Promote Your Insurance Agency Website

• 24Jul

  Why I found a new agent; and paid more for my insurance

  Insurance Agency Websites, Miscellaneous, Search Engine Registration No Comments

  Recently married, I was ready to combine my financials with my new wife’s. Her auto and homeowner policy were with a captive agent; someone whom she had been with since she was 16 years old and mine were with an out-of-sate agent. Working in the insurance industry for over 8 years (company side and now agency side) I had plenty of questions about her existing policy and was ready to combine our policies hoping to save some money. My actions are pretty typical for this turning point in my life.

  My job working with independent agents and designing their websites I was ready to shop with an independent agent. I found a local agent and long story short I transferred all of our policies to them. Throughout this process, I thought to myself where did her old agent go wrong? Why did he loose our business? There are a couple key points where he easily could have made contact with us and possibly kept our business.

  Each premium increase (A letter from the company does not count as a contact)

  When I was added to her existing insurance policy (A great time to discuss insurance options)

  When I called to ask about her existing policy prior to shopping for new insurance (I called her agent up to find out what her premium, expiration date and coverage A was)

  Annual Reviews – She has yet to receive an annual review

  What web resources could have used to save this account?

  Annual Review Wizard – With the click of a button agents can send an Annual Review to a customer. No paper needed!
  More Information on annual reviews http://demo2.cfluent.com/annual-insurance-reviews-tutorial

  Simple Email – When I called her prior agent to request her policy information the agent could have easily got my email address and sent me an email. Even something as simple and quick as: “Thanks for calling us today, if you would like to review your insurance needs just let us know…”

  Sorry we lost your business form – We’re sorry to have lost you as a customer, and would like to learn if there are improvements we can make that will help us not to lose excellent customers like you in the future. Please take a few moments to answer the five questions below, or feel free to call or email me with comments or questions, my contact information is below. Try out the form.

  Tags: Insurance Agency Websites, Insurance Websites

• 13Mar

  Whiteboard Friday – How to Get Awesome Links

  Insurance Agency Websites, Local Search, Online Directory, Search Engine Registration, Search Engines, SEO No Comments

  Our friends over at SEOmoz posted a great video today on how to get “Awesome Links” on your website. These awesome links are the same type of links that we talk about here for Insurance Agencies.  I think the most “Awesome” links an Insurance Agent can get on their web site are links from their insurance companies they represent. They also mention getting links from Yahoo Local (Create a directory) and from the Librarians’ Internet Index.

  Their Video:
  SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday – How to Get Awesome Links from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.

  Tags: Insurance Agency Web Site, links, SEO

• 11Mar

  What to do when your agency gets a bad review?

  Local Search, Search Engines, SEO 1 Comment

  A couple weeks ago I was informed by one of my customers that they received a bad review on Yahoo Local and have no idea why. To make matters worse this insurance agent had not idea who the person was. I quickly pulled up their local listing on Yahoo Local to take a look.

  This is the first time I was introduced to Yahoo internet user “Rocanne” (Link will take you to their profile on Yahoo)

  Well, come to find out Rocanne has had insurance through many many agencies throughout the United States. From California to Georgia to Nevada and Illinois. I haven’t counted yet, but it looks like Rocanne has been allover the country. Avid mover? Multi-policy-over-insured-overzealous-crazy-insured-person? Or just a plain liar. I do not know who Rocanne is or where Rocanne is located. Chances are Rocanne works for or owns a Search Engine Optimization Company (SEO) The type of search engine optimization company that gives legitimate SEO companies bad names.

  My theory about Rocanne:

  Rocanne gets a customer in ABC Town, pulls up the local listing for “Insurance ABC Town” and finds any agency who has a better listing then her customer. Rocanne then writes bad reviews on all of the insurance companies hoping to decrease their page rank. All so her customer can rise to the top. Pretty sketchy…

  With my information against Rocanne put to the side I reported Rocanne to Yahoo’s abuse (There is a link next to each review that reads “Report Abuse”) I entered my email address and a brief description detailing that there is no way that Rocanne is or has ever been a customer of all of these insurance agencies and that she is probably just writing bad reviews for competing insurance agencies of her own customers.

  I then crossed my finger, closed my laptop and called it a day. Being my first time tattling on someone online I wasn’t sure how Yahoo would handle my complaint. Would it take them months to get to it? Would they even listen to me?

  Within 24 hours (On a Sunday of all days) Yahoo had sent me an email that Rocanne’s comment was a violation and had been removed. Go Yahoo! It took Yahoo less than a day to review my complaint and remove Rocanne’s false review.

  Unfortunately, Yahoo only removed the one comment that I submitted as abuse. (There are still about 22 more false claims out there)

  Removing false reviews is pretty simple.

  Here are some screenshots from my encounter with Rocanne:

  Rocanne’s Profile On Yahoo!

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  
  

  Tags: bad review, local review

• 13Dec

  Matt Cutts – What Google Knows About Spam

  Search Engines, SEO No Comments

  Who is Matt Cutts?
  Matt Cutts works for the Search Quality group in Google, specializing in search engine optimization issues. (Source)
  Matt’s: Blog: http://www.mattcutts.com
  

  He knows his stuff and put out a video earlier this year with some pretty good insight into website spam, SEO and Google.

  Video Notes:

  Tags: Google, Matt Cutts, SEO, spam, Spam Protection

• 27Oct

  Search Result Layouts

  AdWords, Local Search, Paid Search, Search Engines No Comments

  Before you start purchasing website advertising, it is important to understand how search engines are laid out. In this post I’m going to talk about Google, Yahoo and MSN Live. In my examples below, I used the search term “Insurance, Portland, OR”

  View the search results for each:

  Google
  Yahoo
  MSN Live

  The following screenshots (Click on any image to enlarge) detail how each search engine displays their search results and paid search.

  Organic Search – This area is reserved for normal searches, your insurance agency website will display here depending on how your site matches up with the search term and how well your site is optimized.

  Paid Search – The paid search area is reserved for websites who have signed up for an advertising program. It will cost money to have your site added to these sections. The top “banner” section will cost more than the right “column” section.

  Local Search - Local search, all three major search engines display local search information. Interestingly, the local search section is located above the organic search area on each site. This really goes to show how IMPORTANT it is that your insurance agency is listed locally. Information on local search: Google, Yahoo and MSN Live.

  Google:

  

  Yahoo:

  

  MSN Live:

  

  Tags: Search Engines, search results

• 13Oct

  The value of a link

  Insurance Agency Websites, Search Engines, SEO No Comments

  One of the most effective and cost efficient ways to increase your insurance agency website page rank is to make sure other sites have links pointing to your website. When search engines crawl websites they take note of which websites the site they are currently crawling is linking to.  The more links pointing to your insurance website the more valuable your site is. Links are also scored by the quality of the sites that are linking to you. For instance, a link to your website from Traveler’s website is better than a link from the local lumberyard. For more information please visit this Wikipedia entry on PageRank.

  Find out who is linking to you:

  Google has a great tool that helps you find out who is linking to your insurance website.

  To find out who is linking to your website:

  1. Go to www.google.com
  2. In the search box enter: link:<Your domain>
     Example: Your agency website is: www.abcdinsureance.com you would enter: link:http://www.abcdinsurance.com
  3. Hit search.
  4. The following results show a list of websites that are linking to your website.

  
  How to get more links pointed to your website:

  Now that you understand the importance of incoming links pointing to your website you may be asking yourself; how do I get more websites to point to my insurance website…?

  Insurance Companies – Your best option to get quality websites linking to your agency site is to talk to every company that you represent. Most insurance companies have some type of agency locator on their site. Go to each company that you represent find their agency locator and make sure there is a link to your website. If not, you will want to talk to your marketing rep.

  Press Releases – Press releases are also another good way to get more links to your website. PR websites such as PRWeb.com have very inexpensive options for submitting press releases. These press releases then get picked up by online aggregators and spread throughout the web. In a couple weeks I will talk about press release examples; for now, a press release can be anything from a new product, new company or a self promoting piece.

  Local directories – There are many online local directories where you can submit your company information (for free) and have a link to your website. A good example of this is a Seattle based website Lost in Seattle.

  Associations, Groups, Churches, Charity Events – Any association, group or community that your agency may be involved with most likely has a website. Talk to the association and find out if you can have a link pointing to your site.

  Trade a Link Programs

  I have had many inquiries over the years from agents who receive solicitation from companies who want to “trade-a-link”. Basically, they will put a link on their website if you put a link to their website on yours. Seems fair enough right? Before getting involved with such programs you will want to ask yourself a couple questions. Who is this company that I may be linking to? What types of websites are also linking to them? Will adding a link on my website to their website distract from my insurance website? What is the benefit to my users/customers who may stumble upon that link?

  Linking to other sites

  It is important to be selective about which websites you link to on your insurance site. For instance, what value does this link have for your customers? Does this website also offer insurance products? Or do they have an agency locator?

  When linking to sites it is always good to type out a sentence or two explaining where the link goes. FAQs are an excellent resource for external links.

  Example of a valuable FAQ with a link to an external site:

  Question: How do I find out about state insurance laws?

  Answer: Washington State has valuable resources located at: http://www.insurance.wa.gov/

  Replace Washington State with a state that you write business in and you are set.

  Tags: Insurance Websites, links

• 29Sep

  This could happen to you…

  Local Search, Search Engines 1 Comment

  First off, I’d like to thank the insurance agents and everyone else who have emailed me with questions and comments. I’m trying to get back to everyone individually. You can also post comments here on the blog.

  I’m sure by now you have noticed a theme with the blog. I have heavily talked about the importance of local search engines. Today’s post is a real life example of what could happen to your local listing if you don’t take action.  (I’m not trying to scare you, but this example could just as easily happen to you)

  This morning I had my every two year CPR renewal class. In true form I logged onto Google Maps typed in the company name where I was taking my class so I knew where I where to go.

  I was able to locate the name of the company by searching for “First Line First Aid, Spokane Valley” I found the local listing for First Line First Aid however, there was a problem, the map had the listing not only in the wrong place but in a different city 35 miles away from where I was suppose to go…

  Fortunately I was able to notice that the map location was incorrect before I left the house. This made me think about a couple things. Google has added a new feature where users can “correct” the pin placement on the map. Was this a mistake or a case of a less than ethical competitor moving the location on the map?

  How can you prevent this from happening to your local listing on Google?

  First off, claim your business with Google so nobody can modify it.

  Secondly, double check the location of you agency on all major search engines that have maps.

  Google Maps

  Mapquest

  Yahoo Maps

  MSN Live

  I went back and corrected the listing so the pin is in the correct location. I took a screenshot of the misplacement on the map:

  

  Click on image to enlarge

  Tags: google maps, Local Search

• 24Sep

  How to get your customers to write a review about your insurance agency

  Local Search, Search Engines, SEO, Worth Trying 1 Comment

  Last week I talked about the importance of customer reviews on major search engines. This week I will be talking about ways you can increase the amount of positive feedback your insurance agency has online. Everyday your agency is receiving phone calls, emails, walk-ins ranging from quote requests, change requests, typical insurance questions and more. These are all opportunities to write a policy, up sell a policy or just maintain good relations with your clients. When a customer gives your agency or staff a complement, ask them if they mind posting a comment about your agency on one of the search engines. Generally most of the customers will either have an MSN, Yahoo or Google account already so adding a comment should be very simple for them.

  Don’t expect them to do too much work…

  Have a template email ready to send them. In your email thank them for their complement and include links to where they can write a review about your agency.

  Sample Email: (Feel free to copy or modify this email for your own use)

  Dear Joe Smith,

  Thank you very much for your kind words earlier today. We greatly appreciate it and strive to do our best to satisfy our clients. If you don’t mind can you please post a comment about us on one of the major search engines; Google, Yahoo or MSN? Doing so will only talk a few moments and will greatly help us out.

  You can access any our online listings by using the links below.

  Google (Insert link to your local listing on Google here)

  Yahoo (Insert link to your local listing on Yahoo here)

  MSN (Insert link to your local listing on MSN here)

  Once again, thank you very much. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

  Your agency name,
  Your agency website address
  Your email.

  Once you have that email template ready to use forward it to your staff and inform them about the benefit of sending the email to your customers. Some agencies will even have contests for the person who gets the most reviews posted. A $20 Starbucks gift card can be very persuasive…

  Now that you have the template email ready, send the email to your friends and family and have your staff do the same. This is a very good way to kick start your local listings reviews.

  Tags: Customer Reviews, Local Search

• 15Sep

  Customer testimonials; write a review

  Insurance Agency Websites, Local Search, Search Engines, SEO, Worth Trying 1 Comment

  Everyone knows how beneficial word of mouth advertising can be for your insurance agency. It is no surprise that potential customers will go to Google or another search engine and research a company or a product before making a buying decision. What is the best way to take advantage of customer reviews? Some agencies have a testimonial page on their website. Having a testimonials page on your site is a good practice and the amount of effort required to add the testimonials is very little. I talked a few weeks ago about claiming your business with Google. If you have not done this; stop reading this post and claim your business. 

  Google, Yahoo and MSN Live all have local search functionality. All of them also have an area where they allow users to write reviews about a company. Customer reviews can easily put your insurance agency website above the competition all of which can be done easily and for free. In my example to day, I’m going to use one of my favorite pizza restaurants; David’s Pizza located in Spokane Washington. 

  David’s has customer reviews on all three major search engines:  

  Google: 

  

  Yahoo: 

   

  

  MSN Live: 

   

  

  (Click on any of the images above to view the actual listing) 

  What does a pizza restaurant have to do with insurance? Search engines don’t care if you are a pizza restaurant or an insurance agency. They all have a local search area for local businesses within these listings there is an area where business owners can upload photos, post hours and update contact information. The more information Google has about your insurance agency the better. 

  User reviews work the same way. If you have 10 of your best customers, friends and family write positive reviews about your agency on the three major search engines your insurance agency website value and position will increase. 

  Try to think like a search engine. 

  Your local listing has ten reviews and your competitor across the street has zero reviews who do you think the search engines will give more credit to? When a customer writes a review Google knows who they are (You are required to login first) they also know other reviews they have made and can score each user’s reviews based off of the quality of reviews they have made. The more reviews the better. 

  What about bad reviews? 

  Don’t think it has happened before. Upset customers, someone accidentally selecting one star instead of five stars, competitors giving bad reviews to make their own company look better… Since you have already followed my instructions for claiming your business on Google, Yahoo & MSN Live; you also have the ability to agree, disagree or mitigate your comments.

  I cannot stress enough how beneficial this can be for promoting your insurance agency website. 

  Next week: How to get more reviews about your agency website. 

  Tags: Insurance Websites, Search Engines, User Reviews

• 08Sep

  Site Search

  Insurance Agency Websites, Search Engines, Worth Trying No Comments

  All of this talk about search engines started making me think about search functionality inside of agency websites. How useful are they? Come to find out they are VERY USEFUL. I did a survey on insurance agency websites and a couple other non insurance sites and found that 30% of users went straight for the search box vs. trying to navigate for what they trying to find.

  Some of the top searches included “Auto Quote”, “Business Insurance” & “Homeowners”

  You could spend a lifetime analyzing search traffic only to find out that you pulled out all of your hair before you learned something worthwhile.

  Interestingly, users who searched for “Homeowners” were not always looking for homeowners quotes. Many of the users were looking for homeowner FAQs such as “Do I have enough coverage for my possessions (Coverage C)”

  Example Search for Homeowners:

  http://demo.cfluent.com/search.php?search=homeowners

  This goes to show that insurance agency websites need to be more than just quote forms. They need to have information for the user.

  Building a search engine for a website is not easy. There are however, a couple free search engine APIs that you can install on your website that will work. The disadvantage of these free search engine APIs is they usually come with some type of advertising. (Hey there isn’t such a thing as a free lunch, right?)

  Google’s Search API: http://www.google.com/coop/cse/

  Yahoo’s Site Search (Requires your site to be hosted through Yahoo)
  http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/smallbusiness/webhosting/addons/psearch/psearch-02.html

  Ask.com Search API: http://about.ask.com/en/docs/about/add_search_to_site.shtml

  Tags: Insurance Websites, site search

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