lifeismylife76
Super Genius
I am considering Agent Methods to create a website for me. Just not sure if websites really work for Medicare. Anyone have success stories?
Anyone generate leads from a website?
- Thread starter lifeismylife76
- Start date
- 4,137
I'm going to be honest with you, so if it comes off as harsh, I'm sorry. Too many people sell the pipe dream that you throw up a website and a ton of leads come. That's a load of poo.
Google has really changed in the last 5 years, so the book I mention below is good, but it's dated too. Google is focusing more on local AND giving out information without having to leave the site (known as a no click.) It's entire possible for your website to be a lean marketing machine, but it isn't easy.
So, first off, you have to have a website now. With more people dropping land lines and using smart phones, traditional cold calling is a problem. They find you before you find them. The future is in inbound marketing.
It's actually really great because the barrier to entry is high. It's cheap, but not fast or easy.
Blogging and other content marketing needs to be a good portion of your marketing time, imo.
Secondly, you don't see results immediately. It takes 9+ months to get real traction.
Third, you need to have a hook to capture leads. When I started my website, I used CSG Actuarial's quote tool. That was an error. It doesn't capture information until after it gives the quote. So there's no way for me to track conversion.
Fourth, don't buy SEO tools. You do not need them and they're expensive af.
Truthfully, you don't need someone to build your website. WordPress Themes have really made web design plug and play.
That being said, I like to tinker with my website a lot, so that's a personal preference.
With Medicare, specifically, there are a lot of really big players. BoomerBenefits, EHealth, etc. You have to provide value they can't.
Jeff Root's book, Digital Life Insurance Agent is a good general overview. If I were to write a digital marketing book for insurance agents, I'd cut out a lot of the sales stuff and add more SEO and traffic driving things. Also, some of the resources are out of date.
It is a really good basic book though.
Google has really changed in the last 5 years, so the book I mention below is good, but it's dated too. Google is focusing more on local AND giving out information without having to leave the site (known as a no click.) It's entire possible for your website to be a lean marketing machine, but it isn't easy.
So, first off, you have to have a website now. With more people dropping land lines and using smart phones, traditional cold calling is a problem. They find you before you find them. The future is in inbound marketing.
It's actually really great because the barrier to entry is high. It's cheap, but not fast or easy.
Blogging and other content marketing needs to be a good portion of your marketing time, imo.
Secondly, you don't see results immediately. It takes 9+ months to get real traction.
Third, you need to have a hook to capture leads. When I started my website, I used CSG Actuarial's quote tool. That was an error. It doesn't capture information until after it gives the quote. So there's no way for me to track conversion.
Fourth, don't buy SEO tools. You do not need them and they're expensive af.
Truthfully, you don't need someone to build your website. WordPress Themes have really made web design plug and play.
That being said, I like to tinker with my website a lot, so that's a personal preference.
With Medicare, specifically, there are a lot of really big players. BoomerBenefits, EHealth, etc. You have to provide value they can't.
Jeff Root's book, Digital Life Insurance Agent is a good general overview. If I were to write a digital marketing book for insurance agents, I'd cut out a lot of the sales stuff and add more SEO and traffic driving things. Also, some of the resources are out of date.
It is a really good basic book though.
Last edited:
I use Yoast SEO Pro and Yoast Video SEO. Both are invaluable.
Unless you don't have personal videos then you don't need the video plugin
- 4,137
I really meant SEMRush, Ahrefs, etc. Yoast is 89 dollars a year, right?
SEM and Ahrefs are 90+ a month. Almost everything you want to do with those tools you can do with Ubersuggest.
I didn't mean to imply that SEO tools are worthless. For the purposes of a post that was already running long it was a snippet of information, but definitely reads that I'm saying don't buy SEO tools.
SEM and Ahrefs are 90+ a month. Almost everything you want to do with those tools you can do with Ubersuggest.
I didn't mean to imply that SEO tools are worthless. For the purposes of a post that was already running long it was a snippet of information, but definitely reads that I'm saying don't buy SEO tools.
Last edited:
Yoast SEO premium is $89/yr for one site. Slight discount for more than one. I use premium on my main site and the free version on a couple of other sites that are updated infrequently.
Video plugin is $69/yr for one site.
I debated getting the video plugin but finally added it a few weeks ago. Google bots would miss my videos when they do their sitemap sweep. Some were showing up in Google search but many were not.
Added the video plugin and now Google knows about all my onsite videos including news clips that are not self generated. When the bots sweep my sitemap they get all updates including recently added videos.
The Yoast SEO is for on page SEO only. It does not allow you to "spy" on competitor sites like Ahreffs, SEMrush, MOZ, SEO quake, SpyFu, etc.
Yoast also has a Local plugin. It seems it would be helpful for agents that only market in a limited geo area, I believe the "reach" is a 25 mile radius. Really designed for local foot traffic such as a retail store or service (plumber, electrician, dentist, attorney, etc.). I don't see the value of using the ever changing Google Local service for someone that works from their home and markets state or nationwide. I passed on Yoast Local for the same reason.
Video plugin is $69/yr for one site.
I debated getting the video plugin but finally added it a few weeks ago. Google bots would miss my videos when they do their sitemap sweep. Some were showing up in Google search but many were not.
Added the video plugin and now Google knows about all my onsite videos including news clips that are not self generated. When the bots sweep my sitemap they get all updates including recently added videos.
The Yoast SEO is for on page SEO only. It does not allow you to "spy" on competitor sites like Ahreffs, SEMrush, MOZ, SEO quake, SpyFu, etc.
Yoast also has a Local plugin. It seems it would be helpful for agents that only market in a limited geo area, I believe the "reach" is a 25 mile radius. Really designed for local foot traffic such as a retail store or service (plumber, electrician, dentist, attorney, etc.). I don't see the value of using the ever changing Google Local service for someone that works from their home and markets state or nationwide. I passed on Yoast Local for the same reason.
edge_media
New Member
- 3
Yup.. all day, every day 
The above advice is really solid. Lots of companies make lots of money selling "websites". But in all honesty, a new purchased website is no more valuable than a phone book or directory listing.. It's NOT the magic bullet that is often sold to agents.
TRAFFIC.. now we're talking. Your website can be as simple as a form with a few "hook" headlines. In fact, that's really all it should be. Your goal is to get interested leads on the phone to close them. Your website's goal is to take incoming traffic and get them just interested enough to fill out the form and become a lead. But the website won't just magically generate this traffic on it's own and this is what many new online agents don't understand.
What Travis and somarco said above is all true. If you have the time and knowledge, SEO (search, google, etc.) traffic can be great as it's basically free. The other option is always paid traffic. I always use paid traffic as it is way more predictable, faster, and easier to track. Good luck and don't get sold some huge fancy website that will just sit there online and never been seen by anyone.
The above advice is really solid. Lots of companies make lots of money selling "websites". But in all honesty, a new purchased website is no more valuable than a phone book or directory listing.. It's NOT the magic bullet that is often sold to agents.
TRAFFIC.. now we're talking. Your website can be as simple as a form with a few "hook" headlines. In fact, that's really all it should be. Your goal is to get interested leads on the phone to close them. Your website's goal is to take incoming traffic and get them just interested enough to fill out the form and become a lead. But the website won't just magically generate this traffic on it's own and this is what many new online agents don't understand.
What Travis and somarco said above is all true. If you have the time and knowledge, SEO (search, google, etc.) traffic can be great as it's basically free. The other option is always paid traffic. I always use paid traffic as it is way more predictable, faster, and easier to track. Good luck and don't get sold some huge fancy website that will just sit there online and never been seen by anyone.
- 4,137
I use Google My Business, but very limitedly. You can set you geo service area for your state. Otherwise, I keep it updated with new posts once a week.
Google is really trying to push staying on their site, so I use it as a landing page. Plus, it really helped me bump to number 1 for Medicare Insurance Agent in my city.
As for all the spying features of SEM, etc.. you can 100% do that for free on Ubersuggest without even registering for any sort of account.
I finally started getting about YT. I use the free version of Tube Buddy for kw and tag info. It's 20 a month for the better version.
For Yoast, I like having a writing assistant. The paid version is more in line with something I'd at least try, cost wise. I'll take a better look at it.
Paid traffic is an option. I consider it a temp solution. However, it does 100% work. The second you stop paying for it, it stops. That being said, I'm a nerd. I like learning new things. I like to tinker with the process. Going 100% organic, nonpaid is just a preference.
@edge_media thanks for your comments and shout out.
Traffic without conversion is meaningless.
Not arguing with you, just amplifying your comment.
You can get 1,000 visitors a day to your site, blog, landing or squeeze page but unless folks fill in the form (with valid contact info) you have wasted your time and money.
I have not used landing or squeeze pages that much in the past but am currently revisiting the concept. A simple, one page with enticing verbiage that make visitors WANT to offer their name and email is preferable to linking to a page with a lot of distracting promises and outbound links.
Do you have suggestions on landing or squeeze pages that you would like to share? There are plenty of one page vendors who all say they are better than the other. Unbounce, Instapage, Lead pages, etc.
Pay someone to design and write copy or use templates and write the copy yourself?
I am all ears (and eyes).
The first few times I used Yoast Pro I was a bit annoyed. I THOUGHT I was writing good copy but Yoast kept putting up red lights on SEO and Readability. Eventually I got the hang of it and then Gutenberg came along and introduced a new learning curve.
I find that using Yoast Pro has not only improved my content but also I am seeing an uptick in traffic.
Win win.
edge_media
New Member
- 3
@somarco Yeah you're totally right about conversions!
I would say that if someone is getting 1000 visitors to their lander and low conversions, it's a congruency issue. In other words, your paid ad was interesting enough to get someone to click, but your lander didn't further amplify the offer, too many distractions, looks like a totally different company, etc.. conversions can be lost. I see it happen all the time.
As far as simple landers, that's all we use so I'd def recommend you revisit them I would love to suggest one but we just code our own but I have heard good things about all the ones you mention above. Check out what the big advertisers are doing and try to get inspired by those.. I guarantee they have spent millions refining those pages.. *hint* quiz type landers seem to be more popular than static forms these days 
Look for something that is easy to launch, edit, and capture your data for quick contact.
I would say that if someone is getting 1000 visitors to their lander and low conversions, it's a congruency issue. In other words, your paid ad was interesting enough to get someone to click, but your lander didn't further amplify the offer, too many distractions, looks like a totally different company, etc.. conversions can be lost. I see it happen all the time.
As far as simple landers, that's all we use so I'd def recommend you revisit them
I would love to suggest one but we just code our own but I have heard good things about all the ones you mention above. Check out what the big advertisers are doing and try to get inspired by those.. I guarantee they have spent millions refining those pages.. *hint* quiz type landers seem to be more popular than static forms these days Look for something that is easy to launch, edit, and capture your data for quick contact.
