Writing a blog once in a while is worse than never starting a blog. An insurance agency website without a blog is simply that. A website with a blog in which the last post was 3 months ago is indicative of a company with no follow-through and/or nothing to say. You do not want to be that company.
Still, it can be hard to write a blog every week. It can be hard to think of something new that relates to what you do without being shamelessly self-promotional.
What to do?
A recent blog at the Insurance Technologies Corporation (
ITC) website was titled
“10 places to Get Content Ideas for Your Blog,” and anyone who ever has trouble coming up with this week’s idea should read it.
The best blogs position their writers as experts without trying to sell insurance. Yes, you can position yourself as an expert about insurance, and you should. You can also be an expert on the geographic area in which you work, on the types of businesses or risks you insure, on financial issues, etc.
You can use your blog to give free publicity to charities and service clubs you support, to recommend ancillary businesses that complement what you do.
If you provide coverage for special events, it would be natural to promote local events in your blog. If you cover restaurants and hospitality businesses, you could offer restaurant reviews and interviews with local chefs, all of which will bring exactly the right traffic to your site.
One thing you should definitely do is create a list of blog ideas that you can refer back to when you are stuck. You should ask your staff and your clients for ideas. In fact, the ITC blog we linked to above regularly includes ideas for successful blogging, so you should visit that blog from time to time.
The main thing, though, is don’t give up and don’t treat your blog like an afterthought. It can be a powerful marketing tool but only if you treat it as one.
