America's Benefit Specialist March 2023

INSURANCE WEBSITES GONE WRONG— 10 CRUCIAL MISTAKES

By Heather Sloan Inbound Insurance Marketing Lake Oswego, Oregon heather@inboundinsurancemarketing.com

Your website is much more than online real estate. It is the place where your business virtually entertains guests. If you were inviting 100 guests into your office tomorrow for an open house, what would you do? You’d probably wash the front windows, place some flowers on the reception desk, tell employees to be on their best behavior and order food. GIVE YOUR AUDIENCE A REASON TO TAKE A NEXT STEP. OFFER A NEWSLETTER, A WHITE PAPER, A CASE STUDY, A FREE ANALYSIS OR A DISCOUNT.

Guess what—you need to do the same things every day when you entertain guests online through your website. Just remember: You have to do more than look good–you have to actively engage your visitors. Is your website a gracious host? Here are 10 signs that it’s time for an upgrade: 1. YOU GO ON AND ON ABOUT YOURSELF. No one likes to visit the party host who won’t stop talking about her accomplishments. The same is true at your web site. If your home page brags that you’re the leading provid er, there’s no doubt that you’re out of date. Website visitors want to know what’s in it for them in the first two para graphs. In the past, companies used a lot of impressive words like best-of-breed, scalable and next-generation. Boasting and using big words like those are so yesterday. Today’s buy ers want simplicity, authenticity and transparency. Get to the point and tell them how you can help.

24 ABS | benefitspecialistmagazine.com