Who’s Who on your Website?

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Diana Baker

We looked in a previous article at the relatively low number of IFAs who provide easily-findable contact information on their websites.  This week we look closer at one of the aspects covered in that article; the page or pages of your website dedicated to your staff.  What details should you provide about your personnel; what works and what doesn’t work? Continue reading →

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Time for Testimonials

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Matthew Gilder

Here’s a common-enough scenario I’m sure most of us have experienced: you go to Amazon.co.uk to make an online purchase, perhaps a book or a camera or any one of millions of other items. You read the product info and the technical details where appropriate, but then you also scroll further down to read the user reviews with much interest, particularly if you are unsure about the product in any way. In this scenario, it’s the principle of not just taking the seller’s opinion for granted, but also seeking further confirmation and endorsements from other users as well. Continue reading →

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Website Content for Financial Advisers: Time for a Change?

Posted on July 19, 2011 by Matthew Gilder

We get several calls a year from IFAs who have websites that we have no involvement with, but who would like us to take over the running of their site.  For copyright and technical reasons we always decline these requests, but what is interesting is the most common reason these IFAs ask us to help: it is because they can’t update the content of their site without asking the web provider to do it for them, and consequently being charged an arm and a leg every time they need alterations.

Continue reading →

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To Blog or Not to Blog: an Alternative Suggestion…

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Matthew Gilder

Although some IFAs have launched themselves enthusiastically and successfully into the blogosphere in the last couple of years, they are still very much in the minority. Of course, quite a few IFAs do not want a blog, indeed don’t even want a website (remarkably, this still comprises a third of all IFA firms). Continue reading →

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Easy to Contact?

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Matthew Gilder

We have all felt the frustration and annoyance at not being able to find what we are searching for on a website.  Have you ever got stuck trying to find the phone number of a budget airline, or the name of someone to talk to at your insurance company, or an email address of your local bank branch?  It’s needle-in-a-haystack time.  Internet users by and large are notoriously impatient, and so any time spent fruitlessly trying to find contact information is usually guaranteed to wind people up and create a very negative impression. Continue reading →

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The Speed of Change

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Matthew Gilder

The technological advances and changes of fashion in IT, mobile telecommunications, the internet and social media in just half a dozen years have been remarkable.

Charlie Brooker wrote in The Guardian recently, “If your home is anything like mine, it contains several rarely explored crannies stashed full of archaic chargers, defunct cables, and freshly antiquated gizmos whose sole useful function in 2011 is to make 2005 feel like 1926, simply by looking big and dull and impossibly lumpen. Everyone’s opened a drawer and been startled by the unexpected discovery of an old mobile phone that now resembles an outsized pantomime prop. To think you used to be impressed by this clunky breezeblock. You were like a caveman gawping at a yo-yo.” Continue reading →

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No Right to Copy from an IFA’s website

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Diana Baker

Every couple of months, usually on a quiet Friday afternoon, I will sit down at my PC and find out who are the latest IFAs to steal from IFA Systems. It’s a relatively easy task; I choose a randomly selected phrase from our standard financial information or calculators or privacy statement or other typical text, paste that phrase into Google and see who is breaching our copyright by using our content. Continue reading →

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Twitter for IFAs – help or hindrance?

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Diana Baker

Love or hate Twitter, it’s an aspect of social media that is increasingly difficult to ignore.  Twitter isn’t necessarily for everyone, and it’s a subject that seems to polarise opinion more than most. If you are toying with the idea of joining Twitter, but unsure where to start, or don’t know your hashtag from your retweet, there are countless ways of finding out, from YouTube videos to Business Link seminars to marketing companies who will set you up on Twitter, produce an action plan and even do your Tweeting for you.

Continue reading →

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Welcome to the IFA Systems Blog

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Diana Baker

We’ve taken the plunge and launched our own blog!  We aim to communicate our views on current developments in technology affecting Financial Advisers, report on what we are working on and how our numerous systems and modules can help Independent Financial Advisors work more efficiently and effectively, and give various tips on improving your web presence and making it work for you.

There is an awful lot of stuff out there to read, so we’re not going to rattle out blogs unless we feel we have something worthwhile to say, and we don’t want to annoy clients and prospects with unnecessary clutter.

We welcome feedback on any of our blogs, as we want to ensure that what we provide, and the direction we’re going in, is what you IFAs are looking for!

Make sure you bookmark this page so you can find us again and keep up-to-date with our news and views.  You’ll also find a link to our Blog  from our own site under www.ifa-systems.co.uk, as well as links to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

 

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