One of the most important things that an advisor must do when designing their new business site is to choose an URL. Choosing the right web address for your financial services firm is very important. It can help you get more visitors to your site, turn more visitors into leads, and convert more leads into clients. 

Your URL you choose will not only provide the foundation for your brand but for your Search Engine Optimization strategy as well. It can have a major impact on the success of your online strategy, for better or worse!

Follow these tips to make sure your financial services website URL is a winner: 

1. Check Out Several URLs

Nothing is worse than thinking up the perfect URL and then finding out it is not available. Open a site like https://www.enom.com to see what is available.

You will often find that the .com version of a URL is not available. It is worth considering other suffixes like .info or .biz. For a complete list of the available suffixes look here. 

2. Define Your 2-3 Word Niche

The longest a URL can be is 2000 characters. The longest it can be and show up in search engines is 72 characters. You want to make yours MUCH shorter.

The general rule for a URL is: The Shorter the Better. You should use as many characters as it takes to create an introduction to your brand you feel good about.

While it might seem impossible to encompass the entirety of your financial advisor’s brand in 2-3 words, that is what you must do when picking a URL. 

3. Address Your Unique Value Proposition

Your relationship with a client begins from the first interaction with your brand. It consists of you presenting a series of brand promises and then fulfilling those promises. Your URL presents your first brand promises.

If it accurately represents your brand, you will have already established a small fulfillment of expectations.

That is why you must choose your words wisely.

For example, if your URL is JohnSmithRetirement.com it makes two promises:

  1. As a client, you will work with John Smith.
  2. John Smith knows something about retirement.

Now while those are vague promises, they are just defining the broad end of a funnel. If I was looking for information on flood insurance I would know John Smith’s site probably wouldn’t help. At each point during your marketing process, the funnel will narrow so this is just the very first step.

4. Ensure Brand Cohesion

Think of your URL as a scent and a prospective site visitor as a hound dog, looking for your brand. The hound dog picks up the scent he is looking for and follows it. If he has to cross a river, he will look for the same scent to make sure he hasn’t made a mistake.

That is what it is like when someone clicks on your URL. They want the next thing they see to match their expectation. If your URL included the word Retirement and the front page of your site features teenagers on Spring-Break, the hound dog is going to assume he has lost the scent.

5. Choose Between Name and Company

Deciding whether to get a name or a company based URL is crucial to defining the way the company wants to be perceived. A name puts a personality out front which can be more approachable. A company name decreases the focus on any one member of the company.

Either type of URL works, but it is a discussion that is worth having with all stakeholders before the URL is chosen. 

Special note: If your URL uses an acronym (the first initials of your company’s name), be sure that the acronym is prominently displayed throughout your online and offline brand expression (logos, signage etc.). 

6. Include Location

A very powerful way to increase traffic to your site is to include a word having to do with your location. A city name, a region name, or even a neighborhood name can increase your chances of appearing in search results made by people in that area. If your financial advisory serves a particular community, it make sense to include it in the URL for your firm’s website.

Including your area is also particularly helpful if you have a popular name that might require disambiguation (like John Smith).

7. Make Sure Compliance Signs Off

Before you buy the URL make sure it is improved by your compliance department. It is worth using this opportunity to establish the process of receiving compliance approval on your marketing content. 

If you are an FMG Suite subscriber you can use the compliant engine on the site to start streamlining the process right away.

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Choosing a URL is a very important part of the website creation process for financial professionals. As you build your online presence it will serve as the foundation for your brand. If you’re ready to get started with your own modern website for your financial advisory, learn more about the FMG Suite website tools.