I’ve had a couple of conversations recently with financial advisors about how we may be able to help them use the internet to market their businesses.

In both instances the planners had existing web sites, and a good relationship with their web designers.

In instances like these there are a few ways we can work together – you, your web designer and us – to get the best outcome.

What web designers are usually good at

Most web designers I’ve met are very talented and creative people who are good at designing websites. They can also help with your branding and the look of the site – what fonts to use, what colours suit etc.

Many web designers are much better at that stuff than I am! In fact in a lot of cases I outsource the design work to a designer as I know they’ll produce a good result in much less time.

What they don’t do so well…

Whilst they’re good at designing a site and getting it set up, many web designers (not all) aren’t so good at the ongoing strategy work that’s required.

For instance, when I initially set up the web site for my financial planning business, my designer did a great job of capturing the look I was after. However, he didn’t offer much help with regards to how I could get prospects to find my site, or how I could obtain their contact details etc.

You may not need that level of help if you have a website that has a never-ending supply of new visitors. However if you’re like the rest of us, you probably need a bit of help.

What’s a Web Strategy?

A web strategy is all about integrating the various online elements of your business into the overall marketing plan you have for your entire business.

We look at your existing web site and ways you can use it to obtain more clients.

In a simplistic sense we look at:

1. How you can get more prospects to find you online, and
2. How you can convert them from warm leads into great clients.

As part of this process we’ll give you ideas on how to revamp your existing web site. But we don’t want to take over from your designers if you’re happy with them. We can give you ideas, and liaise with your designers to come up with the desired result.

And if you don’t have an existing relationship with a web designer, or you’re unhappy with the one you’ve got, we can help there by either doing the work ourselves, or outsourcing it.

But even if you have a great looking site, there’s usually things to do to improve it.

• Do you have an option to obtain email addresses (like we do in the sidebar)?
• Do you know what keywords you should be targeting?
• Do you use Google analytics to track visitors to your site?
• Do you post regularly to Twitter or Facebook?
• Do you know how to use article directories to generate more traffic?
• Do you use video to promote your services?
• Are you using online advertising?

This is just a small sample of the things you need to be considering.

The internet is changing the way we do business.

Having a web site isn’t enough – everyone has one these days.

You need to have a strategy that allows you to leverage your online presence so you can obtain new clients.

And this is how we help. Contact us today for a free initial conversation where we can find out more about your plans for the web.

photo credit: lumaxart