How to Create an Effective Website for Your Insurance Agency

Today’s digital age is such a bad time for an insurance agent not to have a business website. Consumers are now internet-savvy, utilizing multichannel research methods to satisfy their queries–most of that is happening on the web. When looking for insurance information or quotes, 74% of prospects use insurance sites or aggregators. Without a website, your brand will miss out on all the types of searches consumers do on the web. Having an independent insurance agent website exposes your agency to these online prospects, creating opportunities to grow your revenue.

What’s the role and objective of a website for an insurance agent?

Consumers who shop insurance policies online want to make informed choices, a requirement you can satisfy with an informative website and blog content. However, it isn’t enough to just provide information or a quote to these users. This is because only 25% of consumers purchase their policy via their agent’s website. You can prevent such crucial leads from falling through the cracks by developing an engaging website with live support (not just 100% automation). About 44% of online shoppers consider having their questions answered by a live person during an online purchase as one of the most important features a website can offer. This makes it even more essential to offer live support on your insurance agent website.

What users and search engines look for in an effective insurance website

When you are off to designing a website for your insurance agency, you should know what defines its effectiveness and affects its success. While users look for answers from a website, search engines ensure that those answers are delivered conveniently, enhancing the user experience.

We found some great insights on users’ needs from an insurance website in a study by JD Power. It sums up five important areas that determine how effective an insurance company website is for the users:

1. Ease of navigation: Use clickable links for navigation elements and clearly divide categories and subcategories with accurate titles that describe the linked pages
2. Appearance: Use the right combination of colors, layout, and typography to give your insurance website a professional and polished look
3. Availability of Key Information: Provide details related to each product, coverages, limits, exclusions, and other important information related to your business
4. Range of services: Extend services beyond your website by providing mobile apps that facilitate account management (claims, policy renewals, etc.)
5. Clarity of information: Present key information like policy terms and exclusions in the most transparent way possible to avoid confusion

While this study was done on insurance carriers’ websites, its findings are equally applicable to an independent insurance agency’s website, which acts as a middleman between the insurance buyers and the carriers. This is where you can make a difference with your website and retain the 75% of consumers to make a purchase through your agency website who are currently falling through the cracks.

Lastly, when we are talking about the effectiveness of a website, we can’t ignore the parameters defined by Google, the largest search engine on the planet that indexes a website and determines its rankings. According to Google, there are different factors, like mobile responsiveness, page speed, on-page optimization, link profile, high-quality content, and an overall page experience, that help Google better determine the website’s usefulness for its audience. Keep reading as we have shared the actual actionable tips below to create an effective insurance agency website that drives traffic and conversion.

How to Create the Best Website for Insurance Agents & Agencies

Building a great website involves prioritizing both user engagement and Google’s algorithm. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you create an effective insurance agent website:

#1. Define your purpose and goals

Is it mainly an informational brochure for your business? Are you planning something more, like a go-to place for everything, getting information, comparing policies, claiming information forms, or client service initiation from your site? A clear purpose in mind for your insurance website lets you identify the right strategy to improve online visibility, generate more leads, and assert thought leadership on the web.

#2. Register the right domain name

Choose a memorable domain name that’s easy for users to find via organic search (preferably a dot com). Be sure to incorporate a version of your business name in it, with appropriate modifiers like “agency” and “insurance.”

#3. Determine your site’s requirements

Know your business requirements and create a list of questions for each. Then, seek answers for how you can implement each aesthetic or functional requirement through your site. Evaluate what website infrastructures, systems, and features you require to support your insurance agency’s operations.

#4. Decide on DIY or professional service

Determine if all the design and development work can be completed entirely in-house, along with managing your business. If not, you should look for professional services. This way, you can acquire a highly-effective platform for your insurance agency without the unnecessary payroll costs. The best providers commit their own fully-fledged team to the job on hand, from UX designers and web developers to content creators and digital marketers, allowing you to focus on managing your business.

#5. Select the right website building tool

When building a professional insurance agency website, you should have a short- and long-term view of all key considerations. You do not want to compromise on hosting services and the security of your site. If you’re outsourcing design and development, ask if custom, unique content is part of the package.

The right website building tool should have the following basic features:

• Customization options
• Third-party integration
• Easy to manage
• Mobile and search-engine friendliness
• DIY possibilities like upgrading content

Remember to review a demo and check their previous projects for key attributes like:

• Loading speed
• Visual appeal
• Navigation
• Can you easily find what you’re after?
• Does the content address your queries?

#6. Choose an easy-to-navigate & customizable theme

With a theme that’s easy to maneuver, you can incorporate highly effective features on your insurance website. From headers and full-screen content or image sliders to the “Get a Quote” form–these components provide the functions your existing and prospective clients may expect to find on your site.

The best website design themes for insurance agents provide the versatility you need to create a unique visual appeal and brand image. Pre-built layouts are great–there’s no doubt about that. However, it’s also important that you retain the ability to position your “Get a Quote” buttons, insurance plans, blog previews, and other features in your most preferred strategic locations. You need a customizable theme for that. Stratosphere insurance agency websites for full customization options to fit your agency’s unique brand and marketing needs. Want to take a look at what insurance website design ideas we have successfully implemented on our client’s sites? Click on the preceding link.

#7. Focus on the appeal of your insurance website

An effective insurance marketing website must have highly attractive visual elements. While you shouldn’t overdo anything, there’s a good reason to always have a proper contrast between the font color and the background. This way, users can read your text without straining their eyes. Keep your images modern, clear, and appropriate for the topic, and don’t forget to provide relevant insurance content.

#8. Organize the information layout within the pages

Your website should show the right information in the right place based on what your audience looks for day-to-day. To retain your current clients, make claims and policy management easy for them with quick access to relevant pages and forms on your website. You can display your NAP details and email address on the header or footer of your homepage to keep the client inquiries and quote requests coming.

#9. Plan and develop your content to fulfill your client’s needs

Well-organized, meaningful content can increase your website conversions. New Horizons Insurance Marketing studied 50 independent insurance websites to find that the following contents make up an ideal insurance agency website. Here are some content elements you can incorporate to accomplish that:

• Service/product descriptions to inform readers about the insurance policies/solutions you’re selling
• An About Us page where you talk about things like your values, journey, and unique value proposition
• A photo of you in the office revealing the human side of your insurance agency
• Custom videos like testimonials or explainers to increase engagement to your site
• Links to social media for further engagement and lead generation
• FAQ page with answers that help prospects make informed choices or provide information to current policyholders
• A blog page with informative insurance content
• Testimonials and reviews to add credibility to your value proposition

#10. Publish original, customized, valuable content

High-quality content is the main attraction and trigger of user engagement on your insurance agent website. It can help achieve these three goals:

• Boost rankings on search engines
• Improve brand recognition and generate interest in your agency
• Position your agency as a thought leader

You should certainly produce informative blogs regularly. However, there are other online content types that can help you maximize the value offered to your audience. Educational podcasts have become popular with consumers, and so are engaging video promotions or client testimonials. Endear your brand to clients with employee profiles, or break down complex coverage data with colorful infographics.

At Stratosphere, we produce high-quality content for independent insurance agent websites. We can customize content to suit your audience and preferred format, from blogs, website content, and webinars to case studies, newsletters, slideshows, and FAQs. The best part, we don’t charge for it additionally. Our insurance agency website plans also include original custom content to fulfill your agency’s unique needs.

#11. Talk about third-party insurance software integration

Talk to your service provider beforehand and confirm if their platform can easily integrate with essential insurance software, including agency management systems and comparative raters, like Applied, Vertafore, or Hawksoft. As an independent insurance agent, you can leverage an integrated consumer rating system to better manage your lead generation and online reputation.

Stratosphere websites incorporate third-party integration options like these, SaaS solutions, and more. We provide customizable configurations that seamlessly integrate with all the third-party tools you need to prosper online.

#12. Optimize the website for conversion with forms and raters

There are different ways to connect better with users and increase website conversions:

• Provide multiple communication touchpoints with contact us forms that are easy to reach from any page
• Provide newsletter subscription forms (to add potential clients to the sales funnel and run lead nurture campaigns)
• Provide an easy way for prospects to request an online quote (online quote generators can help here)
• Leverage word-of-mouth marketing and grow your client base with consumer raters on-site

#13. Improve user experience with on-site client service features

Offering insurance services online makes your agency more popular among a growing segment of younger consumers that prefer digital experiences to paperwork. Start by making the claims process a breeze with onsite forms that your clients can quickly fill out and submit. Then, add service forms that allow users to manage their insurance policy, such as by adding coverage, entirely within your insurance agent website.

Don’t forget to include an insurance quote request form that can be invoked from your blogs, landing pages, product pages, and more. With these online services, you’ll be able to retain more current clients. Plus, the seamless customer experience will promote word-of-mouth referrals to grow your client base.

#14. Implement dynamic review widgets to add social proof

Insurance customer reviews are an important way for prospects to assess the quality of your agency’s services. With dynamic review widgets on the website, you can fetch online reviews from major review sites like Google, Facebook, and Yelp on your website in real-time. Not all website-building platforms provide this service, as most don’t have a proprietary review platform. When they do, they provide it as an add-on service by partnering with another reputation management platform, costing you extra bucks. Stratosphere’s proprietary reputation management platform has been made ready to integrate with Stratosphere websites. Want to learn about other ways you can leverage online reviews for your insurance agency? Click on the preceding link.

Are you considering building a website for your independent insurance agency? While you’re at it, keep in mind that it’s not enough to have an online presence. First, the website should be optimized for high search engine visibility. Second, it must provide the superior user experience your existing and prospective policyholders expect. That’s what it means by an effective website for an insurance agency.

At Stratosphere, we know what it takes to thrive and succeed on the internet. If you want to build and own a fantastic-looking, performance-driven insurance agency website, contact us today!

Insurance Marketing How-To