InsurancePro Monthly Newsletter - August 2010

Downloading Policyholder Information into InsurancePro
With carrier downloads, your InsurancePro database gets populated and updated automatically with policyholder's transactions, therefore decreasing the amount of information you have to type in manually.  Downloading policy transactions helps avoid duplicate data entry, minimizes E&O exposure, and reduces the need for paper. 

InsurancePro is designed to download personal auto and homeowner policyholder data from carriers that use IVANS, TeamUp or FTP.  To begin, you will first need to verify which of your carriers are certified to download into InsurancePro

How to Setup a Carrier to Download

For carriers that have chosen the FTP or TeamUp method to download, contact a representative at your carrier for instructions on how to set up your agency to download with them.

For those carriers that have chosen the IVANS method to download, refer to our IVANS Setup Guide for step-by-step instructions or you can view our IVANS training video for an overview of the process.

New Download Company Certifications



We are constantly certifying new companies to download into InsurancePro.  For a complete list, please click here.

How To Upgrade to InsurancePro 6.0

The upgrade procedure must be completed on all computers used to access InsurancePro.  The procedure takes approximately ten minutes per computer.  Every computer must be upgraded before accessing your InsurancePro database or data corruption could occur.

To upgrade to InsurancePro 6.0, a subscription to online storage is required.

To begin the installation procedure, click on the following link and follow the prompts.  If you have already upgraded to InsurancePro 6.0, no further action will be required on your part.
http://www.insuranceproonline.com/downloads/ip/v6_0/IPUA/IPUASetup.exe

System Requirements

To view system requirements for IP Version 6.0, please click here.

Ever Googled your Agency Name?

Ever wonder what exactly makes up the pieces of the search results you see at Google?  Before that question can be answered, the process of how Google delivers results must be understood. There are three key processes in delivering search engine results.

First, Google "crawls" the world wide web and accumulates information about websites and their content.  The program Google uses to accomplish this task is referred to as Googelbot.  Googlebot uses an algorithmic process to determine which sites to crawl, and how many pages to read from each site.  Next Google compiles a massive index of all the words and locations of the sites it crawled.

There are three primary components that make up a Snippet.


Title
The first line of the Snippet is the title.  The title displayed comes from the title of your webpage.  We have found many websites where the designer will overlook this very important step when designing websites for their customers.  WebPages not titled will appear in search results with the title as "Untitled" or "Home Page" which does not encourage the consumer to click and learn more.  Whereas a title listing your agency name and a slogan or short concise description of what your agency offers would encourage the consumer.

Description
The description listed by Google typically comes from one of three places.

• Open Directory - If for some reason, when Google attempts to "crawl" a site and they are unable to read it, Google will then sometimes rely on the Open Directory Project, which is listed at www.dmoz.org 
• Within the Page - Sometimes, Google pulls the description from within the page.  Google determines what part of the page it will use so the description gives some context as to what the page contains.
• Meta Description Tag - the most preferred method and where you have the most control of what description is displayed is the Meta Description Tag which is included in the code of your website.  By including a Meta Description Tag, you have the ability to dictate what is displayed about your site.

Descriptive URLs

The last component displayed is the link to your website or the page on your website that meets the searchers' query.  Providing a descriptive URL is another key aspect to converting a searcher.  For instance, a URL such as www.sampleinsurancewebsite.com/page.php?id=5134, doesn't tell the searcher they have landed in the right spot, whereas a URL such as http://www.sampleinsurancewebsite.com/automobile/car_insurance_quote.aspx will.

Internet Marketing ServicesAre you looking to expand your presence online but do not have the time to do it yourself? Then ITC has an answer for you with the Insurance Website Builder Advanced SEO Services Plan. With this new plan, you will have access to your very own Search Engine Optimization Coordinator that will assist you with all aspects of your search engine and social networking marketing campaign. Whether it is setting up your blogs, posting on your Facebook page or submitting press releases on your behalf; we will make it happen. Each week your SEO specialist will promote your site on your behalf all over the Internet, with as much or as little input from you as desired.

Our current customers have enjoyed top placement on Google, Yahoo and Bing for most of their main keyword phrases. To join them, contact Mark Goldsberry today at 800-383-3482 x 160 or email him at [email protected].