Generating Leads on your own site

RayGroupInsurance · 05-29-2008, 08:51 PM

I am interested in building my own site, I know there is a thread about how to do it, but I am interested in whether or not it is worth it. I am an Allstate agent so I have my Allstate agent page (basically just an online business card.) I want to build my own site that will collect info from people so that I can quote them.

Does anyone else have a site like this? How is it working for you? Would you recommend a new agent like me get my own site?

Thank you for any advice/recommendations.

mickeyma · 05-30-2008, 01:22 AM

Contact Financial Visions in Lafayette, CA. I just started my website and was surprised at how easy it was to create it and get it listed. They offer teleconferences to help in addition to their marketing instructions on their website. They take you by the hand and walk you through it. And, the cost is reasonable.

Steve · 05-30-2008, 10:59 AM

If you're a captive agent, talk to your legal dep't. first. Many captive groups only let you have their "official" web presence.

Some captive groups say you can have your own site, but you are not permitted to identify your insurance company.

I don't know Allstate rules. Talk to legal/compliance.

RayGroupInsurance · 05-30-2008, 01:18 PM

Thanks, for your replies. I don't plan on using the Allstate name anywhere on the site so I don't think it will be a problam with the legal department. If they really don't like my site I will tell them that my wife owns it and she sells me the leads to me.

I am more interested in how well these sites have worked for others. It looks like it will cost me about $1,500 for a nice looking site that is able to gather info for quotes. That means I need to sell about 2 policies a month from it and it pays for itself. Is that possible to sell 2 a month from a website?

If you have a site, do you use PPC? How much do you spend each month? How much traffic does your site get on a monthly basis? How many of those visitors actually fill out the quote form?

Thanks

benhhill · 05-30-2008, 03:31 PM

On my website I have a page devoted to each product I sell and my webhost can give me stats on how many hits I get each day on each page. It works for me.

benhhill · 05-30-2008, 03:34 PM

Incidentally, my site was designed from free templates and costs me about $14 per month. Check it out at Benefit Marketing Group

RayGroupInsurance · 05-30-2008, 04:44 PM

Thanks, benhill. If you don't mind sharing, how many hits does your site get on a daily or monthly basis? Do you buy and adwords to generate traffic?

joshril · 05-30-2008, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benhhill

Incidentally, my site was designed from free templates and costs me about $14 per month. Check it out at Benefit Marketing Group

The site looks nice, but flash intros are an awful idea! Not trying to be negative, but conversion 101 say flash intros are a big "no-no"!

mickeyma · 05-31-2008, 01:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by benhhill

Incidentally, my site was designed from free templates and costs me about $14 per month. Check it out at Benefit Marketing Group

Who is hosting your website for $14 per month? I'm paying 49.95 from Financial Visions.

CHUMPS FROM OXFORD · 05-31-2008, 09:56 AM

Check these guys out:

AN Hosting - Powerful, award-winning hosting for just $6.95 per month

I will be using them shortly. Based in Chicago. Val told me about them.

benhhill · 05-31-2008, 10:32 AM

I use 1&1 Internet Inc. - Web Hosting Services and Domain Name Registration and feel they give you a lot of bang for the buck. I can go to my administrator statistics and find how many hits I get on each page per day. This is a great indicator of the success of my advertising.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mickeyma

Who is hosting your website for $14 per month? I'm paying 49.95 from Financial Visions.

benhhill · 05-31-2008, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joshril

The site looks nice, but flash intros are an awful idea! Not trying to be negative, but conversion 101 say flash intros are a big "no-no"!

I'm not bombarding viewers with bells and whistles but wanted to make my intro stand out a bit. I designed it myself from free templates provided by my web host and I'm not the most computer literate guy on the block but it works for me. Incidentally, it doesn't appear on computers that are not flash enabled and you can click on "skip intro" if you want to go direct to home page. Benefit Marketing Group

The New Guy · 05-31-2008, 11:00 AM

I have used more than my fair share of hosting companies over the years.

The very first question I have learned to ask, is do they have 365 day 24 hour live telephone support in the US.

There is nothing worse than waiting 3 to 24 hours for an e-mail response when you have a problem, or calling at midnight, only to find the live support is only available 9 to 5 M-F.

Also US support, because speaking with overseas telephone support can be problematic.

I use Host Monster - Web hosting for all my web sites. Before I went with them, I called their live support 5 different times, day, nights, and weekends, just to make sure they were actually there.

They are based in the US, and employ english speaking support.

05-31-2008, 11:31 AM

I run a hosting company on the side, as a reseller. I can offer forum members hosting for $5/month which offers the following:

50MB disk space
5,000MB bandwidth
Unlimited email addresses
Guarantee’s 99.9% network and 99.5% server uptime with the exception of scheduled maintenance.

If you want, I will even set up google analyics on your site for an additional $25. (one time fee charged based on one hour of set up time. NOT monthly)

With an insurance website, there is not much need for more than I have provided.... but if you feel that you do need more, just let me know and we'll figure something out. I'm flexible, and more just looking to help forum members out. I'm obviously not going to make a ton of money at $5/month.

The company I am a reseller for owns their own servers that are located in New York. They are not a reseller, and are extremely reliable, and easy to work with. If you have problems at any time you can always call my toll free number. If I do not answer, you push option 3 and it will forward to my cell phone. I have used many companies in the past who had poor customer service.... and there is nothing worse than not being able to check your email when you want to. I will always do my best to take care of my customers.... any time day or night. I am located in the Detroit, MI suburbs.

If anyone is interested, feel free to email me. Send me a private message and I'll give you my email. Even if you don't use my company, there really is no need to pay more than $5-6/month to host an insurance website. If you want tracking info for pages, google analytics is second to none.

Hope this helps!

-Nate

CHUMPS FROM OXFORD · 05-31-2008, 11:57 AM

Just for the heck of it...I actually did call HostMonster a few moments ago. On a Saturday morning...I got through to a live tech person in 90 seconds. We spoke for a while. Seems like a good company.

GreenSky · 05-31-2008, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nate124

I run a hosting company on the side, as a reseller. I can offer forum members hosting for $5/month which offers the following:

So the other 200+ posts were just a setup to your solicitation for hosting accounts? Forum rules state you must have at least 220 posts.

I'm telling Sam!

Rick

05-31-2008, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenSky

So the other 200+ posts were just a setup to your solicitation for hosting accounts? Forum rules state you must have at least 220 posts.

I'm telling Sam!

Rick

Hahaha! Yeah... I spent the last year posting, and setting up to sell $5/month hosting.

Now, let me also tell you about this great opportunity that I have in the financial services industry. First thing we have to do is make a list of all your friends and family. We're going to make a killing!