Content is the stuff you put on your Web site. That includes just about everything - your logo, tagline or slogan, information about your agency, products and services, office location, staff members and their e-mail addresses, the carriers you represent, surveys, FAQs, quote forms, applications, tips for buying insurance, glossary of insurance terms, responses mechanisms, graphics and photos, copyright notice, privacy statement, terms of use, and the list goes on. Without content, it's pointless to build a Web site.
The idea of gathering and developing content seems simple enough. After all, your site is about your agency and insurance - things you already know lots about. What could be simpler about putting up a Web site than creating content? Whip out the agency brochure, use this paragraph, discard that one, add a few words here, trim a sentence there, rearrange a few things, add some graphics from a low cost CD-ROM, and presto! you've just developed the content for your Web site.
Well, there's a little more to it than that. In fact, entire books on the subject of developing Web content could be written, though surprisingly few have been. Short of reading a comprehensive treatment of the subject, here are a number of considerations for developing Web content.
What is your site's purpose?
Before you can decide what content to put on your site, you need to have a clear idea of your site's primary purpose. Of course, your site can have multiple purposes, but you need to know what they are. Likely, many agency sites were developed with the more or less vague purpose of "letting people know about us and what we offer." But an effective Web site is an extension of a marketing plan and the business plan it's a part of. Possible purposes include: selling personal lines insurance, providing online self service, educating customers, building the agency's image and brand awareness, attracting a particular demographic, reaching a specialty or niche market, and others.
For example, if your Web site's primary purpose is to sell insurance online, the content you create needs to reflect a sales emphasis. That could include detailed product descriptions, list of benefits, comparative quotes, an online application process, rating, underwriting, billing, policy issuance, evidence of insurance, credit card functionality, and other features required to facilitate and transact the sale of a policy.
If, on the other hand, your site's primary purpose is to educate existing customers, a number of those sales features would be unnecessary. Instead, you'd likely emphasize educational content, such as a glossary of insurance terms, articles that address specific customer needs (e.g., protection against hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornados, etc.), consumer tips about buying insurance, FAQs, detailed information about the claims process, and other informational content.
There is no right or wrong regarding what content to include, so long as it reflects the site's purpose. Determining the site's purpose is the essential starting point from which most content decisions are made.
Who is your audience?
It's probably easy (and convenient) for many agency owners to assume that everybody is a potential insurance customer because most everybody needs some kind of insurance. Yet, I doubt that most agencies started out with such a broad vision. More likely, a budding agency somewhere in America's heartland probably thought that they knew and understood farmers and farming and developed an agricultural focus. Another agency, located along the Gulf coast, started out with the idea that commercial shrimpers were under-served and decided to pursue a commercial marine niche. Another agency, in a metropolitan market with high-density multi-family housing, developed a specialty in homeowners and tenants insurance.
The fact is, most every insurance agency's market is relatively narrowly defined - whether by design or accident. Thus, your marketing strategy - and your Web site content - should be more narrowly focused on the actual market you want to attract. If your agency focuses primarily on personal lines, use headlines, language, and graphics that "say" personal insurance. If your agency is primarily commercial lines oriented, adjust your content accordingly. Likewise, if your agency focuses on specialty markets and niches, tailor your content along those lines.
To some extent, developing content for a relatively narrow market simplifies decisions about products and services, language style and tone, graphics, and other clues that might influence visitors and prospect (see side bar). But, if your agency's strategy, market and product mix, and audience are so diverse as to create confusion in a single site, consider building two distinct ones.
How to evaluate potential content
In gathering and evaluating potential content, what should you consider? Even though there is an element of subjectivity to it, three criteria can help you make that determination.
Content sources
Where do you find content to develop and include on your Web site. Content usually comes from three sources, which include:
Goals of content
When it's all said and done, and if your content is relevant, useful, and meaningful, it will accomplish several things.
First, it will establish and enhance credibility with your audience. If a Web site cannot establish credibility, the Web effort will be lost, and visitors will move on to another site that is credible. A site's credibility is initially judged by its visual appearance, which provides instant clues about who created the site and what the site is all about. The importance of a good first impression applies to Web sites just like it applies to other opportunities that arise in the marketing and sales process.
Second, the content of your Web site will provide sufficient information about your products and services. If developed adequately (a determination visitors will make using their own criteria), your content will hopefully provoke interest and response. The insurance product is based on an unseen promise. The more your content describes the unseen product and service, the better your chance of enabling the visitor to imagine the value of what you offer.
Third, good content positions your message within a larger context. For example, you don't just sell auto insurance, but you protect against the risk of damage or injury caused by other drivers. Driving is an activity that takes place in potentially risky situations, not in a vacuum. Your content should somehow relate the product or service to needs, reasons to buy, benefits derived, etc. Don't assume that your visitors already know enough about insurance. If they did, they wouldn't be using your Web site. Make sure your content addresses key issues, trends, and developments (when applicable), and your role within that context.
Fourth, content aims at anticipating and answering visitors' questions. That's why people visit Web sites in the first place - to get information. How do you know what kind of information people want? Ask your producers and CSRs - they talk to customers and prospects all the time. They know the questions people ask. You could also survey existing customers via telephone or mail, and include surveys on your Web site.
Fifth, the ultimate goal of your Web site is to "connect" with the visitor and provoke response. You will know when that happens when the visitor contacts your agency. Assuming your Web site has monitoring and tracking capability (see the August issue of Sounding Line), you can determine how many visitors actually looked beyond the home page and how long they looked at other pages. If you're disappointed with what you discover, you probably aren't connecting and making a positive impact.
Finally…
When developing Web site content, remember who you are developing it for - your Web site visitors. Successful content development will yield results, but there's no magic formula. Fortunately, because your Web site is always a "work in progress," you can modify, update, enhance, and even change your content until it produces the results you want.
Compare and Contrast: Four Approaches to Content Development
To get some insight into how the development of Web site content is derived from the site’s purpose and audience, look at these four sites from outside the insurance industry. While I’m not suggesting that these examples are appropriate for an agency Web site (nor am I endorsing their respective products), they amply demonstrate that form (content) follows function (purpose and market).
Dell Computer (www.dell.com). Dell sells it products online or from mail order catalogs. This site “says” simple, clean, direct, well organized, and easy to use — everything you want from a computer and the company that makes it. And, as an e-commerce site, it is easy to understand and use.
Gucci (www.gucci.com). Even before looking at the Gucci Web site, you know the name and that it connotes high style and fashion. The Web site does not disappoint and is visually stunning. This site is a good example of building image and brand awareness.
AARP (www.aarp.com). This site, as expected, is geared to the over 50 age demographic. From its content and visuals, you can easily tell that the organization thinks of and depicts older Americans as active, vital, progressive, and involved — quite unlike the stereotype of yesteryear’s seniors.
Dr. Martens (www.drmartens.com). If you’ve seen the shoes and the demographic that wears them, this site will be no surprise. The site is an online catalog for the shoes as well as an image and brand building tool. Like the Gucci site, this site is also visually bold and striking, but for an obviously different demographic.
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