Tips For Improving Your Website in 2016

Over the last 10 years we have designed over 1,000 websites for independent insurance professionals. During that time is has become very obvious that it’s harder working with agents who are building their first website compared to ones who are redesigning ones already in place.  Reason being is there is a lot of trial and error involved before your site is truly going to help you make or save money. It’s not about “Bells and Whistles”, it’s about designing a site around the way you actually run your business, so it helps you and makes you more efficient. Below you will find our top 3 tips for improving or building your insurance website in 2016.

1      Don’t Stress About Making It Perfect – Perfect Doesn’t Exist

Whether you realize it now or not, it really doesn’t matter if the car is red or green in the picture representing “Auto Insurance”. As an insurance professional you are going to use your website differently than let’s say a florist. What this means is your website should help you become more efficient, that might mean letting your clients make payments, file claims, fill out forms or enroll online for smaller secondary products such as Dental Insurance. You likely won’t know exactly what efficiency tools are going to work until you launch the site and see how your clients use it. We call it “Battle Testing” the website. The key of course is getting your clients to “use it”. Once this happens, referrals are not far behind.

       Forget About Instant SEO Results – You May Not Even Want What Them Anyway

The first question we ask an insurance professional looking to build a website is… “Do you want referrals or do you want online price shoppers?” In most cases the broker answers “referrals”. If this is the case then your site design and marketing strategy should change. The site now needs to be designed as a “referral converter” for you. This means you have to have “branding”, information about who runs the company, testimonials, an active social media presence. Think about realistic scenario’s, maybe the son of a client is told to use you for auto insurance, he Google’s you, finds your site. Now your site needs to make him feel comfortable to contact you. It’s about creating “online credibility”.

3     Remember You Sell Someone Else’s Products

The overall key to success is to remember you sell insurance, the carriers are the ones controlling the products, the pricing and the plan structure. This means your website should focus on the services that you offer. It should tell people who runs the company, why you are unique and what type of value you bring to the table. It’s still amazing how many agents don’t want to put their pictures on their sites…… big mistake! The consumer wants to do business with someone they trust and can identify with. Make no mistake if they wanted a transactional relationship they would have gone to a “Big Name Online Corporation” online.

If you need help and guidance with your website and social media presence in 2016 please visit www.benefitstore.net and request a free consultation.

Ken French

President

973-607-1916 Ext 1