Content rules marketing. I’ve written on ways to create content, how important is to generate leads and how content transcends marketing. Essentially, content is marketing. And if you find it difficult to produce content, you’re behind the eight ball.  

You risk losing a very important game by default when you don’t have valuable and authentic content to power your marketing engine.

That marketing engine is your website, your social networks, email, webinars, publishing, SEO, SEM, and so on. It’s also fair to say you can’t empower your most important marketing engine—referrals.

As with any seemingly ominous task, let’s start by breaking it down; starting with how to create content, then how to get it read and shared.  

9 Best Practices for Creating Content for Your Advisor Blog

1. Start with a mind map, then draft article, then title, then proofread
   – Aim for 250 – 600 words for your blog
   – Make sure it has a strong focus—don’t start talking about something else halfway through
2. Anatomy of great post
   – Intro (what’s the problem, why is it a problem,  transition to body),
   – Body (write in lists when possible, list challenges/solutions),
   – Summary (re-state problem, implications and ability to avoid/solve)
   – Intriguing and believable title
3. Solutions may include links to other posts, exercises or other sites to ramp up the value and credibility and ultimately how often it gets shared
4. Post to blog with a photo and title on the photo—use Pablo or Canva for help
   –  Add additional photos throughout your post when relevant
5. Add an excerpt (published as “description”) and meta info for SEO purposes
6. Make sure social sharing links are highly visible on blog post so readers can share it easily
7. Share via Hootsuite to all social networks (coordinate a monthly schedule that incorporates all your social sharing
8. Send email to your subscriber list once a month (or if timely on a specific date) with links to drive people back to blog/site
   – Make sure your email speaks to them personally and meets their needs
9. Encourage clients/prospects to share your posts on their networks as frequently as possible—it helps them expand their network and meet new people
   – A referral is still the most appreciated share, but social sharing can be very effective

Following these 9 advisor blogging best practices can get you pumping out articles that are strong, focused, and most importantly, useful for your prospects and clients. Content is your king—there is no replacement. Growing your prospects starts with great content.

Once you start making great content, you can think more about how you market your brand to the world. AdvisorU has a free library of resources that contains a wealth of knowledge: whitepapers, marketing tools/exercises, video and audio series, and more to help you succeed.