A website is the one place that the public can connect with your insurance agency at any time on any day. The information within your website is important in driving traffic to your site.
Hometown Quotes’ last blog post about building a successful agency website covered logistical considerations like choosing a domain name and web host (Read it here). This post will go into more depth about content, how it is presented, and why it’s important; keeping in mind the goal for almost every agent’s website should be to acquire new business and keep your current customers up to date with relevant information.
Navigation is Crucial
Put yourself in your current or potential clients’ shoes when deciding how to organize your website. Most of your visitors will be interested in learning about the products and services you offer. Therefore, organizing by product offerings is a standard way to present insurance information—auto, home, life, etc.
Remember that people go to insurance websites for information and reassurance. It’s important that your information is presented in a clear manner that is easy to find.
Make it easy for a prospect to contact you.
You should consider providing multiple points of contact on your website, as each user may have a different preference on how they want to contact you. Keep a SHORT form available on every page, including fields such as:
- First & Last Name
- Phone Number
- Email Address
- Comments Section
We emphasize short because the main objective of your form is getting the prospect’s contact information. Forcing the user to fill out all the information you need to quote a policy will dramatically decrease your form fill conversions, and is information you can gather during your follow up call.
Make sure your phone number is present as often as possible. Don’t make the user search for how to contact you. Also consider implementing a live chat and texting feature as options for initial contact. Some of your younger audiences might prefer this method of contact.
Don’t forget to include clickable icons for any social media accounts that you have set up: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
Who You Are Matters
Selling insurance has a lot to do with trust. A professional looking website can immediately establish credibility and likability, while a poorly designed website can deter new business.
Think about some of the questions your potential customers may have.
- How long have you been in business?
- How well do you know insurance products?
- Will you be there when I need help?
You can answer all of these questions and more on your website with an overview of your background and services.
Consider including a brief statement about why you are in the insurance business and what your goals are in relation to your customers, for example:
“Our agency exists to help our clients quickly get their lives back to normal after an accident or other unexpected event. We offer quality insurance products and provide expert advice and excellent customer service to help protect you and your family.”
You and your staff should also be represented. Adding a brief bio and photo on the website will help humanize everyone who works at your agency.
Let Others Do the Bragging
A page of sincere testimonials from current customers is the best marketing you can create. Keep them short and specific. “Sally is a great agent” is nice, but this is better: “I’m so glad that Sally recommended I increase my homeowners limits; we wouldn’t have had enough coverage to rebuild if she hadn’t.” Give an example of what you are looking for whenever you ask for a testimonial.
Share your Expertise
Consider including a blog. This can serve three purposes:
- Providing helpful tips and advice for your customers
- Helping to establish your credibility as an insurance expert
- Improving your search engine optimization (SEO), which is an important way that new customers may find you.
Understanding Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO can be fairly complicated. One aspect in this complicated algorithm is the quality of content, or in other words, is the content on your website relevant to the user’s search.
When people enter words like “insurance agent” in a search bar, that search engine looks for websites with those words and returns results based on a number of factors, including favoring businesses in the geographic area that the customer is located. So, if the keyword “insurance agent” appears on your website in many places, you increase your odds that your site will rise to the top of the results in your area. This is one of many factors that increase your search presence. To learn more, check out this great article for SEO beginners.
Photos and Graphics
Including photos and graphics can add depth and help convey your messages, as some people learn better with visuals. Use charts or graphs to illustrate statistics. A photo of a flooded home or a wrecked car can make the case for insurance in a way that words may not be able to.
Be careful not to overwhelm your site with photos. They can be distracting and add longer load times to your site. Images should be used in support of your content, as well as, set the mood of your content. While using high-resolution images are important (especially for retina display devices) you should always compress your images for the lowest file size, at the same time, maintaining good visual quality. Take the time to label your images appropriately as it will help with your SEO score.
When using photos, be sure you are using photos legally and properly. Ask for permission before using photos from an actual customer, and purchase stock photos from a reputable website, such as Shutterstock.
Consider Hiring Professionals
Would anyone pay you to write or design a website for them? If the answer is no, you should think twice before you plan to do either job for your own site.
Run the numbers. While it might be possible for you to learn a design program or study and replicate the type of writing that appears on a really good website, how much time will that take away from your primary job of selling insurance? It may be a case where you’ll save money by spending money.
As an insurance professional, you understand that you bring your customers more value than just selling a product that they could purchase without your help. The same is true of writers and designers. Beyond words, colors and fonts, these professionals can bring their knowledge of best practices to help your business succeed.
Whether you have a robust website with a hundred of pages of useful content or just a simple site with two or three pages about your agency, the most important consideration is making sure that it’s accurate, both in terms of the information presented and grammar and spelling. While the initial investment of time and money might be intimidating, once you have a site, future updates and revisions will be much easier.
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