Utilizing a website is a powerful marketing tool for any size business. There is no better or more cost-effective way to promote a business than through the internet. However, it isn’t just about having a website that will bring success but building the right website that does.
Just like in business, marketing is in constant evolution and those who can keep on top of those changes see growth. While those who don’t evolve will be left behind and soon forgotten. While this is the overall reason that advisors should keep their website up to date, we have broken down 5 key reasons why keeping a website updated will result in marketing success.
Time and Cost Effective
To some, updating a website may seem like tedious work and could even feel unnecessary in comparison to client work an advisor may have. While it is understandable to prioritize current revenue opportunities, all the small changes begin to add up and become detrimental to the business. At that point, the task of updating the website will be too time consuming and costly to accomplish. Furthermore, the website’s performance will have deteriorated and will no longer be providing new revenue opportunities.
Reduce Risk of Hacking
As more and more information is stored digitally, there are people looking to gain access to that information illegally. Continued maintenance of the website will ensure that all security measures will protect the website and its information from outside breaches.
One of those protections is SSL Certification. Google is now classifying sites without it as unsafe; which has a negative impact on search rankings and causes clients and prospects to avoid visiting the site. Read more about the importance of having an SSL Certificate.
SEO and Search Rankings
Google considers hundreds of factors used to rank a site among search results. While the list of all the factors and their respective consideration weights are kept secret, there are common factors that will have a great impact on search rankings. Ensuring that the website is updated frequently tells Google’s algorithms that it is an active site. Secondly, it is important to monitor the performance of the website continue to test different SEO strategies to keep on top of any changes and continue to grow.
Credibility Through Content
One of the elements that advisors should be updating their site with frequently is their blog. There are many benefits from maintaining a blog which includes: valuable content, thought leadership, returning visitors/subscribers, and SEO. Advisors should utilize their blog to provide valuable content to their existing and potential clients. Through this valuable content, the advisor will foster trust and thought leadership which will differentiate themselves from their competitors.
Additionally, readers can take away knowledge from these articles, they will be more likely to revisit the site, and convert to email subscribers. With advisors updating their blog, this provides them the opportunity to improve their SEO and search rank as the articles will contain the keywords that advisors rank for.
Finally, if advisors were to attempt to update their website as frequently as a blog, this would have a negative impact. It would create a negative user experience for site visitors as content would always be different and create a jarring experience. The other negative impact would be on the site’s SEO. It takes time for Google to index and rank websites. Constantly changing the main site content would not allow Google to properly index. Therefore, using the blog helps to rank the rest of the site without the problems stated above.
Site Performance
Another area in which advisors should look at to update is performance. The performance of a site will not only impact customer experience but also rank. Metrics like site speed (the time it takes for each page to load) or bounce rate (frequency at which people exit the page shortly after loading) are important to optimize. To analyze site speed use one of many free tools like Google’s Test My Site. You will be given a score and suggestions on how to improve such as compressing very large media files.
To improve bounce rate, examine the analytics of your site and the pages with the highest bounce rates. This could be caused due to a mismatch with title and the content that is on the page, the issues with the page like speed or design, or could be a dead end giving no more options for users to click.
An advisor’s website should be more than a business card. It is a powerful marketing tool that with a bit of regular maintenance will pay dividends in revenue. There are simple things that advisors can easily do to maintain their site like updating blog content. Search engines reward the websites that are frequently updated with valuable content. A passive site will never outperform an active site, so update your website this week.
