Financial Advisors
Money Bloggers
Would you like to gain more leads without paying for ads? There’s a simple, yet little-known way for financial advisors to do that: Local SEO.
Local SEO allows you to be found by prospects looking for financial services in your area. Setting up local SEO needs to be part of your digital marketing strategy plan.
“But I’m not techy at all”
“I don’t have time/energy to do this”
If that’s you, don’t worry. Here’s a simple step-by-step process (with options for those that don’t want to do it by themselves) to set up local SEO for financial advisors and start getting more clients through your website from now on.
What is Local SEO for Financial Advisors
How many times have you searched “Pizza near me” (or Sushi) on Google maps?
The internet is becoming the most reliable source for searching for products and services. People conduct “near me” searches for almost everything. From food to financial advisory services.
According to Google, 88% of people end up visiting a store after conducting a local search within a week.
That’s why local SEO for financial advisors is so important if you want to get more clients.
Cause you want that, right?
Ok, but what’s local SEO?
Basically, it’s the optimization of your website for local searches on Google.
When your potential clients search for financial advisors within their area, your business will fortunately appear there…
…if you have a local SEO strategy for financial advisors.
But appearing in the search is not enough.
When you look for something on Google Maps, there’s a list with 3 main positions (that’s called map pack) and that’s critical for users since they tend to visit those within the first results on the list.
Having a local SEO strategy for financial advisors will help you get in the first results of the list.
Why is Local SEO important for Small Financial Businesses
“Roughly 97% of people who use online search, look for local businesses, and approximately 78% of mobile local searches prompt an offline purchase.”
– 99firms.com
As you can see, local searches are prevalent on google. Here are four ways local SEO can be beneficial for your business:
Appearing Higher in Google Search Results and Google Maps
If someone’s looking for your financial services in your area and your website displays as one of the local search results, you will likely get a phone call or a walk-in that day!
Showing Up in Local Directories
Local directories pull their information from local search results. Thanks to local SEO for financial advisors, you’ll show up in those directories, gain more exposure and outlinks. Outlinks are links directed toward your website; they leverage your online presence by helping your financial business rank higher on Google.
Outrank Larger Firms Like Merrill Lynch
This might come as no surprise, but the more specific the search, the fewer results are shown, which means less competition and a higher chance to be seen by those seeking out your services. In need of a website that ranks and converts? Find out what we can do for you.
Less Competition
This might come as no surprise, but the more specific the search, the fewer results show up, which means less competition and a higher chance to be seen by those seeking out your services.
How To Set Up Local SEO: Step-By-Step Process
Setting up local SEO for your financial business is pretty simple. We’ve added a few extra steps to get the best results by driving traffic and converting quality leads for your business.
1. Create your Google My Business account
To be displayed on Google Maps, you need to have a business account with Google. It’s not hard to set up but might take a couple of days to be approved by Google. Here is a simple How-to on creating your Google My Business Account.
2. Provide consistent information about your financial services
Google and other search engines identify the content and context of a website by having so-called “web crawlers” move through the web.
These crawlers store information they find in databases. These databases tell Google what websites are about, so that Google can decide how and when to show them in the search results.
Provide consistent information across your website, social platforms, etc. That way, it’ll be easier for Google to know what your business is about, and your website will more likely rank higher.
3. Target landing page for SEO
Your landing page is where visitors to your site are introduced to your services. By just looking at it for a few seconds, they’ll know if your financial firm is a good fit for their needs, and potentially book a call with you.
This page is essential to qualify and convert good-fit prospects. By optimizing this page for SEO- meaning tweaking the messaging, including relevant keywords and other SEO best practices- there’s a higher chance that people looking for your financial services will see this page.
4. Bonus: Powerlander
We’ve designed many landing pages, which resulted in 7-12% conversion rates for our clients.
This is huge, as conversion rates are typically considered good at around 3%.
The strategy? Having a “Powerlander” on your website– where visitors are guided through clear steps on how they can work with you.
The ultimate goal for a financial advisor like you is to book discovery calls. Clarity on how you can help qualified leads gives visitors a reason to take that step and book the call.
Get a powerful Powerlander to start converting leads into clients.
5. Reviews (SEC guidelines)
How often do you go off reviews when looking for a new restaurant nearby?
Social proof is a vital part of being seen as an authority online. It confirms your credibility and serves to build trust with your audience.
The Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) has widened the ability to use testimonials and endorsements for investment advisors, however, there are some things to consider when implementing reviews for your business.
Learn how to comply with the latest Marketing Rule in our article about SEC’s new regulations to use testimonials.
6. Build Powerful Content
You may have heard that content is king. But what does that mean?
Building powerful content will boost your results in Google rankings if you implement an SEO strategy for financial advisors.
By knowing which problems your potential clients are dealing with and crafting helpful blog articles with certain keywords, your website will start getting more visitors, aka, more people looking for your financial services.
Don’t know how to do that? Let us help you! We’ve developed a personalized local SEO for financial advisors’ service to boost traffic and help you get more clients. Get in touch now!
7. Local SEO Services for Financial Advisors
Ok, so you now know how important local SEO for financial advisors is, but you’d rather work in your business than on your business.
You want to help people make better financial decisions and improve their life quality. Your time will be best invested in doing that, instead of working on your website.
I get it, and that’s why at Wilnau Design we’ve developed a personalized local SEO for financial advisors’ service that will help you rank higher on google and get more clients by appearing within the first results.
Would you like to learn more about it? It all starts with a conversation. Click here and book a call with us.
Example of Effective Local SEO for Financial Advisors
Our clients achieved awesome results by following the above steps.
Take a look at this example of a client’s website and how we ensured their business shows up in local searches.
Paradigm Wealth Partners
- “Meta-description” includes their location.
- Location headline added on home page.
- Clear conversion strategy – unique discovery process
.
Local SEO Checklist for Financial Advisors
Local SEO for financial advisors is not about searching for keywords and distributing them across your website.
In this article, you’ve learned about the process for really ranking on Google and letting your potential clients find you.
Here’s a checklist for setting up local SEO for financial advisors:
- Create your Google My Business Account
- Set up your information strategically
- Build an awesome, SEO-targeted landing page so your clients can find you
- Get a powerful Powerlander
- Build reviews
- Craft amazing content that helps your prospects solve a problem
- Get Local SEO services for financial advisors
Conclusion
Having a local SEO strategy for financial advisors can help bring interested prospects in your local area to your business.
Setting up local SEO for financial advisors is simple if you follow the steps mentioned in this article.
The challenging part is to retain and convert visitors to your site.
You can achieve great results when your brand and overall message on your website directly speaks to your desired clients and their pain points while having an effective conversion strategy, like the Powerlander.
We’ve built and designed websites for some of the most influential financial advisors in the U.S. and are curious to learn more about your advisory firm.
Need more help crafting a website that ranks and highlights your unique advisory service?
Contact us and find out if we are the right fit for your business.
