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Practice Management > Building Your Business

APEX Award for Web Excellence Goes to ...

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Today, one of the most important “best practices” you can deploy is an excellent web presence. To encourage people to upgrade their presence, I created an award: the Apex Award for Advisor Presence Excellence.

The annual Apex Award is to be presented in recognition of outstanding web presence according to these criteria: (1) dominates page one Google search result, and (2) multiple sites look good.

In other words, the recipient meets the two criteria for the APEX award: Be found. Look good.

In July 2011, I announced the first APEX Award winner: Thomas V. Christopher for outstanding Web presence.  His award is posted here. You should visit his Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Christopher Financial Group to see why he received the award. He can certainly be found and he looks good.

I am awarding the second APEX award to Heidi Foster. Heidi is a financial advisor with American Wealth Management in Reno, Nev.

Heidi owns Google page one. The first 10 are hers. Check it out here (The search term I used was simply “Heidi Foster Reno NV.”)

The reason this is so important is that 85% of the click-through rate occurs on Google page one. And get this, an astonishing 36.4% of people who hit page one click on the first position. Move down merely one place to #2, and your click-through rate drops to 12.5%.

The reason Heidi dominates Google page one is what she has done with the rest of her sites.

Her LinkedIn Profile is robust, i.e., rich with data. Her 500-plus connections enhance its value.

She’s following the rules to build her Twitter page: frequent updates. She has a small but growing following.

Her Facebook page does exactly what it should do—showcases her as a person. We learn more about her interests, reading, arts and entertainment.

And the American Wealth Management home page looks great. I love the way art, featuring the mountains and valleys around Reno, gives the company a local brand as a national brand deployed in their name. They can work anywhere.

Heidi, very well done.

When someone considering doing business with you looks you up on Google, rest assured you can be found and look good.

***

Bill Good is Chairman of Bill Good Marketing®, Inc. His company, based in Draper, Utah develops systems to help financial advisors have the time and money to pursue their important goals in life. He writes a regular column for Research magazine and a regular blog for AdvisorOne.


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