The Problem: How can financial advisors attract more web site and blog visitors?

The Analysis: The rules for blogs are a bit different than those for web sites…especially blogs for financial advisors that are presumably looking for clients, so I’ll start with increasing traffic to blogs for client acquisition. I’ll assume you already have a web site or blog and that you are somewhat consistently updating it with new and original content. Here are some tips to get your readership up, and more importantly on how to turn a visitor to into a client.

#1 - Probably the biggest boost to capturing new traffic is to stay on top of current events and use those events as tag lines for your blog and make those tag lines *distinct*. Instead of “Greenspan,” for example, try “Greenspan and The Impact for Self Employed” — in other words, don’t be afraid to be specific about your target audience. The more your blog posts reflect high-interest current events the more incidental traffic you will receive from search engines. Google makes available their most popular search terms here: http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends - it is great tool to be aware of if you want to ride the wave of current top Internet searches. You can type in search terms of your own to gauge how popular they are. Remember this though, quantity and popular terms do not necessarily mean business, and higher relevance for distinct search terms will get you better quality leads.

I hate to say it, but the crazier and more distinct your posts are, the better quality of traffic you will receive. Maybe a good way to think about it is to keep in mind that you are NOT writing for everyone, you are writing for one client. Want an example?

Below is an excerpt from my old web site, Advisorpage.com, which had over 120,000 page hits in February 2008. This shows the top 20 search strings for the month, and each month is different based on current events. Notice that my #1 search this month was from American Skandia and more interestingly, from American Skandia’s actual web site (probably due to the fact that Prudential has finally dropped the American Skandia branding from its product line) Why do I get this? Try doing a Google search for www.americanskandia.com and you will see that some years ago I hosted a press release from them. For this search, I get American Skandia financial advisors and clients BEFORE Prudential does…at least 100 this month alone:

Now here is the trick, not only should you be specific and distinct, but you need to think backwards as to how you title your Blog and what Tag Lines to use. The easiest way to do this is to train yourself not to tell it like it is, but rather answer a question. If YOU yourself were interested in this information, how would you go about searching for it? Test your subject matter and Tag lines with a search engine like Google or Yahoo! and learn from how other folks are getting your incidental traffic via search engine. The more specific you can be, the better.

Here is another example of results from my current “Blog” or web site http://www.realestatestrategy.net …since this is a newer web site I do not get nearly the traffic but I think the quality of the search strings coming from search engines speaks for itself. Type in ‘real estate strategy’ on a Google search and you should see my web site as #2-3, can you think of a better way to market a CRT/ILIT without using those particular words? Now I haven’t received a phone call from any of those 22 ‘leads’ this month but chances are that if I do they will be highly qualified. The other key words are all great as well, and should give you an idea of particular traffic that you can target to make your marketing highly effective.

How can you as a financial advisor duplicate this?

American Funds and 403bs might be a great topic for example present day, but you might want to call it ‘Teachers with American Funds’ and name several local schools in your area directly in your Blog post. You could even do ‘ABC School District and American Funds’ (The backstory is that American Funds will probably not accept contributions from K-12 schools after 01/01/2009, and they are not the only ones to be shy of the new 403b requirements.)

Once you have your entries tied down pat, introduce them to your current client base and let WOM supplement your E-marketing. Other no-brainer tips can be found by doing Google searches on tag lines. Unfortunately, making a Blog productive for us financial advisors requires a few extra steps than what is common for non-financial advisor bloggers.

#2 - The next easiest thing to do that will help increase traffic and can be used with your Blog or your web site is a nice free service that I have used for almost 10 years. Everything you need to know about search engines, indexes, placement and use of key words can be found at www.selfpromotion.com. Spend a good hour or so reading through the information- it is well worth your time, and the great part is that once you understand and have a plan for how to describe your service or web site, then you have a easy method to post your web site(s) to ALL major indexes and search engines.

In a nutshell the descriptive test from #1 should be used. Instead of using Meta Tags (Tag Lines for Blogs) like “Financial Advisor” use something precise. The most general I become is “How do I read my statement” or “Important part of Prospectus” and then I drill down from there, “401k advice in ABC City” for example, or even better combine with a 5500 search to develop a company specific page once you know their sponsor and Trustees…you can have a virtual presentation of sorts to get that first meeting. (if anyone does this let me know how it works out!)

Now these meta tags can be different on each different web page, just like a blog tag line. Problem is that for web sites for financial advisors, we are expected to drive our own traffic or use Google Ads and very little thought or attention is paid on how we specifically use the tech for maximum impact before we cough up cash and start competing with the big guys using key words or phrases that we don’t understand. The stuff that I have shown you above it all free, and if you have a blog or web site already, then use self-promotion to start increasing the odds in your favor.

So, in closing, I hope this helps to flesh out how to best use the tools you may already have for maximum effect.

Also a quick note that is probably not necessary for everyone but remember compliance!. Running a Blog or web site with frequent updates can be tedious due to compliance (unless your broker/dealer signs up with the Advisor Products service Andy Gluck is creating…no its not a paid endorsement!), but if you follow some of the advice from this weblog for Financial Advisors you should be in a much better position to receive some results.

(Smart folks will notice how I used judicious repetition and over explained a few items…key words my friends and colleagues, the search engine algorithms look for that sort of thing. I am 95% certain that this web post will turn up on all manner of future searches for financial advisor weblogs or financial advisor blogs!)