In this digital era, it’s not enough to simply have a website. It’s important to include relevant content on your site to attract leads and rank in search results. One of the best ways to do this is through unique blog posts.
View this webinar on-demand as BrightFire’s Sales Advisor Spencer Breidenbach discussed SEO best practices for blog writing and common blogging mistakes to avoid.
Why is Blogging Important For SEO?
When you optimize your written content for the user’s search intent, you’re making your website more likely to be found by users on search engines. The more relevant and popular your blogs are to the user’s search, the higher your chance of ranking in a top position on search engines like Google.
According to Orbit Media, 71% of bloggers say SEO is the most important source of traffic.
SEO Best Practices for Blogging
In this webinar, we discuss common SEO blogging best practices that your agency can start implementing today to win over visitors. Here are the SEO tactics that we share:
- Conduct Keyword Research
- Create a Blog Post Structure
- Use Attention-Grabbing Headlines
- Add Visuals
- Link to Related Blog Posts
- Write Keyword-Rich Meta Descriptions
Finally, Spencer will dive into how BrightFire’s ready-to-go content can help jumpstart your agency’s content library and set your agency up for success.
Watch The Webinar
Additional Questions?
If you have any questions about this webinar or our Insurance Agency Website service, please schedule a call with sales or call us at (888) 778-4393.
Webinar Transcript
Spencer: Hello everyone! My name is Spencer Breidenbach, a Sales Advisor here at BrightFire, as well as your host for today’s webinar. Thank you all for joining us.
In March, we covered 5 Common Mistakes With Local Citations. If you missed it, or any of our previous webinars in the 20 Minute Marketing Webinar series, you can access the whole series on-demand by visiting brightfire.com/webinars.
Our goal with these webinars is to provide you with digital marketing advice and discuss current digital marketing topics in a brief 20-minute format followed by a Q&A period to answer any questions you may have. If you have questions during the webinar, please use the Q&A feature in Zoom found at the bottom of the screen. We’ll do our best to answer all of the questions that come through; otherwise, we will personally reach out to you afterward.
Today’s webinar topic is SEO Best Practices for Blogging, and it will be presented by Spencer Breidenbach, one of our Sales Advisors here at BrightFire.
In this digital era, it’s not enough to simply have a website. It’s important to include relevant content on your site to attract leads and rank in search results. One of the best ways to do this is through unique blog posts.
In this webinar, we’ll dive into some of the best practices for blog writing and things to avoid. We’ll break down how you can get started with creating your own original, high-quality content and how BrightFire’s ready-to-go content can give you a jumpstart for your Insurance Agency Website.
Today’s webinar is being recorded, so everything we discuss will be saved and emailed to you in the next business day or two so you can watch it later on-demand.
Lastly, we do have a couple of polls for today’s webinar. When launched, you’ll see the poll pop up on your screen with the question and multiple-choice options. You can select more than one response, and every poll is anonymous. We’ll give you roughly 30 seconds to share your response, and then we’ll discuss the results with the group.
With that being said, I’ll go ahead and hand it over to Spencer to kick off today’s webinar.
What’s Ahead
Spencer: Thank you Princess and thank you everyone for joining us today. Writing content for your website can be time consuming and even difficult given the day-to-day responsibilities of running an agency. Oftentimes, agents aren’t sure where to begin or how to maintain a consistent blog on their website.
In today’s webinar, we’ll discuss some SEO best practices for blog writing. These tips will give you an understanding of SEO and how it relates to website content, how to get started, and how to get your blogs to rank on search engine result pages.
We’ll also discuss BrightFire’s Insurance Agency Website service, our SEO Bundle package, and how our weekly keyword-rich blog content can jumpstart your insurance agency’s website.
About BrightFire
Spencer: Before we discuss SEO best practices for blogging, here’s a brief background on BrightFire, since we have a mix of current customers and agents that are new to BrightFire attending today.
BrightFire began by providing insurance agency websites in 2000. Over the years as the needs of insurance agents grew, we expanded our digital marketing services beyond agency websites to also include:
- Search Engine Optimization
- Reviews & Reputation Management
- Social Media Marketing
- Local Listing Management
- Pay-Per-Click Advertising
Currently, there are over 2,500 independent agencies across the nation using at least one of BrightFire’s digital marketing services.
So with that background on BrightFire, let’s get started.
Why is Blogging Important For SEO?
Spencer: First we’ll tackle why blogging is important for SEO. When you optimize your written content for the user’s search intent, you’re making your website more likely to be found by users on search engines. The more relevant and popular your blogs are to the user’s search, the higher your chance of ranking in a top position on search engines like Google.
According to Orbit Media, 71% of bloggers say SEO is the most important source of traffic.
Using SEO tactics to get in front of your target audience is not only a low-cost method, but also beneficial to your ideal customer. With organic searches, users are already seeking the answer to a problem. If your agency’s relevant blog post appears in response to their search, this could lead to establishing yourself as a credible source and possibly receiving a new loyal customer in return.
Today we’ll dive into some SEO blogging best practices that your agency can start implementing today to win over visitors.
Conduct Keyword Research
Spencer: The first tactic we’ll discuss is conducting keyword research. This stage of the blog writing process is incredibly important, if not the most important. Finding keywords and understanding which keywords to use is a crucial part of creating blogs that will not only rank, but are also relevant to the user.
A big part of keyword research is understanding your customer. What are their interests? What are their problems and questions? How can your agency show up in a relevant way and offer a solution? Without a clear buyer persona, conducting keyword research will be ineffective.
Once you understand who your audience is, you can then use tools like Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and UberSuggest to review keywords that have a low to high search volume and even see which keywords your competitors are using and how they’re ranking for them. And if those keywords are performing well for them and are relevant to your agency, there’s nothing wrong with using those keywords in your own content too.
Google Trends is another helpful tool for keeping up with keyword popularity. With Google Trends, you can see what keywords are popular currently and which keywords may be on the decline. This can help you keep your keyword strategy fresh and always relevant with current trends.
Lastly, once you have your keywords and phrases laid out, you can begin using them throughout your blog post where relevant. However, you’ll want to be sure to avoiding keyword stuffing.
Keyword stuffing is a tactic that involves overloading your pages with keywords in an effort to manipulate your chances of ranking higher in search engines. This tactic is frowned upon and is considered webspam or spamdexing.
Doing this could ultimately damage your site’s ranking and make for a bad user experience. Instead, we’ll focus on how to create informative content that uses relevant keywords where appropriate and within context.
Create a Blog Post Structure
Spencer: Now we’ll discuss how to create an effective blog post structure. If you’re like most insurance agents, writing blogs isn’t your area of expertise and it’s probably not something you do regularly.
You’ll want to begin by creating an outline that details the audience you’re speaking to. Is it a business owner who needs a new commercial policy? A young married couple in need of homeowners insurance and life insurance? Or a senior who needs help finding a Medicare Supplement plan that’s right for them?
From there you’ll want to outline how your agency can solve the problem or question your target audience has. Make sure the blog’s content matches the title and actually answers their question. Are they searching for ways to save on car insurance? Maybe they’re searching for mistakes to avoid when seeking health insurance. These are just a couple of example blog topics that can be written about and used on your agency website.
Lastly, you always want to close with the desired call-to-action or CTA. This CTA needs to be a clear, direct action that will convert them from a reader to a lead. It needs to be simple and also grab the user’s attention.
A few examples would be to call your agency directly, complete a lead form, bind online, complete a quote request, or schedule an appointment. Whatever the action is, keep it simple and make it easy for them to complete.
Use Attention-Grabbing Headlines
Spencer: Next we’ll discuss writing attention-grabbing headlines. This tip is vitally important as this will be the very first thing your reader will see. It can determine if your blog is worth visiting or if they should keep looking.
In fact, 80% of readers never make it past the headline, according to Moz. Which means that only 2 out of 10 people will actually read the rest of your blog. So you have to make a big impression!
Headlines give you an opportunity to use your focus keywords and show that your article is relevant to what the user is searching. For example, if your blog is about informing readers about homeowners insurance, you’ll want to use titles like “5 things you didn’t know about homeowners insurance”, “everything you need to know about homeowners insurance”, “first time buyers guide to homeowners insurance”. These type of headlines let users know exactly what they’ll be getting from your blog.
Additionally, your headline doesn’t have to be long to get your point across. In fact, the ideal blog post title length is around 60 characters. CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer is a free resource you can use to craft headlines that captivate and pull in traffic. If your title is over 60 characters, it will be truncated on search engine result pages, and Google may even decide to display a different title of their choosing in search results.
Add Visuals
Spencer: The next tactic we’ll discuss is including visuals in your blogs posts. Readers enjoy seeing visuals like images and video to break up text. It gives your blog breathing room and can also boost your SEO. According to a Blog Pros study, in 100 of the highest ranking blogs on the internet, there was at least one image for every 350 words.
When adding visuals to your article, be sure to also add descriptive alt text to every image. Alt text helps Google understand what your images and your webpage as a whole are about. This can help your images appear on image search result pages. It also very important for screen reader technology used by those who are visually impaired so that they can understand the meaning behind your images.
Link to Related Blog Posts
Spencer: Now we’ll dive into how to take your blogs to the next level with inbound links, also known as backlinks. An inbound link is when another website links back to your website. When this happens, Google sees it as an indicator that your website contains quality and credible content. Thus, making backlinks a major part of SEO.
However, you can take this a step further by linking phrases and sentences to other relevant blogs on your own website. For example, if you’ve written about a topic that ties into your current blog topic, you can link back to that article where relevant.
This tactic also helps increase your session duration as users can begin clicking more of your blog links and reading more of your website’s content, especially if the content is highly informative, relevant, and well-written.
Write Keyword-Rich Meta Descriptions
Spencer: Lastly, we’ll discuss writing keyword-rich meta descriptions. Aside from the title, your meta description will be the next piece of content a potential reader will see in the search engine results before clicking on your blog post. Meta descriptions affect your click-through-rate since they help the user decide which search result to visit next.
Your meta description doesn’t have to be full of your focus keywords. In fact, meta descriptions are no longer a ranking factor according to Google. Instead use synonyms that still effectively describe the content of your blog in 160 characters or less. If your meta description is over 160 characters, it will be truncated on search engine result pages, and Google may even decide to display a different description of their choosing in search results.
Some components of a helpful meta description include using an active or actionable voice, being specific, being creative, making it unique, making sure it matches the content of your blog post, and keeping it concise.
With that information on SEO best practices for blogging in mind, let’s get into how BrightFire can help you jumpstart your blog content and set your insurance agency website up for SEO success.
How BrightFire Helps with Blogging for Insurance
Spencer: At BrightFire, we only serve the insurance vertical, and we have over 20 years of experience building Insurance Agency Websites and managing SEO. Our team of digital marketing experts are equipped to help your agency improve your search rankings.
Our Insurance Agency Website service includes a custom design, content management system, lead conversion optimization, ready-to-go insurance product pages, a fully search engine optimized website, weekly blog posts, ongoing SEO updates, and two suites of tools for sales and support that’ll help you save time, increase productivity, and convert more prospects to customers.
We provide you with a full content library to jumpstart your agency’s blog and a digital marketing strategist to offer guidance and support as you brainstorm unique content for your website.
How to Get Started with an Insurance Blog
Spencer: If you’re currently enrolled in our Insurance Agency Website service, our team of experts are already monitoring and managing your website regularly.
If you’re new to BrightFire and would like to take advantage of this service you can sign up for BrightFire’s Insurance Agency Website service for only $115 per month.
Our Insurance Agency Website service, like all of our digital marketing services, does not have setup fees or contracts. We also include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Onboarding consists of two 30-minute phone calls, and about an hour of your own time to review your website. We’ll work with you until you’re totally happy with your new website.
You can also take advantage of our Insurance Agency Website service as part of our Ultimate SEO Bundle for $210 per month at a $50/month discount. This bundle includes our Insurance Agency Website, Reviews & Reputation Management, and Local Listings Management services – all vital components to building and improving your SEO.
As a thank you for attending today, we’re offering a $50 promo to webinar attendees. You can receive a $50 account credit for signing up for our Insurance Agency Website or Ultimate SEO Bundle service. This promo ends May 31st, 2022.
To get started with BrightFire, please visit our website at www.brightfire.com or give us a call at 888-778-4393. On our website, you can submit your purchase, start a live chat with us, or schedule a call with a BrightFire expert.
Q&A on Insurance Blogging
How often should I post new content to my agency website?
It’s recommended that businesses publish blog content 1-4 per week. When you’re just getting started, it’s best to start with a manageable schedule that you’ll be able to be consistent with. So we recommend starting with one blog post per month, remain consistent with that schedule, and gradually work your way up to publishing more content as you getter at creating blogs. It’s also a good idea to create your blogs in bulk and schedule them in advance so you don’t have to include blog writing in your weekly tasks.
How long should my blogs be on my agency website?
According to HubSpot, the ideal length for a blog post is 2100-2400 words. However, you don’t have to write lengthy blogs when just starting out. Focus on getting your point across and providing quality, informative content to your readers. Over time, you can always update older blogs with new information. Updating old content also helps with optimizing your blogs’ search engine ranking.
How do insurance agents convert blog visitors into leads?
This is a tricky one because it depends on where the reader is in the buyer process. If they’re in the problem recognition and information search phase, they’re probably not looking to purchase a policy just yet. However, if they’re comparing options and looking for an agency that is credible and trustworthy, they may convert into a lead if they feel your agency has those characteristics. Consider where the reader may be in their buyer process when crafting your call to action. You can also always simply request the reader’s email in return for more informative content. Over time, they may reach out to your agency for policy services.
BrightFire’s Upcoming 20 Minute Marketing Webinars
Our webinar in July is Building A Successful Customer Review Strategy.
As an insurance agency owner, you know how important it is to build a loyal clientele that speak highly of your agency’s work and consistently refers new business. You understand the importance of building and maintaining a good reputation that creates trust between you and new prospects.
In this webinar, we’ll explain the importance of reviews and the part they play in your agency’s visibility in search engines. We’ll also discuss how building a successful customer review strategy helps establishes your agency’s credibility, increases trust, and ultimately leads to more loyal clients.
This webinar will be held Thursday, July 28 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern or 11:00 a.m. Pacific.
You can reserve your spot at these webinars by visiting the webinars page on our website at brightfire.com/webinars.
So that does it for today! From me, Spencer, and the rest of the BrightFire team, we’d like to thank all of you for attending.
