How to Blog: Step by Step

Let’s go through creating the perfect blog entry.

• Step 1: The easiest, simplest, most important thing to do is to have catchy, attention-grabbing, click-worthy titles. Make your title easy enough to figure out what the blog post will be about. Show the reader that they will somehow benefit by reading your blog. Use words to evoke an emotional response, like awesome, crazy, stupid, free. Set expectations, there's nothing worse than clicking on a blog post and reading content that is completely unrelated to the title, or doesn't give what reader expects. Don't mislead your readers by posting catchy, but an ultimately empty title.
  
• Step 2: Writing your own, original content is highly advantageous. Your present your own opinions, as well as satisfying Google’s duplicate content rules, that is you’re not adding duplicate content. However if you don’t have time to write an original post, then you can take articles from other sources, like Trusted Choice, Insurance Journal, local newspapers, community newspapers. Just remember to cite the source at the end.
• Step 3: Add Anchor text to your post. Anchor text is the link label or link title that is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. For example link the words Dallas auto insurance, instead of Click here or www.ABCAgency.com. You can link to other lines of business pages, quote forms, customers service forms, other blog entries and other websites. Make sure your blogs are not always entirely self-serving. Providing information rich content, rather than sales-heavy content will result in more visitors returning to the site.
• 
  Step 4: Add pictures to your post. This helps to make your entries more interesting, as well giving your audience a clue as to what your blog will be about. If you take pictures from other websites, don’t forget to cite the source at the bottom.
• Step 5: Guide your reader, they’ve stuck with you by reading the whole post, so tell them what to do once they’ve finished. Fill in a quote form, join our newsletter, subscribe to our blog feed, like us on Facebook, prepare a disaster kit.
• Step 6: Get your readers to interact with you by asking questions. All blogging platforms allow reader comments, so get some feedback from by asking for comments, or say something controversial to get a reaction.
• Step 7: Don’t forget to tell people about your latest blog. You can do this by sharing the link on Facebook and Twitter, you can send out an email out with all the posts on a certain topic to show your expertise in that area. You could even submit your post to sites like Technorati.com or a social bookmarking site like Stumbleupon.com or Delicious.com.

Now get blogging!

Masters of Marketing: Website Content

Here's another presentation in  our Masters of Marketing webinar. This presentation discusses content on your website, how to do it, when to do it and why you should add content. If you would like to join us every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. Central when we discuss marketing tips, you can register here.

Masters of Marketing: Website Content

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Follow Their Rules or You Might Lose Your Facebook Page

You created a Facebook page for your agency. Looks great. It would be a waste if it disappeared suddenly...

Sound intimidating? It should. If your page violates the Terms of Service, your agency's page could get kicked off Facebook. It would be absurd to lose all of your hard work and time you put into building a following and engaging with your audience.

Facebook means business when it comes to their Terms of Service. If your agency's page is removed for ignoring or or not understanding the policies for business use, the consequences are substantial and permanent. You will no longer be allowed to use that email address to create another page.

Now that the social media giant is public, it is quite possible that Facebook will be taking a closer look and checking for compliance. If you're not sure if your agency's page follows the guidelines, check it now before it's too late.

These are three of the most common Terms of Service violations that could cost your agency your Facebook page and your audience.

1. Profile vs. Page

Profiles are for individual people to use as their personal space. Pages are for businesses to create a Facebook presence for the company and/or individual products. What Facebook has to say about Pages: "By leveraging the real connections between friends on Facebook, a Page lets Fans become brand advocates. Posts by the Page will start to appear in News Feed, giving Pages a stronger voice to reach their Fans.” Basically, the activity from your agency page will appear in the news feeds of people who have liked your page just as if you were posting from your personal profile. But using your personal profile for business purposes violates the rules. There are more reasons why you want to create a page for your agency and not a profile:

• A page can have an unlimited number of followers, while personal profiles are limited to 5,000 friends.
• You can customize tabs and apps for special marketing campaigns.
• Analytical tools are available to help you determine the effectiveness of your Facebook activities.
• You can connect your page with your other social media profiles.

2. Timeline Cover Photos

With the roll out of Timeline to business pages, came the cover photo (that large photo at the top of your page right above your profile picture). But there are rules regarding what you cannot include in this image. Did you know you are not allowed to put contact information, URLs or any kind of marketing promotion in your cover photo? Also forbidden: calls to action and any effort to get people to like or share your page. (Our blog post about setting up Timeline included these rules.)

3. Promotions Based on Facebook Features

Contests and promotions that include sharing or liking are not allowed. It’s okay to build likes and shares by offering fantastic content. You can also have contests, drawings and other promotional games. They just can’t be based on actions that involve Facebook’s proprietary functions, such as Like and Share. Next to using a personal profile for your agency, this is possibly the easiest way to lose your agency's page.

Facebook can be a fun way to engage with your customers and build awareness for your agency online. But to avoid losing all that time and effort, check to see if your agency page complies with the Terms of Service.

And if you haven't already, Like our Facebook Page for Insurance Website Builder for the latest news from ITC and Insurance Website Builder, marketing tips and an occasional look behind the scenes here at ITC.

Google Tip #7935426

Another tip that Google doesn't want you to know...

Happy Friday!

The Recipe for Insurance Agency Social Media Success

Social media is an important part of any online marketing plan. Why? Because more than 80% of all Americans use social media. Consumers use social media as part of their research process and to ask for recommendations on products and services. Including insurance. Here are some tweets I found in a Twitter search for "recommend insurance" last week:

As you can see, people really do use social media to find insurance.

Social media is not difficult. Once you start using it, you quickly figure out what kind of information your audience wants, and you can adapt your posts accordingly. Here's our recipe for Social Media Success to get you started.

Recipe for Insurance Agency Social Media Success

Total time: Consistent Use | Serves: One insurance agency | Level: Easy

An Awesome Social Media Profile

Ingredients:

   Basic information - the who, what, where

   Website URL and other contact information

   Pictures and graphics

Directions:

1. Pick which social networks to join. There are so many that it would be impossible to be successful on them all. So decide which few make the most sense for you and your agency, and concentrate your social media efforts on that handful.
2. Fill in your profile as much as possible. Use every character, every field that is available to you to describe your agency and what you do. It is also a good idea to tell prospective followers what kind of information they can expect to see if they follow you whether it's promotions, educational information or a combination of both. Use keywords where possible.
3. Add as many pictures and graphics as you can. 

Insurance Agency Social Media Success

Ingredients:

   One Awesome Social Media Profile

   Interesting Content

   Audience Engagement

   Promotion

   Fun

Directions:

1. Once your Awesome Social Media Profile is complete, start sharing content daily. There are many different kinds of content. You can share general posts about insurance meant to encourage your audience to contact you for more information. For example, "Every season has its own liability risks for homeowners, drivers and businesses. Contact us to find out how you can be ready for each season." You can also share your blog posts if you're blogging or different pages of your insurance website that provide information and tips like your free reports, customer service forms or insurance glossary. And there's also content curation, which is sharing content you didn't write, and community news and events.
2. After you find daily routine of posting and sharing, start engaging with your audience. Thank people who follow you. When someone shares good news, congratulate them. If someone asks a question, if you know the answer or can provide a recommendation, do so. Even if it's not about insurance. This is where your skills in customer service and building relationships can come in handy. Just as you would engage with someone in the real world to start a relationship, so you should online. Ask questions, talk to people, join in the discussion. Remember our examples from above? If they were in your target area, answering their questions would be a perfect example of an opportunity to engage with someone through social media.
3. Add just a pinch of promotion to season your social media efforts. The hard sell does not work on social media. People are immediately turned off when you try to sell them. Keep a good ratio of promotional posts with non-promotional posts. A good rule of thumb for social networks where posting several times throughout the day is common, like Twitter, would be for every 1 promotional post, you should share 9 that are non-promotional. For social networks where posting once a day is more common, like Facebook or LinkedIn, the ratio is more like 1 in 4. Don't forget to add social media buttons to your email signature, your website, brochures, etc. to make it easy for your customers and prospects to follow you.
4. Sprinkle some fun into your social media efforts. Share funny videos, pictures or jokes. Show you and your staff having fun with what you do. Social media is an ideal place to let your hair down, not be so serious and share why you love what you do.

Masters of Marketing: How to Write an Effective Email

Presentation slides from the April 5th Masters of Marketing webinar from Insurance Technologies Corporation, presented by Jennifer Fitzsimmons, AgencyBuzz Coordinator. Get more information on Insurance Agency Email Marketing. If you would like to join us every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. Central when we discuss marketing tips, you can register here.

Masters of Marketing: How to Write an Effective Email

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Masters of Marketing: Effective Blogging

Here's the presentation from yesterday's Masters of Marketing webinar on Effective Blogging. If you would like to join us every Thursday at 12:00 p.m. Central when we discuss marketing tips, you can register here.

Masters of Marketing: Effective Blogging

View more presentations from Darmini Kara.

Tip of the Iceberg

This is your Fun Friday posting, but it's actually a very honest depiction:

Be sure you let this one sink in!

Secret to Success

Here's a little tip that Google probably doesn't want you to know...

Happy Friday!

Let's Talk Expiration Dates

You've heard it time and time again. Content is King.

To show how your content is a reflection of your site to Google, let's consider expiration dates.

Somewhere, either sitting in your refrigerator, on your kitchen counter, under the seat in your car, or at your desk, you probably have food that will one day go bad. It will eventually sit there too long, start to grow mold, eventually stink up everything, and you will finally throw it out. Imagine if Google viewed your site the way you view that food.

Well it does. Kinda.

Google wants to expose its users to fresh sites. That means it will take note of sites that are updated often and updated with meanigful changes. Sites that are left too long and become stale will be tossed aside and may never be served up as a search result. So if it hasn't been stressed enough already, keep your site fresh.

How often should a site be updated? Often. Weekly, if possible.

How much should a site be updated? A lot. More should be changed than just the date, navigation, or advertisement.

What kind of content should be added to the site? New Pages. Not just new content on existing pages. Google wants to provide new value, so it wants to find new pages.

As a bonus, here's an infographic from bitrebels to further breakdown how to make your content King.

Anatomy of a Social Consumer [Infographic]

58% of consumers connect with brands on social media because they are a customer. When one follower shares information about you or something you've posted or written on social media, on average 77 people are reached. This can have a profound impact on increasing your agency's awareness. This infographic has more information and stats on how consumers are interacting with brands on social media.

Source:truaxis.com