The Ultimate Guide to Website Design for Financial Advisors

The Ultimate Guide to Website Design for Financial Advisors

When someone is looking for a Financial Advisor, the first thing they do is log on to their computer and typing into their preferred browser “Financial Advisors in [insert town name].” The advisors that are going to get the business of these prospective clients are the ones whose websites appear at the top of the search engine results page. This may seem like an intimidating process when you are competing with large banks and wealth management firms who have brand recognition on their side. Here at MarketKeep we are here to help with all Web Design and SEO needs! Pages that appear at the top of the search engine results all have these features: Well designed web pages that are user friendly and aesthetically pleasing; along with carefully thought out SEO strategies for each page of the website. To assist you in creating an exceptional website and get an abundance of leads for your business we have created The Ultimate Guide to Website Design for Financial Advisors.

In this article we will dissect the essential components of the highest performing websites on the internet. Everything from the structure of the top menu, to helping you create a website that complements your brand and generates leads to boost your bottom line, including: 

• Foundation for a Top-performing Website Design for Financial Advisors
• Model of a Menu Layout for Financial Advisors’ Website Designs That Convert
• Content that Will Make Your Financial Advising Company Website Stand Out
• Questions to Ask Web Designers Before Hiring Them

Before You Begin:

3 Things To Do Before Starting a Website Design For Your Financial Advising Company

Establish Your Goals and Purpose –

The first thing to do before starting your website design journey is to have a clear understanding of your goals and how you are going to make them a reality. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What do you want your website to achieve?
• What services do you offer?
• What areas do you serve?
• Are you looking to generate leads, showcase your services, or provide customers with useful information? 

It’s crucial to have a specific and measurable goal for your website, such as increasing website traffic by a certain percent or generating a specific number of leads per month. When you clearly define your goals, you can guarantee that your website design aligns with your business objectives and delivers concrete results.

Set a Realistic Budget –

It’s important to have a clear understanding of the costs involved in creating and maintaining a website. A website’s budget can vary widely depending on the complexity of the design, the number of pages, and the features and functionality required. It’s essential to set a realistic budget that takes into account all of the costs involved, including web hosting, domain registration, content creation, and ongoing maintenance. Investing in a high-quality website may require a significant upfront cost, but it can provide a significant return on investment over time by attracting more customers and generating leads. 

The number one thing to keep in mind is that you have to be realistic. You can’t develop a high-performing website for $50. But at the same time you shouldn’t be paying $5,000 or more for a website design either. For small businesses a realistic budget is somewhere between $750 to $2,500. It really depends on how in-depth you want the website to be. 

Focus on the User Experience –

Your website should be easy to navigate and provide a seamless user experience, from the moment visitors land on your homepage to when they complete a desired action, such as filling out a contact form. Consider the layout and organization of your website’s content to ensure it’s intuitive and easy to understand. Additionally, ensure that your website is optimized for mobile devices, as more and more users are accessing websites from their smartphones and tablets. By prioritizing user experience in your website design, you can improve engagement and conversions and establish a positive reputation for your business.

During The Design Process:

Helpful Tips To Generate More Leads With An Incredible Financial Advisor Website Design

Ensure Your Financial Advisor Website Loads Quickly

As they say in Top Gun…I got a need, a need for speed! People don’t like to wait around these days, potential customers expect websites to load quickly, and if your site is slow, they may become frustrated and leave. Slow page speed can also negatively impact your website’s search engine rankings. To improve your website’s page speed performance, consider optimizing images and videos to reduce file sizes. Additionally, ensure that your website hosting is reliable and can handle the traffic your website receives. By improving your website’s page speed performance, you can provide a better user experience and increase the likelihood that visitors will stay on your site and become customers.

Bonus Tip: To get awesome results, make sure you have total control over your website by hosting it yourself. First off, choose a top-notch hosting company. Another important thing is to crop and compress your images to make them as tiny as possible without compromising quality. You can check your website’s speed using Pingdom or GTmetrix. They’ll give you some valuable tips on how to make your site even faster and load like lightning.

Make Sure Your Financial Advisor Website Is Responsive on Mobile Devices

It’s pretty obvious, but you gotta have a website that looks awesome on phones and tablets. If your site isn’t responsive, chances are slim that anyone will actually do anything on it from their mobile device. It’s super important these days because most people visit websites on their phones, and the trend keeps growing every year, with more folks ditching desktop for mobile searching.

Try to “Jitterbug” the Website

Who remembers the jitterbug cell phone? Marketed as the simple cell phone for Seniors, the concept was to make the phone simple enough for people to quickly dial an emergency number and a few contact’s in their phone. Similar to the jitterbug, you should design your financial advising website to be simple enough to contact you. It’s called the five second rule. Basically, when someone lands on your website, you gotta make three things crystal clear within just 5 seconds. First off, you need to explicitly tell them what you do. It may sound obvious, but a lot of companies try to be all fancy and clever instead of being straight to the point. They write their headlines for themselves, not for their customers. So, be super clear about what you do and put it front and center on your website. Next, show them how you make their lives better. And lastly, make it easy for them to do business with you. Give ’em a clear primary call to action and maybe even a secondary one.

Display Trust & Credibility

Establishing trust and credibility is crucial for any business, and this applies to website design as well. Visitors to your website are more likely to become customers if they trust and believe in your business. One way to build trust is by prominently displaying social proof, such as customer testimonials and reviews. You should also look for opportunities to add badges from your website from leading platforms like the Better Business Bureau, Angi, HomeAdvisor, and Expertise.com. Finally, including elements such as a physical address and contact information on your website can also help establish credibility. 

By demonstrating trust and credibility through your website design, you can improve your business’s reputation and increase customer loyalty.

Think of Creative Ways To Stand Out

In today’s crowded online marketplace, it’s essential to find ways to stand out from the competition. One way to differentiate your website is by creating a unique and memorable visual identity that reflects your brand. This can include using distinctive colors, typography, and graphics that are consistent across your website and other marketing materials. Another way to stand out is by creating high-quality, informative content that addresses your customers’ needs and pain points. By finding ways to stand out through your website design, you can capture visitors’ attention and convert them into loyal customers.

Remember SEO Goes a Long Way in Website Design

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential element of website design. By optimizing your website for search engines, you can increase your visibility and attract more traffic to your site. Key SEO elements to consider when designing your website include choosing the right financial advisor SEO keywords and optimizing your content to include them naturally. Additionally, ensure that your website’s metadata, such as the title tags and meta descriptions, accurately reflect the content on each page. Make sure your website is structured in a way that is easily crawled by search engines, and include internal links to help visitors navigate your site. By incorporating SEO best practices into your website design, you can improve your search engine rankings and drive more targeted traffic to your website.

Optimize Your Landing Pages

Optimizing landing pages is an essential component of effective website design. A landing page is a specific page on your website designed to convert visitors into leads or customers. To optimize your landing pages, ensure that they have a clear and compelling headline, a clear call-to-action, and provide visitors with valuable information about your products or services. Use visually appealing graphics and keep the page layout simple and easy to navigate. By optimizing your landing pages for conversion, you can increase your website’s effectiveness in generating leads and growing your business.

Use Analytics to Guide You

Analytics tools, such as Google Analytics, provide valuable insights into your website’s performance, including metrics such as traffic sources, user behavior, and conversion rates. By analyzing this data, you can identify areas of your website that may need improvement and make data-driven decisions about changes to your website design and content. For example, if you notice that visitors are spending very little time on a particular page, you may need to re-evaluate the content or layout of that page to make it more engaging. By using analytics to inform your website design, you can improve the user experience, increase conversions, and ultimately grow your business.

Always be Listening, Learning, and Optimizing

Website design is an ongoing process, and it’s important to always be listening, learning, and optimizing. Staying up-to-date with the latest trends and best practices in website design can help you stay ahead of the competition and provide a website that meets the evolving needs of your audience. Finally, testing different design elements and tracking the results can help you make data-driven decisions about your website’s design and content. 

The Ideal Financial Advising Design Structure:

Creating The Perfect Website Design for Financial Advisors

Home Page

The homepage of your website is the first thing that your potential customers see and your design can make or break whether or not someone will want to hire you. This page should be a one stop shop for the rest of your website and include small sections for about us, services, service areas, portfolio and contact information. These sections should include a compact version of the information on their individual pages which will convince potential customers to want to learn more.  

About Us

This information can help build trust with potential customers and differentiate your business from competitors, ultimately leading to increased leads and conversions.

Services

Including services for a financial advisor website is important because it provides visitors with a clear understanding of what services your business offers. This information helps potential customers determine whether your business can meet their specific needs and encourages them to take the next step in contacting you for more information.

Service Areas

Including a service areas page helps potential customers determine whether your business services their specific geographic area. This information can help save time for both you and the potential customer by preventing inquiries about services that cannot be offered in their location.

Process or Workflow

Showcasing your process gives potential clients a view into your company and can help build trust and encourage them to choose your business for their financial advising needs.

Awards and Recognition

Including awards and recognition for your business website is important because it can help build credibility and establish your business as a leader in the industry. 

Reviews

Positive reviews can help build trust and credibility with potential customers and encourage them to choose your business for their financial advising needs. 

Call to Action/Contact

A clear and compelling call to action can help encourage visitors to take the next step in becoming a customer.

Content that Will Make Your Financial Advising Website Stand Out

Images

Images can help your website stand out by adding visual interest and breaking up text-heavy pages. However, it’s important to use images judiciously to avoid slowing down page load times, and to ensure that images are optimized to prevent issues with resolution or file size. Overuse of images can detract from the overall user experience of the website if they are distracting or irrelevant to the content.  

Videos

Videos can help your website stand out by engaging visitors and providing dynamic content that can help explain your services or showcase your work. However, it’s important to ensure that they are optimized for web use to prevent issues with page load times and compatibility with different devices and browsers.

Blog Posts

Blog posts improve your website by providing valuable and informative content that can establish your business as an authority in the industry. By regularly posting high-quality blog content, you can also improve your website’s search engine rankings and increase your organic traffic over time.

Social Media

Social media provides opportunities to share content, engage with customers, and drive traffic to your website. Integrating social media buttons and links can also increase the visibility and credibility of your business across various platforms, helping to expand your reach and build your brand.

Questions to Ask Web Design Companies Regarding The Design Process

Designing a website can be a complex and overwhelming process for many business owners, especially those who may not have a lot of experience in the digital realm. Here are examples of questions that you can ask your web design company to be sure the end result meets your needs. 

• • Do you create designs for a specific industry?
  • What services do you offer?
  • Do you work in house or outsource the projects?
  • What are the steps you will take to complete my website design?
  • Can the existing site be redone or do I need a new one altogether?
  • What tools will you use to create the website?
  • What web standards and practices do you follow?
  • What information do I need to provide before starting the website design process?
  • How long is the time frame?
  • How much is the website?