Having a “Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)” section on your advisor website is a great way to make sure your visitors are able to quickly and easily find the answers that they need.
Not only do your visitors love FAQ pages but search engines do too! With the advent of technology like Google Home and Alexa, we know that voice search isn’t going anywhere in the new year. Recent Google reports note that 20% of searches are now by voice. So there’s no denying that people are looking for faster and easier ways to find answers to their questions. Enter: FAQ pages.
So maybe you have an FAQ page and it’s just not performing the way you had hoped it would. That’s okay! Like anything with digital marketing, it can take some trial and error to find out what works best for you and what your prospects gravitate towards.
Generally speaking, a traditional FAQ page on an advisor website probably has a list of 5-10 questions. These are usually questions that you get asked a lot by either current or prospective clients. Then, in a short span of 2-3 sentences, you answer those questions. Seems simple enough, right?
Reasons Why your Current FAQ Page Isn’t Working
Even if you seem to be doing everything above, we have some reasons as to why you may not see the SEO results out of your FAQ page that you expected.
1. Your Answers Are Too Long
Think about it – as a visitor to a website you want your questions answered quickly with just the right amount of detail without getting lost. If it takes too long to get to the root of a question, then this will result in a dropoff of traffic and could land you some high bounce rates.
It’s important to answer the question right off the bat. Don’t include too much “fluff” when answering questions. Generally, 2-3 sentences will suffice when it comes to answering, and make sure that they answered directly and in a manner that even someone who doesn’t understand “financial jargon” that well, can understand it. Just remember, keep it short and sweet!
Mountain Pass Planning answers questions below for those that may not understand the typical industry speak, which can help them to make more of an educated decision about what they want once they understand things better.
In the below example, Green Mountain Planning includes a Frequently Asked Question section on their website, which provides short answers to common questions. All of them are of the appropriate length, and it makes the page seem even more streamlined when they are included in this drop-down accordion fashion rather than listing out each answer.
2. They Lack a Central Theme
If you want to boost your SEO, then try sticking to a theme! Search engines like to see themes within your content in order to present results to those that are searching for an answer. If your FAQ page has a long list of questions but they all seem to be different or all over the place, then this will not be beneficial in driving traffic to your advisor website.
3. There Is No Trust
You need to build trust with your visitors and keep that. Answer your questions clearly and effectively, and be sure that you are making clear points. Just like the blog section and other pages of your website, you want to position yourself as a reputable and reliable source.
Similarly, if you decide to link out to another source, then it’s important that the sites are credible sources. This is just another way to continue to build relationships by “networking” online and proving that you are a reliable source. Additionally, including links like this helps spread ranking power around websites for an extra SEO boost.
3 Steps to Create an FAQ Page That Will Drive Results & Improve Your SEO Ranking
If your FAQ section is guilty of the above points, then that’s okay! You can fix them easily by following the 3️⃣ steps below!
1. List out All the Questions You Get on a Daily Basis
First and foremost, be sure that you are paying attention to all of the questions that you get on a daily basis! Start by listing out all the major questions you receive from clients and from prospects. Keep pen and paper handy or keep a running list on your computer that you can refer back to as you receive new questions.
Similarly, your FAQ page should be one that gets updated frequently. Be sure to go in and remove any questions that are no longer relevant to maintain your credibility and keep adding more questions as they come up during your conversations with clients and prospects.
If you find yourself listing more than 10 questions you should consider compiling them into categories so that your visitors can find the information they seek even faster. Like anything these days, people want their questions answered and they want it NOW. Rather than making your visitors pore through 20 different questions until they find what they are looking for hidden in the middle of the list, break it down! That will make your FAQ section much more efficient, and isn’t that why we have this section in the first place?
Pro tip: For an extra SEO boost infuse phrases that relate directly to your business into your questions. So rather than just saying “what is your process?” Optimize it to be “what is your financial planning process” instead.
2. Link Your Questions
This is a great way to cut down on clutter and be able to provide a more in-depth response to the question at hand. This can also drive more traffic to your blog, which if this is updated well and provides strong information, future visitors will know where they can go for other questions!
For example, instead of answering questions on the FAQ page itself, you can link the entire question to a dedicated blog post. Taking this approach also allows you to take a deeper dive into that subject matter and provide your visitors with much greater detail.
3. Include a Call-to-Action (CTA)
CTAs are incredibly important to include on your advisor website! If you do not ask your visitors to take some action once they have arrived on your page, then you are missing out on a HUGE opportunity. Determining the action you want your visitors to take once they land on your site is one of the most important decisions you can make when building your online presence.
Many of your site visitors may not yet be ready to engage with your services or any financial planning services in general, and that is totally fine! At the bottom of your list of questions include an actionable call-to-action to some sort of freemium such as an ebook, checklist or white paper. By getting prospects to sign up you will be able to keep in touch with them and show your value over time so that when they are ready for financial guidance, you will be top of mind.
Divorce Financial Solutions uses a bold CTA right on their homepage that prompts visitors to take the next step by scheduling a free 30-minute consultation. By including something similar to this at the end of an FAQ section, if anything was not answered or the answers piqued the interest of the reader, then this gives them a great opportunity to reach out for more information.
We hope that these simple tips can help you bring your advisor website to the next level! It’s a game of trial and error, so find out what works best for your company, and prepare for your website traffic to soar!