A new year is upon us and that means time for a fresh start! It’s finally time to give that tired, out-dated financial planning website a facelift. Not sure where to start? Don’t worry – our team has created a handy checklist to get you started on the right foot.
With all the new design and UX trends on the horizon for 2018 Twenty Over Ten makes embarking on a website redesign project easy for your financial planning firm. As you start to think about what you want in your new website don’t forget to include the below items on your to-do list.
▢ Responsive Design
According to StatCounter, more users around the world are accessing the internet from mobile devices than from desktop computers. Having a site that’s responsive should be #1 on your new website checklist. Likewise, if you’re working with a web design firm in the New Year be sure you’re asking the right questions such as: “do you design for mobile first?” We can’t stress how important it is that customers can access your site on the go and that their journey is consistent from what they see on their desktop at home or work to their mobile device or tablet. More importantly, Google is now penalizing sites that are not mobile optimized by bumping down their search engine ranking. This makes it essential to have a fully responsive web design, in which the same HTML code on the same URL, regardless of the users’ device (desktop, tablet, mobile, etc.), can render the display differently, or “respond” based on the screen size.
At Twenty Over Ten this is huge for us, which is why all of our frameworks are created with a mobile-first approach. When developing our frameworks, our designers held priority on a seamless experience regardless of the device a user was viewing the website on. Through our platform, advisors can choose the framework that best fits their business and all respond to desktop, mobile phone, tablet – any device users may be on.
▢ landing pages
Once you’re confident your site works across all screen sizes let’s talk about some of the key functionalities within the back-end of your site, such as creating landing pages. Landing pages are designed to target a set of users by providing an offer, or “Freemium.” Landing pages are not linked to your main website navigation. This allows you to build as many customized messages as you want, while still having a more general message on your main website. The only way for someone to access the page is through the specific URL, which you might share in a facebook group, at a speaking event, in an email, or in an article you write on a topic relevant to the group you are targeting. Landing pages should be on every financial advisors checklist for the New Year. They are a great tool to increase lead generation allowing you to create individualized messages for different, targeted niches.
The Twenty Over Ten platform provides advisors with the opportunity to create unlimited one-off landing pages that effectively promote offerings, connect with niche markets, drive lead generation, and further engage current clients. Learn more about our unlimited landing pages and get ideas on how you can use this amazing (and free!) feature.
▢ blogging capabilities
If your current website platform does not include a blogging feature that can be updated actively on a regular basis, then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to increase your company’s visibility. With increased competition, your financial planning business has to have a powerful online presence to stand out. Every time you publish a blog post that’s one more page that gets indexed by search engines like Google, which means more opportunity for you to rank higher in search results. There is no better way to add fresh content to your website than to blog.
The Twenty Over Ten blogging platform is the most advanced in the industry for financial advisors. Our blogging platform on V2 enables you to create diversified blogs, categorize posts, enable social sharing options, and much more! Still have questions about blogging for your financial planning business? Check out our blogging Q&A.
▢ efficient, simple design
First impressions are everything. Even the best reviews on Google or referral traffic can mean nothing if your not putting your best foot forward on your website. Having a great website design not only adds credibility to your business but coupled with the right messaging and clear navigation visitors will trust you more.
We get that not all financial advisors have the bandwidth or budget to hire a full-time designer. That’s why Twenty Over Ten truly makes designing and editing your website a breeze. Our intuitive CMS (content management system) gives you the tools to easily manage your website like a pro (even if your not!) There’s a reason why we design websites for financial advisors – we believe financial advisors deserve beautiful, modern websites and our platform gives you the ability to create, manage and archive your website with ease. Our award winning designers have taken into account the specific needs of financial advisors and broker dealers to develop only the best website frameworks for your digital presence. With five highly customizable framework options to choose from the end result is a beautiful & unique site that captures your brand, vision and style.
▢ content that tells a story
In an industry like financial services it’s critical that your brand-consumer relationship is built on trust and respect. Prospects and customers want to connect with brands and be recognized as unique. Your brand story can help you make an authentic connection with all audiences at any stage of the buyer’s journey. And what a better way to tell that story than online via your website? We’ve seen it all too often – advisors defaulting to using boring financial jargon on their websites. However, it’s your brand personality that makes your firm unique and that’s what should be reflected through the content of your website in a strong (and human) voice!
After all, what’s a tailored and branded website without the right content to match? Most visitors to your website aren’t ready to begin a relationship, but good content keeps them engaged and lets them learn about you in a low-pressure way. If you’re not sure how to write content that tells a story for your brand consider our copywriting services and check out these common copywriting mistakes.
Struggling With What Content To Share on Social Media or via Email?
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