The Importance of Digital Marketing for Small Businesses
The Importance of Digital Marketing for Small Businesses What is Marketing? Let’s pretend for a moment that you want to sell bracelets. You’ve spent months refining your technique. You’ve used the highest quality materials, implemented the most vibrant colors, and you’ve figured out a way to make them quickly for a low cost. You know deep in your heart that these bracelets are going to sell. The day comes to start selling and you set your bracelet stand up outside. At the end of the day, you’ve sold four maybe five bracelets. What happened? They’re supposed to be a hit? Lacking a marketing strategy happened. Marketing is the subtle art of bringing awareness to a product or service. You could make the best bracelets in the world, but if no one knew about them you wouldn’t be able to sell them. The same goes for any product or service. Solving problems for people is great, but not if those people don’t even know your solution exists. The rise of Digital Marketing Back before the digital era marketing for any business was cut and dry. Send out a few flyers, buy an ad spot in the local newspaper or radio station, and you’re done. The local population would inevitably see your ad and would respond in kind. That all changed with the rise of the internet. In the blink of an eye, the speed at which people could connect and interact rose to an unparalleled level. A technical revolution the kind of which has never been seen unfolded before our eyes. All of a sudden we can access the collective knowledge of our species from a piece of metal and glass that fits in our pocket. Thanks to the internet and digital marketing we no longer have to be inside a store to buy goods from it. The requirements for starting a business have been drastically reduced because a business can now operate solely online. These businesses champion digital marketing strategies and tactics that have expanded their reach to levels that just wouldn’t be possible with traditional marketing. Digital Marketing and Small Business There are many forms of digital marketing out there. You have websites, Pay-per click ads, SEO, SEM, Social Media, content marketing, and the list goes on. While all these different forms of digital marketing can seem confusing they all retain the same goal as traditional marketing; to bring awareness to a product or service. One of the quickest ways for a company to grow today is by employing a digital marketing strategy that is tailored to its specific business. While it’s not always easy, it is worth it. When used correctly digital marketing can generate streams of income you never thought possible. The key to this statement is “used correctly”. With this new form of marketing comes new problems. The internet can bring a company vast amounts of awareness. The question is no longer, “am I being seen?” It’s “am I being seen by the right people?” If a business can create value for its customers, and manage to be seen by the right people through digital marketing, that business will succeed.
Boost Your SEO with Quote Nerds: Master Backlinking
Boost Your SEO with Quote Nerds: Master Backlinking SEO and Trustworthiness What makes a website trustworthy? Is it how it looks, or what it says? No, if that was the case then millions of people wouldn’t be getting scammed every day. What makes a website trustworthy is when people all agree it’s trustworthy. Why does trust matter to Google? Google doesn’t want users to have a bad experience, so if possible Google isn’t going to send its users to a website it deems untrustworthy. How does Google decide what is and is not trustworthy? Google decides what websites are trustworthy by backlinking. Backlinking is when a website has a link on it that leads to another website. When you put a link on your website that leads to another website you are essentially saying, “I trust this website enough to link to it”. Google views this as a measure of trust. If your website has a lot of other websites linking back to it then Google will deem your website as trustworthy. How do I get backlinks? Well, this is where the fun begins. Sometimes you can buy them, but that is generally not recommended. If Google finds out you’re buying backlinks they will purposefully rank you lower. Instead, try reaching out to other business owners. They may be willing to link to your website if you link to theirs. The opportunities are out there, you only need to look for them. The more backlinks you build, the more Google will believe your website is trustworthy. This will in turn increase your overall rating on Google search, and get you more customers!
Enhance SEO and Site Speed with Quote Nerds Part 3
SEO Part 3 SEO and Speed Is your website fast? You may think it is, but have you ever actually measured it? Most people haven’t given their website speed much thought, but it does matter. Statistically, if a website takes more than 4 seconds to load 1 in 4 visitors will abandon it. That’s 25% of your traffic gone because your website took too long to load. In this digital age, milliseconds make millions. Why does speed matter to Google? This all comes back to user experience. Google wants to give the best experience to the user. If your website is slow, then it won’t provide a good user experience and Google will rank it lower. What slows down your website? All sorts of things. Excess code, bulky images, you name it. There are loads of different factors. The biggest ones are usually images. Many people don’t think about the types and sizes of images they upload. Bulky images in a PNG format can seriously drag a website down. What about plug-ins? If you’re a WordPress user then you know what plug-ins are. Plug-ins are segments of code that usually help your website to accomplish a specific task. There are literally thousands of plug-ins that accomplish a huge array of different tasks. Many people wantonly download these plug-ins without a second thought. This creates what is known as code-bloat. Code-bloat is when a website has so much code attached to it that it slows it down. To solve this issue get rid of the plug-ins that you don’t use. Try out these suggestions, and see if they manage to help speed up your website. Stay tuned for tips and tricks to help increase your SEO!
Relevant Content and SEO
Relevant Content and SEO Welcome back to our four-part series about why SEO matters to you, and how you can increase your rankings. For this week we will be discussing the connection between SEO and relevant content, and how creating, sharing, and posting relevant content can give you a boost. So where do I start? Before we can create relevant content we need to look into how our potential customers are searching, and the key phrases they’re using. This is where we try to get into the mind of the target audience. Think to yourself, if you were searching for your goods and services, what would you type into Google? If you’re looking for insurance then maybe you would type in “who has the best auto insurance plans near Pittsburgh”. We have our key phrase so now what? Well, I’m glad you asked. Now we need to create and distribute some relevant content. Content that answers the question “Who has the best auto insurance plans near Pittsburgh”. At this point, it’s time to start producing and distributing the most relevant content that best answers the search inquiry. That content can be anything from blog posts to images on a website. For instance, you could start by writing a blog post on your website. A blog post that that discusses and compares local auto insurance plans to find the “best”, plan in Pittsburgh. If you write it well enough, and if Google deems it as informative, then in theory you should be gifted with a ranked position on the search page for “who has the best auto insurance plans near Pittsburgh”. How is posting Relevant Content going to help me? Think about it like this. If someone is looking for the best auto insurance near Pittsburgh and they enter in the key phrase above, it is safe to say that individual is in a buying mindset. They are obviously shopping for the best auto insurance near them. Now if you can manage to get them to your blog post then congratulations you have a lead on your website. The Takeaway on Relevant Content and SEO The most important lesson to take away from this post is that answering questions is what creates relevant content. If you choose the right key phrases, and you answer those key phrases with the best answer then you will get ranked accordingly. While creating great content is important, it’s not everything. Stay tuned for the next segment where we discuss how building a trustworthy site can really increase your potential for earning new customers. Can’t wait for the next post? Then give us a shout at sales@forgeyourapp.com where we can have a more in-depth conversation about using SEO to maximize your ROI. Missed our first SEO post? you can check it out here: https://forgeyourapp.com/quotenerds-old/seo-and-why-it-matters-to-you/
Understanding SEO and Why It Matters for You
SEO and Why it Matters to you As we enter the digital age one thing becomes increasingly clear. Those who strive to stay ahead digitally will reap the benefits of the emerging technological era. Those who do not adapt will fall into obscurity. One way a company can strive to stay ahead in this fast-paced world is through SEO or Search Engine Optimization. So what is SEO, and why does it matter to you? Well as the next few weeks go by we will go over a new segment of SEO every week and how you can use it to help your business. What is SEO? SEO is the strategic manipulation of a webpage, and its contents to make sure that it follows specific rules, and guidelines that have been put forth by search engines like Google. While Google and other search engines are not technically “the internet”, they are the lens through which 4 billion people view the internet. 92.24% of all internet inquiries are done through Google, so you can see why it is so important to make sure your website follows its guidelines. Google’s Guidelines Google has very specific guidelines by which it deems websites suitable for viewers. A few of these guidelines include page speed, relevant content, and trustworthiness. According to top SEO strategies today if a website follows these guidelines it will be ranked accordingly in Google’s search results. So why does SEO matter to me? If you are a business owner that wants to make money in the digital age then SEO matters to you. In the old days, people relied on word of mouth and advertising campaigns to bring awareness to their business. While that still matters today, being ranked high on Google’s search can increase your ROI tenfold. If you are ranked on page one in a google search for a specific keyword it is a fact that your website will receive 90% of all traffic that searches for that term. Whether your business is insurance, running a local diner, or selling camping gear it does not matter. 90% of all searches for that term will eventually land on your website. So how do I increase my SEO? For that, you’ll have to stay tuned for our next segment on SEO, Basic SEO Best Practices. If you’re curious about how QuoteNerds can help boost your rankings in the SEO game shoot us an email at sales@forgeyourapp.com.
The Best and Worst Ways To Generate Insurance Leads
In order to keep your business going, you’ll need to generate insurance leads. This means you’ll need to come up with fresh, creative ways to keep your leads pipeline flowing. Of course, not every idea is going to be a winner. There are ways to generate leads that will be successful, and they are ways that are best to be avoided. Here are the best ways and worst ways to generate leads. The Best Ways To Generate Leads: Establish Strong Content Content is extremely important to any business. That’s because interesting content is what can bring traffic to your business. This means content needs to be geared towards your customers. Breaking this down, have content that answers commons questions show how your services work, and is interesting to view. This content is not something you slap on the website once and never think about again. Stong content needs to be regularly updated. So, this means creating newsletters, blog content (like this!), or even videos pretty regularly. Content that is new a fresh keeps your website at the top of SEO searches which brings in more leads. Get Social In today’s world, social media is crucial to stay relevant. If you don’t have any social media presence you want to change that immediately. The first thing you need to do is research your audience base. Every platform has its advantages and disadvantages when it comes to reaching your target audience. You need to understand your customer habits, interest, and demographics. Typically, you can’t go wrong with Facebook. Set up a business profile and fill it with content that will direct customers to your services. Additionally, Facebook is a great tool to interact with your audience. You can talk directly to your leads and even close sales all on your page. Plan, Plan, Plan When you want to gather new insurance leads, it’s best to have a detailed plan that outlines your goals. When drafting up your plan, make goals that are realistic and achievable. Next, list out the steps you will need to take to reach these milestones. These steps should be a reflection of any data you may have collected. You should focus on achieving goals that target what your prospects want. Using data you can track how people interact with your content. For instance, if a prospect signs up on your website and ends up purchasing your services you can use that interaction as data. This will help you see a complete picture of what is working in your plan and what is not. The Worst Ways To Generate Leads Making It A Challenge Sometimes challenges are welcomed if you’re playing a video game, for instance. However, when it comes to gathering information about your business a challenge is not the best approach. Contact information is so important. This should be the easiest thing to find on your website. If this is hidden, generating leads will be super difficult. Not to mention, you want to make sure emails sent by customers actually reach you. If you’ve recently updated your email make sure this is reflected on your website, content, and social media accounts. On top of this, it’s a good practice to set up an autoresponder with your email. This is just an extra step that gives your prospects peace of mind knowing their email was received. Flying Blind As mentioned earlier, planning is always a good approach. Therefore, not planning is something you should not do. Having no plan means you are flying headfirst into a disaster. When creating content, you want to have some sort of intent in mind. Your content should be catered to your audience. If you ignore your audience, your lead source will dwindle. This also applies to your social media content. When you work on your social media presence, create a content calendar. This lets you plan out your content and visualize it, so you can see how your plan will work. Remember, you want to be consistent in creating relevant content that will interest your prospects. Conclusion When it comes to supplying your company pay attention to these best and worst ways to generate insurance leads. This advice will put you on the path to success. GET YOUR INSURANCE LEADS TODAY
Mastering Closing Online Leads for Insurance Success
Many agents are buying online insurance leads every single day. The insurance industry has jumped on the bandwagon of the online lead generation process. However, just like with everything, there are advantages and disadvantages to doing this. Starting with the positives, online leads can serve as an excellent tool for reaching a new client base. The biggest disadvantage is that with online leads becoming more popular the marketplace has become crowded. This means that only the most strategic sales agents will be able to reap all the rewards. When it comes to buying online, agents will have to think creatively when it comes to their closing strategies. Here are some tips for closing online insurance leads. Be There First Potential prospects don’t like waiting around. When they fill out an online form, they know that they will receive a lot of calls. If you are the last agent that gets a hold of a prospect, don’t expect to convert that lead into a sale. The longer you wait, your window of opportunity gets smaller and smaller. To be successful you want to reach this prospect ASAP. However, being the first agent doesn’t do any good if you don’t have some sort of strategy to impress them. You want to wow the prospect with a simple sales pitch and a follow-up to get in touch by email. Follow Up After contacting a prospect, a solid sales agent knows that’s not the final step in nailing a sale. After a phone call is done, shoot them an email detailing the important information. Prospects have an easier time processing the information if they have some time to read over it. Now, a common rookie mistake is giving a prospect too much time. If you don’t hear back from them, follow up with a phone call or another email. If you are a sales agent that actively tries to engage with prospects you already have a leg up on a majority of other sale agents. About 61% of sale agents don’t follow up on leads that come their way. It’s important to mention that there is a fine between being an attentive sales agent and an annoying problem. When following up, don’t be too persistent. In the event of a prospect expressing their desire to not be contacted, honor this wish. Think Like A Customer Potential prospects are going to comparison shop for insurance. When it comes to swaying a customer’s mind, you have to think like a customer. You have to view the buying process in a way that mimics a prospect’s brain. If you have a solid understanding of where the sales opportunities lie along the buying process, you have an advantage over other sales agents. Most of the time, customers are shopping for cheaper deals. However, this is not always the case. As a sales agent, you need to understand a prospect’s needs and preferences to truly nail a sale. It’s an effective way that helps with closing online leads. Make Yourself Invaluable When you are talking to a prospective customer, it’s always a good idea to be an active listener. Not only that, make it clear, to the person on the phone, that you are invested in establishing their satisfaction. In order to achieve this, you will have to know your stuff. So, be up to date on rates, information, legislation, and any future changes that will affect the prospect. Informing a prospect of all the valuable information helps establish a level of trust. In doing so, a prospect will feel more comfortable with you. Any insurance worries they might have had will start drifting away. It’s much easier closing insurance leads when they see you as a personal guide on their path to success. Conclusion When it comes to handling online insurance leads a sales agent will need to be strong and creative in their strategies. Since the market has become over-saturated, you’ll need to stand out from other agents. You need to be engaged and self-disciplined throughout the whole process. Utilize these tips for closing online leads, and you’ll be closing deals left and right. GET YOUR ONLINE LEADS WITH QUOTENERDS
5 Essential Insights on Insurance Leads for Your Agency
5 Essential Insights on Insurance Leads for Your Agency When it comes to insurance leads, they are the foundation of any agency. Having a direct connection between you and customers ensures the success of your agency. However, not all leads are created equal. Some leads will be better than others. So, what makes leads stand out and shine, and what makes a lead turn around and hide? The following are five factors to consider when buying insurance leads. 1. Volume An agent can buy insurance leads in high or low volumes. Smaller agencies can utilize lead filters that can target specific regions to increase their success rates. This method works well because of the low cost-per-lead. The flip side of this is that larger agencies may buy many lead types while using fewer filters. If a larger agency has enough agents to manage the bandwidth of an extensive lead source, this method will work really well. So, the best bet when it comes to handling the volume of leads is to look at the size of your agency. A smaller agency that handles a few high-quality leads a month has an advantage over an agency that handles an abundance of low-quality leads. Remember high quality is the best quality. 2. Source Leads can come from various channels. Determining which channel works best for your agency is the first step towards finding high-quality leads. Search Leads These leads are when customers are the ones making the first contact. So, think click-to-call ads. A customer will click on an ad because they are interested in your services. With these leads, agents have to act fast. A customer wants to receive help the moment they interact with your ad. Moving too slow means your customer just went to your competitor. Social Media Leads These leads are interest-generated through the various social media platforms. They are a perfect opportunity to connect with prospective customers. However, you have to know your audience in order to effectively use these. Figure out what platform your customers use most to reach them SEO Leads Search engine optimization is when a person searches online for the products you sell. For these leads, your website needs to be equipped with SEO measures. Making it appear at the top of a search engine is a goal. However, SEO leads can be a little slow. Making your website equipped for top results can take weeks. Not to mention there is little control in SEO. How Google prioritizes websites is known by Google alone. 3. Filtering A lot of times, companies have pre-determined filters for agencies to work with However, sometimes the options for custom filters are available. They can be a more pricey option, but they provide a lot of benefits. For instance, with custom filtering, you could include factors such as demographics, geographic locations, and current policies. With filters, it’s best to start broad and then narrow them down with consistent use. Whatever factors don’t work just take them out altogether. 4. Return Policy Found a great company with high-quality leads? Check their return policy. A truly exceptional company will have an equally exceptional return policy. Lead companies should take serious measures to exclude leads that are not up to standards. Unfortunately, sometimes bad leads slip through the cracks and end up in your lap. When this happens, how does the company react to a bad lead? Find out what their standards are for bad leads and what the return policy is. If a company leaves you high and dry with a bad lead, you should question how strong their leads are overall. 5. Exclusivity If agents are all buying the same leads, success rates will definitely take a hit. Exclusive leads are your best bet. They are sold to one agent and only one agent. Just like that competition is gone. POOF! It’s important to take into consideration that exclusive leads are going to have a higher price tag attached to them. If you’re planning on only utilizing exclusive leads, this will eat a chunk of your budget. The best method is to use these types of insurance leads as a supplement in your pipeline. For The Best Leads Contact Quote Nerds Today
Insurance Leads You Should Buy Now
Looking to build up your agency? Want to increase your sales and consumer base? You need strong insurance leads that will work towards these goals. There are many insurance lead types out in the world. Learning which type will fit perfectly into your sales pipeline is a must. We’re going to break down the different types of leads. Learn all the valuable information in one go. Here are five insurance leads you should buy. 1. Real-Time Leads Real-time leads happen, you guessed it, in real-time. These work fast. A prospect will fill out a request. Once they do so, you’ll be able to contact that person while they are in the buying mood. Now, because of their quick action, they tend to run a higher cost than other leads. To use these leads effectively, agents will need to prioritize them to get their full worth. However, the payout for doing so will put a big smile on your face. 2. Live Transfer Leads Live transfer leads come from verified customers who match your agency’s filter preferences. When a potential buyer matches the listed filters, a qualified call center will screen them to determine their intent. After this, the call center connects you to the buyer. This effectively cuts down the time it takes to dial out to customers. Live transfer leads are the perfect tool to add as a supplement to your sales strategy. 3. Click-to-Call Leads Also known as search leads, these work when the prospects make the first interaction. This means a prospect was already looking for your services. They see an ad and click on it. Then BOOM! You’re on the phone with a customer who is interested in buying what you offer. For click-to-call leads, agents need to be readily available. If an agent is not there to help a prospect, they will move onto your competitor. 4. Exclusive Insurance Leads Exclusive leads are like a little gift to your agency. They are only sold to you. As you know, the insurance industry can be competitive. Having an advantage over other agencies is truly beneficial. With exclusive leads, you can just step around the competition. It’s like having a shortcut. However, exclusivity comes with a price. It’s important to know what your agency can afford. Exclusive leads bought in even low quantities can still be a great asset for your sales strategy. 5. Shared Insurance Leads Now, I know this sounds counter-intuitive given how exclusive ads were just praised for being, well, exclusive. Shared leads can still have an element of exclusivity. That’s because of filters! If your filters differ from a competing agency, this can narrow down the playing field. Conclusion There are many lead types out there. They all have their benefits. The next step is to determine which leads will fit best into your agency. Overall, these are the five insurance leads you should buy. Find The Best Leads at QuoteNerds
Five Selling Hacks Sales Agents Should Know
If you’re a sales agent you know that your days can be unpredictable. You never know what’s going to happen when you follow up on a lead. Phones call with prospects can go smoothly or go south real fast. Agents need to be prepared for both situations. On the off chance that a lead does go south, agents might get discouraged. They might try harder the next time to avoid this situation. Having the right skills and knowledge is what can set an agent on a different path for their next prospects. Here are five selling hacks that sales agents should know in order to successfully land a sale. 1. Less Options = Quicker Results For a lot of people, more options means more freedom. While this sounds like a good thing, and it typically it is, it can be disastrous for insurance agents. When presented with a lot of options, people tend to start to weigh the value of each of those options. For example, let’s say you’re buying a TV. You go to the store with the intent of leaving with said TV. However, you get there and see a wall full of the newest screens to hit the market. So, you start to examine each one, focusing on tiny details. Which one is priced the best? Which has the clearest picture. Is this the right size for the room? These questions boggle your mind and you soon become overwhelmed. You end up leaving the store empty handled because you need more time to consider. The same thing happens when you present too many options to your prospects. While dealing with a potential customer, if they are overwhelmed with options they may try to back out of the call. This means you lose the sale. The best route to go is to not bombard your buyer with a ton of options. Instead, in your call, try to get to know your prospect. From there tailor your pitch to what fits them best. Overall, limiting your presented options is the way to go. 2. Focus On The Emotion Humans are emotional. It’s what makes us well, human, right? When you’re trying to sell to a buyer, use an emotional pull first. There are many different emotions you can play into to get a buyer to go through with the sale. Pride and shame are just some examples. Going with the pride route, it’s important to convince the prospect that your policy will add greatly to their lives. Telling them that your life insurance policy will settle their anxious minds knowing that their family will be protected is a great tactic to get people thinking. If you lead with shame, it’s important to get a person’s mind rolling on the negative consequences. You’re selling a home insurance policy. You might ask them if they have funds to pay for someone’s injury if a friend got injured at their home. If they don’t have the funds, they have to deal with the shame of not being able to pay the medical fees. Without home insurance that is something that will have to consider. 3. Remove The Sale This sounds confusing but it’s actually pretty simple. The main takeaway is to create the idea that this sale is time-sensitive or exclusive. When talking to a person on the phone it’s important to mention that, right now, this particular policy might not be needed. However, life is unpredictable. This particular health insurance policy might seem a little redundant, but if the past year has taught us anything is that life can be unpredictable. In the future, this buyer could need this policy but not get accepted cause situations can change. 4. Build Up The Value When it comes to this tactic, don’t focus on selling by price. It’s become common practice to push the fact that someone is saving money. However, it’s important to add value to your policies. Get it into the buyer’s head that the value they receive will drastically outweigh the price. For most people, their family, peace of mind, honesty, and happiness are big valued items. Keep this in mind when selling. This hack ties into number two on this list. For instance, establish a level of fear of what would happen to their family if they didn’t purchase a life insurance policy. This alone can convince someone to move forward with a policy cause the consequence outweighs the total price. 5. Reflect Your Prospects’ Behaviors. Mirroring behaviors can actually increase sales. It helps build up rapport and trust. Think about all the little traits you’ve picked up when you’re around other people. You do this to find some common ground with them. This tactic can be applied to making your sales and chasing leads. Let’s say you’re on the phone and you notice a client using a particular phrase over and over again. It might not be in your vocabulary but adding it in for the duration of the call is a smart idea. Use that phrase once or twice in your conversation with the buyer. Don’t overdo it as you might come off as creepy. Conclusion Even the best salespeople need a little help once in a while. Hopefully, these five selling hacks sales agents should know are helpful. Implementing these tactics in your daily workday might help you avoid any sales going south. Need More Sales Advice? Sign Up For Our Free Training Sessions