Surfing through the vast Internet to find top-notch Web sites worth recommending to Investment Executive readers can involve a lot of spills and misses. It would be nice if one in every dozen sites merited more than a passing glance.

It is a special treat, therefore, to come across some very handy sites that have been built and are being run by IE readers themselves.

Here’s a look at three Web sites that have been forwarded by readers in recent weeks.

AdvisorTek
www.advisortek.ca

Launched in July 2004, Hamilton, Ont.-based AdvisorTek bills itself as “the premium software and technology Web site for financial advisors.” The site was constructed exclusively for Canadian financial industry professionals, and its content should be valuable to most IE readers. There is also a sister site (www.advisortek.com) that is
aimed at both U.S. and Canadian advisors.

“The primary objective of AdvisorTek is to provide a centralized portal for financial advisors who want to improve and grow their practices using technology,” says AdvisorTek’s Tony Valaitis. “The sites are organized in channels that reflect key components of an advisor’s practice: software, Internet/marketing and practice management. The sites are free.”

AdvisorTek is cleanly and professionally designed, with little clutter or annoying high-tech bells and whistles. The centre of the home page is dedicated to the latest news, posting largely technology and marketing articles that should be useful to advisors who are trying to keep track of the latest breakthroughs and developments.

Further down is “product watch,” which recommends new software products, such as Plaxo, which lets you easily keep your e-mail contact list up to date. There is an archive of past articles, as well as an update of new items that have been added to the site.

The gold mine can be found in a menu of four categories of icons that run down the left-hand side of the page: channels, vendors, resources and free tools. The first group comprises software, Internet/marketing, practice management and enterprise.

Click on each to be taken to a different area of the site. You’ll find handy items such as a financial planning software checklist, a software evaluator, a software real-cost calculator and lots of articles on each channel topic.

The vendor directory is the “most comprehensive directory of software and technology vendors ever assembled to date, providing financial advisors with a one-stop-shopping resource,” Valaitis says.

Indeed, there are dozens of brief reviews and contact information for software to help with e-mail and portfolio management, financial planning and presentations, as well as specialty products, such as niche calculators, insurance comparisons and client profiling. A “vendor match” service lets you tell AdvisorTek your software need or problem, and it will get back to you with a suitable product to consider.

Other items on the left-hand side of the home page include about half a dozen online calculators and quizzes and free PowerPoint slides that you can download to make “what if” calculations onscreen during your presentations. There’s even a monthly e-mail newsletter from the site to apprise you of new products.


Professional Referrals
www.professionalreferrals.ca

Toronto-based Professional Referrals is a fee-based service that helps industry professionals get in direct contact with prospects. The site currently has about 700 active members across Canada — largely advisors, financial planners and insurance agents, but also estate lawyers, mortgage brokers and accountants.

The concept of the site, which was mentioned in an August feature article in IE, is quite smart. It is loaded with about 1,200 Web pages that hold all types of information that would appeal to a consumer who is serious about financial affairs and who is looking for a professional to handle their personal investments. As result, it attracts between 1,500 and 2,000 visitors each day.

Virtually every page has a modest hyperlink that asks the visitor if they would like a free consultation with an industry professional. If such a request is made, the site asks for some additional information and passes the request to one of its members.

The site and service are free for consumers, but there are costs involved on the advisor side. The set-up fee is $295, and then there is a pay-as-you-go fee for each referral. The fees range from $10 to ask a question of an accountant or estate executor to $100 for a referral to a financial planner or for an insurance policy.

@page_break@The “site stats” icon, at the top of the home page, lets anyone check out the location of visitors and what specific words they are using as search criteria on the site. You can even sort the stats by city or region. Advisors in out-of-the-way spots may be surprised by the amount of consumer traffic from their own areas. There are lots of signed
testimonials from many professionals on the site, so anyone looking for new business or considering using the site might want to check out the testimonials.


The Insurance Professional
www.etip.ca

Vancouver advisor Don Pooley’s useful Web site was reviewed a few years ago in Web Watch, but it is always being updated with fresh information and is worth a regular visit by IE readers. Pooley, who is a certified financial planner, chartered life underwriter and chartered financial consultant, primarily focuses on marketing techniques and sales strategies.

The entire left-hand side of the home page is an archive of 80 past issues of a regular and free e-mail newsletter that you can receive twice a month by subscribing to it on the site. Articles include topics such as why clients dump advisors, building your credibility, five tips to make sales soar and top earner techniques.

The site also offers free e-books, which are longer and downloadable PDF files (opened with Adobe Acrobat Reader) of industry tips and tricks. Past titles include 21 Keys to Open Referrals, Seven Steps to Get More Clients and Grow Your Business, and The 10 Commandments of Power Positioning. IE

If you have Web sites to share with IE readers, contact Glenn Flanagan at gflanagan@sympatico.ca.