All posts by Alexandre Coussy

Alexandre (@alex_coussy) loves to measure business success through digital strategies and technologies that are fuelled by analytics, automation, content, social media and CRO.

5 Call to Action Tips for the Finance Industry

Calls to action or CTAs are a deceptively powerful tool that many often overlook. To capitalize on your blogging efforts, your CTA should be the first thing to take into account. A solid call to action on any post or page will help you convert your readers from mere prospects into quantifiable leads.

 

As you probably already know, CTA is the part of a copy that prompts a user to take an immediate action or lead a reader to the next step. Hence, the more details you can provide in the CTA, the better you would engage your target audience.

 

To help you leverage your financial marketing efforts, here are five valuable tactics on how to craft an engaging and clear call to action for your campaign.

 

1 – Avoid being overly promotional.

 

Too often, you will see a call to action button at the end of an article or web page which has very little appeal, and in most cases, these buttons or graphics even appear overly promotional. These kinds of calls to action are fairly common in financial websites and blogs, however, they can sometimes come across as off-putting.

 

The goal of your call to action should not be to promote your service, but rather to provide something that is relevant to the post or topic with a promise of offering more useful information. What the readers want to know is how the CTA will improve their finances and make life easier.

 

The best performing calls to action are those that add value and continue to educate the readers. After all, they are most likely visiting your blog to read about their financial concerns, learn how to solve them or find insight on a topic of interest; not to purchase your services.

 

GoToMeeting has done a seamless job with highlighting their new product in the CTA without appearing too promotional as seen in the image below.

 

GoTo Meeting

 

2 – Experiment with different kinds of CTAs.

 

One kind of CTA won’t appeal to everyone so do not give your audience the same content. Because all sorts of people visit your website or blog, you have to create variety in your calls to actions.

 

While certain CTAs work for some readers, other users may respond better to a CTA with different graphics and wording. Thus, it is important to vary the CTAs throughout your websites and experiment with different kinds so the users won’t block them out. There are several kinds of CTAs, from sidebar calls to action and blog subscriptions to comment, in-line, and slide-in CTAs.

 

If the standard bottom-of-the-post CTA is not driving enough leads, experiment with an in-line call to action that may involve a link to a previous blog post or the social media. Calls to action do not have to be grand, neither does it have to stand out at the end of a post. It could be as simple as linking the copy to a previous blog post or adding a tweet button at the end of a sentence or paragraph.

 

Image from HubSpot

 

Image from HubSpot.com

 

You could also deliver your calls to action in a manner of question. Ask your readers about their thoughts on the topic to encourage comments and feedback.

 

3 – Address your personas’ challenges and needs in your CTAs

 

Who are your client personas and what are their challenges or pain points?

 

Calls to action direct traffic to landing pages. If the CTA you created does not attract your target audience, you won’t gain increased conversions, let alone improved traffic. To be able to engage your readers and encourage them to take the next step (subscribe to your mailing list, comment on your post, or download your eBook), your CTA should be able to introduce their needs and challenges and include a promise to offer solutions to their problems upon clicking it.

 

LinkedIN

 

Create a smart CTA that talks about the benefits of your offer rather than its features. “GIVE before you ASK them to take action,” as Joe Simonds of Advisor Internet Marketing noted in an article.

 

4 – Use Strong Command Verbs to Convey Urgency

 

An effective call to action should accomplish two things—one, it should clearly tell a reader exactly what they are getting once they click on it; and two, it should give a sense of immediacy and urgency.

 

“It’s all about being clear and concise with your CTA. You don’t have a ton of space in your ad to get your point across, with the character limit set at 35 characters per description line, so it is important to get straight to the point,” wrote Billy McCaffrey of Word Stream.

 

Steer clear from vague languages and make certain to use active vocabulary like download, subscribe, talk, get started, see, join, or visit and then combine it with words such as today, now, and the like to convey action and urgency. This entices your audience to act quickly.

 

Sign Up

 

Similarly, you can create a less urgent call to action (“Talk to an Expert,” “See How It Works,” “Learn More,” etc.) if it would work better on the newsletter or overall design of your website. Ultimately, it is ideal that you start with a verb.

 

5 – Align your messaging.

 

Not aligning the CTA with its landing page is one of the most frequent mistakes people make. Beyond creating alignment between the call to action and the reader’s behavior, it is important to write CTAs based on your messaging. Bear the different stages of the sales cycle in mind and create multiple calls to action around them. Keep in mind, the messaging in the awareness stage should be different from the messaging in the education stage.

 

Tailor it in a way that it speaks to the reader based on their buying cycle stage, such as the below CTAs from HubSpot.

 

For the visitor:

 

SEO Myths

 

For the lead:

 

For The Lead

 

For the customer:

 

For The Customer

 

Many factors influence the rate of conversion of a call to action button, so make certain to pay close attention to the above-mentioned factors in order to prompt your audience to take action and make your financial marketing campaign more effective.

6 Email Tips for The Finance Industry

Over the last decade, email has been a useful marketing tool finance advisers use to widen their reach. In spite of social media’s rise, email remains to be a primary marketing channel. In fact, 66 out of 100 consumers made a purchase as a result of an email marketing message, topping channels such as direct mail, text messaging, and even social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

 

This only proves that email can be a high-return marketing channel. But as more and more businesses gravitate towards email marketing ( in the form of mailing list, newsletters, or advertising), making yours stand out can be difficult. Thus, you have to work harder and smarter to up your email marketing game.

Here are 6 email marketing tips for finance professionals like you.

 

Tip #1 – Run an opt-in newsletter.

Email lists are the traditional marketing’s ally. Opt-in email forms, on the contrary, is one of modern inbound marketing’s most powerful weapons.

 

An opt-in newsletter is a simple communication tool that offers several advantages to professionals that take advantage of using it. According to SRS Coaching and Consulting, an effective newsletter can improve a financial adviser’s word of mouth marketing, boost reputation building, and increase the chance of traffic conversion.

 

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Image Source: socialmediaexaminer.com

 

Opt-in forms also enable you to gather important data about your prospects that you could later on use when writing your newsletter.

To amplify your reach even more and grow your email list while limiting unwanted subscribers, a blog from WPNewsman suggests using the double opt-in method. “To protect yourself from invalid and unwanted subscriptions, ask users to confirm their subscription,” the article states.

 

Tip #2 – Keep track of your metrics and test, test, test!

The sheer volume of data available today can be really daunting even for the savviest of email marketers. As a financial adviser, you need to understand that paying attention to your newsletter metrics can make a huge difference in your email marketing initiatives.

 

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Image Source: writtent.com

 

Kyle O’Riley of Writtent has enumerated a number of metric tools that can be used to track the success of the newsletters you send out. One metric marketers use is the Spam Complaint Rate, which allows you to see how many of your newsletters were marked as spam.

Being able to keep track of your newsletters will help you determine what messages are resonating to your readers and what does not. From there, you can improve your copy, focus on topics that your readers prefer, and test which ones resonate best.

 

Tip #3 – Maintain your lists.

Each year, you could lose a third of your subscribers from bounces, address changes, and unsubscribes. If you are not keeping an eye on your list and replacing passive addresses with active ones, you could lose all your subscribers anytime soon.

Carly Stec of Impact Branding & Design says making use of segmentation will help you build, maintain, and grow a strong email subscriber list. “The key to successful email communication is careful, and strategic list segmentation, as it eliminates your company’s chance of coming off as spam-y,” she reveals.

Instead of blasting a generic newsletter out to your commercial and residential subscribers, Stec suggests that you segment a list for your residential email subscribers and a separate list for your commercial email subscribers. This way, you’ll get a better picture of your buyer persona, allowing you to send emails out the right people.

According to the Lyris Annual Email Optimizer Report, 28 percent of marketers who utilised this approach experienced lower unsubscribe rates, and 24 percent reportedly had greater revenue and better deliverability.

 

Tip #4 – Use email to leverage other parts of your inbound marketing.

 

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Image source

 

 

Organic search is a great source for conversions. But, you can’t depend upon it solely. In a study, email marketing has been found to have the highest conversation rates among other areas of inbound marketing, particularly search and social. By using email to leverage your other marketing initiatives, you increase your chance for better visibility, brand awareness, and lead conversions.

 

Tip #5 – Use personalisation.

Since newsletters are typically shared with dozens or even hundreds of people, many financial advisers take a detached tone when writing them. In reality, though, no one really wants to read messages composed this way.

When composing newsletters, use a personal approach. Personalised emails were found to produce 500 percent more conversions than generic emails, according to an Experian Marketing Services study. Despite this, however, 70 in 100 businesses fail to maximise this approach.

Don’t join the majority. Instead, make your messages sound conversational and use layman’s terms for a more personal tone. If there’s anything that could drive your prospects away, it’s financial jargon and complex terminology.

 

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A newsletter that uses second pronouns | Image Source: e-cbd.com

 

 

Also, addressing your subscribers by their name and using first and second pronouns may make your readers feel genuinely connected with you. Use their first names as a starter, but do not mention it too often in the body. Just use it as if you are directly conversing to your subscribers, so that you don’t come across as a used automobile salesman.

If you don’t have your reader’s profile, adjust your opt-in newsletter forms, so that you can collect vital information from your potential clients. But be sure to go easy on the required fields. The longer it takes for them to fill up the subscribe form, the more likely that they won’t. Keep it simple and easy.

 

Tip #6 – Be strategic.

Avoid the trap of sending self-promotional messages. Instead, focus your efforts on writing a newsletter with value, relevance, and humor. Pay close attention to the message you are trying to get across, determine your buyer persona, include a call to action, and practice segmenting readers into different subscriber baskets.

No matter how competitive your niche is, a well thought out email marketing can certainly be beneficial. With a strategic email marketing, you can drive traffic back to your website continuously and increase your chance for higher conversions.

 

5 Digital Marketing Ideas For Financial Advisers (Infographic)

When one thinks of getting into financial adviser digital marketing, one would usually think of doing self-promotion (defining their goals, enumerating their achievements, laying out their services–that sort of thing). While it’s not entirely wrong, it’s not the most effective way to go it either.

 

To build trust and develop a stronger relationship, clients need to know how you can help them. They want to know what steps they could take to make the process quicker and leisurely monitor the results along the way.

 

One study by Hearts and Wallets found that four in five investors have trust issues with their financial adviser. If you want to build strong and meaningful relationships with your clients, Hub Spot advises that you need to refocus your marketing approach.

 

To better communicate your trustworthiness, here are five financial adviser marketing ideas that centers around your client’s needs.

 

5 Digital Marketing Ideas for Financial Advisers HD

 

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5 Social Media Tips For The Finance Industry

5 Social Media Tips for The Finance Industry

The financial services industry has been slow in entering the realm of social media mostly due to all the various communication regulations they face. It was not until a media hoax in 2013 that the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) became more wary of the risks online rumors entail, leading local regulators to sharpen their policies and regulations on social media use.

 

This was a pivotal moment for all organizations in the local finance industry. As stringent social media restrictions are put in place, financial services companies find ways to go around them while also transforming their social media efforts into a weapon for good customer service, effective crisis mitigation, and efficient brand management.

 

In order to reap the benefits of social, financial institutions must intelligently embrace the world of social media, following the best social practices. To make sure that your strategy stays within the regulations, here are five social media tips to follow.

 

Avoid Being Over Promotional

 

In a blog post, Hub Spot recommends talking more about your clients and their interests than about your company and the services or products you offer.

 

“One of the golden rules of social media is not to use it for purely self-promotional material. This is especially true if you’re bound by the regulated social media policies.” – HubSpot.com

 

National Australian Bank

 

National Australian Bank is fond of tweeting about non-promotional topics for their followers.

 

People on social media look for “a real face and a real voice.” They want the human behind the brand, so aim to be educational, helpful and social, not “salesy” as Hub Spot would put it.

 

Devise Social Media Guidelines

 

Your social strategy contributes to customer loyalty, and business revenue, ultimately affecting the company’s return on investment or ROI. Advisor Websites notes that there is no “simple one-to-one correlation between social media activity and dollars in the bank,” but these activities do contribute to conversions.

 

Hence, it is imperative to devise strict guidelines. Employees have to know what they can and cannot do over social media. But to be able to develop efficient guidelines, you first need to define the goals the company wishes to achieve via social media. Once your social media voice and identity are clearly established, spell out the organization’s social media policy (eg. editorial guidelines for publishing content, tone of voice, and description of responsibilities). Social media guidelines should also lay out the regulations the company has to work with.

 

Make sure these guidelines are easily accessible and used in employee training.

 

Develop a Crisis Plan

 

Financial services is in the “time is money” industry, so you need to have a plan for everything — from data breaches and lawsuits to executive scandals. You do not want to wait for a crisis to turn up before establishing a solid plan. The pressure to act fast is already intense at this point, what more if you need to think compliantly? This is a brewing recipe for costly errors.

 

Preparation, on the contrary, enables you to consider scenarios that might never have occurred to you had you get caught by surprise. “Crisis planning is essential. Every business should have a minute-by-minute strategy for how it will deal a service shut down or public relations disaster,” as noted in a Huffington Post article.

 

Having a plan of contingency in place also allows you to run drills or simulations of real-life financial crises so your employees become equipped to handle a tight situation when they least expect it.

 

Utilise LinkedIn Pulse

 

LinkedIn Pulse

 

LinkedIn Pulse

 

Pulse is LinkedIn’s publishing platform. You can use this to keep track of the news and trends regarding the financial services industry. This section allows you to browse through popular content, trending articles, and even posts published by the people you follow. It can also be tailored to your interests so Your News tab only displays content from specific publishers, contributors, and influencers.

 

Apart from keeping track of industry news, Pamela Vaughan of Hub Spot suggests experimenting with publishing your own content on the platform.

 

“Experiment with how this feature can support your marketing goals by creating content for the platform and promoting it via your Company Page. For example, you could experiment with syndicating content from your business blog to LinkedIn Pulse and using it to promote subscription to your full blog.”

 

Follow the 10-4-1 Rule

 

Formulated by Kipp Bodnar and Jeffrey Cohen, the 10-4-1 rule is basically a way of using a mix of content to post across different social media channels. The ratio, according to Contender Content, “allows you to grow your social and blog network efficiently by sharing other people’s content, your own content, and your own landing pages.”

 

Here’s the breakdown.

 

10: 10 out of 15 posts should be sourced from a third-party to offer valuable information to your audience, thus increasing your “reputation as a trusted and open industry leader.” Some companies struggle with this idea, thinking that using someone else’s content might mean losing their brand persona. However, Contender Content assures that curating content from other blogs and businesses can and will increase your social media engagement.

 

4: 4 out of 15 posts should be your own. Blogging is an absolute necessity for any social media strategy. In fact, company websites gain 55 percent more visitors when they have a blog according to Hub Spot, so publish relevant and interesting information, and then get them out to your social networking platforms. A truly engaging content and effective promotion should secure your company a following and a good amount of shares, likes, and comments.

 

Commonwealth Bank of Australia

 

Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s blog tackles a variety of topics and interests.

 

1: 1 out of 15 posts should be a landing page. You can provide a webinar, a whitepaper, a sales brochure, an eBook, or even a video. This gives you the opportunity to sell the benefits of your products and services to your audience, without spamming them with promotions.

 

Whitepaper from Telstra

 

An example of a whitepaper from Telstra.

Wrap up

Creating the right mix of content is essential to building engagement. With the 10-4-1 rule, you’ll not only have a structured and measurable approach to what type of content you publish, you also earn the chance of growing your audience base and building authority in the financial services industry.

Top 5 SEO Strategies For Financial Advisers Website

Developing a successful SEO campaign is like building a successful financial plan — both require similar principles — which probably explains why there is a growing awareness about search engine optimization among financial advisers.

 

Now, the question is: What can financial advisers do to leverage SEO?

 

There are several elements that go into creating an SEO campaign and implementing them requires a great deal of effort and knowledge. Fortunately for financial advisers, the internet has made it simple for them to kick start a campaign and reach large and targeted demographics.

 

For starters, here are five effective SEO strategies that take advantage of search engine dynamics to entice visitors and generate more actionable leads.

 

Top 5 SEO Strategies For Financial Advisers Website

 

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6 blogging tips for the finance industry

6 Blogging Tips For The Finance Industry

There has been a definite growth in blogging across the finance industry. According to HubSpot, blogs help businesses generate 97 percent more inbound links and 67 percent more leads, making blogging an imperative aspect of organic internet marketing.

 

Think of it as gasoline is to a vehicle; your marketing efforts will not work without it. But while it is certainly every financial professional’s crucial piece to the ever-complex content marketing puzzle, no one seems to be writing or talking about how to do it the right way.

 

Blogging may sound simple, but once you get your hands on it, you’ll realize how creating content can actually be really difficult. Hence, we present this list of effective blogging tips to help you jump start your blog content creation.

 

Tip #1: Spend time researching your buyer personas.

 

Before you even begin the writing part, you first need to be familiar with the buyer persona aspect of blogging. By Hub Spot’s definition, “a buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers.”

 

In order to create a blog content that your audience will engage with, it is important to study your target market and understand your buyer personas inside and out. What are their problems or challenges? Where do they come from? What kind of service or product do they seek?

 

Once you know your ideal customer’s goals, pain points, aspirations, backgrounds, and challenges, as well as how your product or service can benefit them, you’ll be able to produce content relevant enough to capture their attention.

 

Remember: your blog posts are only as good as your audience says they are, so make sure your words are connecting well with your readers.

 

Tip #2: Create a content calendar, but remain flexible.

 

Like buyer personas, having a long-term framework and a theme for your content is vital to blogging. You need to come up with a plan and schedule for your blogs earlier on. At the same time, it is important to keep the calendar “flexible so you can ‘news-jack’” an emerging trend, news story, or current event.

 

A good way to keep tab on the latest news in your industry is bysubscribing to leading online financial publications. Make it a habit to read up on and learn something new about the finance industry every day. Doing so will enable you to write newsworthy pieces that your audience will take an interest in. Hub Spot also recommends signing up for Google Alerts and selecting finance-targeted keywords.

Tip #3: Avoid financial jargon.

 

Using financial jargon is one of the major blogging blunders many financial marketers make. As marketers, it is easy for us to cope with the constant use of general marketing jargon and technology abbreviations. But for people outside of the industry, jargon can be really intimidating. Plus, it confuses the broader audience and gets readers lose interest in your blog. It is never fun to have to rely on Google to understand every other complex term in a post.

 

However, steering clear of jargon is neither a pass so you don’t have to explain basic financial terms nor, is it an excuse for a sloppy write-up. Be sure to make your points clear and simple while also maintaining well-structured sentences and paragraphs.

 

Take Movoto’s blog posts, for example. Because they are in the real estate business, you would expect to see their pages to be filled with graphs, numbers, computations and all those other boring stuff. But lo and behold, Movoto has offered a whole new perspective on financial blogging by focusing their efforts on creating easy-to-understand and entertaining articles for the broader community, upping their monthly site visits to 18 million from a mere 2,000.

 

Tip #4: Cite credible sources.

 

Always refer back to credible sources, most especially if you are talking about industry trends, percentages, acts, legislation, and any topic that requires facts.

 

At the same time, aim to write the blog so that other people may use it as a reliable reference. Gregory Ciotti of Help Scout told Buffer App that research is important as it gives a writer great idea and findings. But he notes that you should not rely on research alone. Instead, make sure that “each post has an original lesson or actionable item, making it ‘citable’ on the web.”

 

Goldcore, an established gold broker in Ireland, have countless blog posts that are worth referencing. Their blog is widely read by financial journalists, and often quoted and regularly featured on finance, gold, and investment blogs, as well as in Reuters and Bloomberg.

Tip #5: Tap into in-house knowledge.

 

Financial marketers do not always have the knowledge or data pertaining to the technicalities that could back up a blog content. It is, therefore, imperative to leverage the expertise of the people within your company. Ask individuals under different departments “who have a wealth of knowledge about the industry, clients, thought leaders, trends, and insights” and see if they can provide insights or write a short blog post for the company.

 

Just as you will tap into your in-house resources for data, speaking with people in specific niches can help you fill the knowledge gap.

 

Tip #6: Interview people.

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Beyond connecting and engaging with your audience, blogging is an effective way to drive more traffic to your website, solidify your presence, and establish yourself as one of the leaders in the finance industry. Hence, there is no doubt that blogging in the financial service sector will continue to be on the rise.

 

What other blogging tips would you recommend? Share them in the comments!

 

 

5 Financial Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid

A website is one of the most vital tools for experts in the financial industry. For a financial advisor, a website is a key platform for building brand awareness and reputation. There are plenty of good financial websites scattered on the web today, however, some of these fall down and backfires when it comes to offering a good service. Mostly, it is due to poor usability.

Whether you have a brand new website or intend to make changes to your current one, here are the top 5 web design mistakes that you should steer clear of.

 

Mistake #1: Poor Navigation

 

Navigation issues are a typical culprit of poor usability. Often, prospective clients leave a financial website because they find it difficult to navigate. A good web design should provide the opposite. A user visiting your website has to be able to quickly and easily go through the pages they want to see. Otherwise, navigating around it becomes a nightmare, prompting them to leave and visit another financial advisor’s website.
VCPost.com suggests that you pay attention to your website speed and ensure that your website has a navigation that includes a sitemap.

 

Remember that the Internet is all about speed… Make sure that every page of your site has a navigation bar on every page so it would be easier for visitors to visit these pages. Include a site map on the navigation bar or footer of your site so they have an idea of what to find on your site. (source)

 

 

FPA Australia’s website has a good example of an easy-to-follow web navigation.

 

Take note: bad navigation can quickly send your prospects into another financial advisor’s arms — one whose website has better usability and user-friendly interface. So make certain yours has good navigation.

 

Mistake #2: Complex Design

 

Aesthetics are an essential consideration in web design. There is nothing wrong with a flashy design, but going overboard with it can ruin the site’s functionality. Todd Johnson, managing director of Avatar New York, mentions in a Yahoo! Finance article that web design must be both trendy and functional. Ultimately “simple layouts that speak to the user are best,” he said.

 

Some of the best websites out there are simple in nature, while the bad ones are those that seem to have too much going on — too much text, too many images, countless links, multiple pop-ups, widgets, and animation. For clients who simply want to be offered help, all these “noise” and clutter may be too overwhelming and hard on the eyes, confusing and driving them away.

 

They can also cause a slower website loading time, which internet users hate. In this day and age, who has the time and patience to wait for one site to load, when other financial websites are just a click away?

 

couco number 2Weingarten Associates LLC has a simple but striking layout and design.

 

Indeed, it can be tempting to showcase a bit of your personality and creativity on the site and that’s totally fine. Just do not go overboard. Do not make your website too complex that it ends up not serving your audience.

 

Mistake #3: Lack of Relevant Content

 

Many financial advisors make the mistake of featuring old, dated content on the pages of their website. Make sure yours is updated regularly to avoid losing credibility. Johnson has noted that in order for the site to stay timely and reflect new information, content must be tweaked periodically. “Copying content from your old website and pasting it into the new one is generally not recommended,” he added.

 

In addition, stay far away from “in-your-face” content marketing. You don’t want content that blatantly advertises your services. Instead, create accurate content that offers value, solutions, and information to your clients.

 

Speaking of valuable content, you may want to consider integrating a blogging platform into your site. Blogs are not exactly necessary for financial websites, although they do reel in a substantial amount of clients seeking financial help. A blog also allows you to connect with your prospects, keeping them on the website longer.

 

Finance for Teachers’ blog

 

Mistake #4: No Contact Details in Easy-to-Find Locations

 

According to an article from Entrepreneur.com, it is important to provide prospects with several easy ways to contact you — one of which is integrating a contact us link into each and every page of the site that should lead to a complete contact information.

 

The smartest route is to put up a “Contact Us” link that leads to complete info–mailing address, phone and email address. That link should be on each and every page of your website. Even if nobody ever calls, the very presence of this information adds real-world legitimacy and transparency to your site and comforts some viewers.

 

Adding ‘calls to action’ buttons on your website pages is a good idea as well. These buttons can direct your prospects to subscribe to your mailing list, contact you for questions, or schedule a meeting.

 

 

Westpac provides a Contact Us link and a Calls to Action button on every page.

 

Whatever method you choose, the key is to place them in easy-to-locate areas. It should not be more than a click away so you stand a good chance of actually having them get in touch with you.

 

Mistake #5: Failing to Integrate Your Social Media Accounts into the Site

 

Social Media is a great platform to use to drive more traffic to your website. When you integrate your social media sites into your site, you make it easy for your audience to connect with you and move from one platform to another as your accounts can be accessed with a simple click of a button. It also makes marketing and promoting your brand less difficult as you can share your content across a variety of social media channels effortlessly.

 

Canopy Private has seamlessly integrated their social channels into their main site.

 

Whether you utilize Twitter to broadcast your activities, Facebook to share your content, or LinkedIn to build your network, having these social media accounts integrated into your financial website can benefit you in more ways than one.

 

Web design is anchored on a number of things — aesthetics, functionality, content, efficiency, and usability being the most critical factors. Learn to balance these aspects when designing your website and you are well on your way to providing your prospects a positive experience.

Online Reputation vs. Credit Rating: Which Matters More?

Like many people, you probably had dealt with a low credit score at some point. Whether it was for a home loan, car loan or whatever big-ticket item, waiting for the credit check when you have a less-than-ideal credit report can give a feeling of anxiety.

 

Credit Rating

 

By definition, a credit rating is “an assessment of the credit worthiness of a borrower in general terms or with respect to a particular debt or financial obligation,” (source). Typically, a company or the government hires a credit rating agency to conduct thorough credit assessment and evaluation either “for itself or for one of its debt issues.” Meanwhile, individual credit ratings are collected from credit history and conveyed by a numerical credit score maintained by credit-reporting agencies such as Experian and Equifax.

Changes in credit rating can have a crucial impact on financial markets as well as on the lender’s interest rates, so you need to strive to have the highest rating possible. In a nutshell, the higher the credit score, the stronger is the credit profile. And a strong credit profile generally results in lower lender’s interest rates.

Online Reputation

In today’s digital world, your online reputation functions the same way — only, there is no official tally associated with online reputation. Instead, employers, landlords, and government bodies screen out applicants for jobs, grants, loans, or anything imaginable through internet searches.

According to Reputation.com, these searches include “news articles, blog posts, social media profiles, ‘people search’ sites, public records, Wikipedia articles, automatically generated content, photos, [and] videos.” Basically, anything and everything that’s ever been published on the web.

Keeping your credit rating in tip-top condition is smart for business. But in an era where a person’s online reputation is becoming as critical as one’s reputation in the real world, how does one’s credit score measure up?

Online Reputation is the New Credit Rating

What is being said about you and how others see you on the web can put a lot of weight on your reputation. Regardless of your credit score, information on the internet about you can potentially “make or break your credibility to do business” as pointed out in an article on CNBC.

Your credit history is essentially a tracker that monitors your spending habits and behavior to show how disciplined you are in paying loans. Naturally, if you have a constant poor credit record, you will have a difficult time securing loans in the future. And fixing the damage with a few months of positive repayments will just not cut it.

Online reputation is cumulative in the same manner and just as stubbornly difficult to repair or alter as a credit score. At a click of a button, everything you have written, posted, or shared, as well as all the details that others wrote about you can be easily brought to light. By simply Googling your name or your business, your landlord, loan agent, or prospective employer can get a sense of your qualities in an instant.

In an interview, Karissa Spark, vice president of marketing at Reputation.com, said that more and more review systems from on-demand service apps like Uber and AirBnb are being developed both for business and consumer use. Ultimately these systems will be more powerful than our credit score, Sparks added. In fact, a 2014 Local Consumer Review survey from BrightLocal has revealed that 72 percent of consumers trust a local enterprise more after reading positive reviews about the company.

Apart from those recent ratings and review systems, what is being said about you or your business on news websites, social media channels, and e-commerce sites can also significantly affect your reputation.

Essentially, the credit worthiness of a person or business in the real world is often measured in terms of their financial reputation. In contrast, a business or person’s online reputation is frequently based on their social identity.

What Happens When You Have a Bad Online Rep?

A bad reputation in the virtual world has the same disruptive effect of a poor credit rating in the real world. But not everyone realizes its impact. Today, many enterprises still live in the “reputation oblivion” with no idea how to fix it, let alone maintain a positive one, said Reputation Lighthouse President, Bonnie Caver, in the CNBC article.

On the other hand, a good credit rating does not equal good online reputation. Just because you have a stellar credit score, doesn’t mean your online reputation problems will automatically go away. Businesses should realize that no amount of acceptable credit score can repair the holes in a beaten online reputation. In order to keep a reputation in good repair, you have to dedicate a good amount of your time to monitor, track, and respond to consumer feedback and comments.

To repair a bad reputation, Caver suggests to do the following:

Determine if the bad reviews are a one-time incident or rooted from a larger concern.

 

Monitor your channels and accounts.

 

Find out what your community is talking about and inject some views into them.

 

Create a powerful online content to regain control of the situation.

 

Encourage transparency.

 

If these tasks seem too complex, you can always hire a reputation management firm to assist you in your pursuit of building a positive online rep.

Indeed, online reputation has become one of the primary determinants of whether or not you gain access to a safe rental housing, a well-paid career or an affordable home mortgage. While it may seem that people are not searching for you, there’s a good chance that they are, so it’s wise to be vigilant at all times. With today’s consumers and companies becoming increasingly dependent on the internet for information, it’s only a matter of time before our credibility completely relies on our digital footprint.

 

What do you think? Do you believe credit score is still king or has online reputation surpassed it?

 

Image credited to Pixabay