SEO: The Layered Strategy Approach?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a very complex concept.  However, it is important to realize that in spite of this fact, it should be considered as being a very important aspect of an overall interactive marketing initiative. Why? Quite simply because your prospective clients trust the search engine service providers like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

As a busy agent you may not be aware of the unprecedented paradigm shift that has been occurring in your industry. This paradigm shift is the ever growing transition of traditional marketing expenditures moved over to interactive marketing expenditures.

One dynamic of interactive marketing is SEO. A prudent surface level approach to SEO strategy needs to communicate the often complex dynamics in a way that provides clarity. One way to achieve this is by what I call the "Layered Approach".

So how does the Layered Approach work? Well the approach is broken down into logical dynamics that when put together are very easy to understand. Here is the approach:

Layer #1: Achieve maximum exposure. This means a goal of getting to the first page of the search engines. This is critical because if your listing is not on the first page you do not have the very best chance of being discovered. Research tells us that less than15% of searchers go past the 2nd page of results (source: Georgia Institute of Technology).  Therefore, getting to the 1st page is imperative.

Layer #2: Make your listing stand out. Now once you have achieved that coveted 1st page ranking, what is it about your snippet or listing that is likely to compel someone to click on yours instead of another listing? The answer lies in just exactly how well your title tag and meta tag has been designed. If your listing does not have a "call to action" and/or some sort of "hook", it is less likely to be chosen. Take time to really think about what it is that you bring to the table in terms of a unique value proposition in your market. Be sure to make it clear and concise. You only get a limited amount of space in this listing so make sure you are achieving the highest level of efficiency possible.

Layer #3: Provide an easy to acclimate environment. Now that your visitor has arrived, what is it that is going to make them stay a while and check out what you have to offer? This is difficult to control but there are some things you can do to raise your chances of keeping the visitor's attention and preventing a high bounce rate metric. Here are some questions to consider:

• Does your site offer a clear "call to action"?
• Is it professional?
• Is it easy to navigate?
• Does it provide "click efficiency"
• Does it effectively communicate your value proposition?
• Does it provide a logical navigation menu?
• Is the content practical and have the potential to satisfy your visitors "pain points"?
• How fast do your pages load?
• Does it provide dynamic up to date content?

The "Layered Approach" strategy enables you to be able to grasp the initiative in a way you can understand. If you are looking for just the right SEO marketing strategy for your agency, please feel free to call Mark Goldsberry for a FREE consultation at 1-800-383-3482 x-160.

Your Facebook Business Page Needs A Username

When first creating a Facebook Business Page, Facebook assigns a web address according to the city the business is located in the form www.facebook.com/pages/City-Name/Company-Name/999999999999. This is not ideal for a business trying to build a brand. There is, however, a fix. If your page has 25 or more fans (or likes), if you are the administrator of the page and you have a unique name in mind you can customize your Facebook Page web address. Bear in mind that you will not be able to change the username once you've chosen it, so make sure it is absolutely correct. Here's how to do it:

1. Log in to Facebook.
2. Go to http://www.facebook.com/username
3. Select Set a username for your Pages.
4. Facebook provides a drop-down menu of all the pages you administer. Select the appropriate page.
5. Type in the desired name. It should be the name of the company rather than your main kp, as keyword phrases can change but your company name will not. You will not be able to change the address once you've chosen it. Make sure it is spelled correctly.
6. Click Check Availability.
7. If available, do one last check of spelling and make doubly sure that this is the username you want. 
8. Click Confirm.

Your business page now has a customized web address.

Additional Resources:

• Read Facebook's Help Center if you are having issues with usernames.
• How to create a Facebook Business Page.
• Build your Presence on Facebook.
• How to Get the Most out of your Facebook page.
• Read how Facebook can Boost your Website's Rankings.
• Social Media and the Insurance Industry
• How to build fans on Facebook

Setting up Twitter on your Website

Twitter is a very powerful social networking platform that can significantly increase the number of visitors to your website, if used correctly. IWB websites have the capability to automatically tweet with appropriate web addresses, any changes made to the website, e.g. updating pages, posting blogs, adding content. This is great for busy agents like yourselves.

1. Set up a Twitter account. Go to http://twitter.com and sign up for a account. Your user name should be your company name rather than your main keyword phrase (kp). A company name is better in the long run, as you will be changing out your main kp in a few months, and you would have to start your campaign all over again.
2. Make it look nice. Customize your account with your main kp as best as you can. The bio line should include your main kp. Make sure to include your website address in the profile settings. Your background and link colors should match your home site. If possible make your image a 72 pixel by 72 pixel version of your company logo. Nothing turns away a visitor faster than a default-looking, no-customization page.
3. Network with your website. Log in to the Admin Console, under Communication Settings, click on Social Networking Settings. Enter your user name and password and make sure to check the box that says Enable Twitter Posting. Now every time you make a change to your website, Twitter will know about it. 

Twitter is a great way to communicate with current and potential customers. Even though the website automatically tweets for you, don't let that be the only thing your feed is about. Integrate community news and events, current affairs, insurance news, and company news and promotions, to make your status updates more interesting. Happy tweeting!

Additional Resources:

• Read more about Twitter for Business.
• Learn how to set up a Facebook Business Page.
• Link Facebook to Twitter. 
• How Twitter is changing: A new study reveals Twitter’s new direction
  
• Social Media and the Insurance Industry

Twitter for Businesses

With Twitter releasing their new business model "Promoted Tweets" more businesses may want to look at creating a Twitter account. Check out Twitter 101 - a Special Guide for Businesses thinking about tweeting.

http://business.twitter.com/

Learn how to automatically Tweet from your IWB website.

Learn about Social Media and the Insurance Industry.

Ever Googled your Insurance Agency Name?

Ever wonder what exactly makes up the pieces of the search results you see at Google? Before that question can be answered, the process of how Google delivers results must be understood. There are three key processes in delivering search engine results.

First, Google "crawls" the world wide web and accumulates information about websites and their content. The program Google uses to accomplish this task is referred to as Googelbot. Googlebot uses an algorithmic process to determine which sites to crawl, and how many pages to read from each site. Next Google compiles a massive index of all the words and locations of the sites it crawled.

When a Google user enters a query, Google returns a result they feel is most relevant. The results that are displayed are referred to as Snippets. In general, Google reserves the right to display what they feel is best for their users. However, you have a great deal of control about what is displayed about your agency on Google.

There are three primary components that make up a Snippet.

Title
The first line of the Snippet is the title. The title displayed comes from the title of your webpage. We have found many websites where the designer will overlook this very important step when designing websites for their customers. WebPages not titled will appear in search results with the title as "Untitled" or "Home Page" which does not encourage the consumer to click and learn more. Whereas a title listing your agency name and a slogan or short concise description of what your agency offers would encourage the consumer.

Description
The description listed by Google typically comes from one of three places.

• Open Directory - If for some reason, when Google attempts to "crawl" a site and they are unable to read it, Google will then sometimes rely on the Open Directory Project, which is listed at www.dmoz.org

• Within the Page - Sometimes, Google pulls the description from within the page. Google determines what part of the page it will use so the description gives some context as to what the page contains.

• Meta Description Tag - the most preferred method and where you have the most control of what description is displayed is the Meta Description Tag which is included in the code of your website. By including a Meta Description Tag, you have the ability to dictate what is displayed about your site.

Descriptive URLs
The last component displayed is the link to your website or the page on your website that meets the searchers' query. Providing a descriptive URL is another key aspect to converting a searcher. For instance, a URL such as www.sampleinsurancewebsite.com/page.php?id=5134, doesn't tell the searcher they have landed in the right spot, whereas a URL such as http://www.sampleinsurancewebsite.com/automobile/car_insurance_quote.aspx will.

Insurance Website Builder
Every website we design, we include a descriptive title, on-target description, and all of the URLS quickly identify to the searcher what they contain. In addition, through our admin console, our users can update their titles and descriptions at any time and is easy as using any word processor.

Get specific details on how to fill in the title, description and keywords for your website.

Web Statistics and Tools

Setting up web statistics and tools can be very helpful in tracking your website. You can set up webmaster tools for Google, Yahoo and Bing and analytics for Google. The webmaster tools help you see if the various search engines are able to crawl your site and if there are any errors stopping them from doing so. The analytics tool helps you track the numbers of visitors to your site, how many of those are returning or new; which websites are referring those visitors; and overall traffic to your website among other things.

Click on the following links below to learn how to set up these tools for your IWB site:

• Google Webmaster Tools - Watch a video intro from Google.
• Yahoo Site Explorer
• Bing Webmaster Center
• Google Analytics

Show up Your Competition and Generate Online Referrals

73% of insurance consumers used the internet to research auto insurance last year. Therefore, increasing your ability to be found online is a critical component to compete in today’s environment.  One of the primary drivers to increase your online visibility is to increase your ranking with the search engines, such as Google and Yahoo. A heavily weighed factor used by search engines to determine your placement on a search results page is the number of external websites that refer back to your site. These links from other websites to yours are called backlinks or are also referred to as inbound links.

Explore who is referring online visitors to your competitor's website.   Visit https://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com, type in your competitor's website address and click on "Explore URL".  By default, Yahoo will provide a list of all of the pages that are included on your competitor's site.  To get a list of referring websites, click on "Inlinks" and then under the drop down box "Show Inlinks" select "Except from this domain". Be sure to check out who is referring your website while you are there.

Just as you receive credibility when someone refers business to your agency, your website receives credibility with the search engines when an external website refers to it. Backlinks improve your rankings on search engines and also entice visitors to come to your website.

5 Tips to Get Free Referrals (backlinks) to Your Website.

1. Forum Posting.   There are several forums online where consumers post their insurance-related questions. These forums offer a great opportunity for insurance agents to get online exposure by posting answers to their questions. More importantly though, many of these forums allow you to include a link back to your website in the signature line included with your answer. A great example of such a forum is ampminsure.org.

2. Article Marketing. Submitting short insurance-related articles to sites, such as Ezine Articles, is another very effective way to get quality backlinks. Joining EZine is free, however, they do uphold strict guidelines that prevent people from spamming their sites with sales ads. Keep the article informative and educational to show that you are an expert in your field. For example, write a short article on why it is important to carry renters insurance or outline the criteria involved in determining a rate for auto insurance. When submitting the article, be sure to include your link as part of your signature.

3. Social Networking Sites.  Including an informative blog on your website meets another demand of search engines by keeping your website full of fresh and relevant content.  Insurance related blog posts will be chalked full of keywords that your prospects search for when looking for insurance. To get the maximum benefit of your website blog posts, use social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn to refer your followers back to your blog.  Social media sites are a great way to develop a loyal following as well as get quality backlinks.

4. Industry Association Backlinks. Industry associations are typically a great place to network and share ideas with other colleagues. Contact your industry association and ask if they accept short articles or blog posts from members.  Again, always be sure to include your website address in your signature.

5. Company Backlinks. Company backlinks are probably the easiest to obtain. Most companies include a “Find an Agent” section on their website. Check these sections and make sure they are listing your website next to your agency name.

How to Get Your Business Ranked Higher in Local Google

Having your website show up in local Google maps, now called Google Places, search results can be very beneficial to increasing traffic to your website. There are two main steps to having your local listing show up.

ONE

One way to do that is to fill in as much information as you can on the listing.

1. First find your business on Google maps, or add it here http://www.google.com/local/add/businessCenter. (Note you will have to verify your address first, either by phone or snail mail.) 
2. Add as much information as you can, fill out every field, upload pictures and logos, even videos if you have them. Make sure your main kp appears as well. Google has a very handy article to help - Google Places Help for Business Owners.

TWO

The other way to get your business listing higher in the local results is to get your customers to write reviews. The more good reviews you have, the more precedence Google will give to your listing.

UPDATE: Here is an excellent example of an insurance agent keeping up with reviews. If you were a customer, wouldn't you be inclined to visit this agency?

1. To find your business listing go to http://maps.google.com and type in your business name and the city and state it's located in. 
2. Once you find it, click your agency's name. This will take your company's page for Google Maps.
3. Copy the listing's web address and paste into an email. This will be a very long link so you will have to use anchor text.
4. Send it to all your customers and even friends and family. Ask to them write a review by logging in to Google and then click on the Write a Review link on your company's page.

That's it! That's all you have to do. Of course you could also spend every waking moment getting anyone you can to write a review for you. But that's up to you.

Similar factors affect Local Yahoo and Local Bing. It only takes a few minutes and is well worth the effort.

Read more about how you can help users find your business on Google.

How Facebook boosts Rankings

Facebook, and indeed all social networking sites form an integral part of SEO. One of the advantages of signing up for a Facebook profile is creating backlinks from a highly ranked website (PageRank 9/10), but also building a network among like-minded people.

These articles show how to get the most out of Facebook:

• 11 Business Benefits of Using Facebook Applications
• How to Get Maximum Benefits from Facebook Marketing
• 7 Simple Facebook Page Tricks
• How to build fans on Facebook

How to Create Effective Backlinks

Creating effective backlinks are essential to a successful SEO campaign.

A backlink is link from another website coming into your own website. Backlinks contribute to the PageRank (PR) of your website. A backlink must include your main keyword phrase (kp) in the anchor text. This means creating a link with the words of your main kp e.g. Dallas Car Insurance rather than using the web address as a link or even "Click Here" or "Visit Us".

Backlinks only help to boost rankings if they are from high ranking, high quality websites, in other words websites with a high PR. Ranked out of 10 websites with PR 4 and upwards are worthy sites. Websites with lower PRs are good but more backlinks from this type of websites are needed to equal a website with a high PR. You can check PR by downloading the Google Toolbar.

You can post a backlink in business directories, local directories, social networking sites and other blogs.

Here are some directories where you can post your link for free.

• Local Google
• Local Yahoo
• Local Bing
• Yellow Pages - PR 8/10
• Super Pages
• Local.com - PR 7/10

Make sure to add your website address and wherever possible with your main kp.

Read about inbound links straight from the horse's mouth (Google).

Read more about What PageRank Means for Your Website.