Question for agents who have a website

lisar1208 · 09-07-2008, 03:28 PM

For those P&C agents that are using a website, what percentage of your sales/leads come from the website? Do you use as information reasons or to obtain leads?

MedMalAgent · 09-08-2008, 08:56 AM

I have it mainly for information but I focus on commercial and medical malpractice insurance for physicians. I like to spend time developing a relationship with prospects and clients. I think the site just shows I am a legitimate business. I have never had a lead come through my site.

OCNobel · 09-10-2008, 07:06 PM

Information on insurance is everywhere, if you are not using your site to drive traffic/leads it is a waste of time and money.

Alston · 09-10-2008, 10:05 PM

You should be able to do both. You should be able to enhance your credibility by sharing valuable information and get leads from your site.

In fact when you do both you brand your leads and make them more valuable.

Soaringagent · 09-11-2008, 01:12 AM

Probably both if you can

MedMalAgent · 09-11-2008, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by Alston

You should be able to do both. You should be able to enhance your credibility by sharing valuable information and get leads from your site.

In fact when you do both you brand your leads and make them more valuable.

I sent you an email. Thanks.

MedMalAgent · 09-11-2008, 12:03 PM

Originally Posted by OCNobel

Information on insurance is everywhere, if you are not using your site to drive traffic/leads it is a waste of time and money.

How would you suggest I improve my site? What are the 3 most important items it should contain? What is your website?
My clients don’t think it is a waste of time because I have important information about Risk Management seminars and continuing medical education seminars that they can attend.

RayGroupInsurance · 10-02-2008, 05:59 PM

My site finally went live 2 weeks ago and I have had 2 leads so far. Not quite what I was expecting, but it takes some time for the site to start showing up on Google.

I built mine for some credibility and to provide information, but mostly to collect leads. I think that you have to have a website these days or people don't consider you.

A little off topic, but I was looking into scuba diving yesterday and found a site with a list of companies in Utah that offer scuba diving training. I visited the the ones that have websites and called the one with the best looking site. I don't want to put my life into the hands of someone that goes cheap on anything. I think insurance is similar, you have to earn their trust.

Mr. Bill · 10-02-2008, 06:09 PM

I used to have a site through Quotit, never got a "lead" but Quotit would send me some stupid "you've had a visitor to your site" and then no or phony info on them.

Did you make an "announcement" or press release when you "opened" your site?

RayGroupInsurance · 10-02-2008, 06:18 PM

I use Google PPC, and I spent $250 this month to generate 2 leads. Not a great investment, but like I said before, it takes time to start showing up on page 1 of Google. I'm not really an expert on the subject, I have people that help me, but there are others on the forum who know a lot about this stuff.

CHUMPS FROM OXFORD · 10-02-2008, 07:45 PM

SEO is best left to the experts, but I'm learning fast. One of my sites makes the first page for various phrases. The Norvax site does pretty well in Yahoo and MSN but not Google.

Good writing skills help, and also having a Val in your corner.

tryan326 · 10-02-2008, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by RayGroupInsurance

I visited the the ones that have websites and called the one with the best looking site. I don't want to put my life into the hands of someone that goes cheap on anything. I think insurance is similar, you have to earn their trust.

I second that Ray. A well designed website is a must when the consumer has many options they'll almost always choose the better looking site. But content is also as important as design.

Soaringagent · 10-04-2008, 01:04 AM

Do you think that organic results are better than PPC?

***valdet*** · 10-04-2008, 07:38 AM

Originally Posted by CHUMPS FROM OXFORD

SEO is best left to the experts, but I'm learning fast. One of my sites makes the first page for various phrases. The Norvax site does pretty well in Yahoo and MSN but not Google.

Good writing skills help, and also having a Val in your corner.

Hey thanks Chumps.

gmoulden · 11-04-2008, 03:51 PM

Soaring Agent,

Organic results are free (besides any SEO fee's you may pay a firm to get you ranked higher). So, those are indeed better than paying per click. As far as quality of the data received when someone fills out your form, it should be equal over the long haul.

Beach Broker · 11-10-2008, 11:41 AM

Hello,

I use websites for capturing leads as well as building personal relationships with clients and prospects.

For developing relationships with potential clients it's nice because you can do the work once and it can affect 1000's of people at a time.

I have a few suggestions that you might consider when it comes to web content. One, RELATIONSHIPS are everything. So I continually ask myself, 'how can I more fully develop the relationship with clients and potential clients with my website?'.

I've done A LOT of research on this and have found that one of the best ways to do this (if not THE best way to do this) is to record a brief video with a webcam or some other video camera, upload it to youtube.com and then imbed it directly into my landing page.

So when they visit my website they see a video of me talking to them and introducing myself to them. I use videos on my sites for many other reasons as well. It really does help me connect with clients and potential clients to the point where they would rather do business with me rather than the agent down the street.

Hope this helps!

Visit the site below for examples.

Best,

Beach
_________________
Beach Broker

Insurance Mavericks
http://www.insurancemavericks.com

sunkist219 · 11-10-2008, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by Soaringagent

Do you think that organic results are better than PPC?

Organic results are better because they rank you on every search engine. It's more time consuming though to get them ranked properly. I see a lot of agents experimenting with linking and I recommend reading "SEO for Dummies" before you experiment, because you could really do your site a lot of harm by linking to the wrong sites.

Also, installing a few different tracking programs in your website is a good way to tell what type of traffic you're generating. I get a ton of hits just from posting on this site, which I basically all discard because they're obviously not customers. However, I get a ton of unique (different) visitors from Google and Yahoo each month that come from New York. I can also see how long they've stayed on the website, so even if they don't fill out a quote, they might have called me instead.

Salary_Guard · 11-10-2008, 04:50 PM

I don't have a P&C website, but I do have a site, with a good tracking program. I was able to tell that people were going to all my pages, and then leaving, with out clicking my applications pages, and not contacting me either. This told me the site didn't make them feel comfortable, and that the "quick site" that I threw up there, just to have "something" available, probably cost me several customers. I have since reworked the site, and am getting more response from my potential clients today already.

SEO is an important thing, and yes, I think organic results are way better than PPC. Mainly because they are free, and they don't shut off at certain times, or if to many people clicked on my site.

I add content to my page daily, usually in the form of article that I submit to article submission sites, and link them in my "archived articles" area, just to constantly add content, and substance to my site.

My link backs are growing pretty good from my articles, and I'm beginning to place better on search engines.

After 3 weeks, I'm number 2 on yahoo for "Unemployment Protection Plans" and number 6 for "unemployment protection"

Google is taking a bit longer, but I've had several of my articles come up in the top 10 on google for a few days each.

sunkist219 · 11-10-2008, 05:06 PM

You're probably ranking better on Yahoo because it's a Yahoo template. Google ranks based mostly on content and linking. Google titles your site: [COLOR=#551a8b]A membership plan that pays monthly cash benefits when you are ...[/COLOR] so if you search that long string of characters, you'll see your site in the natural listings. Titling is really important w/ Google, MSN, and Ask.com. All the other search engines produce the exact same results as the 4 main ones. AOL is partnered w/ Google so you get the same thing if you search on either.

Salary_Guard · 11-10-2008, 11:28 PM

No longer a template from yahoo, I have redone the site and taken all the template stuff off, basically started over completely.