How to attract more business using Google

by: Maria Merricks
  • 18/11/2010
  • 0
How to attract more business using Google
With an increasing number of Internet savvy consumers on the look-out for financial advice, Maria Merricks investigates the ways IFAs can make their web presence visible

The success of sites such as moneysupermarket.com and moneysavingexpert.com prove consumers are online and actively seeking financial advice. With this in mind, and considering the pressures of the RDR, advisers must be visible to consumers using search engines.

The internet plays a central role in the lives of people all over the world. In the UK, daily internet use is increasing year on year by 22 per cent, meaning 30 million UK adults now use the internet every day – twice as many as in 2006.

At the same time, Google research suggests the recession has accelerated the country’s online demand for financial advice: in Q1 of this year more than 50,000 consumers searched for the term ‘IFA’ alone. The term ‘unbiased financial advice’ had 84 per cent more queries in February 2010 than the same month in 2008.

Despite this evidence, advisers are still sceptical about online search for advice. Ian Morgan, head of finance at Google UK, warns this attitude means IFAs are missing out on an opportunity to attract older, high-net-worth clients, in particular:

“This market represents a real opportunity for financial planners online, because queries in this sector have grown strongly over the past few years. Yet the lack of advertising by IFAs to this market means they are missing out on valuable leads,” Morgan says.

Search engine optimisation

When a consumer visits a search engine, their search term will be met with a list of results: ‘natural’ or ‘organic’ results are ­visible in the main section of the page while advertisements, or sponsored links, appear across the top and down the right hand side of the page.

There are two techniques a company can use to ensure it is visible at this point: search engine optimisation (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM).

SEO involves management of a website to ensure it is as highly ranked as possible in the natural results section. Success in mastering such a strategy is the $64,000 question according to Steve Bolshaw, managing director of IFA Net Marketing:

“First and foremost, the question IFAs have to ask is: ‘Why do I have a website?’ I think instantly most will say ‘Well, because I should.’ While that is fair enough, you have to know what you are looking to achieve from it,” he says.

According to Bolshaw, the SEO process can get ‘a bit geeky’. The major considerations are on page and on site optimisation: looking at factors such as title tags and HTML coding. It is all very well having Flash software for the likes of scrolling images and in site movies, he says, but the search engine cannot read those features.

A top tip Bolshaw suggests is advisers send out as many articles as possible to various providers and websites. Doing this will always ensure a link between the article and the adviser firm’s website.

He says: “In essence, if the strategy is done properly, it almost takes care of itself. Look at it the same way as traditional marketing: rather than looking to utilise flyers, posters and newsletters, it all becomes online.”

Search engine marketing

Alongside SEO, a SEM strategy is also useful. SEM is the activity undertaken to promote something, such as a product or service, through search engines.
This approach will place a firm’s link in the sponsored, paid for part of the page.

Visibility here will rely on Google AdWords, a product whereby positioning is determined by auction and relevance and is paid for on a pay-per-click basis.
Google has two main advertising platforms: its own search properties such as Google.co.uk and Google.com and its search partners, for example AOL and Ask Jeeves.

Consumers arrive at each of these platforms to search keywords such as ‘financial advice’ and will be returned a list of both natural and paid for results. Here, advertisers are able to bid on keywords and, when somebody searches for that keyword, the advertisement will be entitled to show.

Google says AdWords provides a firm with both control and transparency.

AdWords advocate

Peter Lawrence, director of Prime Time Financial, says the AdWords service is great in providing information such as the search terms that work and people’s behaviour on a firm’s site. He says it is also useful in limiting the geographical area an advertisement is shown in.

However, Lawrence says low levels of resulting business means he has gradually reduced his budget for AdWords and, for this reason, encourages advisers not to focus all their energy on this one technique.

“It is essential to address SEM since it is absolutely key to the way people use the internet,” he says. “However, SEM should only be one part of the online marketing mix. My feeling is that email newsletters are worthwhile and directories such as Unbiased have been moderately fruitful. Web content is important too, as search engines need something to search. Other approaches I use are blogging and article publishing.”

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