After months of development, Artizan launched WebEngine 2.0 for the insurance industry. This new engine helps agents improve their Web presence by increasing site traffic and searchability and using the latest tools in Web site design.
“When we first began speaking about this new engine and the whole emphasis of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social networks, there wasn’t much ‘buzz’ about it,” said Richard Roy, managing partner and president of Artizan. “Agents were still getting their bearings on the Internet and learning what they wanted to do within it. Today, being on the Web is no longer just a cool thing to do; it’s a vital part of conducting business.”
The new WebEngine 2.0 now includes:
- Search engine optimized sites—All WebEngine 2.0 sites use the latest style-based designs, which increase the “content to code ratio.” Sites with higher content to code ratios are ranked higher by search engines than code-centric sites.
- Dropdown menus—Dropdown menus are available to use throughout your site, not just on custom home pages. The new dropdown menu system was developed to be highly compatible with search engines.
- Page-based meta tags—These tags are used by search engines to make decisions regarding keyword prominence and for the description that appears on the search results page. The ability to enter meta description and keyword tags for each page increases the searchability of a site on the Web.
- Google Analytics integration—Page hits are automatically recorded and reported in WebEngine 2.0. For more in-depth reporting, sign up for a Google Analytics account. The Google code is automatically inserted into each page on your site with your account number.
- WYSIWYG page editor—The new page editor in WebEngine 2.0 allows you to edit pages in a format that looks like the finished page. Similar to your favorite word processor, buttons exist for bold, italic, and underline text. You can change the font face and size of any text and perform most standard text formatting options easily.
- Active dictionary—Displayed content will be compared against the site’s insurance terms, and any defined words will appear as links. Mousing over the links will display a dynamic pop-up containing the definition of the term. This feature can be customized to have definitions on all pages, no pages, or only selected pages.
- Preview before publish—WebEngine 2.0 allows you to preview new pages or updates before publishing them to the live site.
- Flash video upload—WebEngine 2.0 includes the ability to upload flash videos—similar to YouTube. Each video will appear as a WebEngine page.
- Page-level security—Access can be restricted/changed for individual pages. This allows agencies to assign the responsibility of updating pages only to the department responsible for the content.
- Automated sitemaps—XML and HTML sitemaps are created automatically. XML sitemaps are used by search engine spiders to navigate your site. (Spidering is how search engines [i.e. Google] search and catalog a site on a page-by-page basis, making your site easier to find.)
- Self-updates—WebEngine 2.0 gives agents the ability to sign on and make Web updates themselves. However, if an agent prefers, Artizan offers support services to help with SEO and periodic updates.
