Techniques to Make Your Website More EffectiveAnd Get More Traffic

Amanda OldhamWebsite Coordinator

What counts as an “effective website”?• Website design is judged by the users and clients

who interact with the website• Usually, this judgement is based on usability, first

impressions, and how the website functions as a whole• Websites that perform poorly in these departments

will not rank as highly

Focus Your Energy On What Works• Technology continues to grow rapidly. But market

trends grow and change just as quickly• If something does not work for you and your goals,

cut it out. No matter how cool it looks or if everyone else is doing that same thing• Be the trendsetter• Put that time, money, energy and effort into the

pieces of your website that work well

Make Your Site Useful to Clients• If your site isn’t useful, it will not be a

very effective tool• Figure out what your main goal is:• Lead generation?• Customer service?

• Add things for your clients to do that they will want to do• Such as: quote forms, payment and

claims information, insurance education

Keep All Forms Short• Clients are more likely to

fill out a shorter form• Shorter forms ask for

basic information:• Name, contact info, basic

information for the line of business

• It means more work for you the agent• But will increase your

leads and lets you add a personal touch

• Longer forms can intimidate a client who is just starting their search• They mean less work for

you in the long run, but it comes at a high risk for scaring off a potential client

Keep Your Website Up To Date

Emphasize Fast Load Times• You have 15 seconds on average to grab a client’s

attention, don’t waste a third of your time because your website takes 5 seconds to load• Pages that load slowly decrease client’s interest and

increase likelihood they will go to the next search result• Avoid items like Flash and auto-playing videos• Optimize your images for your websites so they are

lighter

Go After referrals• Referrals are the life blood of a lot of agencies• Have a way for clients to refer their friends and

family members, and make sure to feature it prominently

Use Eye Catching Photography• A good photo grabs the attention of your client• A bad photo can make your website look out of

date, unprofessional, or just cheesy

Avoid a Bad Content/Ad Ratio• If your website includes advertisements, make sure

that they are subtle and out of the way of your website’s content• Always makes sure that

there is at least 5x more ofyour content than all of yourads combined• Avoid pop up ads completely

Vary Page Length & Format• Increase and decrease the amount of text on a page

to better appeal to your audience and your goals• A website that focuses on information should not

two short paragraphs of content• Don’t make your clients read an essay before they

can submit their information to you• Write until you’ve gotten your point across: which

could be a few sentences to a healthy amount of longer paragraphs• But never forget your target audience

Break Up the Text into Small Chunks• Avoid having a wall of text on any of your pages• Add the following items to your content to make

your pages more legible and easier on the eyes• Short paragraphs• Bullet points• Numbered list• Photos• Videos• Subheading

Avoid Duplicate Content• Always write original content for your website• Google will notice if your website pages have

content that “either completely match[es] other content or [is] appreciably similar” and it will affect your SEO negatively• If your website has pages that have original content

that is similar to other original content on your website, you can tell the search engines which page you’d prefer them to read• Avoid placeholder text on any website that is live

Write Better Page Titles and Headlines• Titles and headlines introduce your audience to

what the page they are on is about• Should be under 70 characters, so keep it short• Be specific by adding in city names• Affordable Dallas Home Insurance vs just Home Insurance

• Use a formula to keep your pages consistent• Make a Payment | A & B Insurance Agency

• Clever headlines make readers laugh, but search engines may not get the joke

Add Internal Links to Your Content• Internal links connect one page of your website to

another• These links make your website easier to navigate

and can help improve your optimization

Add Accurate Alt Tags to Your Photos• Search engines can only

read text, not images• Alt tags help Google and

the other engines crawl photos• Avoid keyword

spamming• Describe the photo and

graphic as concisely as possible

BLOG!• Blogging is one of the best and easiest ways to

increase your website’s effectiveness and optimization• Each time you post an original blog, your website

gets re-read by the search engines and re-evaluated for relevancy• Blogs don’t have to be long. Shorter blogs can be

just as effective as they are easier for people to read• Make it a goal to blog at least 1 post per month• Don’t forget to promote your new blog post on

social media!

Join Us Next Month• January’s Masters of Marketing: Ask Me Anything• Scott Cornelius, from ECI Agency in Oklahoma will

be telling the story of how he went from almost closing his agency down and then turned everything around with the help of online marketing.• He will be answering your questions about how he

did it, how he continues to do it, and what things you can do to do the same.

Don’t Forget!• We hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s batch of

monthly webinars.• If you liked them and want to stay up to date in

2016, you will need to re-register for the new year• Just go to:

http://www.getitc.com/solutions/agency_marketing/webinar/• An email will be sent out in January as well that you

can click on to re-register