Do the words Twitter, Facebook and blogging make you nervous? Have you thought about
increasing your online presence to capture a new market but aren’t sure where to
start?
Success in today’s online market depends on your entire web presence, not
just your website. Spreading your online presence as wide as possible helps you
reach millions of potential clients you may not be able to reach otherwise. Below
are four simple ways beginners can increase their web presence without breaking
the bank or their back.
- Create a Website
If you already have a website, you may want to skip this step or continue reading
to find out how to improve it. Websites don’t have to be expensive and elaborate,
they just have to be visible to consumers, provide useful information and generate
leads by allowing visitors to contact you for free offers or more information.
There are several options available when creating a website. For the more tech savvy
agents, building your own (Top 10 Do-It-Yourself Website Builders) may save some money
but not necessarily time.
For those who’d rather leave it to the experts, check out the below links to get
started:
Insurance Web Designs
INS Digital Media
Insurance Broker Webmasters
Free Insurance Agent Websites
When hiring others to develop a website or purchasing a template, look for supplemental
materials as well. Some companies even offer supplemental marketing material to
help draw prospects to a website such as Insurance Help Centers, a company that specializes in lead
generating website customization.
- Use SEO to Increase your Website Ranking
SEO, or
Search Engine Optimization, is the process of adding keywords or phrases throughout your website to help
search engine
spiders properly rank your webpage in a Google search result. In other words,
when someone searches for “Long-Term Care” the webpage results will be ordered by
relevance of how well the title, description and keywords of the website match the
users web search
query.
The goal for your website is to appear on the first page of the Google search results
when clients are searching online for solutions to their problems – the solutions
you provide! The more your webpage content matches the words a prospect types into
the Google search bar, the better chances you have of being found online.
If you want to keep your website as simple as possible and not clutter it with heavy
copy, by hosting a blog on your website, this increases your content and keywords
without cluttering the main pages.
- Start a Blog or At Least Post on Others
Blogging is a great way to establish yourself as an expert while increasing your
online presence at the same time. Also, by commenting on blogs written by others,
it’s a great way to gain some practice as well as increase your visibility by linking
back to your website, blog or other social media profiles.
Setting up a blog is the easy part (Best Blogging Host Software), it’s figuring out what to
write about that can be challenging (10 Business Blogging Best Practices). By reading product
focused blogs, you can practice your posting while gaining ideas of content to write
about:
Long-Term Care Blogs:
LTCConnects
P&C Blogs:
P&C Insurance News
Consumer Insurance Blog
Life Blogs:
LifeInsure
The Insurance Word
How to Write an Effective Blog Post:
Nine Signs of an Effective Blog Post
Top 7 Tips
to Write an Effective Business Blog
Writing a Good
Blog – For Dummies
- Join Social Networking Sites
Social networking is one of the most powerful social media strategies you can implement.
This is where Twitter and Facebook fit in. These sites are free and allow you to
create a personal profile page to post information about you and your business,
invite people to join your network, join groups with people interested in the same
topic, blast messages and events, and drive people to your website or blog.
Just remember - you must provide useful and relevant information to your readers
and followers, otherwise those constant updates you’re providing will soon become
annoying and people will start blocking your updates on their homepage.
Getting Started
First, determine which social media outlet is best for you. Find out what platforms
your prospects use most. Don’t be afraid to create a profile at different sites
just so you can browse and check out how it works, who uses it and what other people
are posting. Also, don’t underestimate your teenager or grandchild’s ability to
help you set up a profile – believe me, they’ll have a full profile created with
pictures posted in seconds flat!
Below are top social media sites provided by InsuranceNewsNet Magazine that can give you an idea of how
many people are using social media. Potential prospects and clients are bound to
be online.
|
Social Media Users |
|
Facebook.com |
307 million users |
|
YouTube.com |
300 million users |
|
Blogs (tracked by Technorati) |
133 million records indexed since 2002 |
|
LinkedIn.com |
36 million members |
|
Twitter |
19.7 million unique visitors in May 2009 |
How to Set Up Your Profile
Twitter
LinkedIn
Social Media Beginner Guides
Facebook for Beginners
Social Media Marketing Beginners Guide
How to Effectively Use Twitter to Build Business Relationships
A Survival Guide
to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization
Increasing your online presence may seem a bit overwhelming at first, but with a
little practice and the resources provided in this article, you’ll be an expert
in no time!
For additional sales and marketing tips exclusive to insurance agents, visit the
new TWG Capital Agent Acceleration
Center.