Here at FMG Suite, we spend a lot of time researching and testing the best marketing strategies, including boosting website traffic. There’s no point in having a website if no one sees it or can find it. Part of the maintenance that goes into a website is optimizing its traffic.
The most obvious ways to get more website traffic are also the priciest: advertising and SEO services. If you have the budget, these are two great strategies for helping people find your website online.
But for many financial advisors, their budget may not allow for advertising and SEO. Luckily, there are less expensive – and even free – ways to increase your website traffic. Through our research and testing, we’ve discovered a common thread when it comes to improving your website’s traffic for little to no money. It all comes down to content.
Why Content Matters
Businesses relying on content marketing are succeeding at a much faster rate than those who don’t. Consider this:
- 69% of businesses say that their blogs are what gives them the most lead generation (Hubspot)
- Companies that blog receive 97% more links to their website (Hubspot)
- Once you write more than 21 blog posts, your blog traffic generation increases by up to 30% (Active Blogs)
- Companies that blog between 1-2 times per month have 67% more sales opportunities than companies that do not blog (Active Blogs)
Why does content dictate a website’s success so much? For one, content helps with your website’s ranking in search engines. A common SEO rule of thumb is to consistently add new content to your website. This lets search engines know that your website is active and up-to-date. Blogging and adding new content to your website is the simplest way to keep your site updated and fresh.
Secondly, the more content you have on your website (both in the form of articles and videos), the more time a visitor spends on your website. And the more time they spend on your site, the more likely those visitors are to share your content to a friend. Time spent on your website also helps with your search engine ranking, helping you appear higher in search results.
And thirdly, adding new content to your website opens up a number of other marketing doors that all contribute to your website traffic. Each time you add a new piece of content, you can share it on your social media pages and via email to your contacts, driving traffic to your website. You can also submit your articles to other blogs as guest posts and other publications. This allows you to reach a new audience and engage with new potential clients.
Getting Started
For a lot of financial advisors, content marketing can seem intimidating. But once you establish a foundation and repeatable process, you can easily integrate it into the rest of your marketing and business tasks. Here’s a quick, step-by-step process to get your started:
- What will you predominantly write or share content about? It may be finance in general, or you may target a niche, such as 401(k) plans or taxes.
- Who will create your content? You may want to blog yourself, or you may choose to hire someone or outsource the task, if your budget allows.
- When will you release new content? Aim to create new content at least once a month, but two to three times is more ideal.
- How will you distribute your content and share it? Once you’ve created your content, you will want to share it on social media, via email, and through any other sources you may have, such as a LinkedIn Group or another publication.
Start small and, over time, you’ll start seeing a continuous increase in website traffic, which can result in more leads, referrals, and prospects. If you use FMG Suite’s platform, you automatically have new content added to your website each month. This is a great place to start. Share this content through our email campaigns and social media auto-scheduler so you can reap the rewards of content marketing without having to dedicate more than a few minutes to the task.
