Blogging: Step by StepFollow along on Twitter with our hashtag #MastersMktgThis presentation will be posted on our blog later today: www.GetITC.com/blogJoin us February 16th for the next Masters of Marketing. A Thousand Words: Using Photos on Your Insurance Website hosted by Matt Farrell, Website CoordinatorITC Agent Conference 2017 is April 20-21st in Grapevine, Texas at Hilton DFW Lakes (Same venue as last year). Register & view our agenda and speakers at www.agentconference.org

Darmini KaraSEO Coordinator

Why Blog?- Provides your website with fresh content- Helps with search engine rankings- Provides a way to keep your customers updated with the

latest agency, community and industry news- Allows you to have a dialogue with customers

How to Find Time to Blog- Make a calendar.- Set attainable goals. - Delegate.

How to Find Topics for Your Agency Blog

- Agency.- Community.- Industry.- FAQs.- Carrier newsletters.- Check out the competition.- ITC Blog https://www.getitc.com/blog/tag/10%20ideas/

How to post a blog on your Insurance Website Builder website- Admin Console >

Communication Settings > Blog on Your Website

Title- 60-70 characters, including spaces and special

characters.- Make your title catchy, but not click-baity,

include keywords, but don’t make it spammy.- Use long tail keywords.- Use who, what, when, why and how to.

Body- Long form blogs (~2000 words). Are you confident enough?- Use visual cues to lead the reader.- Always proofread. Never publish a first draft.- Avoid industry jargon.- Short introduction.- Conclusion to review and summarize.- Call-to-action.- Ask Questions.

Images- Gives the reader context clues.- Whenever possible, add an image.- Use correctly licensed images. No Google or

Bing images. - Left align images.

Tags- Include staples like

line of business and geo-target.

- Tags can be used to categorize blog posts.

- Use more detailed tags.

Optimization- Add natural sounding keywords to your title.- Link to relevant internal or external blogs.- Include anchor text in the CTA.- Optimize your images with alt tags and title tags.

Blog After-care- Sharing.- Updating.- Interlinking.

Conclusion- Blogging is difficult, but worth it.- Practice makes perfect.- Don’t over-optimize.- Have fun with it!