Insurance professionals across the U.S. are raving about our insurance lead webinars. Click here to read what they’re saying.

If your insurance sales need a boost, don’t miss our next webinar titled “Closing the deal: Succeeding with Internet Insurance Leads”. This presentation is for all insurance professionals, new and seasoned, regardless of line specialty.

We will cover best-practices for marketing your insurance business online – from what to do when the lead comes in to wrapping up the sale and retaining life-long customers. There will be a live Q&A session following the presentation, so come armed with your best questions about using the Web to market your insurance business.

To register for next week’s free insurance webinar, click here.

Are your URLS ugly?

I can completely empathize. Mine used to be ugly too. At the time, however, I had no clue there was such a thing as ugly URLs. Which begs the question…

What the heck is an ugly URL? I’m happy to oblige.

When you write a new post for your insurance agency blog (or any type of blog, for that matter) the link created for that particular post is probably automatically generated based on the type of blogging platform you’re using. (WordPress, Blogger, Typepad, etc.)

Let’s say I write a blog post about using social media to market your insurance business. (Which I’ve done before.) When I publish that post, the link assigned to that post may look something like this – http://www.hometownquotesblogs.com/agents/?=p267

That is an ugly URL. If you saw that link in a different context, you would have no clue it linked to a blog post about social media unless you clicked it. Not to mention, the way that URL structure is written, it’s not doing anything for your blog’s search engine optimization.

BUT…if that link looked something like this…

http://www.hometownquotesblogs.com/agents/2009/04/twitter-101-for-insurance-agents-part-1/

…you would know the link probably leads you to a blog post about using Twitter for your insurance agency. Plus, the search engines will associate those keywords with your blog.

This type of link is called a permalink. And while there’s nothing inherently bad or wrong with ugly URLs, using permalinks helps readers and search engines determine relevance and credibility of your site.

Making the switch from ugly URLs to permalinks is easy! In the admin area of your blog, look for “options” or “settings”. This area should give you the option to choose the type of permalink structure you would like to use. I recommend choosing month and name.

To learn more about ugly URLs, click here. To learn more about permalinks, click here.

Consumers have been turning to the Internet to make purchasing decisions for several years now. They’re shopping for and purchasing books, homes, cars, music, clothing and yes…insurance.

That’s why we’re here. That’s why you’re here. You want to connect with more customers and we want to connect you with more customers.

Whether you’re one of our customers or not, there are a few things we recommend to insurance agents to establish a visibility online.

1) Are you blogging? Not only does a blog build trust and illustrate knowledge, it helps you establish search engine relevance – which means if a consumer is searching online for insurance-related terms, they may find your site and want to learn more about your products.

2) Do you have a Web site? No? Stop what you’re doing and talk with someone about setting up a site for your insurance agency. Prospects want to know about you. They want to know why they should choose you as their insurance agent. Why should they trust you? Make your site personal. Tell your story. People connect with stories.

Some insurance companies are helping their agents create online visibility. A recent article in National Underwriter P&C explains that Progressive has partnered with Web.com to give Progressive insurance agents a discounted price on Web site services. Pretty interesting. Any other insurance companies doing something like this?

3) Buy Internet leads. Okay. Clearly a plug for us. But I had to mention it. The great thing about insurance Internet leads is that we’re sending prospects to you who may otherwise never find your blog or Web site. We know technology and the Internet are always changing, that’s why we’re constantly monitoring and refining what we do to connect you with high-quality prospects. Plus, you can easily measure your ROI using your online account or our exportable reports. When you’re researching insurance lead companies, always be wary of incentivized leads. Our leads are NOT incentivized. We deliver real leads in real-time because that’s what gets you the results you need to grow your insurance agency.

In the end, the point here is to convince you to establish some type of Web presence. Whether through a blog, an insurance agency Web site or using Internet insurance leads (or a nice blend of all three!), marketing yourself online will help you close more sales.

I like this quote from John Jantsch over at the Duct Dape Marketing Blog:

“So in order to generate leads and be found you must put yourself in the path of people who are learning about, asking about and shopping in your industry. You must create a Web presence or hub of information for your business and then create spokes, online and offline that lead people to your hub.”

Well said, John. We agree.

Are you an insurance agent? Are you using these methods to market your insurance business? Please share your experience with us.