TECHNOLOGY 25
Highlighted area shows paid for links
Connecting with
“

The trick, therefore, is to stipulate
keywords that are not overly popular,
and which return a relatively small but
relevant number of results, keeping the
your customers
costs to a minimum. This is why many
brokers look to of_f er niche products,
where search competition is less fi erce,
before cross selling them a range of
other services and covers from their
portfolio.
Highlighted area shows Ô paid-forÕ links
”
As a test, type in the main type of insurance
Paying for clicks
begins to pull itself up the rankings on its own
your business offers and see how many pages
Pay per click advertising means that a
merits, then it is possible to cut back on the
are returned. At the time of writing searching
company’s website will appear on the paid for
advertising and this should help businesses
on Google for: ‘hotel insurance’, threw up
listings on the right of any search for certain,
keep costs down in the long run.
11.7 million UK pages. Given this level of
stipulated keywords.
competition, it is easy to see just how diffi cult Advertising
getting on to the fi rst page of results can be.
On average it would be reasonable to expect
As a fi nal consideration, a lot of brokers will
to pay about £5 for every person that clicks
consider banner advertising on the web and
To create an effective SEO strategy, brokers
through to your site from the search engine
like any marketing activity this has its place
really need to be playing a long game. The
advertisement, although this will depend on
when done properly. As with any form of
work needs to be done on an ongoing basis
the popularity of the search terms you have
advertising, the key to success is making sure
and for the average regional company,
requested your website appears against.
the website where the banner will appear is
something like half a day’s work should be relevant to the business and gets a lot of traffi c.
devoted to improving the website every
It is possible to pay for this advertising in
It really is a numbers game and given that the
month.
different ways. Some companies will stipulate
strike rate is very low, it is important that the
a maximum amount they want to spend each
biggest possible number of people see the
Linking up
day, each week or each month and once this is
advertisement.
One of the most effective ways of improving
reached the company will not be listed against
the ranking is to have links to your site from
any further searches.
These are some of the key ways to promote
relevant third parties. a website, but only scratches the surface of
It is also possible to stipulate a maximum for
what can be done. However brokers choose to
While a link into your site adds to its credibility,
every click-through to make sure the budget
market their business on the web, measuring
a link out of your site counts against it.
is not blown too quickly. For example, setting
the success of the work done is imperative,
Therefore reciprocal links are not as good as
a maximum of up to £5 will mean that where
especially when this is being done by a third
many people think. The more relevant the
the next highest bidder for the top spot on a
party. When using an internet marketing
website that offers a link to your site, the more
certain search is £3.50, the company will only
agency it is very easy to be bamboozled by the
weight it will carry and so a broker selling
have to pay £3.51 for the top listing. However,
many acronyms and terms, so benchmarking
caravan insurance, that has a link to its site
where there is more competition for certain
a site before work starts and then making
from The Caravan Club’s website, will score
keywords and the cost of a listing is over £5, no
regular and consistent analysis of the site’s
highly.
click-throughs will be bought.
performance is essential if brokers are to get
value for money. If fi rms cannot offer this sort
Establishing links like this can be diffi cult and
The trick, therefore, is to stipulate keywords
of analysis and have no way of effectively
time consuming and the quality of the content
that are not overly popular, and which return a
representing the success of their efforts, then
a website contains will very much determine
relatively small but relevant number of results,
brokers should question working with them.
whether third parties want to add a link to
keeping the costs to a minimum. This is why
it on their own site. This is another reason
many brokers look to offer niche products,
For brokers trying to market their business
why content is so crucial to a solid ranking
where search competition is less fi erce, before
online, just having a website is not enough.
performance.
cross selling them a range of other services
If it is actually going to generate business for
and covers from their portfolio.
them, brokers really have to put their website
It can take a matter of months to signifi cantly to work.
improve a website’s ranking and keeping it at
Getting the best mix for pay per click
the top end of specifi c searches is an ongoing
advertising is an art in itself, although many
Steve Bow
battle. In the early days and particularly for
fi rms will simply use it to get themselves up
Managing Director, Broking Division, SSP
smaller fi rms, using pay per click advertising
the listings while they wait for the SEO work
can be a useful tool.
to start showing results. Once a website
February 2010 Insurance Brokers’ Monthly
Tech 24-25 FEB.indd 2 1/2/10 13:51:07
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