We are looking at giving our website a make over. I would like people to be able to enter their info and make it a lead generator. Right now it's more just a basic fact/company info/contact us site. Any advice on this or any formats that might be good to check out? It's for P&C (personal&commercial) and life.
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What is the website? Sounds like you need a P&C quote engine which I know nothing about.
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Based on my experience with P&C websites, the only way to get a lot of quotes filled out is to get a LOT of traffic to your website. Only a small % of people that visit the website will actually fill out the quote form.
Don't make the form too long or people won't take the time to fill it out. If you can post the link, I can give you more suggestions.
Definitely make sure your site can be found everywhere on the internet (Google, Yahoo, YellowPages, Superpages etc).
Don't make the form too long or people won't take the time to fill it out. If you can post the link, I can give you more suggestions.
Definitely make sure your site can be found everywhere on the internet (Google, Yahoo, YellowPages, Superpages etc).
We are in the same process right now. Being an infant in internet marketing, I'm relying on the designer for input. We are subscribing to a monthly maintenance he suggested where we will send him pdfs of our client newsletters, etc. and he will create archives on the site that he claims will raise our rankings with the search engines ??? I really would like some clarification on that as well but he claims more insurance jargon and more updates increase your rankings ??
We are keeping our front page design as simple as possible in the hopes of directing "lookers" to only their topic of interest without having to sort through BS.
He is designing all "buttons" on the page.. auto ins facts, auto ins quote, special offers, what others are saying, about us, etc
Would love to get suggestions from others who have been down this road
We are keeping our front page design as simple as possible in the hopes of directing "lookers" to only their topic of interest without having to sort through BS.
He is designing all "buttons" on the page.. auto ins facts, auto ins quote, special offers, what others are saying, about us, etc
Would love to get suggestions from others who have been down this road
InsuranceGuru
Expert
- 95
I hope you trust your developer and have known this person for years, that's all I want to get off my chest first.
It would be more helpful to see the site, but a few things first. Your developer is right and wrong about the pdf docs. First, I would recommend putting your pdf newsletters in e-mail form. Put an e-mail capture on the front page and start building a list from your visitors so you can start sending that newsletter to them if they request it. P&C is all about Drip Marketing, not pushing for the sale but being diligent with good follow up.
I would also re-purpose some of the material from the newsletters into content for the different pages of your site. But that content would be better entered as html than as pdf docs. Also keep in mind that this is merely the 'optimization' of the site. This makes the site more 'search engine friendly', sure, but it doesn't actually determine what your rankings will be.
Just keep it simple: SEO = Your Website, SEM = Your Market
Who buys from you consistently? What age group? What kind of income level? Who is a consistent market for you that, if you approach it, the majority of the time they will submit info into a quote page? That's your SEM strategy. You have to research google adwords, both the broad and specific searches (tells you at most and at least how many people search a specific keyword). Then give those keywords to your developer and tell him exactly where to place them (because you've researched and you know where they should be). Ask him for his input if he offers it, but look into this stuff and learn it so you don't get taken to the bank.
My uncle was assured by a developer that his site would be 'search-engine friendly' and took that to mean he would rank well on Google. But he never did, and his developer ended up charging him $2,000 for a website and no indexing. He got ripped off, so he switched over to another company after I explained to him what he ended up paying for. Now he at least ranks for one keyword and I consult for him on the direction of his SEM campaign.
It would be more helpful to see the site, but a few things first. Your developer is right and wrong about the pdf docs. First, I would recommend putting your pdf newsletters in e-mail form. Put an e-mail capture on the front page and start building a list from your visitors so you can start sending that newsletter to them if they request it. P&C is all about Drip Marketing, not pushing for the sale but being diligent with good follow up.
I would also re-purpose some of the material from the newsletters into content for the different pages of your site. But that content would be better entered as html than as pdf docs. Also keep in mind that this is merely the 'optimization' of the site. This makes the site more 'search engine friendly', sure, but it doesn't actually determine what your rankings will be.
Just keep it simple: SEO = Your Website, SEM = Your Market
Who buys from you consistently? What age group? What kind of income level? Who is a consistent market for you that, if you approach it, the majority of the time they will submit info into a quote page? That's your SEM strategy. You have to research google adwords, both the broad and specific searches (tells you at most and at least how many people search a specific keyword). Then give those keywords to your developer and tell him exactly where to place them (because you've researched and you know where they should be). Ask him for his input if he offers it, but look into this stuff and learn it so you don't get taken to the bank.
My uncle was assured by a developer that his site would be 'search-engine friendly' and took that to mean he would rank well on Google. But he never did, and his developer ended up charging him $2,000 for a website and no indexing. He got ripped off, so he switched over to another company after I explained to him what he ended up paying for. Now he at least ranks for one keyword and I consult for him on the direction of his SEM campaign.
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There is a huge difference between a web designer and an SEO specialist. Most designers I have worked with claim that they don't know too much about SEO and what Search Engines like on a site and therefore, the design on the site might not really help you. I'd be extremely careful who you rely on for getting you traffic to your site. I've had several insurance agents/companies create websites for lead generation, and most of them start with a Search Engine Marketing company and get them to design the site.
The articles will help if they're placed correctly and linked correctly. If they contain too much "insurance jargon", it might not be so useful to prospective clients. Basically if a regular non-insurance person can't understand what you're talking about, they'll never finish reading the article. Sometimes it's a good idea to "dumb-down" your articles. It's funny but some of the most-read articles are "7 ways you can save on auto insurance"....
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I'd agree 100% with this, but say that lowering the number of people that fill it out is a good thing.
When my quote request form contained only the absolute minimum (zip code, date of birth, tobacco use) then I got a LOT of tire-kickers and unqualified leads. I added a lot more information to the form and have noticed a significant upturn in the quality of leads I receive from my website. Nobody fills out all that crap unless they're really interested.
Your mileage may vary, of course. And for the record, I'm coming at it from the health and life side.
InsuranceGuru
Expert
- 95
This is truly brilliant, but simple, advice. You certainly WANT information from as many visitors as possible, but you want to be able to maximize your stream of traffic and soak up all the potential sales as possible. That's why I recommend an e-mail capture on every quote website.
See, there are the visitors that are just poking their heads in to see what you do. There are visitors that want insurance. You have that covered. Being able to test how many questions on your quote page yield the highest number and highest quality is the trick. Otherwise, you end up wasting your time with too many unqualified leads or losing more qualified leads than you should.
