Selling Insurance on the Internet - Can a Small Insurance Agency Website Compete?
We've all seen the TV ads offering great savings on farmers insurance online. Farmers Insurance Companies like Geico and Progressive pump millions of dollars into promotion of their auto farmers insurance websites. Whether or not it's a good thing to have the uneducated public buying farmers insurance without the advice of a farmers insurance agent is a debate unto itself. The purpose of this article is to determine whether small, independent farmers insurance agencies can compete with the "big boys" when it comes to buying farmers insurance online. When the buying public surfs the internet looking for farmers insurance savings, chances are they will do one of two things. First option, they may go to a known brand name, such as Safeco, Geico, or Progressive and obtain a price quote. Second option, they will search for a local farmers insurance agency through their favorite search engine.
Regardless of the promise of big savings, many consumers are more comfortable working with a farmers insurance agent to guide their buying decision. With little knowledge of how farmers insurance works, what coverages they need, and what companies are available, the majority of consumers are willing to pay a little more to get the advice of a farmers insurance agent. But what most consumers don't know, is that they can usually save MORE money buying through their local independent farmers insurance agent rather than buying online. Independent farmers insurance agencies write with multiple farmers insurance companies, two of which may actually be Progressive and Safeco. These two companies not only sell farmers insurance online through their own websites, but also through independent farmers insurance agencies. This allows consumers to not only get a competitive price on their farmers insurance, but they also get the benefit of an agent's expertise as well. Many times the premium through an agency will actually be LESS than the equivalent coverage purchased directly from the company online.
Most farmers insurance buyers incorrectly assume that since farmers insurance agents are paid commission, that they will actually pay more when working with their local independent agent. When it comes to the independent farmers insurance agency website and selling farmers insurance on the internet, local agencies have an advantage over large national companies who spend millions on advertising and marketing of their websites. This advantage is focused website optimization. When a consumer goes online to search for farmers insurance, they are likely to perform a location-based search such as "Omaha Nebraska Auto farmers Insurance" or "Car farmers Insurance in Omaha Nebraska" or maybe "farmers insurance agent in Omaha". These specific search terms are the bread and butter of a farmers insurance agency website optimization. Obviously, the higher the ranking, the better the chance of getting a visitor into your site. By focusing on a location-based optimization of your insurance agency website, you stand a much better chance of getting your site into the coveted first few pages of the search engines. An Example of Good farmers Insurance Website Design Here is an example.
My Nebraska farmers insurance agency website is highly optimized for the state of Nebraska. If I search for "auto farmers insurance" in Google, it sends back over 86 million results. It's not likely my agency website will rank anywhere near the top for this search, and I don't WANT to rank near the top, because I would have thousands of requests for farmers insurance outside the state of Nebraska. I want my farmers insurance agency website to rank for relevant searches in MY state, not a state I'm not licensed to sell in. My agency is located in a rural area, so we obviously write a lot of farm and crop farmers insurance. If I narrow my search for "nebraska farmers insurance", my agency website ranks 18th out of 14.4 million results. Not bad considering the search term is rather broad. Let's narrow it down even further, and search for a specific line of farmers insurance. "Nebraska farmers insurance" shows my farmers insurance agency website ranked 4th out of over 2 million results. Now we're getting somewhere. Other lines of farmers insurance include "Nebraska auto farmers insurance", 21 out of 2.2 million. "Home farmers insurance in Nebraska", 24th out of over 12 million. The best part is, there is no "big boy" national auto farmers insurance company ranked higher than my small agency website in any of the major search engines for the terms I want to rank for. Hopefully I've shown that with a little work and some focused marketing, you can get your small farmers insurance agency website pushed higher in the search engines. You can not only compete, but beat the Geico's and Progressive's in the online farmers insurance world. Onpage optimization isn't the only factor that will get your site ranked higher, but it is a good start. Build links into your site via online directories, DMOZ listings, even online articles like the one you're reading, and start making money selling farmers insurance on the internet. The author is a licensed farmers insurance agent who has extensive experience in internet marketing and farmers insurance agency website design. farmers Insurance agents in California wanting to be able to capture leads for California car farmers insurance quotes can now participate in our farmers insurance leads program and also promote their farmers insurance agencies in our California farmers insurance agents directory.
Regardless of the promise of big savings, many consumers are more comfortable working with a farmers insurance agent to guide their buying decision. With little knowledge of how farmers insurance works, what coverages they need, and what companies are available, the majority of consumers are willing to pay a little more to get the advice of a farmers insurance agent. But what most consumers don't know, is that they can usually save MORE money buying through their local independent farmers insurance agent rather than buying online. Independent farmers insurance agencies write with multiple farmers insurance companies, two of which may actually be Progressive and Safeco. These two companies not only sell farmers insurance online through their own websites, but also through independent farmers insurance agencies. This allows consumers to not only get a competitive price on their farmers insurance, but they also get the benefit of an agent's expertise as well. Many times the premium through an agency will actually be LESS than the equivalent coverage purchased directly from the company online.
Most farmers insurance buyers incorrectly assume that since farmers insurance agents are paid commission, that they will actually pay more when working with their local independent agent. When it comes to the independent farmers insurance agency website and selling farmers insurance on the internet, local agencies have an advantage over large national companies who spend millions on advertising and marketing of their websites. This advantage is focused website optimization. When a consumer goes online to search for farmers insurance, they are likely to perform a location-based search such as "Omaha Nebraska Auto farmers Insurance" or "Car farmers Insurance in Omaha Nebraska" or maybe "farmers insurance agent in Omaha". These specific search terms are the bread and butter of a farmers insurance agency website optimization. Obviously, the higher the ranking, the better the chance of getting a visitor into your site. By focusing on a location-based optimization of your insurance agency website, you stand a much better chance of getting your site into the coveted first few pages of the search engines. An Example of Good farmers Insurance Website Design Here is an example.
My Nebraska farmers insurance agency website is highly optimized for the state of Nebraska. If I search for "auto farmers insurance" in Google, it sends back over 86 million results. It's not likely my agency website will rank anywhere near the top for this search, and I don't WANT to rank near the top, because I would have thousands of requests for farmers insurance outside the state of Nebraska. I want my farmers insurance agency website to rank for relevant searches in MY state, not a state I'm not licensed to sell in. My agency is located in a rural area, so we obviously write a lot of farm and crop farmers insurance. If I narrow my search for "nebraska farmers insurance", my agency website ranks 18th out of 14.4 million results. Not bad considering the search term is rather broad. Let's narrow it down even further, and search for a specific line of farmers insurance. "Nebraska farmers insurance" shows my farmers insurance agency website ranked 4th out of over 2 million results. Now we're getting somewhere. Other lines of farmers insurance include "Nebraska auto farmers insurance", 21 out of 2.2 million. "Home farmers insurance in Nebraska", 24th out of over 12 million. The best part is, there is no "big boy" national auto farmers insurance company ranked higher than my small agency website in any of the major search engines for the terms I want to rank for. Hopefully I've shown that with a little work and some focused marketing, you can get your small farmers insurance agency website pushed higher in the search engines. You can not only compete, but beat the Geico's and Progressive's in the online farmers insurance world. Onpage optimization isn't the only factor that will get your site ranked higher, but it is a good start. Build links into your site via online directories, DMOZ listings, even online articles like the one you're reading, and start making money selling farmers insurance on the internet. The author is a licensed farmers insurance agent who has extensive experience in internet marketing and farmers insurance agency website design. farmers Insurance agents in California wanting to be able to capture leads for California car farmers insurance quotes can now participate in our farmers insurance leads program and also promote their farmers insurance agencies in our California farmers insurance agents directory.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/698258
In the context of Bangladesh it is essential to have partnership between private and public sectors and NGOs to implement IBI. The public sector role would be to set a policy and regulatory framework in place to ensure reliability of farmers insurance services and protection of those purchasing farmers insurance products. SBC and larger private banks can serve as reinsurers as private companies will want re farmers insurance support before introducing crop farmers insurance. The index model will be dependent on the type of risk, i.e., drought, excess rain etc. Constructing a model requires a multi-disciplinary approach that includes meteorologists, hydrologists, agriculture specialists and farmers insurance experts.
The model will define the level at which farmers insurance payouts will be triggered, for example, excess rain could be defined as more than 80 mm rain within 1 to 2 days. Some models pay out zero or the full sum insured, while other models have different levels of payout correlated to the severity of the risk. IFPRI is using the zero or full sum model for drought farmers insurance while CIMMYT is considering a triggered payout model. IBI can be designed for different levels. At micro level, farmers are targeted directly for farmers insurance. At meso level, farmers insurance is taken out by MFIs to cover their credit risk based on crop loss. At macro level, government institutions or disaster relief organizations use IBI to fund extreme weather relief efforts. All current IBI projects in Bangladesh are at micro level except Oxfam's meso level flood farmers insurance. Contracts for IBI should be transparent, fair and reasonably priced, and must be easy for farmers to know what is and what is not covered by the farmers insurance. It is Important to make sure that farmers have ownership of the farmers Insurance product through consultation with them throughout the design of the product. Farmers can be an integral part of validating and addressing any subsequent issues to adapt or improve the index or contract. In some circumstances it may be possible that the weather risk is just below the trigger point for farmers insurance payout: in these years, farmers may lose crops without compensation. In such scenarios, it is beneficial for farmers to form community groups that pool resources, such as through group savings. In addition, members of the community group can support each other when individuals are affected by household level events not covered by farmers insurance.
The model will define the level at which farmers insurance payouts will be triggered, for example, excess rain could be defined as more than 80 mm rain within 1 to 2 days. Some models pay out zero or the full sum insured, while other models have different levels of payout correlated to the severity of the risk. IFPRI is using the zero or full sum model for drought farmers insurance while CIMMYT is considering a triggered payout model. IBI can be designed for different levels. At micro level, farmers are targeted directly for farmers insurance. At meso level, farmers insurance is taken out by MFIs to cover their credit risk based on crop loss. At macro level, government institutions or disaster relief organizations use IBI to fund extreme weather relief efforts. All current IBI projects in Bangladesh are at micro level except Oxfam's meso level flood farmers insurance. Contracts for IBI should be transparent, fair and reasonably priced, and must be easy for farmers to know what is and what is not covered by the farmers insurance. It is Important to make sure that farmers have ownership of the farmers Insurance product through consultation with them throughout the design of the product. Farmers can be an integral part of validating and addressing any subsequent issues to adapt or improve the index or contract. In some circumstances it may be possible that the weather risk is just below the trigger point for farmers insurance payout: in these years, farmers may lose crops without compensation. In such scenarios, it is beneficial for farmers to form community groups that pool resources, such as through group savings. In addition, members of the community group can support each other when individuals are affected by household level events not covered by farmers insurance.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8621551
