Organic SEO vs higher closing % on bought leads

[Travis Price]

For context, Travis is speaking specifically about local SEO which is radically different than national SEO. For Travis, he is trying to rank for terms like "medicare in [state/city]" close to him. For stuff like that, you, just like him, can rank at the top of the local map pack which will almost certainly display above the national search results. All you need to do is follow local seo best practices and focus on getting reviews in Google. Google actually wants to serve users businesses that are local to searcher because that provides a better user experience compared to just showing them national results.

But you have understand that local seo search volume is incredibly low. You're never going to make six figures by relying on local seo. I don't know about local Medicare search volume because I only do life. That said, I highly doubt anyone could make even 30k per year from Medicare sales strictly from local seo traffic. On the life side, you couldn't even make 10k per year from local seo traffic.

For anyone interested in ranking a website on a national level, don't bother. With the way Google works now, it's not an endeavor that you can succeed at in ANY relative period of time.

For context, don't speak for me, please. I never mentioned local SEO, that my specific content strategy was THE ONE or even went into depth about MY strategy.

I agreed with Ray that MY organic traffic converts and that I mix it with other methods, all resulting in inbound calls.

I do actually rank and get traffic from throughout the US... Thanks... And if that was my goal, I could make it happen; but I wouldn't just use Google Search... Which I don't now, and didn't suggest I did.

PS: FE is a different market, but Medicare prospects are more on Bing than Google, fyi.

My organic local traffic is only one of my sources of overall traffic and marketing plan.

Also, if you knew how Medicare commissions work, 30k a year in commissions, which is a whopping 2 sales a week on average (because we have multi-year FYC) equates to almost 100k by year 3, plus add on products (dental, PDP, Hospital Indemnity and cancer for MA)


Medicare is better local, it's why I target local and FYI, I target at the state level. MI has the 5th largest MEDICARE ELIGIBILITY market in the US...

For local seo, it's easier to rank in the snack pack.. that's true. However, it's not the ONLY place I rank or the only place I get organic, inbound leads.

I've also never sold it as easy... I never sold it as the only way, I never sold it as the only thing I do or others should do...

Frankly, I could have sworn I said something about you have to generate leads today, but over time your spend should be lower because of referrals and inbound...

Please don't speak for me or put words in my comments... It's rude.

 

[whatyouwantfinally]

I've had a train of thought that I'm a bit stumped on and wonder what your opinions are on the matter.

That is, the amount of effort and focus required to see good results from self created website building, social media campaigns, etc, VS using that amount of effort and focus to being able to close a higher and higher % of bought leads.

Get involved in the rat race competition for web rankings and media limelight, or leave that to the "marketers" and buckle down and be a real closing "shark" on their leads

Obviously you could say do both, but I'm thinking that would be a sort of stretch of the mind, like being mediocre at multiple things vs being the best at one thing

Thoughts?

Dollars for time aside, there is an intangible benefit from self-generating. Having the lifeblood of your business in the hands of lead companies is inherently risky. I've both used and worked for lead companies, and it's not the most stable industry. There's also a certain anxiety that comes from that even when things are going well.

Things like SEO/Social media also leave you subject to companies like Google, Facebook, etc., but in this instance, that's the more stable ship to be sailing on.

 

[Travis Price]

Dollars for time aside, there is an intangible benefit from self-generating. Having the lifeblood of your business in the hands of lead companies is inherently risky. I've both used and worked for lead companies, and it's not the most stable industry. There's also a certain anxiety that comes from that even when things are going well.

Things like SEO/Social media also leave you subject to companies like Google, Facebook, etc., but in this instance, that's the more stable ship to be sailing on.

I agree. I only self generate.. or don't pay when I have leads given to me... but I would personally never rely on just Google, Facebook, Youtube, email marketing, dm or referrals to keep my pipeline full because if one collapses.. ya dunzo...

You should, imo, have a marketing plan based on your specific goals and wanted income level.

For example:

I invest heavily into my referral and branding marketing
Keep my local game on point in Google.
Do a small outbound contact sequence for T65 that has them call in vs DM card
Have my website that covers statewide marketing with Youtube videos.
And have a monthly newsletter for current clients and previous prospects.

If any one thing fails, I have 4 other resources to fall back on.

 

[cmutual]

For context, don't speak for me, please. I never mentioned local SEO, that my specific content strategy was THE ONE or even went into depth about MY strategy.

You're right I should not have assumed. My bad on that.

Not sure why my post has caused you so ruffled. I agree I shouldn't have assumed but understand that my post has nothing to do with you.

The post was meant purely to point out the difference between local and national seo and to caution users against a national ranking game plan.

For clarification, I thought your post was about local seo because of a quick analysis of your site. As you know, seo tools like semrush, ahrefs etc aren't a true reflection of a sites traffic, but they are still a good indicator of what type of traffic a site is or isn't getting.

I do actually rank and get traffic from throughout the US... Thanks... And if that was my goal, I could make it happen. My organic local traffic is only one of my sources of overall traffic and marketing plan.

First, I didn't comment on you or your business overall. I know nothing about you or your overall marketing plan. Again, I mistakenly assumed your post was about local seo. That's the only thing linked to you in my comment. Literally the rest of my post had nothing to do with you or your business.

And I'm sure there are a few longtail keywords you rank for. When I said "For anyone interested in ranking a website on a national level, don't bother. ", I'm talking about getting meaningful traffic nationally. Sure someone can create some content and build some links and still get some national traffic from some longtail posts, but that volume is going to be incredibly low.

I agree you could also rank nationally if that was your goal (just like someone could do with FE). However, to my point, that would take you literally years and cost multiple six figures. To compete nationally, you're going to need a ton of links. Sites like boomerbenefits (and other agencies like ehealthinsurance that compete with them) have a ridiculous link profile which is the only reason they do so well nationally.

So is it worth it to spend the next 3-5 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars (or millions) to maybe rank nationally? That's going to be a subjective answer of course. Given the cost, I'd still say yes but only for someone who is incredibly disciplined, resilient and has capital to spend knowing the roi won't come for a very long time. I'd encourage 99.9% of agents out there who don't fit this profile to spend their time elsewhere.

Also, if you knew how Medicare commissions work, 30k a year in commissions (because we have multi-year FYC) equates to almost 100k by year 3, plus add on products (dental, PDP, Hospital Indemnity and cancer for MA)

I did forget about the renewals portion for health products. That said, do you honestly think a Medicare agent could make 30k per year in FYC strictly from local seo? I do not know from experience, but I'm definitely willing to bet a chunk of money the answer is no.

Medicare is better local, it's why I target local and FYI, I target at the state level. MI has the 5th largest MEDICARE ELIGIBILITY market in the US...

You would know more than I since I don't do medicare.

For local seo, it's easier to rank in the snack pack.. that's true. However, it's not the ONLY place I rank or the only place I get organic, inbound leads.

Again you're making this about you. My post wasn't about you.

I can also point to multiple agents that sell FE, their primary leads are nationwide organic traffic, AND they're making 6-7 figures, and aren't national agencies.

Sorry but no. Name 1.

Please don't speak for me or put words in my comments... It's rude.

Again, not sure why you're so upset. My mishap was assuming the local seo thing. But again that's literally the only portion of my post that was related to you.


Most FE people are familiar with me due to my extraordinary results. At the end of the day, I'm not the least bit special or unique. But understand insurance is not my business. National seo is and I take it very seriously. I spend more time per week on my site than most people spend working their full-time job. I spend more money on my site than top agents make in 3 years.

I know what it takes to rank nationally and it's not remotely replicatable in any reasonable amount of time. It wasn't this way a few years ago. It's a sad reality given the current G algo.

 

[Travis Price]

Not sure why my post has caused you so ruffled. I agree I shouldn't have assumed but understand that my post has nothing to do with you.

The problem, intentionally or not, is that you're putting words into my mouth and speaking for me.

There's enough people on this forum that try to sell that their way is the only way. For you to trying to add context to what I'm saying (making up context, on my end) is rude.

This isn't Jeff's private forum. Where everyone calls, goes to Jeff's Mastermind event, and knows everyone else really tight like.

Want to say local SEO may not produce the results you want? Great... Do you.

Want to ask me if I'm only generating via local SEO? Cool.

I don't think your post was directly about me, but it also has no purpose into putting my name in it OR making the assumption I said something that wasn't in my post.

What annoys me, and ultimately provokes a response, is the fact that I was in agreement with two other posters. I didn't mention Local SEO AND you wouldn't have known my local strategy without going on my website. That means you're putting more effort into "making your point" by manufacturing an argument; prefacing your point with one I didn't make.

It's a pretty unclassy move (and that's saying it politely.)

 

[PhxSunsFan]

sign me up for what travis is doing

 

[Travis Price]

sign me up for what travis is doing

Only if you want to go broke.

I don't purport to be a rockstar by any means, or doing even a fraction of what @cmutual is doing.

I just want to make enough to go diving most of my time and be comfortable.

 

[ZZ8990]

I know what it takes to rank nationally and it's not remotely replicatable in any reasonable amount of time. It wasn't this way a few years ago. It's a sad reality given the current G algo.

Only quoted the end of your post to save space..

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I've seen your site (and Boomers and others), and it's nothing extraordinary. I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just content. Anyone can create content. Most agents won't even write 10 articles, though.

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Based on your posts and the previous ones on the forum, you're basically saying that Google has increased the importance of links, perhaps above all else. And if it's like a pie or 100 percentage points, then a higher percentage of the SEO pie is placed on links.

SEO = Content + Links

Are you saying that someone needs many more links today to rank compared to years ago?

And your site and others have more link juice because these sites have been around longer and, therefore, have more links (due to time)?

And that's why it's harder for a new site to rank and the site owner should re-evaluate trying in the first place?

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Regarding your site...

From one SEO analytics tool, your site gets the most traffic from the funeral costs page, then the 12 best insurance companies page, the Colonial Penn page, and a few other pages.

What about new content that you create?
Does the already established link juice help new content rank the same as the old content?

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And what are you spending money on for SEO? It's fine if you don't want to answer and feel it's proprietary, but I'm just curious.

- An editor to help with content?
- Publicity to get links? (pay for publicity - articles, interviews, etc. to get links)
- Trying to write articles on other high-SEO sites to get a link back to your site from your bio or throughout the article?
- Outreach or Outbound SEO - Paying someone to contact other websites to link to an article from your site, or site you as an expert, etc.?

There aren't too many white hat strategies to use.

 

[ZZ8990]

Also, Google can keep changing their algorithm and kill SEO altogether, or at least kill it for most sites. They can put ads on the entire first page if they want or most of the page. They increased the number of ads on the top when they killed the ads sidebar.

So while SEO is nice, only relying on SEO is like only relying on referrals. Nobody is in control of Google and other search engines.

Traffic diversity is best. Use paid marketing and do SEO. Any SEO business is a bonus.

 

[Tahoe Ray]

Also, Google can keep changing their algorithm and kill SEO altogether, or at least kill it for most sites. They can put ads on the entire first page if they want or most of the page. They increased the number of ads on the top when they killed the ads sidebar.

So while SEO is nice, only relying on SEO is like only relying on referrals. Nobody is in control of Google and other search engines.

Traffic diversity is best. Use paid marketing and do SEO. Any SEO business is a bonus.

I don't disagree with any of this except for the "SEO business is a bonus" part.

A lot of us who market online started with nothing but SEO and for older sites, it still generates a fantastic return relatively speaking.

I agree with Anthony that it could be really challenging starting that strategy today.

Still, it's important to have multiple legs to the stool (generating leads) but you really need to ride the wave while you can.

If organic search is dead in 5 years, I just hope that I ton it for those 5 years so I don't really have to care anyway. I can buy ad space or just not participate. The goal is to have that be a choice rather than a necessity.