- 110
Well, the milestone has been hit. 100 posts in just over 100 days. Hopefully you found some of my input to have value. Now that it is here, I’d like to officially introduce my company, and our vision. But first, a little background.
(*Precursor* I welcome all feedback. But please, be constructive. We’re passionate about continuous improvement.)
I came from American Family Insurance. During my 9 years there, I was an Office Manager, Agent, and District Manager. Additionally, my Father has been an Agent my entire life, so I’ve been having conversations around the dinner table for as long as I can remember. During my time as a DM, I really started to get a broad understanding of the insurance industry, and how it was changing. Consumers were moving their behavior from calling Agents directly to shopping online first. I have come to believe it’s not that consumers don’t want a local Agent, but rather they just want to be educated online first.
In order to help the Agents in my district gain more traffic, I spent quite a bit of time brainstorming on ways to help them. One of the paths I took involved their domain name. Each one had one, and it was usually their name, and the word agency.com. (i.e. adamhawleyagency.com). I thought to myself, if I’m a consumer, and I don’t know the Agent, seeing this domain is in no way relevant to me. Perhaps it was a total lack of knowledge at the time on things like SEO, but I started thinking of better domain names.
As most of you already know, domains are already taken, for the most part. Everything I could think of sure was. I was trying to say “local insurance” in a domain name, but everything I could think of was gone. That is, until I tried zip codes…
The first one I ever tried was 64055insurance.com. Available! I tried more, and they were all available. I got to thinking that if one organization secured all of them from coast to coast, they could do something very special. So, that’s what we did. Zipsurance was born, and we registered every <zipcode>insurance.com across the country, provided it fit our model of having a certain amount of people in it. In all, we have approximately 12,500 Zipsurance domains.
The Vision:
The vision is simple. We’re creating a network of members, (only one Agency per zip code,) across the entire country to drive branded impressions in their local community. I call this “collective marketing.” As one Agent in, say, 64055, is branding 64055insurance.com on their business card, email signature, a banner at the high school, and so forth, they’re driving impressions. But, the beauty happens when the neighboring Agent brands 64052insurance.com. As they do the same thing, they’re also driving impressions. We believe consumers in the area see these and say to themselves, “zipcode+insurance.com. Got it.”
You see? That’s what we mean by collective marketing; Agents leveraging each other’s effort to drive a clear message, “I’m THE Insurance Agent for your zip code.” In time, and yes, it will take time; we want our members to be part of a household concept. It’s a big goal, but when you have passion, and 12,500 nearly identical domains, it is most certainly attainable.
Services:
At first, we leased our domains to Agents and forwarded them to their existing site. This worked for branding the message, but not much else. As you know, Google doesn’t rank forwarding domains. As we’ve grown, we’ve started offering a much better service. We call them Exclusive Insurance Lead pages. These pages are built under our member’s domain. The sole purpose is to drive traffic and leads to our members on an exclusive basis. You can see some examples at 68127insurance.com, 80206insurance.com, 84123insurance.com, 55437insurance.com, and 30068insurance.com. Yes, the pages are similar. We find our members like them, but we have different themes as well.
In addition to these pages under the domains, we also provide consultations with our members on a one on one basis. We teach the basics here, like setting up/optimizing Google places, social networking, blogging, etc. For the elite insurance folks, it may be a little basic. But for most, it’s extremely helpful. Cristina Mccoy, our Marketing Director, runs these consultations. The feedback she receives is fantastic.
Zip U, a members only area, is just about ready to be launched. For those that are familiar with Ning, we are using their software. Think of it as a place for insurance pros to network, share ideas, and learn from others. You’ll be able to create a profile, have “friends”, share content, and rate posts. The structure is there now, but we haven’t fully launched it yet. Currently, we’re asking ten of our members to get their account set up and start posting content. Of course, the Zipsurance team is adding content, too.
We also do some custom web design. Although this isn’t our main model, we sometimes talk to folks that want a full blown site under their existing domain. We’re happy to help here, too. You can see an example at renardins.com.
Our team:
There are currently five of us at Zipsurance. Here’s a quick little bio on each.
Adam Hawley, CEO. That’s me! I’m the visionary guy. I do sales, too, but mainly manage the operations, etc.
Matt Watson, CTO. Former CTO at Vinsolutions.com. Google him. Enough said. He’s an owner, and provides oversight on our direction when it comes to tech stuff.
Chase Lauer, Design Specialist. This guy is amazing. A young, brilliant mind. He has a degree from Mizzou in Strategic Communications, is great at web design, and he’s pretty darn good on the phone, too.
Ryan Cannon, Business Development. Ryan is a wizard when it comes to numbers. He handles sales, both inbound and outbound, but he also helps manage our data.
Cristina McCoy, Marketing Director. Cristina was my Marketing Assistant at American Family. She has 7 years of experience in Insurance Agency marketing. She’s an expert on many things, and has great customer relationship skills, too!
Pricing:
We have two packages; One very basic, and one with more “whistles”.
Our Silver Package runs $8.99/month. For this price, we will point your Zipsurance domain to your existing site. You can use it for branding purposes and be part of our collective marketing strategy. But, as most of you know, forwarding/vanity domains don’t work well for search. Additionally, you’ll have access to Zip U, our place for members only. There is NO contract. You stay an exclusive member for as long as you like.
The Gold Package runs $59/month. For this, we build you an Exclusive Lead Page. These pages rank incredibly well when searching by zip code. Do they immediately rank well for other terms? Nope. But in time, they certainly can. See above for examples of these pages. Also included in this membership level is a one on one consultation with Cristina to help educate you on internet marketing best practices. Over 95% of our members are Gold Members. Just like the Silver Package, there is NO contract.
There are three other things we charge for. One is a one-time setup fee of $99. This helps cover the cost to build the Exclusive Lead Site and customize it for you.
The others are optional. They are an auto decal window sticker. These are customized for your zip code. For example, they would say, “64055insurance.com Local Insurance. Online.” Our cost with shipping is right at $10, so that is what we charge as a one-time fee.
Some of our members like having a video on their site. They’re basic, but attractive. We charge $100 to build the video. Again, they are totally optional.
OFFER FOR INSURANCE FORUM MEMBERS:
This forum has been great, and there are some extremely smart insurance professionals here. I’d love to have you as members. Therefore, if you’re a member of this forum and want to be a Gold Member, we will cut the setup fee down to $49, a savings of $50!
If you’re still reading, thank you for your time. I hope we can earn your membership. We don’t pretend to have it all figured out, but rest assured, there is no company more passionate about putting the conversation back where it belongs: between a local client and a trusted professional.
Cheers,
(*Precursor* I welcome all feedback. But please, be constructive. We’re passionate about continuous improvement.)
I came from American Family Insurance. During my 9 years there, I was an Office Manager, Agent, and District Manager. Additionally, my Father has been an Agent my entire life, so I’ve been having conversations around the dinner table for as long as I can remember. During my time as a DM, I really started to get a broad understanding of the insurance industry, and how it was changing. Consumers were moving their behavior from calling Agents directly to shopping online first. I have come to believe it’s not that consumers don’t want a local Agent, but rather they just want to be educated online first.
In order to help the Agents in my district gain more traffic, I spent quite a bit of time brainstorming on ways to help them. One of the paths I took involved their domain name. Each one had one, and it was usually their name, and the word agency.com. (i.e. adamhawleyagency.com). I thought to myself, if I’m a consumer, and I don’t know the Agent, seeing this domain is in no way relevant to me. Perhaps it was a total lack of knowledge at the time on things like SEO, but I started thinking of better domain names.
As most of you already know, domains are already taken, for the most part. Everything I could think of sure was. I was trying to say “local insurance” in a domain name, but everything I could think of was gone. That is, until I tried zip codes…
The first one I ever tried was 64055insurance.com. Available! I tried more, and they were all available. I got to thinking that if one organization secured all of them from coast to coast, they could do something very special. So, that’s what we did. Zipsurance was born, and we registered every <zipcode>insurance.com across the country, provided it fit our model of having a certain amount of people in it. In all, we have approximately 12,500 Zipsurance domains.
The Vision:
The vision is simple. We’re creating a network of members, (only one Agency per zip code,) across the entire country to drive branded impressions in their local community. I call this “collective marketing.” As one Agent in, say, 64055, is branding 64055insurance.com on their business card, email signature, a banner at the high school, and so forth, they’re driving impressions. But, the beauty happens when the neighboring Agent brands 64052insurance.com. As they do the same thing, they’re also driving impressions. We believe consumers in the area see these and say to themselves, “zipcode+insurance.com. Got it.”
You see? That’s what we mean by collective marketing; Agents leveraging each other’s effort to drive a clear message, “I’m THE Insurance Agent for your zip code.” In time, and yes, it will take time; we want our members to be part of a household concept. It’s a big goal, but when you have passion, and 12,500 nearly identical domains, it is most certainly attainable.
Services:
At first, we leased our domains to Agents and forwarded them to their existing site. This worked for branding the message, but not much else. As you know, Google doesn’t rank forwarding domains. As we’ve grown, we’ve started offering a much better service. We call them Exclusive Insurance Lead pages. These pages are built under our member’s domain. The sole purpose is to drive traffic and leads to our members on an exclusive basis. You can see some examples at 68127insurance.com, 80206insurance.com, 84123insurance.com, 55437insurance.com, and 30068insurance.com. Yes, the pages are similar. We find our members like them, but we have different themes as well.
In addition to these pages under the domains, we also provide consultations with our members on a one on one basis. We teach the basics here, like setting up/optimizing Google places, social networking, blogging, etc. For the elite insurance folks, it may be a little basic. But for most, it’s extremely helpful. Cristina Mccoy, our Marketing Director, runs these consultations. The feedback she receives is fantastic.
Zip U, a members only area, is just about ready to be launched. For those that are familiar with Ning, we are using their software. Think of it as a place for insurance pros to network, share ideas, and learn from others. You’ll be able to create a profile, have “friends”, share content, and rate posts. The structure is there now, but we haven’t fully launched it yet. Currently, we’re asking ten of our members to get their account set up and start posting content. Of course, the Zipsurance team is adding content, too.
We also do some custom web design. Although this isn’t our main model, we sometimes talk to folks that want a full blown site under their existing domain. We’re happy to help here, too. You can see an example at renardins.com.
Our team:
There are currently five of us at Zipsurance. Here’s a quick little bio on each.
Adam Hawley, CEO. That’s me! I’m the visionary guy. I do sales, too, but mainly manage the operations, etc.
Matt Watson, CTO. Former CTO at Vinsolutions.com. Google him. Enough said. He’s an owner, and provides oversight on our direction when it comes to tech stuff.
Chase Lauer, Design Specialist. This guy is amazing. A young, brilliant mind. He has a degree from Mizzou in Strategic Communications, is great at web design, and he’s pretty darn good on the phone, too.
Ryan Cannon, Business Development. Ryan is a wizard when it comes to numbers. He handles sales, both inbound and outbound, but he also helps manage our data.
Cristina McCoy, Marketing Director. Cristina was my Marketing Assistant at American Family. She has 7 years of experience in Insurance Agency marketing. She’s an expert on many things, and has great customer relationship skills, too!
Pricing:
We have two packages; One very basic, and one with more “whistles”.
Our Silver Package runs $8.99/month. For this price, we will point your Zipsurance domain to your existing site. You can use it for branding purposes and be part of our collective marketing strategy. But, as most of you know, forwarding/vanity domains don’t work well for search. Additionally, you’ll have access to Zip U, our place for members only. There is NO contract. You stay an exclusive member for as long as you like.
The Gold Package runs $59/month. For this, we build you an Exclusive Lead Page. These pages rank incredibly well when searching by zip code. Do they immediately rank well for other terms? Nope. But in time, they certainly can. See above for examples of these pages. Also included in this membership level is a one on one consultation with Cristina to help educate you on internet marketing best practices. Over 95% of our members are Gold Members. Just like the Silver Package, there is NO contract.
There are three other things we charge for. One is a one-time setup fee of $99. This helps cover the cost to build the Exclusive Lead Site and customize it for you.
The others are optional. They are an auto decal window sticker. These are customized for your zip code. For example, they would say, “64055insurance.com Local Insurance. Online.” Our cost with shipping is right at $10, so that is what we charge as a one-time fee.
Some of our members like having a video on their site. They’re basic, but attractive. We charge $100 to build the video. Again, they are totally optional.
OFFER FOR INSURANCE FORUM MEMBERS:
This forum has been great, and there are some extremely smart insurance professionals here. I’d love to have you as members. Therefore, if you’re a member of this forum and want to be a Gold Member, we will cut the setup fee down to $49, a savings of $50!
If you’re still reading, thank you for your time. I hope we can earn your membership. We don’t pretend to have it all figured out, but rest assured, there is no company more passionate about putting the conversation back where it belongs: between a local client and a trusted professional.
Cheers,
