Building an insurance agency website is something almost anyone can do with a few clicks of a mouse.
However, these ready-to-use sites are often plain and there are many people using the same template. If you want something you have total control over and that has your own unique stamp on it, you should hire a webmaster to build and even run your site for you. Before you choose, there are some important things to ask a potential webmaster so you know you have chosen the right person for the job. That will make all the difference in the quality of your site.
Before you agree to anything, you have to find out about experience.
Specifically, ask about any experience with building sites for insurance agents or insurance agencies. Do they understand how insurance works and are they familiar with insurance terms? Insurance seems easy to those that work in the field, but a webmaster with no insurance knowledge what-so-ever may not be the best choice.
You can ask a potential webmaster about his or her overall experience, but you should be able to see what they have done. Ask them about past and current clients and also ask to see online examples of sites they have built or run, or both. These alone can tell you a lot about how they operate, what their work will look like, and what you can expect in a working relationship with that person. Don’t forget to talk to them over the phone. This is too important for an email-online type of interview.
Next, think about what you want your insurance website to do and ask them what they see for your website.
What ideas do they have to engage your customers and potential clients? Talk about your budget and your overall vision for what the site can do and will be. Branding is important and so is seamless integration with social networking. Ask for what they could do for you and see how you feel about the ideas. Special features are important. Ask about adding twitter feeds, social media links, and also if your blog should be incorporated.
Lastly, ask about details like ownership, web security, and payments.
You have to stay within your budget and talking about it up front leaves little room for confusion in the future. Security issues are important so your site cannot be hacked by spammers, but also if people will be signing in to accounts. If this is the case, security is of utmost importance. Copyright is a topic they should be well-verse in. The last thing you want is your webmaster to use photos or content owned by someone else to add to your site. You want original work, or at the very least, legal contracts or payments to use the work of others. Something as small as copying content rather than getting or writing original can be a headache you do not want to have.
