Voices

Blogging Payoff for Your Practice

I know many advisors who struggle with the concept of blogging -- both written and video. They question the time, energy and creativity involved, and wonder about its overall effectiveness for generating business.

Here are a couple of ways that I believe blogging is working for my practice.

I was recently asked to present to a group of new teachers about saving for retirement. During my brief presentation, I touched on 403(b)s, mentioning that these should not be the standard investment vehicle of choice for teachers. Rather, I said, teachers should look at other options, such as Roth accounts, as savings vehicles to use alongside their pension.

I also mentioned that over the following weeks, I would be doing a video series on evaluating 403(b)s.

After the presentation, I added these teachers (with their permission) to my email list and sent each a brief thank-you note. One replied saying how valuable she thought the session was; she said she was looking forward to watching my 403(b) videos -- and that she planned to reach out after viewing them for advice.That's a lead that will connect directly to my video blogging work.

I also see an impact in traffic on my website, only about two-thirds of visits come directly to my home page. The other one-third of visitors come to my blog, whether via YouTube videos or mentions on social media. These visitors read various pages, checking out different topics. While I still face a challenge of converting visitors into clients, the visitor numbers are not insignificant, and I see traffic rising as I push more content out.

Has your practice benefited from blogging? Let me know in the comments below …

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