Are you a financial advisor wondering how to get more leads online? Are you struggling to convert your prospects into clients? Read on to learn one marketing channel which will help you to establish yourself as an authority, and get more clients in the most renowned way.
Personal finance or finance in any form used to be like rocket science for me until recently. The only thingย I know about personal finance so far is that we need to earn, invest under some section such asย 80C, 80D etc.. to save taxes, and file our income tax return.
A few months ago, I gotย in touch with a chartered accountant/personal financial advisor/wealth management guy becauseย I was taking out a loanย to buy a flat. ย It was thenย when I realized how important personal financial planning is for everyone, including you and me.
This article is not aboutย the importance of personal finance, but is insteadย directed to allย those personal financial advisors andย wealth management guys who are operating their businesses as an individual or as a company.
Most of theย financeย professionals I have spoken withย already have a website, but they are still clueless about increasing their online visibility and clientele.
If you are a finance professional wondering why you should have a personal finance blog or website and how it can help you to getย more clients or to improve the brand of your company, read on!
How a blog will help your personal finance business:
For the sake of this article, I’m going to assume that you are not just an individual who is managing a portfolio worth millions, but rather that youย are a company owner who is running a company and managing everything yourself, (with or without employees).
I’m also assuming that you alreadyย have a website with the typicalย pages (about, contact, portfolio, services, etc.) explainingย what your company does.
95% of the professionalsย in your field areย marketing their businesses the same way. ย But right nowย you are reading something which will change the way you do business, and will help you to reach the goals you wish to achieve.
Before I lay outย the benefits of having a personal finance blog for yourself or your company, let me illustrate some of theย biggest marketing roadblocks currently faced byย professionals in your field.
Challengeย #1 – Competition:ย
It doesn’t matter where in the world you are from,ย you know who the biggest players in the personal finance and wealth management industry are. And if you are someone who hasย recently joinedย the league of financial advisors, you must find it very challenging to come up againstย the big names in your industry.
Challenge #2 –ย Converting prospects:
Regardless of the number of timesย you explain to a potential investor how important it is for himย to have a solid portfolio, heย will likely give his business to larger, more well-knownย companies becauseย ofย recommendations or because they are a bigger brand than you are. If you have faced these kinds of issues when attempting to convertย a prospect into a client, you are not alone. I have spokenย to more than 6 personal finance advisors around India, and theyย face similar issues.
The problem is not in securing enough clients,ย but in gaining the more significantย clients (HN1 clients).
Let me show you how a blog can help to solve thisย problem:
The benefits of a blog for your personal finance business:
Beatingย established competition:
Most of the established names in your industry have made names forย themselves as leaders in the offline market. It may beย difficultย for you to beat aย competitor who has established hisย business with offline marketing channels, but you have an opportunityย to establish yourself as a market leader using online channels.
India is undergoing anย online boom, and when you create your footprint online, you are being futuristic in terms ofย growing your finance business.ย With the number of people online increasing exponentially, you know with confidence that there are very large numbers of potential clients searching onlineย for information pertaining to their personal financial needs.
Just to give you an idea of the reality of this situation, here is the search query for “systematic investment plan” from 2012 to 2014. Noticeย the increase in searches and, being a finance guy, you know how much money even a single one of those potential clients can make for you:
This is just one of the thousands of queries applicable to your field.ย ย I have personally noticed that manyย similar queries are seeing a noticeable increase over time as well.
More leads via search engine traffic:
Usually your website consists of only a few pages, and I’m sure your web-developer has told you that they are optimised for queries like “personal financial advisor”, ย “wealth management”, “financial services” or other search terms which could bring clients your way.
With aย blog you will be targeting more keywords (questions whichย people search to find an answer to), and those very people are your prospects.
Trust factor:
One of the biggest challenges ofย being a financial advisor is to earn the trust of your prospective client. Itย is relativelyย easy to earn someone’sย trust, but it is very difficult to encourage someone toย trust you with hisย money.
When you are writing an article on your blog with your image on the sidebar or after the post, this will instantly built trust and credibility for yourself with your readers. And if you are doing it properly,ย you will not only earn the trust of your readers, but you will also be receiving requestsย from people to manage their funds and portfolios.
Long term return:
Let me explain the major benefits of having a finance blog.
As a financial advisor,ย you often evaluate gains asย long-term orย short-term. Think of your blog as a long-term gain, becauseย once your article is live on your blog, you will continue to getย traffic from search engines for years. Unlike Google AdWords or another form of online advertising where you pay to get leads, this traffic will be free, and will last for a very long time.ย This is short-term work (the time it takes you to write the post) for long-term gains (years beyond the writing of the post).
Sell your services:
Once you have earned the trust of readers with the help of your blog and articles, they will look to you for the services youย offer. Having a services column on your blog will inform them as to exactly what services you offer, and thus what you can do for them. For example, below is a screenshot from a service page of one of my clients’ blogs, which is alsoย myย favorite personal finance blog,ย JagoInvestor:
There are many more benefits of having a blog for your financial/wealth management business such as:
- It will help you to establish yourself as an industry leader (with your articles).
- People like to share useful articles on their social-media profiles (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and this will drive extra traffic toย your blog.
What it takes to have a blog for your finance business:
While I was researching the difficulties whichย personal finance advisors face, here are aย few of the questions I heardย from them:
- Should I have a blog along with my website?
- What is requires from me to run aย blog?
- How much it will cost me to have aย blog?
- How do I decide on a name?
Think of your blog as an extension of your marketing effort. You can have a blog with your main website, or on a separate domain. The key here isย thatย your blog name should be memorable. If your company name is something like SKMfinancialadvisor, JSfinance or something similar, I suggest you have your blog on a different domain name. Something similar toย JagoInvestor, Taxsavers, MutualInvestors, etc. should work well.
Here are my rules of thumbย for the name of your blog:
It should be easy to remember, easy to write and easy to pronounce.
If your existing website fulfills theseย criteria, you can have a blog on your website. ย Otherwise, buy a new domain name.
To run the blog, you need to either have good writing skills yourself, or have people on your team who can produce well-written personal finance tips.
Ask yourself the following question:
- “What queriesย might myย potential client search in Google?”
- These queries could be something like:
- “What investments are tax free?”
- “Equity Vs. Mutual fund investment”
- “Which life insurance plan…” and so on.
The cost of setting up a finance blog varies based onย your goals and requirements. ย In my experience, it costs somewhere between $800-1000ย as one time investment, and $1000ย annually forย maintenance costs.
Conclusion:
Having a blog for your financial advisoryย businessย is going to be very beneficial to you professionally. ย Along with creating a name forย your company, it will help you to establish yourself as a brand.
If you don’t yet have a blog,ย now is the time to get one!
For further reading:
If you have any questions, feel free to ask via the comments section below, or you can drop us a questionย via the contactย form.
Rememberย to share this article with your personal finance friends on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp etc. ย (They will thank you later!)
Hey, I am into personal finance and many other finances as well, I do have great offline clients through word of mouth but I have just now started working online and made a website for myself. I was struggling but this blog has really guided me in a way. Thanks alot
It sounds very interesting. Especially the point to beat established brands. Blog has such so much opportunities at times is just hard to believe.
Harsh, I was not knowing you could be so good in finance too ๐ . Well, Personal Finance really helps in achieving your long term as well as short term financial goals easily. You could set your target today then list down which all investment options you should use to meet those targets.
It’s really needed for one and all.
Thanks
Regards
Amaltas Dwivedi
It makes absolute sense to have a Blog combined with your business. In today’s environment laden with a ton of businesses when a user has to make a choice of whom to believe, honest and relevant information is a winner. So Blogs help build that trust with information sharing.
Additionally, statistics suggest that having a Blog can help increase the number of leads approaching a business by about 65% vs a business without a Blog.
It would be very interesting if you could help us with an article that outlines a superb Blog Strategy and how a Blog can be promoted to attain Goals
Agree with Personal finance planner !!
It could be the right way to grow the money ๐
Thank You !!
Hi Harsh.
Iam a certified financial planner. I have been blogging for last 6 months now. Blogging has not only increased the trust factor with the clients but also my own knowledge. I am now enjoying writing articles on personal finance topics. I completely endorse your views.
Hii Harsh
I am agree to your article ….its right and perfect for business growth help to blog
Thanks for sharing
Have good day