Welcome to the digital era, where your online presence has a major impact on your new client acquisition rate. Today, the Paladin brain trust will address burning questions that many financial advisors want to be answered. For example, how many leads should a productive financial advisor website produce each month? This metric is pivotal in evaluating the effectiveness of a current digital marketing strategy and the results of future web-based financial advisor marketing efforts.
The world of digital marketing presents a cornucopia of opportunities to reach potential clients in ways that old-school marketing tactics just can't. In a simple sense, it is the difference between outbound (cold calling) and inbound (web-based) marketing. By leveraging your website, social media, email marketing, and SEO, you can boost your online visibility in ways that have the potential to generate impressive numbers of new visitors, leads, and clients.
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The real news is the potential of digital marketing for lead generation is finally being recognized by increasing numbers of financial advisors. It is, by far, the most efficient and effective way to reach individual investors who may need their services. Even better, it's continuously increasing, riding the wave of technological advancements. Read on to learn about the specific numbers, the factors affecting them, and how you can enhance your digital marketing strategies to reach more investors.
We will cover the following topics in this latest Paladin Digital Marketing blog article:
- What do investors seek when they visit financial advisor websites?
- How does digital marketing generate leads for financial advisors?
- What are realistic website benchmarks for generating online leads?
- How long does it take for a financial advisor’s SEO strategy to produce leads?
- How should financial advisors track their websites’ results?
- What are the best practices for financial advisor websites?
Let’s get started!
What do investors seek when they visit financial advisor websites?
Many investors are visiting financial advisor websites primarily seeking detailed and credible information about the advisor themselves. They may want to understand the advisor's expertise, qualifications, experience, and the types of clients they typically work with. They also want to determine if the advisor's services align with their needs. For example, does the financial advisor provide retirement planning services? Does the advisor work with clients like them?
Paladin Insights: Client testimonials and case studies can be particularly valuable for providing insights into advisors’ services and business practices.
In addition, investors are interested in the educational resources that advisors provide. Financial information such as blogs, pillar articles, eBooks, and webinars are often sought after for the information they contain. They not only increase the financial advisors' credibility, but they also help investors make informed decisions (build credibility and trust). Access to this content enables investors to measure the quality of the advice they may receive, understand current market trends, and deepen their financial knowledge.
A certain percentage of investors visit financial advisor websites learn more about them and schedule introductory calls or meetings. They appreciate clear, user-friendly options to easily make appointments. Having a simple, straightforward scheduling system indicates the advisor's respect for their time. It fosters a sense of approachability, making the investors more comfortable initiating contact that begins their investment journey with the advisor.
Paladin Insights: Financial advisor websites are competing with other websites to gain the attention of investors and create interest.
How does digital marketing generate leads for financial advisors?
Digital marketing is crucial in generating leads for financial advisors by building a platform for online brand awareness and website traffic. Financial advisors can build credibility and trust by creating informative and interactive content on their websites,
The website acts as the first touchpoint, where investors can get to know the advisor's expertise, their approaches to planning and investing, and how they can help more investors achieve their financial goals.
Building credibility and trust isn't simply about showcasing qualifications; it also involves demonstrating thought leadership on financial topics. Financial advisors can use digital marketing channels such as blogs, webinars, and social media platforms to share their insights and outlooks for future economic trends and market behavior. This value-added content educates potential leads and positions the advisor as an expert in the field, thus attracting and retaining more prospects.
Moreover, digital marketing allows financial advisors to compete with their peers to gain the attention of potential clients. They can employ strategies like search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure that their website appears in the top search results when investors search for financial professionals and information.
In addition, they can use social media platforms and email marketing to maintain consistent communication with potential and existing clients, share updates about financial markets, and answer their queries in a prompt fashion.
Paladin Insights: The constant interaction using email marketing services creates a substantial competitive advantage for financial advisors. The investors they email feel like they already know them.
What are realistic digital marketing benchmarks for generating online leads?
Digital marketing benchmarks are an excellent way to monitor the success of your current campaigns and develop strategies for future efforts. Website traffic is indeed one of the top benchmarks. The number of visitors to your site can indicate the effectiveness of your SEO efforts and your content's ability to generate visitors and interest. Aim for steady growth in website traffic over time, with particular attention given to the proportion of new versus returning visitors.
Paladin Insights: High traffic rates indicate wider reach and interest, while a high proportion of returning visitors suggests effective engagement strategies.
Online visibility, especially regarding keyword page rankings, is another critical benchmark. This reflects the results of your SEO efforts. When setting benchmarks, consider both the ranking of your website for your targeted keywords and the number of keywords for which your site ranks. Also, track your visibility compared to competitors for the same keywords. A higher ranking means your content is more likely to be viewed by potential leads.
Consider your website’s conversion rates as another very important metric. Conversion rates measure how effectively your website or campaign can transform a visitor into a lead or a lead into a client. It's not just about the traffic; it's about how effectively it is processed. This could encompass metrics like the number of visitors filling out a contact form, signing up for a newsletter, or making an appointment.
Paladin Insights: High conversion rates indicate your content is resonating with your audience and they are taking the desired action, effectively generating leads and other types of requests.
How long does it take for a financial advisor’s SEO strategy to produce leads?
The timeline for seeing financial advisor leads from an SEO strategy can vary depending on several factors. Generally, it takes time for search engines to crawl and index new content and for the advisor's website to gain authority and visibility. It could take several months before significant results are observed.
Initially, the advisors’ visibility might be relatively low, in particular, if they are starting digital marketing campaigns from scratch or have a minimal online presence. However, by implementing a comprehensive SEO strategy, which includes keyword optimization, creating high-quality content, improving website structure, and building backlinks, the advisor can accelerate their visibility and organic search traffic.
Paladin Insights: The Internet is too competitive for building visibility, traffic, and leads to be a quick process. This is why many marketing experts refer to the process as an investment in the future success of the financial advisor.
Building visibility and traffic requires a consistent effort based on ongoing efforts: Glog articles, pillar pages, social media, etc. The advisor needs to conduct thorough keyword research to identify relevant terms that their target audiences use when they search for financial advice, services, and information on the Internet. All of this data is out there. Financial advisors just have to know where to look.
By incorporating these keywords strategically into their website's content, meta tags, and headings, the advisor can improve their chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). Creating informative and engaging content, such as blog posts or articles, can also attract more visitors sooner while establishing the advisor's expertise in a chosen field.
Promoting the content through social media channels, guest posting on industry websites, and actively engaging with online communities can further enhance visibility and accelerate traffic to the advisors’ websites.
Paladin Insights: It takes a consistent effort and high-quality content to create Internet visibility that is controlled by search engines and their algorithms.
What are the best practices for developing financial advisor websites that generate more leads?
Developing a financial advisor website that converts more visitors into leads requires a design that is based on best practices and a history of success. A template-based website that looks like everyone else will not produce leads.
These websites must clearly communicate their unique value propositions and the benefits you provide clients as their financial advisors. It starts with About Us and Our Team where you highlight your credentials: Experience, education, certifications association memberships. Why did you become a financial advisor? What specific problems do you solve for your clients? Use compelling language and visuals to convey credibility and trustworthiness.
Create a blog or resource section on your website where you regularly publish informative and educational content related to planning, investing, risk management, and financial pain points. This helps establish you as an authority in your field and attracts potential clients who are seeking information and advice from experts.
Paladin Insights: Offer downloadable resources such as e-books or whitepapers in exchange for visitors' contact information, increasing lead generation.
Optimize for website and content for the search engines. Implementing search engine optimization (SEO) strategies will improve your website's visibility in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). Conduct keyword research to identify relevant terms and incorporate them into your website's content, meta tags, and URLs. This increases the likelihood that your website will be found by potential clients when they search for financial advice.
Be sure to place lead capture forms strategically throughout your website. Offer valuable incentives, such as an eBook, webinar, checklist, or free consultation to encourage visitors to provide their contact information. Keep the forms simple and concise to maximize your conversion rates.
Leverage social proof by displaying client testimonials, success stories, and reviews prominently on your website. Social proof builds trust and confidence in potential clients, increasing the likelihood they will reach out to you. Consider featuring case studies highlighting how you have helped other investors achieve their financial goals.
Ensure your website is fully optimized for mobile devices. 62% of internet browsing occurs on smartphones and tablets, and a mobile-friendly website improves user experience, engagement, and lead generation.
By implementing these best practices, you can develop a financial advisor website that effectively attracts and converts leads, positioning you for future growth that starts on the Internet.
About Paladin
Paladin is a team of digital marketing professionals with more than 100 years of collective financial industry experience marketing our clients' services to individuals, institutions, and financial advisors. Paladin is a boutique agency that was founded in 2003 to provide game-changing digital marketing services to a limited number of firms and professionals in the financial service industry. Our services range from designing and developing custom websites to providing SEO, SEM, and Fractional CMO services.
Want more information about our digital marketing services? Email your request to Paladin’s CMO: Jack@PaladinDigitalMarketing.com
