Monday, December 20, 2010

Brokerage Websites with Most Search Engine Traffic

The following insurance broker websites garner the highest percentage of visits from online searches.

In first place is Brown and Brown, an independent insurance agency and brokerage firm. Brown and Brown services life, health, property and casualty insurance clients.

Gras Savoie’s website is bilingual, servicing either French-speaking or English-speaking clients worldwide after a single mouse click.

  1. Brown and Brown … 46.9% of total monthly visitors
  2. Marsh and McLennan … 39.1%
  3. Gras Savoye and Cie … 36.5%
  4. JLT Group … 35.6%
  5. Willis Group … 28.3%
  6. Lockton … 27.6%
  7. Arthur J. Gallagher … 21.6%
  8. Aon Corp … 16.7%
  9. BB and T Insurance Services … 9.1%
  10. Wells Fargo … 5.9%.

JLT Group is an international group of risk specialists and employee benefit consultants that could significantly improve on the number internet searches that arrive at their website. This is true for any insurance brokerage firm that wants to increase the number of prospective clients visiting their websites. Generating online insurance leads and sales should be a top priority, even for the world’s largest insurance brokers.

Based on the data in this review, top insurance brokers need to optimize their online website traffic. Doing so can bolster revenues from traditional face-to-face sales.

Top Insurance Broker Websites

Wells Fargo’s website garners the most web visitors per month. Wells Fargo offers many more financial services than insurance brokering, and is bolstered by a growing network of traditional and supermarket branches.

BB and T Insurance Services is part of a financial holding company that operates banking subsidiaries in eastern and southern American states.

In third place among the top insurance broker websites, Aon is a leading reinsurance intermediary.

Websites for the above 3 companies receive far more monthly traffic than the world’s largest insurance broker Marsh and McLennan.

  1. Wells Fargo … 4.9 million monthly visitors (up 50.6% over past 3 months)
  2. BB and T Insurance Services … 1.7 million (down 11.1%)
  3. Aon Corp … 125,485 (up 16%)
  4. Marsh and McLennan … 58,306 (up 40%)
  5. Willis Group … 34,984 (up 40%)
  6. Lockton … 19,435 (no change)
  7. Gras Savoye … 14,744 (up 31%)
  8. JLT Group … 13,767 (down 28%)
  9. Arthur J. Gallagher … 7,067 (down 26%)
  10. Brown and Brown … 4,417 (down 39%).

Willis Group provides global risk management services to a diverse set of industries, from construction to sports entertainment.

Almost 90% of Lockton’s insurance brokerage revenues arise from commercial retail insurance and employee group benefits.

Top 10 Insurance Brokers by Revenue

Most of the top 10 insurance brokers have their headquarters in the United States, with 2 notable exceptions.

JLT Group has its home office in the United Kingdom and boasts a significant presence in Asia. Gras Savoye is based in France.

  1. Marsh and McLennan … US$11.5 billion in 2008 sales (700 offices worldwide)
  2. Aon Corp … $7.3 billion (397)
  3. Willis Group … $3.4 billion (400)
  4. Wells Fargo … $1.7 billion (213)
  5. Arthur J. Gallagher … $1.6 billion (200)
  6. JLT Group … $992.8 million (76)
  7. Brown and Brown … $966 million (132)
  8. BB and T Insurance Services … $962.1 million (109)
  9. Gras Savoye and Cie … $786.4 million (102)
  10. Lockton … $778.4 million (48).

Willis Group (up 36.5%) and Wells Fargo (up 36%) grew their insurance brokerage revenues at the fastest pace.

World's Top Insurance Brokers and Popular Brokerage Websites

According to Business Insurance’s Spotlight analysis, Marsh and McLennan generated US$11.5 billion in 2008. That figure places the New York-based firm in first place among insurance brokers worldwide.

Independent insurance brokers sell a wide range of insurance products. Offerings include personal lines insurance, commercial retail insurance, employee group benefits, reinsurance and related services.

A well-designed web presence can significantly increase online insurance sales.

The following analysis tests whether insurance brokerage firms with the highest revenues also attract the most traffic to their websites.

Travel Insurance -5 Features To Watch

Medical Fees - Do you have to pay upfront?

When travelling overseas and need to receive medical treatment at a doctor or hospital your travel insurance doesn't always payout upfront. Quite often you'll need lodge a claim when you get home. Before seeing a doctor, or as soon as possible if it’s an emergency, call your insurance provider and inform them what is occurring. They'll be able to tell you if they have a recommended medical provide and what you need to do to claim the costs back.

It is preferable to have the insurance pay for your hospital or doctors costs upfront as this saves you from putting the fees on your credit card or attempting to organize the money from friends or family, especially if it’s a high cost incident.

Overseas Emergency Assistance - Who to call?

All travel insurance companies have some form procedure for being notified of emergency events and how to handle them. Always look for a policy that offers local telephone numbers to call in a wide range of countries. This will make it easier to contact them if something goes wrong. Reverse charge numbers don't work in all countries so should be avoided if you are going anywhere slightly off the beaten track. Calling back to your own country can end up being hundreds or even thousands of dollars depending which country you are in.

Always ensure you have the emergency assistance contact information with you at all times while travelling and store a separate copy in your luggage and in an online storage or email account.

Excess

A small excess is very useful for comprehensive travel insurance because it allows you to claim on a wider range of items. Many policies offer an excess buyout for a fee (reduces the excess to $0). This is often a very good idea as it means that you are able to claim on anything that you are able to and will get the full amount back. If you are going for a backpacker or medical only travel insurance policy the excess may be of less importance as you will most likely only claim for high cost events where the excess is just a small percentage of the total amount.

Sports and adventure activity coverage

Certain adventurous activities are automatically covered by travel insurance policies, these are usually low risk sports or activities such as bushwalking, snorkeling, and cycling. Higher risk activities like sky diving, bungee jumping, and rock climbing may be covered for an extra premium but some policies do cover these as standard. You should confirm directly with the insurance company if you are doing any of these activities.

Pre-existing conditions

Many of us have certain medical conditions that could potentially cause problems when on holiday. Things like asthma, arthritis, allergies. Sometimes these will be covered by the insurance policy, other times they will not and some with stop you from getting the travel insurance policy. These are listed in the PDS and you should contact the travel insurance company directly if you have any pre-existing medical conditions.

Reviews

Reading customer reviews is very helpful as it provides an overview of the claims and assistance services that you can't get from reading the travel insurance PDS or from the businesses website. Make sure you take not of the ease and speed of claims and whether the company tries to get out of settling claims where ever possible.

Top Life Insurance Companies, Top Health Insurance Companies, Top Ten Global Life Health Insurance Companies

When talking about what property casualty insurance companies offer, in summary, policies are written for homeowner’s insurance, automobile insurance, and even business insurance. With this type of insurance protection, an individual or business that has interest in physical property with concerns about loss or even loss of income that would come from that property would need property casualty insurance.

Obviously, property casualty insurance companies play a vital role in protecting people, making sure protection is in place specific also to legal liability. For instance, if someone was injured or the property damaged, this type of insurance policy would offer the coverage needed. Because insurance of this type is so important, anyone needing coverage should secure quotes from three or four property casualty insurance companies before signing on the dotted line.

Below, we have listed the top ten global property casualty insurance companies by revenue since this type of insurance is available around the globe. Keep in mind that the property casualty insurance companies listed below are based on a comprehensive analysis of Fortune 500 companies. Additionally, the revenues for these top ten companies include not just the premium and annuity incomes but also captain gains/losses and investment income. What the revenue for these companies does not include is deposits, excise taxes, and consolidated subsidiaries.

1. Allianz – Located in German with revenue of $118,937,000
2. American International Group – Located in the United States with revenue of $97,987,000
3. Berkshire Hathaway – Located in the United States with revenue of $74,382,000\
4. Munich Re Group – Located in Germany with revenue of $60,706,000
5. Zurich Financial Services – Located in Switzerland with revenue of $59,678,000
6. State Farm Insurance Company – Located in the United States with revenue of $58,819,000
7. Allstate - Located in the United States with revenue of $33,936,000
8. Swiss Reinsurance – Located in Switzerland with revenue of $29,045,000
9. Millea Holdings – Located in Japan with revenue of $26,979,000
10. St. Paul’s Travelers Companies – Located in the United States with revenue of $22,934,000

Regardless if you purchase coverage from any of the top ten property casualty insurance companies listed or you go somewhere else, it is imperative that you work with a highly qualified, knowledgeable, and licensed agent or company. With this, you would end up with the appropriate type and amount of coverage so you can live without constantly worrying about protection.

Some of the other types of policies that property casualty insurance companies cover for the business side include crime and fidelity, electronic commerce, equipment breakdown, inland marine, market segments, medical and professional liability, worker’s compensation, and more. Then for the personal side, along with the policy types listed, property casualty would also cover inland marine and personal liability. Again, the key is to look at multiple options since different companies have different terms and premiums.