Introducing the SMA Premier Digital Presence Program

The way consumers find Medicare agents is changing, and we owe it to you to bring a solution that evolves with those changes.

For years, insurance agents could rely heavily on referrals, direct mail, networking, lead programs and traditional Google searches to connect with new prospects.

Those things still matter.

But consumers continue to find new ways to search for someone they trust to help them with Medicare.

They use Google. They search Google Maps. They visit consumer websites, read reviews and ask friends and family.

And increasingly, they’re turning to AI and asking questions that sound a lot more like conversations:

• “Who is a Medicare agent near me?”
• “Can you help me find a local Medicare agent?”
• “Who can help my parents understand their Medicare options?”

We believe this shift is important enough that simply telling our agents to “work on your online presence” isn’t good enough.

We owe you a thoughtful and evolving solution.

That’s why we’ve been working behind the scenes on something I’m extremely excited to finally introduce.

The SMA Premier Digital Presence Program

The SMA Premier Digital Presence Program brings together websites, technology, professional verification and digital marketing experience into one program for participating SMA agents.

The idea is pretty simple, but it took time for us to pressure test the package.

Establish a stronger digital foundation for our agents, and put a team behind growing the digital ecosystem that supports it.

Instead of asking you to become an SEO expert, figure out AI search, build multiple websites, manage profiles across the internet and constantly figure out what Google changed last week, we want you focused on what you do best.

Meeting prospects, helping clients and growing your business.

Our job is to build and improve the digital infrastructure you can leverage.

But before I explain how the program works, I think it’s important to explain why we believe we’re qualified to build it.

This Didn’t Start Yesterday

Members of our team have spent more than 20 years building and growing digital properties across insurance and financial services.

Our work and expertise have been featured in publications including Forbes, MarketWatch, Inc., Entrepreneur, Business Insider, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Some of the digital properties we’ve worked on include:

• RothIRA.com
• Eligibility.com
• SuretyBonds.com
• RedbirdAgents.com
• MedicarePlanFinder.com

I don’t share this to impress you.

I share it to impress upon the point that when we put our energy behind something like this, it’s not based on guesswork.

We’ve spent a long time and a lot of money learning what doesn’t work online and isolating what does.

We’ve built websites, created content, generated leads, survived countless Google updates and made plenty of mistakes along the way.

And we’ve learned that building lasting digital assets requires patience, consistency and a willingness to adapt as technology and consumer behavior change.

Now we’re watching another major shift as AI becomes part of how consumers research businesses, products and professionals.

That experience is a big reason we’re launching this program now.

Our “10 Year Overnight Success”

If you guessed that MedicarePlanFinder.com would be at the center of the program, you’re absolutely correct.

We launched MedicarePlanFinder about 10 years ago when I first started working with SMA back in 2016.

And if I had to describe the journey, I’d probably call it:

“A 10 year overnight success and the most fun I ever hated!”

There was nothing overnight about it.

This stuff takes time, patience and the ability to withstand the pressures of changing priorities inside a rapidly growing business.

But MedicarePlanFinder kept surviving.

And growing.

We’ve spent years building, optimizing and improving the website into a lasting digital asset. Literally making small improvements every day because the devil is in the details.

And I’m extremely proud of what it has become.

Over the last 12 months, MedicarePlanFinder.com has served more than 85,000 organic active users who generated more than 300,000 page views.

That’s important because we’re not starting the SMA Premier Digital Presence Program from zero.

We’re starting with an existing digital foundation that took us a decade to build.

And now we want to use that foundation to create something uniquely valuable for participating SMA agents.

So, What Exactly Are We Building?

At its core, the SMA Premier Digital Presence Program is designed to make it easier for agents to establish, manage, verify and expand their professional presence online.

There are three important pieces that make this possible.

1. Manage Your Information From One Place

We don’t want agents maintaining completely separate information on every website that joins the network.

That’s why MedicareSalesAgents.com serves as the central management platform supporting the program.

Your professional information can be created and maintained from one central location.

As additional digital opportunities become available, our goal is to make participation easier without asking you to start from scratch every time.

Multiple professional profiles. Managed from one place.

2. Establish and Verify Your Professional Identity

We’ve selected AgentReview.net as the core digital verification partner because professional identity and trust are becoming increasingly important online.

AgentReview provides an opportunity to establish a broader professional profile around the insurance products and services you offer, not just Medicare.

More importantly, AgentReview provides a verification layer that participating digital properties can use to recognize your verified professional identity.

Instead of completing an entirely new verification process every time you participate in another property, the goal is simple.

Verify once and extend that verified status across participating platforms.

That doesn’t mean becoming verified guarantees higher Google rankings, AI recommendations or leads.

It means we’re working to establish accurate, consistent and verifiable information about who you are, what you do and where you do business.

That’s a foundation we believe is increasingly important as consumers and digital platforms evaluate professionals online.

3. Expand Your Digital Presence

This is where I think the program gets really exciting.

Once your professional information is established and verified, we can begin creating opportunities to extend that presence across participating digital properties.

We’re starting with three websites:

MedicarePlanFinder.com

Our established national Medicare consumer website and the digital foundation we’ve spent the last decade building.

MedicareHealthBenefits.com

A regional Medicare resource with a history dating back to 1996, serving consumers across the Southwest.

AgentReview.net

Our professional verification partner, providing agents with an opportunity to establish and showcase their broader professional identity.

These are the starting points, not the finish line.

We’re building infrastructure that can support additional digital partners over time.

That could eventually include regional Medicare websites, local consumer resources, product specific websites, industry associations, senior focused organizations and regional media properties.

But we’re not going to add websites simply so we can say the network is bigger.

We want participating properties to have a reason for being part of the network.

That could mean meaningful consumer reach, local visibility, niche authority, product relevance or another strategic benefit for participating agents.

MedicareSalesAgents has a team specifically focused on identifying and developing new digital distribution partnerships.

While you’re managing your information in one place, that team is working to create more places where your professional information can potentially work for you.

You’re not joining a static directory. You’re participating in digital infrastructure we’re actively working to grow.

What’s Included for SMA Agents?

One of our goals was to make participation valuable from the beginning by leveraging the SMA buying power to bring tangible opportunities to the writing agent.

Eligible SMA agents receive access to the program’s starting digital presence opportunities, including the ability to establish their professional profiles across the current participating websites.

We’ve also actively working with our partners to negotiate preferred pricing and proprietary opportunities specifically for agents in our network.

That includes preferred AgentReview verification pricing and opportunities to expand into additional participating digital properties.

As the network grows, we intend to continue introducing new consumer websites, digital partners, profile enhancements and tools designed to improve local visibility.

The goal isn’t simply to provide agents with a profile and move on.

We want the value of participating in the program to grow as the network grows.

How to Get Started

We’ve intentionally tried to make your side of this as simple as possible.

For eligible agents, we’ve already done some of the work by creating your starting profile.

From there, the process is straightforward.

Step 1: Claim Your Profile

Visit MedicareSalesAgents.com to claim your profile and confirm that the information belongs to you.  If you aren’t in the system, reach out to your account manager and they can give you the SMA discount code so you aren’t stuck paying full price if you decide to choose any of the premium options.

You’ll see available profile options, including Free, Standard and Featured that explain the various benefits you can select.  There is no obligation to pay for anything, but I think you’ll see there is extreme value beyond the free profiles.

Step 2: Verify Your Professional Identity

Follow the instructions to access the preferred AgentReview verification pricing we’ve negotiated for participating SMA agents.

Agent verification discount code: SMAgentReview

Step 3: Complete Your Information

Review your information, correct anything that’s outdated and complete your profile in full.

The quality of your information matters.

If we’re going to help establish your professional identity online, we want the information behind it to be as complete and accurate as possible.

Step 4: Choose Your Digital Opportunities

Review the participating websites available to you and select any additional opportunities that make sense for your business. Your baseline for the SMA Digital Presence Program includes your profile on MedicareSalesAgents, AgentReview, and MedicarePlanFinder or MedicareHealthBenefits.

As new website partners join the network, you’ll be notified of your choice to participate and expand your reach.

Then, just keep your information current.

We’ll keep working on the rest.

Why Premier Featured?

The complimentary SMA program is designed to help agents establish their digital foundation, the baseline activity you should be doing to start understanding the importance of online visibility to generate leads and sales opportunities.

But some agents are going to want to do more.

For those agents, we’ve designed Premier Featured around a simple idea:

Give our most engaged agents access to more of the digital marketing infrastructure our team is building behind the scenes.

This isn’t just about adding more information to your profile.

Premier Featured creates opportunities for agents to build a deeper professional presence through content, publicity, local authority building and additional marketing resources and exclusive industry discounts.

Here are a few of the opportunities we’re developing.

Get Featured in Industry Roundup Content

Our team is continually creating content across our growing network of websites.

Featured agents can be considered for inclusion in relevant industry roundup articles, expert features and other editorial opportunities where their experience and perspective can add value.

That creates another opportunity to connect an agent’s professional identity with useful, relevant content across the network.

Participation and placement depend on the topic, editorial fit, compliance requirements and available opportunities.

Publishing Opportunities

Have something valuable to teach consumers or other insurance professionals?

Featured agents can get Contributor access to submit articles for consideration on participating websites within our network.

This can include educational content, local Medicare topics, insurance insights and other subjects that fit the audience of the participating property.

Where editorially appropriate, contributed content may include author attribution and links to the agent’s professional website or profile.

We’ll maintain editorial standards, content volume limitations and compliance requirements to protect the quality of participating websites.

The goal is to give qualified agents another way to demonstrate their knowledge and build a meaningful body of work online.

Support for Physician Referral Partnerships

This may be one of the most unique Featured benefits we’re building.

Many successful Medicare agents have spent years developing referral relationships with physicians, medical groups and local healthcare organizations.

We want to help agents bring something valuable back to those relationships.

Qualified Featured agents with established physician relationships can receive access to our proprietary MedicarePlanFinder physician landing page program.

Here’s how it works.

You Give the Doctor Their Own MedicarePlanFinder Profile

A participating physician or medical practice can have a dedicated profile on MedicarePlanFinder.com designed to help Medicare beneficiaries better understand their Medicare options in relation to that provider.

The profile can include information about the physician or practice and connect consumers with information about the local Medicare plans accepted by that provider.

Instead of a patient trying to figure out:

“Does my doctor accept this Medicare plan?”

We want to make that information easier to navigate from the doctor’s own MedicarePlanFinder profile.

Where supported and appropriate, patients can continue into the Medicare plan shopping experience to review available plan information and enrollment options connected to the agent who maintains that relationship.

The calls to action, available shopping experience and phone number associated with the physician profile can be customized around the participating agent and physicians preferred contact methods.

The agent isn’t simply referring the physician to MedicarePlanFinder. The digital experience is built around the agent who maintains that local relationship.

That’s a big difference.

Bring the Experience Into the Doctor’s Office With a QR Code

The opportunity doesn’t have to stop online.

Participating physician offices can receive a QR code connected directly to their MedicarePlanFinder physician profile.

That QR code could potentially be incorporated into approved materials in the office, including signage or other patient education materials.

A Medicare eligible patient could scan the code with their phone and go directly to that physician’s MedicarePlanFinder profile.

From there, they can access relevant Medicare plan information and continue into the available shopping experience.

Think about the potential value of that relationship:

• The physician gets a unique resource designed to help patients navigate Medicare options associated with their practice.
• The patient gets a simpler starting point for understanding available Medicare plan information while having access to a trusted local agent.
• The participating agent gets to bring a meaningful digital resource to one of their most important local professional relationships.

That’s the type of opportunity we want SMA Premier Featured to create.

Of course, there will be limitations, editorial standards and compliance requirements. Some opportunities will only make sense for certain agents, markets or professional relationships.

We’re not going to compromise the quality of the network just to manufacture more benefits.

SMA Premier Featured is about giving participating agents access to capabilities that would be difficult to reproduce individually, and the benefits will continue to grow.

Frequently Asked Questions About the SMA Premier Digital Presence Program

Is the SMA Premier Digital Presence Program Another Agent Directory?

Not at all.

Agent profiles and directories are components of the program, but the strategy is much broader.

We’re building a centrally managed digital presence program that combines professional verification with opportunities for distribution across an expanding network of websites.

Why Do I See Different Prices in the Portal?

Not every participating website provides the same value.

Page strength, consumer visibility, audience size and conversion opportunities all influence how participating properties are priced.

For example, MedicarePlanFinder served more than 85,000 organic active users over the last 12 months, while MedicareHealthBenefits has a smaller, more regional audience.

One property has a national footprint and the other has a regional focus.

Different pricing allows agents to evaluate opportunities based on their market, business goals and budget rather than paying the same amount for every website.

Where Will My Profile Appear?

The starting SMA package provides access to MedicarePlanFinder, MedicareHealthBenefits and AgentReview.

Agents can choose to participate in additional digital properties as they become available, subject to the applicable package and participation requirements.

What Is MedicareSalesAgents.com?

MedicareSalesAgents.com is the central profile management platform supporting the program.

It’s where participating agents manage their professional information and access available digital distribution opportunities.

What Is AgentReview.net?

AgentReview.net is the professional identity and verification partner supporting the program.

It allows agents to establish a verified professional identity that participating properties can recognize while also showcasing the broader insurance products and services they offer.

What Is MedicareHealthBenefits?

MedicareHealthBenefits has been serving consumers in the Southwest since 1996.

The team is headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, with additional offices and support teams in Roswell and Albuquerque, New Mexico.

It’s one of the starting digital properties available through the SMA program.

Does Verification Guarantee That I’ll Rank Higher on Google?

No.

Neither SMA nor our participating partners can guarantee Google rankings.

What we can control is the quality, consistency and credibility of the professional information we’re putting into the digital ecosystem.

Search rankings still depend on many different factors.

Will Becoming Verified Cause AI Platforms to Recommend Me?

There is no guarantee that an AI platform will recommend any particular agent.

What we can do is help make clear, consistent and verifiable information about your professional identity available across participating properties.

As AI becomes another way consumers research professionals, we believe that’s an important foundation to build.

Does Participating Guarantee Leads?

No.

We’re building digital infrastructure and distribution opportunities, not promising a specific number of leads.

Individual results will vary based on the properties, opportunities and level of participation involved.

Our team will continue working to grow the network, improve participating digital properties and create additional opportunities for agents.

Will Additional Websites Be Added?

Yes. That’s the plan.

We currently expect three additional sites to be live around the middle of Q1.

MedicareSalesAgents has a team dedicated to developing new digital partnerships, and participating agents will be notified as new opportunities become available.

Our goal is to make it easier to expand your presence without rebuilding your professional information every time.

Ready to Get Started?

We’ve already created the starting point.

Now we need you to make it yours.

Claim your profile, verify your professional identity, make sure your information is accurate and start leveraging the opportunities available through the program.

We’ve spent years building the digital foundation behind this program, and we’re committed to continuing that work.

I’m excited about what we’ve built, but I’m even more excited about what we can build from here.

You focus on your clients. We’ll keep working on the digital infrastructure behind you.