How to Use Google Trends to Enhance your Financial Advisor Blog
You know how important it is to provide new content on your advisor blog for investors looking for a financial firm like yours. But truth be told, coming up with fresh financial topics to write about is no small task. If you have ever felt the pressure of creating a blog or web article that resonates with your audience, or have had writer’s block mocking you from a blank screen--this handy (and free!) resource is the game changer you need. There are many online resources to help you build your financial advisor blog.
Be Current & Credible
When it comes to Digital Marketing everything is fast, including new trends and information. This creates opportunities for savvy financial advisors to incorporate topical information in their blogs that will resonate with prospects. For instance, amidst the flurry of celebrities caught in college admission scandals, there may be a timely opportunity to offer stress-free tuition planning as interests peak around higher education’s strict enrollments and rising costs. Or like much of the region during basketball season, your audience may be part of the many searching NBA players and reading about the latest contracts and astronomical salaries which could lend itself to an interesting segway for your blog about financial help for average households building their nest egg. Because juicy news and current events are everywhere, imagine how your audience will feel in a sea of compelling content when they land on messaging they find dated with stale references and topics. If you are half-heartedly cranking out articles that you assume are newsworthy, you are missing out on a chance to make your time and effort count more.
Free & Easy! Google Trends
There is a resource that can give you the important insight you need in order to create content in your financial advisor blog that pulls more leads. The best part is that this tool is already at your fingertips and it is free! Google is forever at the forefront of creating powerful products with the vast amounts of data they collect, and these types of tools happen to be just the thing for marketers seeking inspiration and a competitive edge. Google Trends may be the best news your online efforts have heard in a while because not only is this resource free, it is also a natural jumping-off point for the creation of all your online messaging. You would be foolish not to take a peek at the wealth of information available to assist, inspire, and spark greater interest in your online content which in turn, creates a greater conversion of prospects to clients for you.
Give Them What They Want
Because savvy marketers know how important it is to be ready with just the right information when prospects come searching, they are subscribing to free Google Trends for valuable information and alerts about the topics and products that matter most. Marketers have been paying close attention to trends for decades and with good reason. Topics trend when lots of people suddenly are interested in a subject and are actively searching to learn more—this means a large audience is hungry for information and your firm could be the helpful experts to deliver exactly what they want.
Spot Trends & Find Topics
As the latest go-to resource for marketers looking to be at the forefront of the next big surge in interest and demand, Google Trends uses real-time data to help you see consumer search-behaviors over time. With historical data from 2004 to present, you will be able to see search trends for words and phrases over a snapshot in time. Enter a term and you are off. After plugging in your keyword, Google Trends will display the top, most popular related queries for you. Get in the know about financial-related terms when interest spikes. See trends as they happen while watching search words steadily rise as a result of seasonality, geography, and media coverage. You can also see how trending terms perform as related to Search Engine Optimization, including search volume, keyword difficulty, and better keyword possibilities.
A Peek Inside Google Trends
It is helpful to know that with Google Trends you will not be pouring over black and white lists of numbers, but rather looking at interesting visuals clearly organized with helpful colors, line and bar graphs, and interactive maps. You can find topics gaining popularity with the trending search tool which shows queries people have searched the most during a recent 24 hour period or other time-frame. You can also filter findings by category, like Business, Science/Technology, Top Stories, and more. Search your competitors to find out what has been covered and what they are doing well, or not so well. You can even view graphs related to competition in order to see your own brand’s health. Google Trends weeds out repeat searches from the same person over a short period of time to provide the most accurate results. What’s more, to make these trends even easier to quickly see and understand, the numbers reflected are always relative to one another and to the highest point on the chart with 100 considered peak search volume. You can even sign-up for email notifications about top-trending search terms or trends about the topics for which you are most interested.
One tool--many uses
1. Get in the know
Newsworthy events help you come up with ideas for your client communications, blog articles, seminars, and videos.
2. Your corner of the world
Use Google Trends to search your location and find specific, compelling news trending in your area.
3. Stale or fresh
Discover whether certain topics are still being discussed in order to revise, or remove content from your site
4. Keep tabs on the competition
Regularly checking in your competitors may inspire you. Never plagiarize any piece of content, but be open to inspiration and ideas that spark from good, or poor, examples.
Spice Up Your Content
There are many stories to tell in your financial advisor blog about current news and events. When you know the most popular trends it will ensure you touch on topics that attract a ton of attention. Another approach is to focus on a less obvious angle in order to provide a unique perspective that can create more clicks. Even mentioning trends can hook your audience and keep them both interested and informed. The more knowledge your audience has, the more confident they are in your firm and their decision to choose you.
Refresh, Revise, Repeat!
By including keywords from Google Trends into your post, and regularly checking the popularity of these words, you’ll know when it is time to update your post and when your audience has lost interest in the keywords in your content. For instance, if the keywords in your article remain steady or are increasing in popularity, then you know you are on-topic but may need to make minor revisions to retain interested traffic. However, if the popularity of your keywords is decreasing, then this shows your audience has lost interest in that topic and it is time to pull that piece in favor of a one.
Discover Interests By Region
Your product or service won’t appeal to everyone, but when you target the people most likely to be interested, it means your time and resources are better spent. Google Trends helps you gauge the demand for your financial products and services even in specific regions. For example, you could see a trend in stocks particular to your locale, or even be alerted to a local scam that you can speak to and shed light upon.
Don’t Miss Out
Google Trends has become an essential resource that can put you on the path to your firm’s profitable future. As a financial advisor with many responsibilities, it can be challenging to find time to explore the power of Google Trends. This is where a Digital Marketing firm with proven success in these areas can help. With a Digital Marketing expert on your side, you can devote your time and efforts on advisor responsibilities where they are needed most while delegating marketing tasks to experts that will save you more time and generate more clients. A Digital Marketing firm with expertise specific to financial advisors is Paladin Digital Marketing. If you are realizing that there is a world of free resources available that you had not considered before, then get on the bandwagon and start reaping all the benefits of Google Trends.