Website

[tryan326]

Try to qualify the lead with as few questions as possible. If someone's truely interested they will fill out with their real contact info.

I have a semi long form on my health site and believe it or not it gets filled out quite frequently with valid info.

Although some search engines can read pdfs...this information would be better served as part of your website content such as an article. It would benefit you even more to use key ideas from these pdfs in a blog which will help with SEO.

The design as far as the way it looks has nothing to do with SEO but everything to do with the visitor. So a site needs to be designed so that everything follows together nicely and motivates the user once they've entered your site. A website with a poor design, color scheme or navigation can cause someone to exit before they've even see what you have to offer. And in that case it doesn't matter how may hits your sites getting.

When someone says a website is Search engine friendly that simply means that the coding of the site can be easily spidered. Which will aid with SEO.

If you want to work with a real SEO specialist contact Dave Miller he's dmiller90 on this board he'll get you optimized properly.

 

[jdgeddie]

While slightly off the subject, everyone should have a Google Analytics account. Among other things you can see hot spots where people click when they arrive at your site, where they exit, etc. SEO will help them get to your site, but if they leave 2 secs after arriving it's all fruitless.

 

[InsuranceGuru]

Yes, but people could always fill it out with a invalid email too.

You're missing the point.

E-mail capture enables drip marketing to visitors (not leads). It doesn't matter if someone enters the wrong e-mail. I'd say the e-mail capture is actually better for this reason for filtering out the crap so you don't waste time calling/working it.

Drip marketing adds retention to your site, and your e-mails should all be written with the specific purpose of directing someone to the quote form on your site.

From there, you can measure a number of things with Google Analytics, specifically the Goals feature. You can measure how many visitors simply left you their e-mail address instead of entering their quote information and see if it improves your retention. Also, you can measure how many visitors from the drip marketing campaign actually enter accurate information on the quote page. Then, simply adjust the questions on the quote form to improve the qualification process.

That's it.

 

[Alston]

It's for P&C (personal&commercial) and life.

When exactly did P&C start meaning "personal & commercial"?
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As with anything in business, you need to measure and test your results. There is a point where a questionnaire is too long and where it is too short.

My P&C lead generation forms are 4 to 6 pages long. (My auto insurance quote form grows or shrinks depending on the number of cars, drivers and other factors.) Even after adjusting for bogus contact information about 25% of my PPC traffic converts.

Since I sell most of the leads I generate, I can't reduce the number of questions asked, but I've tested other elements. The order in which the questions are asked, the wording and the font size are all elements that can be tested.

When I generate leads for my own agency, I ask a lot of questions and seek to eliminate the tire kickers. However, our agency is established and it is more profitable to invest more money generating quality leads than to waste time with more marginal prospects. A newer agent might benefit more from a greater quantity of lesser quality leads at least until s/he started generating some decent renewals.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I like your auto insurance quote page.

This is my Ohio health insurance quote page (Pretty standard):

http://www.ohioquotes.com/quote


~ Ohio Health Insurance Quote ~


I have tweaked a few things. I never call any of the leads that are generated naturally. So I don't ask for a phone number.

WebNanny was used in this post.

 

[StrategyMan]

As for developing a website for lead capture information, I recommend looking at implementing what is called a CRM - or Content Management System. In plain english this means that once the site is up and running it will be relatively easy for you to go in and make content changes or additions so that you don't have to depend on your developer all the time.

2 of the most popular 'free' CRM's are Drupal and the other is Joomla. They each have 'modules' or components that enable you to create custom forms to collect customer information. I am in the midst of creating 2 new websites for my agency right now in Drupal and one for an agency client I am consulting with in Joomla. Each CRM can be customized so that it is search engine friendly. It will be easy for you to add additional content as your business grows - the text editors are similar in style to Microsoft Word. In addition, each CRM has thousands of 'design templates' that you can buy for a few dollars to help you customize the way that your site looks without spending a ton of cash.

Make a note: As for some previous comments, there is definitely a difference between creating a search engine friendly website and actually driving traffic to your site. That is a whole different ball of wax.

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Portland Health Insurance and Auto Insurance by portlandlifeinsurance.com

 

[SeaDeezKnots]

Does anyone recommend any certain web designer? Ideally, I'd prefer to use one who has gotten results for other agents.

 

[SoCalBroker]

Im sure you meant CMS. CRM is a Client Relationship Management app - like Salesforce or GoldMine or Zoho or ... you name it.

CMS like drupal or joomla and some will contend WordPress are Content Management Systems.

As for developing a website for lead capture information, I recommend looking at implementing what is called a CRM - or Content Management System. In plain english this means that once the site is up and running it will be relatively easy for you to go in and make content changes or additions so that you don't have to depend on your developer all the time.

2 of the most popular 'free' CRM's are Drupal and the other is Joomla. They each have 'modules' or components that enable you to create custom forms to collect customer information. I am in the midst of creating 2 new websites for my agency right now in Drupal and one for an agency client I am consulting with in Joomla. Each CRM can be customized so that it is search engine friendly. It will be easy for you to add additional content as your business grows - the text editors are similar in style to Microsoft Word. In addition, each CRM has thousands of 'design templates' that you can buy for a few dollars to help you customize the way that your site looks without spending a ton of cash.

Make a note: As for some previous comments, there is definitely a difference between creating a search engine friendly website and actually driving traffic to your site. That is a whole different ball of wax.

Best advice in the thread ...

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.

You need to think of a few FREEMIUM items you can give away to visitors to get them to Opt In to your list. Use the LIST via Aweber or other Autoresponder service to develop a relationship - with viable insurance meterials they can use.

7 Costly Mistakes Most People Make at the Scene of an Accident

7 Secrets to Saving Money on Your Auto Insurance the Insurance Industry Hopes You Never Find Out!!!

I think a P&C site should have a landing page URL that does lead capture for all lines ...

www.youragency.com/auto
www.youragency.com/home
www.youragency.com/umbrella
www.youragency.com/boat
www.youragency.com/life
www.youragency.com/work-comp

Each of these has a FREEMIUM offer to get them to optin. You can drive prospects to those Keywords - cuz you aint gunna get there very soon for Auto Insurance or Home Insurance if your in a competitive metro area without some serious SEO work. You'll need to drive the lead flow in all agency users email signatures, PS - taglines. Fax headers, written corrsspondence - biz cards.

Repurpose those articles if you have the rights to - as Ezine Articles and re word them or outsource them to be re written and posted on EZA. 10 good articles per Keyword might help ya out.

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Does anyone recommend any certain web designer? Ideally, I'd prefer to use one who has gotten results for other agents.

I'll be happy to refer you to someone who I unequivably endorse. Just email me and I'll give you details.

I might add...I get no compensation for endorsing him.

 

[StrategyMan]

I tend to visit the forum late night, yes, my brain confused CRM with CMS. My bad.

Portland Health Insurance, Portland Life Insurance, Portland Car Insurance