This is Part 4 of our series on marketing insurance websites. If you haven't already read Part 3, you can find it here.
Marketing Insurance Websites 4 - Create Content that Stands Out From The Crowd
The key to getting your insurance website to rank in search engines well is to have great content that people are looking for. Unfortunately, that’s a pretty high bar.
Think about it - every single insurance carrier wants to be at the top of the search results for their products. With deep pockets, they invest huge dollars in writers to produce great content about the products they offer. And then there’s the publishing industry - their entire business is creating great content, often about insurance. If that isn’t enough, there are the government websites, wikipedia, industry associations, and more all competing for those coveted 10 spots on the first page of Google.
Go ahead, go to the search engine of your choice and do a search for the product of your choice. Life insurance, long term care insurance, medicare supplement insurance, homeowners insurance… not counting the ads, do you see a single independent agent on the first page? Probably not.
But there is one piece of content that consumers desperately want but no carrier will dare to write. And it’s something you talk about every day: content that compares two carriers. Very simply “Carrier A vs Carrier B”. Don’t worry, you’re not making a recommendation, but you are demonstrating your knowledge and expertise.
So your task today is to create that content. Pick two carriers for a product that you know well. You could choose the two biggest carriers, the biggest vs. the cheapest, the best vs. the worst. Up to you (and you’re going to be doing a lot more of this so don’t overthink it). Then, write an article on your site following this outline:
Title: Carrier A vs Carrier B - Which is the right ____ insurance choice for State residents?
Introduction
- Your goal: to help people get the right coverage
- Asked this question a lot
- It’s important to find the right coverage for YOU, not just shop for price
Company A History
- Summarize the company history with details such as year founded, what they sell, how large they are, etc.
Company B History
- Summarize the company history with details such as year founded, what they sell, how large they are, etc.
Plan Comparisons
- Give the highlights of the plans each offers
Network (for health insurance) or other unique benefits
Pricing
- Give an overview of pricing - is one generally cheaper
So which is better?
- Write a few sentences about the pro’s and con’s of each
- Do you recommend
In closing
- Summarize with the importance of reviewing multiple carriers
- Work with an expert who can cut through the issues to the
Call to action
- Let’s talk, get a quote, have questions?, etc.
Don’t be afraid to take some time on this. Set aside a few hours to write the content. If you find you are stuck, record yourself talking about the two carriers, and then play back the recording to get ideas. Once you’ve written the article, post it to your website. Then:
- Share it publicly on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn
- Send an email out to your prospects linking to the article
- Send an email out to other professionals that may refer business to you, asking them to share with their network
You’re going to create an entire series of articles like this (it gets easier) so keep notes on other carriers you want to compare.
So what happens next? Results aren’t going to be instant. But you’ve just created some content that will make your site stand out. Give the search engines a few weeks to find and index the content (need to get your site indexed?), and then try searching for “Company A vs Company B”. Then keep an eye on your analytics.
Up next: Blogging Basics.
P.S. - I know this sounds like work. It is. But this is how you are going to get traffic to your site, generate leads, and grow your sales. And unlike other marketing, once you create a page like this, it’ll keep working for you. Trust me, it’s worth it.