Website Design for
Financial Advisors
Over 20 years of helping Irish Financial Services businesses be effective online
WEBSITE DESIGN FOR FINANCIAL ADVISORS IN IRELAND
Tips and advice for Financial Advisors Website Design in Ireland.
Web Design For Financial Advisors Ireland
Every Financial Advisor Practice will have its own priorities/needs
“We help ‘Professional Financial Advisors Services Businesses’ to be effective online to get the customers they really want….do the work they like to do and make the margin they deserve to make”
Great website design and digital marketing advice, ensure that you are effective online, rank well in Google searches and attract the customers and staff you really want.
Faster – More Secure – More Visible
And we totally appreciate that it is not a website design you really want, but rather the results a suitable website platform can deliver for you… sales, customers, staff, time savings, reputation, etc.
Your website is either your best or worst salesperson – how well is your website working for you?
With 20+ years of experience and 100’s of websites developed, we know what we are doing, have a proven process, and have a good portfolio of happy clients.
Talk to us to find out if we are a good fit for you. Or look at our Portfolio page, Pricing page, or About Us page, to answer any questions you may have, before making the call.
Every Irish Financial Advisory Practice will have its own priorities/needs – What do you want to achieve at your Financial firm?
Leads – You may want more business, but you only want a certain type of financial services client, such as First Time Buyers or Seniors Equity Release, Life Cover or Retirement Planning. So the website needs to attract that target market segment in Ireland only, maybe specifically financial planning or Pensions advice enquiries for newlyweds or teachers, etc. In excess of 75% of people do online research before choosing a Financial Advisor to contact.
Time – You may want to save valuable time on repetitive phone calls by answering frequently asked questions on your website. You may want to allow people to ask questions 24/7 via a custom website enquiry form. A well-planned website will save you a lot of time, especially for the more highly paid team members.
Recruitment – Attract high-quality QFA or financial advisory staff who are searching for a suitable Irish financial services practice to work in. How do you look when these people search for financial advisors websites in your Irish city or town? Your website is your face online, the best place to engage with potential new team members, Qualified Financial Advisors/Advisers and Mortgage Advisors or Administrators.
Social – You may want a single place on the web where you have a Blog about Financial Advice in Ireland or have all your Social Media channels integrated, so that all your online financial advice is found in one place – your place.
Help – You may not know what you want exactly, but just want to discuss it with someone trustworthy. Have a chat with us, for a no obligation complimentary 30 minutes consultation to get some direction and answers. Edel is a QFA, so we like this space. We are not right for everyone, so let’s find out if we are a good fit for your Financial Advice business. Otherwise, we can point you in the best direction. If you have lots of time, just read on, as we answer all the usual questions below.
Disclaimer: This is quite a long article to answer all these questions, which Google loves, by the way. And so do ‘some’ readers.
FULLY
IRISH TEAM
TRUSTED &
EXPERIENCED
100s
OF CLIENTS
RESULTS
GUARANTEED
We
Plan & Design
We
Develop & Market
We
Train & Maintain
Allow us plan, design & create your business website design or overall web presence. Then manage it and market it or train your team to do it, using independent metrics to show you the return on your investment using agreed set targets.
We get results, which makes us stand out.
Our aim is generally to find out who you are, who you serve and what is the problem you solve, then communicate that message to your target audience.
FINANCIAL ADVISORS WEBSITE DESIGN IRELAND PORTFOLIO
“Web is a nightmare – MEANit is a dream..” Michael and his team built a new website for me recently. I found Michael’s no jargon, no BS attitude was actually what I needed.
“Very professional. Initially I found you by doing a Google search for website designers. Then I looked at your Portfolio of work. Then I picked out a few of your clients who looked good, then I did a Google search for their services in their areas around Dublin to find that they all ranked very well on page 1.
WordPress Website Design Platform
A complete, easy to use, web-marketing solution for any professional services business
“Get your business or practice found in Google search and then get your visitors to actually connect or engage with you”
What type of website design do you need for your business? We do Business websites of all sizes. Generally, our clients do not want a website, they want more customers or different customers, more sales or higher sales.
Each of our business websites is built on a WordPress CMS Content Management System, which allows you personally add, edit or delete your content, written or photographic. All our websites are responsive or mobile-friendly by default.
WEBSITE DESIGN IRELAND PRICING GUIDANCE
“We can only give a detailed quote when we truly understand what you want or need.
Prices below give a rough guide, as we are 100% transparent about everything”
ESSENTIALS
WEB DESIGN BUILD
Get a clean, fast, mobile-friendly, custom-designed website that ticks all the boxes.
An online presence that makes a big positive impact on your business without investing a fortune initially.
Build your brand and grow your audience with a Mobile-friendly
WordPress websites typically have 5 to 10 pages
Training provided, so you can grow your site yourself over time
Ability to add your own content
Search Engine Optimisation to get you found in Google search results over time
IDEAL FOR:
Starter or small firms, practices, or businesses. who need a high-quality custom design website
without needing any large initial investment, but a platform that they can build upon over time.
INCLUDES.
- Simple Brief or Plan
- Wireframe or Layout
- Custom Graphic Design
- Website Development of typically 5 to 10 pages
- Initial Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Training
From €4,800
OPTIONAL EXTRAS:
- Keyword Research
- Keyword Mapping
- Competitor Analysis
- Monthly Support Plan
- Ongoing SEO Services
CUSTOM
WEB DESIGN BUILD
Get noticed with a totally custom-designed, fast-loading website built to your specific needs.
Engage your target audience with unique page layouts perfect for feature content and focused landing pages.
Full training is provided
Custom-designed WordPress website, typically 10 to 30 pages
Allows you to make all the changes you want.
And we can add in the critical Search Engine Optimisation, so your website ranks well in Google.
Plus a written plan for your team to follow.
IDEAL FOR:
Medium-sized firms, practices, or businesses ‘ who need a quality custom ’ website and a marketing plan along with some ongoing help every month to generate the leads they want
INCLUDES.
- Simple Brief or Plan
- Wireframe or Layout
- Custom Graphic Design
- Website Development of typically 10 to 20 pages
- Initial Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Training
From €6,000
OPTIONAL EXTRAS:
- Keyword Research
- Keyword Mapping
- Competitor Analysis
- Monthly Support Plan
- Ongoing SEO Services
STRATEGIC
WEB DESIGN BUILD
You probably have an underperforming website, but realise you need a better web presence. One that will consistently generate the ideal pre-qualified leads and work you really want.
However. you do not have the team time to be doing all this digital marketing stuff. So you want some expert help.
This allows your whole team to focus on what you do best.
Results guaranteed by us
Let’s start with a meeting, then we can write up a digital strategy or plan, to ensure we set some agreed goals or targets for us to deliver for you.
Growth focused medium sized
firms or practices, who want to outsource all the website management and digital marketing responsibility to generate new business
INCLUDES.
- Simple Brief or Plan
- Wireframe or Layout
- Keyword Mapping
- Competitor Analysis
- Custom Graphic Design
- Website Development of typically 20 to 100 pages
- Initial Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
- Training
From €9,500
OPTIONAL EXTRAS:
Built on WordPress
Each of our business websites is built on a WordPress CMS Content Management System, which allows you personally add edit, or delete your content, written or photographic. All our websites are responsive (mobile-friendly) by default.
Effective
Great website design and digital marketing plan and advice ensure that you are effective online, rank well in Google searches, and attract the customers and staff you really want.
User Friendly
WordPress Website Design Platform is a complete, easy-to-use, web-marketing solution for any professional services business.
Management
Our team of Irish business website designers can manage your business website or train you to manage it. This could be the last ‘new’ website design platform you ever invest in !
Experienced Team, 100% Irish
With 20+ years of experience and 100’s of websites developed, we know what we are doing, have a proven process, and have a good portfolio of happy clients.
Successful people want to be as professional online as they are off-line.
With so many experts and platforms and apps, it’s difficult to know where to begin, right?
Meet Michael from the MEANit Web Design & SEO Team
With over 20 years of experience in the web, we can help you develop an overall web presence to give you the opportunity to engage with your chosen audience. This helps ensure that you get to do what you want to do, with the people you really, really want. If that sounds interesting to you, get in touch now for a complimentary chat. Let’s see if we are a good fit for you!’
OUR BUSINESS WEBSITE DESIGNS ARE MOST SUITABLE FOR:
Any professional practice, solicitors, accountants or financial advisors, architects, builders or engineers, etc. Get our FREE Guide to Planning a Successful Website.
Hands Up ! – We are NOT ideal web partners for Enterprise or Retail eCommerce, Hotels, or hospitality. This is not our jam.
We offer guaranteed results through smart business website design – however, really we strive to deliver transformation.
Better results – As we grow to know you, we learn to help you grow your business. We partner with long-term clients, where we achieve ongoing returns. This is how we get referred to new Clients, based on great customer satisfaction.
Better tools – Our Business website designs have easy-to-use Open Source WordPress CMS Content Management Systems, to help put you in control. No Contract and No IT guys are needed. See our FREE web design guide.
Tell us what you want to achieve on the web to…Sell more! Tell more! Be more!
Are you just looking for someone capable, that you can trust to produce what you need now and be there to support you in the future? Contact us now for a No Obligation chat.
“All you need to build good business websites is Time, Talent, and Cash – if you lack enough of any one then just double up on the others – it is no secret”.
First the 10 technical tips.
From Michael MacGinty our resident Sales Guide and Digital Marketer, Speaker and Networker.
1. CMS – Get a website that is built in a CMS Content Management System, which makes it easier for you to edit. Content is King, it will decide your success on the web, so create it, add it, curate it and make yourself stand out as an Authority on ‘matters financial’ in your area. You are the best person to produce good ‘original content’ for your own financial advisors website. Do not leave its creation to someone else, unless they are competent in your field. Blog posts from Vendors of financial services or products will not cut it, if the same content is to appear on multiple financial service providers websites.
Note: YMYL ‘Your Money Your Life’ – Google will be scrutinising your content particularly, because you, as Qualified Financial Advisors, will fit in to this particular YMYL category and Google is trying to protect the public from any false advertising about investing or abuse.
2. Blocks – Get a website that is ‘Modular’, so that you can move elements around without needing a Developer again. For example, add or move a scrolling Financial Clients Testimonials module on the Home page yourself or move it to your About page, or add a video to a blog item on a specific financial product. Nowadays, with modern WordPress ‘page builders’ the ability to add or copy or move blocks is easy, and ’empowering’. Effectively you can DIY the curating of your website if you have the time to do it.
3. Open Source – Use a platform that is open source such as WordPress and this allows you to move from one web partner to another if ever needed – it happens for loads of unplanned reasons.
Tip: Avoid a one-man or one-person band, someone who offers to be everything, planner, designer, developer, digital marketer. How many financial advisors have just one person employed to do absolutely everything?
4. Financial Advisors Website Design Theme – You could get a low cost website that is theme-based, so that you can change the whole design theme without having to create a new custom website. Also, this makes it easier for you to move to a new web design agency. Avoid basic HTML developers who code their own bootstrap website for you, and then have to make every code change for you – at a price, in time delay, and money.
5. Custom Design: Plan your Branding, colours, content, and CTAs before or when talking to a Web Developer, if how you look online is important to you to build your brand. Think Grant Thornton, OSK, KPMG, Deloitte, Mazars, and so on. Or even smaller examples in the industry at Ask Paul, Moneysmart or Investwise, where you can see that their investment in custom graphic design is evident. It makes them look professional.
6. Navigation – Make Navigation simple, intuitive, stand out, and logically show which financial or tax advice services you specialise in. This needs to be simple in the mobile view too. Over 50% of your visitors are on a mobile when they find you for the first time. Regardless which page they land on, they should be able to find what they want to read.
7. Blog – Show off your knowledge of financial products, plus your experience advising people on their finances, and share any useful info or news from the financial industry. Try Guest Blogging if you can get a platform to do it or answering financial advice questions in forums!
8. Social integration – Tie in all your Blogging, Social Media, and any advertising to your website content and draw people to the website at every single opportunity. They might just connect with you by asking a question on a financial services topic. They may be looking for independent financial advisors or pension advice.
9. Maintenance – Bear in mind a financial advisors website, like a car, has to be maintained and updated. It needs constant attention, security updates & patches, cleaning code, plugin updates, software updates, app updates, and useful add-ons. Every time you update one plugin, you want to check that it does not conflict with another plugin. But most of all it requires useful, helpful content or advice to continually engage with your clients and visitors, to help promote your financial services practice in your local geographic area.
10. Budget for a spend in Year 1 for the design, branding, photography, CMS website, advertising, digital marketing, etc and then do a new budget for year 2 for building on that platform. The higher the spend the higher and faster the return – GUARANTEED ! (if done well). Yes – do ask for guarantees from any web partners.
Three Takeaways in Web Design for Financial Advisors/Advisers:
1. Get a good web design agency partner, pay them to be supportive – establish an ongoing relationship in the same way a company would do with their Financial Advisors or other key suppliers. It is fractional or outsourced qualified labour that keeps itself educated and trained to be ready to support you when you need them.
2. Treat this website project like opening a new financial advisory office. How much would that cost? How much attention would you give it? Build what you need rather than buy something off the shelf at a set price.
3. Most small web agencies are not good at MultiTasking. Chances are you need a 1.Domain Registrar, 2. Hosting Company, 3. Web Graphic Designer, 4. Web Developer and 5. Digital Marketer.
The good news is – a good website can promote your financial advisory practice in Ireland, show you with a professional look and get you found in Google search. It can showcase your work or financial advisory services, show your client reviews and testimonials, make client appointments, take deposit payments online. Or by answering questions online to save you time and pre-qualify callers, allow Client access and manage contacts through a CRM.
Now you know the brief! What is your next step? Answer Edels 10 questions below.
Note: You may want to know the ballpark investment required, so there is also a guideline underneath the questions below. But talk to us about your own specific requirements for your web design as a financial advisor.
Ten good opening questions for you before building your Financial practice website:
1. Why do you want a website for your Financial Advisory?
2. Do you need a website at all?
3. What kind of website do you need? Is it just a simple brochure site or a more informative one or a Blog?
4. Who is the Target Market for your financial advice?
5. Who will create the website for you? Why choose that web design agency as your trusted partner?
6. Who will manage it, support & maintain it and train you?
7. Do you have a Digital Marketing Strategy? How will you use this new website?
8. How much business do you expect from your web presence?
9. How will you measure success or your return on any website investment?
10. What other questions come to mind for you – every Client has specific requirements for their target market?
Answer these questions for yourself and you will be in a good position to start talking to a web design agency.
Ten good opening questions for you from our QFA Edel before building your Financial practice website in Ireland:
From Edel MacGinty our resident QFA and CFO, who has been through this process for her own Financial Services Firm
1. Why do you want a website for your Financial Advisory?
2. Do you need a website at all?
3. What kind of website do you need? Is it just a simple brochure site or a more informative one or a Blog?
4. Who is the Target Market for your financial advice? For which services?
5. Who will create the website for you? Why choose that web design agency as your trusted partner?
6. Who will manage it, support & maintain it and train you?
7. Do you have a Digital Marketing Strategy? How will you use this new website after you do get it?
8. How much business do you expect from your web presence? Set some targets.
9. How will you measure success or your return on any website investment? Add some metrics.
10. What other questions come to mind for you – every Financial Advisor has specific requirements for their target market?
Answer these questions for yourself and you will be in a good position to start talking to a web design agency. Edel and Michael are happy to take any questions you may have, so feel free to send them in.
WHAT OUR HAPPY WEBSITE DESIGN IRELAND CLIENTS SAY
WEBSITE DESIGN FOR FINANCIAL ADVISORS IRELAND FAQS
What does a good CMS Financial Advisors Website Design Cost in Ireland?
CMS Business Website Design Costs for a Financial Advisory in Ireland
From €250 to €350 per page up depending on which modules are required – Get a Free quote now. Every website project is different, so talk to us about yours, so that we can give you a proper personalised quote.
- Content Management System, Initial Content Entry for initial 10 or so pages, (add unlimited pages yourself free), Attachment Management, Image Gallery, SEO Tools, Google Maps, YouTube, Preview Mode, Query Form, Website Statistics and User Manual – 10 pages estimate €3500
- Business Website Design Template or custom design subject to choice of you Client – estimate €75 to €750
- Monthly Support & Maintenance Options if required: Agree a monthly website support plan to cover website updates, server support, and any edit requests etc. Estimate €99 or just pay the Ad Hoc hourly rate. Monthly Support
- We work with your budget and your cash flow #gettingbusinessonline
Optional Business Website items or add ons offered
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- Content Creation – do you want us to write it for you. Or hire a Copywriter in the financial advice space.
- Content editing – can you edit your own text
- SEF – making pages Search Engine Friendly. How will Google find you when someone searches for financial services
- SEO – This is what gets you enquiries and conversions from visitors to buyers
- Image – Producing, sizing, adding to website. Professional photography is always a good investment.
- Downloads – any pdfs, guides, ebooks about financial advice etc
- Google Map – adding your Irish location pins
- YouTube Video – adding and optimising video as more content to optimise in Youtube and add to your website.
- Google Analytics 4 – set up reporting in Dashboard. Setting up GA4.
- Google Business Profile aka Google My Business – We can set this up or optimise it for you
If required, we can also refer Clients to photographers/videographers/Copywriters etc. Good ‘Independent’ honest advice for you, is our way of doing things – no exceptions.
How long will the project take?
The planning takes one week. The design usually takes two weeks, plus any delay due to revisions at your end. The Development takes two weeks from the time we receive your website content, written and photographic. Then a week to optimise and test, so usually between 4 to 8 weeks.
Everybody asks how quickly can my website be built. Our answer is “Once we have all your content in Dropbox and you have signed off on this final content. We can schedule your website, which will be built in one week. We will schedule that within the forthcoming four weeks. So the website will take one week to be developed by the team and it will be done within a month of having all the content ready. “
Does that make sense do you?
Can I create a financial advice website myself?
Do it yourself. Do it with you. or Do it for you.
Yes, if you have the time, in theory you could do it all yourself, plan, design, develop and optimise a website for your independent financial advice firm. In fact if you want to DIY the project, read our blog articles to find out how to tackle each step properly. It could be a good way to start.
Or talk to us about doing it with you, where we guide you and you do the work or even the marketing, whichever bits you want, once we write up a plan with you to give you some guidance and support.
Or we can do it all for you, whilst you focus on your own Business. In which case we need to use the new website to make you more money than you are investing with us. This is the sort of challenge we readily take on and overcome evry time. Yes, actually, we do Guarantee it. :0)
Could you please clarify who will be doing the work?
Our own team is based here in Ireland, mainly in Donegal. We do not offshore our work. The developers and project managers are team members on the web design agency payroll. The designers are all local and hired per project, as they all have different styles. We match the right graphic designer with your project. All websites are custom designed for you individually. We do not even offshore SEO, as our SEOs are also on the staff.
Is this the same for Wealth Planner Website Design or Financial Planner Website Design?
The planning takes one week. The design usually takes two weeks, plus any delay due to revisions at your end. The Development takes two weeks from the time we receive your website content, written and photographic. Then a week to optimise and test, so usually between 4 to 8 weeks.
Will it be responsive and optimised for mobile viewing?
Yes, we actually design for the mobile-first viewing and then make desktop work too. Mobile page load speed is very important, especially since Google introduced Web Core Vitals, as an important ranking factor in May 2021.
How many pages do you need?
This depends on how many services or products you want to promote. It could be as low as 5 and as high as you like or need. How many services do you offer? Add Home, About, Contact, and News.
Who provides the written content and photos for the website?
You do. You can give us written content about your firm and your services. Likewise send us original photos or engage a photographer to create some new photos of you, your team and your premises. Don not worry about how well written it is. We can make it look well and optimise it.
Likewise, we can get written content done for you by a writer. And we can buy photos for you too if you need them.
But we do guide you through all this, step by step, as we have done with hundreds of clients in the past.
What else can you do to market the Financial Advisory firm?
Marketing Strategy – Create awareness in your target market of your financial advice services.
Tactics
1. Content Marketing – Ideally you want people coming to you organically. One of the best ways is to give them useful content to read, that makes them realise that you are the right Financial Advisor for them. Answer questions in detail, just like you would if someone asked you a question in the office or over the phone. Think of the money questions you get every day or regularly, as in Frequently Asked Questions. Ensure that this content is on your website, then promote it through SMM Social Media Marketing via your Social Channels, Linkedin, Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads or Google Ads PPC Pay Per Click Advertising. You can even create a Facebook Group if you want to use it as a medium to engage with existing or potential clients. Adding video is a good way to get engagement and the video can be shared or promoted or put it on your own video marketing platform in Youtube.
2. Blog – Write some useful financial guidance articles to add value to your website for visitors. Show people you know a lot about these financial products or financial services you offer clients. If you feel that you cannot write or do not have time, hire someone to create ‘original’ content for you. No boilerplate content that gets published on dozens or hundreds of financial advisory websites. Use SEO Search Engine Optimisation to help your pages and posts get found in Google search for relevant key terms. Are you featuring on page one in Google for these key terms? You can use an email Marketing Campaign to send content via a Newsletter, to inform or bring people such as existing clients to your website to read more. Can you guest blog on other financial advice websites to show your authority.
3. Niche – if you specialise in ‘Retirement Planning’, then focus any content creation on that specific area, rather than trying to write content on too many topics. Financial Planning is a vast area. What about niching further, say retirement planning for nurses or firemen or men in a certain area of Ireland and of a certain age, whatever is your best space.
4. UX/UI – With all this wonderful content you are creating, make sure that it is easy to find in your website. Usually referred to as User Experience and User Interface. All artices on any given topic can be clustered or grouped together and be easy to flow from one to another in a logical way. Your Blog may have Categories of different finance advice posts. Your service pages may be in sub navigations, to break up the content and funnel people to where they want to go.
5. CTAs – On each page or post, have a logical CTA Call to Action, such as ‘Get a FREE Quote for Life Cover’ or ‘Make an appointment with a Qualified Financial Advisor now’ or whatever is right for that page. Only have one CTA if possible to avoid confusion and help with flow.
6. Updating – when you create these pages or posts you will need to keep the financial advice up to date. And you may well think that your clients would not read 5000 words about Life Cover options, and you may well be right. However some of them will like to get the long answers to their queries. And Google will definitely like it, so they may then rank you higher than other financial advice firms for this query. This is important, if you are not ranking on page 1 in a Google search in Ireland for your key financial terms who is going to find you?
7. PPC Ads – You could spend lots of money competing with Pay Per Click advertising. This can get quick short term results as long as you pay to play and works faster than SEO which is a longer term play.
Sounds like work! Yes it is, but this way you say it once to many rather than many times to one person again and again. So this will save you time in future. And more importantly, it allows you to answer questions for potential clients, whenever they ask the questions 24/7/365. Plus it helps you get found by people who do not know you even exist yet.
What is the "The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR)"?
The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is a European regulation introduced to improve transparency in the financial advice market for sustainable investment products, to prevent greenwashing and to increase transparency around sustainability claims made by financial market participants.
It imposes comprehensive sustainability disclosure requirements covering a broad range of environmental, social & governance (ESG) metrics at both entity- and product-level. The main provisions of the SFDR have been applicable as of 10 March 2021, with a statutory instrument known as a Delegated Act containing more precise disclosure standards yet to be adopted by the European Commission. The SFDR is a fundamental pillar of the EU Sustainable Finance agenda, having been introduced by the European Commission as a core part of its 2018 Sustainable Finance Action Plan, which also include the Taxonomy Regulation and the Low Carbon Benchmarks Regulation.
Read the full details from 2019 at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32019R2088&from=EN in the Official Journal of the European Union.
What are the Sfdr classifications?
SFDR product classifications fall under 3 categories: Article 8, Article 9 and ‘Other. ‘ Article 8 and Article 9 products consider sustainability in a binding way. Article 8 products promote social and or environmental characteristics whilst Article 9 products have a sustainable objective.
Who does SFDR apply to?
The SFDR regulation applies to FMPs such as investment firms, pension funds, asset managers, insurance companies, banks, venture capital funds, credit institutions offering portfolio management, or financial advisors.
Who needs to report under SFDR?
SFDR Level 1 requires financial institutions within the European Union or marketing to EU investors, to make principles-based disclosures on ESG Environmental, Social and Governance related activity. Firms must report not only on the sectors they invest in, but also on their portfolio companies. And SFDR disclosures are not limited to marketing materials. Private and Corporate investors apply these non-financial factors, more and more every year as part of their own analysis process to identify material risks and growth opportunities.
What are Environmental, Social and Governance financial products?
ESG funds are portfolios of equities and/or bonds for which environmental, social and governance factors have been integrated into the investment process. This means the equities and bonds contained in the fund have passed stringent tests over how sustainable the company or government is regarding its ESG criteria of its use of or dependence on fossil fuels, its use or management of water and other resources and its pollution levels.
What is ESG or Environmental, Social and Governance marketing?
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Marketing is based on the ESG criteria. The aim of these criteria is to help consumers and investors to get in touch with products and companies that demonstrate similar values to their own.
What is YMYL Your Money Your Life?
What is YMYL Your Money Your Life? And how does it affect Financial Advisors websites?
Any website that sells a product or provides a service or even just information that can be deemed to impact someones ‘financial wellbeing’ or ‘financial safety’ and their ‘happiness’ or their ‘health’, can be classified or categorised by Google as YMYL “Your Money or Your Life”.
The very definition of the service you as a Financial Advisor provides means that your content could be so classified. Bear in mind this is a ‘topic’ so it is not just a page, but rather the whole website that gets classified as YMYL. One page or post could classify you in this category. It is not necessarily a bad thing or even something that you can avoid. However, you do need to be so careful about what you write or post in your website.
As the CEO you are responsible for anything posted by other members of the financial services team or your digital marketer, so do check your website content regularly. Talk to your Search Engine Optimisation team about what content to create, which financial advice to give and how to display it, as well as link to it. Your SEO can tell you if your website is affected positively or negatively by the content you are posting, which might be considered YMYL.
How can you use your website to recruit Qualified Financial Advisors?
There are ways that you can use your website to recruit Qualified Financial Advisory staff?
1. Post a Position or job vacancy for a Financial Advisor or Mortgage Broker etc on your website.
2. Give as much detail as you can in the job description. Include details of the post, the workplace, the team, the type of clients you deal with, the salary range on offer and any other bonuses or targets etc. You cannot give too much information, so keep typing until you run out of ideas. Let the reader know what it would be like to work with you and your team. Make the reader feel welcome and show them how good the position is. Sell it as if you were talking to someone who answered an advertisement for the job.
3. Optimise the page so that it can rank in Google search. This could save you a fortune in recruitment agency fees. Get your web design agency or SEO to do this if you do not know how to do it.
4. Use the link to this post and paste it in to Facebook and Boost it if you like to whichever demographic or geographic area you want to target.
5. Use the content of this post and paste it in to your Google Business Profile.
6. Use the link to this post and paste it in to Linkedin and promote it if you want to try a small spend. Bear in mind that Linkedin is expensive.
7. Use the content of this page to do an advert on your local digital news website and include the hyperlink to this post in your website.
8. Create a blog post about working as a QFA or how to become a QFA. Answer as many questions as you can.
9. Post the details in any Financial Advisors ‘Groups’ in Facebook or Linkedin or any ‘Forums’ that you may belong to.
10. Create a poll in Linkedin and ask people what would make them choose a particular Financial Advisory firm to work with.
Can you guarantee more sales ? Will we definitely make more money ?
YES
We may be able to generate more traffic, better traffic, and more enquiries, however, it is still down to you to make the sale. If we get 100 more people a month to your door, how many can you convert? We can get you the right traffic or visitors.
And we will only take on a new client IF we feel that we can deliver the results they want. If we do work together you will get more pre-qualified leads and as long as you convert them you will grow your sales and make more money. We even offer money-back guarantees if we need to remove any worries or stress. We are not out to take money off you for nothing. Far from it, our work generates more profit for you, to a point where you will be very happy to be paying our invoices. It is a mutual benefit.
Talk to us and let’s find out if we are a good fit for each other.
Do you use Design Themes or do Custom Design?
We ‘Custom Design’ your website design for your target clients. We can work with your graphic designers if they design for web. Or we can have the design created by our own local talented web designers. Remember the adage ‘simplicity scales and fancy fails’, so do not get too caught up in getting a design that could win an award for aesthetics, unless you have a 5* property and a 5* budget. Winning design awards does not necessarily win you business. We need to design for your specific audience and for both desktop and mobile interaction.
Want to see a Business Website Design Checklist & Layout Plan? Just click here.
Business Website Design Checklist & Layout Plan
Reduce the need for costly revisions by planning well. Get this list covered and it will help ensure a smooth delivery for you and your web developers. It is very common for web developers to fall out with their clients, simply because this list is not covered.
Brief – Write up an initial brief for yourself, your team, and your web developers, including the website designer as well as the digital marketer. Or get the agency to write this for you
Domain name – What is it, do you own it, who has control of it, is it on your credit card, what is your username and password to access it?
Hosting – Where will you host and can they manage your new website solution? Ensure that this is also in your name and on your credit card
Project manager – Who on your team will oversee the new website development for your firm?
Lead time – When are you going live and what are the milestones?
Budget – How much of an investment is needed to build, market, and maintain, and what are the payment terms?
Goals & Objectives — What results do you want – set SMART goals, specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound targets, then include some metrics.
Problem – What problem will you solve? For you or your customers
Target Audience — Who is it – your written or photographic website content should talk to that persona or those personas
Look — How do you want to be seen? Big, Corporate, Local, Arty, Professional?
Design — Get a graphic design mockup done after the web designer reads your approved brief and sees your planned layout or wireframe. Let them know which websites you like or do not like. Have a look at WordPress Themes for business websites, if you are on a tight budget. BUT do not do the designer’s job, let them be creative.
Content — Plan a Menu structure, list the pages and then prepare good content for each one and work with the web Designer on the look, the developer on the layout, the digital marketer for the content
Functionality — What smart stuff do you want on your business website, payment gateway,booking engine, blog, contact forms etc
CMS – Content Management System? – Can you edit the website or who will do that for you?
eCommerce – How will you take money securely?
Booking – How will you handle bookings or enquiries?
Digital Marketing — Who will look after this to get the right traffic to the website and convert the ‘right’ visitors to buyers
Measuring – Once targets are set, check the metrics regularly, so that you have a plan and can see how you are doing
NB: Our WordPress Open Source CMS packages let you add unlimited pages to your business websites.
Lastly, if this is too much for you when getting started, consider our Simple or Starter website option. You can do all this in stages or phases. Maybe start small, see some return and reinvest from profits gained.
Is it a WordPress website?
Yes. We are a 100% WordPress open-source web design agency. We do not work with Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, Shopify, or any other ‘locked’ proprietary platforms.
WordPress is to web design, what flour is to baking. It is a basic, popular, simple ingredient. Throw a stone down any street and you stand a good chance of hitting someone who uses WordPress.
On top of the WordPress platform, we apply a page builder to make it easier for you to use the website. And we then ensure the website page load speed times are good. This is our jam 🙂 Or flour in this case.
Add to that the experience and talent of our team plus some well-chosen plugins to make your website better than your competitors. Isn’t that the whole idea?
CMS Content Management System - what do you get with this?
CMS Content Management System – everything a business website needs
Here is the full list of what you get typically from our Business Website Services (Long read).
This Business website solution is ideal for any Client who wants a professional-looking web presence that they can edit without the need for an ‘IT’ person or ‘Webmaster’. It is a tool for Non-Techs, as no coding is required and only basic computer skills are needed. The CMS or Content Management System can be upscaled to include other functionality such as an eCommerce module at any time.
Includes:
- Content Management System – Easy-to-use WordPress software platform which allows you to make changes to your business website content, imagery, navigations, videos, maps, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Media Optimisation, etc.
- Business Website Design Template – Every website needs to have a look that best suits or reflects your company brand. We recommend ‘custom graphic design’, but also have low-cost design themes for you to choose from. If your company has a unique design and brand required for the website, we can create this in the solution. The investment required for creating a web design template is dependent on the time required for our website designers.
- Responsive Theme – For Mobile or Tablet delivery of website content in logical format is included by default
- SEO Tools – Our CMS comes with a Search Engine Tool, allowing you to optimize each of your web pages, keeping you competitive in Google, etc. A good website design is not just for show, you will need customers to find your business ranking well in search engines. With this package, you will be given all of the means necessary to do so. A website without SEO will not rank well or be seen by Search Engines.
- Unlimited Web pages – The CMS is capable of storing unlimited web pages helping your website grow with your business. If your business needs that facility, this package is perfect as the website will deliver on the internet quickly whether it has 1 or 1000 pages.
- Content Entry – While this solution is completely customisable, we input sized content provided by you, as a first draft and you can start editing from there. We do the first agreed 10 or whatever a number of pages for you.
- Attachments & Downloads – Each Web page has a facility for attachments allowing visitors to the website to download files. Attachments can be added, edited, and deleted at your discretion on any or every website page.
- Image Gallery – Every website page has a photo gallery assigned to it, allowing you to display your projects, goods, etc. Like the content entry, you can add as many images to your gallery or galleries as you wish.
- Google Maps – Our Google Maps feature allows you to help customers locate you, locate your projects or locate conference locations, etc. It is an easy-to-use copy & paste tool.
Integrations you can have included
- YouTube – Your website design can contain YouTube or Vimeo video content that you have the power to embed on each of your web pages. Video is a great way of demonstrating your product or service to your customers.
- Image Manager – Sometimes one image can explain so much more than a lot of written content. The image manager allows you to easily store your images and add them to your web pages while also allowing for linking to other areas of the website or other external sites.
- Preview Mode – The CMS allows you to make changes to the website not yet ready for the public’s eye. Preview mode allows you to view the website with the new content, while the public is unable to view your latest website design changes until you allow them to do so. You are in control in every way.
- Email Accounts – Email is essential for every “business website” – with this package you get an email account or accounts or forwarder.
- Query Form – The CMS comes equipped with a standard form that can be submitted by customers and is delivered directly to an email address of your preference. These details are not stored on mailing lists, the form’s sole purpose is to allow customers to contact you with a query and leave a contact detail for you to get back to them. It helps you gather customer contact info and opinion/queries. Other custom Forms are billable options and depend on the time needed to create them.
- Website Statistics – Once your business website is up and running you will want to know who was on your website, what they were looking at, and how they came to be on your website. We register you with Google for Analytics. And we add a panel in your website Dashboard to see your stats at a glance.
- Hosting – As professional business website designers we do not try to do hosting as well, so hosting is currently recommended with SG Hosting
Sample Business Website Structure or Layout
How do you lay out a business website – what sort of navigation to use?
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- Home
- About
- Services
– Service 1
– Service 2 - Projects
– Project 1
– Project 2 - Clients or Testimonials
- Blog or News
- Special Offers
- Contact Us
- Please Note: The navigation above is for demonstration purposes only and web pages can be titled at the client’s request. With a CMS you have the ability to add sub-sections to your navigations. Like using Word it is a simple ‘wysiwyg’ interface, simply meaning that you can see exactly which pages you have and where they are. Easy to find and easy to edit or delete. Bigger websites will have Mega Menus to make it easier to find something when a site has dozens or hundreds of pages. Visitors should find what they came looking for quickly when they come looking for it. Google will reward with high ranking any site that successfully answers a search term query and where people click on the result.
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I see lower cost options, why?
CMS Business Website Design Costs Explained
At a very basic level, anyone who can use a computer, can ‘build’ a website. Much like anyone with a calculator can add, it does not make them an Accountant. Anyone who can get flour is not necessarily a baker or a good baker.
If you choose a website designer, based on getting a low price, you will end up doing it all over again in the future. If someone has a set price, before they get to know about your project in detail, walk away. No, run away.
Remember that you are looking for a website that will deliver results, such as more sales or enquiries. If you make the wrong decision, you may reduce the initial investment, but it will cost you opportunity.
Imagine a doctor giving you a prescription, before doing a diagnosis, based on a consultation – that is malpractice.
Every website project is different, so talk to us about yours, so that we can give you a proper quote. Expect to invest from €250 to €350 per page depending on which modules are required – Get a Free quote now.
You probably want this website to be your online salesperson, how much would you expect to pay a salesperson?
Results – Your website needs to do a lot more than look good or just be there, it needs to get found by Google and convert visitors to customers. Pick a web design agency team who can prove that they have done this for other firms in your sector.
Support – Lastly, pick an agency who will be there to support you when you need help again, next month or next year. Ensure the agency you choose has staying power, has been around for years and look like they will be there for you in the future, even if some of their team members change over the years.
Where will my website be hosted?
We do not sell or resell hosting. It is too important to be used as a way of making a little side profit. We recommend suitable WordPress hosting for your specic WordPress requirements. The hosting, like your domain name, should be in your name and on your credit card – much like the deeds of your house.
Do we need a financial services blog?
No, you do not. However we often recommend having one. This is to allow you add supporting content for your main service pages. If you have a service page called Conveyancing, then why not write a supporting blog article about what is required to get conveyancing done. Or what are the typical charges are in relation to conveyancing.
Will we be able to update our new website after it is delivered?
Yes, absolutely. We will set you up as a User. And we will provide you with a Website User Manual. Plus you can book training with us as often as required. The website is a Content Management System and is designed to allow you to add, edit or delete content.
What happens if you get knocked down by a bus?
We are a web design agency with a team of people and we have someone to replace everyone. If one of us gets knocked down, you will stil be in good hands.
If you get knocked down, we will be available to train up your replacement in how to use the website.
FREE Google tool to Test Your Website – Google PageSpeed Insights (PSI).
FREE Google tool to Test Your Website – Google PageSpeed Insights (PSI).
How good a job did your web developers do on your website? Do not take their word for it, run this FREE Google test, to find out for yourself.
Google PageSpeed Insights (PSI) is a FREE tool from Google. It tests your website and then gives you a report on the technical performance of a given page on both mobile and desktop devices. On top of that, it then provides suggestions on how this particular page can be enhanced. Page Speed Insights or PSI is useful for capturing true, real-world user experience.
The results do two things. Firstly, it gives you a score out of 100 for your mobile and for your Desktop versions of your website. On top of that, the report gives you all the data you need to improve your score, by improving your website.
Does this affect your search engine rankings – yes it does. Keep working on your website to get a score as close to 100 as you can. At least get it into the Green zone, scoring 89 or above.
This tool gives you control. Now you can see how Google sees your website. And it is FREE.
Can we put video on the new website?
Do you offer any kind of guarantees or warranty on your work?
Yes. Unusually for our industry, we do in fact stand over our work. We agree targets. We even offer money back because we only take on projects where we know we can add value. We have never had to give any form of warranty refund.
Imagine we are having a conversation three years from now. And you are very happy with your progress. What needs to have happened in order for you to be that happy?
Do you handle emails?
No. Website hosting and email hosting are two different things. Or they should be. You could set up email on your website hosting. But if the website is offline for a few days you will survive. Having your email services down for a few days is much more stressful.
We recommend you get your IT guys to set you up on AWS or GSuite or now Google Workspace, Outlook, or Microsoft Office. eMail is usually critical to a business.
How does getting a new website design affect my current SEO and page ranking?
Very important question. If you have a website already, it is critical to bring over any Google history to the new website. This is so valuable, so we make the most of it. 301 redirects may have to be done. Getting is wrong is common place and can be very expensive in lost sales.
Can you guarantee Page 1 listing ?
No. Google does not allow for that. Otherwise, everybody would be at it. However, a good SEO specialist should have an idea of how they can do it. This is still a wild guess until the first few months have been done.
Will people be able to find my website in a Google search?
Yes, we will submit a Sitemap to Google to let them know your website is live, including all of its individual pages. If someone searches your domain, you will be found. If they search your trading or company name you will be found within a few weeks. It does take time to rank on the top pages. That is an SEO or Search Engine Optimisation issue. You may engage us to work on your SEO or you may engage someone else or even do it yourself if you feel you have the skills. Where you do rank will depend on your SEO and your competition and how good they are at SEO.
What search engine optimisation tactics or techniques are included?
This depends on what you ask us to do. We can make the pages of your website search engine friendly. We can work on optimising your website for agreed key terms or phrases. We can even do the research on your behalf to determine the best key terms to optimise for your case.
We will submit a Sitemap to Google to let them know your website is live, including all of its individual pages. If someone searches your domain, you will be found. If they search your trading or company name you will be found within a few weeks. It does take time to rank on the top most pages. That is an SEO or Search Engine Optimisation issue. You may engage us to work on your SEO may engage someone else or even do it yourself if you feel you have the skills. Where you rank will depend on your competition and how good they are at SEO.
How long does it take to get on Page 1 in Dublin ?
This is a very common question. The truth is that this varies depending on the competitiveness of your key terms or words or your industry. And how well your competitors in the Leinster region do their Search Engine Optimisation. Nobody can honestly guarantee you a Page 1 ranking for Dublin or Ireland. However, a good SEO might give you an indication after the first month or two. It depends on how competitive your business is in search. As any golfer in Portmarnock or Luttrellstown or Druids Glen would tell you, it is all about playing the course in front of you on any given day