Here are some pictures of our company banquet. It was a great time and a wonderful way to celebrate our company’s past, present, and future!
Me speaking
Most of the staff
Ambrosha, Nick, Ron, Philip and Liz
Amanda, Dustin, Wayne, and Melanie
Our CFO Bob making a toast
Me toasting Bob and Hunter
Elaine, out first US employee and Hunter’s mom
I only post this one because I know I am going to get hell for it.
Happy Weekend!
| We will be closed tomorrow and I will be off enjoying the fireworks and festivities!Everyone have a safe and happy July 4th! |
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| For those of you who love the band Journey…and I do, the new 2 CD / 1 DVD set for $11.88 is out at Wal-Mart only.
The new lead singer, Arnel Pineda, is absolutely amazing! It was hard for me to believe that anyone could top Steve Perry, but he has. |
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There are 2 CDs, one with all the hits and one with all new stuff, plus a live DVD of what may be the greatest concert ever. At least until I see them later this year in Nashville.
You buy it at Wal-Mart in stores or online here.
Read all about it here
The netbusinessblog recently posted about the ever-debated topic of duplicate content and asked readers to weigh-in.
| Today I am officially one year older than yesterday.
So, unlike most days, don’t expect to get me on the phone or email today, because I will be taking most of the day off! Naturally, I find birthdays a great time for reflection on the past year; where I have been, where I am, and where I am going. |
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We recently had a celebration at HometownQuotes thanking our employees, their families, and our families for their hard work, their faith in us, and for buying into the vision of our company.
And so on this day, I want to thank all of you, our hard-working affiliates, for making this past year of my life an amazing one.
We are so blessed to have such great people here in the office and all around the world helping to make this one unbelievable company to be a part of.
Google as posted the transcript from their JuneTune live chat, plus the recording, and the presentations on Personalized Search and Case Sensitivity in Web Search.
According to some accounts, there were over 400 webmasters participating.
This is a must-read and a must-listen. You WILL learn a lot, I promise!
Transcript - Recording - Personalized Search Presentation - Case Sensitivity Presentation
Shawn Collins answers a common question and provides hope for all of you 
I have been trying the affiliate thing for about six months now, and I am not seeing any kind of progress. And I have this fear that I am going to be stagnant and never really break out and make some more money to really support myself. Should I give up?
We all know we need to TEST our landing pages, ad copy, well, essentially everything that people will ever see about us on the internet. What converts best? That is the ultimate question.
Many of us are overwhelmed by testing though. Split testing your ads is the best way to get moving and Derek Salyers posted a great article last week that should be a good start for many of you.
Click here to read Five Things to Test When Split Testing Ads
As Jeremy Schoemaker pointed out on his blog Saturday, Google Trends now has web site traffic data!
And as he points out, more people have the Google Toolbar installed than all others (Alexa, Quantcast, Compete.com, etc.) combined probably.
Amit Mehta provided a great post last week about Long Tail Keywords entitled: Are Long Tail Keywords the Holy Grail of Search?
Here are some excerpts and comments about how they relate to insurance.
A long tail keywords is a highly specific keyword containing 4 words or more.
Here’s an example :
buy nike tennis shoes size 10
As you can imagine someone typing in a keywords like : “buy nike tennis shoes size 10″ is READY TO BUY! In other words an effective long tail keywords will have a very high conversion rate.
In insurance, you find specific keywords also convert much better! Try these and consider similar keywords:
But here’s the thing, a 4+ word keyword will not get a lot of traffic, maybe 1-2 clicks a month. So the trick is to bid on 30k,50k, even a 100k long tails. You can do the math, the traffic will add up.
When I mean long tail, I mean REALLY long tail. C2C bids on several million long tail keywords per merchant. And you thought managing your 10k keyword campaign was intimidating!?!
This means lots of work! But the cost will be lower and the conversions higher. Play with it and see what works for you!
This is something I am asked often. Should I incorporate? If so, how and which way?
I believe that Jonathan Volk has written a post that is both concise and definitive in determining those answers.
His recent post entitled “Best Corporate Structure for Affiliates” is absolutely great!
Ultimately, the decision rests with you and it is always a good idea to get some advice from a trained lawyer or CPA before doing anything, but this post should help steer you in the right direction!
| Ann Smarty with Search Engine Journal wrote a good FAQ post this week about Google XML Sitemaps.I often get asked the million dollar question: Will Google Sitemaps help or hurt my site? |
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Well, the short answer in my opinion is help…or at least NOT hurt it. It will not make you #1 on Google for your primary keyword overnight. But it will help index some of those lower tier pages, which are often the pages with the best content after all, right?
Ann answers many more questions in her post, so give it a read here. And have a GREAT weekend!
HometownQuotes was founded in 2003 by two former insurance professionals who believed that there was a better way for individuals to connect with local insurance agents in your hometown. Armed with that belief and a working knowledge of the insurance industry HometownQuotes was born.
Today HometownQuotes is the industry authority in providing quick and easy quotes to consumers. HometownQuotes was founded on the principal that consumers deserve better than the 800-number approach for their insurance needs and that local agents were better suited to handle a clients needs. At HometownQuotes we understand that you have more important things to do than call tons of numbers in the phone book or go from site to site requesting quotes from different companies. So we made it easier. With one simple form you can receive up to five free insurance quotes from carefully selected agents in your hometown.
Whether you are looking for a quote on your new car, your old home, or a new apartment, HometownQuotes will find you a great rate. You can use our service to find great deals on life insurance or to secure your family's future with a free annuity quote.
About Our Affiliate Program
Over 8 million people every month shop online for insurance. At HometownQuotes, we offer consumers the ability to compare quotes from up to 5 companies that are best matched to their needs.
--You can’t beat our payouts—
Every time a customer clicks through to our web site and completes a lead application (typically 3-6 minutes), you get paid!
Our payouts are always the highest because we know the work that you put into sending us traffic and we want to reward you for effort. Plus, we pay on a tiered schedule, so the more leads you send, the higher your payouts become!
--Unparalleled Service--
Along the way, we will always be available to help you in your path to success and work with you to grow your leads and your commissions.
You can always contact our Affiliate Manager, Matt McWilliams, at the information below:
Email – matt@hometownquotes.com
Phone – 615-599-5506 ext 11
AIM – mattrmcwilliams
YM – hometownquotes
--Full Service Insurance Shopping—
We are a full service insurance shopping experience for customers. You get paid on all leads completed, auto, homeowners, life, and health insurance. Many customers will complete multiple lead applications as it often saves money. You get paid for all leads!
By offering the shopper a full service source of insurance, you are making their lives easier, which means higher conversions and bigger payouts.
--How do I get started?—
