Ten years ago, friends and family served as the top source most consumers turned to when searching for product or service recommendations. Today they turn to their preferred search engine. Here they find Web sites, social sites and a variety of directory listings, all of which increasingly include customer reviews. Combined with the fact that search engine results almost universally return localized results first, the importance of a strong digital presence could be a determining factor in the success of any local business, especially for financial advisors. In fact, searches for the phrase “financial advisor” on Google have reached a four-year high.
Source: www.google.com/trends
Customers want a local advisor whom they can visit if they have a need for and especially want an advisor they know they can trust. A strong local digital presence can lay the early groundwork for both. While the steps for establishing and maintaining an impactful digital presence aren’t complicated, they are often overlooked. True, the process can be time consuming, but when done correctly it can pay major dividends by helping keep the new business pipeline full.
Steps To Improve An Online Presence
By focusing on three mission-critical components for ensuring a strong online presence, financial advisors will ensure that they’re easily found, vetted and readily available to any prospective customers.
Claim your most important listings. A number of online directories exist in which business information is listed, including YP, Yelp, Google, Bing, Yahoo! and CitySearch. Is your business listed in each? If not, claim your listing immediately.
Ensure that directory listings are accurate. Maybe listings have already been created in a few of the online directories, or maybe you spent time claiming listings in the past. But do they still appear to be accurate? Phone numbers and office locations can change frequently, and each time they do, listings need to be updated. If you fail to do so, potential leads could easily be lost.
Create and maintain social media pages. While directory listings are critical for helping potential customers locate you, social media pages provide an equal or greater opportunity to boost online visibility. They of course offer a valuable avenue for public communication, but did you know they also play a role in increasing visibility on search engine result pages? It's surprising to many, but true: Social content is routinely integrated into search results.
