Website help

[Sam]

I am finally getting around to building a website and I need to make an FAQ as a filler. Can anyone suggest some questions? (You don't need to answer them, unless you have something clever)

Thanks

 

[somarco]

Is this your personal site or for the forum?

 

[Sam]

Personal site

 

[somarco]

I dont keep this site current as I should, but you might get some ideas from here.

http://healthinsurance411.blogspot.com

Also, this guy uses Constant Contact and maintains a site with lots of questions. I subscribe to his newsletter and get some ideas.

http://asktony.tonynovak.com/

 

[Sam]

Thanks for the help. I have never seen the ask tony site.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

And just why would anyone want to create a site that answers every single one of the client's questions so they don't have to contact you? If my prospective client wants HSA info I want them to contact me. If the goal of a website to provide clients with free information so you don't make anything - or is the goal to generate leads?

You don't see any info on my site about specific companies. Why? Because if I talk about Aetna savvy people will just go directly to the Aetna site, pull up rates and either:

A) Make a decision just based on the rates they see - which is bad
B) Decide to buy right from the site - which is bad


Sites too clogged with info are a distraction for most people and they'll simply punch out. Show me the person who has time on their hands to navigate a huge cumbersome site that attempts to fully educate them about health insurance.

My advice is to keep the site simple, uncluttered and make sure the primary purpose is to generate leads.

Make sure you have access to your traffic logs or reports. You need to see how many hits your site is getting versus how many people are contacting you. Mine is 1 to 3 - a third of all people who come to my site contact me, mostly through my quote request.

I've had agents put up "informational" sites thinking people will contact them and they have as high as 100 people hit the site with no one actually contacting them.

The theory - which is wrong - is the more info you give the more the person thinks you really know what you're talking about and therefore the most likley they are to contact you. Dead opposite.

 

[Sam]

In my case, the site is not to get leads from, but to grant us a veneer of respectability to our clients and prospects.
We do mostly group health and ancillary benefits, and lately, we have been pushing to get into the middle market arena. People want to know that you are not a fly ny night, and they want to see a nice looking web interface.

The faq is really just as a link filler. We need it so the site will look symetrical.

 

[midwestbroker]

Just brainstorming...

What about a client page where detailed questions are answered? Make a log in password (the same for all clients) and they can get detailed FAQ. You could put links to the company sites if you offer various companies. That way you would not have to worry about them enrolling over the internet and bypassing the agent.

Just throwing ideas out there. If all my ideas were good I would not have to patch a hole in my wall tonight. Don't ask!

 

[Sam]

It is not a bad idea, but in general, the cost of driving traffic to your site is very high. If you don't spend a lot of money marketing the site, it will be more for your clients and prospects.
For the same price of posting, they can email you.