Search Engine Friendly Websites

Did you know you can build as many websites as you like using Xsitepro.

Xsitepro produces very search engine friendly websites and is so easy to use anyone can do it.

It is ideal for building a company website OR building lots of topic specific sites, which I would suggest is a better bet, i.e. run sites for pensions, sipps, long term care etc alongside your existing company websites, not in place of it.

The beauty of XsitePro sites is that they are keyword optimised for high ranking in Google etc so there is an obvious advantage in keeping each site on just one subject matter.

For more information just visit www.xsitepro.com

Whether you create (in hours NOT days or weeks) one site or a hundred site the cost is the same as you are buying the developer NOT the sites.

Leads for IFAs

Interesting couple of pages re Leads for IFAS

Click here for further info'

Probate Opportunity for IFAs

Probate Earning Opportunities for IFAs.

Year after year you provide individual one-to-one financial advice for your clients and their families helping them invest for the future and prepare for the unexpected. And then, although thankfully not very often, the unexpected happens, one of your clients’ passes away. Sometimes it happens after a long illness but often it comes completely out of the blue.

So, what happens next? And how can you, as their IFA, help your client’s family now?

Sorting out the affairs of someone who has passed away is not an easy job. Dealing with the Probate on someone’s estate can be complex, tedious, time consuming, stressful and frequently very expensive, often going on for months on end.

It’s not surprising therefore that most people give this work to a local solicitor. Although don’t we always regret it when we see the solicitors final bill?

Everyone agrees that banks and solicitors charge far too much for probate work. Now, Will Drafters Ltd aim to change all that.

Most solicitors will not give a fixed fee quote. Often they quote a percentage of the estate, plus an hourly rate, plus disbursements, and finally, plus VAT!

However, Will Drafters don’t ask clients to sign a blank cheque. They offer a fully inclusive fixed fee service with no hidden extras, no last minute surprises and nothing more to pay – guaranteed.

Will Drafters will beat any other written quote - guaranteed!

The client can choose how much of the work they want Will Drafters to do. House clearance and/or sale can also be included and the client can even choose whether the estate monies are paid into their account or into Will Drafters clients’ account.

For any introductions you give Will Drafters which lead to the successful sale of their probate service they will pay you, on completion, a commission of 15% plus a quarterly bonus (subject to volume).

Will Drafters fee income on each probate case can vary from £500 to £10,000 - with most being £2,000 to £5,000. Therefore, your total earnings could average, say, £300 to £750 per case. Not a bad sum of money for a simple introduction.

Will Drafters also pay commission for Will introductions. To find out more visit www.willdrafters.com

Using Email Newsletters

Email marketing has received mixed reviews over the past few years. Most of revolving around the dreaded scourge of spam.

However at the same time the use of email newsletters has also become both an accepted and some might say necessary tool for any business. This is especially true in a service business where it is important to keep in touch with clients and keep them informed about new opportunities, products and especially legislation changes changes.

Very few IFAS are using quality Email Newsletters, but you are in the perfect profession to utilise these. If you have (say) 300 clients and get (the standard) 3% response that would be 9 clients making an enquiry every time you send a mailing. If you keep this to a reasonable level (I would suggest monthly) that is a very nice extra income for about 45 minutes work a month.

One of the most widely used Newsletters, and many think the best, is Constant Contact.

They have a FREE 60 day trial - why not give it a go? After all it is something you SHOULD be doing anyway. Check out the FREE 60 day trial here

If you need some tips about wrting newsletters or building your email list (legitimately) there are some good articles here

Will Writing

Over 80% of people looking to Make a Will are now looking on the Internet first.

A very high percentage of these then use one of the Online Will Writing Websites.

Probably the best of these is 10MinuteWill.co.uk.

They offer an excellent "affiliate scheme" which you can join, completely FREE HERE

All you need to do is sign up to the 10minutewill.co.uk affiliate scheme then add the banners to your website. They even give you an email signature you can use on every email you send out along with other marketing tips to help you promote the service.

Like any affiliate scheme it needs a little effort but the rewards can be excellent and it can work particularly well for IFAs and their client base. The more you can promote it the higher the rewards can be.

Most of us could do with an extra revenue stream and this is an excellent tool you can use the further monetise your website.

My suggestion would be that you add the banner(s) to your site but also aftre you sign up copy the email signature into your newsletter, or simply email every client in your data-base individually.

Remember its FREE so even if you don't get actively involved it can't do any harm to join.

SIGN UP HERE

Why you MUST have a Website

I just read an article by Philip Calvert on the great IFA Forum at Ecadamy. If you have joined this yet I would suggest you do so. Philip and his partner Martin really know their stuff.

On one of Philips threads (see here) I was alarmed to see that apparently 56% of IFAs still don't have a website. Given that a survey by IFAP shows that "4 out of 5 people looking for an IFA look on the internet first" this is SCARY.

That is 80% of the new business market and you are handing it to the big players.

The article goes on to ask the question about what is important on a website. Martin adds some useful tips but there are ONLY THREE THAT REALLY MATTER!

Contact Us

Contact Us and...................

Contact Us

I usually talk with IFAs who DO have websites and I despair of the times I see websites without even an address and telephone number on the home page.

Come on Guys and Gals!!! Sure, tell them about IHT and A-Day, add your testimonials etc but tell them its COMPLICATED and they need to CALL you at every possible opportunity. Trust me its the guys who are ASKING on the internet that are getting the business. NEVER give the visitor the "answer" on the site - you need them to CALL you.

If you don't have a website get one NOW.

Its easy to market - just join www.searchifa.co.uk and www.unbiased.co.uk and you have INSTANT top level exposure on all the major search engines. If 80% of the business is there you need to get your share or you simpy will not grow your business.

Forget about "my website is there for my clients" - thats bull - its there to get you NEW clients. Existing Clients just do NOT surf IFA websites, its simpy not interesting enough.

Using Articles to Increase Google PageRank

One of the commonest, and probably the best, way to increase your PageRank on Google is to get other websites to link to your site. Google literally counts the number (and quality/relevance) of "links" to your website. The more you have from related the sites the higher your Google PR.

Historically people simply "swapped" links to increase PR but Google has got wise to this and reciprocal links now carry little weight.

What is now required is ONE WAY links into your website!

You can try just asking webmasters to link to you but invariably that will not work unless they are feeling particularly charitable.

The BEST way to get "one-way" links into your site is to submit articles to websites that are looking for content. In return the website will add a link to YOUR site at the bottom of the article.

You should ask for the link to be "content text" based and make it relevant to your site. For example the "signature" on the articles could be something like:-

"This article was submitted John Brown an Independent Financial Adviser in Bath" - and then link the words Independent Financial Adviser in Bath to your site rather than just putting your sites URL as the link.

There are many many websites that accept articles on a variety of subjects but you get more credit (towards) Google PR if the site is relevant - i.e. finance related as opposed to just an article farm. You also need to look for sites that already have a PR rating.

One such site actively looking for Finance Related articles can be seen here

They will NOT ask for a reciprocal link (though you can if you wish to) but in return for a one way link they will insist that the article is ONLY posted on their pages. That doesn't mean you can't re-write it and submit it elsewhere in an amended form.

Another way to get ONE WAY links is to use websites like Pyramidlinking and you can read more about them here

It is important to understand that you will NOT get a lot of "visitors" from the links - that is NOT the point. The point is to get Google PR - the higher the PR the more important Google deems your site to be and the more chance you have of the site apearing highly in Google's index. Once THAT is achieved you are likely to see increased traffic and enquiries from the Google Search Engine.

You can read more about the importance of Google PR here.

Marketing Forum for IFAs

I recently discovered a fantastic new marketing resource for IFAs. The IFA LIFE Business Development Forum for IFAs & Mortgage Brokers.

It offers lots of great discussions and information for IFAs interested in marketing and ideas in general.

Its easy to sign up for and makes a great read. Its far more than the "usual" IFA forums which I have always found to be full of moaners and (rather) silly "tit for tat" arguments.

The two guys running the forum seem to be making a great effort to genuinly encourage ideas and information exchange that will REALLY HELP its members as opposed to just pushing their own ideas and schemes.

I'm new there but its great and I will keep you posted.

Increase Traffic to your Website

How do you get more traffic to your website? The answer is easy but the practicality is a different matter entirely.

The obvious things are

• Get quality content
• Optimise every page on your site

Thats the theory - the reality doesnt work like that.

One thing you could try is TrafficSwarm - this is a website referral system whereby members visit each other's websites. Effectively you get one visitor for every one site you visit from the panel.

How effective it is in providing "clients" I can't really say; but I have tried it out this weekend and it definitley WORKS in the sense that it provides high targetted visitor numbers.

If you have a spare 10 minutes give it a try - its 100% FREE

There IS a "pro" upgrade but my advice would be that you do the FREE version and upgarde later if it works for you.

TrafficSwarm

Firefox Browser

Since Google bought the Firefox browser many thousands of people are now starting to use this as it it faster than Internet Explorer.

There is an article on the "Google for IFAs Blog" - click here

It is important to ensure that your website is visible, and works correctly, on the Firefox browser and well in in Internet Explorer.

Using Articles

Probably the best way to attract traffic is to add an "articles" section to your site. This also increases the likelihood of search engines rating you as they love new and relevant content. Its a good idea to add a new article every few days or so.

There are lots of places you can cut and paste articles - just ensure you include the authors credit. Oh, and add links back to your own pages so you get the benefit.

Find articles here www.articles-directory or search for articles on www.google.co.uk