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Advisor Marketing Made Simple
How To Make Your Website Clearly Speak To Your Niche (Taylen Sather)
00:42:37
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- [00:00]
Kendra
Hey, it's Kendra and Taylor and we're here to make Advisor Marketing simple. Joining us today is Taylen, the owner of Arise Design. He specializes in modern websites, branding and logos that help advisors stand out in a crowded market. Our conversation will help you understand how do you use design and copy to clearly communicate your niche on your website. Now, if you've been listening to the show, you know that many advisors who join us have done the hard work of choosing a niche, but when Taylor and I review their website, it does not clearly speak to who they want to attract. So in addition to our conversation today, Taylor and I created a comprehensive 10 point checklist to help you make sure that your niche is crystal clear on your website so it attracts and converts more of your ideal clients. So go ahead, jump in the description right now before you forget and sign up for this brand new resource. Everybody's telling you you need to communicate your niche on your website, but very few people are showing you exactly how to do that. And that's what this checklist we created will do for you. Welcome to Advisor Marketing Made Simple. Today we're having a conversation with Taylin and we're really excited to have you here today with us, Taylon.
- [01:21]
Taylor
Thanks. Yeah, I'm really excited to get going. Hopefully we can offer some value to some advisors and. Yeah, cool.
- [01:28]
Kendra
The main reason I wanted to bring you on the show to have a conversation is that I've noticed a trend with some of our advisor guests. Occasionally they've done the amazing work of choosing a niche and then they don't leverage that niche to its competitive advantage potential. They may have a niche, but then when Taylor and I look at their website, we can't even find the exact niche on the website. It's very muddy, it's very broad. So today what I really want to have a conversation with you about is how do we take a niche and clearly communicate it through copy and design so that you can stand out against other advisors. So I'd love to know just from your perspective, you know, what do you think are some of the most common mistakes that you see when advisors are trying to communicate their niche on their website?
- [02:17]
Taylor
Yeah, I think there's a few things I think the biggest one that I would think about right off the top of my head is often their headings. They'll maybe communicate what their niche is. But then as you go down throughout the website, there's no, you know, further communication about that. So I think the big thing there is, is throughout your website you want to be. Yeah, clearly Communicating your niche in as many, you know, possible scenarios as you can. So whether that be, you know, FAQs, whether that be just like in your headings, I think really just consistently communicating that is a big one because I feel like, yeah, like you're saying, like, often it gets very lost in communication. And I think I've seen a very similar thing where a lot of the websites that I've also seen and even worked with, whether they're, you know, transitioning into a new website or just, you know, scrolling advisor websites is, yeah, they're very good at, you know, saying something about their niche but then never really talking about it again. And so I think it's, yeah, really important to address that throughout the coffee writing, throughout the SEO, as well as, you know, imagery and branding and things of that nature too. So.
- [03:20]
Kendra
Yeah, and when you're thinking about some of those, you know, specific, you know, further communications you mentioned faq, what are some of those other areas that you specifically look for on the niche front? If you were kind of doing a visual scan of the homepage, what specific areas do you typically create clearer communication?
- [03:37]
Taylor
Yeah, I think, yeah, a lot of advisors will, like I say, they'll tend to only communicate it in the one area. And I think there's. There's more of a blueprint to a website than just that one instance. So for us, we often look at, you know, what are the pain points, what are the benefits that you can offer to those prospects and to your clients? And so I feel like, again, it just, it comes down to they might address it in their heading and say, you know, we work with physicians as an example, but then you go on and, you know, they talk about being a fiduciary or they talk about being maybe a CFP or, you know, things like this, but they don't actually address how that helps the prospect or how that helps the client. And so I think it's really important to communicate it in more than just the heading or more than just the hero section even. But adjust it throughout the whole website. Right. So like, even in lead magnets, like everything throughout your website, you know, you want to adjust your, your pain points, how you handle those pain points, potentially offering them that value through lead magnets, even calls to action. Literally anything on your website should address your niche and, you know, do that well, as opposed to just, you know, talking about, like I say, being a fiduciary or cfp, you know, those, those things. So.
- [04:50]
Kendra
And Taylor, I know you're an Internet sleuth. What kind of Places. Have you seen niche messaging worked in really well from a website perspective?
- [05:02]
Taylen
Yeah, I think Taylor hit the nail on the head here. It's going to be difficult here with Taylor and Taylor. Taylor hit the nail on the head where, you know, he said we need to, we need to communicate this in multiple areas on our website. It can't just be in one single place. And one thing I do want to clear up is we might use some marketing lingo here. Taylor mentioned the hero section of your website. So this is the very top section of your website. If you go to somebody's homepage, the very first thing you see without even scrolling would be the hero area of somebody's website. And it's a really valuable space because the user doesn't have to scroll. It's immediately shown to them. So that is one of the most important places to communicate your niche, who you do your best work for, how you help them, how they can take action. But that can't be it, right? So to Taylor's point, having case studies on your website, having a section that's answering common questions, addressing common pain points for that niche. The content on the site, we've seen situations where, you know, advisor says they specialize in widows or people who are recently divorced. But then all the content on their blog or their podcast is all about just general retirement planning and Roth conversions and real technical type, you know, planning topics. So we want to make sure our content is paired, shared with our niche as well. Otherwise it just kind of feels like there's this disconnect and it's hard to take that person seriously. Are they really committed to that niche or not? Taylor, one thing I'm curious about is you as a website designer, developer, marketing agency, helping advisors, do you help and work with advisors who don't have a niche? And if so, do you find it more challenging to do your best work? For advisors who want to cast a really wide net, does it make it more challenging to create the design, to create the copy? I mean, how should advisors think about when they're hiring an agency or hiring somebody like you, if they don't have a niche, does that just make it a more challenging job?
- [06:49]
Taylor
It definitely does make it more challenging, I think. Yeah. This is a conversation that I often have with advisors in even my free assessments. A lot of advisors struggle with whether to niche or whether not to. And I kind of describe that, you know, if you're not going to niche, you're going to have a much more, you know, general and broad sense of people. Whereas if you do niche, you have a much more specific game plan to tackle. And I think this, this brings in a lot of different conversations as well. Like, this brings in the SEO conversation, like you said, like branding, imagery, those things as well. It's a lot easier to work with somebody that is in a niche, and that's because we're, again, specifically addressing that prospect as opposed to everybody. So that entails, you know, your branding, whether that's, you know, seller, color psychology, things like that. If you're using like a blue, that evokes, you know, trust, professionalism. So it starts with, you know, your branding, and then it goes into, you know, your imagery. Are you addressing that prospect or are you, you know, just highlighting people on a beach? You know, it's. It's a lot easier to work with somebody that's in a niche because you can, you can kind of quantify it. Like I said, on the SEO front, keywords. Right. So do you have, and I don't know if I should preface what keywords are here, essentially just search terms that people are looking up would be, I know, kind of a broad scope of what that is. But, yeah, with your keywords, you're looking for easy keywords to rank for with high search volume here. And so with people that are niched, it's a lot easier to address, you know, physicians or millennial physicians to get even more specific and address specifically what are they searching up and what are they looking for. And then from there, we can then use that language, throw it all throughout the website, make sure that the imagery again, communicates with that branding, all that stuff. So to your question, Absolutely. It's way easier with the niche, and it's a lot more difficult with a broad perspective. You know, broad entails branding, that can be a lot, like I say, broader, whereas with a niche, it's. It's very specific.
- [08:42]
Taylen
So, yeah, yeah, I think maybe one thing that we could clarify, I think there's this common misconception that niche means you have to get ultra specific. I always use the example of my, my buddy Adam, who specializes in private practice, optometry owners who are looking to sell their practice and use those proceeds to then fund their retirement plan. Very, very specific. And we look at people like Adam and others that have really tight niches like that and think that, well, if I'm going to niche down, I have to do something like that. And I think that's where advisors get fearful about really committing to a niche. And so one thing I like to highlight is you can kind of start Slow here. You don't have to go all in and get that hyper specific. You can still take great advantage of the hero space on your website. I'll just use kind of myself as an example here and say, you know, it could say I, I help people over age 50 transition into retirement, right? Like, fairly broad, but like, it's still specific enough where someone can say, okay, that, that generally sounds like me. And then you can start to experiment a little bit with different segments of that niche through case studies, for example. So I help people over age 50 transition into retirement. Sounds like me. I'm not sure I want to learn a little bit more. I scroll down and now there's, you know, three different case studies. And this is where you could say, well, maybe one case study is, you know, an optometrist, one is a lawyer, and, you know, one is, you know, somebody who's already retired. Like, you can play around different segments of that niche. We're not saying that you have to go all in and get as hyper focused as my friend Adam here. So kind of start broad without hurting yourself too much and still being able to do good work with an agency like Talen. And you can start to, you know, play around with some of the different segments through your other marketing areas on your website and, you know, on social media and other places as well.
- [10:27]
Taylor
I think too, to add to that, like, I do work with a lot of people that aren't like hyper specific like you're mentioning. What they'll often do is, like, you say, like, whether that's case studies or even just have a dropdown that addresses specifically. This is the entrepreneurial section. I have somebody that actually works with, you know, lawyers, they work with doctors, they work with other people as well. But their niche is primarily just millennials. Right? And so, like I say, working with a more specific niche is way easier on my end. Way easier on your end as well, just for the processes and things that you put in place. However, a more broader niche can also definitely be tackled too. And there's ways to do that, right? Like, we could even talk about landing pages as well and building out landing pages, you know, specifically for a segment of your niche rather than, you know, communicating that hyper specific one on your website all throughout.
- [11:15]
Taylen
So, and, and by the way, this is why Kendra and I like to talk about pain points, because the pain points that, you know, the three biggest pain points you help people with could apply to doctors and dentists and attorneys and all sorts of different, you know, demographics and careers and industries and jobs so you know, when we start with the pain points first and then kind of back into who does this apply to? Yeah, you might end up with a wide variety of industries for sure.
- [11:38]
Taylor
Yeah.
- [11:39]
Kendra
And before we kind of jump into even talking about more specifically some of these areas and what that looks like, something I think that would be kind interesting to think about is, you know, if you are an advisor who is not niched, you know, what does getting 5 to 10% more niched for you look like? It could be something like adding a dropdown in your navigation that says hey, here's who we serve and you have a couple kind of buckets there and maybe it's those three buckets you have if you're an advisor who is already niched, looking at, you know, top of folder, the pain points services explained in niche specific terms. So instead of using things like comprehensive financial planning, using maybe something like hey, we help business owners with tax efficient exit planning, things like that. So I think one of the elements of niching if you're not all the way there is like it can be a progressive process that you back into or lean into over time. I know that I've had clients who actually did that process. Exactly. And it was, it was not an overnight thing for them for sure. All right, so let's talk a little bit about that above the fold messaging because I think this is one of the highest impact areas Taylor and I talk about a lot when we're working with advisors on the show that you can get a lot of kind of bang for your buck just adjusting the above the fold messaging. So Taylor, what advice do you have about the above the fold, like what should be in that above the fold kind of hero section on advisors website to make their niche clear?
- [13:07]
Taylor
Sure. Yeah. There's a lot of things I think the, the first thing that I would refer to there again ties back to your imagery and your branding. First impressions are obviously what they see first. Right. So making sure that you have really clear imagery there as to who you're actually identifying with. So for example, I have a client that works with Christians. Right. So with Christians we're looking for, you know, church imagery or you know, things similar to that. So that'd be the first thing that I would tackle. And then like Taylor was mentioning earlier, this is, yeah, the hero section. Typically your hero also includes your heading one which I would argue is probably the most important heading on your website on homepage. And that's because search engines like Google index that first. And so you know, you're heading One I'm looking for, what do you do and who do you do it for? Right. So I'm not looking for, you know, we're fiduciaries that are going to help you. I'm looking for, you know, I do financial planning for millennial physicians. Right. So you would. You'd kind of highlight that within your heading, and then from that, you'd also. I'd typically look for a description as well, that then kind of explains that a little better. And so, you know, breaking down more of what you do, who you do it for, maybe the processes, things like that, as well as, you know, your call to action. I want to know what's the primary call to action on your website. So for most advisors, that looks like a free assessment or, you know, a complimentary assessment, things like that. It's kind of nice there because it's a easy offering where people want to, you know, sign up for that, whereas they don't want the large commitment of, you know, actually enrolling in your entire process. You're. You're. You're booking a free assessment there. So I think, yeah, you're heading your imagery, a description as well, and then clear call to action is definitely beneficial in that. Above the fold.
- [14:48]
Taylen
Yeah, Taylor, I like what you said there. Just your example of a good heading in the hero section, which, by the way, is synonymous with above the fold. So this hero area, your example, is so simple. Like, I think one of the things that we often see with advisors, they. They try to get too clever with the hero section, and it's like this beautifully written, clever sentence, but, like, we don't know what that really means. And so really writing these headlines in the hero section, in plain English, it might seem like, really? So, like, I do financial planning for millennial physicians. It sounds like so simple. But a millennial physician who lands on your website is like, oh, interesting. Like, that's me, and I'm looking for some financial planning help. The hero section is not going to answer all of their questions, of course, but it's like, I'm generally in the right area. Now let me scroll down and start to learn a little bit more to see if I'm truly in the right spot and if I should move forward and take action with this person.
- [15:38]
Taylor
Yep. I think there's two aspects to that as well, Taylor, like you're talking about. I think there's SEO and there's copywriting. A lot of the financial advisors that I work with, as surprising as this might sound, would deal more with copywriting than they deal with SEO, which essentially entails that they have something that they want to say, and often that can be a good thing that they want to say. But communicating it is where it's a little difficult there. Right. So they're trying to say, you know, maybe it's like aligning your wealth. Right, Something like that. They. They have this clear picture of what they want to say, but that doesn't actually communicate with the niche in the way that it should. And so that's where that SEO conversation comes in, where financial planning for millennial physicians doesn't sound super exciting. One, the niche is able to identify with and say, hey, I'm a millennial, and I'm a physician, so great. This is for me. And then two, that's actually actionable when it comes to SEO. That's a search term that people are searching out for. And I think with your headings, you want to be really intentional about what you're putting in your headings and the keywords that you're putting in your headings. And so while you can address those more copywriting aspects that a financial planner typically goes to, I would do that in the descriptions as opposed to the headings. So, you know, with your heading, you want to be very hyper specific on what you're looking for. And then, yeah, like, it should be in plain text. It shouldn't be super elaborate and complex.
- [16:56]
Taylen
So. And I think it's. You bring up a really good point there with SEO. I think we also have to warn our listeners here that you can go too far in that direction as well, where, you know, we've seen keyword stuffing where, you know, you're trying to capture every little keyword or trying to abuse a certain keyword. You know, I'm a San Diego financial planner doing financial planning for people in San Diego. You know, like, you know, that doesn't really do anything for the user, and you're probably going to get penalized for Google. So you can go too far in that direction as well.
- [17:24]
Taylor
You definitely can. Yeah. I like to limit that heading a little to two to three lines is kind of the max there. As well as in that section, we typically contain that heading as well. So it's not spanning the full length, which entails that it will be a bit of a shorter heading. So with your heading one, you want to be, like I say, specific, but you make a very good point about SEO and that you can definitely go off the rails.
- [17:47]
Kendra
So something you guys said brought up kind of one of the cardinal rules of copywriting, which is Aim to be clear, not clever. And I think a lot of times we see that with copy people trying to kind of create these very flowery statements. And the other thing that kind of support that is that when you look at the average reading level that most people comprehend at 50% of American adults actually comprehend best at like a sixth grade reading level. So when we're talking about clear, simple, easy to understand headlines, it should be written for your prospect, not your peers is what I like to say. Like it should read well to someone you serve, but it might not read to Taylor the same way. Like it could sound really simple because he's an advisor. We have this additional domain expertise and to take a little bit of what you shared, Kaylin, and then explain what that looks like in practice. I pulled up a couple websites that you have written with the above the full text and I want to share a couple of those so that advisors can hear what a clearly niched headline sounds like. So for example, you have one that you did for Exponential Advisors and we'll link to all these sample in the show notes. So if anybody wants to go just take a look and see what some of this messaging looks like. This one, the headline says financial advice and digital assets for army veterans. So they specialize in working with army veterans who are also interested in kind of innovative investing approaches. Is my take on that? Is that accurate?
- [19:13]
Taylor
For sure? Yeah. And he'd like to probably touch on cryptocurrency, bitcoin, all those things. But yeah, confining that messaging is really important there definitely.
- [19:23]
Kendra
And then you know, below that you say Exponential Advisors offers comprehensive financial planning for army veterans, combining traditional advice with cutting edge strategies like digital assets and cryptocurrency integration. So you can kind of see like a little bit of that. And then if you scroll down the page, there's more copy in the page that speaks to army veterans. And then one more example that I have here from your work is Marone Wealth Management. So they do financial advice for psychologists and mental health professionals. The subheader, which is kind of the smaller text below that heading says, we offer financial planning that helps psychologists and mental health professionals like you find peace of mind. We make managing your wealth approachable, personalized and even enjoyable because when you succeed, so do those you serve. So you can see how it's very clear who you serve. Another way that I like to look at that text below that, that, you know, kind of above the fold header is what are those three big pain points? That's how I like to integrate Those into kind of website copy for sure. Start looking at kind of that, that avatar piece there. Taylor, is there any examples of just kind of like any thoughts on the above the fold messaging or anything you think we should cover before we move on there?
- [20:32]
Taylen
No, I think the only thing I would add that, you know, that I think about even just going to Taylin's website before today's interview. Marketing and design for financial advisors. Now I may or may not reach out to Taylor. I may find out that his fees are too high or I don't know, just not really a good fit. But like when I come to his homepage and I see marketing and design for financial advisors, I'm like, I need marketing help, I need design help. I'm a financial advisor. You know, it's like it's so clear, it makes my experience so good immediately. So what I would tell advisors is pay attention to you as a consumer and a user when you're landing on different websites and the way you feel when you show up to a website and it's speaking to you and your language or your pain points. So when you see those things, remember those things, even capture those things and save them as examples because that's how people are feeling when they're coming to your website. Um, there are some websites that I go to that, that might, you know, be speaking to me as the, a professional or a business owner. But like the way they talk, the way they speak the language is. It just doesn't really resonate with me and that's okay. Like we want to connect with people that we do resonate with and so like the language use and Taylor even mentioned earlier that the colors that are used and all these things are really important. So pay attention. Like when you're visiting other websites and engaging with other brands, how they make you feel and take what you learned through that process and apply it to your own website.
- [21:51]
Taylor
I was just going to jump in there too. I think it's very easy to get caught up in the jargon of your own language. And so I think like as a financial advisor you have a set of, you know, jargon as we want to refer to it. Same thing with me, right? Like I could get into, you know, semantic tagging, we could get into all these sorts of conversations that you as an advisor have no idea about. And frankly, I don't really want to tell you about those things as much as I want to offer value and kind of, you know, point you in the right direction. I think it's really important to cater to your niche in a way that they can understand. And I think that's kind of what you just highlighted there, Taylor. But I think, yeah, straying away from the jargon is, is very important when it comes to copywriting.
- [22:29]
Kendra
So a really simple way to do that from a copy perspective that I like to do is for our clients is I have like a section that I just, is basically just like the big financial questions that we answer for our clients. And I literally put the top, you know, 10 or so questions that is exactly in their client's language. And what's funny to me is that I will have our clients record their conversations with prospects and then I will pull the language from those calls and then the clients will say, well, wow, you, you wrote this copy so well. And I joke because I don't believe in copywriting. I believe in copy finding. So you don't actually need to craft this copy. A lot of times for advisors, it's actually simplifying and just using their clients language. So when I'm speaking with my clients, they might be talking about the challenge their client has. And I said, and I'll say, how do they exactly say it to you? And I've trained them over time to start to speak and listen to the exact words their clients use. And they're astounded by how simple and straightforward it is on the website. And then I use that language in like a big question section. And if you have a niche, you can use some of the specific terms. Like, you know, if you're in tech professionals, there's specific terms or doctors they use and you. That's when I think jargon can come back in and it can work. Okay. If you're using niche specific jargon in your copy.
- [23:53]
Taylor
Yeah. In a similar fashion, like often myself, like when I'm doing the copywriting for somebody, I'm often thinking as myself. Right. Like I'm not thinking as a financial advisor. And I think that that kind of nodes to what Kendra was talking about there with their clients, like the financial advisors clients in that. Yeah, like, often I find myself, you know, getting a document from somebody and they say, you know, this is kind of the copywriting that we want to go through with the website. So that would usually include, you know, their process, their services, their pricing, that kind of stuff. And you know, I get a wide range. Some people only give like a little bit of context. Some people give a lot of context. But in either case, I often find myself cutting down a lot of the content that they've added. And it's for that exact same reason. It's often just too elevated, too much language that the end user doesn't quite understand yet. And obviously we want to, you know, educate them down the line. Like, even again, for myself, if I'm taking a free assessment, I might, you know, explain things to a client in a way that makes sense to them, but that's not usually the job of the website site so much as it is get the prospects in through the door, booking that free assessment and then having a conversation with you. So some of that stuff that, you know, the traditional advisor wants to talk about is great stuff and stuff that I think the clients do actually want to hear about. It's just not the right place to be on the website per se.
- [25:11]
Kendra
And when you're talking about elevated copy and you're, you know, from your perspective and what you see, what's some examples of like what elevated copy looks like in, in your opinion, and then more clear copy that maybe you've rewritten. Do you have any examples of that?
- [25:25]
Taylor
Off the top of my head, I think that might be a bit difficult to dive into. I'm thinking like, like maybe it's, you know, diving into, you know, your 401k or Roth conversions, whatever it is, things like that. Again, this is just off the top of my head. I don't have a perfect answer for you here, but essentially it's, it's taking the language that they're putting in and then kind of breaking it down in more simple terms. I think the actionable advice here for the advisor listening is kind of what we talked about earlier, right? Talk in the perspective of what the client wants to hear as opposed to what you want to tell the client. And so that could be as easy as going to your family and just asking them, does this make sense to you if it doesn't go and iterate? Because it probably isn't going to make sense to the prospect either.
- [26:12]
Taylen
Taylin. Storytelling and explaining these different concepts, even just your services and what you do is a really important part of building a website. Goes hand in hand with copywriting. Of course. One of my favorite books out there is storybrand. So anybody who wants to learn more about storytelling, great book to pick up. I think there's a podcast as well. Can you think of any unique ways that you've helped advisors tell their story through their website? We touched a little bit on, you know, case studies and some blog content and things like that. But can you think of anything unique that you've implemented to help storytell to Tell their story to better communicate to their niche through their website.
- [26:52]
Taylor
Yeah, I think the big point there is, is again highlighting what the prospect is looking for as opposed to what you are. So typically what I would look for is, is obviously we have our heading and we kind of talked about that. The hero section as we go down, I think it's addressing, like I say, what are your pain points? So usually we'll address specifically like, what are the kinds of questions that they're asking? What are the things that they're looking for there? And then how do you specifically then address those questions? What do your services do that other financial advisors don't that you know, will help them? So maybe that is that you have a CFP and somebody else doesn't. Maybe that's, you know, that you've been in the industry for 10 years as a solo race and you're specifically working with veterans or physicians. And so you have the leverage there as compared to the traditional advisor. It's basically just, you know, telling the story of what you do, who you do it for, and just communicating that all throughout your website. I think too, like we frame the whole website, like as we continue scrolling down, we frame, you know, the calls to action in a way that makes sense. So, you know, pain points and then how do we handle those pain points. And then typically in that section we might also add, you know, a call to action. Are you ready to book a free assessment or is it, you know, a lead magnet? And I think that kind of depends on the website that we're going through. I know you mentioned storybrand. Storybrand does have a way of going about structuring out your website. And I think it kind of depends on the advisor that I'm working with. But yeah, like, there is definitely a storytelling aspect to it. Right. So like I say, pain points, benefits, usually call to action. I usually address the about us process things like that on the homepage.
- [28:29]
Taylen
So yeah, on your website there, right below the hero section, there's a video. Is video something that you discuss often with advisors about including on their homepage to better tell their story, give them credibility? Or is it, you know, take it or leave it type of thing?
- [28:44]
Taylor
No, video is a hard one. Actually. It's a hard one for a few reasons. Often it'll slow the performance down on the website. And so it has to be, you know, limited to, you know, a 30 second to a minute video. Anything longer than that often, you know, drags on the performance. And so I think there's definitely a conversation that has to be had there. I think video does a very good job at, you know, resonating with the prospects, but I don't typically recommend it right on the top of the homepage. Like, for myself on my website, I've just essentially just got an animation there that kind of highlights some of our work. I've actually considered straying away from that and going into more of just, you know, a graphic on the side or maybe, you know, an animated graphic over to the side. Um, and that does relate, again, to that performance, because it's very important that you actually get seen, and that's where that performance comes into play. But I think video is definitely something that more advisors should be doing. And so that would entail, you know, video testimonials. If you do have case studies, maybe, you know, get somebody out to actually speak on a case study. Video is very important and has a very important role in marketing. I just. Yeah, on the homepage, I just don't know that that would be the place that I'd necessarily recommend. I know it is something that I do, but I. I think it's just for a bit of a different reason. So.
- [29:55]
Taylen
Yeah, you bring up some really good points. It's interesting because when I went to your website, like, I skipped over the video. Like, I saw the video and I skipped over it. And I mean, part of it is, like, I don't. I don't consume a lot of video. I listen to a lot of my content or read my content. But the other reason, too, is I don't know how. I don't know what's in this video. And I'm not criticizing you, by the way. I think it's very appropriate for your site. But I don't know what's in this video, and I don't know how long the video is. I'm like, I don't really have time to click on this video. One of my favorite examples of including video on a homepage. And she doesn't have it there anymore because she's pivoted to client testimonials on the website. But Dana Onspach at Sensible Money used to have this video right there on her homepage. It said something like, in, like, big, bold font. You know, learn more about us in less than one minute. So it was just like, less than one minute part of her headline that drew me in to want to click that video. Like, I can watch less than one minute of this person. Tell me about her and her firm, and, you know, how she helps people. But when I don't know how long a video is or what's included in that video, I'm just like, I'm just going to skip this and keep moving on. So I think you make some really interesting points there about. It's certainly not critical. It can certainly slow down performance of a website. I don't know how you feel about tools like Wistia to host videos with Wistia that seem to perform better on a website. Of course you don't get the YouTube algorithm working for you, but allegedly, according to companies like Wistia, it's more SEO friendly, better performance on the website. So if you do want to include videos and optimize the performance, something like Wistia might be a better Solution than embedding YouTube videos. So I'm told.
- [31:25]
Taylor
I think it's interesting too that you mentioned the minute video there. I think that's sweet. That's definitely a good way of going about it. You know, 30 seconds to a minute and a short introduction like that. I have noticed though on the analytics front a lot of user engagement is around a minute and so that's usually, you know, a minute on the website itself. So obviously prospects that are more interested and turn into leads and then eventually clients are navigating a little longer than that. But you know, the traditional person that's landing on a website isn't usually engaging for longer than a minute. So you have to be really careful there with video because like you say, like you're not inclined to want to go on video while most users aren't inclined to be on the website for more than, you know, a minute. And so I think that's a big component there as well.
- [32:06]
Taylen
That's a really good point. Another idea that comes to mind too is if you want to include video on your website and your new marketing or as a way to build trust is, you know, it could be, it could be your call to action. It could be a pop up or just a section say, you know, you know, here's a video on the three best ways to lower your taxes at year end. Like throw in your email address and I'll send you the video. So you can use video in a couple different ways to get people into your marketing funnel. Continue to build trust and show your expertise without actually embedding this video on your website.
- [32:34]
Kendra
I think James Canola actually does that. Well, he has a video pop up that has a really kind of enticing video to get people to opt in for their email. I think has been really well and a couple of things just to support on that. When you're looking at something like video with Wistia Taylor, I believe this feature is still there. You can actually see the watch length in Wistia, which is really helpful. So you could see how far someone is watching the video. And the other tool that came to mind, two of the things also is hotjar, which is a tool that will show you how deep someone scrolls on the page and where they click. So first you can just see are people clicking on the video. Second you can see if they are clicking, how far are they watching it. And then the third thing I would say just to evaluate if the video is doing its job and getting engagement, is also looking at your Google Analytics and seeing what the time on page is. You might find that maybe your homepage people are only staying on there for 30 seconds and that's an issue. We need to increase that scroll depth or that stick time. There was a client that we just recently rewrote their homepage and it's like twice as long and they were only getting scroll depth, you know, 40% of the page, like 40% down. I almost doubled the the length of the page, but I adjusted the copy, the headings, the images and everything. And now they have a skull depth of like 70% and it's almost twice as long. So you can use these tools to see how far people are going down the page, what they're clicking, how long they're staying on the page to evaluate if those different pieces of the website are working.
- [34:07]
Taylor
I think that's really important that you mentioned there, Kendra. I think, yeah, analytics and how they shape your ongoing decisions is, is really important. I think it's one thing to get a good website done, that's definitely important. But it's also very, very important to make sure that you're posting consistently to the website and then adapting and iterating based on what you see from an analytics perspective. So like you say, like if people aren't scrolling very far down the page, you've got a big problem on your hands. And I think it's, it's very important to address that problem. And you do that by watching analytics and making, you know, continuous updates to your website. It's not just a once and done.
- [34:43]
Kendra
Kind of thing, definitely. So advisors are listening and they've made a few updates to their website to clarify their niche and speaking to those ideal clients they want to serve. Maybe they've updated their above the fold messaging. They've really zeroed in on those top three pain points of their ideal client. And they're communicating that on the homepage. Maybe they're sharing some of the exact problems they solve. They have a case study that aligns their niche. They have a lead magnet that aligns their niche. They have blog content that matches up with their niche. So now they've made some changes. And since you've done some of these website revamps, I'd love to kind of understand, you know, is there a way that you see to track if the changes are working? Have you seen any data or analytics or feedback from your clients? And then, Taylor, I'd love to know from you as well, like, when someone makes these updates, like, how can they track whether these niche messaging updates are actually working?
- [35:34]
Taylor
Yeah, I think there's a few things. Again, we talked about Google Analytics there. So typically with the advisors that I work with, I like to get them plugged into Google Tag Manager, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics Tag Manager essentially allows you to, you know, see more specifically what people are doing on the page and the kind of actions that they're doing. Kendra, you mentioned hotjar. That's another great way, kind of doing that and then monitoring analytics. So seeing, you know, what links are being clicked, what scroll depths, what forms are being submitted, which ones aren't, I think that's very important information there. I also like to monitor, like I say, search console as well. Search Console analytics. I like to see, you know, a bit of an incline as the months go on. So ideally, you're seeing more people on your website as well as, you know, if you're doing the SEO and you're doing the work on blogging, maybe you've got a podcast and you're putting transcripts on your website. I like to see an incline in traffic. And if there's not an incline in traffic, that means that you're probably doing something wrong. And we can take a look at that. Now, to be fair, SEO takes a long time. So typically, you know, that's six months before you actually see any increase in traffic. But yeah, just monitoring it and making sure that there is engagement on your website is very important.
- [36:48]
Taylen
So, Taylor, you've mentioned SEO a number of times in today's conversations. I have a feeling that you study SEO and you like SEO. You're talking to an SEO nerd here today. I'm curious, do you have any just thoughts on AI and SEO and what the future of SEO might look like?
- [37:04]
Taylor
You know, it's interesting. I think it's Samantha Russell. I think that's the one that owns FMG Suite. I see her talking about it lots. I think it's an interesting conversation to have. I think, though, there's a difference between SEO and copywriting. And I think Kendra would definitely agree with me on this in that, like we talked about earlier, you can definitely add too many filler keywords and try to say too much with regards to SEO. And that's, you know, a no, no. But the other no, no is then being too, like, not focusing on SEO at all. So that happy medium is kind of where we want to be. And I feel that if we're being that happy medium, AI will typically pick up a lot of the content that we have out there now. It's a bigger conversation than just, you know, the copywriting that you put on a website. I think it's important to address, you know, domain authority. Yeah, your traffic, all those sorts of things as well. As your website grows, you'll be featured higher on, you know, search rankings, which actually I would think does have a direct correlation with how AI views you as well. So whether you're using, you know, ChatGPT or a similar kind of AI, I think there's still. That ranking factor, is still a big piece of it. And it's not like you drop SEO altogether, but I think, yeah, you, you integrate SEO and copywriting to kind of get that happy medium for AI. I do, I do maybe see it taking over eventually, but like the average consumer, especially when we're talking about financial clients, is not using AI as much as you probably think they are. I think it's going to be an upwards trend for sure. But I would argue, yeah, it's. It's not as big as people probably think it is in today's day. I think in the future it definitely will be. And we should be preparing and making those changes now. But I think that would, that would kind of be my hot take there, Taylor.
- [38:51]
Taylen
So, yeah, no, I think I tend to agree and I mean, I think the future of SEO is certainly going to change and evolve, and it has changed and evolved over the last 20, 30 years. It used to be just, you know, quantity over quality. Right. Just throw as much stuff as you can on the Internet and you'll be rewarded for it. And that certainly changed today. So, you know, no doubt SEO will evolve and change over time, and we have to, you know, keep our finger on the pulse and hire smart people like you to help guide us. Going back to kind of what I said earlier is I just kind of pay attention to my own user behavior when I go to Google or perplexity or any of these apps. And you know, I type something, I'm looking for information, you know, they are quoting and linking to different sources and what I find is a good, you know, healthy percentage of the time they give me the answer and they give me the sources and I end up clicking on one or two of the sources to then dive deeper and learn more. So I don't. My user behavior isn't all that different. Like yes, I get quick answers to things that just require a quick answer. I don't need to go read a long article about it. And to that point I think it's going to force creators to produce higher quality information and no longer are we going to have these giant, long 6,000 word blog posts to try to address every little thing but really succinct, high quality writing. So I think it'll force creators to get better as well. But yeah, I don't know. I use AI and I still end up on different people's websites to learn more about different topics.
- [40:11]
Taylor
For sure. I think that's generally how I would use it too. I think when it comes to much simpler searches, I'm definitely using AI. But when it comes to more complex topics, I think while I might use AI, I think you're exactly right, Taylor. I'm generally still clicking through and actually looking at the different websites.
- [40:32]
Kendra
Well, Taylin, thank you so much today for joining us and helping us break down how to more clearly communicate a niche on a website. Not only just with copy and SEO, but also some of the visuals and some of the branding. I know we're going to have advisors listening who are looking to get help from someone like you. Where can our audience connect with you to learn more about your work?
- [40:53]
Taylor
Yeah, there's, there's a few places. Arisedesign.com so that's ar y z e design.com would be the first place to go. You can tap the free assessment on there and get a call with me. We can generally just, you know, chat through kind of what you're looking at in terms of your marketing strategies and go from there. You can also find me on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, essentially all the social platforms. I'm kind of on all of those. Again, just Arise Design there is what.
- [41:21]
Kendra
You'Re looking up and I'll also link a couple examples of niched websites I think you've done a good job on. So our advisors can click into the description and see really quickly what does a good niched website look like. And in addition, we also made a free resource for those advisors listening. You know what, if you could just take a quick look at your website right now and know without a doubt that it's attracting the right clients for you. The resource that we created for you is a 10 point checklist to make sure that your niche is crystal clear and it will help convert more clients. It's going to help you spot the gaps increase in really compelling messaging to attract your ideal niche client. We're going to build that out for you. We'll link that also in the show notes if you want to take a look at that. And for everybody listening, thanks so much for checking us out and we'll talk to you next next week. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. To get the resources shared or sign up to join us as a guest on one of our advice line episodes, check out the links in the show notes. Thanks for listening and we'll see you next week.