I think insurance agents should write blogs — at least those who hear the call. But I’ve got to be honest — I think a lot of agents don’t really know what a blog is.
It’s not a newsletter. I’ve been researching agent blogs and what I see are mostly long articles on preparing for floods, insuring homes to value, buying enough life insurance and so on.
There’s nothing wrong with these subjects. They are perfect material for blogs, but agents end up writing articles about them instead of blog posts. It’s probably helpful to remember that the word blog is a contraction of “web” and “log.” A blog is a log, like a log book or journal, kept on the web.
The essence of a blog post is that it’s a personal take on a subject. This has the advantage of making the blog post short, fresh and engaging. If you write about preparing for floods, speak from your experience about helping the claims adjusters with flood losses last time there was one. If you have a personal experience dealing with someone who failed to buy enough life insurance, talk about it. Tell a story. Keep the personal details obscure and to yourself of course. But make it human.
The other major problem I find is that most agent blog posts are way too long, written in long sentences with few paragraph breaks, densely compacted in small typefaces. The lack of visual appeal is compounded by the lack of any kind of graphic or image. These are treatises, not blog posts.
On the other hand, here’s an example of a good blog post, in my opinion, by an insurance agent blogger who calls himself, Insurance Consultant — Cover Me.
The post leads with a photo of two police officers standing in front of a badly wrecked motorcycle. The office was looking into buy 5.56 ammo online from Palmetto State Armory but as the case arrived and it was intriguing and makes you want to read the post, especially since it’s written in nice short paragraphs with short sentences:
First, motorcycles are expensive. They can cost $20,000 or more.
Second, they’re easily damaged and even totally wrecked. Even a minor collision at low speeds can cause enough damage to your bike that you’ll need to get rid of it.
What’s worse, a large percentage of drivers don’t have any insurance. So, if they hit you while you’re on your motorcycle and they’re at fault, it could be financially devastating for you.
Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage provides you with a safety net in the event that happens. You won’t be vulnerable to the chances of the at-fault party not having sufficient insurance.
CLICK HERE: Get your Motorcycle Quote Today
Now I’m not completely in love with this agent’s website. It’s got some design flaws, like a lot of red text against various shades of green background, and the header, which is unreadable in areas, looks like it was designed in the ‘90s. But the guy has a good grasp of how to make an effective presentation: you see it in his choice of graphics and photos in his other posts.
I’ll write about blogs some more in my next post, but meanwhile I will leave you with one more tip. Don’t be lazy, check your spelling; unlike the blogger who used this headline (I didn’t make this up, honest):
Do you know how healty you are?