For some agents, online site building services could provide a suitable alternative to developing a beginning or intermediate Web presence. The hard stuff is already figured out, and you can get some satisfaction that you built it. It's kind of like building something from a kit. Unless you tell them, most people won't know the difference if the end result is well done.
As pointed out in part one (see the November 2001 issue), undertaking a Web site building project requires significant effort. There are many things to consider. Fortunately, you have several options for actually building your site. You can build it yourself or hire somebody else to build the site for you. Or, as this article focuses on, you can build your site using an online site building service.
While these services are few and far between, they offer an alternative for agents who want Web site building simplicity with a measure of involvement and control. And as a further distinction, such services enable you to actually interact with the online site builder, make choices and decisions, and build your site "on the fly." By comparison, a variety of other Web site builders offer pre-packaged "you-make-a-few-choices" services that are based on pre-designed templates and other selected options, but the Web developer still produces the actual site. These, as well as the custom approach, will be discussed in part three.
What online site building services do
Options and details vary from one service to another, but online site building services offer the same thing - a complete, one-stop process and package price for getting your own Web site up and running. What's more, online site builders provide step-by-step instructions that guide you through the site building process. Read this, do that, click here, go to the next step, type your choices here, and so forth, and in relatively short order, you have your Web site. All the technical stuff has been figured out for you. Like building something from a kit in which most of the parts are included, you assemble the final product.
All Web sites, regardless of how they are built, need three basic ingredients: 1) a domain name and hosting service to "park" your site on the Internet, 2) a visual expression to the Web pages so people can see and navigate them on their computer screen, and 3) content (textual and graphic) to give meaning and value to your Web effort. In varying proportions, online site builders offer these three ingredients.
Domain name and hosting: Online site builders typically include the domain name registration and hosting services. Who and how the site building service partners with in providing such services are transparent to the user. Your level of involvement at this decision point is about the same as with other site building alternatives - very little. You have to decide on a domain name, pay to get it registered, and get things set up with the Web host. Online site builders usually include the domain name selection process within their own Web site; that way, you don't have to go out of the site to a registrar service. Once your domain name is approved, registration, set-up, and hosting are taken care of.
Visuals and design: Giving your Web site a visual expression is, perhaps, one of the more fascinating aspects (to me, at least) of online site builders. That's because most of the site's visual appearance and graphic details are worked out for you in pre-designed templates. What many regard as a difficult creative activity - designing the look and feel of their Web site - is, for the most part, eliminated. You select which template you like and that's what your Web site will look like. Of course, pre-designed templates mean that your choices are limited, and you may not like what you see. That's one of the trade-offs you make for lower cost, convenience, and simplicity. While you may not be particularly impressed with the choices available, online site builders typically offer a degree of customization through other graphic options and inclusion of customer-supplied material.
Online site builders advertise that their templates are professionally designed. I've looked at a number of them, and some are quite nice, but others are less appealing. Because Web site appearance is a subjective issue, you'll have to determine for yourself what suits your tastes.
Content: We'll probably repeat this until we're blue in the face, but content is what visitors look for when visiting your site. They want meaningful and useful information about insurance and your agency. For many, developing useful content is a challenging task. Nevertheless, content is what distinguishes your site from one that might have a similar visual appearance.
Depending on the site building service, how you generate and submit your content may vary. If you use the online site building service offered by an insurance industry provider, a fair amount of generic, insurance-specific content will be available. You will need to supply additional content that the site building service cannot anticipate - agency-specific content (see page 17 for ideas) and elements that cannot be pre-programmed.
If you use a non-industry site building service, you'll have to generate the content yourself. You could develop that yourself, hire a copywriter to develop it for you, borrow ideas from other agencies (borrow, not plagiarize), acquire insurance-specific content from industry sources, or use any combination of ideas and sources. The main idea to keep in mind is that your content should be both agency- and insurance-specific, unique, meaningful, and relevant to your target market's needs and interests.
Other things to know
Because online site builders cannot be all things to all people, you need to carefully look at what is offered, how the process really works, and how well everything fits together to support your Web strategy. For example, insurance industry providers typically offer specific insurance content - educational information, quoting services, and information-gathering forms. On the other hand, non-insurance providers may offer more options for site personalization. Both options have their strong points and their limitations.
Like any Web development effort, you still need to address Web strategy, goals, business and marketing communication issues, target audience, and expectations. Site builder service are only tools for getting your Web presence launched - they cannot think through the dozens of important management and strategy issues that go into an effective Web presence. You must do that yourself.
Insurance agents tend to be a protective lot. They are ever mindful of data ownership and other proprietary issues. Online site building services fall into something of a gray area that you need to be aware of. As with every other service provider, you will want to know who's who and what's what with respect to information you provide, access, recoverability of content, hosting arrangements, fees, payments, etc. These issues are not necessarily unique to online site builders, but are things you need to be aware of when opting for this site-building alternative.
Three services
Safeco Plaza Online SiteBuilder:
(www.safecoplaza.com/safecoplaza/sitebuilder).
If you're a Safeco agent, count yourself fortunate. I wish other major carriers
would offer such a well thought out online site building offering. Safeco
has essentially created a service that neutralizes an agent's excuse for not
having a Web site. The service is complete, affordable, and easy to implement.
This service was mentioned in the July issue of Sounding Line, but deserves
additional comment.
In my view, an important feature of this service is the background information and tutorial explanations that are provided. An agent who knows very little about the Internet and Web sites in general would have no trouble following the step-by-step procedures. Explanations include definitions that educate the agent about Internet-specific issues. Overall, Safeco provides a fair amount of hand-holding guidance throughout the entire process, including how agents can make site updates, track site usage, and use additional support services.
Of course, a key feature is the insurance-specific content that not only features Safeco products and solutions, but reinforces the Safeco brand. What Safeco offers seems well above average compared to other agent sites built by developers who claim insurance expertise.
However, I find the Safeco template options limiting. Safeco offers six basic designs and three color palettes for each design, claiming "18 unique designs." If you happen to be located in a locale where Safeco has a large presence, online visitors could confuse you with other Safeco agents who use this service. Once, while looking at agent sites (as I do frequently for research purposes), I stumbled across several agent Web sites that all happened to use similar Safeco templates.
Web Sites from VeriSign
(www.verisignwebsites.com/
?affiliate_id=13). This service offers the high-quality, well-designed,
well-executed, and easily affordable solutions that you'd expect from a large
Internet services vendor. Web Site from Verisign is geared to the business
user who wants a basic, but impressive brochure site of up to 10 pages. You
provide your own graphics and content.
Service descriptions, plans and prices, options, and FAQs are easy to understand. Three free downloadable resources - Building a Winning Web Site, How to Build a Winning Business, and E-Commerce: a Smart Move in Unpredictable Markets - provide helpful insight.
Most impressive are the 75 designs to choose from, most of which would be appropriate for an insurance agency. In my opinion, many agent Web sites that are nothing but simple, self-effort brochure sites would do well to consider the VeriSign option. If nothing else, the VeriSign designs would provide a strikingly professional appearance and enhance visual credibility among more discriminating Internet audiences.
Even if you don't plan to use this option, Web Sites from VeriSign will provide lots of ideas and information that will likely enhance your own development efforts.
Homestead Professional (http://professional.homestead.com/indexA.ffhtml). This service offers the most flexibility and widest latitude of outcome of the three mentioned here. You get access to a variety of drop-n-drag tools, set-up wizards, templates and graphics, and even ready-to-use e-commerce elements. But because there are so many options to choose from, you could easily get carried away and end up creating an unattractive site.
Homestead Professional claims that 10 million customers have used their service and that they have won PC Magazine's "Best of the Web Award" three years in a row. A few minutes looking at their home page does seem convincing. But probing a bit further, I felt that the site was longer on selling the service than showing me how things work. Clicking the "take a tour" button provided overview information that seemed somewhat helpful, but I also had hoped to see some of the one-million-plus graphics advertised elsewhere.
For me, one particular feature more or less summarized what a user might expect from this service. An "our customers" section provided quasi case study information and links to their Web sites. You be the judge. My impression is that this site provides plenty of tools and options and enough rope for users to hang themselves. Where Safeco and Web Sites by VeriSign purposefully restrict options, Homestead Professional offers so many choices that my favorite design axiom, "just because you can doesn't mean you should," is once again affirmed.
Overall assessment
What do I think? Should you explore this option? If you want a one-stop, low-cost, relatively simple Web site, and a modest level of participation, this option is attractive. This option could be your "next step" if you have an outdated and graphically unsophisticated first effort Web site. The attractiveness of this option increases considerably if you're a Safeco agent because so much of the insurance-specific content and branding is built in. If I could have my way, I'd be a Safeco agent, use Safeco content and hosting, put it into a Web Sites by VeriSign template, and possibly add some Homestead Professional enhancements.
In reality, building a Web site is the product of many choices that all require thoughtful decision-making. Even if you don't choose this alternative, exploring the options will provide lots of good ideas.
Pros & Cons
Thinking about the do-it-yourself online site builder option? Here are some pros and cons to consider before you choose.
Pros
Cons
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