Five Elements of a Lead-Generating Website

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Five Elements of a Lead-Generating Website

A great website is essential for financial advisors looking to increase referrals, and these tips will help your site stand out among so many others.

CRAIG FAULKNER

We know that most affluent investors turn to the Internet for health and financial advice these days. Studies show that even if prospects are referred to you by a trusted friend or family member, 9 out of 10 will still Google your name and check out your website before contacting you. As financial social media guru Michael Kitces says, "I am not giving anyone my life savings until I type their name into Google and make sure they weren’t Bernie Madoff’s lesser-known partner."

This means a great website is a must for financial advisors. A website is multipurpose: It should generate leads, start conversations that lead to client meetings, and, in a more general way, build your brand. Take a look at your website and ask yourself, "when was the last time I got a new client, or even a warm lead, from my site?" Is your website working as hard as you are? If not, it may be time to kick it into gear.

The best lead you can get is a referral. We all know that a positive comment from someone we trust carries a lot of weight. If your website is doing its job, it should make it easy for your clients to share little pieces of content from your site that act like personal referrals for you. Here are a few techniques to help turn your website into a lead-generating machine:

• Get people to spend more than 30 seconds on your site with video. Thirty seconds is about how long it takes an interested visitor to decide if he or she will click on a second page. Video has a profound impact on the average time a visitor spends on a website, because it slows him or her down. The visitor isn’t deciding whether your website is a worthy place to spend time; he or she is too busy watching your video. Video also piques curiosity. An efficient video provides the viewer with useful information, making it that much more tempting to stay on your site and watch another video. Lastly, people remember more of what they see in a video than what they read, so using video helps site visitors remember more about you and your firm.
  
  
• Harness the power of perception with quality design. High-quality website design has the power to provide visitors a perception of value. If you placed a well-designed site in front of one audience and a poorly designed version in front of another, the audience that saw the well-designed version would be more likely to view additional content. Even though the actual content is exactly the same as the poorly designed version, the look of your content has a profound effect on whether or not someone will take the time to view it. Pleasant design makes your website look more legitimate, professional and engaging.
  
  
• Create pages that meet visitors' expectations. A large part of a positive user experience depends on whether a website does what users expect it to do. Each website page should have a definitive purpose. An "About" page should tell your story and explain your business philosophy. A "Team" page should introduce members of your staff. This doesn’t mean there can’t be additional elements of a page, but your pages should meet their intended purpose to satisfy visitors' expectations.
  
  
• Make it easy for visitors to contact you. As visitors read the content on your website, they may have questions. Include contact forms on each page to make it easy for them to communicate with you. Remember, the goal of your website is to gather contact information so that you can reach out to prospects. According to research on conversion rates of forms completed by form technology company Formstack, two to three fields on a form are optimal. While it’s tempting to try to capture more information, doing so will decrease the number of completed forms you receive.
  
  
• Add SEO-friendly elements to your content. When writing your website content, use keywords that your prospects might use to search. For example, you might include wealth management, asset allocation, investments, estate preservation, etc. List your firm name, your locality, and the services you offer multiple times in the headings, copy, and titles of pages for maximum effect. Search engines value the title of pages over other information on your site, so write descriptive and accurate titles that describe your firm and the content on each page so that prospects can find you easily.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and that’s why a great website is so important. The average visitor will spend around five seconds deciding whether or not he or she will stay on your site. Your homepage should be clear and interesting to catch the visitor’s attention. The rest of the site should explain who you are and what you do. 

Once your website is up to standard, get in the habit of using it to facilitate meetings with your clients. Pull up your website on your smartphone or tablet during any interaction outside the office. The more you refer to your website and use it as a tool, the more clients will return to it later and the more they will share it with friends and family. Using every tool available will pay off in increased business and referrals.

Craig Faulkner is CEO of FMG Suite, offering a complete inbound marketing solution for financial professionals, including websites, eNewsletters, and a customized mobile app. Visit http://fmgsuite.comfor more information on how to make the most of your marketing efforts, including free online video courses through the The Art of Digital Marketing and the Market in Motion blog. Faulkner's new book, The Art of Inbound Marketing, helps advisors build their practice through digital marketing. Be sure to follow @fmgsuite on Twitter.