When you're marketing your independent insurance business, online reviews can be gold. They can also be the lead balloon that weighs down your insurance business. 

The referral is gold in the insurance world. You run a business that's built on trust, even more so than other businesses. 

How are you doing your insurance marketing? If you're doing it with a big splash, remember that little ripples add up as well. 

The American Agents Alliance has partnered with Scott IT Group, a member of Infragard—the FBI and private sector collaboration that monitors and shares information on cyber security in the financial services sector...

You want your insurance business to succeed, and you also need to hire a new employee. In an ideal world, the two would mesh with one another.

We've all done it. You complete your employee training, and with that closing smile on your face you suddenly realize that you forgot a vital chunk of information.

Should your marketing go visual? Visuals have always been part of social media, particularly that old classic, Facebook.

How can you transform your business? Sometimes business transformation happens due to an innovative insurance marketing strategy or a new product, but it also occurs because of multiple small changes that you create for your business.

The internet changed the game for many different businesses, including your insurance agency. Consumers today are more educated about products, and they know that there are many options out there. 

It feels like the worst thing that could happen to your business: your receive a complaint that's public and devastating. Is your reputation ruined?

Dishonest companies have never been popular, but with the rise of social media it has become even more important to be honest. 

How can you get better at your job? This is the perennial question of employees everywhere who struggle to get through a mountain of daily tasks effectively and efficiently. Is there a secret to working smarter at insurance jobs?

Is your office design impacting the way that your employees interact and focus at their insurance jobs? Of course, it is! 

Every day you make mistakes, but most of them don't have a devastating impact on your business. Often, no one will notice that a mistake was ever made. 

Is marketing your game, or do you feel awkward when it comes to promoting your insurance agency? If you feel like you're a newbie to the networking world, how can you improve your connections with other agencies and with others in your community? 

You envision an insurance agency that's humming with productivity.  Your employees are dedicated, and your finances are thriving.

In the early days of advertising, companies reached out to a specific audience, but they weren't able to connect with people as individuals unless those people walked into the store. 

Streamline, automate, and simplify.  These buzzwords are appealing, but is it really possible to simplify the tasks you do to keep your insurance business running smoothly?

You might not think of your insurance agency as a group of hackers but it is possible.

You're almost afraid to say it, but something about your new employee gets on your nerves. 

When you're hiring for insurance jobs, you have a conundrum: if you hire for your new position, how specialized should that position be? Is it better to hire a specialist or a generalist for your insurance jobs? 

Customer Experience is much more than a buzzword today. It speaks to each and every interaction the customer has with your company, placing a particular importance on how you do business and how that model makes your customers feel about you. 

Is the insurance field staid and boring? Not at all: but how can you convince new, young prospective employees that work in the insurance field has its perks? 

Arf! Woof! Grr! These aren't the words that you expect to hear around your insurance office, so why would you be able to learn anything from dog trainers?

While you might eat, live, and breathe insurance, most of the time the majority of people are not thinking about their insurance needs. What does the average person think about insurance and insurance agencies? 

Do you want to make your insurance job a little easier? It's actually not that hard to do, but you need to invest time in developing better processes up front so that you see the benefits down the road.

You've decided to get E&O insurance. This will ease your mind, and if you do go to court because of one of your employees' errors or omissions, it can save your insurance business as well. 

What can your small business learn from the Maker Movement? You may be wondering if DIY is relevant to your business in any way. After all, you're not going to get crafty and create an insurance policy on handmade paper. 

Is your office in danger? While cybersecurity is a real concern for businesses, there are also worries about data breaches when you leave information visible or when you lose a device. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 386,320 independent sales agents in the United States as of May 2017.* That’s a significant number of people vying for the same piece of the insurance “pie.” 

What can your small insurance agency learn from big businesses such as Starbucks and Disney? Do you look up to big business?

How can the corner store teach you a lesson about how to be a better insurance agency?

If your insurance agency could dream, its nightmares might look like explorations of potential E&O exposure. 

You're heading to an insurance convention. Are you excited about the presentations? 

How easy is it to manage the everyday logistics of your insurance business? If you roll your eyes and shake your head at that question, you're probably one of many people struggling to maintain a high quality of service while organizing your business internally. 

Do your employees really need disability insurance? Disability insurance might seem like a deluxe perk of insurance jobs, but it can be very valuable to your employees if they end up requiring it. 

Go Fish might be an enjoyable game, but go phish is a game that you won't enjoy at all. Phishing emails are not just annoying, they can be devastating to your insurance agency. 

What do you do when you need an attorney? You could be in the unenviable position of requiring an attorney because of a problem at your insurance agency. 

Your clients trust you. Do you trust your clients? Specifically, do you trust their digital security?

Do you have email woes galore? If you're thinking that it's time to switch to a new email marketing program, it probably is.

You could find marketing opportunities in a local networking group; for example, there could be opportunities to act as a sponsor for a local team or club. 

You have a FAQ for your customers, but what about your frequently asked questions? As an insurance agency, it can be difficult to know where to turn with your questions. 

Every insurance agency needs to connect with its clients. Yours does as well. When you're looking for tools to help you communicate, Constant Contact could be that tool. 

You want E&O insurance but you're concerned about the cost. Can your insurance agency afford it? How much coverage do you need? Is E&O insurance really worthwhile?

Are your customers really profitable to your insurance agency? Of course, some of them must be or you wouldn't be able to stay in business.

What's your weakest link in your business? While your employees might be lovely people who are exceptional at what they do, unfortunately, they are all too often the weak link when it comes to cybersecurity.

Cybersecurity: it sounds intimidating and specialized. Many people don't know how to start protecting themselves from the countless threats that exist in the online world. 

You've been hacked: or have you? The sad fact is that out of the over 100 insurance companies hacked each year, many of them don't realize it until months down the line. 

Your clients give you their information so that they can purchase insurance products. They don't expect it to move out into the world and compromise their identity or their financial status. 

If your agency isn't concerned about cybersecurity, it should be: according to INC, half of all small businesses have experienced a cyber attack, and "More than 70 percent of attacks target small businesses."

You're worried that your data has been breached, or you know that it has happened. What do you do now? 

It's all over the news: companies suffer data breaches and customers wonder whether their personal information is at risk. With enough information, hackers could receive your credit card information or passwords to other accounts.

What does cybersecurity mean to your company? You might have visions of robot guards or nightmares about expensive technologies. 

How can you fund your insurance agency's growth? Whether you're trying to add insurance jobs or you need financial assistance for new training opportunities that will support your growth, you need to get creative about financing.

When you're creating insurance jobs, what do you put into that job description? You probably try to make it as attractive as possible for your prospective employees: a substantial and fulfilling set of job duties combined with an excellent compensation package.

Your business is small. There are just a few employees, and you all know each other. 

What does your insurance agency do, exactly? Yes, you sell insurance - but what kind of insurance do you sell, and who buys it?

Do you have a superstar employee? Is there someone who makes everyone else look good because he or she is on top of things? 

Hiring your first employee is a huge step. Perhaps you've always turned to family to help you manage your insurance agency, or perhaps this is your first step into the insurance business as well. 

As an insurance agency, your role is to make sure that your clients are protected in case of accidents or other disasters in their lives.