Web advertising can be an effective and inexpensive way for wealth managers to attract new business, but few advisers use them.

The ads are quick and cheap to produce and their effectiveness can be easily gauged. For firms looking to attract business or recruit financial advisers, advertising on search engines, social media and other sites is worth a try, advisers say.

Tarah Carlow, vice president of marketing and new business development at Dallas-based boutique broker-dealer Prospera Financial Services, wanted to attract more top-tier financial advisers to her firm, whose 125 independent advisers manage about $3 billion in client assets.

Prospera had been cold calling, sending postcards and using recruiters to attract new advisers, but Carlow wanted to try something more creative.

She worked with Google Inc to create a pay-per-click ad that appeared as a sidebar when people searched for the term "independent broker dealer." The ad drew viewers by offering research papers on various topics, including one highlighting the 10 reasons advisers' moves to new firms fail.

The paper drew the interest of a pair of advisers at a regional firm. Carlow did not name them because their move to Prospera isn't complete.

Read the entire article at Reuters.