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Choosing Effective Domain Names for Your Agency Web Site.I am happy to present this the first of a continuing series on free "Internet Strategies" for agents and brokers. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would be able to tell people that our agency made over $75,000 in additional commissions and brokerage fees in the FIRST YEAR selling insurance on the Internet! The following years were even better. Our smaller 6 person agency continues to sell over 100 new policies and bonds a month... and we are at the point now that we have to turn away most of the 30+ quote requests we receive daily, because in addition to the phone inquiries we get, we simply can't handle it.I have brokers and agencies asking how we have been successful on the Internet, because they can't. That is why I have written a book and am offering these articles online. In the past year or two, I have seen all the "tips" in various publications on having an insurance web site (most NOT written by agencies actually doing it!), - but not one of them has ever successfully addressed the real issue: How can I SELL insurance on the Internet? So let's start with one of the the most important points in this first article: your web site DOMAIN NAME. Without fail, nearly EVERY insurance agency web site I have ever seen is titled something like: "smithinsurance.com", or "johnsonagency.com", etc. I call that the Internet insurance "kiss of death" when attempting to market your website. Almost every viewer who has ever come to us for insurance via the internet has gone searching for us through a search engine, and they will rarely, if ever, find a site that has the agency's name as the domain name or in the home page title. You must find a DOMAIN NAME which represents the product(s) you sell in order to be successful on the web. You must incorporate KEY WORDS into your domain name. If you sell bonds, get the word "bonds" in the domain name, like "www.bonds-4-texas.com". Something that has the PRODUCT, and if you can, the STATE you are in (if you only sell in one state) is about as good as you can get! The domain it must be as short as possible. For example, our site entitled "cyclepolicy.com" is a winner for motorcycle insurance. Find something short and sweet. I realize that can be difficult since many domain names are disappearing, but you can find something better than what you have now. What you WILL find is that the DOMAIN NAME of your web site (which will also be the home page index title most often) is probably THE most important factor in Internet sales success, because it is the most important factor in used by viewers finding you via the search engines. Go to Our Free Domain Name Search page and hunt around for available domain names. Get a good one. Actually, since the cost is now as low as $9.00 per domain name, per year, get a few! Without a good domain name, your efforts will be 95% futile. In our next article, we will talk about making the domain name you have chosen part of a web site that can actually get found by viewers looking to buy some insurance!
(Gary Savelli is President of Internet Sales of Basic West Insurance Agency in San Francisco, CA, technology convention speaker, twice winner of the "idea of the year" award at the AAACO Convention, and professional html computer programmer. Gary's book "Selling Insurance on the Internet" originally published by IIAA/Rough Notes is available at his website for only $25.00 at: Selling Insurance on the Internet Book Purchase".)
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