Here are 8 important tips to ensure your insurance agency websites convey a professional image, engage prospects and clients, and optimize your insurance SEO for the major search engines.
Websites should be updated at least once a year, if your agency website is out of date, it's more important than ever to tune it up, or better yet, give it a comprehensive overhaul.
Ten years ago, few prospects or clients made their decision based on information gleaned from a website.
Today it is rare that a prospect or client does not visit a website to check up on a company.

1. Avoid large flash components.
   Even though a Flash intro or major Flash component may look good, it can slow down load speed and limits the amount of information clients, prospects and search engines can read.
   
2. Create a "Call to Action" that is easy to see and understand.
   Each page of your insurance agency website should have a distinct goal, to engage prospects and clients, and elicit the desired action.
   Some might include: Click here to download a case study; Join us for our next webinar; Sign up for our newsletter, etc.
   
3. Quickly, clearly and simply convey your agency's value proposition.
   The value proposition should be shorter to comprehend than an elevator pitch, five seconds should be sufficient.
   
4. Insurance agency website navigation should be simple and easy to understand.
   Embrace standards; don't try to innovate with navigation.
   Whenever in doubt, use redundant navigation on the sides or bottom.
   
5. Insurance SEO should be a major consideration for every insurance agency website.
   Although the primary purpose of a website is to engage prospects and clients, SEO is the next consideration to help the major search engines find your website.
   After all, if a prospect types in "Maryland Business Insurance", you want your agency to show up on page one of the search engine results.
   
6. Blogging is now a standard and vlogging will soon become one.
   Blogging is fun and easy to do; it helps with insurance SEO and insurance search engine marketing, and improves website stickiness.
   Vlogging is the video version of blogging, which can be as simple as recording a PowerPoint presentation and loading it onto your insurance agency website.
   
7. It's time to add an insurance agency social media marketing component to your website.
   This can be accomplished by creating a link to your LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter accounts, or integrating your blog into one or more of the many social media solutions which accomplish this.
   Look for social media marketing to become a much more important component of your insurance agency web marketing plan over the next few years.
   
8. Lastly, it's important to remember that content is king.
   Clear, current and concise content is of paramount importance to an insurance agency website.
   Your content should be easy to understand for both your prospects, clients and search engine "bots".
   If you find that you have different content your agency wishes to offer clients, create a portal or password protected area to offer this content.
   

Leveraging an up to date, professional and content rich insurance agency website is extremely important in today's insurance marketplace.
It doesn't take very long to overhaul a typical insurance agency website; it can be done in as little as 30 days, and should never take longer than 90 days.
How important is an insurance agency website today? We should all assume that almost every prospect we pitch, will visit our website, and further, that progressively more prospect will find insurance agents by searching for them online.
With progressively younger buyers controlling purchase decisions, agencies should take the time to ensure their websites properly convey their professionalism and value proposition.