Alan Blume, Author at StartUpSelling
Author: Alan Blume
Restricting Access & User Roles to Improve Insurance Website Security
WordPress Predefined Roles:
Super Admin: Allows access to all sitewide administration and features. This role should be severely limited, as it is the most powerful, and allows the user to make major site modifications.
Administrator: Not as powerful as Super Admin, but still has access to all administration features within a single website.
Editor: Allows users to publish and manage posts, including other users’ posts.
Author: Allows the user to publish and manage their own posts.
Contributor: Allows the author to write and manage their own posts but does not allow them to publish the content.
Subscriber: Read only access, allowing the user to review content and manage their profile.
Leveraging the power of user access helps ensure a more secure WordPress website. Let’s begin by discussing roles and tasks. Each assigned user role allows for a set of tasks to be performed which are called capabilities. There are many capabilities, a few examples include publishing posts, moderating comments, and editing users. Default capabilities are preassigned to each role, but other capabilities can be assigned or removed, allowing for custom user role creation. Greater control and refinements of user roles will improve overall website security and limit the user errors that can cause security breaches.
Website owners can also harden their WordPress sites using Permission Modes. For example, permissions can specify who and what can read, write, modify, and access directories and files. This is important as WordPress may need access to write to files in your wp-content directory for the site to function properly.
FTP access is another area to address to improve website security. For example, if you need a third-party contractor to modify your site or customize a plugin, they may require FTP access. But you do not have to grant them full access to the root directory of your website. Limit access to the specific area they are working on, such as the theme’s directory. Provide support logs if needed instead of granting FTP access to the logs on your site. And make sure the FTP access and password are time limited, expiring in a week or two (as short a duration as possible).
Following these WordPress best practices will help ensure a more secure insurance agency website, employing greater user role restrictions, and limiting website access. For more information on how to prevent cyberattacks and breaches, check out this cyberattack blog post or contact the StartUpSelling Technical Support team.
Webinar: Insurance Lead Gen for Your Work at Home Prospects
Check out this 8 Minute Power Webinar about Insurance Lead Gen for Your Work at Home Prospects!
Many of your best prospects are working from home and may do so indefinitely. Learn how your agency can reach your virtual prospects in this concise new webinar recording:
What new lead gen approaches have you adopted to reach these prospects and close more business?
Do you have an effective and integrated online strategy to fill the sales funnel with these virtual prospects?
Watch our executive webinar which includes these topics:
Specialty Market Appointment Setting (a fast path for ROI)
Highly Targeted Prospect Email Marketing
LinkedIn PPC for Account-Based Marketing
Social Media Marketing & SEO for Longer Term Lead Gen
Or contact our insurance agency marketing and lead generation team for a complimentary marketing analysis.
4 Fastest Methods to Drive Insurance Agency Leads
Marketing encompasses a wide variety of methods and tools to increase exposure and carry your insurance agency message to clients and prospects. But which of these are the fastest and most effective to drive leads into your agency pipeline? There is a long list of marketing initiatives to consider, here are just a few, noting that there is overlap in some of these categories:
Event Marketing (on-site)
Social Media Marketing (Sponsored Posts)
However, when the goal is to rapidly fill the pipeline with B2B leads, the list quickly narrows to the top 4:
There are nuances to this lead generation list. For example, Appointment Setting works best for niche insurance markets such as transportation or contractors. Pay Per Click Advertising and Social Media Sponsored Posts offer a fast path to leads, requiring only a compelling offer and/or quality digital content for fulfilment. Email marketing offers broad appeal and a long shelf life. Quality content, including webinars is essential for Email Marketing, though list building can be an obstacle for some agencies.
Bottom line, when looking for a vehicle to drive leads into your insurance agency pipeline, look for the fastest path to bring your message to your target prospects. If your agency lacks the time, tools or personnel to accomplish this, reach our to the insurance marketing team at StartUpSelling for a complimentary marketing consultation.
4 Methods to Help Producers Prospect While Working Remotely
How can your agency help producers prospect more effectively and continue to fill their pipelines in the current work from home environment? Here are the top four methods to drive leads into Producer pipelines:
PPC (LinkedIn Pay Per Click Sponsored Content Ads)
Appointment Setting (for trucking and other niche markets)
If your agency needs assistance with any of these lead generation initiatives, contact the insurance marketing experts at StartUpSelling.
Insurance Agency Marketing Checklist in a COVID-19 Climate
The novel coronavirus pandemic has dramatically changed the way most agencies do business. Insurance agency sales and marketing was once reliant on face to face interaction, referral sales, and networking. Though changes to these traditional insurance agency sales and marketing methods were already in process, COVID-19 accelerated them in an instant.
The days of focusing on in person networking, referrals, trade shows and on-site seminars have come to an abrupt halt. Meanwhile, agency executives and producers seeking to carry their unique value proposition to targeted commercial insurance and group benefits prospects, need an improved marketing and lead generation strategy to increase their suspect and prospect pools and grow their pipelines.
The list of possible marketing and lead generation initiatives is extensive and can be daunting for many agencies and brokers regardless of type, size, or geography. Some agencies may attempt to staff up to accommodate theses skills, but the skillsets required are varied and often specialized, and may include the following:
Some of these skills may be combined into one marketing position (writer, editor, blogger for example), while others require highly specific skills, for example video creation or search engine optimization.
Here is an updated insurance agency marketing and lead generation checklist which includes many of the key initiatives insurance agencies should leverage. How many of these insurance marketing initiatives can your agency check off?
Contact List Generation & Email List Generation
Create Prospect Scorecards
ePublishing and LinkedIn Publishing
PPC Ads and Post Boosts
Telemarketing & Lead Handling
Updated Insurance Agency Website
Website Updates & Content
Website Analytics Reporting and Analysis
There are other marketing initiatives which can be used including snail mail marketing (not recommended for B2B insurance agency marketing), traditional seminars (currently on COVID-19 hold), sponsorships, traditional advertisements, etc. Though some of these more traditional marketing initiatives can be considered, a focus on digital and repeatable is your best mantra, especially in this coronavirus climate. Producers, agency executives and owners all seek to grow their book of business. Marketing is time and budget driven, and if done correctly, your agency marketing should provide a compelling ROI to cost justify your investment. Can all the above activities be accomplished a few days or a few weeks? That’s not likely to happen. But over the course of a year or less, most if not all of these can be achieved.
Looking for additional information about insurance agency marketing and insurance agency lead generation? Visit us at: https://startupselling.com/.