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Search Engine Optimization: What You Need to Know
When agents hear that 85% of people do online research before they buy insurance (Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers of America), they want to know how to get a piece of that pie.
Getting an insurance website ranked in popular search engines like Google and Yahoo! is a surefire way to get in front of those online prospects. The process of improving a site's rankings is called search engine optimization, or SEO.
- How does SEO work? Every expert has their own opinion. The formulas that search engines use to determine page rankings are closely guarded secrets. So no one outside those companies knows exactly how to get to the top of the search results pile. But most SEO experts agree that the way to improve rankings is to have lots of good content on the site, and plenty of links from other sites.
What to Know BEFORE Optimizing The Website
- Trust an expert
The "rules" of SEO change rapidly, and to optimize your insurance website effectively requires a lot of homework. Most businesses choose to get a professional SEO company to handle the heavy lifting. If you choose this route, expect to pay about $1,000 - $5,000 a month.
Be careful - there are a lot of scammers posing as legitimate SEO firms, so don't settle on a company without speaking to referrals. If a company has a problem giving you the names of happy clients, they're not worth any time.
- It's a time commitment
Plan on waiting between 9 months to a year to see concrete results. Most SEO campaigns fail because the business owner pulls the plug before it fully gets off the ground. If you're committed to building leads through SEO, don't expect to see results right away.
- It's an ongoing process
Like most marketing campaigns, SEO is not something you just set up once and walk away from. Once you get good website rankings, you'll need to add keyword-rich, useful content to your insurance website on a regular basis.
Is SEO Worth It for You?
Search engine optimization is a lot of work, so a solid search campaign comes with a big price tag. It's best suited for businesses with the resources to spare. The big question is: will the results justify the cost?
SEO campaigns are not for everyone. Want to learn about some other online marketing strategies? Read more in our Resources section.
