Every writer gets writers block sometimes. With all the great content out there today, how can you find creative ways to stand out? Blogging is a great insurance marketing strategy on the Internet and, i’ll tell you, one of the best ways to think of a topic is finding inspiration from the season we are currently in. Whether it’s, winter, spring, fall, or summer, there are always great ways to spin an idea through that thought process.
Whether you read local newspapers, Internet blogs, or you find inspiration from your everyday life, thinking about the time we are in is important. Using the seasons as a starting point for your idea takes a timely and immediate approach to your writing.

Some ideas to get you started:

Finding inspiration and topics to write about can be difficult, but put a little fun in your topics and you are more likely to be interested in what you are writing about. The change of seasons will give you a plethora of ideas to choose from.

Remember always write your ideas down as you think of them so you can use other topics in the future. All the topics above you will be able to relate in many ways to your readers and, it will give you a more timely approach to your writing which is very important.  So stop draining yourself by thinking too hard and take a seasonal approach to your writing today.

Whether your agency writes onsite blogs, offsite blogs, link building articles or all of the above, you obviously know the importance of having solid content. Content for the web is unlike any other forms because you’re trying to cater to a real audience (people) and also the search engines. While it may not seem like much on the surface, it’s actually a more daunting task than it seems. When contributing content to the web, it’s always important you’re holding yourself to a high standard to improve your insurance marketing website.

In the days of social media, blogging and search engines, quality content is more important than it has ever been. There’s no use in churning out writing that doesn’t live up to a certain level of integrity and style, so here are some tips to help you and your agency keep yourself alive in Google:

• Keep it concise: One of the general rules of thumb of online content is to keep as short as possible while still effectively delivering your message. Now, we’re not saying to write a single paragraph and leave it that, but to also not write a book, either. As an independent agency trying to get its website to show up in the rankings, you need to focus more on multiple posts and articles, not just a long one every so often. So get to the point as quickly as possible and leave out any unnecessary information.

• Use Headings: Naturally, human beings prefer to be directed at what they should be reading instead of just blindly going through content. If you publish a blog post or article that is on the longer side, it may be wise to separate each section with headings and/or subheadings to make it easier on the reader. With headings, readers will be able to skim down the page and read the parts that may be more of interest or value to them.

• Inverted Pyramid: Ever hear of the “Inverted Pyramid”? In journalism, the inverted pyramid refers to the strategy of placing information in any given article. Normally, the most important information will be up top and fill most of the article, followed by secondary information in the middle and any related but not as important information at the bottom. If you want to lower your bounce rate, you’ll want to make sure you have the important stuff at the top so the reader has a chance to take it in before leaving your website.

As an independent insurance agency, you want your website to not only serve as a way for people to sign up for quotes, but to also reel in potential customers through search engine optimization. Your content is the bridge connecting your website to new leads, so take pride in whatever you write. Remember: keep it simple, thoughtful and fun!

By now your agency mostly likely has a blog, social media profiles, and hopefully an email newsletter set up. The question is: Are you using these channels to communicate compelling information that your prospects find useful or interesting? (Useful and interesting enough to fill out a form on your site?) To answer this question, you first need to define your content strategy.

In part one of this blog series, we’ll talk about how to set up a content strategy. In part two we’ll discuss how to take your content strategy to the next level.

5 Steps to a Successful Content Strategy:

1. Define your business goals and objectives – Perhaps your goal is to increase the number of leads coming in through your website, perhaps it’s to accumulate a local following of blog readers in hopes that they will eventually convert.

2. Evaluate your customers – Analyze your current client base. Who are they? Look at demographics. The content strategy you create will have their interests in mind.

3. Brainstorm ideas for content that will compel visitors to take action or return to your site – Your goal should be to become a one-stop resource for local community information, advice about insurance, including ways to cut insurance costs, and useful tips for preventing accidents from happening. Resist the urge to tout all the benefits of buying insurance from your agency. Sales-y language won’t keep them coming back to your blog or social media profiles.

4. Add value – Create a whitepaper, video, or a fun contest to keep visitors engaged while also providing value. You can create a whole campaign around one of these ideas. For example: if you create a whitepaper, try promoting it with an article on your blog, then drive traffic to the blog post via social media channels and email.

5. Measure – Last, but not least, it’s important to measure the impact of your content strategy. Look at how much traffic you were able to drive to your blog, how much time people spent on the page, and whether or not they filled out the form. Measuring is the most important aspect of all insurance marketing strategies because it helps you figure out what’s working and what’s not.

One last tip when thinking about content: Keep it light – Insurance can be a complicated topic. When creating content, especially for your blog and emails, think about disseminating information in small, digestible chunks. Think of it in terms of “Top 5” ways to reduce your car insurance premium… or “Top 5” ways to mitigate risk, etc. More tips like this coming up in part two!

Thinking outside the box and becoming more creative to generate leads is a great insurance marketing strategy for your insurance agency. Social media has become one of the leading ways to impact your community, generate interest, and draw in prospective clients. Whether you are heavily invested in Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, you have got to start somewhere.

All of these social media sites provide different opportunities for your agency to brand itself on. As a leader in the insurance industry, you will want to use social media to integrate fundraising and community service into your agency. This creative and humbling Internet marketing tactic will not only bring you leads, but it will build a stronger community for your agency.

Integrating fundraising and community service into your social media strategy:

Through Facebook, you are going to be able to optimize your experience by creating interesting posts that people want to interact with. Through Twitter, you are going to be able to promote good things going on with your event or service to provide real time updates. And through LinkedIn you can update your initiative through your professional networking groups.

Being involved on a day to day basis with your Facebook friends and potential clients is a great way to generate new leads through social media. Creating a fundraiser or community service event to bring the community together, will not only benefit the non-profit or business you are donating your proceeds to, but it will benefit the community, and even better your agency. Think outside the box and bring people together through social media, and you will be guaranteed to build a larger and more beneficial community surrounding your insurance agency.

If you invite a friend over for dinner, there is a certain set of unspoken social guidelines that must be followed. Everyone is expected to be on their best behavior, and actions occur without needing to be prompted. Mothers work very hard to teach their children the proper manners of having a guest, and what it means to treat the guest with courtesy and respect.

This is the same case when you invite people to come to your web site and read your blog! On the internet, a place of anonymity, sometimes manners can fall by the wayside. Because of this, people tend to notice when people and businesses act with class. Having good blogging manners can set your company apart, and differentiate you from other businesses!

When you have guests arriving, it is advisable to make sure your home is neat and tidy. In the same way, your web site’s layout is the first impression many people will have of your business. Make sure everything is in its place, and that there is no unnecessary clutter.

While entertaining your guests, you want to make sure the experience is enjoyable. You need to make sure that your blog posts are interesting, not just the same old content everyone is recycling, but something your guests will appreciate, preferably even something that they will not find anywhere else.

It is important that your guests feel that they are taking part in the conversation. While the main goal of your blog is to impart wisdom to your web site’s visitors, it is important that your guests are engaged. If you encourage your guests to comment on a post, or reach out to you on a social networking site, they are likely to feel like they have a relationship with the company.

As an added step, you must make sure to further any conversation your guest initiates. If a guest at dinner were ignored any time they commented on the conversation, they would likely be affronted. No matter if a comment is positive or negative; every comment deserves a response, even if it is simply “Thank you for your input.”

By using all these manners in your company’s blog, you will achieve the number one goal of entertaining a guest: the guest will leave with a positive experience. If this occurs, your blog is likely to receive more traffic, both from pleased guests that have come back, and more referrals!

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.

We’ve all seen it, “Click Here” for more information.  This is the anchor text for the hyperlink to the page you want people to go to. The anchor text is the visible part of the link. It is usually highlighted or underlined to help it stand out and let people know that if you “click here” you will be taken to another page or site.  People have been conditioned to recognize a hyperlink when they see specific words underlined or in a different font color from the rest of the text.  “Click Here” might have been a good choice when the internet was new but it doesn’t really do anything for your site.

The anchor text should tell your reader what the page or site is about that you want them to go to.  So, anchor text would be a great place for your good keywords when you are blogging, posting articles, press releases or whenever you are linking back to your website. A link back to your site is like a vote for your site.  When you are using the correct keywords in the anchor text and linking back from a relevant site it’s like your website or page is getting a vote for that particular keyword.  “This site is an authority for this keyword.” This will help you move up the ranks as your site gets more quality “votes”.

Do you see why “click here” wouldn’t be a great choice for anchor text? I’m sure you don’t want to be the authority for “click here”.

Good anchor text is more than just using your keywords.  You want your anchor text to look natural.  It should flow with the rest of your sentence.  Google is smart and they like to see natural language. If your anchor text looks spammy it will be noticed, but not in a good way. It is better to link back to your page with “…auto insurance in Memphis” instead of “…auto insurance Memphis” which is not natural. You will gain more by writing naturally than by trying to use the exact phrase and looking spammy.

If you want your insurance marketing campaign to be a success, keep reading.  See how “insurance marketing” is naturally part of the sentence, this blog is about insurance marketing and it is pointing to our site which is optimized for insurance marketing.

You should always be linking back to your website.  So, remember to use good keywords in your anchor text when linking back to your site.  Whether you are working on your social media, posting a press release or writing an article, using the proper anchor text to link back to your website will help your site gain authority and move up the rankings.

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

You’ve picked your keywords.  These are keywords that match what you sell and people are actually using them in their searches. But what do you do with them? How do you deploy these good keywords so they help drive relevant traffic to your site?

Well, to start, you want to write good content that uses your keywords throughout.  The trick here is not to overuse your keywords and look spammy.  Google is really working to cut the spammy pages from their results.   Try spreading your words out in the content.  Start with having the keyword you’re focusing on in the first sentence of the page.  Hopefully you have enough good content that your keywords can be mentioned a couple of times in the body without looking like spam.    Finally, it is good practice to close with the chosen keyword in the last sentence of the page.  I like to add it in to the call to action whenever possible.

In addition to placing them throughout the content, you should add the keywords to the on page title. This lets the search engines and potential clients know what the page is about.  Also, emphasizing or bolding your particular keywords tells your potential customers and the search engines that these are important and your page has what they want. “Hello! Look over here.  This is the keyword you’re looking for.”

Of course the most important place for your keywords is in the title tag.  The title tag labels your page in the browser, this appears at the very top of your browser window, and is what shows up as the title for your page in the search results. So it is important to write good title tags for both the search engines and the people searching for your specific keywords.  A bad title tag can be just as bad as not having one at all.

You now know that it is important not only to have good keywords, but to strategically place them throughout the pages of your site.  Your keywords will appear important enough to the search engines to rank your site and relevant enough to potential clients who see these results and will click on your page.  But alas, keywords are only one part of the picture. To move your site to the top of the results you still need more. But enough of my blibber blabbering…until next time…have an Astonishing day!

In this era of Internet Marketing and strategic Social Media—it’s crucial that we don’t forget our roots. It all began with the written word. Whether it was a 2-line slogan plastered across an Interstate billboard or a 3-inch testimonial in the local newspaper, marketers have been using content to spark curiosity and engage consumers.

Today, more than ever, content is STILL king—we’re just evolving our writing techniques and strategies.

No matter what industry you’re in, marketers are harvesting the power of genuine, unique content to drive traffic and inevitably increase revenues.

It’s true—content is constantly adapting to all outlets—easily tailored to fit the needs of a website, Facebook update, Tweet or blog post. Yet it’s critical to remember that the end goal is still the same—cultivate traffic, educate visitors and keep them coming back for more.

As the Blog and Content Manger at Astonish Results, I am frequently faced with the need to create custom content that will actually benefit others. The key to stellar content comes from within. You may not realize it, but the more genuine you are, the more relevant and your level of authenticity can be felt by the reader. Gaining their trust through your text is crucial to gaining their business.

Content is what will entice people to return to your site, or better yet sign up for your RSS feed. It’s what will motivate another industry professional or blogger to want to link to you and further share your work—and we all know that when you get those links, they are the priceless building blocks needed to improve your site’s rank within the search engines.

So how can you improve your content?
Quality content—that will perform better across various Social Media platforms and enhance your ability to convert—starts with research. It may seem unnecessary at first, but after a while, trying to come up with good content ideas will become a more trying task. And even if you have an incredible idea, putting in that extra time to research will only benefit you—strengthening the value and credibility of what you write.

Leave some things unsaid. Don’t exhaust your topics. Whether it’s content for your website, a social media update or an in-depth blog post—leave room for conversation. Provide a source for discussion and commentary. You want your readers to get involved in your content, helping it to grow.

When possible, integrate visuals. People love images, graphics and are especially fond of video. Adding multimedia to your content is a great way to give it some personality and life. When you are constantly publishing content that is solely text is can begin to appear mundane. The last thing you want is for your content to be unappealing to the reader. Break up your formatting—every once in a while it’s beneficial to separate extensive paragraphs with bulleted lists, graphics and powerful quotes or statistics.

Lastly, don’t forget to keep exploring, testing and investigating. There is no doubt that content is going to continue to influence Internet Marketing, Social Media and SEO—so don’t hesitate to try new things!