Turning Your Website Into the Ultimate Fishing Hole

Written By : Clifford Blodgett

When a fisherman finds a great fishing hole, he returns to it frequently because he knows he should nearly always find fish there. But why are the fish always in that particular spot? What makes it special? In nature, fish go to the environment that suits them best. There is something there that they want, whether it’s an abundance of food or plenty of mating opportunities. They aren’t swimming to that spot because the fisherman wants them to; they go because it benefits them.

In our previous article in this series, we discussed finding your ideal “fishing holes”. Now that you’ve discovered your audience and understand how they prefer to receive information online, how does that translate into a great catch for you? When you distribute original, compelling content to your audience, you can use their interest to do something very important: drive traffic back to your website.

Your website is your hub on the internet.  Potential clients show up to learn more about you and how your services benefit them. To use our fishing analogy, when you drive traffic to your website it’s the equivalent of an angler using the perfect bait to attract that prize winning bass.

Creating and distributing killer content are steps one and two, but failing to link it back to your website is similar to throwing a baited hook in the water without a line.  Just as that line ultimately connects the fish to the fisherman, properly linking your content connects your audience to you and your website.

Here are some important tips:

Give them a teaser. A fisherman doesn’t lure a trout with pounds of worms or an overwhelming amount of bait.  Instead, he uses a teaser morsel such as a fly or single worm.  Anything more could actually scare fish away and do more harm than good.  Small doses of the proper “bait” linked back to your website is what drives traffic to your site and ultimately helps you gain more followers, fans, and shares.

Make it easy. Don’t force your fish to swim upstream against a strong current. It’s simple enough to click a link, but continue to make it easy once your audience arrives on your website.  Make sure that your link leads the reader back to the proper page on your website where the reader can easily find the information they seek.  Too often advisors link all of their content to their home page which more often than not isn’t the relevant page.

Feed your fish frequently. Your audience won’t return to your website unless you lure them back time and again. Distribute your content frequently so that your readers or viewers have a reason to return.  How frequent?  At least once per week is recommended by most digital marketing experts.

Encourage participation.  Encourage active, rather than passive, visitors. Your content should spark discussion or make your audience want to return for more. If your content provokes a discussion on social media, for example, more people may notice the feeding frenzy and click to read your article or watch your video. Remember to ask your readers to share the information.  If you’re marketing primarily to the retired population, they can often accommodate you by emailing valuable info to their friends.

Driving website traffic is a major consideration in any digital marketing campaign and one of the primary ways to determine effectiveness.  If your efforts aren’t resulting in increased web visitors, then you may need to step back and re-evaluate, or get some pointers from an expert.  In our next article in this series, we can tell you what to do with your audience once you have them right where you want them. This can translate into a steady and dependable stream of business.

FOR INSURANCE PROFESSIONAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR USE WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC 14212 – 2015/3/5

Filed under: Financial Advisor Marketing