Category: Personal

The AIC 44 Workers Compensation Claims Practices Class Begins May 23

I’m teaching the new and improved Associate in Claims class, AIC 44 Workers Compensation Claims Practices, on-line at Prepademy. This class begins Thursday, May 23 at 5 p.m. Pacific time.

Register with Prepademy for a great preparation for the AIC 44 class. Visit this link for more information.

As a former workers compensation claims manager, I love teaching this class, especially in its new, streamlined format. And if you miss the live presentation, Sandy Masters, the owner of Prepademy, makes the classes readily available on line so you can view them at your convenience.

We hope you can join us!

What is the Best Day to Blog or Update Facebook?

When social media is queen, it pays to understand when you should post. We know that posting twice a week will keep your blog rising to the top in SEO optimization. This short, graphical link outlines the best days to post to your blog. Click here.

Whether you consider your business part of finance or consulting, it looks like leaning toward weekend publishing may get you more bang for your blog buck. Couple that with some keyword research services to help hit your target terms more firmly and you should see some success in time.

We provide blog content for some of the nation’s most respected regional and national insurance carriers, agencies and consultancies. We can help you succeed in your SEO or other marketing efforts. Contact us for a no-obligation chat.

Teaching the AIC 33 Class Virtually

Beginning May 17 at 5 p.m. Pacific time, I’ll be teaching the AIC 33 Claims Handling Principles class for Prepademy. Here is the link to the class.

If you’re a newer claims adjuster or wringing your hands over providing in-house claims training, I think you’ll be delighted with this solution.

Prepademy offers a unique, 24-hour access to attendees so if you miss a class you can log in at your convenience and access the full class and discussion.

We hope to see you there!

Develop a Style Guide to Build Your Brand

What is a style guide? It is a multi-page document that standardizes your employees’ use of grammar and style.

If you have many people sending emails, writing letters or developing proposals, it may be time for your company to develop a style guide. What is a style guide? It is a multi-page document that standardizes your employees’ use of grammar and style. It helps a company ensure their documents look professional and conform to your company’s “brand.” Why pay someone all that money to develop a logo, a theme and your website then not link your written communications to that brand? 

The first few pages of a style guide are normally devoted to standard punctuation, grammar and capitalization styles. Then in-depth information follows to address style and presentation matters. For example, how often do your employees use a hyphenated term like “workers’ compensation”? Or is it “worker’s compensation”? Heaven forbid, they use “workman’s compensation.” Or what about hyphenated words, like “Call our toll-free number”? If you consider all the words and phrases normally used in your business communications, you can see that a style guide helps you develop consistency in your communications.

How do you develop a style guide? First, ask your insurance carriers if they have one developed that you can adopt for your agency. That may make the most sense. If not, put together a committee of a few good writers in your organization and let them do the work. There are many style-guide recommendations on the web found easily with a web search. Then look at some of your most frequently developed documents, both internal and external, to determine the phrases you use most frequently.

Alternatively, you can hire an editor to develop one for you. You can always ask them to provide their best recommendations and tweak them for your organization. If you would like to discuss this or other copywriting issues, don’t hesitate to contact me.