Written by: Savannah Brunette
In today’s world, it has become harder than ever to run a successful business without the help of online platforms . If you don’t claim your own corner of the web, you only make it easier for the competition to win over prospective clients.
Thankfully, most RIAs now have their own websites , but what good are they if they’re not producing returns? The purpose of your website is to turn visitors into prospects and prospects into clients . If your website isn’t producing those results, it’s not working.
There may be a few offenders weakening your website’s power but one of the most common reasons websites fail is due to poor website copywriting . We see this especially in the financial services industry, which unfortunately is choc-full of jargon and numbers. Advisors must have copy , or written content, that is customer-centric and search-driven. Thankfully, this issue is simple to fix!
Today our copywriting team is letting you in on the top four key components to creating great website copy. In writing and editing copy for hundreds of financial advisor websites , this list is tried-and-true for success.
1. Creative
Boring website copy isn’t beneficial to anyone, especially your visitors. Website goers will feel they’ve wasted their time reading content that doesn’t interest them and leave your site only to find their answers on a competitor’s website. They lose time and you lose clients.
Think about it – would you stick out a book that doesn’t interest you or watch a full season of a TV show that only has you fall asleep? The design of a website should catch the viewers eye and the copy should interest them enough to stick around. The headings should grab their attention and the information given should be engaging.
To get creative with your copy, you can choose a writing style that fits the voice of your company . Your voice may be humorous, charming, quirky, or caring with a sea of possibilities depending on who your clients may be.
2. Scannable
Another way to entice viewers to read your content is to make it easy for them to find what interests them. By making the copy scannable, visitors can skim your website and dive into what is relevant to their story and financial journey.
Part of making your website scannable is trimming down the fluff and replacing it with valuable content. Consumers are no longer interested in every detail of your business but want to know how you can help them.
To create scannable copy on your advisor website, follow these guidelines:
3. SEO Friendly
Your website copy’s main purpose is to communicate with readers, but you would be missing a fundamental opportunity if you didn’t additionally optimize your copy for search engines . By creating quality content, you are hitting two birds with one stone – your prospects gain useful knowledge and as they spend more time on your website, your SEO improves.
Related: A Checklist for a Website Redesign in 2018
With better SEO, your firm is more likely to show up in results, more prospects are likely to find you, and ultimately your client base and ROI should increase. Good website copy can enhance your website’s SEO in more than one way. Here are a few ways to upgrade your content to make it more SEO friendly:
4. Niche Oriented
Last but most definitely not least, your copy should be oriented towards your target market . Again, the purpose of your website copy is to connect with prospects and therefore the copy should be written for them (not you). Ask yourself, what are prospects looking for and what do they want to know? Your copy should be less about your firm and more about how your firm can help them.
You may have something similar to this phrase on your website: “We are an independent financial advisory firm providing services for those looking to retire.”
Instead, answer these questions:
Revising content to be more customer-centric and niche oriented can be achieved by writing through the lens of a prospective client. After understanding what they want, you can better write directly to them.