Agent’s Guide to Designing an Insurance Website

[Glen Shelton]

I couldn't find an informative post for insurance agents about how to set up their own website, so I decided to put something together to help out other agents.

My question for everyone here is two-fold:

1. Did you set up your own website or did you outsource it (any recommendations?)

2. What content management system (CMS) did you decide to use, and why?

This guide is mostly WordPress-oriented because I find the plugin and widget options are way more numerous and effective than the Drupal or Joomla.

BONUS: In the guide, I cover 10 plugins I feel are absolutely necessary for online branding success. Does anyone have any plugins they recommend for agents taking the DIY approach to their website?

 

[ltcadviser]

Outsourced the website build; I wrote all the content.

My site uses Refinery CMS. So easy. I was up and running in 5 minutes.

 

[Alston]

I set up my sites using a templates I bought on themeforest.net. They have both WP themes and HTML themes. I bought HTML themes because WP can limit what a programmer can do.

I do use WordPress for my blogs which are set up as sub-domains.

WordPress is probably the best way to go for most agents. Modifying themes takes a skill set that most agents don't have, and probably shouldn't take the time to acquire.

I miss sales opportunities because I spend a lot of time working on my sites, coding or writing, but I think I'm going to make a left turn soon.

I want to help other agents with their marketing and have less client contact. Plus I enjoy coding and writing more than insurance at this point in my life.

 

[suranceman]

Your next blog post should be step 2, getting your website to show up in the SERP's.

 

[Glen Shelton]

Your next blog post should be step 2, getting your website to show up in the SERP's.

More to come in this series!

 

[Matthew King]

First off great guide glen! Very well written! To answer your questions!

My question for everyone here is two-fold:

1. Did you set up your own website or did you outsource it (any recommendations?)

A: I mainly setup our websites myself and outsourced some of the things I didn't know how to do in the beginning. I'm redesigning them now and since then I have started my own web design and development, seo optimization, social media marketing, pay per click, landing page creation, content marketing, and brand design business.

From doing that, I have gained more knowledge every single year (always learning both insurance and more in my second business)that has allowed me to completely rely on building them myself at this point. I will be redesigning here shortly all of our websites.

2. What content management system (CMS) did you decide to use, and why?

A: I mainly use Wordpress as well. I chose wordpress because it is an extremely powerful and popular publishing platform. Wordpress constantly makes updates to enhance user experiences, website security, and scalability. It is 100% customizable, seo friendly, W3C compliant, and includes some data safety measures (however, more will be required or at least I believe so).

Has multi-user functionality, is a universal platform meaning it's easy to find help, mobile friendly (with responsive themes), and is blog ready. I could honestly list tons of reasons to pick Wordpress

 

[LewB]

I contracted out with a friend of a friend who is the social media guy for one of the local TV stations.

I write all the web content myself and enjoy it.

I am using Wordpress because even an old guy like myself finds it easy to use.

 

[Cash]

Your next blog post should be step 2, getting your website to show up in the SERP's.

That'll take way more than a blog post.

----------

First off great guide glen! Very well written! To answer your questions!

My question for everyone here is two-fold:

1. Did you set up your own website or did you outsource it (any recommendations?)

A: I mainly setup our websites myself and outsourced some of the things I didn't know how to do in the beginning. I'm redesigning them now and since then I have started my own web design and development, seo optimization, social media marketing, pay per click, landing page creation, content marketing, and brand design business.

From doing that, I have gained more knowledge every single year (always learning both insurance and more in my second business)that has allowed me to completely rely on building them myself at this point. I will be redesigning here shortly all of our websites.

2. What content management system (CMS) did you decide to use, and why?

A: I mainly use Wordpress as well. I chose wordpress because it is an extremely powerful and popular publishing platform. Wordpress constantly makes updates to enhance user experiences, website security, and scalability. It is 100% customizable, seo friendly, W3C compliant, and includes some data safety measures (however, more will be required or at least I believe so).

Has multi-user functionality, is a universal platform meaning it's easy to find help, mobile friendly (with responsive themes), and is blog ready. I could honestly list tons of reasons to pick Wordpress

WP is big so it is hard to go wrong with it. There is a plugin for almost everything.

----------

I couldn't find an informative post for insurance agents about how to set up their own website, so I decided to put something together to help out other agents.

My question for everyone here is two-fold:

1. Did you set up your own website or did you outsource it (any recommendations?)

2. What content management system (CMS) did you decide to use, and why?

This guide is mostly WordPress-oriented because I find the plugin and widget options are way more numerous and effective than the Drupal or Joomla.

BONUS: In the guide, I cover 10 plugins I feel are absolutely necessary for online branding success. Does anyone have any plugins they recommend for agents taking the DIY approach to their website?

I would add Cloudflare and Site Origin Page Builder to the mix.

WP is slow but Cloudflare and W3 Total Cache work well together IF it is actually configured right, to speed up a website.

This may sound out there but take a look at Zoho Sites. For what 90% of agents need it is actually pretty good and super easy to use.

Not to mention that Zoho One is on par with Little Caesar's for best deal in the world.

 

[benjamin taber]

I set up my sites using a templates I bought on themeforest.net. They have both WP themes and HTML themes. I bought HTML themes because WP can limit what a programmer can do.

I do use WordPress for my blogs which are set up as sub-domains.

WordPress is probably the best way to go for most agents. Modifying themes takes a skill set that most agents don't have, and probably shouldn't take the time to acquire.

I miss sales opportunities because I spend a lot of time working on my sites, coding or writing, but I think I'm going to make a left turn soon.

I want to help other agents with their marketing and have less client contact. Plus I enjoy coding and writing more than insurance at this point in my life.

 

[benjamin taber]

Cost to set up productive site?