Top 3 SEO Tips for Insurance Agents

Search Engine Optimization Tips for Insurance Agents

Search Engine Optimization Tips for Insurance AgentsSearch engine optimization (SEO) for insurance agents is all about taking action to make sure that your business is easily discovered by your prospects. Without SEO, your website won’t achieve much in the way of bringing traffic and customers to your business. The insurance market is very competitive, and you stand at the risk of your site resting in obscurity if you aren’t proactive about making sure it ranks for the appropriate keywords. Not to worry. Here are three top search engine optimization tips you will find quite helpful in your quest to fully develop your insurance niche site.

SEO Tip #1: Go Long Tail

Because of the high competition for major insurance keywords, you’ll need to find keywords that other agents or agencies are not targeting. One method by which you can achieve your aim will be through the use of long-tail keywords. For example, it may be hard for you to rank well for the keywords “auto insurance” or “car insurance.” You would be competing up against many of the top players in the insurance market including major insurance companies and brokerage houses. However, if you choose long-tail keywords such as “car insurance in Surprise Arizona” or “Surprise Arizona auto insurance,” you’ll find that you’ll achieve better ranking and search engine results. Once you select the right low-competition keywords, you then must ensure these search terms are optimally used in your meta data and articles.

SEO Tip #2: Create Quality Content

SEO tips for insurance agentsHigh quality, informative blogs and articles play a vital role in your search engine optimization efforts. It’s possible you’ve already realized the strength of creating engaging content for your sites and have implemented a content marketing strategy to increase your web presence. In the past, many internet marketers and website owners utilized keyword-stuffed and poorly-written posts in order to fool the search engines into ranking their sites higher. But not anymore. Major search engines like Google consistently update their algorithms to weed out shoddy websites that do not offer any true value to internet users. That makes it increasingly important to ensure that you produce high-quality content written specifically for your readers and not for fooling the search engines. Consistency is truly key for content strategies. Post on a regular basis, and you’ll discover that quality content will keep your site visitors coming back for more.

SEO Tip #3: Use Social Media

Gone are the days where social media sites are used only for staying in touch with friends and family. Business owners everywhere are tapping into the power of social media. Use Google+, Facebook and Twitter along with other social media platforms to improve your insurance business. Interesting posts and videos attract users on social media. These prospects learn about your business on social media sites and then to convert to customers as you engage them in discussions about how your product fills their needs. Videos also provide a means for further customer engagement. You may create tutorials to attract clients, and then use links from social media sites to help generate more traffic and increase your search engine visibility.

These SEO tips offer just a few ideas to help you take your insurance agency to the next level in increasing website traffic and bringing in new customers. Let us know in the comments below what search engine optimization strategies you use within your agency to develop new business and improve your website results.

Five SEO Methods for Beginners

Beginning SEO tips

Beginning SEO tipsIf you’re completely new to the world of building websites and using SEO methods for traffic, the whole process can be quite overwhelming. Actually, it can be downright intimidating, especially for total newbies to the online world.

You might not even know what the acronym SEO stands for. And Google analytics, well, it sounds like something your old boss might use when you’re called in for an employee evaluation. Don’t even get me started on what it means to rank and drive traffic. Sounds like quite a lot of hard work!

Certainly, there is work involved. When you’re first figuring out how to bring customers to the beautiful new website or blog you just published, it does take considerable time and effort to learn the basics. But it’s really no different than when you first learned how to use a computer.

Remember that first brand new Apple or PC? You flipped the switch and instantly began exploring all the endless possibilities that your software would allow. Over time, you learned right where to point and click, and before long you were able to quickly navigate your computer and the internet to boot.

Take the First Step for SEO Success

And in the same way, that’s how it is with local search engine optimization and traffic building. You kind of have to dive in and start. Not wait until you thoroughly learn every single detail. Part of the beauty of working online is you may learn as you go. There’s no hard and fast rule of how to get where you want to be. In many ways, you simply have to take that first step.

Now that’s not to say that there isn’t a process to follow. There are fundamental rules for creating sites and then having them rank with the search engines. And that’s what I want to talk about with you today.

What is SEO?

SEO or search engine optimization helps you modify your website content so that potential customers find you among the hundreds, and possibly thousands of other businesses, in your local area. As you are writing content for your website or blog, there are specific techniques you can use to put you far ahead of your competition. You know, those guys that just throw up a website with a brief list of their services along with an address and phone number. Those are the types of businesses that sort of build it and think that hundreds of customers are just going to pour in. You can see more about this Field of Dreams website building point of view in our previous blog about the subject.

For now, let’s look at fundamentals of local SEO so that you can begin putting these techniques to good use on your site.

5 Beginning SEO Methods for Your Blog Posts

If you are just now developing content or already have it published to your site, there are a few tweaks you can complete to ensure that your pages are fully optimized for your target keywords.

1) Blog post URL should use your keyword and be relevant to content of blog.

For example, in this post we’re using the keyword “SEO methods.” As you can see in the example below the permalink or URL address includes the full title of our post (highlighted in yellow).

Example of SEO Methods

2) For main keyword, use H1 tag appropriately in the body content. The following pic comes from this post, and I’ve highlighted the keyword:

Keyword SEO method
3) Main Keyword should also be in title, body text and meta description. Here’s a snip from the title and first paragraph of this post with keyword highlighted:

SEO methods

4) Avoid using duplicate content.

5) On all images, add keyword in the alt description. See example:

SEO methods for alt description

There are plenty of other advanced SEO tactics to use to rank your site especially for high competition keywords. But as beginners, if you stick with these 5 steps, you’ll ensure that each page of your site is fully optimized for Google and the other search engines.

Any questions? Leave us a comment below.

How 25 Minutes Per Week Can Put an Extra $100,000.00 In Your Pocket

Internet marketing Systems NicheQuest
Internet marketing Systems NicheQuest
Internet Marketing Systems – NicheQuest

Requirement – 5 Ingredients Needed and a Blog

  1. Keyword
  2. Format
  3. A System
  4. Appointment With Your Blog
  5. Stopwatch

I’m going out on a limb here and assuming you have a blog. If you don’t or don’t even know what a blog is, no problem, just download the NicheQuest ebook at the top of the page.

A blog strategy done right is like a license to print money. Stories sell and case studies about your business is an easy way to craft a story. Case studies provide a problem/solution scenario which is what your customer is searching for online. It’s why we all search online. They are also an easy way to use many keywords that relate to your business and educate our friendly robot, Google, about your business. If you don’t know this, Google only knows what you do by reading the words you provide in the right way. If you do a better job educating Google than your competitors, you get more exposure. Google WANTS to tell searchers about you, but you have to provide the info. It’s the same as networking at your local Chamber of Commerce, if the people you meet don’t know what you do, they can’t refer you. If you don’t attend meetings, everyone forgets you.

So what you need, what we all need, is a strategy. So lets go through what has worked for me and my clients.Let me begin by saying writing a blog should only take you 25 minutes. If your blog is 300 words, break it down to 75 words every 5 minutes or 15 words per minute, that’s 20 minutes with 5 minutes to spare. (Hint: You probably type a 20-25 word email in less than a minute.)

  1. Keywords – Start With a Keyword Phrase, Don’t think about keywords when you sit down to write your blog. This should be done way in advance. Keywords should be stored in your inventory like spices in your spice cabinet. Just grab and use as needed.
  2. Format – Every blog post is about a different scenario but format is always the same. State the problem, list 5 points that solved the problem, then summarize. With intro to problem, 5 bullet points and summary that’s 7 paragraphs. If each is 40 words, that totals 280 words. Add a 20 word paragraph at end to describe your local focus and you’ve hit your target 300 words.
  3. Systemize It – Think in terms of systems. Step 1, 2, 3 and so on. Focus on keywords, problem, solution, 300 words and complete in 25 minutes.
  4. Set  an Appointment with Your Blog – This is your sales tool. Your blog is like having a face to face meeting with your client. Set an appointment on the same time, same day every week. Don’t be late.
  5. Use A Stopwatch – You can search online for online stopwatch or use you Mobile phone.  When you start the clock, your brain goes into production mode. It’s based on the Pomodoro Effect.
Ed Winslow
Ed Winslow

You have a huge advantage if you follow the program. Your competitors don’t have a clue how to do this and even if they did, they likely will quit unless they have a system. This strategy will educate Google, it can be replicated on Facebook, Google Plus, with You Tube Videos. You can scale it to get even more business and it brands your business as a problem solver and go to resource. Follow the formula and you will dominate your market.

Think Systems! It’s the only way to succeed and scale your business.

Let me know if you need help with your systems. Like this blog? Leave a comment below.

 

 

Business Blog Sales Tips That Generate Sales Immediately

Business Blog Tips That Generate Sales Immediately

Business Blog Sales Tips You Can Use Now

Business Blog Tips That Generate Sales Immediately
Business Blog Tips That Generate Sales Immediately

One of the best business blog sales tips is to think about the concept of keyword combinations, multiple results from a single effort and what your customers search online. Think about what your customers want, not what you think they want.

Let’s look at a few ideas that you can apply to your business right away.

Chewelah Painting of Spokane Washington – There are 10’s of thousands of painters nationwide and plenty of local competition. So, how do you stand out online? Chewelah Painting not only paints houses, but they also stain doors, windows, decks, furniture, cabinets and any kind of wood. See a keyword pattern? Lots of niche keywords.

The owner was looking for ways to get leads during the winter when it is too cold to paint outdoors. The idea was to target door, cabinet and wood furniture restoration and finishing. That led to a series of blog posts targeting keywords relevant to refinishing, restoration, staining combined with doors, decks, furniture, cabinets and so on.

The Result – Lot’s of nice small jobs knocking on their door. Without ranking on Google it would have been a very slow winter. Not only were nice bread and butter jobs coming in, it opened up ideas for attacking other niche markets. But then, the big one came in. A unique requirement from a University restoring a stadium with 1,000 old stadium seats that came in from an internet call. Why did Chewelah Painting get the call. Simple, he ranked for what the customer was searching for. He got the call while thousands of painters didn’t.

Here’s another idea. Virgo Business Centers of NYC rents furnished office space at 6 locations in Manhattan. While many customers search general keywords like Office Space Rentals NYC, most will do many searches starting with the general search then drilling down for exactly what they want and where. One of their locations at 34th Street is right near the Path Train a commuter line from New Jersey. A logical search is Office Space For Rent Near Path Train NYC. Within one day the blog ranked #2 on Google and is already producing traffic.

These keyword strategies work for our clients nationwide in every state, county, city and town. As mentioned in the NicheQuest Formula, the most important thing is to start with your business strategy. What do you do, where do you do it, what is your capability? Start small online, develop your skills, then expand. Once you start to experience positive results, replicate and grow your online marketing.

Business Blog Tips That Generate Sales – Get The Free eBook Today!

Join our newsletter below or just grab your free copy of the NicheQuest Formula eBook above for business blog tips that will start generating new sales overnight. If you can send an email, you can succeed online.

How To Easily Write a Blog Post that Attracts New Customers

How To Easily Write a Blog Post that Attracts New Customers
How To Easily Write a Blog Post that Attracts New Customers
How To Easily Write a Blog Post that Attracts New Customers

I just got off the phone with a client who was struggling to write blog posts that attracts new customers. I explained to him to think simply and follow the NicheQuest Formula. It’s super easy and fast, but it really comes down to strategy and mind set. Let me explain.

1. Strategy – What do you do and where do you do it? Most of my clients start off wanting the world, then we refine their strategy to what they are capable of doing. The main thing to look at is what new client do you want today? Finding that sweet spot or niche that you can do every day is the way to get really good at one thing, then replicate over and over. You can expand later. Start small and replicate.

2 Keywords – Don’t be fooled into thinking you need to rank #1 on Google for 1 great keyword phrase. Your marketing ammo are keywords and phrases. A great example to really understand how to generate new customers is this. One of my favorite clients is in the Boston Massachusetts to Providence Rhode Island corridor. The strategy based on his capability was to dominate the online search in that area. We built a 15 page website and wrote a blog once per week, each targeting a different keyword phrase and geographic are in target area. Most Important is the fact that the site and blog strategy produced 2,000 visitors per month. What is significant was that 1960 visitors to site each searched something different on Google. The highest searched keyword phrase only produced 10 visits. You may be thinking, how did the site rank on Google for 1960 keywords with a 15 page site and 1 blog per week. Easy, follow the formula and link all your pages together. Google then learns the relevance of what you do to what your clients search for. Think exponential results, small (quality) effort, big results.

This client went from $200,000 – $1,200,000 in just a few years. This formula works for small, local business or large nationwide companies. Want big results? Just create more pages.

Makes you think. How do I replicate that strategy for my business?

I told my client this morning that he needs to look at his blog strategy like cooking. Herbs in your herb cabinet are like keywords. For example, if you have 20 herbs , how many ways can you cook chicken? Keywords are the same thing. They are like herbs that you have in your inventory. Using an example like – General Contractor – how many blogs could a general contractor write with different keywords? Even writing blogs using a different keyword phrase as it relates to kitchen remodeling is unlimited. The more blogs written with different keyword phrases, the more ways you will be found online.

Write your blogs as if you were educating your client. Stick with a niche and link all those posts together. The mind set is to be an information provider and problem solver. You customers search to find what they don’t know. Cultivate that niche, write blogs using the NicheQuest Formula and post them to to your social media sites like Google Plus, Facebook and Linked In.

When you know your strategy, your keywords and the content formula, you should be able to write a blog in 25 minutes or less. If it takes longer you need to work on refining your business strategy. Just follow the steps and you will be able to quickly and easily write a blog post that attracts new customers.

One more tip. When you do it right, a blog post can rank #1 on Google in less that 5 minutes. That blog could produce a new customer for you today and keep generating sales for years.

Is this blog post helpful? Leave a comment below. Want the formula? Grab your free copy of the eBook above.

Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation

Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation

Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation – Bringing Entrepreneurship to Disadvantaged Kids

Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation
Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation

The new Ryan Lee Entrepreneurship Foundation is officially launched. For those who don’t know Ryan, he is an internet marketing success. And I mean a big success. His gift is being a giver. By being a giver, he has created a massive loyal following online. By using email marketing, blogs, webinars and live events he has positioned himself as an an online coach empowering his followers with education, support and inspiration. The Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation will be providing knowledge, tools and business plans to inner cities and disadvantaged kids who just need someone to show them the way. For Info Click Here 

I know, I am involved in a few of his Facebook Groups. These groups are part of the magic online where 1 individual can put together networks of entrepreneurs who network on social media, create ideas and refer business back and forth. Mastermind Groups created on a massive scale.

I have received new clients from these groups, learned new techniques and found niche markets and ways to capitalize with new ideas. The Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation goal is to “educate our youth about real world entrepreneurship”. Ryan’s background and ideas for entrepreneurship began when he worked at a “High Risk” high school in the Bronx New York. Here he was able to interact with kids who are faced with dead ends in life. When he mentioned to them that entrepreneurship was an opportunity, these kids eyes lit up. That was before he began his internet marketing business.

Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation
Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation

So here it is 12 years later and the Ryan Lee I Built it Foundation has been formed. True to the concept that “Givers Gain” this is sure to go viral, creating new markets and economies nationwide. Disadvantaged youth certainly have ideas and a strong need to survive, they just need to know how.

In one the greatest business books of all time, Think and Grow Rich, the author, Napoleon Hill makes a significant statement inspired by steel baron Andrew Carnegie that anyone can achieve riches with the right plan. This appears to be the goal of the Ryan Lee I built It Foundation, give the kids the tools and knowledge and help them develop a plan that works.

Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation Information

For information and to make a contribution to the Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation click here. You can also watch this video where the Ryan Lee I Built It Foundation is explained by the master himself.

 

How to Create a Sales Blog For Local Markets

How To Create A Sales Blog For Local Markets
How To Create A Sales Blog For Local Markets

How To Create A Sales Blog

Local online marketing is fairly simple in theory. Basically you need pages written around a specific keyword phrase and inbound links from quality sources for the pages to rank on the search engines.

In most local markets the competition for ranking is fairly low. However since more and more companies everyday are flocking to the internet for marketing exposure, the competition is getting tougher.

It’s important to understand that a website cannot survive with just a 5 page site, ranking well for a few keywords. Keyword diversity among many pages is the solution. It’s also important to understand that niche businesses such as a painter, plumber, roofer, chiropractor, orthodonist, divorce lawyer all perform better online than a general practitioner.

A law firm with many specialties or a general contractor usually have a difficult time performing. The main reason is that there are too many keywords relevant to what they do. Where a painter could have 50-75 pages to a website, a general contractor might need 1,000 pages since their business is made up of so many services.

As mentioned, just a few high ranking pages around a few keywords will not perform in a local market. Google provides results based on queries. An example to explain this point is a client who gets 1500 monthly visits. You might think that there is 1 keyword that is searched 500 times and 5-6 keyword phrases that are searched 200 times to get that result.

The answer is the key to optimization and online marketing. The real result is that the most searched keyword phrase produces a whooping 10 visits of 1,500. The next might be 7, a few get 2-5 monthly visits and over 1,300 of those visits are each from a different search.The only way to achieve this level of diverse search results is by creating many relevant keywords on your site. The way to achieve this is by using blogs. Blogs add pages and keywords to a site.

As a result, you could never get that 1,500 visits from a 5 page site in a local market. The only way is through a broad range of well written content using relevant keywords. This is what is referred to General Semantics.

What Is General Semantics

How To Create A Sales Blog For Local Markets
How To Create A Sales Blog For Local Markets

The Random College House Dictionary Definition is – An educational discipline originated by Alfred Korzybski and concerned with the improvement of human behavior by means of the function of words and non verbal symbols.

Understand this definition and you understand search engine optimization. Keyword Phrases and photos/video are the ammunition of online marketing. Fairly simple.

Do’s – Web Pages portray your message, blogs expand keyword diversity. Create valuable (explained later)  blog content targeting a specific keyword for each page supported with relevant keywords, photos, video and links to relevant pages (within your own site or to other sites).Yes, it’s ok to create links to other sites. Be a giver, not a taker.

Don’t – Do not think that random worthless content with keywords works. Google knows everything. If you think you’re clever, you’re mistaken. Google knows what you search, they know when spam tools are used. The only way to succeed online is t do it right. Keep in mind that any site or marketing business that thinks they can manipulate Google will fail.

Do not spin content. Do not use link building tools that create massive amounts of phantom links. Do not create fictitious reviews (many lawsuits coming).

How to Create A Sales Blog for Local Markets

I’m currently working on a series of videos and a workbook that explains the many strategies. For today, I’m going to explain one.  Keeping the above content in mind, let’s look at a strategy for getting a local painter to rank online. This client is www.ctyankeepainting.com.

Painting is a very competitive local business. Online ranking requires finding the keyword phrases where they can rank. So keyword research is step 1. Since the business is located in Fairfield County Connecticut we need to find the right towns to target along with the right keywords.

Here is a List of Towns

  1. Trumbull
  2. Easton
  3. Weston
  4. Wilton
  5. New Canaan
  6. Fairfield
  7. Southport
  8. Westport
  9. Darien
  10. Greenwich

List of Keywords

  1. House Painter
  2. House Painters
  3. Painting Contractor
  4. Interior Painter
  5. Exterior Painters
  6. Home Painter
  7. Deck Refinishing
  8. Deck Staining Contractor

The strategy for a painter is ideally to get ranked for every combination of the listed 8 keywords in each of 10 towns.

Building an online presence is like building a business. It takes a step at a time. Google rewards those who regularly add content to their site. As a result 1 new blog per week is a strategy that produces new rankings. We also want to use our target keyword approximately 2 – 2.5 times per 100 words. We also want to use additional keywords in the content that are relevant to the target keyword for each page.

Sample Relevant Keywords

  1. Interior and Exterior Deck Staining
  2. Power Washing
  3. Window Painting
  4. Deck Waterproofing
  5. Fence Painting and Staining
  6. Cabinet Painting and Refinishing
  7. Paint Colors
  8. House Staining

Photos and Videos

In the beginning of this article we looked at the the definition of General Semantics. Words and symbols create influence. Photos and videos should be relevant to the content. I find it’s usually better to choose photos first, the create the content.

How To Create a Sales Blog for Local Markets

To avoid creating duplicate content we need to have enough to write about to create a different blog for each town. In this case, we’ll target the keyword phrase House Painters in Weston Ct. This variation has only 10 competing online pages.

An easy strategy is to choose a photo of a nice home exterior photo and 1 interior photo. Then create a 200-300 word page summarizing a painters services. Bullet points are a very effective tool to use. Use the keyword in the Title of the blog, first sentence, the middle of the page and the end.  Ideally we’ll create 1 blog post for each town using variations of our core keyword. For example, painter, painters, painting, Home, house, interior, exterior.

We’ll create blogs targeting each town publishing 1 each week for 10 weeks. Then we’ll move onto another keyword which will target all 10 towns again. This may seem like a fair amount of work but should only take 30-45 minutes for each blog.

The results if done properly will be excellent. In the next post we’ll go over some easy methods for ensuring that your content gets picked up by Google.