Insurance Agent Directories - Are They Worth It?

[RayGroupInsurance]

I have been looking online for more places to advertise and have recently come across some insurance agent directories. Many of them are very inexpensive $45-125/year. Do any of you use them? Have you made a return on your money? How many calls or leads do you get from it each month?

Thanks

 

[RayGroupInsurance]

Let me clarify that

I asked a similar question about 2 months ago when I started building my site and the thread got way off topic. Here are some examples of the sites I am considering:

www.insuremyhouse.com
www.findmybestagent.com
www.nationalinsuranceagentsdirectory.com
www.agentsweb.net
www.insuremyvehicle.com

Do any of you use these or similar sites? Have you used them in the past? Would you recommend them?

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

There are many many free directories out there (not necessarily insurance agent, though).

 

[TXINSURANCE]

When you need insurance do you go to a directory?

This should answer your question.

There are some variations like those that actually have leads and traffic - but it is rare.

 

[RayGroupInsurance]

When you need insurance do you go to a directory?

This should answer your question.

There are some variations like those that actually have leads and traffic - but it is rare.

I don't go straight to a directory, but I do go to Google when I am shopping for something. Some of these directories show up on page 1 under the organic listings. My site is not there yet so for the price it seems like it might be worth it. At $80/year I only need to sell 1 policy and this pays for itself. I would imagine I'm going to get a few phone calls from this if it is showing up on page 1.

I guess I was also wondering about SEO, this could be another link to my site from a very relevant site. Am I totally wrong in assuming this would help my sites ranking.

 

[Guest]

It should help SEO by providing a backlink. However you may also get more spam type emails also.

 

[djs]

If you are going to do it for SEO, make sure you understand the page rank of the page that will be linking to you.

Also, from time to time, the search engines will penalize you if you have directory style links from paid sites. This used to be the way everyone got their site rated decently (long time ago) and then the algorithms were changed, paid directory sites identified, etc. Into the toilet went a lot of SEO work.

Backlinks are almost always good, but, sometimes it isn't. Be careful. And before you ask, when I used to do some SEO work, there was no good way to know other than having a good feel for the referring site. If it's sleazy, it wouldn't count for you.

Dan

 

[Alston]

Re: Let me clarify that

I asked a similar question about 2 months ago when I started building my site and the thread got way off topic. Here are some examples of the sites I am considering:

www.insuremyhouse.com
www.findmybestagent.com
www.nationalinsuranceagentsdirectory.com
www.agentsweb.net
www.insuremyvehicle.com

Do any of you use these or similar sites? Have you used them in the past? Would you recommend them?

They seem to be overpriced if you are going to use them for SEO. If they actually bring you viable prospects they might be worth it. I can't comment on their ability to do that.

However, the web design and programming of those sites will keep them from adding any significant value to your website from an SEO perspective. You can get much better links for the same money.

 

[dmiller90]

If you are going to do it for SEO, make sure you understand the page rank of the page that will be linking to you.

Also, from time to time, the search engines will penalize you if you have directory style links from paid sites. This used to be the way everyone got their site rated decently (long time ago) and then the algorithms were changed, paid directory sites identified, etc. Into the toilet went a lot of SEO work.

Backlinks are almost always good, but, sometimes it isn't. Be careful. And before you ask, when I used to do some SEO work, there was no good way to know other than having a good feel for the referring site. If it's sleazy, it wouldn't count for you.

Dan

I can prove that Theory wrong, Bad Myth of the SEO

 

[dmiller90]

Re: Let me clarify that

They seem to be overpriced if you are going to use them for SEO. If they actually bring you viable prospects they might be worth it. I can't comment on their ability to do that.

However, the web design and programming of those sites will keep them from adding any significant value to your website from an SEO perspective. You can get much better links for the same money.

I have noticed that you only have around 130 backlinks to your site? Maybe it works in a small state, but 130 links would not even be on the radar in most states with competive search terms.

For example: Keyword Search: Florida health Insurance
#1 Google Organic
Florida Health Insurance, Florida Group Health Insurance, FREE LIVE Florida Health Insurance Quotes
Backlinks:
#1 Spot======1,129
#2 Spot=======341
#3 Spot=======329

I wonder if Backlinks have anything to do with ranking high in Google? Google has disregarded paid link strategies. You cant buy your way into the Search Engines

Good Keyword Title--(not keywords, does not have a bearing with google) or most SE
Meta Description (very important)
Content---King
Backlinks--King