eBook, for their contact information, or another blog post that keeps them involved enough to search other pages on your website. CTAs like contact forms, newsletter signups or some other conversion that brings a reader one step closer to becoming a customer are key. A good CTA is how you take that lead to the next step. Once you have their contact information, you can drip on the lead until they are ready to hire you and your firm.
What Not to Do
- Don’t use a blog as a hard sales tool. While the ultimate goal of a blog is to drive conversions, readers are smart and very aware of when they’re being fed a sales pitch from the start. Instead, curate content that really resonates with your target audience and let them take the next step.
- Don’t make blog posts too long. Blog posts aren’t meant to be in-depth resources, but rather a quick read. Save the detailed content for case studies, white papers and eBooks.
- Don’t write one post and abandon your blog. Blogs are meant to be a collection of posts, ranging in topics. If your blog consists of one post that’s months or years old, that can turn readers away and hurt your rankings.
- Don’t forget about mobile. With so many people using Smartphones these days, you can’t assume everyone is using a traditional desktop to view your blog. In fact, most are probably reading on a mobile device. Be sure your blog provider offers responsive design, so your blog can be viewed on any computer, Smartphone or tablet.
Step 3: Measure Your Results
Once you hit “publish,” your work isn’t done. You need to see what’s working – and what’s not. Perhaps there is a specific post that performed very well and brought in a large number of leads, and another post that performed very poorly. By analyzing these results over time, you can better craft your content and messages to appeal to your target audience. There are many analytics tools that can help you measure your blog’s reach, views and much more.
Lead generation for financial advisors is easier when you understand what works with your clients.
While a worthwhile effort, managing a blog can be a daunting endeavor. If you’re overwhelmed with your current blog or looking to start and don’t know where to begin, let Paladin Digital Marketing help! Our team of marketing professionals has experience producing quality content, SEO optimization and blog analytics. Learn how we can help you create a blog that produces quality content, generates leads and presents you as an authority in the investment space, both online and in your neighborhood.
