SMSF strategists need to treat their websites as shop windows in order to maximise their effectiveness for generating new business for their practices, according to a financial services marketing expert.
“In regard to the shop window you have to ask yourself what your website says about you and what does it say about your company,” NowInfinity head of digital Peter Nejaim told the seventh annual NowInfinity Conference in Hawaii last week.
“You need to have a really hard look at your website and compare it to other websites out there in the industry.”
Having someone who had never seen the website in question evaluate it was a good way of getting a different perspective on its effectiveness, Nejaim said.
In doing so, he said practitioners should try to determine a few basic details as to how good or bad their existing web presence was.
“Ask them where do their eyes go to first? Do they instantly know what your website’s about? Do they instantly know what your value proposition is about?” he said.
“Is all the critical information high on the page? This is critical. So many times I look at websites and I can’t see a phone number or an email address above the fold and that’s an easy way to have people contact your business straightaway.”
Advisers also needed to evaluate the aesthetic quality of their website and if the font was easy to read, he said.
“Is it pleasing to the eye? Design these days really doesn’t cost that much. So it’s not going to cost all that much money in designing it and refining it over time,” he said.
Many practitioners made the mistake of making their websites too text heavy and should consider the inclusion of other mediums to get their message across, he said.
“Everyone’s moving to more video content to articulate the value proposition. So, two to three minute short and sharp videos are recommended,” he said.
“We all need to use video a lot more because it articulates the value proposition so much more clearly than a whole bunch of text.”
