Category Archives: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

How PPC Content Advertising Might Aid In The Online Battle For Roth IRA Conversions

It doesn’t happen often but sometimes the Universe helps with the blog-writing.

All week I’ve vacillated between two disparate topics: the Roth IRA Conversion Centers that are appearing on asset managers’ Web sites and pay-per-click (PPC) content advertising. Thanks to the Universe for showing a way to address both topics in a single (OK, little long) post.

When there’s a change requiring investor education and a deadline to take action—as is the case with the change in the IRA tax law enabling taxpayers to spread the taxes related to a 2010 IRA-to-Roth-IRA conversion over two years—this is an opportunity for asset management marketers to use marketing to raise assets.
RothIRAConversionGoogleSearchInsightsImage


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How Much Traffic Is Facebook Driving To Your Site?

“That wouldn’t apply to us because… [wait for it] we’re in a regulated industry.”

There’s an underlying current in asset management marketing that trends that affect other industries don’t apply here. It’s an illusion that is almost never true online—what’s affecting other Web sites is probably affecting your mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) site, too.

We’ve written about how Facebook and other social networking sites are gaining at the expense of asset manager and other destination Web sites.


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Slow Site? Optimize—Or Forfeit Search Traffic

Have your repeated requests to speed up your Web site been falling on deaf ears? There’s a change in the works that might give you the argument you need for IT to move site optimization up to the top of the priority list.

Watch this video from Google on the global benefits of a faster Web and then let’s consider how their advocacy on this could affect the success of your firm’s digital marketing strategy.

You’ve figured it out already, right? Of course, if Google wants the Web to be faster, the search engine is going to reward fast sites and slow sites can expect to sink in search engine rankings.


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2010 Predictions For Mutual Fund/ETF Digital Marketing

In addition to tracking marketing predictions (see our 2010 Marketing Predictions, Part 1 post for a round-up and see this article for 100 more), we’ve been keeping an eye on business predictions for 2010. And, the short version is that asset-gathering isn’t going to be any easier.

RockTheBoatMarketing2010DigitalMarketingPredictionsImageIf you’re a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) marketer, you can expect competition to heat up as your marketing counterparts do what they can to encourage investors to return to equity funds, evaluate their Roth IRA conversion prospects and use new, improved tools and expert advice for investment portfolio-building and re-building.


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Multimedia Press Releases Tell Rich Stories, Raise Awareness

Two financial services companies issued multimedia press releases this week that are ready examples of how content assets can be used to tell rich stories, useful to the media as well as in advancing Marketing’s goal to raise awareness and drive Web site traffic.

Northwestern Mutual’s press release on survey results (“Young Americans Say They Need Millions to Retire”) and John Hancock’s promotion of its “Find The Answers” ad campaign and microsite can give mutual fund or exchange-traded fund (ETF) marketers ideas on how to think beyond the all-text, suboptimized, largely boilerplate press releases that do little for reporters and even less for profile-raising.


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Mind The Keywords—’Unfortunate Market Anomaly’ Won’t Help Search Traffic Find You

Song selection. One of the maddening things about the American Idol competition is what consistently trips up the final 12. Their raw talent or personality gets them just so far but those who “go home early” fail to read the judges’ minds about the songs they should be singing.

Word selection. That’s the ground on which Web sites compete for search traffic. But unlike with the Idol wanna-bes, there’s no need to guess. There are ways to know which keywords drive traffic. The challenge for the leader of digital strategy at mutual fund, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other asset management companies is in persuading colleagues to use the more commonly used terms when they create content.


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Video-sharers Have Puppy Love For SPDRs Commercial

It’s been fun this week watching the growing social media success of State Street Global Advisors‘s exchange-traded fund (ETF) marketing. A SPDRS commercial introduced in June is getting uploaded to YouTube, as well as to other video-sharing sites, and commenters love, love, LOVE “the video.” (Note how the commercial aspect shrinks when the message is sufficiently appealing.)

Reviewers like the dogs, they like the accompanying song so much they want to buy it…and guess what else? According to their comments, some say they might even give State Street a look.

Watch the commercial for yourself and then let’s bat around some thoughts.


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And Now For Your Next Heroic Act: Visualizations

When we talk to clients/prospects about what they’re doing on the Web, the conversations focus on what more they could be doing. Of course, there’s always more to do, especially for those responsible for how mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other investment products are marketed.

But we are always mindful of the range of work—development and strategy—that’s done, day in and day out by eBusiness, Internet Marketing, Interactive Marketing et al teams.

And now, here’s a picture of it.

Website Development Yvo Schaap


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A Stimulus For Your Search Engine Rankings: One Low-Cost ‘Tweak’ That Could Make A Difference

Across the country, businesses and individuals are focused on making their dollars go further. It’s an exercise that includes a forced examination of wasteful habits. Forgo that second coffee mid-morning, for example, and you’ll be saving a few dollars a day.

In that spirit, we have a suggestion for managements of mutual fund, ETF, broker-dealer and other investment-related marketing teams: stop using “Click here” as your anchor text.


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A Belated Valentine For 10 Sites You Could Learn To Love

Work and some recreation kept me from posting this in time for St. Valentine’s Day. Hate when life keeps me from the computer. Without further delay, the sites I love and think you will, too:

1. Quantcast.com
Quantcast is a free service established for marketers, agencies and publishers to serve as a basis for media planning. If you’re buying online ads, you may already be familiar with its data about media sites.


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