How to make your website outperform as a new RIA

In an era where attention is everything, marketing experts assert it’s crucial to have an appealing website that brings prospective clients to your firm.

So, what does the “best” website look like? What kind of elements should be incorporated into it to help make your new practice stand out?

Kali Roberge, chief operations officer for Beyond Your Hammock, an RIA, emphasizes the importance of targeting a specific audience and writing authentically and concisely.  

She also said there should be a priority of “being clear” on who the target audience is.

“Have a niche. Be specific about who it is that you want to help,” she said. “Don't worry about scaring people off who may not fit into that. Your message is more compelling when you're speaking to a specific audience.”

Joe Anthony, president of Gregory FCA said RIA websites “need to zero in” on the issues that get people to contact financial advisors in the first place.

“The messaging should be centered around the people you are helping and the problems you are addressing for them. Make it easy for website visitors to request a meeting or a call. There should be an obvious place on the site for them to contact you,” he said in an email.

Robert Sofia, founder and CEO of Snappy Kraken, said the messaging is the most crucial aspect for a new RIA.

“That's the foundation of everything, because if you don't get your core message right, it's going to trickle into all your other marketing materials, [and as a result], you're going to start to have disjointed messaging,” he said.

Roberge points to her own experience of developing the firm’s website. For instance, their prior website was DIY. After working with a third party, it’s now more elegant and upmarket.

“If you're a business owner, you’re eyeball deep in it all the time, you can't objectively see something that may be very obvious to someone else,” Roberge said. “I’d recommend working with a marketing consultant specifically on branding and messaging, so that you can nail down the tagline, the value problem, and target market.”

Meanwhile, Johnny Sandquist, founder and CEO at Three Crowns Marketing said advisors often focus too much on their own credentials, creating convoluted, hard-to-navigate sites.

Instead, advisors need to prioritize an externally focused website that prioritizes user experience and content relevance.

Alicia Rich, head of client and advisor digital enablement at Broadridge, agrees.

“Content has to draw me in and has to let me know who’s this person that I'm looking at, who they are as an advisor and the team [is], and what's important to them,” she said.

When landing on a website, clients want to know the advisors’ values, motivations and how they’re making decisions, Rich said, so websites should focus on these human elements.

Other elements of a website, not surprisingly, should consist of multimedia, like photos and videos. Sanquist is quick to note that RIAs should invest more in getting great photos of their team members, rather than just relegating them to a "team page."

Putting faces and personalities front and center also helps build relationships with prospective clients.

“Advisors should get out the camera or iPhone and take plenty of candid photos, or hire a pro to do it, to make sure that their websites are built with personality and connection that comes with seeing who the team is,” noted Anthony.

“There’s some very good artistic stock photography now that you can use that helps you project and portray your demographic, giving people that visual grounding,” Sanquist said. “They can see themselves or people like themselves working with you.”

Additionally, he strongly recommends advisors use more video on their websites, as it's an effective way to quickly communicate the firm's personality and the people clients would be working with.

Sofia also points to including widgets, like a text-enabled phone number tool, that allows visitors to text in a question about their estate or taxes. This widget has resulted in a 400 percent increase in website conversion rates for Snappy Kraken, he said.

New RIAs should also be mindful to include their appropriate accreditations and testimonials somewhere on the site, though, it shouldn’t be front and center.

Last year, RIAs were restricted from displaying testimonials online. However, recent regulatory changes now permit RIAs to feature client testimonials on their websites, offering authentic insights into the firm's impact and fostering trust with potential clients.

“These testimonials offer prospective clients a real glimpse into the meaningful impact we've made in others' lives, something far more compelling than simply reading about our services or processes. When potential clients can see themselves in a story, they’re much more likely to reach out,” said Sunaina Mehra, partner and senior director of marketing at Francis Financial, in an email.

To help create your first, excellent website, refer to these points listed by Original Box:

• A website has less than eight seconds to capture your ideal client and to give a great first impression.
• Visitors decide whether or not to stick around in a 10 to 20 second window.
• On average, visitors spend up to three minutes viewing a website. 
• It’s within these three minutes you want visitors looking to engage with the business in some way.