How to Create an Insurance Blog

In the world of insurance marketing, agents are looking for new, fun, and creative ways to increase their online presence and grow their pool of potential clients. One great tactic that many agents have started using to achieve these goals is creating an insurance blog. An insurance blog is not only a great way to boost traffic to your website. But it also can help to establish yourself as an insurance expert. This will help put you in front of people in need. In order to reap the benefits though, when creating an insurance blog you must plan accordingly, post regularly and be creative in the content that you post. By effectively understanding the benefits, best practices, and some general content ideas, before you know it, you’ll be the successful creator of your own blog.

What Blogging Can Do For You

While the “how-to” part of creating a blog is important, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. With that said, first we will delve into some of the reasons why an insurance agent would want to create a blog. In addition to blogs being centers of information that ideally relates to your target audience. There are various other ways it can help you grow your business. Here are some of them: 

Generate organic traffic and improve search rank

When you establish a blog that consistently releases relevant and interesting industry content. It can help to boost the amount of traffic that organically reaches your website. Additionally, by optimizing your articles to include search engine optimization (SEO) keywords, your blog will likely rank higher on search engines, ultimately resulting in more qualified consumers visiting your site. For each individual blog post, it’s important to target specific keywords related to the topic at hand as well as any relevant insurance products or services.

Establish yourself as an expert

Blogs can also serve as a great way to grow your pool of qualified clients. The best way to do this is to establish a presence online as an insurance expert who wants to help others. And what better way to do that than consistently posting insurance information that is helpful to the average consumer! Just make sure that the information that you post is always well-researched and accurate. The best way to come up with relevant ideas is to think about topics that are generally confusing for individuals, then translate that information into a more digestible form. 

Create new relationships

In addition to a new pool of clients that can be gained from creating a blog, you’ll also be able to grow your network of other insurance professionals. By posting your articles on social media platforms, and then actively engaging with others who see your post, you will build relationships for years to come. The connections you create in this online community will help you in the future to be the best agent you can be.

Steps to Create and Manage Your Blog 

With a full understanding of what a blog can do for you, it’s now time to get started. Many of the following planning steps will help you to come up with content ideas that you will later be able to put to use.

1.Pinpoint Your Audience 

Before you even begin to think about topic ideas, you’re going to need to identify who you’re writing the blog for. Are the articles going to be aimed towards other professionals or towards potential clients? No matter the case, keeping information about them such as their needs, wants and demographic information, will benefit you when refining your topics and choosing the language that you use.

2.Pick Your Blogging Platform 

In order for your blog to be seen by other people, you will need to decide where you’re going to post it. WordPress is the most popular blogging platform and is quite user-friendly offering many different themes, plugins and other features to enhance your blog visually and how it functions for users. Some social media platforms such as LinkedIn also offer article posting features that may be useful depending on your audience. 

3.Create a Posting Calendar 

As touched on previously, consistency in posting is one of the most important keys to the success of your blog. The best way to make sure that you are staying on top of things is to create a content calendar that includes details such as the topic, the posting date, and any other marketing efforts that you will use to promote the blog. 

4.Brainstorm and Research for Topics 

With much of the planning completed, you’ll now want to shift your focus to the content. To help this process plan some blocks of time devoted specifically to research and brainstorming. A good way to start this process is by thinking about relevant industry trends. As well as common client issues and questions. There are many valuable tools online such as Google Keyword Planner, that can help you find keywords that your audience commonly searches for to help spark ideas. 

5.Optimize for SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is vitally important to increase the number of eyes on your blog. Pay close attention to your blog’s titles, headings, and content and try to include keywords related to your business. Additionally, include these keywords in your meta descriptions and tag functions. 

6.Promote Your Blog and Monitor Performance 

In addition to optimizing for SEO and choosing the right posting platform, you’ll need to do some promotion to attract more readers. Try sharing your blog posts on social media sites, online communities, emails or newsletters. Additionally, make sure that you’re interacting with the users who take interest in your blog through the comments section or with direct messaging. When looking for ways to make positive changes to improve your blog, you should use tools such as Google Analytics or something similar. Regularly pay attention to metrics like pageviews, user engagement and bounce rates. In turn, you will have a better idea of what type of content your viewers like and what content they don’t. 

Content Tips For Success 

It’s important to come up with new and fresh ideas when maintaining an insurance blog. Here are a few pointers to help you be successful when thinking about the content you want to focus on.

1.Answer Common Questions

Especially if your blog is meant to target potential customers, you can use it as a platform to answer FAQ. While you and your professional peers are well-versed in most insurance concepts, for the average consumer there can be a lot of confusion. Try addressing topics like coverage options, claims processes, policy types, cost-cutting tips and more. By establishing yourself as a helpful resource, more interested consumers will likely flock your way. 

2.Use Stories and Case Studies 

Another great way to relay information is to share experiences from your life as an agent. These stories can provide valuable information to consumers, providing them with a glance into your life. You could try highlighting stories about insurance coverage making a big difference in someone’s life. Oftentimes a true story is more relatable to people, and will resonate with them better than simply explaining a concept. 

3.Collaborate With Others 

A fun idea for a blog involves collaborating with your network of insurance professionals. You can find another insurance agent, or even someone who works in a different sector of the industry to show a contrasting experience. Some collaborative ideas include guest posts, interviews, or co-written articles. Most readers will be interested to hear a new perspective and will enjoy the back and forth dialogue (if you choose to do an interview).

4.Include Visual Content

A great way to spice up your blogs is to include some visual elements in addition to the actual article. Try using things like relevant images, infographics, videos and icons. Visual components can help to make complex topics easier to comprehend, while also helping to break up the paragraphs on the page, making it more visually appealing. 

Wrapping Up… 

A well thought out insurance blog can be used as a powerful marketing tool. Helping agents connect with their target audience, drive traffic to their website and increase their presence in the online community. Like many marketing tactics, much of the success or downfall of a blog will depend on your planning or lack of planning. By clearly defining your target audience, picking the proper posting platform and using SEO keywords related to your business and products, the rest of the process will be much easier on you. And remember, consistency is key! So make a content calendar and stick to it.

When looking to come up with relevant content ideas, think about the questions that the common client would ask. And don’t be afraid to include personal anecdotes, life stories, or helpful visual content like videos and infographics. Being the owner of a successful blog takes commitment, dedication and creativity. But in turn, it will help you make meaningful connections and grow your business into the future. 

If you are an insurance agent who wants to increase your contact rate and sales, look to Benepath! We are leaders in the insurance lead generation industry, and we want to help you. All of the leads that we produce are exclusive and produced in real-time. So, you’ll be the only one working each lead that you purchase. We offer both data leads and inbound phone calls in a variety of verticals. Including individual health, group health, Medicare, life and commercial insurance. If you’re interested in getting a leg up on the competition with our leads, fill out a form today, or give us a call at 888-684-3121.