Quick Tips

Many of the factors which are associated with a website’s ranking in search engine listings are not features built into the site, but are external to the website. They are a result of the way in which the website is hosted, developed and maintained, and their importance is often overlooked by novice website developers.

We ran a search for the following key phrases to see how they've stacked up in Google over the past 5 years and how they are trending.

- wealth management
- money management
- financial planning
- retirement planning
- stock advice

Check Out The Results On Google Trends

What is a website privacy policy? - As defined by wikipedia:

"Privacy policies usually contain details of what personal information is collected, how the personal information may be used, the persons to whom the personal information may be disclosed, the security measures taken to protect the personal information, and whether the website uses cookies and/or web bugs."

In addition to your any legal disclosure information required by your regulatory bodies/agencies, it's a good idea to include a detailed privacy policy on your website.

If you have registered a secure certificate (SSL) for your website, it's also a good idea to have a privacy policy in P3P (Platform for Privacy Preferences Project) format. This will allow you to define your privacy policies to browsers, allowing them to automatically assess the level of privacy offered by the site.

You’ve created the perfect website, but no one comes to visit? The images are good, the color scheme is spot-on, you have added text on all pages, but no one seems to find your site. Your problem may be that you have not optimized your website for search engines.

In addition to your any legal disclosure information required by your regulatory bodies/agencies, it's a good idea to include a detailed privacy policy on your website.

This Month's Quick Tip

Has Another Website Copied Your Content? 

There is a quick and free service called CopyScape.com that allows you to search the web for any sites that may have copied your content. www.copyscape.com

Continuing our quest to help Financial Advisors improve the performance of their websites in search engines, we recommend that you take a few minutes and visit the Open Directory Project at www.DMOZ.org

Since many leading search Directories and Meta Search Engines draw their results in part from DMOZ.org, submitting your site is certainly worth your time. 

We suggest that Financial Planners and Independent Investment Advisors submit to the following section:

/Business/Financial_Services/Financial_Planning/

You can get to the sign-up page for this section directly through this link:

http://www.dmoz.org/cgi-bin/add.cgi?where=Business/Financial_Services/Financial_Planning

Article by Jab Web Solutions Inc.
www.jabwebsolutions.com

This Month's Quick Tip: You Own Your Domain Name, Right?

Did you know that you may not actually be the registered owner of your domain name?  You may be the owner of Smith Wealth Management, and your website address may be smithwealthmanagement.com, but the registered owner of the domain may be your web designer, your hosting company or the domain name registrar themselves.  Please take this simple, but important step to ensure you own your domain name.

Go to NetworkSolutions.com and click their "Who Is" link at the bottom of the page.

Punch in your domain name and check the registration information.  Your company should be listed as the Registrant.  Whoever is listed as the registrant has ownership of the domain name.  Most Domain Name Registrars and Web Hosting companies will list their customers as the registrant, but in many cases, they may be listing themselves as the registrant, leaving you at their mercy if you were to ever try to move to a new host or another registrar.

Focus on the Big Three Search Engines, Google, Yahoo and MSN (live.com) as they comprise roughly 90% of all searches in the U.S.

Don't be fooled by offers to "submit your website to the 1000 top search engines" as there are not 1000 top search engines.  Many of the smaller search engines and directories actually draw their search results from the Big 3.

*Source: Nielsen Online reports December 2007 data for the Top U.S.  Search Providers. Top search providers, ranked by total searches. Searches represent the total number of queries conducted at the provider.

To brand your business, is to place full light on what your advisor firm has to offer to its potential clients and the community. Business branding can be achieved easily through the use of creativity and efficient marketing.

Many small firms struggle to grow their practice, not because they are not offering the best service in the community, but, because no one ever knew they were there.
 
Creativity is key to branding a business. With the use of creative logos and slogans, a business can create a brand recall with prospects. Brand recall is important to a businesse's success, because prospects that cannot remember your products or services, will not be viable prospects for long.

When creating a logo, businesses should focus on a creative, unique symbol memorable to potential clients. Logos should never be too complex or cluttered. Simple and to the point, works best, when striving to brand your business. In order to get a better idea of the types of logos that are successful for businesses, look to the kings and queens of successful business marketing. Motorola, for instance, uses a simple "M" to evoke brand recall with it's customers. Hewlett Packard, along those same lines, settled on an "hp" for their logo, and many prospects no longer recognize the company's name but recall the logo easily.

Slogans, another creative cornerstone in business branding, are trademarks of successful businesses. A catchy slogan, paired with the unique logo is like hitting the consumer with a one, two punch. Slogans should be comprised of only a few words and hit the point of your business on the head. Retail giant Wal-Mart, decided on the word "Always" as their slogan.  Paired with a creative font, and slight slant of the word, nationwide recall was achieved.

Business branding can also be achieved with creative marketing. Your business must stand out to the consumer as the only option available for the service you provide. Creative marketing should center on the characteristics that make your business different from others available to the consumer.

Business branding is the key to the success of every business. Prospects will respond to businesses that have created a familiar and comfortable face in the community. Creativity and efficiency will brand a business quickly and lead to immeasurable support and income via satisfied clients.