But, this article is about the fundamentals of marketing and communications for an insurance agency (or any consumer facing business's marketing). In my opinion, if you can stick to nurturing these fundamentals regularly, then all the advanced and future enhancements will come naturally. It doesn't matter whether the role you play in the agency is Principal, Producer, CSR, Admin or any customer facing role, in more ways than one, these fundamentals should apply to you.

You've probably received great encouragement-- if not downright pressure-to put your business on the Internet. Whether you already have an Internet presence or are merely contemplating one, you should realize that just having a Web site doesn't guarantee that the people you want to reach will actually see it. You may have hung out your shingle, but the Internet customers you seek might be nowhere in sight.

BASIC WEB SITE SEO TIP by Steve Anderson Here are a few basic search engine optimization (SEO) tips that can help your agency Web site become more visible to t search engines and benefit ...

DIVING INTO INTERNET MARKETING by Steve Anderson Consumers' buying and shopping habits have changed. Think about what you do when you're thinking of buying a new product or service. For...

EIGHT COST-EFFECTIVE WAYS TO MARKET YOUR AGENCY ON THE WEB by Jack Fries Agencies large and small have embraced the Web as a place to have a presence. Fewer, however, have reall...

Over the years, I've gathered something of a reputation as being someone who can find just about anything on the Internet. Like the time I helped someone find out the inscription written by Stevie Ray Vaughn on Kenny Wayne Shepard's guitar. There's no secret to finding information on the Internet — all it takes is some basic knowledge, creativity, and a little elbow grease. This article by Bill Wilson will examine some techniques that you can use to search the Internet more effectively.

HOW TO GET MORE VISITORS TO YOUR WEB SITE by John Graham The Web is littered with thousands of dead sites abandoned by the disillusioned. Its easy to spot them they were la...

INDEPENDENT AGENCIES ON SLIPPERY SLOPES? by Victoria Sonshine Pasher There's no letup yet for the independent agency squeeze that's persisted throughout the 1990s. Facing numerous challenges, agen...

MARKETING YOUR WEB SITE by Bill Wilson Now that you have your Web site up and running, how do you get new and existing customers to visit? Aside from the fact that it has to offer them s...

MAXIMIZE YOUR INTERNET PRESENCE! by Steve Anderson In an earlier article, I introduced the concept of Internet presence. To refresh your memory, heres what I said: For pas...