A website that lacks educational resources for clients is definitely in need of a makeover, according to Loic Jeanjean, sales and marketing director with Advisor Websites in Vancouver. Valuable resources will help persuade your clients to make your site a part of their regular browsing routine.
Educational resources are important because your clients want to be informed about financial issues, Jeanjean says. And providing the information clients need will increase the number of touch points you will have with them throughout the year.
Here are the key resources that should be on every advisor website:
1. Online calculators and tools
Your clients aren’t aiming to become financial experts but they do want to understand the choices available to them.
“People don’t like to be sold to,” Jeanjean says. “They want to do their due diligence and their own research. Providing them the right resources is an intelligent way to do that.”
Incorporate calculators that are related to your core services. For example, include tools to help determine the value of an RRSP, help with budgeting or show the user the most affordable insurance options.
2. Updated and relevant content
Reading material in the form of blogs, white papers and case studies will attract visitors, but only if they feel the subject matter applies to them. This is why your researched material must reflect the interests of your client base.
So, if your target market is young families, Jeanjean says, provide relevant information on financial planning, retirement planning and education planning. Address those issues and doing it in a way that separates your content from the general approaches taken by the mainstream publications.
While major newspapers may provide information on the benefits of a tax-free savings account (TFSA), for example, you need to be very specific about how your clients base can use a TFSA.
Returning to the example of young families, point out that the TFSA is a great savings tool that can help with unforeseen expenses such as car repairs or children’s extracurricular activities.
3. Social sharing buttons
If you’re striving to grow your practice, you should be trying to appeal to the millennial generation. The way to attract this group is to broaden your social-media strategy by enabling them to share your content through their social networks.
Make sharing easy by including sharing buttons on your website. These buttons will make it easy for your clients to share your content on networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, with one or two clicks.
Sharing buttons show visitors that you are in tune with social media — they and can help you significantly increase your audience. Not only will your readers’ friends and peers see your content on their social networks, others will see your content when it pops up on Google searches.
The more your content is shared through social media, Jeanjean says, the higher its ranking on Google.
This is the second installment in a three-part series on revamping your website.
Next: Turning your website into a lead generator.