How to build a better website for your RIA firm

A house is more than a place to sleep at night. It's a hangout for your family, a kitchen full of your favorite foods, storage for old yearbooks and trophies, a place where you holler at a TV during big games, and even a part-time office. This is what makes your house a home.

Many firms build a website just to "have one" but miss its real potential. Your website is where prospects and clients get to know you, trust you, and engage with you. It's your firm's digital home.

So, how do you make your visitors feel welcome and enjoy their time in your digital home? Let's start with the basics.

Build a foundation: What every website needs

Like a house, your website can be simple, but it needs a few things to make it functional.

• Keep info updated: Outdated info can damage your credibility, so when you hire someone new, change your services, or publish content, make sure your website reflects it. Even if you don't have big news, a quick refresh now and then reassures prospects and clients that you're keeping up with the latest.
• Make it mobile-friendly: About half of online traffic in the U.S. is on mobile devices,¹ so if your website doesn't resize cleanly on a phone and is distorted or even unreadable, you're going to lose a lot of visitors. According to PwC's Customer Experience Survey, nearly one third of customers stopped doing business with a brand they loved after one bad experience, either online or in-person.² For a high-stakes decision like choosing an advisor, your website is likely held to an even higher standard.
• Tell people who you are: Financial advice is a relationship business, so people want to get a feel for you before they reach out. An "about us" section (including team bios) helps prospects understand your values and the uniqueness of your firm.
• Be clear about what you do: Make it easy for visitors to know what they get when they work with you. Do you do estate planning? Trust administration? Do you serve certain client types? A list of services and specialties helps your target client see whether your firm fits their needs.
• Make it easy to reach you: You don't want prospective clients to have trouble giving you a call or finding your office. Many firms include contact information in the footer of each page.
• Keep it simple: A website that has a lot of layers or is difficult to navigate is not likely to win over new clients. Simple navigation and a few easy-to-recognize categories can go a long way toward helping visitors enjoy exploring your website.
• Write compelling headlines: A good headline does more than grab attention. It tells readers what's on the page and why it matters—to you and to them. When writing headlines, remember to be yourself, be clear, and write to what your ideal client cares about.
• Add calls to action: Most pages should have a call to action (CTA) that gives your visitors a clear next step. Whether it's a link to another page or a button to download something, you want to create opportunities for visitors to keep engaging.

Build bigger: Creating a better user experience

Once your house is in good shape, that's when you can start making additions. For a website, these "additions" are about improving the user experience.

• Create thought leadership: Current and prospective clients come to you for your knowledge. Use your website to share it. You don't need to publish something every week, but even one blog post a month can drive traffic to your website and spark interest in your firm.
• Make client account access easy: Clients love the convenience of being able to check on their accounts and knock out simple tasks without having to call or email you. In fact, an online portal is becoming table stakes for today's always-online clients.
• Be search-friendly: There are a lot of tweaks that can help your website show up when someone searches for a financial advisor. This is known as search engine optimization (SEO). The goal of SEO? Make it easier for the right people to find you.
• Check how your website is performing: If you don't know how your website is performing, then you don't know how to improve it. Google Analytics can help you see who's visiting your site and how they're engaging with content. While there's a bit of a learning curve, you can tackle it on your own using Google's online tutorial.

Build with style: Top website features

Ready to add the finishing touches to your digital home? Top websites go a little further for their current and future clients with frequent, in-depth content that keeps people engaged and strengthens relationships.

• Bump up the thought leadership posts: Regular posts can help you position your firm as a trusted wealth management resource and keep your website feeling current. Clients will love it, and so will SEO and AI—especially if you add FAQs or easily extractable snippets.
• Show your specialty: The best websites are structured around the types of clients they serve. If your firm specializes in working with doctors, attorneys, or business leaders, create dedicated pages that speak to those audiences. This approach shows prospective clients that you understand them and what they need, which may help convert more leads.
• Make engaging videos: Videos are a great way to let your personality and knowledge come through. They're also an effective way to communicate what it's like to work with your firm.
• Use lead-capture forms tied to high-value content: Content is like currency. To get someone to share their contact info, it's typical to give them something valuable in exchange. A useful worksheet or white paper can be genuinely helpful, shows your expertise, and gives prospects a reason to contact you.
• Display trust cues: People who don't know you yet look for signals that you're credible—"trust cues." Besides the subtle essentials of a good website, awards, accreditations, partner logos, and news clips can help signal that your firm is not only reputable, but among the best in the industry.

Never stop building

You don't have to renovate your whole house overnight. Same with your website—it's always a work in progress. Prioritize improvements and tackle them one at a time. This gives you a chance to see what's working, test, and try again along the way.

What matters is that you don't let dust build up or light bulbs burn out on your website. Like a good home, your site should feel cared for, welcoming, and clearly "open for business."

What you can do next

• Turn messaging vibes into marketing strategy. From refining your value proposition to attracting your ideal client, explore Schwab's resources.
• Curious about how Schwab helps RIAs? Wealth services, technology, and business support are just the beginning. Whether you're exploring independence or considering a custodian swap, we're here to help you take your next step.