The new advisor finder tool is now live on Barron's. The new interface shows all paying advisors first by proximity to the user's zip code. Non-paying advisors will always be listed last. This is a more fair interface than the map format, which gave equal visibility to paying and non-paying advisors. 

In addition we've added some filters so users can pare down the list and find their perfect "match." The filters we currently have are:

• ranking
• SEC vs FINRA regulated
• state
• account min
• upgraded profiles only

These filters are built on confirmed data we have on hand. We're currently discussing how we can use more ranking data to further filter our lists. If you have suggestions, please let us know. Keep in mind that we have to be impartial in our approach.

Department store pioneer John Wanamaker famously said, "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half." A century later advertising is a massive enterprise with creatives, planners, buyers, analysts, demographers, etc, all trying to reach the right "eyeballs" at the right time. Fortunately, we've cut all of that out and delivered you a turnkey, multi-million dollar ad campaign.

We haven't sat on our hands waiting for readers to come to you, we've pushed Barron's advisors out to our readers through the equivalent of $3.1m in advertising in Barron's, WSJ and Marketwatch.*

Here are the topline ways we've promoted the Barron's advisors since last June (from $$$ to $):

• 8 months of digital banner ads on WSJ, Barron's, Marketwatch 
• 28 print ads in WSJ and Barron's (including ads in the rankings)
• Paid google search
• Paid social media (LinkedIn + Facebook)

In short, we can't guarantee our readers will connect with you, but we've given you the absolute best chance that they will through continuous promotion of the directory and the rankings. 

Advisors often ask us how readers will find their profile pages. We answer that we're advertising across the Dow Jones network (among other things). Since ad banners are served at irregular intervals its often hard to prove their impact.

This is why we've done an audit of the ads we've run on WSJ and Barrons in the past sixth months. To our delight, we've delivered an astounding $2.1m in digital ads banners for directory participants.* Our ads were shown on 71.5m pages and drove just under 40k visitors from WSJ and Barron's – confirmed subscribers. 

This of course is just ad banners. We are also generating tens of thousands of visitors to your pages in other ways:

• Ads in print issues of Barron's + WSJ,
• Links on the Barron's homepage
• Paid and organic Google search
• Paid and free social media (facebook, linkedin)

In short, the directory is one of the easiest and most cost efficient ways to tap into your rankings success. 

The As you probably know, our December issue on Kids + Money published earlier this month. Obviously we had a good amount of traffic to our sites, but as usual with the Guides, we are promoting the content outside our walls. 

Each article contains a link to the directory where an interested client can connect with you. 

Tie-in #1
​The editorial inset that has all of the guide content AND a link to the directory

One added bonus for participants in the directory is the inclusion of your firm name in our paid search. Google allows us to enter search terms that may be relevant to someone looking for an advisor. Adding the participants to this keyword list ups the chance that the rankings and/or directory links appear in the paid ad spot. 

Lastly, now that the indie rankings is in the books, we're starting to promote it internally on  WSJ, MarketWatch, and Barron's. For added visibility, we're doing some paid promotion on Facebook. 

Our belief is that our sites provide the best quality audience for your spend, but we include additional external marketing for promotional purposes and to raise awareness of the rankings overall. 

Visitors to the directory will enter their zip, age and AUM. They click "find an advisor" and a sorted list is presented.

The list of all advisors is sorted by geography and account size. All premium advisors are shown at the top of the list. The "cards" feature a larger headshot and contact information. 

If visitors want to create a more curated list, they have the option to filter out bad matches. The filters include: ranking, FINRA/SEC registration, State(s), certifications, specialities and planning (y/n). 

Our ultimate goal is to create a tool that matches investors to their perfect advisor. We think this is a step in that direction.