How to Make Your Website A Great Sales & Service Resource · Backlinks Search engines have many...

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1 Sales & Service Resource How to Make Your Independent Agency Website A Great

Transcript of How to Make Your Website A Great Sales & Service Resource · Backlinks Search engines have many...

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Sales & Service Resource

How to Make Your Independent Agency Website A Great

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CONTENTSWhat Your Website Can Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Make It Attractive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Make It Findable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Make It Actionable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Make it Educational . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Know How You’re Doing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

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What Your Website

Can DoA website is a beautiful thing. It is the storefront to your online clients and

prospects, and it can do a lot for your independent insurance agency. Through

your website, you can easily connect with clients to answer questions and

concerns, bolstering your customer service. You can also provide easy online

tools, like change requests, claim filing and printable certificates of insurance, to

make it easier for you and your clients to get work done.

Besides serving as a great service resource for clients, your website is also an

effective sales tool. Your agency’s website can be used to capture new leads

through online quote requests, and effectively communicate your agency’s

commitment to serving your clients’ needs through blog posts and testimonials.

However, you get out of your website only what you put in.

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In this eGuide, we’ll cover

ways to make your agency’s

website into an effective tool

for your clients and a great

prospect resource for your

future clients. With these tips,

you’ll find out how to make

your website attractive, and

how to get future clients there,

boosting your business and

your client reputation.

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Make it AttractiveWhen a client sees your website, they are gathering information to answer the question: “Can I trust them?”

Show potential clients your agency is a trustworthy partner!

You’ll need a few key elements.

Attractive, Responsive DesignFirst impressions are important. Stay away from large blocks of text,

avoid clutter, and make sure your site is built so that it can easily

adjust for mobile use.

Easy NavigationOrganize your site in a logical manner. If a user can’t find what

they’re looking for, they are likely to get frustrated and leave.

Research shows the longer a user is on a website, the more likely

they are to make a purchase or request more information.

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Valuable InformationGreat websites give users exactly what they’re looking for, and none

of what they’re not. Provide access to things that make life easier,

like online quoting or claim filing. Be careful about putting too much

information in one place, however, as it can look cluttered and be

overwhelming.

Strong Call to ActionWith a strong call to action, you bring users along in the buying or lead

capturing process. A good call to action effectively uses size, shape,

color, placement and wording to get the message across and compel

users to take the next step.

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Make It FindableNo matter how great your website is, it doesn’t mean much if it can’t be

found. Most potential clients will do an online search for independent

insurance agents in their area and, if you want to be on that list, you’ll need

to use the right tools to optimize your site for search.

There are many ways to optimize your agency’s site, but we’ll

focus on three of the most efficient ways for independent

insurance agencies:

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Backlinks

Search engines have many ways of judging reputable websites, and one

of the most common is the number of reputable sites linking to it. You

can gain links by asking for them from business partners or networking

groups or by writing great content that valuable sites want to share. Just

be careful about which sites pick up your posts. While gaining links from

reputable sites bolsters your searchability, links from poorly-ranked sites

can hurt your online reputation.

Social Media

Social media brings you a double benefit: additional links each time you

post a link to your site, and presence outside of a search engine. To

experience success, ensure you are posting quality content and you’re

posting often. The better and more relevant your posts, the more likely

they are to be shared, bringing you even more quality links to boost your

search engine ranking.

Guest blogs

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Google+

Slideshare

Industry

Directories

Local Listings

Pulse

Seedly

Business2

Community

YouTube

Visual.ly

Press Releases

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Local Focus

The best way to get local search traffic is by adding locality to your

website’s page titles. When search engines look at your pages, they’ll

focus on these titles first. Simply adding “Columbus” or “Ohio” to the

titles of your pages will boost your credibility for an “insurance Ohio”

search. Also, make sure your address is included in the footer on every

page of your site—the more your agency’s name and its location are

found together on the web, the more likely your site will pop up when

someone searches for a local insurance agency

You should also list your website on local listing sites like Google+ Local,

Yelp, Bing Places, Internet Yellow Pages, and Yahoo! Local. This will

again link your agency name with your location another place.

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By giving your clients the content they want, you will also attract other agencies

and industry leaders, thus increasing your site’s reach.

The first step is to know who you’re reaching.

Ask questions like:

n Where do my clients and potential clients live? How old are they?

n Do they spend more time on their phone or their computer?

n What challenges do they face?

n What information can my agency share to help them?

Make It

Actionable

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Once you’ve honed in on who your audience is, start thinking about what

they need. Here are a few popular content items that you should consider

adding to your website:

Online change requests

Links to online raters

Printable certificates of insurance

FAQ section

Online quoting and claim filing

With all of these content items, be sure to include

a strong call to action. This is typically placed at

the end of a page and in the last step of any online

process, telling the user what to do next. To help

generate leads, you can include a “contact an

agent” or “share this quote” – anything you can do

to try and capture user information.

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Make It

EducationalAccording to a recent study, 78% of consumers see custom content as a

sign that an organization wants to build a good relationship with them. One

of the best ways to give great educational content is through blogging. Social Media

Today showed organizations with blogs generate 67% more leads than those

that don’t, making it well worth your time to write a weekly or bi-monthly blog. You

can easily generate blog content by:

n Jotting down notes as clients ask questions or have concerns and address those

questions: you will soon find you have a steady stream of inspiration

n Making your blog personable: Highlight staff members, clients and local events

n Sharing industry tips and tricks that can be picked up and shared by other sites:

this increases your reach, and your links, boosting your online reputation

organizations with blogs

organizations without blogs

LEAD GENERATION

78% of consumers see custom content as a sign that an organization wants to build a good relationship with them

78%

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Your site, like your agency, is unique, and what works for others may not work for you

and your client base. To find out what does work, you’ll need to set up and monitor

specific site analytics.

Analytics are a way to measure different aspects of your site, such as how users found your site,

how long they stay on each page, and how many unique visitors you get each month. Monitoring

analytics help you judge your site’s effectiveness. When gathering analytics you should look at

stats that answer the following questions:

HOW is your site found?

These stats help you determine the different ways current and potential clients find your site.

n Direct visits: Users who typed your website into their address bar or have it saved as a

bookmark

n Organic visits: Users who came to your site through unpaid search results

n Referral visits: Users sent to your site by other sites (i.e. insurance raters, blogs, etc.)

n Top non-branded keywords: Keywords that send people to your site. These do not include

your agency’s name, but are something like “auto insurance Ohio”.

Know How

You’re Doing

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WHERE do users go?

These categories let you know which pages are attracting users

and what they’re doing on these pages.

Top landing pages:

These are the pages

through which users enter

your site. Direct visits are

usually to the home page,

but search and referral

visits could send users to

other pages like “Request

a Quote” or “About Us”.

Top visited pages:

Shows which pages are

visited most often, and for

the longest length of time.

Bounce rate: This is when

a user visits your site and

leaves without interacting

with a page.

Percent exit: Similar to

bounce rate, this shows

the percent of users who

leave your site from a

specific page.

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WHERE,

WHEN and

HOW OFTEN do users contact you?

These stats are usually found through:

Google Analytics is a great free tool for tracking your site’s stats, or you can ask your site’s administrator if they provide

analytics. Regardless of which you use, have a professional look over your stats to analyze them and provide advice on

how you can improve your site’s look, usability and reach.

Number contact forms completed

Most effective call to action

Percent total site visitors completing a form

Most effective day and time for completed forms

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Through implementing these tactics to make your website attractive, findable

and actionable, you’ll be on your way to bolstering your online reputation. This

feeds in to your offline reputation as well, and will help create buzz about your

agency’s commitment to serving your clients.

Other great contacts to help improve your site are those in your agency

management systems user group. We at SIS know the importance of connecting

with other agency owners, and our NASPA user group is always buzzing with

new ideas. To find out more about NASPA, and the latest updates to Partner XE,

contact us today!

attractive,

findable and

actionable

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About SISHeadquartered in Columbus, Ohio, Strategic Insurance Software (SIS) is

the team behind Partner XE—an innovative web-based insurance agency

management system that helps independent agencies streamline workflow and

grow their business. Built on a foundation of strong technology and exceptional

service, we’re moving forward with a constant eye on innovation that will make

independent agents’ lives easier.

About Partner XESupporting downloads from nearly 300 carriers, real time interaction, integrated

agency accounting, and much more, Partner XE is a full-featured agency

management system at an affordable cost for the independent insurance agency.

For more information, please visit www.sisware.com

4181 Arlingate Plaza, Columbus, Ohio 43228 | 800.747.9273 | www.sisware.com