A glance at your website should let prospects know what you’re best at. Do you specialize in high-net-worth clients? Estate planning? Life-Centered Planning? Do you have a professional headshot and an introductory video that communicates, “I’m nice, I’m going to be fun to work with, and I can help?”

The often overlooked part of your “what” is what you want prospects to do. That requires a clear “call to action” in a prominent space.

On my website, my call to action is very clear—I want visitors to share their email address and signup for my weekly email letter. When you click on the prominent Start Here button, it immediately takes you to the letter signup.

As Steve said, when designing your website, the goal should be, “What do I want them to do, and how quickly can I get them to do it?”

2. For Whom?

Focusing on your ideal client has turned into a major theme this year on my podcasts and in conversations I’ve had with successful advisors. Smart advisors are starting to worry less about being pigeonholed and focus more on mining those niches for gold.

“You need to love your pigeonhole,” said Steve. Some of you might think that getting too focused on a niche will cost you other opportunities. Yes, it will and that’s a good thing. “You want to lose the wrong opportunities, and the way to lose the wrong opportunities and to help others recognize the right opportunities is to spell out your sweet spot, your pigeonhole.”

3. Why?

One key to future-proofing your business and increasing your value proposition is really understanding who your clients are, why they’re coming to you for help, and why they have the attitudes they have about money. Your client’s “why” could be a feeling. It could be a problem like job loss or paying for college. It could be a goal. Or it could be an unhealthy reaction to a money issue they experienced as a child.

“We need to understand what the client needs, what's their pain, what is it that is driving them to make a decision,” said Steve. “The why is the emotional, personal, existential lever in the client that we want to push, and it's going to be different for different groups of people. But if we know what it is, then we can aim our message correctly instead of having a website that says, ‘financial planning for the masses.’”