Today is the Day

Most content is shared on Wednesday mornings.

This infographic from AddThis displays just how 1.2 billion users
have found a way to share 10 million ideas. Effectively.

The next idea someone shares should be yours.

Why Anchor Text is Important

What is Anchor Text?
Anchor text is the part of the hyperlink that seen by a visitor on a website (the clickable text).  For this example, the html code will be www.website.com and the anchor text will look like anchor text.

So this html code:

<a href="http://www.website.com">anchor text</a>

Will be seen as anchor text.

What Anchor Text Does

Google and other search engines count each link as a vote for the linked to website by the linked from site. Looking at all components of a link from a website will provide better insight about the vote being cast. Google basically uses anchor text as a vote for a webpage, but what is the vote for? Anchor text represent the actual vote. You’re saying that you’re voting for the site because the site embodies (what you put in your anchor text).

Are you using anchor text on your website and blog? Our SEO team at Insurance Website Builder can help you optimize your insurance websites as well as your blog section. Call us today at 1-800-383-3482 for more information.

5 Reasons Why Your Business Should Have a Facebook Page

Many people start using Facebook to connect with old friends, but business owners have wondered why they should create a Facebook Page and many times they don’t realize that Facebook gives them access to millions of people on a daily basis in one place.

Many researchers have shown how influential Facebook has become in our lives. Having a personal profile is great and it helps you to keep connected with different people, but a Facebook Page has also tremendous benefits. Below you will find 5 vital reasons why your business needs to be involved with Facebook: 

1. Online Visibility

With more than 150 million active users in the U.S. alone, having a Facebook Page provides you with a platform to engage with an increasingly social audience.  

2. Engagement

Facebook allows you to share news, comments, videos, and photos, but also allows you to create contest, surveys and more. These functionalities are visible to users in their newsfeed, right on their Facebook homepage. You can also engage with the users by answering questions and comments they have, or showing your appreciation for being a part of your Facebook Page. 

3. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Facebook Pages have a great SEO benefit as they show up very high in search results. Facebook has a page rank of #2 according to Alexa and its profiles and pages are indexed really quickly for optimal search engine positioning.   

4. Drive Traffic to Your Website

Sharing you blogs, news, information and products on your Facebook page will help you increase visits as it is essentially an extension of your website. With many links back to your website, your Facebook Page becomes another route through which potential customers can find your website. 

5. Online Reputation & Branding

Facebook, similar to Twitter, can be used as a customer service platform. You can show publicly that you care about your audience or customers. You can provide solutions and show that your business is not behind in the digital world. 

Are you or your business taking advantage of Facebook? Our SEO team at Insurance Website Builder can help you optimize your insurance websites as well as your Facebook Page. Call us today at 1-800-383-3482 for more information.




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Top 7 Tips for Effective Customer Testimonials

Posting customer testimonials on your website is a great way to let prospects learn more about you and your agency. However, care must be taken to make these testimonials valid and compelling to potential customers. Here are 7 tips for posting effective customer testimonials:

1. Add credibility to your testimonials. Make your customers sound authentic by adding full names and places, and maybe even adding their picture. Make it easy for your prospects to see instantly the real-world comments from your customers which will remove any doubt right from the onset.
2. Include measurable results wherever possible. Asking your customers to include specific amounts of time and money saved will help to add validity to the testimonials. It is better to hear, "I saved $500 in 15 minutes!" rather than "I saved some money today."
3. Make your testimonials as detailed as possible. By asking customers to add specific details of their interactions with your agency, you are making it easier for prospects to identify with them, which in turn will help them consider your agency for business.
4. Gather a variety of testimonials. Posting testimonials of customers from different backgrounds, who have purchased different products and services will help potential customers relate to current customers.
5. Get permission. Make sure you have written approval from your current customers to publish their names and/or pictures on your website.
6. Format your testimonials for easy reading. Use the handy Testimonial Builder in your Administration Console from IWB to create a layout that is legible and easy to understand.
7. Bonus Tip: Use video. Seeing a happy customer is more effective than reading about one. If you can get your best customers to make a short video (30 seconds to 1 minute) it will instantly make your customers more accessible, which may elicit better response overall. I mean, let's face it, nobody reads anymore.

Your satisfied and loyal customers are a valuable resource. Use their positive and honest feedback effectively and people will respond which ultimately helps to grow your agency.

Effectively Building Backlinks For Your Website

Commenting:  
Find blogs within your area of expertise and leave relevant comments. A lot of the time you can post your website URL along with the comment.

Guest Posts: 
Offer to post for another blog. Typically they will allow you to add a backlink to your article in exchange for the article you write for them.

Article Writing and Article Sites:
Writing for article sites will generally ensure a backlink to your site as well. Just make sure that you change the wording if you want to post the same article on another site.

Forums:
You can usually include your URL with your forum comments. The more informative and interesting your post, the better the chance it will be approved by moderators and the better the chance people will click through to your site.

RSS:
Use your RSS feed. Submit your RSS feeds to directories that constantly update. This will attract the attention of search engines and help create backlinks.

YouTube:
Post an intriguing and entertaining video and you can create traffic to your website. People will also link to your site too.

Our SEO team at Insurance Website Builder can build backlinks for your insurance website. Call us today at 1-800-383-3482 for more information.

Your Fun Friday Facts!

Be sure you check the rest of our blog entries to see how these SEO tools can be implemented on your own website.

Bing overtakes Yahoo! as the #2 Search Engine

New figures just released last month, show that Bing (Microsoft sites) has overtaken Yahoo as the second most popular search engine on the Web, according to comScore. Microsoft sites increased their search share by 0.1% compared to the previous month, and interestingly Yahoo decreased theirs by 0.5%. This is in-keeping with the recent move by Yahoo to merge their Site Explorer with Bing's Webmaster Tools, as Yahoo focuses more on paid advertising and Bing focuses on search.

Tips on How to Deal With Unhappy Facebook Fans

Every business can receive a bad comment on Facebook, even the best of the best need to know how to handle this type of situation to keep the good reputation of the brand. Some customers will have a simple complaint and some can be really offensive, but we have 4 tips on how to deal with unhappy Facebook Fans:

1. Respond to the complaint

It is very important that you respond to the complaint no matter what. Not responding to what the upset fan posted on your wall may create more anger and will increase the chance of getting more complaints from this fan in the future. Additionally, although this complaint may be from only one fan, if other fans see that you don’t reply to complaints it may appears as if you don’t pay attention to customers and don’t offer any customer support, which in turn harms the reputation of your brand. Do not try to delete the negative comment. Not everybody is going to have a good review of your product or service and if customers see only positive comments, they may think that you are deleting the bad ones.

2. Try to be understanding

Dealing with an upset fan is not always easy, but try to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Don’t try to find who is at fault, apologize and find a solution.

3. Contact the customer directly

Trying to contact the customer directly can be more effective than just a reply to the wall post. Apologize, try to find a solution and be personable. If you decide to make a solution publicly, some other customers could try to create a problem to just get the special treatment so beware of your response. Consider asking the customer to remove the wall post. If you don’t feel comfortable asking this, or the customer doesn’t want to remove it even though the issue was resolved, try to express happiness in the resolution and thank them for their business directly on the post.

4. Last option

If the fan doesn’t respond after you have tried to contact them and it is evident that they are trying to just start arguments on your community wall, as a last resort you can always ban the user. Other fans in your community, along with your staff do not deserve the abuse and they always expect respect.

All customers are important and solving their issues can create more loyal fans on your Facebook Page. Our SEO team at Insurance Website Builder can help you optimize your insurance websites as well as your Facebook Page. Call us today at 1-800-383-3482 for more information.

What Should I Put on my Homepage Content?

Many insurance agents ask me what kind of information should be added to their homepage. This is a pertinent question as a website's homepage is the most important page. It sets a tone for the type of agency you are, as well as providing relevant information, such as products and services offered. A good homepage provides just enough information to grab the attention of a prospect, without giving too much information which could be a turn off. Here are a few things to remember when composing your homepage content.

What is the Goal of your website?

Answering this question will help to narrow down what to add to your homepage content. Do you want to raise awareness about your agency? Do you want to increase your agency’s web visibility? Provide easy access to your agency’s products and services? Provide insurance information, tips and tricks? Whatever the answer is, customize your content, so you achieve those goals.

In no particular order, these should be available on the homepage of your website:

• Types of products and services offered, including specialty or niche products
• Agency’s unique selling point, how do you stand out from your competitors?
• Easy access to quote forms
• Agency values, perhaps a brief history
• One or two testimonials
• Other companies you work with
• Geo-targets (cities, states) you service

On the whole, make sure that your homepage reflects your values as an insurance agent and puts your agency’s best foot forward. Incorporating all of the points above will result in naturally occurring keywords for SEO. Try not to write copy solely with SEO in my mind, which could have the effect of sounding contrived and spammy. Just have fun with it, and if it sounds interesting to you, then chances are, it'll sound interesting to a prospect too!

Insurance Website Builder provides content writing for insurance agents’ websites so give us call to create your perfect homepage, 1-800-383-3482.

Extreme Example from CopyHackers.com.

White Hat SEO & Black Hat SEO

Search Engine Optimization can be divided into two categories: methods that search engines consider “best practices”, and practices that search engines frown upon. Search engines try to lessen the effects of black hat SEO. The search engine industry and the SEO community have classified these methods as white hat SEO and black hat SEO. White hat techniques typically produce long term results and black hat practitioners, in the back of their mind, know that their sites may be de-indexed from the search engines if they’re found out.

White Hat SEO
White hat methods follow the search engines’ guidelines and do not try to trick the internet visitor or the search engine. White hat is not only about following guidelines, it’s about making sure the search engine content matches what the user will see. White hat recommendations include creating content for users, not for the search engines, and then making the content easily accessible to the search engine spiders, rather than to try to deceive the search engines.

Black Hat SEO
Black hat SEO tries to improve rankings in ways that are not approved by the search engines. One black hat technique is to use text that is the same color as the background. Another technique is to take the user to a different page than the one that was requested, a technique called cloaking.

Search engines may penalize sites they find using black hat methods. Punishments include reducing their rankings or removing the website from their index. These penalties can be implemented automatically through search engines’ algorithms or manually by review.

Our SEO team at Insurance Website Builder only uses white hat methods that will ensure your insurance websites will remain indexed in the search engines and highly ranked.