Content is still marketing’s reigning king, which means that blogs are crucial for any good marketing strategy. Now, websites with a blog tend to have 434% more indexed pages, proving that content is a huge SEO factor that you just can’t skimp on.
Although blogging sounds like a huge time commitment, you can spend just a few hours a month developing content that your clients and prospects actually want to read.
However, we understand those few hours are valuable to your financial planning business, so we are making sure they don’t go to waste. To make sure your time, effort, and blog aren’t squandered, avoid these top 10 blogging mistakes.
1. Not Selecting a Niche
It’s crucial you define your niche before you do anything else. By choosing a specific target audience, you can write directly to your readers and give them content that will steer their financial aspirations. Your blog topics will be more specific, and ultimately more interesting and informative to a smaller group of people.
Dorsey Wealth Management, a Twenty Over Ten client, focuses on empowering women to gain control of their financial future. To reach its audience, Dorsey Wealth Management focuses on women-centered blog posts, as shown below:
Even after deciding on a niche, it can be hard to reach your audience. Our post, 5 ways to make your advisor blog stand out in your niche can show you have to stand out amongst all the other options.
2. Not Including a Calls-To-Action (CTAs)
Since your blog is targeted at your specific niche, it’s the perfect opportunity to steer your audience to your services. Capitalize on your content by including a call to action, or CTA, that prompts the reader to take the next step.
Blogs are great for your SEO and connecting with clients, but can provide even more. By using CTAs, you have the ability to influence prospects to become more than just readers. Whether you want to verify them as leads with a newsletter sign-up or schedule a meeting with you, CTAs are a bold and effective way to guide potential clients.
Twenty Over Ten client, Ascension College Planning has included a pop-up call to action on their blog section prompting visitors to join their mailing list in order to get the news and information they need to reach their financial goals.
3. Not Including Links
Linking to more information and content within your blog posts is an easy task, but we still see so many financial planners missing out! Once you finish your blog post, we recommend going through and finding keywords and images that you can use to create links back to other relevant blog posts or webpages. It’s a simple process that takes minutes but will create a huge payoff in your SEO efforts and Google ranking.
🚨 Pro tip: we suggest making all links open in new tabs so that the reader doesn’t get directed off your blog or website. This way, they can easily return to where they started their journey on your blog or website.
4. Not Using the Right Image To Word Ratio
No one wants to spend time on a website that feels and looks like a textbook. Images are essential to your blog.
It’s not the number of images that affect your blog, but rather, their placement. BuzzSumo found that articles with an image every 75-100 words received 2x the about of shares than articles with fewer images and a minimum of 30 more shares than articles with more images.
For your advisor blog, you should break up your text similarly to keep visitors engaged. If you don’t have your own pictures to include in the blog, there are plenty of free, professional stock photo websites that we recommend, such as Unsplash. Stay away from cliche, over-used stock photos. and try to choose photos that are relevant to the story and your brand image.
If you’d like to go the extra mile, consider using a platform like Canva to create custom images for your blog. This can be a great way to visualize data or create branded imagery for your client newsletter.
5. Not Making Your Blog Skimmable
Blogs with long sheets of text are often less engaging. Reading your blog should be easy and enjoyable for potential clients. Use header tags to denote important topics and to make your post skimmable. List out important information in bulleted lists when you can and keep paragraphs short to keep readers engaged and make it easy to digest information.
Stay away from using financial services jargon as much as you can. Your role as a financial advisor is helping your clients make financial decisions, and they won’t feel comfortable working with you if they feel like they won’t understand what you’re saying.
Twenty Over Ten client, Storybook Financial has included a number in their title which generally tells their readers that there will be a list, making it easier to read and digest. And they have done exactly that. The blog is broken into 4 tips that every millennial should know about money.
6. Not Using an Editorial Calendar
Many advisors post to their blogs only once in a blue moon or on a whim when the inspiration kicks in. This doesn’t help you, your business, SEO, or your audience. You should be posting regularly to keep your clients up to date and put new content out to drive more traffic to your site.
We understand that keeping up with a blog in addition to your many responsibilities as a financial advisor can seem overwhelming. By using an editorial calendar, you can keep your blogging consistent and doable, while holding yourself accountable. If you’re just starting out, we recommend advisors aim to publish 4-6 blog posts a month, at a minimum.
We have a great, FREE editorial calendar for you to download and get started now! The earlier you start, the better. Download it from this article.
7. Skipping the Editing Process
By the time you finish writing a blog post, it can be so tempting to simply press “publish” and be done. Unfortunately, there are bound to be a few typos and grammatical errors. For a list of the 5 most important things to do before hitting publish, read this article.
When your blog comes across as unprofessional and not polished, it can reflect poorly on your business. By taking the additional few minutes to re-read your blog post before hitting that publish button, you can save time and embarrassment in the long run.
8. Not Writing Creatively
Keep in mind your not writing a term paper, rather, you’re trying to develop relationships in your niche audience. Be lively, personable, and humanize your brand.
You should write in a style that people enjoy reading. Think about the types of articles and blog posts that catch your eye? Maybe they are a bit sarcastic or use metaphors to explain technical matters. Again, be sure to steer clear of the financial industry’s dizzying amount of jargon and get creative with your writing.
Twenty Over Ten client, WealthKeel, LLC writes about topics that really cater to their niche and they do so in a creative manner that really draws in their audience. Since they provide financial planning for Gen X and Gen Y physicians, the play on words in this title is a great way to connect with their niche.
9. Not Showing Your Personality
Going along with our previous point, a blog is often a prospect’s first impression of you and your financial planning firm. We read too many advisor blog posts that show no personality, while their brand is radiating unique qualities. If you’re having trouble coming up with more personal ideas, our list of 10 blog posts that help clients get to know you better is a great place to start. Write your blog posts with your own personality infused.
At Twenty Over Ten, we like to include “Meet the Team” posts every now and then to put a face to our name. When you’re finding a service online, it makes it more personal to have team pictures and an in-depth view of your team rather than simply filling your blog with stock photos.
10. Not Committing
If you want your blog to be successful, you do actually have to put some time and effort into it. Your blog isn’t like PPC advertising with instant results. It takes time to create content worth reading and to build traffic and search engine visibility.
If you’re still questioning jumping on the blogging train and still have questions or need help there are tons of resources and services to help get you started. If you need help getting started and maintaining your blog, check out our new service, Content Assist! This service is included in all of our website packages for no additional charge!
Introducing a New Kind of Blog Content for Financial Advisors
Make your online presence more lively, engaging and search engine optimized with blog content that’s fast, affordable and customizable.
About The Author
Stuart Farst
Stuart is a Content Marketing Specialist at Twenty Over Ten and enjoys creating content that both entertains and educates. A Game Designer at heart, he can be found pursuing one of his many hobbies during his free time.
