Google is the largest online search engine as you are most likely aware. However, did you know that establishing authority with Google can help drive more traffic and leads to your blog or website?

You may not have thought much about getting found by potential (and existing) clients online through Google searches, but this has become a much greater probability than it was only a few short years ago for a multitude of reasons that I cover in this post. Establishing authority with Google through a Google+ author profile creates a competitive advantage for driving more traffic and leads to your blog or website.

Smarter Search

Google is smarter about you and they’re putting your searches into context. Google is evaluating your geographical location, your search history, and your social media networks and activities (known as “social signals”) when you search. The power of your network alone can help to surface your content to the top of search results based on a particular topic.

What this means is that if you are connected with clients and prospects in social networks who live within your targeted geographical area, you have a good chance of showing up in their Google searches if your content is specific to what they are searching for (this is where effective keyword research can come in handy).

The reality is, potential clients can find their way to you through Google if you consistently publish strategic, high quality content to your blog and you expand the depth and breadth of your network through social media.

Quality Content

Google has worked hard to behave in a more human, realistic way when seeking to provide the right answers to search queries. They are dedicated to showing quality content and have made major updates to their algorithm to prove this point. Many low quality websites and blogs that took shortcuts have been hit and penalized by these updates over the last couple of years. Pointing consumers to relevant, quality content is Google’s top priority. Therefore, if you’re blogging, you want to make sure you are publishing high quality content.

If you’re posting ghost-written articles from libraries shared by many financial advisors to your blog or website, Google will view this as duplicate content and potentially penalize those pages/posts. Your content also will not stand out in search results nor will it rise to the top. You need to make certain that your content is unique and original first and foremost, or you can forget about being found in Google searches. I’ve conducted numerous experiments with advisor websites and blogs that share the same content offered by the provider. I can find many instances of the EXACT same article posted on many different sites. Google will dismiss this content and identify it as low quality.

Unfortunately, there are just no shortcuts to producing quality content and getting rewarded for your efforts through inbound traffic and leads to your site.

Building Your Author Rank with Google

The most recent thinking about how Google is evaluating content on the web is by the human being who is producing that content. Google is valuing your online reputation through your unique content contributions.

For those of us who are committed to personally publishing our insights and ideas to our blogs, this is great news and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Google is rewarding those of us who work hard to contribute our unique thought leadership through blogging. Google is taking note as to who the publisher is, the quality of the content, and the actual site the content is published on. You can build online authority through the quality of the content you publish!

If you are a credible publisher/blogger, and you contribute original content to blogs other than your own, you are going to help those sites because of your author rank with Google. High quality sites are going to be looking for and even hiring high quality bloggers who have built up their author rank with Google. Likewise, if you hire writers to contribute to your blog, you’re going to get what you pay for. It is going to be a better investment to find a writer who has established authority with Google and has built an excellent online reputation.

An added benefit of setting up your Google author profile is potentially getting more clicks for your content in search results. Take for instance this search query below that I entered into Google “WordPress for financial advisors”.

Of all of the results that show up on page one of Google for this query, not only is my result on top, but you will notice my professional head shot is attached to it. Which of these results would you be most likely to click on? Which one would you trust more?

Which search result would you be most likely to click on?

Search results with attached head shots are showing significantly higher click-through rates. The visual appeal of that head shot adds credibility.

By establishing your Google author profile,  you are able to take control of how your content gets displayed in Google search results and make your entries stand out!

If everyone were producing high quality content and going through the steps to establish their Google authorship, I probably wouldn’t stand out. However, most people either don’t know about this or don’t know how to set it up. Or, they simply aren’t producing their own content! (i.e. ghost-written articles)

Setting up your Google Author Profile

Step One:

To set up your profile with Google, you will need a free Google+ account. Google+ is not only a place to establish your authorship, but it’s also a platform for sharing content and connecting with others who have Google+ accounts. Because of this, you may not be able to set one up due to your compliance restrictions. If that is the case, I would suggest that you request the ability to set up a static Google+ profile that will remain inactive.  This simply means that you wouldn’t be able to engage and share content on Google+, but you would still be able to claim and set up your profile.

Step Two:

Next you will need to complete your Google+ profile. Add your head shot image (the one you want to show in Google search results), add a banner image (optional but looks nicer), and complete each section. Under the “links” section, Google makes it easy for you to link to all of your existing social media profiles. This is important because you are helping Google understand the depth and breadth of your network and your influence. Remember “social signals” do play into search results by taking into account who is sharing your content and how often your content is being shared.

The most important section in your Google+ profile that is relevant to your Google Author Profile is the one that says Contributor To. This is the section where you will list your website, blog, and any other blog you contribute content to.

Add the sites you contribute content to under the “Contributor To” section of your G+ profile

Important Note: If you contribute to multiple blogs across the web that you do not own (i.e. guest posts), and you have no email that exists with that site’s domain, you will need to ask the owner of the site to include your Google+ profile link with the ?rel=author tag in the author box of any posts you contribute. Otherwise, you’re not going to get credit from Google as the contributor of the content. It sounds complicated but it’s really not. The html code they would insert into the author information box or byline would look like this:

<a href=”https://plus.google.com/u/0/110689450307829812987/?rel=author“>Stephanie Sammons</a>

This is the html code that includes my Google+ profile url with the added author tag.

Step Three:

The final step is to make sure that your Google author profile information is set up correctly on your blog. If you have an email address that matches the domain for your blog, you can verify that email address by visiting the Google+ authorship page and submitting your email address to establish your authorship.

If you’re using WordPress as your blogging platform, you will also want to insert your Google+ profile url under your User account (see below). This is quite simple to do as WordPress makes it super easy. If you want to go the extra step to ensure your Google authorship is being verified (especially if your Google+ profile email address differs from your site domain), you can add the above html code from Step 2 into the Bio Box under your WordPress User Account info.

WordPress makes it easy to add your Google+ profile information to your user account.

We go the extra mile and utilize a WordPress plugin on our sites to ensure the Google+ author tag (?rel=author) is being added on every page and post:  Google Author Link Plugin

To verify that your Google author profile is set up properly on your own blog as well as any other blog you contribute to online, you can verify using Google’s Rich Snippits tool.

If this seems like a lot of work, it certainly can be, but WordPress does make it quite easy to set up your Google Author Profile and connect the dots between your site(s) and Google+. There is no guarantee that the other sites you contribute content to will set this up for you, however. My suggestion is to politely request that they do and send them your Google+ profile link with the ?rel=author tag attached (or just send the full html code). If it’s a high quality site you’re contributing to, you certainly want to make sure Google is giving you credit for the content.

If you’re blogging or thinking about launching a blog, building your authority with Google can help you gain a competitive advantage in online search! Are you building authority with Google? Is this something you will work to incorporate into the building of your online reputation?

Technorati Media is a leading authority on digital influence and social media with a reach of over 130 million unique monthly visitors. Recently, Technorati Media published their 2013 Digital Influence Report. The findings regarding the power of blogging were significant for financial advisors and business professionals.

If you’re a financial advisor and you’re not blogging, you may want to consider launching one. Blogging is the most superior form of digital marketing for building influence. Influence leads to growth in traffic, connections, relationships, and sales. Simply put, building influence through blogging builds business.

The Majority of Online Influencers are Bloggers

Let’s look at another reason as to why it’s important for financial advisors to blog. According to the Technorati Digital Influence Report, 86% of influencers blog. You may think of yourself as being influential, but if you’re not blogging in the digital age, you’re likely not going to be influencing anyone online.

It doesn’t matter how active you are on social networks if you’re not connecting people to something…like your unique, editorial content.

Influential financial advisors are and will be bloggers

Currently, less than 20% of financial advisors are blogging, but that number is going to grow as more firms open up to it from a regulatory perspective, and as more advisors realize that they need to be self-publishing to attract and retain clients in the digital age.

Blogs Have Significant Influence Over Consumer Purchases

The Technorati research report for 2013 also indicated that blogs have significant influence on consumer purchasing decisions. Blogs rank #3 behind retail and brand sites. What this means is that YOU can build your own brand through your blog. Your blog can be a credible resource for leading consumers to make better financial and wealth management decisions. More importantly, you can compete with the media giants!

Text-based Blogging Still Dominates

Although other forms of media such as publishing images and videos on your blog are gaining ground, text-based blogging is still the number one choice of influencers who blog. Video blogging and Podcasting are also becoming a more popular mediums for creating and publishing content to your blog, but nowhere near the popularity of using text.

Do You Want to Be an Influencer Online?

If you have no desire to be an influencer online, then perhaps blogging isn’t a good fit for you. Most of the financial advisors I know, however, pride themselves on influencing others. They lead their clients through good and bad times through their communications. As more and more of your clients and target audience are spending time online researching and learning, doesn’t it make sense for you to be there providing your insights as well? If you’re not, they are going to get their information from your competitors.

Think of blogging as a new platform for your communications and insights that can be widely dispersed across the web and social networks, rather than locked within the walls of your office.

Blogging isn’t difficult, especially when you leverage a powerful and flexible platform like WordPress. WordPress is the leading platform of choice for bloggers, and I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Proprietary software systems just can’t keep up with an open source platform where thousands of developers build new features and improve it each and every year. Want to create your online masterpiece? Make no mistake about it,  WordPress is the best self-publishing tool for financial advisors.

Blogging simply takes some time and discipline. It’s not anymore difficult than that. The benefits of blogging over time can create opportunities for your business if you make the commitment to build the asset.

If you want to become an influencer in a wired world, you’re going to have to blog. The sooner you start, the better.

The specific comments in the article about the use of social media in financial advisory practices was centered around fear, risk, and a very limited understanding of what social media really is. In fact, I believe the article completely misses the point on social media.

Social media is a tool that facilitates communication, engagement, and relationship cultivation with real people. It’s a tool that, if used correctly, can create significant trust and loyalty between you and your connections. What financial advisor doesn’t want to achieve that?

Social media makes your network more scalable

-Gary Vaynerchuk

Don’t ask yourself if you can benefit from social media “marketing”, ask yourself if you can benefit from developing new relationships and strengthening existing ones.

You absolutely need a professional online platform and presence that ideally showcases your unique thought leadership perspectives, but equally as important (if not more so) is what social media affords by way of relationship development. It’s not just a tool for sharing content, it’s a tool for building community. A focus on content AND community results in the potential to truly build online influence (Whether or not you reach that potential is determined by the true value that you add to your community.)

In this day and age, it’s the online influencers who are going to take market share. Resisting social media is only going to delay the pain, not eliminate it.

Think beyond using social media to educate (you still need to do this) and consider the bigger picture:  help your clients and prospects solve a problem, get smarter, and achieve more. That’s a win-win for them, and for you.

I was inspired to refresh this blog post that I’d written over a year ago after reading Brooke Southall’s post on RIABiz.com entitled “6 Ways RIAs Can Hone Their Expertise in Social Media by Acting More Like Journalists“.

He’s right. It’s true. We’re all self-publishers now. If you’ve been blogging for any length of time, you probably already understand the importance of self-publishing, but perhaps you can benefit from hearing it again. Think of this post as a little reminder of the importance of your efforts and a boost to keep you going!

Creating and self-publishing your own content is not necessarily difficult (thanks to WordPress), but it does take time, some creative thinking, a well-planned content strategy, and ongoing research. I believe it also takes some confidence and willingness to put yourself out there and accept that it’s not going to be perfect. Content creation (through blogging) is a craft, and you will get better with practice and time.

Keep in mind that I use the words “content creation”, “self-publishing”, and “blogging” interchangeably throughout this post and other related posts. The blog is the actual digital software tool that effectively formats, categorizes, and showcases your self-published content. A blog can be utilized alongside your website (or completely separate from your website). See “7 Core Elements of a Powerful Financial Blog” for more information on how to structure your blog.

A powerful and professional financial blog can help you enhance your online credibility, establish yourself as an expert with your target markets, develop relationships, and ultimately attract the right kinds of clients into your business.

Quality content generates visibility and builds online influence for financial advisors

The power of the influence will be in the hands of the quality content creators. These are the financial advisors who are taking advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity to build online equity through self-publishing their thought leadership insights. If you want to advance your personal or professional brand, there is no better way today than self-publishing.

Consumers are thirsting for knowledge.

Think about all of the low quality information on the web. Everyone’s looking for shortcuts and the quality of content suffers tremendously. It’s just hard to find trusted information, especially when it comes to financial insights and guidance. This means that there is a huge opportunity for financial advisor content creators!

What are the secrets to successful content creation? Quality and Consistency.

Developing and consistently publishing your own quality content that takes into account the unique needs of your target demographic, your geographical location, and your knowledge and expertise can establish you as the go-to authority online and help you get found by the right people. However, you also need to be interesting, relevant, and not afraid to share your opinions!

Self-publish high quality content that speaks to the needs, concerns, life changes, goals, and dreams of your clients. 

What questions are your clients asking? What trending topics are interesting, exciting, and perhaps relevant to their lives? How can you coach, support, and guide your clients through the maze of news, information, and garbage out there?

Ultimately, with all of the noise, YOU need to be the voice of reason that your clients and prospects listen to, and the media channel they tune into. You can accomplish this through self-publishing. Otherwise, your clients can potentially be persuaded by your self-publishing competitors who are showing up with answers, ideas, and help in the places where your clients and prospective clients spend their time online.

Leverage Blogging Technology

To facilitate the creation and self-publishing of your thought leadership insights you’re going to need to launch a blog if you haven’t done so already (at last check less than 20% of all financial advisors have blogs.) WordPress is an open source content management system that is by far the most recognized and respected platform for blogs. We’ve put together an online guide for why financial advisors should use WordPress.

Brochure-based, static websites just aren’t built to allow for simple media publishing and easy content distribution/discovery. Traditional websites are also for basic information about your business and client tools for activities such as logging into their accounts!  Most financial advisor websites serve as client portals, not tools for developing relationships.

A professional blog can become a piece of your digital portfolio. It’s time to move away from the concept that everything needs to live on your website. Blogging allows for your thought leadership to get out beyond your website, to where the people are. It allows your content to gain visibility in search, social media, and email inboxes. (See: The Power of Franchising Your Online Presence)

Blogging technology (WordPress) enables easy self-publishing for all of your content, supports multiple forms of media (text, video, images, pdfs, podcasts/audio), and integrates seamlessly with social media channels and email marketing platforms.

A professional blog site is a digital asset that can be built around who you are as a person, who you help, and how you help them. It’s focused on relationship development (helping) not selling products and services.

Content is the engine that drives influence.

Positioning yourself as a thought leader using the original content that you create from your knowledge, experiences, and insights is extremely powerful in building online influence. Influence builds trust, which is critical for financial advisors in developing relationships.

Building influence, by default, breeds business growth. It opens doors to new opportunities, from introductions and referrals to speaking engagements, media exposure, strategic business partnerships, and much more. Think beyond new clients. You can’t even imagine the opportunities that can come from establishing yourself as a financial planning thought leader online.

Blogs also make content easy for your contacts and social network connections to share. Want to get found by your ideal clients and prospects? Create interesting, insightful, entertaining content that is relevant to their needs. Teach them. Give them answers. Great content gets passed on and shared through email, social networks, and even through print.

Everyone has something worthy to share that can help others. You have a story and a message. You have a unique value proposition in working with your clients. Who is hearing your message currently? Instead of speaking to one client or prospect at a time, how about speaking to thousands?

Choose your content medium.

You don’t have to be a good writer to blog. It helps, and I would argue that good writers have a great opportunity to stand out. You can also improve your writing skills, or hire editorial help. Are you comfortable in front of a video camera? Do you take interesting pictures? Does speaking into a microphone and recording your own podcast sound appealing? What about recorded powerpoint presentations?

Choose one medium or combine many. Blogging technology allows for that flexibility.

Map out your content strategy.

If you’re serious about building a powerful and influential online presence, quality content is what works. But it won’t work without a well-thought out plan and strategy. Your content strategy should be unique to your knowledge and experiences, as well as the mediums you are comfortable with (don’t produce videos if you’re not comfortable on camera!)

Becoming a self-publisher is a way for you to lead, teach, inspire, and educate your target markets in a public setting and reach a bigger audience. As people get to know who you are and what you’re about through your blogging efforts, they will get to know, like, and ultimately trust you. That can and will lead to business opportunities.

Most importantly, don’t be boring and stale. This is the trap that so many financial professionals fall into with their marketing, both offline and online. You have to dig deeper to make your blog strategy soar! Show your personality. Show your beliefs. Show your life. Try to connect on a personal level with your readers. Blogging is both an art and a science. It takes time to find your voice.

Make the commitment to blogging.

You’re going to need a healthy dose of commitment to make self-publishing work for you. You can’t give up too soon. It can take anywhere from 1 to 3 years to start really seeing the impact on your business. Self-publishing through blogging is a long-term strategy. It’s like saving for retirement. You have to build your equity one piece at a time, but in the end, the rewards are great.

If you want to learn more about launching your own blog, you can go here to schedule a free assessment to determine if blogging is right for you. I’ve been blogging for 4 years, and within just a few minutes I will be able to assess if you’re a good candidate for self-publishing

What are your thoughts about self-publishing? Have I convinced you of the importance of self-publishing? Please share them in the comments below!

What works in social media (for financial advisors) is simple in theory, but more difficult in practice.

The reason it’s more difficult in practice is that to achieve meaningful business outcomes, social media requires your personal involvement, at least on some level.

Consider this:  Would you have an intern do your live, in-person networking for you? Would you have an intern deliver your presentation to a room full of qualified potential clients? Would you have an intern engage in direct conversations with potential clients? The answer is most likely “no.” I don’t know many (if any) financial advisors who would agree to being represented or replaced by an intern in these kinds of live, in-person settings. Perhaps, however, a trusted team member or members would be suitable to represent your firm and your messages publicly. Still, if it’s not you, there is a price to pay.

Being personally and genuinely engaged in the content development (your messaging) and building your community (online social networking) is the foundation for what works in social media. 

Don’t believe me? Just look around. Many highly successful business people who are leveraging content marketing and social media are not outsourcing or separating their personalities from their marketing efforts. Instead, they are deeply integrating these components. (see Michael Hyatt and Ric Edelman). Think Richard Branson and Oprah as well. These individuals have built their successful brands around who they are as people.

The Great Resistance

If you’re like most financial advisors, you might find that having to be personally involved in social media is a very painful truth. You don’t have the time to learn new tools and technologies, nor do you have the desire to. You don’t want communication to be more complex and networking to be more sophisticated (your cheese has been moved). You don’t believe in investing in something for your business that may not provide an immediate return (imagine if your best clients evaluated the value of your services based upon short-term performance).

If you want to be genuine, authentic, believable, and successful with a social media program, get personally involved in the content creation and social networking process. 

Get the coaching, guidance, and support you need, but don’t outsource your personality in the process or you will end up wasting even more time and money (it just doesn’t work). Instead, align your team (and/or outside partners) to support and facilitate your program as well as serve as amplifiers of your message. They can help you run your program as more of a “team effort.” Every successful leader has a great team in place, whether that team is internal or external.

Also, consider integrating social media tools into your business that can help automate the distribution of your messages (not the actual creation of your thought leadership). If you outsource your value messages, you may find that what’s being published on your blog and shared on your social profiles doesn’t really speak to who you are and what you stand for. It’s just not authentic and it won’t build trust.

The bottom line is, you need to learn the art of networking in the digital age. Infusing your personality into your social media program is extremely valuable in building trust. If you commit to being personally involved in social media, your true authentic self is going to shine through, and that’s what your ideal clients are going to be attracted to.

It’s your voice, and your original thoughts or opinions that are shared through your blog and on social networking sites that will lead to new and deeper relationships. That’s how you build a trusted and loyal network in the digital age. It doesn’t matter if you have a firm of 20 advisors who help contribute to the core thought leadership and social networking, or you’re a one man/women practice.

It’s the people and their respective personalities sharing the messages that facilitate relationship development opportunities and attract the right kinds of clients into your business. It’s you and your team.

Shift Your “Time” Paradigm

Want to find time to integrate a comprehensive social media program (blogging/content development, social networking, email marketing) into your business?

View your social media program as a replacement for your existing non-productive marketing, communication, and business development activities that you may currently be spending time and money on (you may need to do an honest analysis here).

If you make the time for a comprehensive social media program and make it a priority in your business, you will begin to realize that marketing and communication with clients and prospects can become much more cost efficient. Accelerate your knowledge and stay on the cutting edge by working with people who know the tools and strategies and are able to provide tracking, insights, analysis, and guidance.

The longer you wait, the more difficult and expensive it will be to catch up on building this digital equity that is there for the taking. Building digital equity is a bit like saving for retirement. It takes time to build that nest egg and you have to keep adding to it consistently. 

The secret to what works in social media for financial advisors is…YOU and your personal, authentic contribution. Whether your contribution is at a higher level or you are in the trenches, having your name, your messages, and your personality infused in the process will make your program successful!