There was a time when Google was a simple – albeit very effective – search engine.  Over the years it has evolved, and right now we are seeing some major changes in the way that search works.

Google is in the process of incorporating more into the search results, and a big part of that affects the way that local businesses appear in search results.

If you want to show up in the results for searches such as ‘financial adviser in your city’ then you need to start using Google+.

Google+ Explained

Google+ is basically Google’s version of Facebook.  Right now it is fairly quiet in terms of Australian businesses and individuals, but it must be pointed out that its initial growth was actually faster than that of Facebook.

As with Facebook, Google+ allows individuals and businesses to set up their own pages.  A business can add their contact details, information about their products and services, photos and status updates.

The Changing World of Search

What is really interesting for local financial advisory businesses is the way that Google+ can affect the way that people find local businesses.

There was a time when success in the Google search results came down to content and links, but with the introduction of Google+ and Local, you need to do more.

Google is now incorporating more factors into search, and many of those come from Google+ and Local.  If you don’t have a strong presence on Google+ you will be at a major disadvantage to your local competitors who have moved first.

Benefits for Advisers

By creating a Google+ profile and adding your Local profile, you can help to boost your rankings for anyone searching Google for your services in your local area.

Right now is a great time to get started, as a quick search today reveals that only a small handful of financial advisers in Australia are active on Google+.

As Google continues to put more weighting towards businesses that are active on Google+ when formulating the search results (which they are already doing) these advisers will have a huge advantage.

Getting Started

The first step is to simply setup a business profile page on Google+ as well as a Local listing.  By adding as much information as possible Google is more likely to rank you higher in the Google+ search results.

It is also a great idea to link your business website to your Google+ profile, as this is said to help the ranking of your own website as well.

Compliance Issues

Unfortunately most dealer groups are still frightened by social media and what it means for compliance.Setting up a profile on Google+ won’t cause any issues, but if you plan to post updates or allow other people to post on your page, then you’ll need to check with your dealer group on their policies.If you can get past the technology and compliance issues, getting onto Google+ before your local competitors will give you a great head start as the advice industry continues to move into the online world.

About Shane Moore…Shane has been in the financial services industry for over a decade.  After selling his own advisory firm he now owns a portfolio of financial services websites providing leads to financial advisers and insurance brokers.  Follow Shane Moore on Google+.

12 July 2012

The post Google+ for Financial Advisers appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Late last month Google released its latest algorithm changes which affect the way that websites appear in search results.  Following their last major update by the name of Panda, this latest change is known as Penguin.

Major impact on financial websites
While previous Google updates haven’t had a huge impact on financial websites here in Australia, the Penguin update has made some dramatic changes to the top of the Google search results.

Two of the most competitive search terms in Australia both relate to the financial services industry.  The two terms, unsurprisingly, are life insurance and credit cards.

You could expect that the top positions for these ultra-competitive and highly lucrative terms would be taken by the large corporations, but instead they are both owned by small businesses offering referral and affiliate services.

Well at least they were until the big bad Penguin came along and stole their rankings along with a massive chunk of revenue.  Not only did they lose their position one rankings, but both of them fell into the abyss and are nowhere to be seen in the first few pages.

Whilst the news for these two websites was nothing short of devastating, their loss is someone else’s gain, and these latest Google changes are throwing up more opportunities for financial advisers.

What changed?
The world of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a tricky one, and most financial advisers engaging an SEO firm for their company website will be paying hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars per month without really knowing what they’re getting.

Although there are some really great SEO firms out there performing great work for their clients, many of them do little more than spamming links to your website across a range of blogs and link farms in an effort to trick Google into thinking your website is very popular.

Google are quickly catching onto this game, and the Penguin update has been the biggest effort yet by Google to penalise website owners who put more effort into tricking the search engines instead of creating great content for their visitors.

The jury is still out, but most people in the industry agree that the latest changes have benefited those with good content and penalised those who concentrated too much on SEO with little regard to website visitors.

How can you benefit?
For years I have been trying to tell financial advisers and anyone else who will listen that content is king, but unfortunately many advisers seem to think that spending money on SEO and Google advertising is a better investment than quality content.

While I have heard countless other website owners complaining about their lost Google rankings over the last couple of weeks, I have sat quietly smiling in the knowledge that many of the websites owned by my company have actually boosted their rankings over the same period.

Increased rankings lead to increased traffic, increased traffic yields increased leads, and ultimately the increased lead numbers equal more clients and more revenue.

So how can your financial planning firm benefit from the Penguin updates?  In my view the answer is simple, and all it takes is to concentrate on generating good quality content that your ideal client needs.

If you create and distribute content that your potential clients want and need, they will find that content via Google and hopefully your website will then be effective enough to convert their visit into a contact.

While your competitors are still out there pouring more money into SEO and link building to regain their lost rankings, you need to be getting great content onto your site which Google and its penguins will reward you for.

The post How penguins can help advisers appeared first on AdviserVoice.

The online space is getting more competitive every day when it comes to financial services websites. There is competition from other financial services firms, as well as the growing number of lead generation websites that are coming from outside of the industry.

Financial advisers should already know the importance of original website content, but this week Google have made further changes to their search algorithm that means original content on its own will no longer be good enough, and they now want your content to be kept fresh as well.

Google states that more than one-in-three search queries will be affected, which is certainly a significant number. They had this to say in their release:

“Given the incredibly fast pace at which information moves in today’s world, the most recent information can be from the last week, day or even minute, and depending on the search terms, the algorithm needs to be able to figure out if a result from a week ago about a TV show is recent, or if a result from a week ago about breaking news is too old.”

So how can smart financial advisers benefit from these changes?

Let’s take a look at the average financial services firm website. Generally they will look very pretty, and they’ll have the standard pages that cover the firm’s services, staff profiles, contact details and maybe a few technical articles.

Some firm’s websites will have a blog or news section, but the majority I’ve seen are rarely updated, with some showing the ‘latest news’ from three years ago!

When combined with some link-building from the firm’s SEO provider, currently these sites tend to rank fairly well for search phrases such as ‘Sydney Financial Planner’ etc.

But with the latest Google changes, there is a window of opportunity for smart financial advisers to leap ahead of their competitors by adding fresh and original content to their websites on a regular basis.

So how can you do this? Well the first step is to get a blog or news section onto your website that you can easily update yourself. The next step is to start typing!

As financial professionals we do a huge amount of reading and listening every week. There are CPD articles to be read, conferences to attend, product updates from the insurers and fund managers and plenty of news in the press. There are many of sources of new information in our industry, so why not spend half an hour putting together a quick summary for your website? You don’t have to be a Walkley Award winner; you just need to throw together 500 words of content that are relevant to the industry and the clients that you want to attract.

If you can do this once a month you’ll give your website a healthy boost in the rankings. If you can increase it to once a week you should see some major results, and if you can start pumping out multiple items every week, the sky (or the number one ranking in Google) is the limit!

An additional benefit of regular content is that you can send out more frequent Facebook and Twitter updates, which gives more chances to interact with your current and potential clients.

The internet is increasingly the first place that people go to when searching for information on life insurance and investment, so if your website can out-rank your competitors you will have the greatest chance of attracting new clients at the expense of your rivals. Start updating your website today with fresh and original content, and you will be rewarded.

The post Benefiting from the latest Google changes appeared first on AdviserVoice.

When receiving leads from referral partners you are generally not competing against anyone else for the business.  Instead the referral partner has identified a potential need, and it is your job to explore that need with the general target of making a sale.

Internet leads are almost the opposite of this.  In this case the potential client has already identified their own need, and they are simply looking for the right financial adviser to fulfil that need for them.

In many cases a potential client will be requesting quotes or information from a number of websites, so you could be finding yourself competing against other financial advisers who have also bought leads for the same client.

So instead of convincing the client that they have a need, you are convincing them that you are the right person to fulfil their need.

Outright purchase or commission split?
This is one of the major questions to think about when buying leads.  Do you want to pay an upfront fee to purchase the lead outright, or do you want to pay a split of your commission on any successful sale?

Both options have their advantages, and the right answer really depends on a few different factors.

If buying outright, on average you will be looking at $50 per lead.  If going down the commission split path, you will generally need to share around 25% of your commission depending on whether or not trail is included in the split.

Let’s take a look at both options, assuming an average commission of $2,000 and a conversion rate of 25%.  We’ll use a number of 100 leads.

If you bought the leads outright you would be paying $5,000 for a commission return of $50,000 that you don’t have to share.  This would leave you with a profit of $45,000.

If you were paying a commission split you’d have to hand back $12,500 of your $50,000 commission, and potentially an ongoing share of the trail.  This would give you a profit of $37,500 which leaves you $7,500 worse off that if you’d have bought the leads outright.

At first glance it appears that buying outright is the better option, but it really depends on the quality of the leads.  If you were only able to convert 10% of the leads the figures would be quite different.

Based on the reduced conversion rate the profit (excluding office expenses etc.) would be $15,000 whichever way you went.  If the conversion rate dropped below 10% a commission split would become the more profitable option.

As I mentioned earlier, the right answer really depends on the quality of the leads and what sort of conversion rate and average commission you expect to achieve.

The target client
The target client of the lead generating website will have an impact on how desirable the lead will be for your business. Many of these websites market themselves on offering the lowest premiums, and it’s not uncommon for potential clients to request a quote from more than one website.  If you are not prepared to compete based on price, then these leads may not be right for you.

On the other hand, if you are fairly new to the industry and are still learning about the products, purchasing leads from a website that targets insurance for surgeons or barristers may not be the most suitable option at this stage.

Compliance
From my experience, most financial advisers buying internet leads are happy to leave the compliance issues up to the website owner.  After all, the adviser does not own the website and has no connection other than buying leads, so what’s the problem?

Most of the people running these lead generating websites do not have financial qualifications, and as they are not AFLS holders or Authorised Representatives (nor are they passing themselves off to be) they have little or no responsibility with regards to ASIC.

This doesn’t mean that their websites all contain incorrect information, indeed many of them are very well put together, but it does leave the door open for mistakes and issues to slip through.

Recently I conducted a full compliance audit on one such website, and whilst the majority of the site was okay, there were a couple of major errors that could have led to a successful complaint by a client.

If a client has relied upon information on that website when making a decision to proceed with your recommendation, there is the potential that you could get dragged into a complaint involving the client, the website owner and of course yourself.

Potential compliance issues shouldn’t turn you off internet leads completely, but it is important to be comfortable with the content on any website that you are considering buying leads from.

To buy or not to buy?
There is no doubt that internet leads will continue grow into one of the largest sources of clients for financial advisers, and with the current trend of the most successful sites being owned by people who are not financial advisers, it is clear that the buying and selling of leads will continue for a long time.

Is a strategy of buying internet leads right for you and your practice?  It really depends on your target market and your way of doing business.

If you partner with a lead generating website that fits your business well, it can be a terrific way to boost your client numbers and potentially introduce some diversity to your client book.  It can allow you to concentrate on providing good service and advice whilst someone else takes case of bringing in the leads.

But if you partner with a website or a group of websites that don’t fit your business, you could find yourself wasting a lot of time and money on leads that will never become clients, or clients that you don’t really want anyway.

The alternative to buying internet leads is to build your own lead generating website, but that’s another whole subject!

About Shane Moore…
Shane has been in the financial services industry for over a decade.  Since selling his own successful firm he has been working with other advisers to improve their online marketing efforts through the distribution of original and regular content.  For more information visit www.ShaneMoore.com.au

The post Tips for financial advisers buying internet leads appeared first on AdviserVoice.

After such an encounter, I’ll always make the effort to check out the website once I get back to the office. Invariably, I will see the same thing – websites built to impress the adviser rather than potential clients.

These websites are generally nothing more than flashy online corporate brochures. Yes, they generally look very nice, but that’s about it.
The adviser probably looks at their website for the first time, reads all about themselves and how good they are, then sits back and thinks “how could anyone not want to use my services!”

Want to know a secret?

A potential lead scanning the internet doesn’t care about how many certificates you have or how many years you’ve been in the industry for.
When they first visit your website they don’t really care about you – they care about themselves and how their needs can be fulfilled.

Does your website tell visitors how good you are, or does it tell them how they can have their needs met?  In many ways the two are connected, but the difference is in the delivery.

The potential lead will not be ready to buy when they visit your site for the first time, they will simply be looking for information. As they search around, they’ll be putting together a list, perhaps subconciously, of which sites have been helpful and which sites haven’t. If you’re not on that list, you don’t even have a shot.

Your website needs to be built with your ideal client in mind. It should be built for them, not you.

If you were looking for a new laptop, would you be interested in how many awards the salesperson had won or how impressive the company CEO was?

Unlikely.

Instead, you’d want to know how that laptop could help your business and maybe some tips to help you choose a laptop.

So if someone is searching online for information on insurance or investment, what do you think they are looking for? I can assure you it’s not a long winded spiel about you and how special you are!

If your website is not delivering the leads you hoped it would, it’s time to step into your client’s shoes and see things from their perspective.

About Shane Moore…
Shane has been in the financial services industry for over a decade.  Since selling his own successful firm he has been working with other advisers to improve their online marketing efforts through the distribution of original and regular content.  For more information visit www.ShaneMoore.com.au

The post Does your website benefit your ego or your business? appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Once your website has gained the lead, then it’s your job to convert that lead into a happy – and profitable – client. Getting prospective clients to your website is often the biggest hurdle, but in this article I’m going to skip that step and assume that the visitor has already made their way to your website.

There are many different styles of adviser websites out there, and just as many different styles of enquiry forms. I’ve delved deeply into many financial advisers’ websites; firstly as part of my compliance role when I was approving adviser websites for a large dealer group, and more recently as part of my research for both my own websites and those of the advisers I partner with.

Many adviser websites use a very basic enquiry form that simply collects contact details and perhaps some brief details about the type of service the client is looking for.  This type of enquiry form often features prominently on the front page of the website.

While I like the idea of having the enquiry form as a ‘call to action’ on the front page of the website, I do wonder about the effectiveness of such forms, and the large amount of front page real estate that is lost in making space for the enquiry form. If someone is only providing their name and contact details, they know very well that all you’re going to do with that information is use it to call them back.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but if the prospective client knows that will be the case, why wouldn’t they just call you themselves?

On the other hand you have the more complex enquiry forms.  These are generally far too large to place on the front page of the website, and will instead have their own dedicated page.  Obviously you would still be placing prominent links to this page from your front page, and every other page of your website.

I have had plenty of advisers – and so called web experts – tell me that the shorter enquiry forms are far more effective.  Their rational is that a prospective client is much more likely to complete a form that takes thirty seconds rather than one that takes ten minutes.

But I disagree.

My company owns a portfolio of websites that gather life insurance leads.  Over the years we have used short and long enquiry forms, placed in different sections of the websites, and the results have been very different.

We have found that short contact forms on the front page deliver far fewer leads than our more complex forms, and furthermore the leads from the complex forms convert into paying clients at a much higher rate.

One of our most successful websites actually features our most complex enquiry form.  Over the years we have continually added more questions to the form and made it more difficult to complete, yet the number of enquiries we receive continues to increase every month.

The form on this website is now so comprehensive that two dealer groups have accepted it as a fully completed fact finder.  That saves a huge amount of time, and also makes for an extremely good lead.  Not only do we know a lot about the client before the first phone call, but we also know how serious that person is due to the amount of time they have invested in completing our lengthy form.

You may be thinking that a lot of prospective clients will leave the form half-finished when they get tired of answering questions, but our statistics show that we have very few ‘dropouts’ with our forms.  If someone isn’t committed to filling out the form we probably don’t want the lead anyway.

I know that most web designers will keep telling advisers that short enquiry forms are better, but if you take that advice then I believe you are costing yourself business.  I have spoken to plenty of financial advisers who have spent thousands on their websites, only to receive not a single lead from it.

Now I’m not saying that a longer and more complex enquiry form will result in a flood of leads for any old website.  What I do believe is that a well designed website that ‘funnels’ visitors through to a comprehensive enquiry form will be more effective than one that expects the visitor to enter their contact details on the front page without having had a chance to read through the website.

Online strategy is all about experimentation.  If you currently use a short enquiry form on the front page of your website, try investing a few dollars in having your web designer implement a more detailed form, and use the saved space on your front page to further promote your services.  If it doesn’t work, little has been lost.  If it does work, you could have a lot to gain.

About Shane Moore…
Shane has been in the financial services industry for over a decade.  Since selling his own successful firm he has been working with other advisers to improve their online marketing efforts through the distribution of original and regular content.  For more information visit www.ShaneMoore.com.au

The post Online enquiry forms appeared first on AdviserVoice.

This one is the most obvious of all. If you don’t have a website, you are wasting possibly the biggest opportunity available to bring in new clients as well as engaging your existing clients.

Websites can also save time.  Instead of clients calling you every time they need a fax number or some other mundane piece of information, they can simply visit your website for all the info they need.

Some advisers say they would prefer to let their client call them, as there may be opportunities for further business that can come from a phone call. That may be true, but a well designed website will engage your clients in a ways that we simply cannot do over the phone.

Top Tip: Get yourself online right now, even if it’s a basic one page website to start with.

2. Go Paperless

I have visited dozens of financial planning firms over the years that have serious office space devoted to files. This is just money down the drain, big time! Think about what you could do with that space. Put on another adviser, sub-lease the space to an accountant or other professional etc.

There are other benefits as well. Every time one of your clients calls, do you have to run to the filing room to find their file? With a good paperless system all of your clients’ documents are just a few mouse clicks away. And with the right security in place your client’s information will be as safe as ever.

What would happen to your precious paper files in the event of fire or flood? They’d be gone! A properly backed-up paperless system will be secure no matter what happens.

There are also huge savings on paper, ink and toner cartridges, not to mention reduced servicing bills on your printing equipment.

Getting a paperless office in place is easier than you may think, and the sooner you start the better.

Top Tip: Plan out your paperless system before you start, otherwise you could end up with a mess.
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3. Send a regular email newsletter

How often do you contact all of your clients? Once a year? For many clients they’d be lucky to get that!
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An email newsletter is an extremely cost effective way of keeping in contact with your clients (and prospective clients) and staying top of mind whenever they think about financial matters. You may not have time to write and distribute such a newsletter, but there are professionals out there who can provide this service for a reasonable fee.  And in my experience, the return on investment is almost second to none in terms of marketing.
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Top Tip: Start collecting client email addresses from today and build your database.
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4. Build a Brand

Branding is a complex subject and I won’t go into too much detail now, but building a brand is something you should be doing from day one in any business.
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Don’t be just another professional services provider like every other financial adviser, accountant and lawyer out there. Set yourself apart with appropriate branding that reflects what you and your business are all about.
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Do you have a logo or corporate colours? Do they represent you well? Do they look professional? Are you using them consistently across all contact points you have with your clients? If not, start today.
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Top Tip: Get your logo right and start using it everywhere.
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5. Track Everything

If the only way you measure your business is by the amount of money you have, then you’re not doing enough. All good businesses should be tracking everything from where their leads come from to how much their average client is worth.
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By tracking everything in this manner you will quickly be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses in your business, and redistribute your efforts to ensure your business is running as well as possible.
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Tracking also make goal setting far easier, and we all know that goal setting is vital for any successful business.
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Top Tip: Even with basic Excel skills you should be able to build yourself a handy tracking spreadsheet.
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6. Create Content

Content is King! At least that’s what they say in the world of internet marketing. As advisers, we all have a huge amount of knowledge and experience, but for most of us it is all in our head. Google can’t search our heads (yet!) so they don’t know how knowledgeable or experienced we are.
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Turning your knowledge and experience into content, then storing and distributing it online can have massive benefits for your business.
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Today, if someone has a question about insurance or finance, they are less likely to search the Yellow Pages for an adviser, and much more likely to type their question straight into Google.If they find their way to your website via Google, and your website answers their question, then they will already see you as an authority on the subject.
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Once they are ready to take the next step, you are likely to be the first person they contact.The more relevant content you have, the more Google will like you, and the more people it will direct to your site. The more people who are directed to your site, the more leads you will have, and ultimately the more clients you will have.
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Top Tip: Set aside an hour each week to write an article.
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If writing isn’t your strong point engage the services of a ghost writer.
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7. Determine Your Ideal Client

Identifying your ideal client should really be the first thing any new or existing business does. Your ideal client should determine the type of marketing you do, your branding and the way you interact and communicate with your clients.
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Top Tip: Sit down and determine your ideal client tonight.
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8. Review Your Marketing Strategy

For many advisers their marketing is a mixture of various components which have been added over the years. But how do you know if your marketing is working?  How do you know which marketing money is being spent well and which is being wasted?
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Now is the right time to document all of your marketing activities and take a good look at what is and isn’t working. Don’t keep paying for the same listing year after year just because “you’ve always done it”.
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The internet has changed marketing enormously over the last decade. If you’re still relying on the Yellow Pages, it’s time to catch up…
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Top Tip: Don’t be afraid to change your marketing to suit the changing world.
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9. Review Your Office Procedures

It doesn’t matter if you’re a sole trader working from home or a large firm with 100 staff, there are always things that you could be doing better. Many processes and procedures within our businesses have evolved over time, and often there will have been changed brought about by staff movements or regulatory changes.
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The problem with this is that we can end up with convoluted processes which may be costing us more time and money than they should.
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You should step back and take a look at what processes are taking the most time and effort. Are there things that we should be doing more, less, or differently? Don’t have that old attitude of “but this is what we’ve always done”.
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Top Tip: Sometimes a fresh pair of eyes can be better at identifying issues and areas for improvement, so don’t be afraid to involve someone from outside of your business.
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10. Document Your Office Procedures

Getting your processes and procedures down on paper can be a time consuming process, but it may be one of the best investments you’ll ever make. If someone had to step in and take over the running of your business tomorrow, how easily could you explain all of your processes to them? What if you were stuck in a hospital bed and couldn’t explain a thing?
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Without properly documented processes your business could quickly spiral out of control, leaving you with a huge mess if and when you were able to return.
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Other benefits to having documented processes include easier staff training and better regulatory compliance. And when it comes time to sell your business or bring on an investor, having documented processes will make your business much more attractive.
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Top Tip: If you don’t have time to write them yourself, engage the services of a professional.Get started today!
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These tips have been proven useful by real advice businesses just like yours. Many of them you should be able to implement on your own, but if you need a hand I can help you regardless of how small or large your business is.
For more information visit ShaneMoore.com.au

The post Shane Moore: 10 Ways to Improve Your Financial Advice Business Today appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Niche Marketing

“When I first started my financial planning business I had a dream of being all things to all people.”

“I thought I’d be helping a carpenter on Monday with his income protection, and a doctor on Tuesday with his investment portfolio.”

“I set up a fantastic website which contained loads of articles and plenty of information on how we could help people.”

“But pretty soon reality set in – it just wasn’t happening!”

So I quickly identified that I needed to target individual niches at a micro level.  To do this I set up a number of websites targeting specific occupational areas such as doctors, tradies, lawyers etc with specific information relating to those people and their individual problems that needed solving.

“The result?  After a few weeks I started to get some traffic trickling though.  Then after a month or two I started to get an enquiry or two each week, and within a year I was getting so many qualified leads that I had to start selling them to other advisers!”
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“What I discovered is that trying to be everything to all people is fine if you have a huge existing client base, but if you’re trying to establish yourself from a small base you simply have to specialise in order to give yourself a point of difference.
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“How do you do this?  Well first you need determine your ideal target customer.”

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Defining Your Perfect Client

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