November 13, 2017 | Insurance Agent Engine

10 Signs It’s Time to Update Your Insurance Website


Is your insurance agent website working as hard as you are to build your business and serve your customers? If you can’t confidently answer “yes” to that question, it may be time to consider an overhaul. Because the way the insurance industry works is changing and your customers are demanding today’s technology and digital experiences from your site. And the last thing you want is to fall behind the competition.

Here are ten signs that it’s time to consider a redesign for your insurance agent website.

1. Your Site Isn’t Mobile-Friendly

If your insurance website isn’t mobile-friendly, a redesign is absolutely vital.

In 2016, mobile took over desktop as the primary device used to access websites. Your customers are increasingly using their phones and tablets when they’re on the web.

Since 2015, Google has made a mobile-friendly site design a ranking factor for search results. In other words, if your site isn’t mobile friendly, it’s probably hurting your search ranking.

Google and your customers expect your website to look and perform well on mobile devices. So what does that mean for your site?

A responsive site layout is the best way to make your site mobile-friendly. Basically, a responsive layout is designed to adjust to fit whatever size screen your viewer is using, without using different urls or inconvenient redirects.

If you don’t have a responsive, mobile-friendly website you need to make a redesign an immediate priority.

2. Your Site Is Slow

Is your site more tortoise than hare?

Tools like PageSpeed Insights can tell you if your site is slow and why.

Slow site speed can kill traffic and make your website ineffective. Not only that, a slow site speed can damage your SEO. Search engine bots don’t want to spend ages crawling through your site any more than people do, so a slow site is a poorly indexed site.

A redesign can have a huge impact on how quick your site loads.

A good designer will improve your site speeds by optimizing your image, minimizing redirects, eliminating unnecessary plugins, and caching.

3. You Don’t Have Any Traffic

Your website should be drawing new people to your business. If you’re not getting the traffic you need, that’s a problem.

Your website should do more than just look good.

A smart redesign will support your SEO, social media, and content strategies.

The result? More traffic.

4. You Aren’t Getting Any Leads

So your website has plenty of traffic, but you aren’t generating leads. What gives?

Poor site design makes it hard to convert readers to leads. So, if you aren’t getting the leads you need, it may be time for a redesign.

Are you making it easy for potential leads to provide you with their information?

Your website should contain the following elements:

  • Plenty of conversion opportunities such as quote forms incorporated throughout the site.
  • Easy opportunities to subscribe to your blog or sign up for an email newsletter.
  • Professional and informative landing pages with a clear call-to-action.

5. Your Site Doesn’t Make A Good First Impression

In the insurance business, first impressions matter. That’s why you look smart for meetings, introduce yourself with a firm handshake, and say hello when you walk in a room.

Your website is your way to make a great first impression online. Having a great site design is crucial.

Open up your site and imagine you’re visiting it for the first time. Does it have the impact you want it to?

  • Are your colors appealing?
  • Is your font easy to read?
  • Is your layout clear?
  • Is your navigation easy to find and understand?
  • Have you sacrificed user experience for cutting-edge design elements?
  • Does it look dated? (Keep reading if you’re not sure!)

Examine your site with open eyes.

You may really love the colors, design, or font choices, but if your current design leaves something to be desired, it’s time for an upgrade.

6. Your Site Is Outdated

Things change fast online, and outdated content or design elements on your site will leave a bad impression on your customers.

If your site is outdated, it’s time for a redesign.

Ask yourself:

  • Does my design look modern and professional? Online styles change. If you haven’t done a redesign in years, you’ll want to update your layout.
  • Is all of my content up to date? You don’t want any out-of-date statistics or descriptions of products you no longer sell cluttering your website.
  • Do all of my links work? If you’re linking, whether internally or externally, to defunct sites or pages you’ll need to make some revisions.
  • Do all of my apps work? Check for any add-ons, apps or videos that no longer work like they should.

Even if you’ve recently invested in an update for your insurance site, it could still appear “old”or dated to website visitors. Evaluate your site with a discerning eye.

7. Your Site Doesn’t Match Your Branding

Your website is one of the most powerful tools you have to market your brand well. If you recently rebranded your business, you’ll want to update your site design to reflect that change.

When looking over your site, ask yourself:

  • Is my branding consistent?
  • Does it clearly communicate my specialty/ niche?

If you answered no to either of those questions, consider a redesign.

8. Your Site Doesn’t Work Well with Social Media

Many of your viewers will find your site through social media. People will share your blog posts on Facebook and viewers will see reviews their friends post about your business.

If your site isn’t set up to take advantage of the traffic social media can bring in, it’s time for a redesign.

Can you easily share content from your blog post to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn?

As of 2017, here’s how many active users can be found on these 3 social networks alone:

  • Facebook has more than one billion active users
  • Twitter has 330 million active monthly users
  • LinkedIn has 500 million users

If you’re not sharing your content on social media networks, you’re missing a big opportunity to connect with people who want your product/ service and to bring new visitors to your site. A well-designed website can definitely help you with that task.

9. Your Site Doesn’t Serve Your Customers

Is your website completely self-serving, or is a valuable tool that serves your customers? Can your customers use your site to:

  • Get an instant online quote?
  • File a claim?
  • Request a certificate?
  • Chat live with a customer service rep?

If you haven’t updated your site with the customer experience in mind, you may want to consider an overhaul.

10. Your Site is TOO Original

In business, standing apart from the competition can be a good thing. But when it comes to website design, being too original can actually backfire.

Consistency is considered the golden rule in website design and one of the biggest factors that separates a negative website experience from a positive one. A consistent website is familiar for users; it’s easily navigable.

Even if it's their first visit to your site, users should instinctively know where to find things and how to use it.

If you (or your previous web designer) have tried to hard to be cutting-edge or innovative with your website design, it could cause frustration to the end users who expect a certain degree of logical usability in your site.

Consistency is also important within the design elements of your site. Fonts, colors, and even the tone and quality of your content should feel coherent and remain consistent from page to page and element to element.

There’s a place and time for creativity and originality. But when it comes to good web design, a consistent, familiar experience should be your top priority. If you answered yes to any of these questions, now is the time to consider having your website redesigned with a fresh look, updated user experience, and SEO driven implementation.

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