Reasonable Amount for Website

[Billy Snyder]

I would highly recommend Jeff Lund at jeff.lunn @ nextstageweb.com for ALL your website needs. He knows WP, SEO, landing pages, email marketing, everything. Very professional and thorough, patient with non techies like me. I don't get any kickback or other incentive for this, just knowing what I went through to get my site built, I wish I would have heard of him before. Then check out advisorinternetmarketing with Joe Simonds for the best in going digital with your insurance/financial services company. A definite one-two punch!

 

[HuntAssuranceGroup]

Melissa, I took some time to review your website and have a few recommendations for you. First off, given a limited budget, I would spend money on content first and a redesign later. It's the content, not the design that will bring people to your site. You can do a lot with a Wordpress website with some quick and easy changes. A whole redesign is probably overkill until you have good content that needs showing off. The biggest problem I see with your current design is that the main content area is too wide (making it difficult to read) and the font is too small (making it difficult to read). People respond better to web pages with a good amount of white space. People like to scan pages before they read them. What they scan for are headlines that confirm to them that you have the information they want. Your subtitles (where you use them) are way too small to be noticed. Also, I recommend that you ditch the help/auto attendant. They are rarely used and they tend to annoy most people. A better solution is to create appropriate call-to-action (CTA) interfaces. The most import CTA you need to design is your home page. Your current home page does not have a CTA at all. Your home page content is basically what needs to be on your "About Us!" page. Think of your home page like a mini brochure. You have 30 seconds, not three minutes, to tell people what your business can do for them and then guide them to the next step. The most important thing you can do for your website (and your business) is to define your brand... what is it that you offer and provide that's better than all others? Why should people choose you? Why should your visitors even stay on your website? You have just a few seconds to answer those basic questions before a visitor hits the back button and goes to your competitors website. Your "What They Say..." page is excellent. The only thing I'd do is put those testimonials in visitors faces. Those testimonials are the most powerful marketing tool you own. RECOMMENDATIONS - Create a clear, concise marketing message... define your brand. Visit 100 insurance websites and see what message gets your attention. - Create a CTA for your home page... what step do you want your visitor to take? Guide them to take that step. - Get rid of the annoying auto/help attendant. - Increase the font size. - Make your heading and subheadings stand out and update your content to help people scan your pages. - Make the main content area smaller. You can do this by adding a sidebar. - Make your testimonials more prominent. Find a Wordpress widget to rotate them on the sidebar... keep them in people's face! - Create killer content! Your content, not your website design, is what brings traffic and gets people to stay, read, and begin to trust you. The best content tells a story. Be real and genuine. I design with StudioPress and have a developers license. If you'd like a free theme (the "Third Party" themes are not free to me) from their in-house selection, let me know. Think about using something like this to highlight your testimonials: my.studiopress.com/themes/executive/#demo-full I can setup that theme for you in about an hour with my complements. I will teach you how to use it on the forum, that way others can learn. You will need some attractive images. Write blog posts about how you helped your client get the right product for their unique situation. They gave you a testimonial... use it! Weave the story into a lesson about insurance. David

thank you so much David. great information.

Sent from my iPad using InsForums

 

[JRoot]

I would highly recommend Jeff Lund at jeff.lunn @ nextstageweb.com for ALL your website needs. He knows WP, SEO, landing pages, email marketing, everything. Very professional and thorough, patient with non techies like me. I don't get any kickback or other incentive for this, just knowing what I went through to get my site built, I wish I would have heard of him before. Then check out advisorinternetmarketing with Joe Simonds for the best in going digital with your insurance/financial services company. A definite one-two punch!

Billy,

You do realize that Jeff Lunn's website: nextstageweb.com and advisorjetpack.com are built on generic Wordpress Themes. (Salient Theme to be exact). Not really custom at all - very generic actually.

Your website is the same website as everyone else he does as well, check it out:

B Snyder Insurance - Your Source For 100% Unbiased Reviews On Financial Products
Charles Winfrey - Your Source For 100% Unbiased Reviews On Financial Products

So it's not really the custom work the OP is looking for.