Insurerants - Insurance Marketing Review

Put Your Website To Work

Broker #121 Thesco Benefits LLC, New York, NY
www.thesco.com
($13,724,384; 49 employees; 97.97% benefits)

Detailed bios, an FAQ section, and informative articles are pluses on this website. But, the latest article (as of today) is dated March, 2006. I like an attention-grabber on the Home page that is more than the usual "promise" to our customers. Thesco has one, but it is hidden on its Products page. "We understand...if you make the wrong decision, everyone knows - from trainee to top executive.  And, you'll hear the complaints. But, if you make the right decision, you're a hero. At Thesco, we want to share that responsibility..."  Start with that and you've got my attention.

Rating: With some work updating content and making this more search engine friendly, this website would do more marketing work than it does now. Hubspot score = 30

Make Good Content Easy to Read and Find

Broker #122 Britton-Gallagher Associates, Cleveland, Ohio
www.britton-gallagher.com
($11,356,000; 72 employees; 73.48% commercial retail, 16.26% benefits)

This is straightforward website with some very good content generated by its staff - the best kind of content! Britton-Gallagher serves various niche markets including pyrotechnics and technology/life science insurance. On the technology page, it explains industry specific issues, has client testimonials, and links to relevant articles. My only minor complaint is that all this good content would be easier to read if the copy was not the full width of the page.

Rating: Good, focused content, which would be better served with some SEO adjustments. Hubspot score = 42

SEO Works In Any Language - If You Use It

Broker #123 Rehder Y Asociados S.A., Lima, Peru
www.rehder.com.pe
($11,151,000; 130 employees; 64.28% commercial retail)

Since I do not speak Spanish, it is hard to judge this website. However, it is Flash designed, has no keywords, and based on its Hubspot score it would benefit from being more search engine friendly. Google is available in Spanish as well as many other languages, but the same rules apply.

Rating: Hubspot score = 17

Can This Website Go from Blah to Ahhh?

Broker #124 Benefit Controls Cos., Charlotte, North Carolina
www.benefitcontrols.com
($11,000,000; 48 employees; 54.55% benefits)

Benefit Controls emphasizes its hands-on approach. It is well connected with the community including supporting numerous local charities. It has canned newsletter content and a MyWave link. The best part of the website is its testimonials. I would move them to the Home page to replace the promotional copy it features in a Flash header. The layout is a little hard to read -maybe a wider middle column would help. Content is King, but readability is at least a Prince.  Plus, this is another website sans keywords.

Rating: With the right tweaks this website could go from blah to ahhh. Hubspot score = 53

Prospect for Search Engine Gold

Broker #125 McGraw Wentworth, Troy, Michigan
www.mcgrawwentworth.com
($10,020,000; 56 employees; 99.57% benefits)

This is one very smart agency. Boom - on the Home page it defines its niche, says its size means it has pricing leverage, and it has a 97% customer satisfaction rate. It has all that, plus it has customer-centric content right on the Home page. Even smarter - it has a health care issue newsletter sent monthly to the Detroit Area Chamber of Commerce. So why doesn't it have any keywords to help people find it on the Internet?

Rating: This agency has everything except search engine friendliness. Convert what you already to search engine gold. Hubspot score = 25

A Real Smart Company That's SEO Smart

Broker #126 Buckner Co., Salt Lake City, Utah
www.buckner.com
($9,621,000; 92 employees; 76.34% commercial retail, 9.10% benefits)

This is a very smart company that makes me a little crazy. First of all, I saw from its Business Insurance listing that it grew 47% in this soft market! Looking at its website, it has shaped its agency around the economic trends and niche opportunities of its location - especially by focusing on construction. It has no keywords in its website - the most fundamental element for attracting search engines. When I Googled "Salt Lake City insurance," Bucker came in around 85th place.  My Google is set up to show 100 results at a time. Most people have the default setting of about 10 results per page. Bucker's content is all about Buckner, not about how it solves its clients' problems. It also has a Flash opener with a driving soundtrack. I love music, but not on a business insurance website.

Rating: Although Buckner is clearly succeeding without a strong Search Engine Optimized (SEO) website, an investment in improving it can only help it further its growth. Hubspot score = 14.

Me, Me, Me...Should Be About You, You, You

Broker #127 Pritchard & Jerden, Atlanta, Georgia
www.pritchardjerden.com
($9,067,706; 58 employees; 57.04% commercial retail, 34.85 benefits)

This is corporate looking, nicely-designed website. But for me, it is a little too me, me, me. Most of the copy is written in "corporatese." In fact, Hubspot judges its "Readability Level" to "Advanced / Doctoral Degree." The website also includes niche product pages for Hospitality, Manufacturing, and more. But, it has no real industry specific content. There are prominent news links on the Home page announcing personnel news. I'd rather see links to how they solve industry-specific insurance issues.

Rating: I am sure these are very smart insurance people with lots of information that would demonstrate their value to potential new clients. So....? Hubspot score = 41

If You Have a Great Idea Like an Audit Cost Anaylzer, Put It on the Home Page

Broker #128 Alper Services LLC, Chicago, Illinois
www.alperservices.com
($7,250,000; 58 employees; 77.03% commercial retail, 9.46% benefits)

Once again there's an interesting juxtaposition with the last review. Alper's website has a Flash Home page, but it is embedded in an HTML page, which makes it more search engine friendly.  The Alper Home page clearly states its value proposition - "our experience, our people." It then supports it with links to staff bios and seminars on the bottom of the Home page. The website has sections by product and industry niches including "success stories" including specifics. Alper includes newsletter links - it would be helpful to include a list of articles contained within since they are PDFs. A very cool feature is a page about its support of the "Flame of the Millennium" sculpture. It shows community support and a personal side of the company. Alper also has an Auditrate.com affiliate which " 40% of the time help you recover premium overcharges." A great idea - I'd put a link to it - especially its 3-minute online "Exclusive Audit Cost Analyzer."

Rating: With some tweaks, Alper could boost its search engine friendliness. Alper gets a "Here King" for content and interactivity. Hubspot score = 58

Flash Gets Panned

Broker #129 Sumitomo Life insurance Agency America, New York, NY
www.sliaa.com
($6,502,008; 37 employees; 90.44% benefits)

This website is built entirely in Flash. Flash websites can be optimized for search, but with a Hubspot score of 4 it is safe to assume that is not the case here. The Home page lists products such as "health care" and "group life," but it has no links to pages about those products. Since the website is geared to Japanese-owned companies in the US, it offers a Japanese language version as well. It has lists of products, but zero content. Plus, it has a page for News and Associates that come up blank.

Rating: No matter what language you market in, content is still king. According to an online translator, "Here King" is "korede kokuou." At least I hope it is. Hubspot score = 4

You've Got Great Content, So SEO Show It Off

Broker #130 Mid American Group, Westmont, Illinois
www.midamgroup.com
($5,589,546; 15 employees; 100% benefits)

Interestingly, here is website that does exactly what I prescribed for VistaNational. Right on the Home page is a list of its value added service and a link to a PDF of a potential client's Customized Benefits Website (from Benergy - I'd rather see a live example than a PDF). Mid American is doing all the right things to promote itself - it has good content, calls to action, seminars, forms to fill out, testimonials, and more. It also has an extensive archive of informative newsletters - again its non-dated content could be blogged. There is one area where Mid American is missing the boat - it has a low Hubspot score. One of the problems it has is very few inbound links - a blog would help fix that. Google loves links!  Content is King! How about half a King until you SEO your great content.

Rating: If you are doing all the right things to market your business, adding SEO will help those efforts pay off even more. Hubspot core = 14.