An agent website, a must have!

By Aaron Loring Davis

When we get our license, there are suggestions for all kinds of tools – a cell phone, business cards, a nice pen..the list goes on and on.  However, as the world looks toward the Internet for everything from wacky cat videos to yes, insurance, it is now essential to have a website.  Read that again – Essential!  The good news for the technically-challenged, it can be had in under 20 minutes and there is tons of support when you get stuck.  A self-managed site is yours for as little as $10 a year or for a bit more, you can have it built for you…seamless!

With staggering rates of websites and blogs created every day, the programmers of said technologies have made it nearly dummy proof.  Plus, when the relatively intuitive systems do not jive with our thinking, there are hosts of free resources to figure things out.  Support forums host a wealth of community knowledge and their members always seem to be willing to lend a hand.

Where does one start? There are two ways to go -

Self-hosted – You will manage your website and configure it yourself.  Don’t worry, it’s less daunting than it sounds.

1.     Register a domain name – Visit godaddy.com or register.com to reserve your address on the web.  Cost – $10 or less

2.     Pick a host – AFMU.com provides free websites and your registrar may as well. Cost – Free

3.     Install a template or blog software. I like to use WordPress to manage all of my sites, because they are so dang easy, but you may opt for Joomla or Typepad.  Cost – Free

Hosted - Tthe site will be hosted and managed by a third party

1.     Register with a hosting site – WordPress.com or Blogger.com. Cost – Free

- Or -

2.     Register with a premium agent website hosting company – Agent Methods has a superior product! Cost – $39 and up

What should it include?

1.     Welcome page with your message and instructions to find other resources

2.     Contact page with all of your contact details.  A lot of folks like to include phone numbers, mailing and office address, email addresses, links to other profiles such as Facebook and Twitter, and perhaps a contact form

3.     Information page(s) – This should include information about you, your company, and the products you provide.  It can be as brief or robust as you choose.

That just about sums it up.  Not so bad, huh?  Remember, it can be as simple as a business card or incredibly complex with calculators and multimedia.  The point is that as a professional salesperson, it is essential to reserve a place for you and your business on the web.

If you need a hand setting yours up, please do not hesitate to ask.  I am happy to help.

Onward and upward!

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Aaron Loring Davis is the CTO of InternetCE.com , provider of insurance continuing education, and Editor of this blog.  He holds a Bachelor or Science in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and enjoys just about anything that can be done outdoors. Visit Aaron’s personal website at www.aaronloringdavis.com.