Site Review: Good Financial Cents

Goodfinancialcents.com appears to target a younger, less-savvy generation of investors who know they should be doing something with their money, but aren’t quite sure where to start. Jeff seems to want to break all the rules with respect to how his more traditional colleagues might approach potential clients. The headlines are written in a way that might pique the interest of someone doing online investment research. The content is media rich, with a mix of videos and blog posts, which is appealing to a younger audience. There are also some pop culture references and shock-value blog titles (i.e. “7 Financial Advisors I Would Like to Punch in the Face’) that could attract a less sophisticated investor. The play on the word “cents” and “sense” is cute, although not very original. Given the in-your-face style of this website and the overall look and feel, I doubt that a mature investor concerned about getting their financial house in order would spend much time here or opt in for more information.

Design

The design of goodfinancialcents.com does not seem to be well thought out. The top of the page is chaotic, cluttered with an advertisement. There are two top navigation bars, which is confusing. These need to be consolidated and simplified to make it easier for consumers to quickly find the information in which they are interested. There is also a Google search bar at the top of the page, as well as space to enter an email address for more information. These functions are too close together. There is simply too much real estate wasted at the top of the page in an attempt to sell services that it gives off an infomercial vibe and frustrates the consumer. The website looks amateurish and I believe this could diminish Jeff Rose’s credibility.

The right side of the page is equally confusing. There is a second copy of the welcome video, which should be used only once. I like the list of most popular blogs but further down there is, inexplicably, a list of blogs on a wide range of topics unrelated to financial advice. Users come to the website because they have an interest in their finances, not to find a pasta recipe. If the intent is to build a community, it needs to be taken off the landing page and added to another section of the site, along with some explanation of why unrelated content is on a financial services website in the first place. It feels like Jeff is attempting to make this both a professional and a personal website, and the two are not well integrated.

At the bottom of the page is a list of blog categories, as well as an “about Jeff Rose” link. This list of categories should be featured much more prominently on the page instead of awkwardly added to the bottom. However, I do like most of the graphics placed within the blogs themselves. The blogs are also well written, and both entertaining and informative.

I would also recommend changing the color scheme. The maroon and gold seems outdated.

User Experience

I looked at this website from both my computer and my phone, and the phone experience was much better. It’s easy to quickly scroll through blog titles and stop at any that interest me. On my laptop, the experience is a quite different. Although the blog format is user friendly and the mix of media is nice, the site itself is just too cluttered with advertisements and non-relevant content. I do think the videos are well done and Jeff is a talented spokesperson. Several blogs have charts and graphs, which are useful as well.

Although the writing is good, I scratched my head after reading a few blogs. For example, while scanning a blog about In-And-Out Burger, a popular hamburger restaurant, I expected Jeff’s love for the place to somehow correlate to a smart investment strategy or other financial tip. Instead, it was just a blog about how much he enjoys In-And-Out Burger. It was out of place. I would expect consumers looking for professional investment advice would leave Jeff’s page and go find the content they were looking for somewhere else. In short, I think Jeff’s confusing mix of professional and personal could cost him customers he deserves.

Social Proof of Value

If I were an investor looking for a financial planner, I doubt I would enter my email address on this website. I would be too concerned about future sales calls or spam, although I am attracted to Jeff’s writing style. There are so many additional companies and services being advertised throughout the site, it’s hard to tell what it is you’re actually buying. I would recommend that Jeff retool the look and feel of his website, tone down the salesmanship, and focus more on his blog content to educate investors and attract new customers.