A lot of financial advisors asked me for advice on their websites. Most want to understand what makes a website effective. Here’s what I tell them.
Think of your website like your physical office space. It should be professional looking, well appointed, and a reflection of your firm’s culture. It doesn’t need to be the Taj Mahal or modern art. And it certainly shouldn’t be a cheap linoleum floor, bare light bulb kind of place either.
Be Easy to Find
Is you office near major highways or the center of town? Is there ample off street parking? Is the building address well lit and visible? In other words, do you make it hard or easy for people to find you.
It’s the same for your website. Is your website easy to find? When people search for you in Google do you come up? (Here's a post on
How To Use SEO to help you with this.)
Its a good idea to test this out for yourself. If there are other firms in your area with the same or similar name - insurance agents, lawyers, doctors, and consultants- you may not be as easy to find as you think.
Be Easy to Navigate
Let’s say your firm is in an office park. When someone enters your building is there an easy to find directory listing your company? Are the elevators and stairs clearly marked so visitors know where to go? If you’ve ever done it, you know - it’s no fun wandering around a building trying to find an office.
It’s the same with your website. No one wants to wander around your site looking for clues they are in the right place. Like a building directory, do you have a clear statement on your home page identifying this website as belonging to “The Johnson Group, a wealth management firm based in Seattle Washington”? Like elevators and stairs, are links to pages within your site clearly marked and easy to follow?
When it comes to making people comfortable on your site, the best advice I can give you is be clear not clever.
Be Engaging
If we think of your website like your office space than we can think of your website content like you and your team. Visitors come to your office to interact with you. To get what they can’t get from a brochure.
Its the same for your website. Give visitors a chance to interact with you. Add a blog. Offer an ebook. Invite people to subscribe to your monthly newsletter. Get them involved. You/ll be glad you did.
After all, who wants to visit an empty office?
ps - We've just created our firm's
Google+ page. Its a new page and we could really use your help. Please add us to your circles and give us your feedback!