If you’re building a personal brand as a financial advisor, you’ve no doubt looked into social media marketing and pay-per-click advertising. But search engine optimization (SEO) is an even more effective way to grow your brand, increase conversions, and cement your status as a respected professional.
The approach to SEO as a financial advisor isn’t all that different from SEO for ecommerce brands, but there are a few unique benefits, and it may necessitate a different approach.
Why Do Financial Advisors Need SEO?
Growing a wealth management fund or offering your services as a financial advisor is all about positioning yourself as a trusted expert.
Social media marketing is often the go-to approach for this, which is why you’ll see countless Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube ads from financial experts offering everything from courses to one-on-one services.
To understand where SEO comes into this, you just need to think about the customer journey.
Many customers don’t trust what they see on social media due to the prevalence of scams that somehow slip through the net. If an ad catches their eye, there’s a good chance they will google the company or individual.
With no search engine presence, they’ll likely encounter a few social media links, reviews, and nothing else.
It won’t instill them with much confidence.
If that individual has worked on their SEO, there will be a carefully curated list of results that push those searchers to convert.
What’s more, every time they search for relevant keywords relating to that industry, that brand will appear, further cementing it as a trusted provider and helping the customer to make up their mind.
So, while relevant traffic and improved conversion rates are clear benefits of SEO for financial advisors, there are many other direct and indirect benefits.
Common Myths about SEO for Wealth Management
One of the challenges of SEO for wealth management firms and financial advisors is the sheer number of myths and misconceptions out there. You may have fallen for a few of these yourself, in which case it’s time to set them right before you start your campaigns and make a costly mistake.
SEO is Not Needed for Personal Brands
As discussed above, many potential customers will check search engines to confirm legitimacy. High rankings will also direct relevant traffic to your site and services.
It’s All About Keywords
Keywords are certainly a big part of it, but there are many more elements, including technical SEO, like page speed and improved navigation.
Backlinks are Everything
Backlinks are no longer as effective as they used to be. It still helps if the links are authoritative and relevant, but they don’t have the impact they once did.
Longer Content is Better
Say what you need in as many words as you require. Google wants its users to have the best experience, and if your content consists of basic 300-word articles expanded into 2k-word guides, it could work against you.
You Need a Big Budget
If your competitors have a lot of money behind them, you may struggle to beat them in the rankings. But money isn’t everything here, as brands are vying to produce the best content and not to place the highest keyword bid.
How to Run SEO Campaigns as a Financial Advisor
A good SEO campaign takes time, effort, and money. You need to audit your website, research keywords, see what competitors are doing, hire writers and editors, and then piece everything together to ensure a steady stream of published content.
There are a few ways to go about this:
Do it Yourself
You’re an expert, and if you can string a few words together, you could write and promote your own content. You can also use programs like Semrush to research keywords before promoting articles on social media.
However, you likely can’t create content as quickly or as expertly as a writer versed in SEO, so you’ll either end up with a very limited campaign, or the content creation will take up all of your time and leave little room for anything else.
Hire Freelancers
There are scores of freelancers on sites like Upwork that can do all of the work for you. However, it means going to the effort of finding individual creators, and that could get time consuming.
You’ll be spending your time searching for suitable freelancers, reviewing work, juggling contracts, and dealing with whatever issues arrive.
Train an In-House Team
If you manage a team of advisors or a wealth management fund, you can spread the workload and ask your employees to help.
An SEO coach can show everyone the ropes and provide advice on strategizing. Alternatively, SEO training will teach your team the basics and prepare them to create their own campaigns.
Hire an Expert
Many financial advisors turn to SEO experts like Optics In. We have helped countless professionals and brands with their SEO campaigns and promise exceptional work and results every time.
We also operate on a sliding scale. If you want to go all-out with a comprehensive campaign, we’ll get the ball rolling. If money is tight and you’d rather take it slow, we can help with that, as well.
Check out our SEO services to learn more.
Examples of Successful SEO Campaigns for Financial Advisors & Wealth Management
At Optics In, we have accumulated years of experience working with professionals, executives, and brands across various industries.
These include the financial sector and financial advisors in particular. Our previous experience included work for Mariaca, a Florida-based wealth management service that sought our services to assert its authority as a respected brand and increase traffic and conversions to its retirement planning and investment consulting services.
Conclusion: Grow Your Brand with SEO for Financial Advisors
SEO is massively important for wealth management funds and financial advisors. It’s an important piece of the personal branding puzzle that increases traffic and conversions while positioning the brand as a trustworthy source of information.
To discuss how you can grow your brand with an SEO campaign, contact us here.
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