I Cracked the SEO Code

The need for SEO

I spend a lot of time creating stunning website designs for my clients. My firm’s services are more expensive than those charged by high-volume design firms that use templates or themes.

It was frustrating for clients (and for us) to check Google Analytics and see an anemic number of monthly visitors. Our websites were great if the goal was to validate the credibility of our advisor clients, but they weren’t generating leads.

According to one survey from 2019 (discussed here), 34% of prospects start their search for an advisor with an online search.

A more recent study (discussed here) increased that percentage to 42%, which was more than the 32% who started their search by asking for referrals.

The quality of websites continues to be important. The same survey found that 98% of prospects believe a website is “somewhat or very important when choosing an advisor.”.

To generate qualified leads, advisors need both an outstanding website and SEO.

Your competitors use SEO

My SEO vendor told me relatively few investment advisors use SEO. I’m not surprised, given the obstacles.

You can easily determine how many of your competitors are paying for SEO,

Here’s an easy way to check: Google “financial advisor [your city].” You will see three levels of results;

1. Sponsored ads, which are at the top of the page;
2. Organic listings related to the map of your area; and
3. Organic placement, starting with the first page.

Check out which of your competitors appear in any or all these categories. If they appear as a sponsored ad, they are paying for that placement. If they appear next to the map or below it and are on the first or second page of the Google results, it’s highly likely they are paying for SEO.

What are the numbers?

SEO is driven by data. It’s easy to see how many people are searching monthly for a keyword or phrase.

These numbers tell a story:

When you calculate this volume on a yearly basis, the numbers are staggering. Every advisor should want their fair share of the 1,356,000 prospects searching for an advisor online.

When you drill down, the ability to generate qualified leads with a properly constructed SEO campaign is apparent.

I recently ran the numbers for an advisor in a small, mid-western city. We were surprised to find almost 400 people a month search for “financial advisor [name of city]”

Our journey

My firm’s journey of trial and error will help you avoid our mistakes. Here’s what I found.

You need infrastructure

Implementing a successful SEO campaign is labor intensive, requiring a significant infrastructure.

Without getting too deeply into the weeds, your SEO firm needs to do keyword research, on-page optimization, develop content strategy, construct an outreach link-building campaign, come up with a technical audit and improvement plan, and have a robust reporting system in place. It should also be able to engage in online public relations and integrate your SEO campaign with your social media strategy.

I tried many solo and small SEO practitioners. None succeeded.

Your friend’s nephew, who is “good with computers,” isn’t going to have the bandwidth or expertise to be an effective SEO resource.

I didn’t have success until I found a large SEO firm, with over 150 employees.

Communication is key

Working with an SEO vendor requires intense collaboration between the vendor, the content writer and the client.

When I used a vendor whose native language wasn’t English, communication faltered. There were also cultural differences.

Time zone issues were often the final straw.

The founder of our vendor is based in the U.S. He is the primary contact for our clients.

Qualifications count

SEO is highly technical. Google is constantly changing the rules. Your SEO vendor needs to be on top of the latest developments.

Anyone can call themselves an SEO expert. It’s the wild west.

A legitimate SEO expert needs to have a daunting number of skills. These include critical thinking, social skills, content writing, technical and programming expertise, data skills, and analytic skills.

That’s why an infrastructure is necessary. It takes a village.

My vendor is a U.S.-educated physicist with a graduate degree in manufacturing systems engineering from Stanford.

Here’s a list of the largest SEO companies in the U.S. in 2022. They no doubt have the necessary infrastructure and qualifications to craft an effective SEO campaign, although I have no experience with them.

Who are its clients?

I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel.

Companies that are household names have the resources (including the budget) to do due diligence on SEO agencies.

Ask your SEO vendor to provide a representative list of their clients. Do you recognize any of the names on that list?

Our vendor listed Toyota, Garnier, Maybelline, Tim Hortons and L’Oréal as clients. That gave him credibility.

Content is key

While there are many components to an effective SEO campaign, high quality, original content is critical.

As a practical matter, this means generating at least two articles a month, each of which should be 750-1,000 words in length, and at least one infographic every other month. There’s evidence that infographics play a critical role in elevating your Google ranking.

This aspect of SEO presented the most challenging problem for me. Few SEO firms (of any size) understand the advisory business and especially the regulatory constraints on content.

My breakthrough came when I structured a unique arrangement with my vendor. They focus on the strategic and technical aspects of SEO. Their strategists told me what topics and keywords would most benefit my clients. Our team of writers generate the actual content.

If an SEO vendor tells you they can write the content necessary to elevate your SEO ranking, ask for samples. You are likely to be disappointed.

Insist on metrics

SEO is driven by metrics. I never understood why previous vendors refused to set clear goals so I could hold them accountable.

Your vendor should be able to give you a projection of how much traffic they can drive to your website. They should also be able to provide an estimate of the percentage of that traffic that will turn into leads.

While the results from advertising are almost immediate, you should be prepared to stick with your traditional SEO campaign for 3-6 months at a minimum.

At what cost?

When I investigated SEO firms with the qualifications I required, it became apparent that my clients couldn’t afford them. Some charged as much as $10,000 a month with a minimum contract period of six months.

The sweet spot for my clients was $3000 or less for a traditional campaign and under $2000 per month if they elected to advertise. These two approaches to SEO shouldn’t be bundled together, because you might elect to focus on traditional SEO initially, since that’s where most people click.

In order to make this work, we agreed to include our cost for content creation in these fees. We are paid by my SEO vendor.

My vendor agreed to those parameters.

“Cost” is a relative term. The fees paid for SEO should be an investment and not an expense.

I conservatively estimate an average cost of $30.00 per click. It will take 20 clicks to generate one lead. I assume a low conversion rate of 20%. If it takes five leads to convert one prospect into a client, the cost per client is $3,000.

Most clients tell me their average fee is around $7,500 per client and their clients typically stay with them for a minimum of five years.

The breakeven should be less than one year.

Reverse engineering

There is no shortage of advice from marketing consultants about content likely to generate leads.

Here’s my take:

With an SEO campaign, your content should be geared towards keywords prospects are searching for online. The leads generated will most likely be qualified leads from those looking for someone with your expertise, in your geographic area (or nationally, if that is your focus).

Your SEO provider should have a strategic team that researches keywords being used online by those searching for an advisor. It should then “reverse engineer” this process by suggesting content that features those keywords. This process should be tailored to your unique situation.

Dan trains executives and employees in the lessons based on the research on his latest book, Ask: How to Relate to Anyone. His online course, Ask: Increase Your Sales. Deepen Your Relationships, is currently available.

Read more articles by Dan Solin