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I’m sure that by now you have heard that you and your agency need to have unique content, along with great visual content, on your insurance agency’s blog. But did you know that you also need unique content when you’re guest blogging too? Unique content is essential to any blog’s well-being, as well as for getting people to keep coming back to your website for more. Google was originally set up to serve the best and most relevant content to its users by having lots of unique content, so Google will match search traffic to your insurance agency’s website if you stand out. Duplicate content could cause a quick death online, so if you have duplicate content, you’re giving Google a great reason not to see your website as authoritative.
Visual and Content Is King
Your agency needs to focus on original content with the right visuals. Why? It is perhaps the most important aspect of anyone’s online presence. Yes, visuals matter, but so does your well-written, original content. So when you hired a website designer for your agency’s website, who did you hire to write the content, and did you hire a professional photographer to get the right visuals? Don’t stop at your website’s content and visuals; how about your agency’s blog – who is monitoring your content and images? If you’re looking for great content in the insurance space, we would recommend you to start with a product from www.roughnotes.com called Producer Online. It is the largest database on insurance content. When it comes to visuals, I would highly recommend you find the right professional photographer because your visual content is critical to your digital marketing success.
Google’s Role
Yes, there is Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines, but I would recommend that you stay focused on Google because it’s the most used search engine in the world. Let’s look at what Google’s role is, and what it does and doesn’t do. Google sends you and your agency online traffic, and their number one responsibility is to deliver relevant content to their audience. Its primary role is to match what the person types into the search bar to the right content. It’s our job as insurance agency owners to continually tell Google about what we sell and what we do, so that when someone types in “insurance quotes” into their search bar, Google will match it to our agency’s website. Let me remind you this is a continuous job, because there are millions of blogs daily trying to beat us out every single day. What Google is trying to do is avoid sending people searching for insurance quotes to an article that’s poorly written, with no visuals, and/or poorly designed. Why? The average Google user is looking for well-written content that is updated with great visuals. When you can deliver that, Google is happy, because your content made their “customers” happy. When you understand what Google is looking for, you’ll soon understand that your insurance agency’s job is to provide Google with great, updated content with amazing images.
Formats
There are so many different forms of content, such as infographics, videos, articles, memes, podcasts and so on. I would recommend your agency focuses on providing a variety of content, so that you can repurpose your content without making duplicate posts. I would also recommend that you not limit yourself to staying in one social arena; spread yourself out, because you will discover that the right audience for your agency may not always be in the LinkedIn world. They could be on Pinterest or Twitter; you just never know. By limiting your agency to one or two social arenas, you are ignoring potential prospects. Variety is the key to your success.
Deliver Real Agency Value
Google wants each web page they deliver to their audience to be valuable, which is essential to your agency’s online image and bottom line. If you can focus on providing high value home insurance, you must have the right landing page on your agency’s website with content that is relevant to high value homeowners, so that Google will match you to the right audience. Google is looking for real value; let’s remember that their customers are looking for high value too, so your agency needs be able to bridge the gap. For example, if your agency has a classic car insurance landing page, but your agency doesn’t insure any classic cars and really doesn’t have any strength in that market, then don’t have a landing page on your website for it. You want to have landing pages that are relevant to your agency’s goals and functions. If you feel you can be all things to all people, that is an image that will not last, and will lead you to failure.
Your Agency’s Unique Outlook
Don’t worry if your agency wants to tell a story that’s similar to someone else; that is not the problem. Your agency has to simply add their own unique perspective on the situation. For example, if you want to write an article about a home insurance claim (such as a house fire), you could enhance the story with some details of how it might have started, or add sections like how it could’ve been prevented and talk about your opinion on the matter to help you make it your own story. You and your agency’s unique outlook is crucial to the story, and it matters to Google too. Make it yours, and own it through your uniqueness.
Create Your Own Visuals and Content
Getting enough content is always the issue for agencies because it takes time and energy.If you have less time than money, have someone else write it for your agency. I’m here to say that you as an agency owner may not have the time to create your own agency’s content, so you need to hire someone to help your agency with that. Start by going to community colleges and looking for students for part time or full time work. Next, you need to put great content in front of your new social media marketing person because they may not have experience or understanding of an insurance policy, so you could purchase Producer Online from Rough Notes to help out there. Third step is look for a Paradiso Presents workshop in your area and send them because we will help them with creating an agency brand along with a social calendar so your agency can turn an ROI from your social efforts.
Creating your agency’s unique and original content doesn’t have to be difficult, but it’s critical for search engines to recognize your agency as authoritative. Being authoritative online will drive prospects/visitors to your agency’s website. The key is that once you get them to your site, you need to provide great value to that visitor, because getting visitors to your website but not keeping them there is like quoting and not closing the lead. No agency wants to be a professional quoter, because that does nothing but cost you money. If you need help with your visuals and/or your agency’s content, get out there and look around to see who is doing it well, and follow their lead. Remember though, never duplicate or copy. Happy Marketing!
