Website Showcase: Baird Advisor Sites

In this website showcase, we’ll be breaking down the features of 5 different Baird advisor sites. In doing so, we’ll examine the different ways each site markets itself.

From design to content, the following sites contain plenty of inspiration for your own. Read on to discover more.

1. Popovich Financial Group

The Popovich Financial Group website covers all the bases you would want out of an advisor site in a streamlined, one-page experience. Below are three of the top features that stood out:

Facebook Messenger Integration

On-page communication options allow advisors to engage visitors without requiring the commitment of a phone call. By removing the previous barriers needed for visitors to acquire information, leads and prospects have a higher chance of engaging your firm.

Of course, any chatbot or communication window could be used to gain these benefits. But by using a Facebook Messanger window instead, the Popovich Financial Group plays off of the familiarity of Facebook and its ubiquitous nature to make communication that much easier.

Overall Framework

The design of a site plays directly into the user experience. In traditional sites, a menu is provided to allow the visitor to explore the site on their own. But with the Popovich Financial Group website, a one-page experience is used to guide the visitor.

This allows more control over the user experience, providing context and information when it’s appropriate and necessary. Advisors can use this to showcase different site features that may be missed in a traditional layout.

For example, the Popovich Financial Group uses the one-page experience to highlight Nancy Popovich’s recognition from Forbes at an appropriate point on the page:

Multiple Forms of Content

Content is a fantastic way to boost your site’s SEO. And the Popovich Financial Group site offers not just a blog, but a variety of different forms of content.

This not only provides SEO benefits but allows the site to act as a knowledge hub for current and future visitors:

2. The DDK Group

Next on our list is the DDK Group site. This site offers inspiration to advisors looking for a traditional and professional user experience. Below are three of the strongest features of the website.

Eye-Catching Homepage

The homepage of the DDK Group site opens on the skyline of Milwaukee. The result is a dramatic and memorable first impression that provides a sense of location. Location is important here as it differentiates the DDK Group from other advisors and helps appeal to local visitors.

A Traditional Framework

As mentioned before, many advisor sites utilize a traditional framework to organize their pages. Visitors are given a menu to navigate between pages and explore content as they see fit.
This may not provide some of the same benefits as a one-page structure, though does have its own merits. For example, a traditional site structure supports a sense of professionalism.

The key here is to be intentional. The framework and organization of your pages need to support the overall design and feeling your site creates.

Effective Framing of Ideal Audience

The DDK Group offers a variety of services to different clients. However, that does not mean the site avoids narrowing down it’s audience to provide more personalized marketing.

For example, the DDK Group offers a “Clients” page, outlining some of the previous stories of clients who have worked with them. This allows the site to refine its message without limiting the scope of its services.

3. The Duffy Group

Number 3 on our list, is The Duffy Group. The Duffy Group Site offers inspiration for advisors looking to create a team-based, personalized client experience. Below are three of the best practices featured on the Duffy Group site.

Alternative Team Pages

To create a sense of personalization, an advisor site needs to focus on its team member. These pages are often a balance between personality and professionalism, showcasing a team’s expertise and interests to create a stronger connection with visitors.

The Duffy Group site does this in a unique way though. Like other sites, the Duffy Group provides an “About Us” section. This section is split into two, one for the client-facing group, and one for the team that supports them.

This allows visitors to understand who they’ll be working with, instead of guessing from a list of team members. The result is a stronger sense of personalization.

Organized Service Menus

Advisor sites often must strike a balance between providing too much or too little information. Too much can overwhelm a visitor, especially if they enter a page filled with text.

Too little information doesn’t offer enough context and fails to connect with a visitor’s pain points or needs.

To strike a balance between these two, sites often incorporate dropdown menus to organize information. This allows visitors to explore the resources they want to learn more about while avoiding the information they feel is unnecessary.

The Duffy Site incorporates this in its “Services” page, allowing visitors to select their needs, before learning what the firm has to offer. And, though this is a simple solution, how a site manages its information should not be overlooked.

Use of an Anchored CTA

Many advisor sites provide a call-to-action in multiple locations. These often play off the information around them, motivating the reader to take the indicated next step.

However, the Duffy Group site utilizes an anchored CTA. The result is a message that follows the user from page to page – increasing the likelihood of engagement.

In this case, the Duggy Group site uses this button to drive traffic toward’s Baird’s 360 Wealth program. But, this sort of button could be used in other ways, to contact the firm, for example. Just keep in mind that the message in this sort of CTA should fit the context of most of the pages on your site.

4. The Wise Investor Group

Next up is The Wise Investor Group. This site offers a unique hybrid of multiple sites we’ve discussed so far, blending structure and design to create something unique. Here are three standout features.

A Hybrid Design

The Wise Investor site is memorable for a few reasons. First off, it opens with vector art on the homepage. This art style is common in other industries, but less so on advisor sites, giving a sense of familiarity to the site.

Second, the site uses a hybrid style of organization – a mix of one-page and traditional navigation. One-page design is shown on the homepage by providing a summary of much of the site’s content. However, this information does not provide as much detail as a one-page experience, acting as a snippet or teaser instead.

Traditional navigation takes it from there, offering a standard page bar for visitors to explore. The result is a site that gives a sneak peek of content, but still allows visitors to explore the site as they see fit.

A Very Active Podcast

For advisors, a podcast can act as an opportunity to showcase your expertise through a popular medium. Like other content types though, the quality of the content has the largest impact on its success. But, in order to show quality, you first need listeners.

The Wise Investor Group site understands this, as the site’s podcast, The Wise Investor Show, is not placed on a resource page. Instead, it’s highlighted in the main navigation. The result is a convenient and entertaining resource offered directly to visitors.

Plus, by offering each episode on the show’s page, The Wise Investor Group site increases the chances that a visitor will engage an episode. This in turn can increase time on the page, benefiting the site’s SEO.

Standalone Recognition Page

Highlighting the recognition of well-known websites and publications is an excellent marketing tactic. Doing so demonstrates the quality of your service.

But, instead of highlighting these awards on the homepage, the Wise Investor Group lists recognitions on a page of their own. Each recognition here acts similar to a blog post, providing background on the award, followed by a call-to-action to contact the firm.

This allows the site to acquire some of the SEO benefits of a blog post, while still actively using it to support its services.

5. Sarah Cuddy

Last on our list is Sarah Cuddy. This site offers inspiration for advisors who are looking to create a personalized experience under their own name. Below are three of the top features.

Emphasis on a Personalized Experience

The Sarah Cuddy site does an excellent job of establishing visitor expectations the moment you arrive. The site positions itself as a personalized experience through copy and imagery.

And like other sites that focus on connecting with visitors, Sarah offers a perfect balance of personal and professional info.

Use of a “What To Expect” Page

For most people, working with and approaching an advisor is something they’ve never done before. In many cases, know they want to do well with their money, but don’t know what to expect.

Trusting an advisor becomes that much more difficult. For this reason, personalization is used to connect with the individual and make the experience more relatable. This is fantastic for connecting with and communicating with clients, but it still does not clarify what they can expect.

For this reason, the “What To Expect” page of the Sarah Cuddy site, is a perfect addition. Not only does it tell visitors what the process of working with Sarah is like it also informs them how Sarah is paid and provides the next step to contact. The result is a comprehensive, stress-reducing page designed to clarify the process to visitors.

Inclusion of an FAQ

Similar to clarifying expectations, the Sarah Cuddy site offers an FAQ page to provide answers to visitors. For an advisor, this can help clear up common questions with clients, saving you time and energy.

And for clients, it assists in self-qualification, allowing them to determine whether the advisor site they’re on is the right one for them.

But beyond this, an FAQ page also offers significant SEO advantages. This is because most of the text on the page is written the same way one would perform a search in a search engine. And, with answers included to these questions, the chances that Google and other search engines recommend the page are increased.

The key is to select questions that fit your firm’s niche. Consider those common questions you receive and perform a few searches of your own. The “People also search” section of Google is a great place to start. And, once you have a few commonly asked questions, you’ll be ready to create an FAQ page.

Wrapping Things Up

The features in the sites above all can assist with marketing your firm. But in some cases, what works best for your website will depend on the feeling and message you wish to create for visitors. Keep this in mind as you explore different options.