Once upon a time it was good to put a website address on your stationery. That was website marketing as we knew it. It made you look modern. If people 
wanted to find out more about you they could visit your website. They might have been able to use a contact form to reach out to you.
The world has really moved on from then and if you’re website hasn’t also moved on; you’re probably missing out on some really good new business leads.
A recent review of what people searched for on Google reveals that over the last 12 months, each of our largest capital cities has between 1k and 10k searches per month for ‘Financial Planner <City name>’. That’s a lot of new prospects looking for advice.
The challenge for all financial planning firms is how do you stand out from the crowd online and how can you ensure that Google is rating your website higher than your competitors? The answer to that is to get in professional marketing help. Website marketing is now a specialist marketing area.
In seeking advice and making your website marketing work harder for you, here are some tips:
- Your website should be optimised for all devices (including mobile phones)
- Your website should have more than one site map, to reflect the different components of your website
- Your website content should reflect key search terms that clients are looking to learn more about
- Your website content shouldn’t just rely on text – also use images, downloads and videos, search engines it better than just text
- Your website should give a reason why you’re worth talking to – what makes you remarkable?
- Your website should have a customised Google map that shows your business
- Your website should have links to your social media channels
- Your website should have a blog for ongoing content
- Your website sitemaps should be submitted to Google and Bing, and take advantage of their free business listings
I was once told that I had to be the first business on Google to get a higher website rank with them. I’m not sure if that was ever true. I am certain now though, it no longer applies. Search engines want to provide their clients with the most immediately relevant information they can. That’s what makes them useful to consumers.
We recently built a new website and it’s now ranking at the top for a search using their suburb after being indexed by Google. Google is so smart now that the results will change, depending on the suburb you’re searching from. Your smart phone and computer know where you are, unless you’ve turned off all those location settings.
If it’s been a while since you’ve looked at your website now might be the time to strategically think about what benefits it’s providing you. Is it just as web address for your stationery or should it be doing more for your business in terms of building your reputation for good advice and delivering you with interested prospects who want to talk to you.
Of course, you can pay for website leads to with online advertising. Surely though seeing what you can get from them for free is a good place to start. If you’d like assistance, contact us.
