When you think of search engine optimization (SEO), most likely the first thing that comes to mind is your website. You analyze your content, title tags and whether or not you chose the best keywords in general—but how often do you take into consideration your social media accounts?

With its growing popularity as a marketing portal – and its unique ability to effectively connect customers with brands – it makes sense that small business owners would be taking Facebook a bit more seriously.

With Facebook’s nearly endless opportunities for consumer engagement, it’s crucial that you take the necessary steps to ensure you are harvesting the social platform’s full potential—including your SEO efforts on the site. It’s the little things and strategic customization that can turn your Facebook page into a serious traffic-generator:

Give your page a clear, keyword-rich name—actually use the name of your business. May seem like common sense, right? You’d be surprised how many small business owners don’t realize how critical name recognition is—this isn’t the area of your account where you want to be creative. Use whatever your official company name is—this will most likely be the keyword your customers or potential Facebook fans will most often use when trying to search for you. Keep in mind that Facebook is a personal social networking platform, so don’t get carried away trying to appear for terms that you aren’t particularly relevant for. The more spammy and salesy you appear, the more Facebook users will want to avoid you—the goal is to reach your fans, not turn them off to your business completely.

Try a vanity URL. Recently, Facebook has allowed the opportunity for its users to “claim” a vanity URL for their specific page. For example, Astonish Results’ vanity URL is facebook.com/AstonishResultsRavingFans – it includes the company name and the Raving Fans reference, a key component of the company’s culture. A vanity URL can also be something as simple as your agency’s name – facebook.com/ABCInsuranceAgency – remember to keep it clean and simple; the point of a vanity URL is to make it easier for fans and customers to find your business page.

Use the About Box & Information Tab. Why wouldn’t you take full advantage of every opportunity to write descriptive, keyword-conscious content about your business? The About Box happens to be one of the few significant places on your business page that is accessible and utilized by the search engines. What may seem like just a little box in the left hand corner of your page actually provides you with a couple hundred characters to boast about your business, what you’re all about, what your employees are up to or even just share a bit of your agency’s culture. Every little bit helps, so make sure that whatever information you share is extremely valuable and relevant.

The Information Tab is another great source for keyword-rich content. Completing the Information Tab is critical to the success of your business page, because the more inclusive and thorough your page is, the more likely you are to show up in relevant searches. Facebook also allows you to provide links to other related pages or profiles, so make sure that you are using the Information Tab to draw traffic to other areas, such as your agency website, as well.

Build Links to your Facebook business page. The easiest way to build links – as well as increase your word of mouth marketing efforts – is to organically increase your number of fans. You want quality, authentic consumers to like your page, interact with you and inevitably share your business profile with others. To keep your fan base growing, you need to actually be social—keep the conversation going, pose questions, share your expert insight and dedicate sizeable time to your social networking initiatives.

Another powerful way to gain some traction and drive traffic to your social media account is to build links off site. This can easily be done by including links to your Facebook business page on your official website, on other social media or social networking sites in which you have a profile, as well as within any blog posts that you write. The more links you can build to your Facebook page the more credibility and authority you will give it.

All in all, it’s important that when thinking in terms of SEO that you don’t limit yourself to the obvious. Yes, social media is meant to be social – it’s all about building relationships and engaging your community – but you want your fans to be able to find you, right?

There’s no harm in boosting your social SEO – just remember to keep it simple, relevant and genuine.

A huge part of having a successful online marketing strategy is to remain a local business while still appearing big enough to have an online brand. There can be a struggle between staying local and opening your brand to the online market. Staying local keeps you in your comfort zone, but it can limit your opportunities for leads. While with your online presence, you open your business up to the whole state and beyond, bringing in new opportunities.

Before you had an online presence, you may have built your book of business through word of mouth, referrals, and the locals in your area. While it is good to keep that momentum going, turning your company onto the internet requires you to think outside of your local bubble. There’s a fine line between appearing to be small-town and appearing to be big business. Although you don’t want to lose your local appeal, you do want to build your brand to reach outside of your town. Keep in mind that you are licensed to serve your entire state, not just your town.

For example, if someone calls you for auto insurance on the other side of the state from you, your first “local instinct” may be to send that lead to an agency closer to them. Stop right there! Just because technically that lead isn’t local to your physical office location doesn’t mean you cannot serve that customer. You don’t need to see the customer in order to get them the coverage they need, so why discard such a valuable lead? Instead, take that potential customer’s information and see what you can find them for auto insurance rates in their area.  You can use this as an opportunity to show the potential customer that although you are an online brand and can help those throughout the state, you’re also a local business and you understand the needs of local people. Customers will appreciate you being able to stay local while serving “non-locals.”

Think of those throughout the state you’re licensed in as your locals. You are not restricted to selling insurance within a 10 mile radius of your town, so you should be welcoming in leads from all over your state. Obviously there can be restrictions for certain products and/or areas, but don’t simply take a local only stance. That is a quick way to lose business and deter from the development of your online brand.

Remember, you now have two locations – your Virtual Insurance Office and your brick and mortar location. Finding the balance between staying local and building your online brand is all about your attitude and the attitude of your entire staff – do you have the right strategy? Tweet me @astonish_shawna and tell me how you’re doing with balancing local and online strategies.

If there is one thing we’ve all come to terms with, it’s that social media is just that – social. It may not seem like an in depth process – you type up a tweet, post a Facebook status and you’re done, right?

Not quite.

To truly be successful with social media, and Internet marketing as a whole, it takes stepping out of your comfort zone. If you sincerely want to grow your business—well be prepared to roll up your sleeves and do a bit of work.

Social media goes far beyond simply connecting with the public on Facebook and replying to client questions and concerns on Twitter—social media requires strategy, passion and a time commitment.

Through all this hype, many businesses are in fact seeing success on social media; thus motivating others to take the plunge. However, is everyone equally successful in social media? What are the superstars doing right? And better yet, what can we learn from them?

1. Plan Your Social Media Strategy

You can’t just jump into the arena and expect that things would just fall into place. Would you dive head first into the deep end, never having swam before? You need practice, time to prepare and a plan of action. Before you even create a social media account as yourself: “why am I doing this” and “why do I need to do this?” You need to determine what the purpose of your social site will be – is it a friendly Facebook page where you can have a more casual conversation with your community, or a professional blog where you want to brand yourself as an insurance expert? Plan your social approach with your goals in mind – and always remain consistent. Be prepared to invest time and resources.

2. Structure Your Online Presence

Do you have random social accounts on ever social networking site you’ve come across? Does your company profile look different from one site to another? Simple things like using the same logo, fonts, colors, etc. on – each social account – helps tie your web presences together, keeping everything uniform.

3. Conversation is Critical

“Networking” means socializing, conversing and inevitably forming mutually beneficial relationships—making it absolutely essential that your agency is on social media, participating and listening to your target audience(s). You should be cultivating a 2-way form of communication, equipped with a feedback loop and all. You want your clients’ opinions and insights to be heard – they help you to strengthen your social brand and the overall success of your business venture. Share interesting information on your social sites, ask for feedback, respond to comments, and keep the cycle of open communication flowing.

4. Share Valuable Information

It’s key to make your presence on social media not only valuable to yourself, but also to your readers, fans and followers. Share information that is helpful to your community – rather than constantly sending out spammy, self-promotional sales pitches.  Try highlighting your insurance expertise in a high-quality blog post or share a link about a recent news story that may affect your target audience; enhancing it with a comment which includes your professional opinion. It’s important to also share novelty content, such as upcoming events in your local community, stats from a favorite local sports team or pictures from the office party you had for a CSR’s birthday. It’s a delicate blend, but once you master the art of integrating newsworthy with entertaining, you will be paving your way to a successful social media strategy.
5. Be Committed, Be Consistent

This is where the time and dedication fact comes into play. In order to truly be successful in social media you must be consistent in the conversations you are having, helping to maintain and strengthen your brand image across the Internet. Being consistent, means you have to be committed, designating s set time in which you can focus solely on your social media accounts. Engagement is the keyword here; a half-hearted effort is easily detected, so always be genuine in your endeavors.

These are just a few simple things you can do to get the most out of your social media efforts. Have some additional suggestions? Post a comment below or feel free to reach out on Twitter! @Astonish_Kelly

As you’ve probably heard, book stores are dying. More than half of Borders Bookstores have closed; Barnes & Noble is struggling to stay afloat. Meanwhile, Amazon.com is thriving; with its stock price on a never ending climb. What has caused this change? Is it high overhead for brick-and-mortar stores? Somewhat.  The booming e-reader and tablet market? Perhaps.

People still like going into a bookstore, buying a book, and sitting down and grabbing a coffee – something Amazon cannot offer. People also like buying books online. Borders and B&N offer both, and e-reader’s to boot, so why are they still drowning? It is their culture, they are not dedicated to online sales and they are offering eBooks because they have to.

How do I know this? Amazon offered a livingsocial.com gift card half off. B&N follows up with the identical deal on Groupon. Except its not identical because they don’t get it – they do not get customer service. How does this manifest into a terrible experience for the consumer? Let me explain.

After you bought the B&N gift card, it takes you 24 hrs to receive it. When you receive it, it says you can’t use it quite yet, but in a few days you’ll be good to go. It also said it can’t be used on Nook products (their eBook readers) and that you have to use it by a certain date or it loses value. Groupon is made for businesses to attract new customers. What better way to get these new customers to hate you than to limit what they can buy, when they can buy, and force them to buy during a certain time frame. Besides the loss in value being illegal in some states, it’s just downright dumb. Once you order a book from B&N, they email you, but for whatever reason, they are not white listed in Gmail, so check your spam folder. And for the cherry on top, they use DHL for shipping which hands off to USPS. So expect to get your book 7-10 business days after ordering it.

How does this apply to insurance? Why am I ranting about a book store? Because insurance agencies can learn a lot from this case study. If you want to do something, do it well and be committed to it. If you want to sell insurance where people are looking for it today, do it online. But do not do it half-heartedly. Having a Facebook page doesn’t mean you are involved in social media. It’s in the execution. In this case, Amazon executes – they deliver great customer service, Barnes & Noble doesn’t and they are failing.

If you want to be an awesome online insurance agency (or any business for that matter), you must first be an awesome customer service company.  It is not always about price – think I’m going to get a cheaper book at B&N over a more expensive version on Amazon any time soon? – it’s about the experience.

Being a customer service company first has its advantages. You can take Amazon for example – they have branched out well beyond books and into every consumer product under the sun including groceries. But let’s take an insurance agency example.  Paul Murphy Insurance delivers great customer service and happens to sell insurance. Now he also sells online marketing services for small businesses in his area. This is a natural transition for them as they look to move into new markets and generate more profits. But if it wasn’t for their focus on being a customer service company, none of this would have been possible.

With the growing popularity of social networking, it can be easy for businesses to get caught up in all the latest and greatest social media marketing tips. The use of social media in search results is growing in popularity amongst all the search engines, not just Google. It’s important to understand the simple ways that you can improve you SEO through social media.

Search Engine Journal recently released an article regarding Twitter use for SEO that really drives this point home. It’s amazing what you can do for your SEO efforts through only 140 characters. Take a look at SEJ’s 10 tips to improve SEO through Twitter.

 
These are basic practices of using Twitter, but sometimes seeing how they work for purposes outside of just social presence, like for SEO, can help to drive the point home. Have any Twitter suggestions for SEO that I didn’t include? Tweet me at @astonish_shawna!

Have you ever asked yourself if you believe? Believing is one of the most important aspects your agency must have if you want to increase sales. As Astonish Results CEO Adam DeGraide says, you must believe in yourself, the place you work, and the products you offer if you want to be successful.

If you walk into work every day with a negative attitude you are already set for failure and it is going to come across that way to the people that surround you. Having self-confidence is number one. Confidence is a trait that will make you happier, and the customer happier, because people feel better about a decision you are telling them to make, if you yourself are confident in it. Next, is believing that you can help the customer. The customer doesn’t want you to sell them something; they want you to HELP them buy something. Truly wanting to help your customers is a trait that will come off in a sales call. Showing that you are there to help them get the best rate and are willing to go the extra step when they file a claim will only deepen the level of trust you have instilled.

The second thing you must believe in is the place you work. Understanding the culture of the agency in which you work will help you feel in place, and your insurance agency culture is something you can use to differentiate your agency from competitors. If you aren’t sure what the agency stands for, ask your agency principal. Why did you start this agency? What is the message we want to get across to our customers? And if you are the agency owner, I would think about these questions. As the principal, showing your agents that YOU believe will only help them on their path to success.

The third part of your agency that you must believe in is the products you sell. You can’t sell anything in any business if you do not truly believe that it is the best choice out there for your customers. When following up with a lead the customer can tell if you are insincere about the product you are offering. Believing in the insurance policy you are offering them, that it will help them and is the best possible policy they can get, will shine through in your voice and attitude.

So ask yourself again. Do you believe in yourself, your agency, and the products you sell? If you answer no to any of these questions, then take a step back and assess the situation. Look for inspiration in yourself. Ask the most optimistic person in the office what they believe in, or approach your agency principal to better understand the culture at your agency. And lastly, believe in what you’re selling. If you can’t convince yourself a product is great, how can you convince the customer?

During the recent #Inschat the discussion surrounded the topic of blogging. Insurance Marketing chat contributor @NicoleYeary shared a great statistic at the end of the chat showing that 14,409 people were reached by #Inschat tweets!

The conversation discussed blogging content, SEO, commenting, and more. Check below for the #Inschat round-up where we have grabbed some of the key tweets that contributed to the conversation. Full transcript available at the bottom.

Question #1—What are some good ways to promote your blog?

@ReyInsurance:
absolutely on your website! twitter is fun too (of course), monthly newsletters, facebook, linkedin #inschat

@RitaAtNCLife:
Yes definitely RT @Astonish_Kelly: Q1: URLs & “teaser” messages in Tweets & Fbook Status are an easy way! #inschat

@BravuraLeads:
Q1. I try to link to it as much as possible. In my emails, by commenting on other blogs, through SM i.e. Twitter & Linkedin #INSchat

@LloydProGrp:
He have all our social media sources linked to our blog or updates. Facebook link, twitter, website, linked in… #inschat

@IIABNY:
We use links to our fan page, Twitter account and LinkedIn group at the bottom of all marketing e-mails #inschat

@maia_melissa:
Just did the same as of 1/1 @GarryInsurance Q1: links in e-mail signature as well as links on our social networking sites #INSchat #inschat

Question #2—Do you have a blog commenting strategy?

@doubleicf: Yes! I keep a running list of sites I hit weekly RT @LloydProGrp: Dont forget to bookmark everything and your other friends too! #inschat

@BrownstoneInsur: A2 – No strategy per say. I simply have a few key blogs I regularly read and offer further insight or interaction. #INSchat

@Berrys_Amanda: RT @Astonish_Kelly: Q2: I have a network of other #bloggers that I follow; I always try to comment on their posts ASAP after I post to generate convo #INSchat

@astonish_alicia: Q2: Finding relevant posts and posting a genuine comment and link! #Inschat

@IIABNY: Q2. No formal strategy on commenting, but I find comments are most helpful when they expand a point or introduce a new perspective #inschat

Question #3—Where do you look when you are stuck for content ideas?

@GarryInsurance: Q3: I try to use experiences like a few weeks ago I put my car in the ditch & used Roadside Assistance – So I blogged about it! #INSchat

@kellydavis226: Q3: my google reader – I subscribe to relevant blogs and there’s always new stuff to read, all in one place. Great inspiration! #INSchat

@maia_melissa: Q3: I rummage thru the search engine terms that brought people to the blog to begin with. #inschat

@iWebHound: Q3 – Take notes if you exhibit at tradeshows. We did a blog post about FAQ we heard. Seemed to get a lot of curious people clicking #INSchat

@AskTim: @maia_melissa @ReyInsurance I just did a blog post this morning based on a client question. #inschat

Question #4—What is the best way to optimize a blog post?

@PRnick: A4L: Write posts with SEO keywords, use keyword as links to relevant pages, SEO plugin, intriguing titles (w/ keywords of course) #inschat

@GarryInsurance: Q4: Using the same back link terms from post to post to keep it consistent #INSchat

@Astonish_Kelly: Q4 I try to optimize all images too! putting keywords in the ALT text & captions of photos in your post is an easy way to start! #INSchat

@ReyInsurance: hyperlink content to other sites? RT @InsuranceMHQ: Q4: What are the best ways to optimize a blog post? #seo #inschat

Question #5—Lets share blog links for networking!

@InsuranceMHQ: http://insurancemarketinghq.com / http://www.theinsuranceblogger.com(Coming soon!)

@iWebhound: http://iwebhound.wordpress.com/

@Bravuraleads: http://www.bravuraleads.com/news

@RitaatNCLife: http://blog.nclife.com/

@ReyInsurance: http://www.equifax.com/blog/insurance/en_ff

@IIABNY: http://www.iiaba.net

@Maia_melissa: http://massagent.wordpress.com

@Berrys_Amanda: http://www.mainsurancejuice.com

@Lloydprogroup: www.atlantainsurancetips.com / http://www.lloydprogroup.com/blog/

@KellyDavis226: http://blog.blisspr.com/

@GarryInsurance: http://garryinsurancenterblog.com/

@NicoleYeary: http://nicoleyeary.com / http://aelloluxe.com

@FCSBulletins: http://www.propertycasualty360.com

@JimKinmartin: http://jimkinmartin.com

@AskTim: http://insurancegeek.typepad.com.

@BrownstoneInsur: www.brownstoneinsurance.com/blog

@Carrie_AGINS: http://www.insurancegoddess.com/

Thank you to everyone who participated. If you were part of #Inschat and we forgot to add your blog just let us know! The next insurance marketing chat will take place next month; time and topic to be determined.

View the entire #Inschat transcript here.

The most important part of the sales process is the sales person. When you wake up in the morning do you dread getting out of bed to face the day ahead of you or are you excited because it is going to be a great day no matter what?

Having a positive attitude is something that is important not only in sales but in everyday life. Being negative only brings others around you down. If you approach everyday and every new situation with a positive attitude then you will have more energy. A positive attitude and increased energy produce results. You will become more effective and efficient in your everyday life including the workplace.

Astonish Results CEO and Co-Founder, Adam DeGraide, says that he jumps out of bed in the morning ready to seize the day no matter what lies ahead of him or what challenges he may face. He says purpose, passion, and meaning are what keep him going.

Everyone that you come across has a story. Of course there are things happening in other people’s lives that are positive and negative. But if you come into a situation with the best outlook possible, you can only rub off on others.

How do you try and stay positive every day?

Watch the Astonishing Coaching video below to see all the ways Adam uses his positive attitude to increase his productivity:

Every year at this time thoughts are swarming through the heads of many. What will be my New Year’s Resolution? And of everyone who vows to lose weight, quit a bad habit, relax more, and spend more time with friends, how many of them had made that exact same resolution just one year earlier? Probably most of them.

Having a New Year’s Resolution does not mean much if you are not going to keep it, or if it was the same one as last year. As an independent insurance agency have you come up with resolutions for the New Year? You might think, well of course, to obtain more leads, to sell more policies, and increase your premium. All great things to strive for in 2010, but where are you going to get the leads, to sell the policies, to increase your premium? It all boils down to having a blended marketing strategy.

As Astonish Results Co-Founders Adam DeGraide and Tim Sawyer travel the country and speak with agents they say the same thing. Many of the people that sit in on their presentations and speeches shake their heads in compliance. Knowing that coming up with such a strategy is a great idea, but will never act on implementing one.

If your agency makes one resolution to keep this year it should be to implement a blended strategy, and if you already have one working than continue on improving it! Implementing a strategy is the first step, now you must evaluate your efforts and focus on tweaking the weaker parts, and repeating the successful ones.

You can do it, you just have to believe:

Recently, after a whirlwind of a year, Astonish Results CEO, Adam DeGraide and President, Tim Sawyer, had the opportunity to sit down together and reflect upon some of the common themes they saw while talking to insurance agencies.

 It’s obvious that as technology changes so must the approach taken by agents. Sawyer commented on the mindset that today’s agencies seem to have, stating: “they discovered that they can drive traffic; they can increase the quantity and quality of traffic to their websites and they can get more sales opportunities,” – sounds like a movement in the right direction. Well not entirely, “the reality is that ultimately is not going to fix anything,” Sawyer responded.

 So what will?

“Train you people,” Sawyer said. It’s the common thread Astonish Results has seen from all agency leaders they have met with this year. Both Sawyer and DeGraide couldn’t stress enough the importance of the right people, process and tools and how all of that must flow cohesively with proper, effective training.

“Just because someone has been in the insurance industry for 20-years doesn’t mean they are great at serving the modern consumer,” Sawyer explained. Agents must be trained in a way that they aren’t just told how to do something; they must be shown, in addition to being provided feedback and benchmarking. It all comes down to a “comprehensive, consistent training system,” according to the Astonish President.

DeGraide had a lot of insight to share as well, including the vital ingredient that all agencies should be focusing on, “how well do you communicate effectively with the modern consumer”. DeGraide explained how many people think that marketing their company and selling more policies are results that will spawn from the use of “widgets” and “gadgets”; something the Astonish CEO proves is very untrue.

“Technology will be different next year. The thing that will never change though, is that if you have a good process of training your people on how to sell and serve the modern consumer and you’re willing to go through the pain of what that actually takes to listen to phone calls, to actually monitor what’s actually going on in your business, then these agencies can literally change their lives”.

Like Sawyer, DeGraide highlights how vital detailed training is to the success of the modern agency. He also has high expectations for the upcoming year and the field of insurance marketing as a whole. “What I find really encouraging is that they are starting to get it. They realize what the investment is, they realize what the cost is and most importantly they train their people to convert opportunities into sales”. 

As the needs of the modern consumer evolve so do those of the agencies providing them with insurance; it’s all relative to the Astonish “find, keep, sell” method and that cannot be achieved without thorough onsite training.