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Changes are coming to the .au domain name space. From 24 March, Australian companies, brands, and individuals will be able to hold direct registrations in the .au name space.

In this article, we look at what direct registration means, who can participate, and what to do if you already own a .au domain name.

What are direct registrations?

Until now, the .au name space only accepted registrations at the third level. This is shown in domain names like advicewebsites.com.au or abc.net.au. They all have .au on the end but then the second level contains a string like com, net, org, edu, id, gov etc…

Direct registration means that Australians will be able to register their company, brand etc, at the second level. So you will be able to get a domain name like advicewebsites.au or if the ABC would like to; abc.au.

This all begins to happen on the 24th of March. There’s more to it though, read on!

Priority Status for existing domain name owners

AUDA (.au Domain Administration) is the organisation that oversees domain name policy in Australia and they have a policy that aims to protect existing domain name/brand holders when direct registrations become available.

In short; if you own a third-level domain name (e.g., advicewebsites.com.au) you receive priority status and have the first opportunity to register the same string as a direct registration. (i.e., advicewebsites.au).

There is a tool that AUDA has released that allows existing registrants to check their priority status – find the tool here.

What should you do?

If you’re a small business or a large corporate this change will impact you. You may be happy with your existing domain name, and that’s fine. You have to be aware though if you don’t register the direct version of your domain name, it will be available to anyone to register it. It’s not until September 2022 that this will happen but direct registrations will completely open up at that point, meaning there’s no more priority registration for existing domain name holders.

How to act?

You will need to work through an Australian domain name register to access a priority registration. The AUDA website lists all of the registrars. You can then follow links through to whomever you use as your registrar.

Further Reading

AUDA have a press release here that outlines a lot of the rules and details on how the transition to direct registrations will be conducted. Start there to get all the details.

Priority Status Tool

GetYour.au

AUDA Fact Sheet

When staff are hidden behind a leader or sales team, it’s a wasted opportunity to demonstrate the depth and breadth of talent in the business. This applies no less so in the digital context. We encourage all (or at least most) of a team to be present on the practice website, and we delve into the detail in this article.

We’ll be covering:

• Who should be present on a website
• What should be displayed
• How to write a team profile or bio
• Some bonus tips for LinkedIn

In addition to being a resource for managers, this article is also intended to be a resource for team members that anyone can share.

Who should be visible on a website

As a minimum, we recommend including:

• All business leadership.
• All permanent employees who do client work or are client-facing in any way.
• Any other full-time employees (admittedly up to a point, once that figure gets beyond four it may better to keep this to management or key specialist functions).

Who shouldn’t be:

• Contract or temporary staff.
• Referral partners. (Cool to show them, just not as team members).

Some other options include:

• Principals of businesses that have been acquired who are working out their transition period.
• Formal non-employee board members, so long as they are clearly distinct from the core team.

For staff who are on probation and not centre to the client relationships: Whilst we could include them, it’s a very individual decision for each business and we understand both sides of the coin. However, regardless of the outcome, make a call and stick to it.

Team photos are great to include on a website but can get out of date quickly. When taking those photos, we recommend you also get a shot with just the advisers and/or practice principals. That way you’ll have a partial team photo you can always fall back on if required.

What should be displayed

• First name, last name, and job title.
• If an Authorised Representative, their Authorised Representative number.
• A nice, consistent, professional photo. Ideally in a client-facing area within the physical business, at that persons’ workstation, or with the background removed. All are good, just be consistent.
• A brief bio (more details below).
• All qualifications bachelor level or higher and all relevant qualifications/certifications.
• All relevant professional association memberships.
• If completed, a link to their LinkedIn profile.
• Whilst we see the value in getting a professional job done, if that’s going to slow you down then do the following:
  • Have someone take a photo with your phone in an even (no shadows) natural light. (By natural, we mean the sun, not a lot of bioluminescent algae).
  • Keep the sun out of the lens.
  • Send it to this gig on Fiverr and go for the ‘Standard’ tier for touch up and background removal. (If you’re new to Fiverr go here for 20% off your first job).

Direct line and direct email addresses are other options for inclusion and will vary between practices and even team members. Our advice would be to err on the side of including them, and pulling them down if they start being problematic.

How to write a team profile or bio

For a business website, the bios should follow a consistent structure and tone, with some scope for just a little extra personality.

Our recommended structure is:

• Introduce your role and why you matter to the client.
• Very brief outline of your experience.
• A favourite part of your work.
• A little personal detail and/or what you like to do for fun (e.g. what you do outside the office).

If not shown elsewhere, this might be best followed by the qualifications and membership details.

We recommend 150-300 words. Advisers and key client-facing staff should be at the longer end, staff who do no client work should be at the shorter end.

A couple of notes should be made when asking the team to prepare a short bio:

• Tone of voice – Some people’s written voice may not naturally be aligned with the organisational brand. Ask that they write something in a serious or playful tone as required.
• First or third person – third person is more serious, first allows for more playfulness and individuality. Pick and choose one that suits your brand, and request the biographies follow that for consistency.

We’ve included a few examples for guidance below.

LinkedIn Bonus Points

We recommend encouraging all staff to be at least present on LinkedIn and recommending the following steps for any team member:

• Update their LinkedIn profile to include their photo and reflect their service and qualifications as a minimum.
• If writing a bio, don’t think of it as an online resume. Consider your audience to be a prospective or current client.
• They reflect being employed by your company. (If done correctly, the logo should automatically appear against the job on their profile).
• ‘Follow’ your company page.
• Update their background image (especially if management can supply something, even if it’s just a resized version of the photo on your website).
• Connect with colleagues.

We have all the above baked into our Simply Advice Websites service, making it easy to add and remove staff with the click of a couple of buttons, plus an awful lot more. To learn more, schedule a consultation with us or sign up directly at advicewebsites.com.au.

First impressions are key to drawing potential clients in to engage with your business. In the way that a firm handshake and good posture are key to a good introduction, your website should use design and imagery to present the best digital impression of your business.

For most advice practices, websites aren’t there to attract cold leads, they are there to build trust and foster engagement with referrals (typically via word of mouth, but also from social media and elsewhere). This translates to two key factors:

1. Credibility, and
2. Referability.

We’ll be breaking this topic down into:

• The statistics
• Internally sourced images;
• Externally sources images (typically stock photos); and
• Image management

The statistics

The importance of web design on credibility metrics has been extensively studied, with results showing a strong bias towards the visual appeal. The stats below indicate some key findings across several studies.

• First impressions are 94% design related and 46% of consumers based site credibility on visual appeal and aesthetics (Silence, Briggs, Fishwick and Harris, 2004).
• 75% of consumers admit to making judgements on a company’s credibility based on the company’s website design (Stanford, 2002).

On referability, this statistic is huge:

Note: This is a 2013 study, so we argue this figure is well over 80% now.

Ok, so design goes to credibility and referability. So what? Well, that becomes outright scary when we consider how little time we have to significantly influence these key metrics. Noting that:

• You have 0.005 (1/200th of a second!) to inform the first impression, which directs whether a visitor will stay or go. (Lindgard, Fernandes, Dudek and Brown, 2011).
• You then have 2.6 seconds before eyes land on the area that most influences their first impression, representing the conscious impact. (Dahal, 2011).
• Users spend 5.94 seconds looking at the main image. (Dahal, 2011).
• Users spend 5.59 seconds looking at the written content. (Yes, that’s less!). (Dahal, 2011).

Put these together and the logic is as follows:

• We only have a matter of a few seconds to inform first impressions,
• The main image of the site actually receives more attention than the written content.

As a result, getting the imagery correct on your site is very, very important. But never fear; we’re bringing imagery into focus in this very blog.

Tip: Bookmark this page if this article is something you want to be referring to later when it comes to reviewing your website imagery.

Internally sourced images

There are certain cases where you must take an image yourself (or directly through a professional photographer) for it to be relevant. Key examples would be headshots, team photos, or an image of your office.

We can’t stress the importance of having high-quality images (and ideally video) of key team members enough. In financial advice, engagement is very rarely with the brand, and almost exclusively to the individuals who represent that brand.

To effectively present your key team members, be sure to:

• Get a professional to take images of your office, from an angle a client would approach it.
• Have consistent photos of your staff taken with the same backdrop/environment and in the same style, ideally in the room where you’ll be meeting clients.
• Dress as you would for a client meeting. If you’re usually in a branded polo, don’t have a three-piece suit in your photo.
• If your premises aren’t so nice, you might make it less prominent, but it’s still worth being on there somewhere. If that’s really going to put someone off, it’s best that happens before they waste your time.
• Whilst team photos are great, it can be helpful to keep a backup alternative that only includes key staff (principals or advisers) that change less frequently.

Throughout your site, the more the imagery informs the real-life experience, the easier trust will come in that essential first meeting.

Get this right, and when someone arrives at your location you’ll have already made good on the first promise: Being true to label.

All things being equal, people do business with, and refer business to people they know, like and trust. – Bob Burg

Fun fact: Presenting images of your team and office helps build a form of ‘mere exposure effect’, where repeated exposure can enhance a person’s attitude towards a stimulus (Bornstein and D’Agostino, 1992).

So, in the same way that you might like a song more after hearing it on the radio a few times, clients would feel more comfortable and positive about your team and your firm after repeated exposure. Your website is the first opportunity to build exposure, so it ought to be as aligned with your team and your office as possible.

Stock photos

The internet is a vast plethora of content and images, but the last thing you want is to get into copyright strife by taking images as you please. Copyright laws vary with the requirements you need to fulfil for use, but usually, it’s something like the below:

• Purchase a license to use the image – These can vary from single-use to unlimited use.
• Attribution of the author – You can use this image if you credit the author and link the source.
• Freely useable – The simplest images to use, you can be nice and credit the author, but you won’t be breaking any laws if you don’t.

Always carefully check the copyright details for images or the websites where you’ve found them. This way you can have peace of mind about the images used on your website. Also, keep a record of the source in case something changes.

Stock photos are a great resource for fleshing out your website because after all, we can’t have every picture being of you.

Paid stock photos can be great for key real estate on your website. These images tend to have a greater impact on the impression of your website since they will likely be the first thing visitors will notice.

Here are some premium stock photo libraries worth checking out:

• Getty Images – Extremely high-quality images, but at a premium. Content on Getty is also exclusive, meaning it can’t be sold on other stock photo websites.
• iStockphoto – Owned by Getty Images, but the content is non-exclusive. Resulting in cheaper license prices with similar content quality.
• Shutterstock – Probably the most competitively priced stock photo website, which provides decent image quality.
• Adobe Stock – A relative newcomer having launched in 2015. This conveniently sits in the Adobe Creative Cloud, so it’s worth looking at if you’re using the broader Adobe suite.

For less important images (eg: blog posts) or when you’re on a tight budget, there are other options. These days, there are plenty of free stock photo libraries that only ask for accreditation of the photographer in exchange for the use of snazzy images. Two leading ones are:

• Pexels – Has great range.
• Unsplash – A little bit artsier, but has some great people shots that don’t look staged.

There are a few things that can aid in choosing stock photos for your website too:

• Ensure the focal point of images are centred, in most cases this will keep the image looking good when the page is viewed on different devices.
• For key home page images, try and go for colours that work well with your own branding for a cohesive professional feel.
• Try to choose candid looking images. Natural images reflect the genuine nature of your business, whereas images that are too staged create an impression of being fake.
• For blog posts or subpages, choose an image that’s relevant to the point you’re trying to make. Use keywords when searching stock photo libraries to find appropriate images.

Protip: An awesome alternative to stock photography is getting an illustrator for your site. As an example, Patrick Flynn used illustrations for his blog here when he wanted to clearly support the message.

Finding an illustrator on UpWork or similar can be worth the effort depending on your style, the volume, and the type of content you write. Our favourite example comes from Susie Munro of Sixpence Media (who is a superb copywriter) who uses very clever illustrations throughout the site that supports the overall message.

Image management

Whilst the image itself is the most important part, there are a number of things we can do to optimise the image when hosted on a website. This can impact load times, compatibility across devices and browsers, as well as SEO.

Sizing

Sure, higher resolution is better, but excessively high file sizes can easily slow down your website and ruin the user experience. The best practice is to source high-resolution images for uploading, but use some basic image editing software to crop the image to suit the context of use and reduce file size (even Microsoft paint can do the job fine!). A good rule of thumb is to have roughly 1000×800 pixel images for blog posts and subpages. Ideally, images shouldn’t be more than 200KB.

File types/compression

Compressing your images is worth the extra effort. It can have a very significant impact on your page load time. This can be influenced when saving the image (depending on the software, you may get a prompt on how much to compress the image) and by the file type used.

Definition: Lossless compression is compression where none of the original image quality is lost. This should be a minimal starting point for all images.

There are lots of different file types, so let’s discuss which is best:

• .bmp (Bitmap) is the default for MS Paint. Whilst we love Paint in a way that only a child raised on Windows 95 can truly understand, this format is a terrible data-intensive choice. Luckily Paint provides lots of options.
• .jpeg (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is the standard go-to for most software and is a reasonably good choice.
• .png (Portable Network Graphics) is an excellent choice, compressed well and most widely supported. A good default especially where the image has transparency.
• .gif (Graphic Interchange Format) is what we use for moving images.
• .webp is a newcomer who (like JPEG XR and other false starters before it) is much more effective at compression than its decades-old counterparts. Developed by Google, it can in turn be assured long term support on Chrome. Whilst it’s supported by most browsers, the one notable exception is Safari, so you’ll need some fallback code to jpeg2000 (Apple’s favourite) or .png.
• .etf and .ai (ENIGMA Transportable File and Adobe Illustrator respectively) files are not files you can upload to your site directly. They are however high-quality files that you will often receive from your graphic designer. Providing these to your web design professionals gives them the maximum flexibility in getting the best outcomes on your site.

Search engine optimisation

When uploading an image to your site, you’ll have a number of fields you may define that relate to the image. In this article, we’ll cover the approach when using WordPress (the world’s most popular content management system) that we use for our Simply Advice Websites service. That said, similar terms will apply to other services as well.

• Title – Rarely visible (depending on your site settings), this should be a short description.
• Alternative title – This is the most critical field. This is read not only by your search engine but also as users hover over your image and in text-to-audio translations of articles used by those with visual impairments. It should be used in all imagery that is not purely decorative.
• Caption – Like the ordinary meaning, this appears below an image. If you’re going to say something specific and narrow about an image, use a caption. That way, regardless of the device viewing the image, it’ll be right there underneath. Being visible text, this too is read by search engines.
• Description – Rarely visible (depending on your site settings), this is a good place to store information about your image. This could include details on who is captured or its source. We use this to store the original source for stock photos.

So, what to do with this abundance of information? Here are some quick and easy steps:

1. If you don’t have good photos of your team and office, we highly recommend you get some now. No matter what you intend to do with your site in the near term, this will help. This is the biggest difference you can make to your credibility and referability.
2. Review your stock photography. Does it help support your message, or does it look staged or fake? If it’s not enhancing your credibility, replace it.
3. If you have access to your website imagery, run the Google PageSpeed Insights test. If it says ‘Properly size images’ or ‘Serve images in next-gen formats’, then there are benefits to be gained by optimising the sizing, file formats, and compression.

Get the images right, and you’re well underway to helping clients know, like, and trust you and your team.

Whilst images are an important part of the picture, your overall design is also key. If your website might not be up to scratch, especially for a modern mobile experience, please get in touch. We do great websites exclusively for financial advisers, at a fixed price that won’t break the bank.

We also include a whole library of stock photos handpicked for advice, pre-compressed, and ready to go!

Forever the domain of the marketing guru, websites are naturally associated with getting more clients. However, we like to look at things a bit differently.

Try thinking about your website in this way: What would MacGyver do?

MacGyver, probably the most resourceful character ever created, always was able to find the solutions to his problems from what he had available. He wouldn’t hesitate to consider his website a tool for solving business problems.

In this blog, we’ll go through three big ways you can make your website work for you beyond its marketing functions.

Using your website as a filter

A website used as a filter? Huh? Aren’t websites meant to bring people, not filter them?

A website principally is a communication tool. Most practices use that tool to send a message of ‘please call me’. However, what if you wanted to say ‘I only want to deal with you if you’re committed?’

Here are some ideas:

• Include a fee range on your website. If people can’t envisage parting with that kind of money, don’t let them waste your time. Or you can go even further, put your service packages on your website and never have a conversation about fees ever again!
• Put some work on them. Let them know they’ll need to complete some paperwork, and whilst it may seem a chore, it enables you to keep costs down.
• Detail the advice process. The more they know going into it, the fewer questions you’ll have to answer and the lower the risk of a client dropping off.

One example is Ron Malholtra of Maple Tree Wealth. This guy isn’t worried about tyre kickers. He’s charging for his initial consultation!

Using your website to save you time

Depending on how you have your website set up, it may well be a powerful piece of technology you just haven’t engaged. Many Content Management Systems (such as WordPress) have inbuilt or easily accessed functionality like online forms or other add-ons/plugins. Have an open mind and explore some of the plugins that are available.

Some ideas for you to consider:

• Leverage a client portal. Most good Australian advice CRMs have something in this regard, enabling self-service.
• Host an online form to collect information.
• Use online calculators as client engagement tools (Contact us if you’re interested in this on your website).
• Enable clients to book appointments directly with tools like Calendly.
• Use Live Chat to efficiently communicate with clients.
• Sell stuff! Have a book you always quote? You can sell it on your website! These days, you don’t even have to worry about stocking it when you can dropship directly from Amazon.

Using your website to educate

Using a website for content marketing is nothing new, but the mindset is a bit different to what we’re suggesting here. This is about building a library of educational content you can draw on forevermore.

There is a lot of knowledge and opinions in your head, which are often not a good fit for static website pages. However, they are a good fit for a blog post.

When you look at a blog as a marketing tool, everyone says consistency is key, and that’s true. However, when you treat it as an educational tool, you can write stuff whenever you want. If you get a question often, blog through the answer. If you’ve spent the time writing a detailed email, turn it into a blog.

That way, whenever it comes up again: Boom. It takes you no time at all to give the definitive answer without getting weird and sending a 600-word email. Not to mention all the other benefits in having it online. Matter of fact, if you told us you don’t need a website because you’ve got more referrals than you can handle, you’d be getting a link straight to this baby.

If you’ve got other problems in your business that impact client service, maybe you can help set expectations. Perhaps a blog on ‘What actually goes into your Statement of Advice’ or ‘What is medical underwriting and why is it important to do upfront?’ could be both informative and build client understanding. Notably, while this is great to go within a ‘blog’, if you’re going to use that label then just make sure you post at least every three months. If not, these might be better positioned under ‘FAQs’, ‘Quick Tips’, or ‘Education’.

Another option includes an out of the box solution like the IRESS Financial Knowledge Centre, which includes an educational portal that you can use as a huge base and can contribute your own work to.

Other ways to Macgyver your website

The biggest limit to how you can make your website work for you is your imagination.

One cool example is Atlas Wealth Management who put a survey on their website, allowing them to capture broad insights from their targeted niche.

Here’s a screenshot from one advice practice that uses a simple WordPress Gravity Form to collect client feedback via their website.

Depending on your needs, using your website to host forms can be better than TypeForm or SurveyMonkey. Tools like WordPress’ Gravity Forms are typically free or built-in, only use your branding, and you bring people back to where you really want them: Your website.

Rethinking your audience could be a good idea. Maybe look past your current clients and send a message to their kids. Groups like myprosperity and netwealth have done some incredible work to promote financial literacy to kids/families. You can too.

Recruiting or likely to in the future? You know those careers pages the big companies have? There’s no reason why you can’t have one.

These ideas are just a sample of what’s possible. One thing we love about all of these options is that they’re not about having a great website, they’re about having a great business. The great website comes as a byproduct.

So, when you consider whether to invest time and money in your website, follow these wise words:

Close your eyes and think of MacGyver” – Selma Bouvier

We can do everything in the above and more at Simply Advice Websites. If you’d like to discuss call us or send us an email.