Just setup my first site. Please let me know what you think. www.bnsins.com
- 11,996
Overall the site is clean and easy to navigate. Definitely a good start.
A few points to consider:
-You're giving up a lot of real estate for the image at the top right and your Facebook/Twitter/Linked-in buttons with no immediate cal to action. I just looking at your quote button I wouldn't think it was to get a quote. You might want to add a "Get a quote today" or "start saving today" or something that has an immediate call to action in a more prominent place.
-I see that you have an SEO plugin installed and you have some keywords in it, but from an SEO perspective there are quite a few things you should consider changing, unless you're mostly looking to use this to create a presence on the web vs generate leads from your site.
-You might want to add some more content to your front page.
-As a matter of opinion, I think folks find long forms confusing/intimidating. I like the quote forms, but I wonder how much of conversion you're giving up by not having a more simple contact form that just grabs name, phone number, e-mail, etc. I know a lot of agents err on the side of not requiring much information and generally get better leads that way, but that's more of a matter of preference. On my list site I have both, a basic contact form and then an order form. Folks use both.
One last thing to consider, you may want to ask your web developer to remove their link at the bottom right of your site. Most people might not notice or care, but if you paid someone to make you a website, why should you be advertising their business?
A few points to consider:
-You're giving up a lot of real estate for the image at the top right and your Facebook/Twitter/Linked-in buttons with no immediate cal to action. I just looking at your quote button I wouldn't think it was to get a quote. You might want to add a "Get a quote today" or "start saving today" or something that has an immediate call to action in a more prominent place.
-I see that you have an SEO plugin installed and you have some keywords in it, but from an SEO perspective there are quite a few things you should consider changing, unless you're mostly looking to use this to create a presence on the web vs generate leads from your site.
-You might want to add some more content to your front page.
-As a matter of opinion, I think folks find long forms confusing/intimidating. I like the quote forms, but I wonder how much of conversion you're giving up by not having a more simple contact form that just grabs name, phone number, e-mail, etc. I know a lot of agents err on the side of not requiring much information and generally get better leads that way, but that's more of a matter of preference. On my list site I have both, a basic contact form and then an order form. Folks use both.
One last thing to consider, you may want to ask your web developer to remove their link at the bottom right of your site. Most people might not notice or care, but if you paid someone to make you a website, why should you be advertising their business?
- Thread starter
- #4
G
Guest
Guest
You should define the goal of your website. Right now it looks like your main objective is to get your clients to "connect with us" through social media. If thats what ur main goal is then its fine. Otherwise i would redefine your call to action and and work on conversion optimization as well as the seo.
- 11,996
Well, quite a few things.
First, you should do some keyword research (or pay someone to do it) to find out what terms are getting searched for and what ones are more vulnerable. If you don't know how to do that or don't want to pay someone, then skip to step two, but it's going to be more of a "spray and pray" approach (which can work for some folks).
Your main page needs a lot more content and you need to give up that space on the right with the picture and the four icons. You'll need that for content. Take your main page and add a good deal of content (1,000-1,500 words ideally) relevant to your site and what you're looking to rank for. Most people won't read it, but you should write it for people to read.
Fill up your blog with relevant content. It looks like your site is a wordpress blog, but you didn't setup the blog as a blog. You're sort of shooting yourself in the foot by doing it that way. Your blog posts should also be 500-700 words each and built around keywords you're looking to rank for.
Lastly, content, content, content. You're site is clean and easy to navigate, but you don't have a lot of content (new site, understandable). Under quotes about auto insurance, you should talk about auto insurance and the same thing with your other lines. I managed an Allstate office for about a year and have worked with a lot of P&C folks, you guys have tons to say about liability limits, claims, etc, and google (and bing and yahoo) are all waiting to hear about it. If you want to see good things happen to your site, start telling that story and filling your pages up with content.
That should keep you busy for a while
- 264
Good-looking site 
Just one note, you have the same sentence written twice in the first paragraph " Our business is to help our clients secure the assets and the resources that provide their families comfort. Call us today for a review of the insurance coverage that secures your life. Our business is to help our clients secure the assets and the resources that provide their families comfort."
Just one note, you have the same sentence written twice in the first paragraph " Our business is to help our clients secure the assets and the resources that provide their families comfort. Call us today for a review of the insurance coverage that secures your life. Our business is to help our clients secure the assets and the resources that provide their families comfort."- Thread starter
- #8
Well, quite a few things.
First, you should do some keyword research (or pay someone to do it) to find out what terms are getting searched for and what ones are more vulnerable. If you don't know how to do that or don't want to pay someone, then skip to step two, but it's going to be more of a "spray and pray" approach (which can work for some folks).
Your main page needs a lot more content and you need to give up that space on the right with the picture and the four icons. You'll need that for content. Take your main page and add a good deal of content (1,000-1,500 words ideally) relevant to your site and what you're looking to rank for. Most people won't read it, but you should write it for people to read.
Fill up your blog with relevant content. It looks like your site is a wordpress blog, but you didn't setup the blog as a blog. You're sort of shooting yourself in the foot by doing it that way. Your blog posts should also be 500-700 words each and built around keywords you're looking to rank for.
Lastly, content, content, content. You're site is clean and easy to navigate, but you don't have a lot of content (new site, understandable). Under quotes about auto insurance, you should talk about auto insurance and the same thing with your other lines. I managed an Allstate office for about a year and have worked with a lot of P&C folks, you guys have tons to say about liability limits, claims, etc, and google (and bing and yahoo) are all waiting to hear about it. If you want to see good things happen to your site, start telling that story and filling your pages up with content.
That should keep you busy for a while
What do you mean the blog is not setup for a blog? We paid someone to setup the site. What do I need to tell him?
- 11,996
It's acting odd. For example, if you visit AffordableMarketingLists.com and click on the blog you'll see a list of my wordpress posts, but if you click on the title of each one it will lead to it's own page. That's really a big deal. For example:
Competitor Pricing
If you click on that, it's a blog post, but it also has it's own page. The way your site is done your blog posts are showing up as a single section on a page. It's like having a 10,000 sqft retail location and only using the front 500 sqft. The difference of course with websites being that you don't have to pay for any of the additional space. You have a virtually unlimited amount of space to work with and your web guys appear to be keeping you boxed in.
It looks like this person does not have much experience creating websites for insurance agents and/or doing SEO work (or may have been trying to work within a limited budget). To a large degree what you need to tell him depends on two things:
1. What your goal with the site is.
2. What your budget is.
If you simply want a point of reference so that folks can see that you have a website and you want to establish a presence on the internet and you've already spent as much on it as you'd like, you might want to call it good enough.
If you're goal is to have a site that converts well and that actually generates traffic, you might need something that is beyond the abilities of your web guy and you might want to find a new one.
If you want to stick with this guy, here would be my suggestions (which may be worth as much as you paid for them:
-Cut the picture in half horizontally (maybe even closer to thirds).
-Shrink the social networking buttons substantially and move them to the bottom, maybe keeping the facebook button somewhere prominent.
-Add a contact us form right somewhere on the front page (the right widget area is usually a great place to do it)
-Get your phone number somewhere much more prominent
-Setup your blog to work as a traditional WordPress blog *or* add your content as individual pages, but the key is to not just clump everything up on a single page. You're squandering your online real estate by doing it the way you have it done now.
