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Blogs are crucial for any good advisor marketing strategy. Websites with a blog have 434% more indexed pages, proving that content is a huge search engine optimization (SEO) factor that you have to get right.
Although blogging as a financial advisor may sound like a huge time commitment, you can spend just a few hours a month developing content that your clients and prospects want to read. However, I understand those few hours are valuable to your financial planning business. To be sure the time and effort you spend isn’t squandered, avoid these blogging mistakes – and learn from these 10 examples of how advisors built a great blog.
1. Not having a niche
It’s crucial you define your niche before you do anything else. By choosing a specific target audience, you can write directly to your readers and give them content that will steer their financial aspirations. Your blog topics will be more specific, and ultimately more interesting and informative to a smaller group of people.
Dorsey Wealth Management focuses on empowering women to gain control of their financial future. To reach its audience, it focuses on women-centered blog posts, as seen below.

Even after deciding on a niche, it can be hard to reach your target audience amongst all of the other options online. That’s where a call-to-action (CTA) comes into play.
2. Missing a CTA
Since your blog is targeted at your specific niche, it’s the perfect opportunity to steer your audience to your services. Capitalize on your content by including a CTA that prompts the reader to take more action.
Blogs are great for your SEO and connecting with clients, but they are way more powerful than that. By using CTAs, you influence prospects to become more than just readers. Whether you want to verify them as leads with a newsletter sign up or you want them to schedule a meeting with you, CTAs are bold and effective in guiding potential clients to more information.

Sage Investor chose go beyond and gate their blog with a pop-up CTA for their newsletter.
3. Omitting links
Linking to information and content within your blog posts is an incredibly easy task, but I see so many financial planners missing out! Once you finish your blog post, go through it and find keywords and images that you can link back to other relevant blog posts or website pages. It’s a simple process that takes minutes, and will create huge payoff in your SEO efforts and Google ranking.
Pro tip: Make all links open in new tabs so that the reader doesn’t get directed off your blog or website. This way, they can easily return to where they started their journey on your blog or website.

Brian Plain used this blog post as an opportunity to link back to his own website, as well as quality outbound links such as CNN.
4. Having the wrong image-to-word ratio
No one wants to spend time on a website that feels and looks like a textbook. Images are not just for children’s picture books; they are essential on your blog too! Even if you’re using them, you might not be using the right ones or using them correctly.
It’s not the number of images that affect your blog, but rather, their placement. BuzzSumo found that articles with an image every 75-100 words got two-times the amount of shares than articles with fewer images and a minimum of 30 more shares that articles with more images.
Break up your text similarly to keep visitors engaged. If you don’t have your own pictures to include, there are plenty of free, professional stock photo websites that I recommend, such as Unsplash. Stay away from cliche, overused stock photos, like a retired couple holding hands on the beach. Choose photos that are relevant to the story and your brand image.
5. Making your blog hard to read
When prospects see advisor blogs with long sheets of text, it scares them away. Reading your blog should be easy and enjoyable. Use subheaders to denote important topics or sections within your post. List out important information in bulleted lists. Keep paragraphs short to keep readers engaged and make it easy to digest information.
Stay away from using financial services jargon. Your role as a financial advisor is helping your clients make financial decisions, and they won’t feel comfortable working with you if they don’t understand what you’re saying.

Story Capital meets all the requirements of being user friendly in this blog post.
6. Working without an editorial calendar
Many advisors post to their blogs only once in a blue moon or on a whim when they are inspired. This doesn’t help you, your business, your SEO, or your audience. Post regularly to keep your clients up to date and put new content out to drive more traffic to your site.
Keeping up with a blog in addition to your many responsibilities as a financial advisor can seem overwhelming. By using an editorial calendar, you can keep your blogging consistent and doable, while holding yourself accountable.
If you’re just starting out, aim to publish four to six blog posts a month, at a minimum. Below is a sample editorial blog calendar for you to download and get started now! The earlier you start, the better.

7. Not editing
By the time you finish writing a blog post, it can be so tempting to simply press “publish” and be done. Unfortunately, there will be a few typos and grammatical errors.
When your blog comes across as unprofessional and unpolished, it reflects poorly on your business. By taking the additional few minutes to re-read your blog post before hitting that publish button, you can save time and embarrassment in the long run. Even better, hire a professional editor.
8. Writing uncreatively
You’re not writing a term paper. You’re trying to develop relationships in your niche audience. Be lively, personable, and humanize your brand.
Write in a style that people enjoy reading. Think about the types of articles and blog posts that catch your eye. Maybe they are a bit sarcastic or use metaphors to explain technical matters. Steer clear of the financial industry’s dizzying amount of jargon and get creative with your writing.

WealthKeel’s blog posts are written creatively to drawn in audience members.
9. Forgetting your personality
Going along with my previous point, a blog is often a prospect’s first impression of you and your financial planning firm. Many advisor blog posts show no personality, while their brand is radiating unique qualities. If you’re having trouble coming up with more personal ideas, our list of 10 blog posts that help clients get to know you better is a great place to start. Write your blog posts with your own personality infused.
I like to include “Meet the Team” blog posts every now and then to put a face to my firm’s name. When you’re finding a service online, it makes it more personal to have team pictures and an in-depth view of your team rather than simply filling your blog with stock photos.

10. Lack of commitment
To be successful, put some time and effort into it. Your blog isn’t like pay-per-click advertising with instant results. It takes time to create content worth reading, build traffic, and search engine visibility.
With a background in public relations, marketing, and client relations, Sam focuses on helping new clients understand the value of their online presence and connecting them with the marketing tools and digital solutions they need to effectively manage their brand.
Read more articles by Samantha Russell