Search Engine Penalties:

• Search engines, like Google, value unique and relevant content for their users. When duplicate content is detected, search engines may penalize websites by either devaluing their rankings or excluding them from search results altogether. This penalty can have a significant impact on your website’s visibility, organic traffic, and ultimately, your business’s online success.

Dilution of Ranking Potential:

• When duplicate content exists across multiple pages or websites, search engines struggle to determine which version is the most relevant and valuable to users. Consequently, the ranking potential of each page is diluted, leading to lower overall rankings. Instead of consolidating authority on a single page, duplicate content divides it across multiple versions, weakening your website’s SEO efforts.

Internal Competition:

• Within your own website, having duplicate content can create internal competition. When multiple pages on your site contain the same information, search engines may prioritize one version over the others, leaving the rest to suffer from lower rankings. This internal competition can lead to a poor user experience, as visitors may find it difficult to locate the most relevant page for their needs.

Backlink and Authority Issues:

• Backlinks are crucial for SEO as they signal the credibility and authority of your website. However, duplicate content can hinder your ability to acquire high-quality backlinks. When other websites come across duplicate content, they are less likely to link to your site, as they prefer linking to original and unique content. Consequently, your website may miss out on valuable backlink opportunities, limiting your SEO progress.

Confusing User Experience:

• Duplicate content can confuse users and undermine their trust in your website. Imagine a user finding your site through a search engine, only to discover identical content elsewhere. This creates a negative user experience and can lead to higher bounce rates and lower engagement metrics. When users encounter duplicate content, they may perceive your website as lacking originality and may be less likely to revisit or convert.

Conclusion:

Duplicate content is a critical issue that can significantly impact your website’s SEO performance. It can result in search engine penalties, dilute ranking potential, create internal competition, hinder backlink acquisition, and lead to a confusing user experience. To mitigate these risks, it is essential to regularly audit your website for duplicate content and take appropriate measures to address it. By ensuring unique, valuable content across your site, you can enhance your SEO efforts, improve rankings, and attract more organic traffic. If you need help in improving your existing website or creating a new and improved one, get in touch with us today.

1. Focus on Appearance: Website Design

The phrase ‘first impression lasts’ is highly applicable when it comes to your website. This is because your website’s appearance directly impacts the user experience of your prospects. When a potential client visits your website, they form an immediate impression based on the design of your site. That’s why in order to capture the attention of your prospects, your website should:

• Look professional
• Be visually appealing
• Free of clutter

It’s also important to ensure that your website is easy to navigate, fast-loading, and mobile-friendly, as most internet users access websites through their mobile devices.

Now, working on the improvement of these factors enhance the user experience as well as contribute to boosting your SEO ranking. Search engines value having a well-structured and optimized website, and a mobile-friendly and fast-loading website is one of the important factors that contribute to that.

2. Tell Your Story: About Us Page

A compelling ‘About Us‘ page should include information about your financial advisory business, such as its history, mission, and values. You can also highlight your team’s experience and qualifications, which can help establish credibility and trust. You can also add details about how your services can make a positive impact on your clients’ lives using a language that resonates with your target audience and addresses  their needs and pain points.

3. Generate Leads with Visible and Compelling CTAs: Call To Action

Including visible and compelling CTAs (calls to action) on every page of your website can increase engagement and drive lead generation. A CTA is a prompt that encourages users to take a specific action. An example of a CTA is asking a web visitor to sign up for a newsletter, fill out a form, or book an appointment.

In order to create effective CTAs, you should make sure that they are prominently displayed on each page of your website. You should use action-oriented language that clearly communicates the benefit to the user. Here’s a sample CTA: “Book a free consultation today”.

You should also make sure that your CTAs align with the user’s journey and the content on each page. For example, if the user is reading a blog post about retirement planning, a relevant CTA could be “Download our retirement planning guide for expert advice”. Remember, you should always predict the next steps you want your prospects to take and create strong CTAs that will turn them into leads.

Improve Your Website this 2023

Your website is the most important aspect of your business’ online presence. So, even if you have met some prospects in-person, they will still visit your website in order to learn more about your business, services, and values. By following the tips outlined above, you can optimize your website to create a positive user experience, build trust and credibility, and drive lead generation. By investing time and effort into optimizing your website, you can set your financial advisory business up for success in 2023 and beyond. If you need help in improving your existing website or creating a new and improved one, get in touch with us today.

What is Facebook & Instagram verification?

Facebook and Instagram verification is a process that confirms the authenticity of an account or page on these social media platforms. It involves verifying that the account belongs to a real person or organization, and that it is not an impersonation or fake account. When an account or page is verified, it is marked with a blue checkmark beside the account name. This checkmark helps other users know that the account is genuine, and that they can trust the information shared on that account or page.

How to Get Verified on Facebook & Instagram

If you’re looking to get verified on Facebook or Instagram, the process is straightforward, but there are a few things you should keep in mind to improve your chances of success.

Not all accounts are eligible for verification, as Facebook and Instagram often only verify accounts that are in the public interest, like celebrities, public figures, and brands. However, if you’re a regular user, you may still be able to get verified if you can demonstrate that your account is at risk of impersonation or is associated with a notable brand or organization.

Eligibility

To be considered for a blue verified badge, Facebook Pages and profiles must adhere to Facebook’s Terms of Service and Community Standards, have a profile photo, a cover photo, and a Page name that follows their guidelines. As for Instagram, the account must follow their Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. In addition, accounts seeking verification must meet the following criteria:

• Authentic: The account must belong to a real person, registered business, or entity.
• Complete: The account must be public and have a bio, profile picture, and at least one post. “Add me” links to other social media services are not allowed in the profile.
• Unique: The account must be the sole presence of the entity it represents. Usually, only one account per entity can be verified, with exceptions for language-specific accounts. Facebook & Instagram does not verify accounts that are not unique, such as general interest accounts (e.g. puppy memes).
• Notable: The account must represent a well-known individual, brand, or entity that is highly searched for. Facebook & Instagram reviews accounts that are featured in multiple news sources. Paid or promotional content is not considered as a source for review.

Assuming your account is eligible, the first step is to fill out a verification request form. You can find this form in the settings section of your account on both Facebook and Instagram. To complete the form, you’ll need to provide some basic information about yourself or your organization, such as your name, contact information, and a copy of a government-issued ID or other documentation that proves your identity.

The verification process can take several weeks, and there’s no guarantee that your request will be accepted. If your request is rejected, you can submit another request after 30 days, but it’s important to understand that verification is not a guarantee and may not be available to everyone.

• Make your prospects find you. Building your Google Business profile is necessary if you want to establish yourself in your local market. When your prospects search for “Financial Advisors near me”, the goal is to have you appear on the top of the Google 3-Pack; also known as the top three business profiles on Maps. This can only happen if you have an optimized business profile.
• Get more clicks and engagement with Google reviews. 88% of consumers place as much trust in online reviews as they do in personal recommendations. By collecting more reviews for your business, you are increasing the likelihood that a prospect will engage with your business after finding it on search.

• Rank higher on SEO. Google reviews affect your local SEO rankings. This is because reviews influence how Google evaluates your relevance in local searches, which in turn helps in improving your SEO ranking and increases conversion rates.

Google reviews will be one of your business’s biggest assets because this establishes credibility, which highly affects your prospects’ decision to work with you. However, getting more reviews is easier said than done. To help you out, we’ve compiled the most effective ways financial advisors like you can get more Google reviews.

• Ask for a review. Sometimes, jumping right into it is the best way to do things. You can ask for a review at the end of a client consultation or meeting. That way, you’ll automatically hear their response whether they’ll leave you a review when the consultation or meeting ends.
• Make it easy for them. Leaving a review can be a hassle, that’s why it’s important to make it easy for your clients to leave a review by sending them the review link directly. You can create a short URL that you can give to them so that they will have a one-click path to leave a review.

• Create a review page on your website. Having a Google reviews page on your website will make it easier for prospects to view what your previous clients have to say about your business. Additionally, they can also be encouraged to leave a review when they avail your services.
• Request reviews. You can request reviews through a Google review email campaign, by adding a review call to action in your website’s footer, or directly asking for reviews on social media.

Ready to Get More Google Reviews?

Prospects trust what your previous clients have to say. This is because reviews posted by strangers are often deemed just as reliable as personal recommendations. As a Financial Advisor, you can use that to your advantage. As long as leaving your business reviews on Google is made easy, you can generate more Google business reviews. If you need help in generating more reviews on your Google business profile, VF Agency’s experts can help you get all of the ranking, reputation, and revenue benefits that Google reviews has to offer. Contact us today.