Times have changed when it comes to website design best practices. Things you may not think are a big deal, are a huge deal to search engines like Google. Keep scrolling to see how Advisor Evolved websites stack up against your site, and the competition, and how we can help Google fall back in love with your agency website again.
All features in all Advisor Evolved sites
What most if not all of our competitors are doing
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A website is neither a "marketing expense" or something that is "nice to have" — it's a necessity to your business. Websites and search engines play a huge role in the insurance sales (and retention) process.
Consumers are now empowered and fully capable of doing their own online research before they take action or talk to an agent. In fact, over 70% of consumers are using online tools and websites to research insurance before they call you. Your website needs to be where people are searching and clicking, not just for new business generation, but in order to retain your existing clients also.
Advisor Evolved websites are built from the ground up to help improve your online visibility so you can take advantage of these search queries and ultimately make more commission while retaining your existing customers.
Do you think it would be good or bad if a client or prospect came to your website and got a warning that your site was insecure? In January (2017) Google announced on their official security blog that they will now show a "Not Secure" warning in browsers if the website does not have an SSL certificate.
Here's what it looks like in Google Chrome:
What's more, websites that have an SSL certificate (like Advisor Evolved websites) will get a slight rankings boost according to Google. Bottom line, if your current website doesn't have SSL, you're missing out on rankings and there's a good chance you'll be scaring people away who see this warning!
60%+ of all internet traffic now comes from mobile devices. When the mobile version of your website is nothing more than menu tabs, what little SEO value your site might have is going to go bye-bye. This is because Google has put a massive priority on the mobile experience and has publicly stated that the mobile functionality of your website is now a ranking variable in their algorithm.
In fact, Google recently posted on their official blog that they have moved their index to a mobile-first index, meaning that they prioritize the mobile version of your website before the desktop version. People are five times more likely to leave a website that isn't mobile responsive.
All Advisor Evolved sites are optimized for the mobile experience, and are actually built for mobile devices first, before we look at the desktop version. This mobile-first approach is huge for your SEO, user experience and ROI.
Do you want your agency website to rank higher in search engines? A silly question, I know… of course you do!
In order to give your site the best opportunity to rank well, you need to focus on both performance and optimization. Search engines love lightweight, cleanly coded websites that provide them with clear information. The more information you can give to the search engine, the better off you are in terms of SEO.
Thanks to our remarkably efficient code architecture, our websites offer performance capabilities that few others can match. Not only do we serve streamlined, search engine optimized HTML5, but we also minimize HTTP requests, regardless of what design you’re using!
(That’s geek-speak for “your site loads faster because it uses fewer resources.” Search engines LOVE this kind of thing.)
Markup schema is part of the new standard used by search engines to understand content on the web. Right now, major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo! are looking for this code on your site so they can improve their search results.
The implications here are serious: If your site doesn’t leverage markup schema, it’s probably going to lose rankings to another site that does.
But if you’ve got Advisor Evolved, you’re going to be the one taking those rankings.
Thanks to a lightweight HTML structure that’s enriched with markup schema specifically for Insurance Agencies, our designs can help you give search engines precisely what they want. What that means is, our designs don't just tell search engines you're a local business (what most Schema does) we tell them that you are actually an Insurance Agency.
That small difference can make a huge impact in terms of someone finding your website in a search query and is one of the reasons why our sites generate leads with the site owner doing very little work to get them.
Our websites utilize the latest cloud technology, making them safe, fast, and secure. All website data is backed up each day, and you can always count on a fast loading site, which is now a ranking variable in Googles' algorithm.
Our websites come with several pre-built contact and lead capture forms, making it fast and simple for your existing customers and/or prospects to give you their information in a safe and secure way.
Because our platform is a SaaS (software-as-a-service) there is nothing for you to maintain, install, or fix. We handle all aspects when it comes to managing your server, security and overall health of your website.
Gone are the days of needing to go through your webmaster for every little tweak or change. We set your website up from front to back, but when it goes live, you have free reign to edit your content quickly and easily.
With Advisor Evolved websites, it's very easy to track your visitor analytics, as well as install any type of tracking code. This comes in handy if you're running heat maps, or paid ad campaigns that require conversion tracking.
Because our websites are secured with SSL certificates, they are full compliant based on HIPAA and PCI regulations. This means if wanted to collect personal data from a client or prospect, you could do so safely.
There's nothing worse than sitting on hold with a customer service department, only to have your call answered by someone who doesn't really care to go the extra mile for you. Not here. Our staff is US based and ready to help!
When a visitor or current client submits a contact or lead form, we'll notify you immediately so you can make contact with them. What's more, we can create auto-responders and conditional logic to further customize the notification experience.
In less than 5 years, over 50% of our country’s spending power will be controlled by millennials. This is a demographic that values technology, convenience, and user experience over all other metrics.
The bottom line is — this demographic can spot an outdated website, and they will judge the credibility of your business based on the visual appeal of your online identity. Call it shallow, but that’s just the way it is.
No matter how new or old your agency is, whether you’re just starting out, or preparing for perpetuation, reaching and building trust with this demographic is absolutely critical to the success and valuation of your agency, and it’s virtually impossible to do that with a sub-par website and digital presence.
With 90%+ of all purchasing cycles starting online, your website is literally the front door of your business, setting a first impression that is either going to send people to another site, or make them take action with you.
All Advisor Evolved sites are built with modern design best practices in mind. We create a visual hierarchy that promotes trust and credibility, both of which increase the chances of a visitor turning into a lead.
Send your customers super helpful video screencast quote proposals with our famous QuoteVids tool. QuoteVids helps your customers and prospects finally understand coverages, policy language and more and makes you look like a hero!
CaseStudies allows you to create awesome side-by-side comparisons between your agency's quote and a competitors quote. It all happens on your website. Share on social media and show everyone how much you save people!
Facebook Live Chat Messenger allows your website to harness the power and convenience of live chat using the most popular and widely used chat and messaging platform in the world — Facebook Messenger!
Responding to contact and lead requests fast is critical in closing the sale. LeadSMS sends you immediate SMS messages if/when a current customer or new prospect submits a form on your website.
PolicyPics allows you to create fun and helpful illustrations in your website using any image you want, by clicking and dragging trace points around the image to highlight certain parts of the image!
MobileBar makes it dead simple for visitors to take mission critical actions from their mobile devices. Only visible on mobile devices, it allows users to get help without scrolling or clicking through multiple pages of your site!