It is safe to assume that when investors search for financial advisors on the Internet they are visiting multiple websites to find advisors and learn more about them. This is good news and bad news for many financial advisors.
The good news is the Internet is a great way to market your firm. It facilitates Inbound Marketing which means investors initiate contact with financial advisors. This is much more convenient and effective than the various forms of Outbound Marketing (advisors initiate the contact) that are no longer used by most financial professionals.
The bad news is some financial advisor websites are better than others because they deliver the information that the investors are looking for. So weak advisor websites are operating at a distinct disadvantage - for example, they do not produce leads for the financial advisors that own them.
Before we describe the Top 5 Topics for Financial Advisor Websites we recommend reading the following background information that describes three digital marketing nuances. This information has a major impact on the results that are produced by online sales funnels.
Background: The Need to Find Information
Not every investor who visits websites is looking for financial advisors. There is a higher probability that they are seeking information about financial topics that impact them - for example, they are retiring at the end of the year and are looking for tips to do it the right way.
This is why higher-quality financial advisor websites have very active blogs and resource centers. This is where they archive information that educates investors and solves financial problems.
It stands to reason the firms that provide the information have a competitive advantage when this type of investor starts interviewing financial advisors.
Background: Researching Financial Advisors
It makes perfect sense that most financial advisors use digital marketing tactics to build online visibility that produces traffic for their websites. Then they have websites that are designed to convert visitors into qualified leads.
However, many financial advisors forget this is a two-step process for most investors. They use the Internet to find financial advisors then they use the Internet to learn more about them. This second step is what brings them to the websites of financial advisors.
Background: Process of Exclusion
There is a third key point that should be addressed by the 5 Topics in this article.
Very few investors know how to select the best financial advisors for the right reasons. Who do they select? The ones that sound the best or the ones that:
- Work for brand name firms
- Have the most experience
- Have the best certifications (CFA, CPA, CFP)
- Work for independent firms
- Charge the lowest fees
All too often investors make subjective decisions when they select financial advisors. And, one part of their decision-making is to use a process of exclusion. For example, investors visit six advisor websites and select the three they want to interview. How did they get from six to three? This is the process of exclusion.
One critical digital marketing tactic is to never give investors a reason to exclude you. When this happens you don’t even get a chance to talk to the investors.
Our Background
This is a critical page on any financial advisor website. The information on these pages should cover the following topics:
- RIA or IAR firm
- Longevity
- Fee-only or fee-based
- Independent
- Fiduciary
- Professionals and staff
Some advisors like content that describes why they started their firms and the underlying culture that drives the delivery of the firms’ services.
Our Team
One of the most visited pages on financial advisor websites is the Our Team page that provides a bio for each of the professionals who work there:
- Years of experience providing financial advice and services
- Years at the firm
- Education and degrees
- Certifications & Designations
- Licensing & Registrations
- Association memberships
- Prior work history
- Role at the firm
Investors' number one interest may be the professionals who will be providing financial advice and services to them. This interest may extend to other professionals that back up the person who is advising them. Back-up can be very important to many investors in case their primary advisor is not available.
There is also the issue of getting the best thinking of a team of professionals versus the best thinking of an individual. This topic gets into the different ways firms provide financial recommendations to their clients.
What happens if the team of financial professionals is relatively small? This number does not include administrators and client service professionals. In this case, the Our Team page may morph into the Our Founder(s) page.
What We Do
It is more difficult to make your services a distinguishing characteristic when most financial advisors provide the same services you do.
A small percentage of financial advisors limit their services to investing. An equally small percentage limits their services to planning. A much higher percentage provides planning and investment services.
What matters is providing investors with enough information that they understand exactly what your firm does so they can compare firm services to their specific needs.
Based on experience and licensing some financial advisors also provide insurance and tax-related services.
Some advisors prefer to affiliate with other professionals to round out their service offerings.
A word to the wise. Be very cautious if you decide to describe your planning or investment processes on your website. This information can be very confusing to investors. That’s because every advisor has one and they are all different.
Who We Serve
This is also a critical page when it describes the types of clients that are served by financial advisors.
Let’s assume your firm works with business owners who are close to selling their companies and retiring. This type of potential client is prominently displayed on this page. You want visitors to know you have specialized expertise working with this type of client. The connection is made when this type of investor visits this page.
Be a little cautious if you position your firm as serving anyone who meets your minimum asset requirements. For example, you work with individuals and families that have $500,000 of assets available for investment.
Investors would like to believe firms have specialized expertise working for clients that are just like them. This could be based on assets, employment situation, goals, risk tolerance, retirement status, etc. The more specific the better.
Why Select Us
This page title is a little misleading on most financial advisor websites. Investors do not read this page and select you. However, that is definitely the end goal. They read this page and contact you to schedule an interview. So, you might as well call the page what it is: Why Interview Us.
Ideally, you will add five to seven characteristics that you believe are relatively unique to your firm. Fiduciary and fee-only are two of the more common characteristics.
It is equally important to convert these features of your firm into benefits for the investors who use your services. The more relevant and valuable the benefit the more likely investors will select your firm. This is all based on people buying benefits and not features that may not apply to them.
Resource Center
Content on financial advisor websites tends to be relatively static. Most new content ends up on blog sites or in a Resource Center. Our focus is the Resource Center that resides on a large number of financial advisor websites, giving investors access to information in the following formats:
- Introductory information
- A link to the blog site
- eBooks
- Pillar pages
- Video library
- Access to podcasts
- White papers
