Agents who want to succeed in today’s internet world need to wrap their minds around new technology and uses for their website. It’s no longer 1997 and today’s websites aren’t just a virtual business card telling people how long you have been in business.
Some slick salesman may tell you that you need to wrap this virtual business card in a pretty package with talking people and flash videos. Well, I fell for this pitch and it cost me $59K with no return. Fortunately, if you’re considering this approach, I’m about to save you a ton of money and help you get a significant return online.
Since making this costly mistake, I have worked with other agents, tested dozens of online techniques and have learned what is actually producing online profits. In this article, I’ll share a few of these strategies and give you a glimpse of how we are taking them to the next level.
First, recognize that your current agency website alone isn’t sufficient to do everything you need to succeed. By this I mean having one site that is built to both sell and service just isn’t an efficient model for today’s consumer.
Even if you have a top search engine ranking for a particular product such as life insurance, does your website’s home page make it incredibly easy to buy life insurance from you? Probably not. They will most likely have to click through multiple pages just to find out how they can get a life insurance quote from you.
To improve lead generation and conversion you want to drive prospects to web pages or even better, websites that are optimized for the niches you are marketing to. For example, if you’re targeting plumbers, you wouldn’t want to send them to a big generic ‘about me’ home page. You want them going to a content rich, optimized site that calls out and speaks directly to plumbers and gives them what they are looking for. Plus, compels them to proceed with an easy way to take action.
There are two approaches to online niche marketing.
1. Niche specific landing pages. These are simple 1 to 3 page mini-websites that are designed to get the visitor to take action. They are typically not optimized for search engines and traffic is driven to the site via direct mail, pay per click advertising, articles, e-newsletters, hard copy newsletters and other directly driven sources.
This is the fastest and least expensive way to target your niche and get them to visit your website. These pages are simple to build and can be online in a matter of a few hours, especially, if you have a system like Agency Command.
The key to getting visitors is you must drive traffic to the page. A consistent direct mail campaign with a compelling offer to visit the site works best. Then once on the site, you must be able to make them take action by including a video, bullet points and a strong call to action… all are critical.
2. Niche Specific Websites- This is the ultimate niche domination strategy because it can attract traffic organically through search engines and traffic can be driven to the site via the methods mentioned above.
This strategy requires more time and money to get organic search engine results. It takes time for the search engines to find the key words you’re targeting and it also requires a lot of key word rich content. The cost to build these more complex websites can be expensive. This is where you need help from a web designer, an SEO expert and a keyword researcher. For less competitive niches, this can be done with a simple word press site that you can do yourself. However, if you’re targeting “car insurance” for example, be prepared to pony up.
We are currently rebuilding our agency website and the primary purpose of this site is to provide better service to our clients (www.paramountinsurance.net). Of course, we also have ways to grab opt-ins and provide quotes. Additionally, we are building full-blown niche specific websites for auto, home, life, flood, boat, motorcycle, RV, antique cars, and annuities. More commercial niche sites are on the drawing board. I’ll share our results as they come.
In the meantime, if you want to pump up your niche marketing efforts, start with the simple niche specific landing pages. Michael has several examples of the sites that are working for him. Once you begin to reap rewards from this strategy, consider going all in like I am and take your niche marketing efforts to the next level!
Tom Larsen
President
Larsen and Associates