Small Business and Marketing

Social Media is not only great for SEO, but it's a good way to stay in touch with your customers and assess your own presence on the internet. Our SEO team at Insurance Website Builder can help improve your social media and make recommendations. Call us today at 1-800-383-3482 to see how we can take your insurance website to the next level.

How to Create a LinkedIn Page for Your Insurance Agency

By now you probably have a personal LinkedIn profile. But what about your agency? LinkedIn is growing and adding features to company pages. Not many agencies are using LinkedIn company pages so there is little competition for attention. If your agency has a lot of business relationships, you might consider creating a LinkedIn company page.

Here are some tips on how to create and promote a LinkedIn company page for your agency.

Overview tab: Describe your ideal customer and how you serve them in the company description section. When you're writing your description, be sure to put the most important information at the beginning as only the top portion is visible. Include your lines of business in the specialties section. If you have a blog, insert your blog's RSS feed for your blog posts to appear in your company profile.

Products tab: Create a page for each line of business you write. You can include an image, description, landing page URL that directs people to your website. If you do any special events or promotions, you can link to it. You can even embed a YouTube video. If you've got it, share it.

Followers: Just like you work to get followers on Facebook and Twitter, you'll have to work to build your LinkedIn followers. Otherwise no one will see your status updates. Ask your employees to share the status updates of your agency page with their connections. Follow the company pages of your business relationships and ask them to follow yours in return. Put a LinkedIn button on your website that links to your agency's LinkedIn page.

Status updates: Just like on Facebook and Twitter, you can post status updates from your agency's LinkedIn page. But don't make it all about you. Share links and information that will be interesting to your followers. Establish your agency as an insurance expert. Try to get your connections talking by posting updates that will encourage comments.

Product recommendations: When someone recommends your product on LinkedIn, his connections are notified and the recommendation lives on your page. You can use LinkedIn's Request Recommendations module to ask your best customers to recommend your products.

What do you think about LinkedIn company pages?

How to Set Up Your Business Facebook Page with the New Timeline

Facebook is the biggest social network today and it is about time you get started with a Facebook Page for your business. Previously, we showed you 5 Reasons why your business should have a Facebook Page and now we would like to go over the steps to set up a good Facebook Page with the new Timeline.  It may be really simple for the tech-savvy, but some others may have some trouble. 

1.       Get started by setting up your Facebook Page

If you already have a personal account, you can click on the “Create a Page” link at the bottom of your news feed or you could go directly to “Create a Facebook Page” if you don’t have a personal account. 

2.       Choose the type of Facebook Page

You can select a type of business or category and depending on your selection, you may also have to choose a subcategory. There are 6 main categories to select:

After you have selected the category, you will be required to name the Facebook Page and if you selected “Local business or place”, you need to add address, city, postal code and phone number. Agree to the Facebook Pages Terms and hit the Get Started button.

3.       Add a logo or picture

Upload/import from a website your logo or picture that represents your business or organization. This picture will show on different parts of Facebook, like in news feed and your Timeline when you post an update. If you don’t have a picture, don’t worry you can upload it in the future. Click the Save photo or Skip button.

 

4.       Tell  the world what your page is about

Provide a basic description of the page or your business. Add your website and related links (Blog, Twitter, Linkedin, Yelp, etc.). This step is very important for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You can also modify or add this information in the future. Click the Save info button.

 

5.       Choose your unique Facebook web address (URL)

Choosing your unique web address will make your URL www.facebook.com/yourbusinessnamehere. You can’t modify this information in the future, but can choose it in the future by going to the Username page.

 

YOUR PAGE HAS BEEN CREATED

Now your Facebook Page is almost ready, you just need to add the cover photo that is available with the new Timeline design, add applications and add other information that you skipped before (profile picture, about information, links, URL).  Go to manage and edit page to modify, add information or manage permissions. You can add business hours, and more information related to your business in the “Basic Information” on the left. You can select the option of letting anyone post on your Timeline or select if anyone can add photos/videos to your Timeline (Manage permissions menu).

6.       Set your cover photo

Select the “Add a Cover” menu on the right hand side and upload a photo. The cover photo dimensions are 851 x 315 pixels. Choose a photo that is representative to your brand. You can change it as often as you wish and don’t be afraid to be creative with it. Keep in mind that you need to adhere to Facebook’s policies regarding cover photos, which states that cover photos cannot include:

• Price or purchase information, such as “30% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information such as website address, email, phone number, mailing address, or information that should go in the “about” section
• References to Facebook actions or features, such as “Like” or “Share” or any other Facebook site feature
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends” 

 7.       Organize your views & Facebook apps

Timeline, the new design of Facebook features photos, likes, map and apps at the top of your page below your cover photo. Photos are automatically featured in the first spot, but page admins can rearrange the other to feature the most important one first. Some apps will require that the user clicks the dropdown arrow.

8.       Fill up your Facebook Timelime

Start by adding the date that your business was founded or opened. You can even add a location and pictures. 

YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE IS READY

9.       Invite friends

The admin panel at the top of your page (for you admins) will show you notifications, messages, likes, insights and tips. Select the “Invite friends” link and select your friends.

10.   Start posting updates and like us on Facebook

Now you can start sharing you website’s content and information that can be useful for your fans. Remember to Like us on our Facebook Page www.facebook.com/InsuranceWebsiteBuilder.

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.

The Right Words in the Right Place

2theTop Web Design

You should pay special attention to certain elements on your website. Strategic wording should be used for areas such as:

• Meta Description
• Page File Name
• Page Title
• Page Headline
• Inside Body Content
• Bold & Italicized Text
• Image File Names
• Image Alt Text / Attribute
• Video File Name

When people fail to implement these features correctly, their rankings suffer and in turn traffic drops.

Whether it's insurance website design or on or offsite SEO, our SEO team at Insurance Website Builder is here to guide you.

The Right Time to Post

It's that time of year again...

Daylight Savings Time!

Don't forget to set your clocks.

Time springs forward on Sunday at 2am

unless you're one of the lucky exceptions to the rule

(you know who you are...Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and Saskatchewan!)

So if you're at a loss for what to blog or tweet about,
take a hint from us and remind everyone what time it is!
*Remember, search engines love to see fresh content*

Why People Leave a Website

Getting someone to visit your website can be challenging, especially with all of the posts, emails, tweets, etc. that are competing for attention nowadays. When consumers come to your website, the last thing you want is for them to leave right away. But if your website design doesn't provide a pleasant user experience, visitors can become frustrated and then quickly leave.

A good website design will keep frustration to a minimum, take the visitor deeper into your website seamlessly and show him the information he is looking for.

Here are some examples of website design that can drive your visitors away.

Source: What Makes Someone Leave A Website?

Keeping It Fresh

One of the biggest challenges for today’s websites is keeping Google happy and interested. It’s not that it’s difficult. It’s simply time-consuming (when done correctly) and overwhelming if you don’t have a strategy setup to guide you.

As the saying goes, ‘Content is King,’ and it’s fresh content that keeps visitors engaged, because really, who wants to read about your Christmas Contest in March? Unfortunately, more than half of business owners fail to update their site even once a month. To put it in perspective:

– Sites that update their content  5 times a month receive 300% more traffic
– Businesses that utilize social media marketing receive 400% more site hits

Source

4 Easy Types of Content to Make Google Happy

Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogging and the other various social media sites attract millions of people every single day. News articles, helpful tips, or special events posted on Facebook, or even a 140-character tweet about new products on Twitter all have search engine optimization advantages. Since social media content is essentially the epitome of fresh & relevant content, it is the most likely to be picked up by Google.

Press Releases

By definition, a press release is the announcement of something new. This makes it another type of content that search engines favor. Press releases can target your SEO keywords, improve your brand-association, and in the end, be posted to your social media accounts. Benefits like that should never be ignored.

User Generated Content

As an insurance agent, your business can rely heavily on the comments and reviews of your customers. This can be a double-edged sword, but the rewards definitely outweigh the risks. Invite people to comment on your blogs or your Facebook wall. Direct them to reviews on your Google business listing. Many consumers rely on the experiences and evaluations of others to determine the quality and value of your services. Search engines take into account how people interact with your site, so to gain new visitors, be sure those returning visitors are making their satisfaction known. Most importantly, you can also combine these efforts with your social media platform.

Marketing Automation Content

Lastly, this overlooked, yet important tool is essential to your website’s overall optimization and relevance. If you have helpful information that’s industry specific and appeals to your audience, post it on your site! Use it to gain more information about your visitors. With this focused content, people will not only want to gain access, but the content itself will help build relevancy for your target keywords. An example of this is to offer free reports for download off of your site in exchange for a Name & E-mail address. It’s a win-win-win for all parties involved. Consumers gain free information, Businesses gain leads, and search engines gain helpful data.

Source

Gain access to even more tips, help, guidance, and strategy for your Insurance Website today!

5 Top Tips for Blog Titles

We all know how important blogging is. It helps users engage with your agency and makes it easier for search engines to find your website. The problem is, everybody is blogging, and you need something to make your blog posts stand out. The easiest, simplest, most important thing to do is to have catchy, attention-grabbing, click-worthy titles. And here’s how:

1. Curiosity - Make your title easy to figure out what the post will be about, yet still keep the reader wanting more. 
1. Ask questions - "Do you know the difference between home insurance and flood insurance?"
2. Add an oddity - "What insurance coverages do Superheroes have?"
3. Present the opposite - "There is no such thing as Cheap Insurance"
4. Introduce controversy - "Pay for Cheap auto coverage, or Save your Family"
2. Give an advantage - Show the reader that by reading your blog post, they will somehow benefit. Examples include:
1. How to ...
2. 8 Ways to ...
3.  Learn about ...
3. Evoke an emotional response - Readers may not always choose to read something based solely on how it makes them feel, but it could subconsciously influence them. These are better suited to social media posts. Use words like:
1. awesome
2. free
3. amazing
4. crazy
5. epic
6. stupidly
7. You get the gist 
4. Appearance - The supposed ideal length of a blog title should seven words long. Introduce some alliteration or rhyme to make it look and sound pleasing. Not as important as points 1 to 3 above, but still worth thinking about.
5. 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 ultimately empty title.

So there you have it. Remember, try to write a title that you yourself would find interesting as a consumer. And just have fun with it!

Do you have any tips or examples of titles that received good feedback?

5 Reasons Why Your Business Should Use Twitter

Facebook is the biggest social network in the world and many business owners have understood how useful Facebook could be for business. Twitter, however is also another important network that could be useful for your business.

Twitter reached 500 million registered users just a couple of days ago and you can find a good mixture of comments, connections, content, images, videos, people and news that are presented in real time within your niche. Twitter is a platform that updates really quick, breaks worldwide news, influences major brands and allows small businesses to promote their brand just like the big companies.

There are many reasons why you should consider Twitter for your business and we would like you to understand the top 5 reasons:

1. Real Time News

Many of the most important worldwide news have been shared in Twitter before any other media in the world. Its simplicity is a key element that allows us to share something within seconds from a cellphone, computer, tablet o any device connected to the Internet. If you want to know what is happening about a specific topic, you can use Twitter as a search engine to get really good information related to this topic.

2. Share Your Knowledge and Drive Traffic to Your Website or Blog

Twitter is one of the best platforms to share information and your knowledge. Posting tweets related to specific or different topics can help you increase the number of followers and sharing good content will help you drive traffic to your website or blog. Twitter can also help you increase the number of fans or likes that you have on your Facebook page.

3. Build Your Brand

Many people are on Twitter and it provides another channel to build your companies brand. People could recognize your brand later If you customize your Twitter profile, with a picture, a unique background that coincide with the feel and look of your brand, a link to your website and a bio that explains who you are or what you could offer.

4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Links shared on Twitter have a direct impact on search engine rankings and many have tried to use this information to improve search rankings. Remember to include keywords as well as a link to your website in your profile.

5. Build a Community

People are sharing and commenting in real-time and you can build loyalty, commitment and sense of belonging to a topic. Many people are looking to connect with different communities on Twitter.

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

https://twitter.com/InsWebBuilder

From Jocks to Geeks--Happy Friday!

Whether you were Captain of the Football Team, Class President, both, or nothing at all, there's a social media site out there that complemented your social circle. Or lack thereof.

Even more so now, there's a social media site for everybody. Each with its own, unique personality. It's these personalities that can determine their popularity, their use, and most importantly, which one you feel most comfortable using. The different sites reach different audiences, so take a look and see how your favorite social media fares in the public forum...if social media were a highschool.