Let’s start by defining content marketing. It is the production of pillar pages and blog articles that increase your Internet visibility and website traffic.
A pillar page is a 1500-2000 word article that resides on your financial advisor website. It is the master document that is used to make you a subject matter expert. Then you write several articles on specific topics that are linked to the pillar page.
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This convention makes it easier for Google to search through millions of articles on thousands of financial topics and deliver the specific results its users are seeking in less than two seconds. So, an important rule is to follow all of Google’s requirements if you want to rank on Google’s page one for keywords that are used by investors who use the services of financial advisors.
Google will reward you with higher visibility if you are a source of expert information that is embedded in high-quality content. The better the content, the better Google looks in the eyes of the end-users. In this case investors who use the services of financial advisors.
Because Google controls the visibility of your content it is imperative that you play by Google’s rules. Google wants:
- Longer articles that provide more information (750-3000 words)
- Original content, not duplicate content that is downloaded from libraries
- Articles that are actually open and read by its users
- Articles that are connected to pillar pages
Investors’ Point of View
It stands to reason if you are trying to reach investors, that you research how they use the Internet to find and research financial advisors.
First of all, these are two perfect tasks for the Internet: Find Financial Information, Find Financial Professionals, Find Information About Financial Advisors.
Second, investors are absolutely inundated with financial information. It can be difficult to find a topic that is not covered by other advisors and financial institutions. This is why you want to produce content that meets Google’s requirements.
Third, is the Do It Yourself marketing place. In general, they do not represent prospects for your advice and services. They are true information-seekers who will get what they want and disappear into cyber-space forever. However, some DIYs are in transition from managing their own assets to outsourcing the investment responsibilities to a qualified third party.
Fourth, you should treat your content like the articles in a newspaper. You will need attention-getting headlines or titles that will cause investors to read your content and initiate contact. The role of the headline is to capture their attention in a way that benefits your firm.
Readable Content
The readability of your content is a critical variable. Why would Google reward you with higher visibility in its search engine if no one commits the time to read your content.
From a Google perspective, the more people that read your articles the more value it is delivering to its users.
7-Step Process
Content marketing is a lot more work than just writing an article on a topic that you are familiar with. A high percentage of advisors write this type of content because it does not require any research. On the other hand, the best content is based on the interests and pain points for individual investors who use the services of financial advisors.
High-quality content is a 7-step process:
- Identify key personas so you can create content that matches their interests.
- Conduct keyword research to determine what they enter in Google to find service providers and information.
- Develop an attention-getting title that is keyword rich.
- Write the article – 750 to 1500 words.
- Edit the article for readability, grammar, etc.
- Add relevant graphics to the article for a more professional look.
- Optimize the article for the Internet.
Digital Marketing Agency
You may or may not have the time, inclination, and skills to write your own content. In fact, there is a chance writing articles is not the highest and best of your time. You can get a better return on your time when you focus on activities that produce revenue.
If this describes you, you should outsource this work to a digital marketing agency that has the following characteristics:
- Years of experience in your industry
- Experienced writers, editors, and graphic artists
- Knowledge about financial topics that interest investors
- Time to produce a steady flow of new content
- Provides technology that tracks your online visibility
Digital marketing agencies can also integrate your content into a bigger inbound marketing effort that includes social media, local SEO, and email drip systems.
Watch out for services that want to sell you archived content that has already been seen by Google. There is no SEO for duplicate content.
