Why is E-A-T So Important for Generating Quality Leads for Your Financial Services Business

WHY IS E-A-T SO IMPORTANT FOR GENERATING QUALITY LEADS FOR YOUR FINANCIAL SERVICES BUSINESS?

Table of Contents Can You Control What the Internet Says About You? 04 How Google Determines If You Have High and Low-Quality Content 05 Your Money or Your Life Websites 07 Understanding E-A-T for SEO 08 You are What You E-A-T! 16 Enhance Your Online Content with Credkeeper 17 Is Your Website Content E-A-Ting Right? 18 How Credkeeper Makes Sure Your Website Content is Well-Fed 19 Building Expertise, Authority, and Credibility Online 21 Improving Your E-A-T Rating 22 How Credkeeper™ Can Enhance Your Credibility 23 About Financial Media & Marketing 25

3 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat When you’re seeking a professional to take on significant personal or business tasks, credibility is likely a critical quality of the product or service provider that you ultimately choose. The same holds for those looking for a financial advisor who can guide them both to and through retirement – and one of the primary methods prospects use for researching a potential new financial advisor is their website. If you have a website that highlights the services you offer and your credentials, the keywords that you use in your page content may help attract your ideal customers. The content can also help – or hinder – how and where you show up in search engine results. You are probably aware that Google uses a proprietary algorithm to retrieve and order search results to provide the most relevant and dependable data possible. Google uses a number of factors to determine the results of internet searches. These include the concept of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (or E-A-T). According to Google, “For all other pages that have a beneficial purpose, the amount of expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness (E-A-T) is significant.” Because of that, you need to understand and follow the E-A-T concept when creating and publishing content on your website, as it could make or break your search engine optimization (SEO) success. Following the tips outlined in this guide can help you increase your website’s position during Google searches. More site visitors can lead to more clients – and this can help you grow your client base, your business, and ultimately the amount of revenue generated by your practice.

4 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Can You Control What the Internet Says About You? While you have a fair amount of control over the content and media you put on your website and social media pages, it can be more challenging to control what the Internet says about you… or is it? In most cases, businesses will have an internet presence, whether or not they are deliberately doing anything online. So, it is essential to do all that you can to impact how your prospects and customers perceive your firm positively. The term “online presence” refers to all visible content a person or a business has under its name on the Internet. Your online presence includes any piece of information that is created by or about the person or business. However, there is a big difference between your company’s owned online presence and earned online presence in the consumer’s eyes. For instance, your company’s website would be considered an ‘Owned’ presence, along with all content clearly created by you. But in the latter, your “Earned” online presence is what other people are saying about you. This can be in any online format and on any platform on which people choose to talk about you, such as tweets, video reviews, and answers on Quora. Likewise, articles published on third-party websites either written by you or featuring you in an interview are additional examples of ‘Earned’ online presence. If specific guidelines are followed when creating and publishing the content you control or your owned online presence, your website and pages could rank high in Google’s searches, which in turn, can help more of your ideal customers find you. Further, the more authority and expertise you demonstrate online, the more likely people will buy from you. The appearance of expertise and authority has enormous weight on a company’s success, especially when trust is a critical component of the client’s sales decision-making process. Take, for instance, a financial services practice. People will likely search for investment advisors, retirement planners, and other types of financial professionals online before moving forward with making an appointment. In fact, 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business (source: https://www.brightlocal.com/ research/local-consumer-review-survey/) Therefore, not being active online can cost you potential customers – and may even leave your ideal clients with no choice but to work with your competitors instead. So, having a positive online presence can help you to sell more offline. But there is a right and a wrong way to go about doing so.

5 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat How Google Determines If You Have High and Low-Quality Content Throughout the past couple of decades, the word “Google” has become both a noun and a verb. For instance, while Google is a technology company that focuses on paid and unpaid internet searches and advertising technologies, cloud computing, hardware, and software, it has also come to mean searching for information on the world wide web. In other words, when someone “Googles” the name of a company or other subject matter, it refers to typing information into the Google (or other search engine’s) search bar and being presented with results. The search engine giant Google uses three key factors when differentiating high and low-quality web content. These are: 1. Beneficial Purpose 2. Page Quality, or E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) 3. YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) When evaluating the overall quality of a web page, Google values websites that demonstrate expertise, authority, and trustworthiness. Ingrained in this, Google states that the other general factors it uses for determining a site’s quality include: • Whether or not there is a beneficial purpose to the page • Quality and amount of the page’s main content • Information about the website itself or its leading content creator • Reputation of the website or the primary creator of the content Therefore, with all other factors being equal, the more that a web page demonstrates expertise, authority, and trustworthiness, the higher it should rank in a Google search. The E-A-T process is also a method that Google uses to ensure that search returns are truthful, accurate, and helpful information to web surfers when looking for information on a particular topic.

6 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Virtually anyone can start a website – even if they are not in a particular field. So, as an example, medical websites can be created by individuals who know nothing about healthcare. And even though these sites may provide helpful information to their visitors, if someone is basing essential decisions on the details provided on such sites, the content must be trustworthy. Otherwise, there could be dire consequences. Therefore, Google aims to ensure the expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness of the individual creator of these pages and the content itself and the entire website. With that in mind, a medical article written by a doctor who works for the Mayo Clinic is likely to be more valuable than a random blog post that gives unverified “advice.” While the E-A-T factor has been around since 2014, it is gradually becoming one of the most important elements of search engine optimization, or SEO. But it is also somewhat tricky to understand – even for those who are experts in the industry. E-A-T doesn’t just impact your website’s ability to rank in the search engines. It can also have an impact on both how and where results are displayed for branded keywords. This process reviews the page level – which refers to the level of a page relative to a website’s index URL. The E-A-T process resembles what Google refers to as Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) pages. These pages have topics on specific advice, such as financial, legal, or medical information. This content can be anything that may positively or negatively affect a site user’s happiness, health, and wealth. As an example, a financial advisor’s blog may offer retirement planning advice to its readers. Top-ranking YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) pages will show a high level of E-A-T because the safer a website user feels while visiting a site or a page – and the more content meets their search query – the more it will meet the needs of Google’s E-A-T. Therefore, it helps if your website genuinely offers helpful advice or a solution to a problem. Google is explicit in its quality guidelines. The level of E-A-T expected of a given website depends on the topics presented on that site and the extent to which its content is YMYL in nature. E-A-T is likely to directly impact how Google receives – and ultimately ranks – a website and its pages. Marketers and web developers should approach E-A-T as to why users would pick their website over the competition.

7 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Your Money or Your Life Websites As a financial advisor, you may not realize the importance of how you word the content on your website – but it could be a matter of “your money or your life.” YMYL, or Your Money or Your Life websites are what Google terms as those that provide products, services, and advice in the following areas: • Legal advice • Medical advice • Financial advice Online shops also fit into the YMYL category, as these sites will often request a website user’s credit card information before making a purchase. Other YMYL pages include: • News and current events. Topics covering international affairs, business, politics, science, and technology may also be in your money or your life category. In this case, though, not all news will fall into this realm. Some areas that may not qualify as YMYL are sports and entertainment news stories. • Civics, government, and law. This can include disseminating information pertaining to voting, government agencies, public institutions, and social services. • Groups of people. Groups of people in the YMYL category can include content that features information or claims about people based on race, ethnicity, nationality, age, religion, disability, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, or veteran status. The list of YMYL content might also include topics that are more subjective and content based on their context or how the information is presented. Such items may consist of information on: • Parenting • Housing/home remodeling • Researching schools or colleges • Finding employment • Fitness / nutrition / weight loss Websites that rank higher in Google searches will typically display a high level of expertise, authority, and trust. The more safe a site user feels while visiting a page – and the more relevant the page content is in meeting their search query – the more it will meet the needs of Google’s E-A-T. Therefore, websites that genuinely offer advice that is helpful to the user for solving a problem or moving forward with an important issue (such as financial or medical situations) will generally meet these needs better than websites and pages that try to “cheat” the Google system. When publishing financial advice and strategies content, it is imperative to clarify that it has been authored by individuals with the proper expertise, experience, and standing.

8 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Understanding E-A-T for SEO Comparing search engines and SEO might not always equate to how the human body works, but in the case of Google’s E-A-T criteria, there are some definite similarities. For instance, you need to eat to live, and so does your website content. Google states that its E-A-T system is among its top three considerations for page quality rating. In turn, this can determine the value of a website. Google’s E-A-T stands for: • Expertise • Authority / Authoritativeness • Trustworthiness Quality raters consider E-A-T when they determine how well a site or page provides what they need – and E-A-T is particularly relevant for the assessment of content that concerns sensitive YMYL (Your Money or Your Life), which includes information about personal health or finance issues. With that in mind, Google searches and ranks websites and web pages based on expertise, authority (or authoritativeness), and trustworthiness.

9 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Expertise First and foremost, if you want your web content to be noticed and ranked well by Google, you have to be an expert in your field. As it pertains to Google E-A-T factors, expertise means that you need to show the creator’s skill for the main content or MC. You must also mention it in your content. Expertise comes down to the professionalism of the content produced, vital for medical, legal, and financial websites. Therefore, you must demonstrate your expertise with truthful and informative content on your site. The specific standard for the kind of expertise required by Google search will depend on the page’s topic. As it relates to expertise on financial advisors’ websites, providing information about your credentials is essential. E-A-T can not only improve SEO (search engine optimization) and your ranking score, but when it is used correctly, Google’s E-A-T can also help to protect your company’s reputation. Authoritativeness You need to show that you are an authority on the topic your website or page is presenting concerning authority or authoritativeness. So, similar to showing the creator’s skill for the main content (MC), you must also evidence the same when it comes to authoritativeness. Your authority may be promoted in different ways, depending on your website’s structure. For example, if the site or page is a community or forum discussion, the quality of the conversation will drive the authority. On the other hand, credentials and personal experiences like reviews can also increase the authority ranking.

10 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Trustworthiness When it comes to trustworthiness, you must show your website users that they can trust the creator of the MC (main content) and trust the main content itself and the website overall. Trustworthiness is particularly critical for websites and web pages that ask their users for eCommerce or personal information. That’s because, without trust, it is unlikely that consumers will provide these details. With that in mind, trustworthiness isn’t just about reputation or accuracy. It is also about security. For example, a shopping checkout page with an unsecured connection would likely be given a low score. In fact, with Google Chrome marking all HTTP pages as “Not Secure,” any website without an SSL certificate that does not automatically redirect to an HTTPS URL is likely going to jeopardize the website’s E-A-T score. There are some specific steps that you can take that could significantly improve the content on your website and ensure that it conveys the trust signals that Google – and its users desire. These can include the following: • Building suitable backlinks • Getting more “mentions” from trusted sources • Keeping your content accurate and up to date • Getting more reviews – and responding to them • Providing your content providers’ expertise and credentials • Providing your contact information • Using or hiring experts

11 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Building the Right Backlinks Backlinks are defined as incoming hyperlinks from one website to another website. Backlinks on your website from high-authority and relevant domains are the backbone of an effective search engine optimization strategy. They can also be one of the best methods of showing that you are a trusted authority in your niche. As an example, as a financial professional, if you receive backlinks from trusted sites like CNN or Yahoo Finance, it can be a plus. To “earn” backlinks, though, you must create and publish valuable, unique, and high-quality content that people want to link to. It can also help to build positive relationships with the right influencers and publishers and position yourself as an authority or specialist. Getting More “Mentions” from Trusted Sources Getting mentions from one or more trusted sources can also help with boosting your E-A-T credentials. The more your name, company, or brand shows up in authoritative sources around the Internet; the more Google will likely see you as a trusted authority. There are many different strategies for generating mentions. These could include one or more of the following: • Hosting or speaking at industry events • Sponsoring charity events • Creating high-value resources • Guest posting on authoritative websites • Securing interviews • Appearing on podcasts • Partnering with industry influencers

12 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Keeping Your Content Accurate and Up To Date Because the financial markets and economy are constantly changing, it is recommended that you keep your website’s content accurate and up to date regularly. This is particularly the case if you have pages on your site that feature news. With that in mind, review your content and remove anything outdated. Getting More Reviews – And Responding to Them It is always a good business strategy to earn and promote reviews from your satisfied clients. Not only can these promote goodwill for your business – and make it easier for others to feel comfortable doing business with you, too – but they can also help your website’s E-A-T strategy. In this case, a large number of positive reviews across various review sites, such as Trustpilot, Facebook, and even Google, can demonstrate that your firm is trustworthy in the eyes of consumers. Further, statistics have shown that online reviews can help you to connect with customers, and also to: • Improve your company or brand image • Encourage additional buying recommendations • Appear higher and more frequently in the online search engine rankings • Have prospects schedule appointments with you directly online A concept known as “social proof” refers to the level of credibility that the public provides to a product or service. In this case, the more people who use and/or like something they have purchased, the more likely others are to follow. Further, studies have also shown that online reviews are critical drivers for consumers to find local businesses, with approximately 97% of internet users utilizing online media to research products and service providers in their local area. What customers say in their online reviews can also make a big difference. While you can’t necessarily influence what is said or the type of review that someone leaves (other than providing sound advice and service), some ways may be better than others when it comes to you asking for reviews from your customers. One study found that 68% of customers will leave a review when they are asked. With that in mind, if you go about asking correctly, you could significantly increase the total number of reviews you receive. Some of the best ways to do so include the following: • Texting an invitation to submit a review • Providing a link to a review “shortcut.”

13 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat • Knowing the right time to ask • Automating the review process • Posting a “sign.” • Training others in your business to ask • Following up with customers • Using pop-ups on your website • Sending requests to your current or previous customers • Managing your company’s current reviews • Taking action on suggestions made in reviews • Thanking customers for leaving a review • Having a review link on your website • Running an email campaign asking for reviews • Including a review link in your email signature • Taking surveys of current customers • Asking for reviews on your social media page(s) • Sharing / making positive reviews more visible • Getting reviews from business partners • Providing exemplary service to your clients • Working with a marketing team In addition to receiving and posting customer reviews, it can also be beneficial if you take the time to respond to reviews that come in – both the positive and the negative ones. By responding to your feedback, your trustworthiness will typically increase, and you will cement yourself and your business even further as both reputable and committed to keeping your clients happy.

14 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Proving Your Content Providers’ Expertise and Credentials If you have “experts” writing your website content, you must provide information about their experience, education, awards, certifications, or other relevant credentials. In this case, if the writers possess accreditations, degrees, or have put in the time to be recognized as an authority in a particular field, then your firm has earned the right to let your website visitors – including Google – know about it. Providing Your Contact Information Although this might not seem like a big deal, showing your contact information on your website helps to prove that you are an honest company with real people working with your customers. On the other hand, websites that do not provide their contact information might not care a lot about their visitors. When you are presenting your contact details, make sure that you include everything, such as your: • Physical mailing address • Email address • Website address • Phone number • Link to online chat with customer service (if applicable)

15 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Using or Hiring Experts Hiring an expert or specialist in your field can provide you with several key benefits. For example, having your content written by someone who already “speaks the language” of the industry can better ensure that it is accurate. (This does not mean simply hiring a copywriter who can write about a particular topic but has no experience in the industry or field). Some companies cater to professionals in specific industries, such as financial services, that offer a host of services, including content writing, website building, lead generation, search engine optimization (SEO), brand identity, and customized video production. Partnering with such a company can allow you to focus on your business while at the same time having your marketing done right. While all of these concepts are essential to follow for website content in any industry or area, remember that if your site falls under the YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) designation, it will typically be held to even higher standards. It is also essential to keep in mind that focusing on E-A-T is not a replacement for technical SEO auditing or another search engine optimization objective. Nor does addressing E-A-T necessarily improve a website’s SEO performance in a vacuum. For instance, all of the “traditional” initiatives that go into a successful search engine optimization strategy – such as on-page optimization, earning high-quality backlinks, and technical SEO – must also be executed for your website’s E-A-T efforts to be successful. In addition, if a website contains other items, such as severe technical issues that slow down the page load times or problems with crawling or rendering content, it is possible that Google will not be able to index the site properly. Therefore, E-A-T should be prioritized along with other SEO efforts and other issues that could be impacting your website’s overall performance. Also, addressing E-A-T can take time. In contrast, with various SEO tactics like optimizing metadata or repairing technical issues, it may be possible to see immediate increases in performance once Google “re-crawls” and indexes the updated content. But E-A-T does not work in the same way. One reason for this is because E-A-T is not a direct website ranking factor. Given that, improving the perceived trustworthiness of your website can be a resource-intensive and time-consuming task that takes a considerable amount of effort to complete. That time and effort, however, does not have to come from you. In fact, by taking this to a partner that specializes in enhancing E-A-T, along with taking on other online marketing activities, the time factor involved could speed up considerably.

16 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat You are What You E-A-T! One of the biggest challenges for financial advisors is keeping a steady stream of new clients coming in the door – and one of the best ways to extend your reach to your ideal customers is via the Internet. But your website and web pages will only be as effective as your ability to generate targeted traffic. Without following Google’s E-A-T process, those searching for you online may not be able to find you. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that every part of your website meets Google’s requirements. Now, more than ever before, websites must offer engaging, helpful, and accurate content, in addition to implementing E-A-T guidelines to satisfy the needs of Google and their website’s actual visitors. While doing so can be time-consuming, the good news is that there are ways to accomplish this without having to take precious time away from running your practice and meeting with your clients. One way is to engage with Credkeeper™.

17 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat When it comes to bringing new clients into your business, people don’t typically buy products. Instead, they buy people. This is particularly the case with financial advisors. While many individuals can “sell” financial tools and strategies, it is your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness that will make clients want to move forward in working with you. One way to enhance this is by partnering with Credkeeper™. What exactly is Credkeeper™? Credkeeper™ is a patent-pending application that helps you increase your online credibility, reputation, and your perceived expertise. The result of this effort can increase the trust that prospects and clients have in you, your recommendations, your advice, and your services. There are several ways that CredkeeperTM does this, such as by: • Generating more high-quality leads using an integrated marketing approach • Enhancing your client relationships via consistent communication, which emphasizes your authority and expertise • Helping you succeed and to grow your business - all with less effort, as well as a higher closing ratio on business At Credkeeper™, we publish more than 1 million words of content each year. That kind of volume can create a great deal of online traffic, and a significant portion of our website visitors become interested prospective clients. So, the better online credibility you have, the more leads you can receive. The proven - and effective - Credkeeper™ marketing campaigns and lead generation systems can be combined with its patent-pending software applications that enhance the visibility and credibility of licensed insurance, financial, and estate planning professionals. But there is so much more to the Credkeeper™ application than just leads. For example, in addition to offering you a professionally designed website, Credkeeper™ can also provide customized videos, mailing list solutions, lead generation, press releases, author pages, on-site advertising, social media automation, mailing list, and brand identity solutions that all work together to bring you more prospects and clients. Using Credkeeper™, you can gain more control over your online presence with better listings on more websites. You will also have more visibility, collect more leads, and garner more credibility so that you can close those leads more consistently. In addition, we can ghostwrite content for you, publish the content on online news channels and industry-leading websites, and ensure that your prospects and clients see you as the go-to authority in your chosen niche. Enhance Your Online Content with Credkeeper™

18 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Is Your Website Content E-A-Ting Right? If your current website isn’t following the E-A-T process regarding the content you’re producing, you could be doing your potential customers, your business, and yourself a disservice. Why is E-A-T so important? There are several good reasons why. First, it is likely that if you are looking for clients – and you are marketing to potential customers via the Internet through a website – you want visibility. One of the best ways to achieve visibility online is through optimizing search engine results so that your site comes up when prospects type in various keywords. Because Google – the world’s largest search engine – wants to give search engine users the best possible experience, it promotes websites and pages that are more trustworthy over those that are less so. It is also probable that you want to stand out from your competition. Unfortunately, many consumers have a difficult time understanding how one financial product or professional differs from another. Trust and perceived expertise can be the cornerstones of that decision – and as a financial professional, the more credible you are perceived to be, the more business you are likely to write.

19 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat How Credkeeper™ Makes Sure Your Website Content is Well-Fed Turning over your website marketing to an expert in the area can better ensure that your content meets Google’s standards, that you are perceived as an expert and an authority, and that you are trustworthy. This, in turn, can help you to generate more clients and more business. Credkeeper™ automatically reads, enhances, publishes, and shares content to affiliated and non-affiliated websites and social media platforms, making your web content more searchable. At the same time, you continue to focus on what you do best. This patent-pending software application influences how your prospects and clients interact with your brand online. Your expertise and authority offer clients a primary reason to hire or buy from you. Credkeeper™ closely manages how you are perceived, which can significantly enhance the trust placed in you – transforming your business and ultimately helping you win more clients. Google coined the acronym E-A-T, meaning Expertise, Authority, and Trust. Therefore, if credibility influences who buy from you, then E-A-T should be your focus – and, unless your prospects and clients do not have access to the Internet, you need to control your online E-A-T… because your business depends on it.

20 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Financial Advisors With and Without Credkeeper Without Credkeeper With Credkeeper Good background, track record, and reputation Good background, track record, and reputation Strong sales skills Strong sales skills Provides good advice Provides good advice Standard marketing efforts Standard marketing efforts Occasional referrals Occasional referrals Credibility with known prospects and clients Credibility with known prospects and clients Visibility based on extensive outbound efforts Visibility based on extensive outbound efforts Limited personal website traffic Limited personal website traffic Automated with CredkeeperTM: Leads from multiple online properties Free social media automation - Keeping your new content front and center with prospects and clients alike Seen by thousands as a subject matter expert, published author, or content sponsor on numerous online news channels and industry-specific websites Listings on multiple industry-leading websites Automated DRIP email marketing - As content is published under your name or on topics you like, it is automatically sent to all of your prospects and clients Calendy™ appointment setting Seen as the go-to expert in your market Higher closing ratios More referrals Source: Financial Media & Marketing https://financialmedia.marketing/credkeeper A hypothetical example of a financial professional with a positive track record, strong sales skills, and proper licensing – with all other factors being equal between the advisor with and without Credkeeper.

21 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Building Expertise, Authority, and Credibility Online Prospective clients want to hire the best, most credible financial advisor they can find – and if someone hires you based on what they think you can do for them, then the only thing you are selling is yourself. As a financial advisor, you are in an expertise, authority, and trust business. Suppose you’re ready to build expertise, authority, and credibility online without having to spend hours every day creating and publishing articles, blog posts, and web pages online that must meet specific guidelines to be recognized as quality content. In that case, it may be time to consider using Credkeeper™. Credkeeper™helps you to attract prospects and drives engagement with high-quality, highconverting, personalized content – and it does so in many ways, including: • Using expert sources for your website’s content, such as professional societies, reputable organizations, news articles, blog posts, magazine articles, forum discussions, and ratings from independent organizations • Having a beneficial purpose to the page visitor and on all of the content that is created • Implementing an SSL certificate* on your site, which is used in many of Google’s scoring signals • Meeting Google’s E-A-T quality standards • Publishing blogs that have authority • Creating great content to establish your expertise (authors who write for expert publications in a particular industry like financial services may provide the boost that is needed for getting to the top page of Google’s search results) • Helping the frequency with which an author’s name comes up in a website search – which is another crucial factor in Google’s criteria • Publishing fresh, consistent content on a daily or monthly basis for you via RSS feed *An SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates the identity of a website and encrypts the information sent to the server using SSL technology. Encryption is the process of scrambling data into an undecipherable format that can only be returned to a readable format with the proper decryption key. The biggest impact you can gather from Google recognizing author expertise as a ranking factor is becoming a contributor and publishing articles. Credkeeper can do this for you so that you can take steps towards a higher Google ranking while at the same time continuing to focus on working with clients, providing quality advice, and generating revenue for your financial advisory practice.

22 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Improving Your E-A-T Rating Navigating Google’s ranking criteria and algorithms can be an overwhelming task. But there are ways to improve your E-A-T rating and, in turn, have more of your ideal prospects take notice of your content. Some of these strategies can include: • Making sure that the content on your website or pages matches the main page’s content • Publishing longer content can help a page to rank higher • Finding and writing content about other financial planning aspects that your competition has missed • Focusing on quality content, rather than quantity on a page • Auditing your existing content and increasing your published work • Regularly updating your website pages • Citing the authoritative sources for the content that you post It is important to remember that the overall website quality is one of the main factors contributing to a better E-A-T ranking. Therefore, make sure that you create a website with clear and relevant content that will be educational and informative to the prospects you are seeking and attractive to Google. In this case, the pages on your website should add value to the site visitor’s search inquiry. Also, your site should genuinely offer helpful content or a solution to a problem for your prospects, as well as for your existing customers. They may also refer to your website for information. With all of this in mind, how can you go about improving your E-A-T rating without having to spend a lot of time creating content, publishing it on different websites across the Internet, and worrying about whether or not your business is being properly promoted online? The answer may be Credkeeper™.

23 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat How Credkeeper™ Can Enhance Your Credibility By using the patent-pending Credkeeper™ software program through Financial Media & Marketing (FMM), you’ll have fresh content published for you regularly – as often as every day – via RSS feed on your website. RSS, or “Really Simple Syndication,” is a type of web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. When people subscribe to RSS feeds, it can keep track of many different websites in one single news aggregator that continuously monitors the sites for new, updated content. This can save a tremendous amount of time for the subscriber because they don’t have to manually check all of the websites on their own for new posts or other information. A news aggregator, or “RSS reader,” can be built into a browser, installed on a desktop computer, or installed on a mobile device. Websites will often use RSS feeds for publishing frequently updated information like blog posts, news headlines, podcasts, and episodes of video or audio series. Credkeeper™ also helps you communicate the right messages at the right time to your contacts with drip email marketing. All of that content can be coordinated and pushed to your website via social media automation. In addition, with Credkeeper™, you can both solicit and manage client reviews while actively gathering leads and publishing content that helps establish you as an expert. So, why not demonstrate your expertise and subject matter authority, become more trustworthy in prospects’ and clients’ eyes, and ultimately enhance your firm’s revenue and income generation capacity? If you want to close more business, you need to be more credible when your prospects look you up online. You will close more business if you can control what your prospects see at this critical juncture.

24 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat Credkeeper™ makes it more likely that your prospects will engage with you – as well as more likely that they will call you back, return your email(s), agree to an appointment, and significantly more likely that they will do business with you. Until Credkeeper™, there wasn’t a tool available that gave you this much control. So, suppose you would like to educate and promote prospects using a professionally designed and automated website. In that case, you just don’t have the time or the training to create, build, and maintain the features needed to do so CredkeeperTM from Financial Media & Marketing can help. Going this route can allow you to generate more leads online – with no added time requirements - while at the same time focusing on providing the same excellent advisory services to your clients. Credkeeper™ can magnify your online credibility, reputation, and perceived expertise while generating leads for you – ultimately allowing you to attract more prospects and close more business. Please feel free to sign up for our newsletter or book a call with a financial advisor website specialist at Financial Media & Marketing to determine whether or not Credkeeper™ is the right fit for you and your financial advisory business. You can also find out how to join the Credkeeper™ program at no cost to get your website up and running and generate contacts and leads. Financial Media & Marketing provides top-tier lead generation, creative, and marketing services along with both turn-key and customized solutions and proprietary, patent-pending applications that can magnify your expertise and authority, and in turn, increase trust. To contact us directly, call (877) 799-3433 or send us an email with any questions you may have by going to https://financialmedia. marketing/credkeeper. People buy people, and Credkeeper™ sells you. We look forward to hearing from you and helping you grow your financial services practice.

25 financialmedia.marketing • [email protected] • (877) 799-3433 201208FMMWhyEat About Financial Media & Marketing At Financial Media & Marketing, we look at marketing for the financial industry differently, and we want to help you work smarter, not harder, for your leads. We offer top-tier creative and marketing services and turn-key, customized solutions – from SEO to lead generation and large web-based platforms – that elevate your online brand, credibility, and presence. Because when you succeed, we all succeed. Our proven and highly effective marketing campaigns and lead generation systems can be coupled with our patent-pending software applications that enhance the visibility and credibility of licensed financial professionals. This, in turn, can help you to close more business. When you partner with Financial Media & Marketing, you’re not out there on your own. We partner with carriers, IMOs, FMOs, brokerdealers, RIAs, agencies, and directly with insurance and financial professionals. In addition to leads and marketing, we also help you close more business and develop a consistent flow of referrals from highly qualified prospects. Just some of our other services include: • Website copy creation • Logo and design • Customized videos • On-demand seminars • Mailers • Search engine optimization (SEO) • Custom content creation (for white papers and eBooks) • Brand identity Find out how Financial Media & Marketing can help you. Send us an email by going to [email protected] or call us at (877) 799-3433 You can also visit our website at https:/ financialmedia.marketing Credkeeper™ is a trademark of Financial Media & Marketing, LLC.

Financial Media & Marketing 4590 Deodar Street Silver Springs, NV 89429 [email protected] https://financialmedia.marketing/contact (877) 799-3433

Sources RSS. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS Navigating Google E-A-T for SEO Success In 2021. Forbes. January 25, 2021. https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2021/01/25/navigating-google-e-a-t-for-seo-success-in2021/?sh=7337ad0b3df3 What is E-A-T & Why it’s Important (Google, E-A-T, and SEO)? Terakeet. https://terakeep.com/blog/what-is-eat/ What It Is and Why It Matters – Google E-A-T. Lu Mint. January 11, 2021. https://blumint.co/what-google-e-a-t-why-matters An SEO Breakdown of Reputation as an E-A-T Factor. Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/an-seo-breakdown-of-reputation-as-an-e-a-t-factor/412672/ Google’s E-A-T: Busting 10 of the Biggest Misconceptions. Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-eat-misconceptions/333875/#close SSL Certificates Help. What is an SSL certificate? GoDaddy. https://www.godaddy.com/help/what-is-an-ssl-certificate-542 Google. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google# Everything you need to know about online presence for your business. By Bhavin Turakhia. flockblog. May 6, 2020. https://blog.flock.com/online-presence-for-your-business What Does Google Mean? Techopedia. https://techopedia.com/definition/5359/google Online reviews statistics to know in 2021. By Diana Kaemingk. October 30, 2020. https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/online-review-stats/ Nearly All Consumers (97%) Now Use Online Media to Shop Locally, According to BIA / Kelsey and ConStat. A new study reveals local consumers access an increasing number of online media sources before buying; the use of online coupons and appointment scheduling on the rise. CISION PR Newswire. March 10, 2010. Nearly All Consumers (97%) Now Use Online Media to Shop Locally, According to BIA/Kelsey and ConStat (prnewswire.com) Local Consumer Review Survey 2020. BrightLocal. By Rosie Murphy. https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/

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