Using Custom Content to Draw Qualified Traffic From Searches
Project Summary
Drawing Qualified Traffic to Your Website
The holy grail of marketing for financial advisors is getting in front of new qualified people you don’t already know. This can be tough—and, frankly, expensive. But one amazing way to pursue this result is with custom content that shows up in search results for given keywords.
In this week’s case study, we’ll review one success story of an advisory firm we worked with to target Microsoft and Amazon employees. By creating custom content for those two employers, we were able to draw qualified traffic, pulling in thousands of website visits from qualified prospects.
In a Nutshell
Here’s What We Accomplished
- Increased visibility online
- Increased conversion rates
- Created a comprehensive content strategy
Problem breakdown
Increasing Online Visibility and Presence
What Is Search Engine Optimization?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of tailoring your website or your content to show up in search results for a given keyword. For example, since my dad is a financial advisor that works with UC San Diego employees, creating a report on “Should UC San Diego Employees Invest in Their 403(b) or 457 Plan?” and optimizing that website page for search engines is a great way to show up for a search for those keywords.
Why Does Organic Search Traffic Matter?
Traffic from search engines is called organic search traffic, and it’s really important for your marketing.
First, it’s free, so you don’t have to pay for Facebook or Google ads to get the traffic.
Second, it represents new people you don’t already know.
Third, when done correctly, the prospects are highly qualified.
No one would be searching for “Intel Restricted Stock Units” if they didn’t work at Intel. The more specific to your niche you can make your content, the more qualified your organic search traffic will become.
Content on the same keywords compounds over time
Creating content on a single topic powerfully builds your momentum on Google. For example, you will find over 150 blog posts on my website about marketing for independent financial advisors. As a result, I get thousands of visits each month to my site from independent advisors at no cost.
If you Google “marketing for independent financial advisors,” my website shows up right below Investopedia and right above U.S. News & World Report. These are huge corporations with giant budgets for SEO. That’s the power of creating custom content for the same keywords over time.
How much of your traffic should be on organic search?
We like to see organic search traffic make up at least 20% of the total traffic to your site. The other components should be direct traffic, email marketing, and social media. The better your site is doing in organic search results, the more credibility Google gives your site.
As a result of our SEO package and our SEO content strategy, this particular advisor is getting 73% of their traffic from organic search, which is incredible.
Our Solution
Creating Powerful Keyword-Focused Content
Since this advisor is based in Seattle and works with Amazon and Microsoft employees, we wanted to target searches around those two companies’ benefits packages. We created two separate reports for them on the details of the employers’ benefits and retirement plans.
Now if someone searches for “Amazon employee benefits 401k match,” this firm shows up as the third search result, right below the Amazon.com page on the topic! By addressing the most commonly searched keywords and questions within their report, we can get it to show up for even more searches and pull in even more search traffic.
When we look to see where the organic search traffic is going, we can see that a huge majority of the traffic is going to the top-performing pages on their site:
How We Added Value
Search Engine Optimization and a Targeted Content Strategy
We also ran our powerful search engine optimization (SEO) package to get Scott’s firm to show up for the keywords that were most relevant, including:
- Financial advisor for real estate (Scott’s website has ranked as high as #3 in national searches for these keywords)
- Real estate financial planner
- Financial planning for real estate investors
Next, we created a targeted content strategy to speak to the most important items that Scott’s clients care about. We included posts like:
- What We Do For Our Real Estate Investor Clients Your Complete Guide To Financial
- Planning For Real Estate Investors Don’t Be A Spork: The Need For
- Specialized Financial Planning In Real Estate
Building on your SEO Content Strategy
Using a Webinar to Increase Conversion Rates
This advisor could take this strategy a step further by creating a custom webinar for both Amazon and Microsoft employees. This could serve as the call to action on the relevant website pages and they would get the email address for everyone who registers. After the person watches the webinar, they will receive a series of follow-up emails encouraging them to schedule a call. To learn more about our webinar service, click here.
How We Added Value
Creating a Comprehensive Content Strategy
This advisor could also double down on their content strategy for both of these niches. We could create content for them on specific topics, such as:
- Microsoft 401(k) Match
- Microsoft Stock Options
- Microsoft RSU Plan
As part of our Total Marketing Package, we work with advisors to create a custom content calendar so we can create content that shows up for the search terms of their ideal prospects. To learn more or get started now, click here.
Leveraging YouTube for Greater Exposure
Another strategy we work with advisors on is YouTube marketing. Since Google owns YouTube, they highly push the search results from YouTube. I really love the possibilities available on YouTube for advisors since so few of them are leveraging the platform at this time.
If we created a YouTube video on “Maximizing Your Amazon Benefits Package,” we would be the only search result on that topic and would show up right at the top of the list. In a related example, financial advisor Dan Casey has created the only YouTube video explaining long-Term care insurance, which has over 17,000 views.
