Creating an Effective Website for Insurance Agencies

In today’s fast-paced online environment, insurance agencies need websites in order to ensure continued business growth. Developing a website to stand out from the competition is an essential function of insurance web design. The components that make up a website influence how users will interact with the site and can ultimately influence users to take the next step: to become customers of your insurance agency. In this guide, we will explore the best practices for creating an effective insurance agency website.

Why are Insurance Websites So Important?

Insurance agencies used to rely on word of mouth and traditional print/radio/TV advertising to reach new customers. Those practices changed with the dawn of the internet. It has been shown that the leading inbound lead channel is now your agency’s website – a visible and robust online presence is critical. Think about how you research the companies, products, and services available in your area – do you turn to the web to learn more? So do most consumers; in fact, about 85% of all insurance shoppers do their initial research online before making a single phone call. With this fact in mind, it is obvious that insurance web design is a powerful business growth tool.

Getting Started with Domain Branding

Branding is an important component in any business. Your brand tells consumers who you are and what your company stands for. In insurance web design, branding extends to the very start of the web development process. Select a domain (website name and URL) that matches your established brand and register it or have a third-party provider handle the registration for you. The key here is to help it stand out, making it easy for search users to pinpoint you and your agency quickly. If your preferred domain is not available, you may choose to find a relevant one on a domain auction site.

Web Hosting is Critical

One of the main reasons why people click away (bounce) from a website is if that site is slow to load or render. Fast-loading websites are an important part of the insurance web design puzzle, and can even influence search rankings in Google. To ensure a positive visitor experience and to reduce the bounce rate of your site visitors, choose a web host that can provide seamless uptime and quick loading speeds, no matter how much traffic your site experiences. Insurance website developers can check speed and hosting data using third-party tools.

Insurance Web Design: Key Considerations

Designing your own website from the ground up can be extremely time consuming. Hiring a professional can also be expensive. To get the best of both worlds, select a web developer familiar with WordPress. This incredible content management system (CMS) offers thousands of preconfigured themes and tens of thousands of plugins to make your site do exactly what you want it to do – provide your visitors with the best experience possible.

Why choose WordPress as your CMS? Consider:

• About 40% of the internet is powered by WordPress.
• Over 30% of the world’s top-performing sites are built using WordPress templates.
• WordPress far exceeds Twitter in terms of traffic, with millions of clicks every minute of every day.

Selecting your theme can be a difficult part of the insurance web design process. Here, it is a great idea to establish your goals. Your agency and its stakeholders should determine what you want out of your new website; do you want to increase visibility? Are you looking to offer online shopping and purchasing? Do you wish to be an information clearinghouse for your insurance niche? The answers to each of those questions can influence your choice of theme.

Now that your theme and CMS are solidified, here are several tips to help you get the most from the web design experience:

• Always customize your WordPress theme with your own site title, description, and page titles.
• Be sure your contact information and links to your social media are easy to find; it is preferred to add this information to a footer on every page.
• Utilize customized graphics and design elements to make your site stand out.
• Wherever possible, add a call to action (CTA), such as an online quoting or consulting link, a phone call, or a policy review.
• Ensure your new site is mobile-friendly; that is, that the site works on both mobile and desktop computing devices.

Finally, realize that insurance web design is a fluid process. Only through studying user analytics can you reveal what works and what does not. Remember that your website can also be improved, particularly in the areas of search engine optimization (SEO), branding, and content. Insurance web design providers can guide you to make the best decisions for your agency’s goals and customer base, helping to usher in a new level of success for your insurance business.

About Agency Tsunami

Agency Tsunami is the digital marketing division of Neilson Marketing Services, who has provided the insurance distribution sector with innovative marketing and communication solutions for over twenty-five years. With our Agency Tsunami program, we have implemented an integrated marketing strategy that includes optimized, professional websites supported by high-quality SEO and Social Media for hundreds of insurance retailers and wholesalers. Our goal is to help your insurance business perform and generate new opportunities. Give us a call at (800) 736-9741 to learn more about how we can do that for you.