MARK'S RESPONSE:

A few of my views on financial advisor’s websites:

• Most advisors spend far too much time & effort on them (time much better spent on the phone performing client acquisition activities interacting with Potential Ideal Clients or people who can refer Potential Ideal Clients ).

• The site should focus on describing the background & skill level of the individuals on the advisor’s comprehensive Deliverables Team (financial planning expert, money management expert, estate planning expert, tax expert & insurance experts).

• Additionally, it is good if resources can be made available as downloads to help clients prepare for each meeting (fact finders, personal expense projections, authorizations to release information, etc).

• While it may be “expected” by Potential Ideal Clients (PICs) for an advisor to have a website, the big mistake I see in sites fall into one of these areas:

• Sites designed to support marketing efforts (rather than to serve existing ideal clients).  EX: it’s a good idea to post your Ideal Client Profile, but better to put it there with instructions for ideal clients to download the pdf & forward to folks they know, rather than as a marketing page.

• Far too many sites have “financial pornography” on them, such as stock quote search functions or “retirement calculators” etc. All references to “the markets,” “financial news,” or any products should be eliminated (That's your job; you are hired to save clients the time needed to keep up with all that.).

• The look & feel of most sites unfortunately support the notion of the advisor as a Subject Matter Expert (investment manager, financial planner or insurance professional) rather than offering fully comprehensive financial services helping each client “get their financial house in perfect order & keep it that way for the rest of their lives.”

Hope this helps,

Mark