driving traffic and generating leads from your website for ctas
TRANSCRIPT
Driving Traffic and Generating Leads From Your Website
October 19, 2009
CTA EXPO 2009
www.gate39media.com
Hello! Meet gate39media
• Over 50 financial industry clients including IBs, CTAs, FCMs, funds, exchanges, educators, and service providers
• Founded in 2002 by Shane Stiles, former Internet Developer with CME. NIBA Board Advisor. Located here in Chicago.
• Combination of design, marketing, latest technology with Futures industry knowledge
• Website Solution specifically for CTAs
What Millionaires Want From Brokerage Websites
"In a survey of 1000 millionaires, 79% visit their investment provider's Web site at least a few times a year and 83% of those do so every month. This would appear to firmly quash the old myth that millionaires need hand-holding and aren't willing to use online self-service.”2009 Forrester Study called “What Millionaires Want From Brokerage Websites”Wall Street Technology 2/18/09
What Millionaires Want From Brokerage Websites
"Investors who give their firm's online tools a top score in quality hold, on average, nearly $2 million more at that firm than do investors who give their firm's online tools the lowest possible score," the report states. "These satisfied online customers are also 37% more likely to consider the firm for additional purchases."2009 Forrester Study “What Millionaires Want From Brokerage Websites”Wall Street Technology 2/18/09
Searching for Managed Futures
• People are searching for information on managed futures
• Number of Google searches for September:– Managed Futures: 18,800– Managed Accounts: 23,700– Managed Account: 26,500– TOTAL: appx 69,000 searches in September– Nearly double Oct 2008 searches
How do I get clients to my site?
It’s all about visibility
Website Visibility
• Recommended• Referred• Seen• Meet• Listed• Searched
Keys to visibility
How is traffic generated?
• A customer recommends your firm to a friend– Spoken, phone call, email, social media (vote/link/fan)
• Referral from a broker, affiliate, service provider• Saw your firm in the media, conference, seminar• Met you in person• Listed in an online database, directory, or other
website– CTA databases sites, broker sites, industry sites
• Search engine keyword search
Make it easier to be “found”
• Make it easier to be recommended– When appropriate—include “Send to a friend”
function. Particularly from articles, blogs– Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn really do work
• Web address on all promotional materials and business cards, use email from your domain
• PR—trumpet your achievements with press releases and issue to industry outlets and through wire services such as Business Wire
Make it easier to be “found”
• Get listed– CTA Directories, Futures related directories– Local searches
• Get published—be sure articles feature your URL and links back to your site
• Blog/Twitter—build up your own following• Set-up your social media accounts—LinkedIn
in particular—online networking• Search engine optimization
A few words about SEO
• Search engine optimization (SEO) is not a cure all
• SEO takes time and a lot of work• SEO is not just about coding tricks• SEO is about links to your website• SEO works best when you define key terms to
target—ideally as specialized or as unique as possible
The SEO Formula
Visibility on the web =
Good ContentQuality LinksRegular UpdatesLongevitySolid code
Importance of Content
• Content attracts users—and keeps them coming back (nurturing leads)
• Content showcases your knowledge• Content is indexed by search engines• Content creates referrals and the “viral” effect• Content should be added/updated regularly• Content is the hardest part!
Email Marketing
• Cost effective• Opt-in service—your customers are asking for
information from you• Measurable• Keeps customers current on your activities• Newsletters vs. campaigns• Newsletters are great tools for CTAs—showcase
knowledge in a conversational, non-sales format
Email Newsletters Drive Traffic to Articles and to Call-to-action
• Email newsletters are not meant to contain the whole article, but headlines, short summaries to get interest, and then links to the article on the site
• Main objective is to get customers on your site and take action
• Therefore successful newsletters/websites—have original content and call-to-action
Where’s the Lead Capture?
• Customers provide their information to access the latest performance data
• Create a free consultation page or offer page• When you get a lead—what do you do?– Give to sales team– Add to your CRM or database with notes– Continue to follow up with them even if they
aren’t buying today (nurturing leads)
