How to Ensure Your Insurance Business Shines Online

If you own a business and maintain an online presence, you’ll know that keeping up with the times isn’t easy. Google is constantly altering its algorithms and evolving into a more efficient, moreover self-sufficient, entity and that means you need some inside knowledge if your website is going to thrive.
Fortunately, there’s a plethora of information out there for you to consume if you’re looking to shine a positive spotlight on your virtual presence. For example, Greenlight Digital’s white paper http://www.greenlightdigital.com/blog/whitepaper/the-greenlight-seo-brief-summer-2013/ not only reported on the significance of Google’s Hummingbird update in 2013, but noted the increase in emphasis on mobile optimisation.

By analysing the way in which Hummingbird was starting to analyse synonyms, the paper’s writer, Adam Bunn, was able to postulate on Google’s movement towards conversational speech. Highlighting that mobile SEO is “more specific” with regards to “speed” (i.e. people want to search and read faster on their mobiles), Bunn was able to touch on the trend of voice activated mobile searches that’s now all the rage in 2016.

While it’s not strictly necessary to have a website as part of your business plan, it’s been an accepted truism for the last few years that having one is better than not having one, but what analysts such as Bunn have made clear is that if you are going to enter the online arena you need to be able to keep pace with it.

Small Business Still Lacking Online


As far back as 2013, mainstream media outlets such as The Guardian were singing the praises of websites for small businesses. Following up a 2012 article that highlighted the fact that 60% of small businesses in the UK didn’t have a website (at the time), The Guardian’s Anthony Karibian went on to reveal that 80% of small businesses in 2013 that did have a web presence had a presence that almost wasn’t worth having.

Although many would assume that things are much better today, the fact is that most small businesses in the UK still don’t have a website. Picking up on a 2015 report commissioned by GoDaddy, smallbusiness.co.uk’s Ben Lobel noted that 60% of the 500 companies surveyed still don’t have a website.

Of those without a site, 54% said they didn’t feel that a digital presence would help their business. Lobel then pointed out that the opposite is true and that 60% of small businesses with a website can actually expect to “grow immensely” in the next three to five years.

Ways to Stand Out from the Crowd

So, if owning a website is a must for every small business owner, what should you be looking out for if you want to make your brand standout?

According to the latest stats from DomainTools, there are 124,922,662 IPs registered in the UK. This basically means that in order to make your site stand out in an already crowded space you need to follow some of the digital marketing world’s best practices.

One area you’ll need to consider is the user’s overall experience. As cited by the aforementioned Greenlight 2013 whitepaper on SEO developments, having too many adverts and banners at the forefront of your site will push you further down Google’s rankings.

Following Matt Cutt’s 2012 explanation of Google’s Top Heavy page layout algorithm, the Greenlight paper noted that if 50% of your site’s pages have a high “ad to content ratio”, then it will negatively impact the rest of your pages and pull you down the rankings.

Another area that’s worth exploring if you’re a small business owner with a new website is SEO. Although the SEO versus paid adverts (PPC) has been a long running debate in the digital marketing industry, the latter is generally considered to be the better approach.

While both will cost you money (you either have to pay for adverts or hire an SEO expert which can cost anywhere from £700+ each month), SEO provides a better return. It has been found that 81% of internet users find their desired destination through search engines.

Therefore, if you want to promote your insurance company to the masses in a more effective way, it pays to invest some money in a solid SEO campaign.

Find a Way to Fill that Gap

When you weigh up all the options, it’s obvious that having an online presence is crucial if you’re a small business in the insurance industry.

With 60% of small businesses across the UK still not having a website, it means there’s a huge gap in the market and if you can fill it with quality content and a useful service, you should find that a website dramatically increases the profitability of your business.