In the Insurance Agent/Broker world we know that content creation is incredibly valuable in building your presence on the web. Insurance is one of the most competitive keywords on Google, which makes it even more important to continue to add new content to your site. One of the ways to add content on a regular basis is through blogging.
It’s All About Creating Value
We all know that insurance isn’t always the most interesting topic and truly how much can you write about insurance policies? Your prospects may be looking for information about insurance a couple of times a year, but may be looking for advice on home maintenance or safety tips multiple times throughout the year. By writing blogs that give value to your readers you create an opportunity to build a relationship with the reader before they are actually shopping for insurance.
You have an opportunity to drive your prospects and clients to your website by blogging on topics that are informative and valuable to your audience.
Studies show that blog posts are the 4th trusted source on the internet and they outrank social networks for consumer influence.
Knowing Your Audience
The first step in deciding your topic is to build a buyer persona. The buyer persona is going to help with finding topics that speak to your demographic. You may be looking to target homeowners or boat owners in a specific area, knowing this will help with your topics.
• Define who you want to drive to your site.
• Find out where your audience is.
Once you know your buyer persona, there are some great keyword tools available. I like http://www.keyword.io and http://www.contentforest.com/ideator, these are just two great choices. By using these tools, you can come up with topics to write about.
Google has a tool that can help you see what is trending in their searches. https://www.google.com/trends. For instance, if you search to see what is trending for the keyword Home. “Tiny House Movement” is trending – up 400% in the last year.
• “When Size Does Matter: The Rise of the Tiny House Movement”
• “The Big Impact of Tiny Homes: How Little Houses are Changing Real Estate”
• “Make Room For Tiny Houses”
Transportation Insurance Examples:
• How to Find the Most Comfortable Seat for your Semi Truck
• Best Truck Stops on Route 66
• How to Keep in Contact with Your Family While on the Road
• Best Apps for Your Smart Phone While Working on the Road
While none of these topics are about insurance, it will drive niche traffic to your site. The most important part of the blog post is to let the reader know that you offer that niche insurance and link to your insurance landing page.
Keeping It Relevant: Find the Audience’s Interests
What does your audience need help with? What is their pain?
What challenges are they trying to overcome?
Find Solutions to their problems and blog about it!
Need help finding questions?
If you are targeting a specific group, ask them for ideas. Also, ask your staff for questions they may get from this audience. By joining LinkedIn groups you can get to know your commercial niche in a deeper level, which will help with finding the questions that are being asked, what their pains are and how you can help them. Don’t underestimate how your agency/brokerage can help!
Keep It Current
Start with the needs and find the current solution. By keeping solutions current you are able to build trust and expertise with your readers.
When searching for the answer to your audience’s questions, make sure you are using a reliable resource. Always remember, duplicate content will hurt your rankings, ALWAYS make it a habit to make your content yours. Be sure to reference where you found the information in your blog as well.
Long Tail Keywords
Long tail keywords are your way to compete with larger companies. A long tail keyword (LTK) is a very targeted search phrase that contains 3 or more words. It often contains a head term, which is a more generic search term usually 1 or 2 words in length. By becoming more specific, LTK may not get as many searches as the broad keywords, however, they can generate a lot of quality organic traffic.
By including questions in your headlines and answering that question in your blog, you are targeting LTK as well as offering informative and valuable information for your reader. This also helps with your mobile search queries as many mobile phone users will ask Google questions when surfing the web.
Here are a few examples regarding Homeowner Insurance:
• Does Homeowner Insurance Cover Your Mortgage If You Become Sick?
• Can My Credit Score Raise My Homeowner Insurance Premium?
• Will Homeowners Insurance Cover My Solar Panels?
While each of these questions include the keyword “Homeowner Insurance” they also include very targeted questions.
Safety Tips
A great way to add value to your blog posts is to write about important safety tips for different types of prospects and clients. We see these types of blogs continue to grow year after year. Some examples:
• Winter Driving Tips
• Construction Site Safety Tips
• Workspace Safety Tips For Your (type) Business
• Safer Motorcycling Means More Fun
• Swimming Pool Safety Tips
• Prepare Your Home For Winter
• Boat and Yacht Safety Tips
Community Events and Charities
All communities have events that bring people together and charities that need support. Some of these events and charities may even include support from your agency/brokerage or is near and dear to one of your producer/broker’s heart. Community involvement can be a great way to build relationships. Whether you are promoting a specific event or a charity blogging is a win-win situation!
Just a few topics:
• Food Drives
• Holiday Events, Concerts and Festivals
• Community Safety Events
• Support for Boys & Girls Club, Food Banks, Homeless Shelters, and Schools
Expertise and Personality Shine
As you work on putting together your blogs and topics, be sure to let your personality and expertise shine. Adding a personal spin to blogs helps develop a relationship and trust with your reader.
What are your favorite blog topics?
Continue the discussion in the comments below. Share examples of your favorite blog posts – or even blogs that exemplify what not to do.
Jill Berroth is the Digital Marketing Specialist for Agency Revolution. She has worked at Agency Revolution for nearly 6 years. Jill provides Professional Services to our clients focusing on their digital presence and engagement through websites and our automation software.