Improve Your Insurance Agency's Website: 9 Free Tools
With more and more consumers turning to the Internet to learn about and shop for insurance, it's no surprise that more and more insurers are looking to boost their presence online through company Web sites.
To help raise the visibility of your agency's Web site, we at InsureMe have compiled nine free and easy tools to improve your page!
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Free Tool #1: News Feed
Adding a news feed to your Web site will give it an authenticity that consumers can trust. Prospects and insured's alike will be further impressed by your ability to target market-related news.
You can add a free news feed to your Web site by visiting FreeNewsFeed.com and News4Sites.com.
Free Tool #2: Content
Create and maintain quality content for your Web site. Insurance-related articles and saving tips are an excellent way to engage the visitor and keep them on your page—which may lead them to contact you regarding a policy.
Remember to keep informational content:
- Low on sales hype
- Useful
- Accurate
- Updated
- Contained to short sentences and paragraphs for better readability
To Web users, the information on your site is a direct reflection of you, your knowledge of insurance and your business practices—further highlighting the importance of strong, useful content!
Free Tool #3: Guestbook
While it may seem a bit trite, adding a guestbook to your site is a great way to invite feedback from your visitors-including local prospects and clients. The messages left in your guestbook can be very revealing and help foster ideas to improve your business.
Free, customizable guestbooks are available through eFreeGuestbooks.com, which allow you to receive email notifications when new comments are added and the ability to preview messages before they're posted to weed out any inappropriate postings.
Free Tool #4: Poll
Incorporating polls into your Web site is a great way to engage and connect with your visitors. PollMonkey.com provides its users with near limitless features at no cost. The service is ad-free and will support a total of five polls and 50 votes per month, which may be best to start.
If you find you need greater polling capabilities, the expanded PollMonkey service will get you an unlimited number of polls and support 10,000 votes per month—all for $19.95 a month.
Free Tool #5: Survey
Akin to PollMonkey, SurveyMonkey.com gives you the ability to post free surveys on your Web page to help you connect with and understand those visiting your site. The free service is absent of banner ads and gives you 10 questions and 100 responses per survey.
For larger capabilities, a professional subscription can be purchased for $19.95 a month, which includes an unlimited number of survey questions and 1,000 responses per month.
Free Tool #6: Blog
A Weblog or "blog" is a casually formatted "journal" that can be easily updated for Web users to read. Once a forum for celebrities and the tech-savvy, the business world is now exploding onto the blog scene to amplify their presence online.
The key to a successful agency blog is to make it fun and interesting. AgencyIdeas.com recommends incorporating anonymous anecdotes from the claims department, or tales from a new insurance agent. Barring names and confidential information, your agency's blog can make for fascinating reading as long as it's kept light and fun. Visit Blogger.com to get started.
Free Tool #7: Virtual Tour
Adding a virtual tour of your office will help to familiarize new prospects with your business and professionalism. A series of still photos with detailed captions are typically easier to insert and are easier for some consumers to receive than a video stream.
Flickr.com is one of many free sites aimed at storing and sharing photos; photos can also be easily added to your blog.
Free Tool #8: Virtual Store
Give company representatives, employees and clients the opportunity to buy agency-sponsored goods! CafePress.com allows you to open your own online store for free—and customize the products sold therein. The possibilities for adding retail to your Web site are near limitless!
Free Tool #9: Fonts
Using distinct and unique fonts is an easy and beneficial way to distinguish your agency's site from those of other agencies, as well as promotional sites and advertisements—helping your visitor differentiate between trustworthy and not-so-trustworthy sites.
There are many free sites hosting a plethora of fonts, including SimplyTheBest.net/Fonts and 1001Fonts.com.
Update Your Site Today!
With a little work on your part and help from these free tools, you can turn your Web site into a visitor's dream, packed full of information and contributory forums—propelling visitors to look to you for their insurance needs!
This information was provided by InsureMe, the leader in online insurance leads for the insurance industry. Since 1993, InsureMe has helped thousands of insurance agents succeed in the insurance business by providing top quality leads that are both detailed and affordable. For more information on InsureMe leads, please visit our agent Web site at agent.insureme.com
