When planning what your site will depict, jot down any thoughts that come to mind: your goals for the site; where you want your company logo to be displayed; the kind of feeling you want to give your visitors; even little things like font typessans serif or serif. Also, make sure your site is both a sales tool for vendors and service providers and a guide for clients. Once you have some sort of plan, contact local graphic designers. Look for a designer that understands what you want. Hint: They should be able to give helpful ideas that bolster your existing Web site strategies.

If you dont exactly know who your clients are and what youre providing, your site ultimately will be a flop. A great Web site helps visitors to purchase, and to understand when theyre ready to do so. It also helps them decide whether theyre ready to go with your services, or to turn to other providers.

Tips for Success

These days, most clients and prospects expect certain basic components on an insurance Web site:

Background information about your agency, including the history of your firm, profiles of your staff, names of companies you represent and links to their sites. You want your visitors to feel that your firm has strong, capable and skilled faces behind it.

Links to articles about your agency that have appeared in insurance publications. This gives your potential customers a sense of what your firm has accomplished recently. Also, include links to the right search engines and Web sites (e.g., chamber of commerce, businesses and insurance sites).

A professional and easy-to-navigate link to your “product and services” page. When a visitor clicks on a particular service or product, make sure that a “Contact us” icon is obvious. This makes visitors comfortable, knowing that a knowledgeable representative is a quick call away.

A client-input page scares some agencies, but this is an extremely important tool. How else do you know if your clients are happy and appreciative of your services? Agencies also need to know how their products fit the needs of the average consumer.

A pleasing color palette that reflects the mood you want to display. For instance, if youre going for a tech-savvy look, choose darker colors such as navy, gray and burnt orange. Who wants to surf around a site where most of the colors clash and are a complete eyesore?

Easily downloadable graphics. If a visitor is waiting too long to jump from page to page, you have a problem. Most likely, theyll give up and take their business elsewhere.

Online services such as certificates of insurance or claim reports. Customers are perfectly willing to enter some information themselvesand even prefer some self-service if you offer it.

Emergency contact information. This should include off-hours telephone or cell numbers. Also, keep in mind a growing trendoutsourced CSRs are available for emergencies on the Web or via toll-free lines.

A Web site that serves as a brochure is no longer an acceptable practice.

Remember that your Web site is an important part of your marketing strategy and business. Make sure you treat it as such.

Robert “Robby” E. Dunn III is vice president and agency manager of Hotchkiss Insurance Agency, Houston, and president of the Applied Systems Client Network (ASCnet) agency management system users group, based in Altamonte Springs, Fla. He can be reached at [email protected].

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, February 18, 2005. Copyright 2005 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.