When it comes to web marketing, independent advisors are different from everyone else. Which means there is a good chance you have been getting bad advice. Bad advice about using the web to grow your practice.

The app, which can be downloaded for free from Apple's App Store, is the firm's first foray into the mobile applications arena and the cornerstone of its nascent WealthCentral Mobile strategy.

The two marriage partners did not describe this as a ‘merger of equals.’ Deutche Borse shareholders, after all, will have 60% control. But NYSE Euronext chief executive Duncan Niederauer says it’s not a takeover. So what is it?

"Social media" is not just some amorphous glob of communications outlets to be employed or avoided. Here's the quick setup to get going with a strategy to use social technologies effectively.

Joseph Price, FINRA senior vice president of corporate financing and advertising regulation, told Dow Jones a second Social Networking Task Force will meet in March and more guidance will be issued by the end of the year.

Mobile apps and smartphones are all the rage on Main Street, but only a small minority of investors and traders are using them for their portfolios.

Most projections call for financial services firms to boost tech spending this year by 5% or less. Then, there's Brad Lyman, director of technology at Matthews International Capital Management, and a more robust estimate today at the National Investment Company Service Association 2011 Conference & Expo.

An audit of financial services firms' advisor websites reveals that most have improved in a number of key categories, but most still only rank somewhere between "fair" and "good."

SunGard Data Systems said it introduced a mechanism for tracking leaks of company information through social media. The capital markets software supplier said a new surveillance product will help organizations watch for "content that may breach internal communication and privacy policies.''

Future tools might include online training programs, sales and illustration tools and live video presentations. Could an app be far behind?

Nasdaq OMX Group acknowledged Saturday that a Web-based service that promised more than 10,000 directors of corporate boards that they wouldn't have to worry about their communications "being posted on the Web or landing in someone else's inbox" had "potentially" been hacked.

NYSE Euronext said that its equities trading in the U.S. and its derivatives trading worldwide were down in January, compared to a year ago. But there were bright spots, particularly compared to December.

Consumers "like" rock bands and clothing brands on Facebook. A loyalty rewards startup expects that they will also "like" their banks in exchange for discounts on purchases.

The London Stock Exchange has been working with British security services to investigate cyber attacks against it, that may have led to the postponement of a transfer to a new trading technology platform until February 14, according to a report in the Times of London.

That Apple Inc. is targeting mobile payments is a foregone conclusion, but that doesn't mean banks must take a defensive approach.

The National Commission on the Causes of the Financial and Economic Crisis in the United States cast blame wide and far, in releasing its report Thursday on the causes of the 2008-2009 financial crisis. But not once in the 662-page report did high-frequency traders come up.

Companies are not following the leads of consumers. In the enterprise, Apple’s iPad tablets and iPhone smartphones are gaining ground against mobile devices based on Google’s Android operating system. And the biggest adopters of iPads and iPhones are financial services firms, according to a new activation report.

Banks are still juggling how best to use social media to communicate to customers — especially when other systems go down.

Legacy replacement, mobile applications and better use of analytics are among the issues confronting insurers.

BlackRock, which manages $3.4 trillion of assets for investors, will launch its own trading platform inside the firm. The move will cut costs for its customers.