In other words, before you jump online and start randomly trying to find the best deal on homeowner's insurance, you would do well to take five minutes and read this article. Then take the tips you learn in this article and enter them into the forms on the online price comparison websites.

Let's start with concrete actions you can take that should reduce the cost of your homeowner's insurance. Just make sure your agent learns of any improvements or changes to the property that you make.

A simple thing is to pay your premiums yearly rather than monthly. If that is not practical, set up an automatic payment each month out of your checking account.

Pay all of your bills on time and keep your credit record clean. Believe it or not, your homeowner's insurance premium is affected by your credit rating.

Make your property safer from accidents that could result in lawsuits. Replace any broken or buckled concrete and fill in all potholes. Replace lose or bad floorboards on porches or decks and make sure all railings are tight.

Trim bushes away from all windows and install motion-sensitive lighting to deter burglars. Add deadbolt locks to every single door and make sure all windows, even hard-to-get-to windows, have a working lock.

Install the proper number of smoke and fire detectors for the size and layout of your home and make sure they all have a working battery. Remember, batteries need to be replaced twice yearly.

Buy and install a kitchen-rated fire extinguisher in your kitchen.

If your home is ten years old or older you may be able to save quite a bit each and every month if you spring for an upgrade of your plumbing and/or electrical system. Ask your agent what your monthly on-going savings would be.

A home protection system that monitors your home 24/7 is an excellent idea and one which can add a great deal of peace of mind for you and your family. Fortunately many such systems also earn you a 20% or so savings on your homeowner's insurance every single month. Talk to your agent before deciding on a system, however, as not every system will earn the same discount.

If you have a home-based business don't forget to ask your tax advisor if a portion of the cost of your home protection system can be tax deductible. A tax deduction on top of a savings on your insurance premium can really make such a system attractive.

If anyone 55 or older and retired is living in the house let your agent know as this could save you money.

You are probably already aware that consolidating all of your insurance policies with the same insurance company can save you money every month, but it still bears reminding.

Don't smoke. If you don't smoke you'll get a better price on your homeowner's insurance.

What about your deductible? If you can afford to increase your deductible you'll get an immediate discount on your monthly payments. Don't go overboard with the deductible, however, because if you ever have a claim you'll have to pay the deductible before your insurance company will payoff, so don't agree to pay more than you think you can actually afford.

Finally, buying your homeowner's insurance online almost always saves you money. However, if you're serious about saving money then you won't stop after making price comparisons at just 1 website. In order to make sure you are seeing the most prices possible you really need to take the extra time and run your comparisons on at least 3 different homeowner's insurance price comparison websites.

Also - and this is important - make sure that you input the exact same answers into the forms on all three websites so that you are comparing the same policy on each site. In this way your comparison actually has some value.

All that's left now is to determine which companies you feel comfortable will still be around in 30 years and then simply choose the lowest-price policy from among those companies. That's it. You've done your homework, you've made the comparisons, and now you've gotten cheap homeowner's insurance online in West Virginia.