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MEETING MINUTES
Friday, April 15, 2011
Volume 18; Issue
14
Other Business
Nick Mawrenko asked for volunteers to
take over the Sunshine Committee or suggest a new florist to
use. No volunteers but several recommendations - Phoenix Flower Shop
at Rural & Broadway,
Watson's Flower in Mesa and the Garden of Enchantment in
Scottsdale.
Jeff Sutherlin talked about a recent experience he had
volunteering at St Mary's Food Bank. He suggested MABE
organize a team-building
event for the group to go and prepare meals.
Bill LaLonde resigned from MABE.
Please reach out to him and give him your support.
Sandro Menasci suggested that we expand on the weekly spotlight.
Members should take the opportunity to provide
recommendations/referrals for this member.
Another idea was to bring back the Mighty Minute where we
ask that week's spotlight member to take a few minute during
the meeting to talk about their business. With that
said...
Member Spotlight
This week's spotlight is
Chris Curran. Please keep this member top of mind this
week for referrals. Chris took the spotlight for a few minutes
at the meeting today...
This week I spent a good chunk of time working on a case
with Joe (Burr) and
Chuck (Hultstrand), co-counseling two very complicated cases. Co-counseling
is where I do all the work and then split the money 3-ways. I'm an attorney. I represent people that need help
dealing with the insurance company. I have had a lot
of success referring people to good physicians. I have
come to know doctors that specialize in all areas. In
the event that you get to the point where you are not sure
about the care you are receiving, I can find out more about
your doctor's
reputation. I am spending a lot of time in court, more than usual.
I like agents. 99% of the time they have their
client's best interest in mind. More cases are ending
up in court. Is this because insurance companies are holding
their ground? No.
Generally, good cases settle. I am just not doing a lot
of negotiating. This is it! If the insurance
companies don't like it, I file the lawsuit.
I don't waste energy going back-and-forth anymore.
Unfortunately this is the way it has gone. There is
not a huge shift in the way carriers have handled it.
There is a shift in the we lawyers are handling it.
Andy Jensen's wife works in the claims department for an
insurance company. They are seeing everything go
automated. They input the situation and the computer
spits out XYZ. In vast majority they accept at our below
the number.
Chris strongly recommended that if you have not have
not your insurance looked
at recently, do it and tell your friends and family to as
well. You have to have proper auto
insurance coverage (under and un-insured up to the limits of
your policy, umbrella). The chances of you getting
seriously injuries in an auto accident are very high.
The minimum coverage will not cover your expenses.
Speak to Chris if you have employees driving your vehicles
so he can warn you of the potential liabilities.
Joe Burr just finished case where the client
will spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Despite all efforts, he could only get $50K in pocket. He did not have
proper coverage. If you can't afford the premium on
your car, get a different car.
Social Update
Don Ellis reported that several Happy Hour participants
discussed the idea of having an overnight MABE trip to historic La Posada
in Winslow with a stop at Flagstaff on the way. The event will
likely be scheduled in June.
Meeting Update
On May 6th we will NOT meeting here at Shalimar.
Instead we will have an event at Joe Zingales' new facility
(McDowell Rd and 70th street in Scottsdale).
"In preparation of the May 6 MABE
meeting at the offices of Berghoff Design Group,
I have attached a map of the area and google earth photo
highlighting the entrance to our building. If anyone gets lost or
has a question they can call my cell phone number listed on the
attached map. I will also have copies of this to distribute at the
meetings over the next few weeks. Thanks." Joe Zinagale
Today's Program - Ken Sherman, GoProLocal.com "A
Crash Course in SEO", cont.
We welcomed back Ken Sherman again today to finish his "Crash
Course in SEO" presentation. He used members sites as
an example of what Google wants to see on a website.
More than ever people are going online to to find
businesses and make immediate decisions. People will typically type a city in search when
looking for a business. He again went over the three key areas
to focus on...
1) Local Online Visibility (more than website,
directories, Google place page, etc.)
2) On-Page Optimization (Call to action, etc)
3) Off-Page Optimization (back links [primary
ranking factor - most don't have them at all] social bookmarking, social
media, web 2.0)
If you don't want to have a home business address
posted , a
PO box in the center of your city is the next best thing. Some
sites won't let you do it. Or they may send a post card to
you with a pin number or use some other verification method.
Reviews are hugely important right now.
Yelp, Facebook and positive reviews on websites make you stand out to search
engines. Google review sites and you will find a ton of them.
Every business in here could review each other - A great
opportunity!
Make good use of meta tags - keywords, title, and
descriptions. Remember that uses typically search using a
business keyword along with a city modifier so have your city in the
tags. Use Google external keyword tool to see how your target
customers are searching. If your competition is coming
up higher in the search engines, look at their tags to see what
keywords they are using.
You have 3-5 seconds to capture their attention. Don't make them scroll or search.
Have your contact information and call to actions immediately
visible on every page. The information must be exactly
the same everywhere (i.e., Suite 12 and #12).
Link to trusted authority
sites.
Make use of blogs. Google wants fresh content and this is a
good way to provide it. Include relative, informative content.
A static, non-changing site is not good. Use a Word Press blog.
It super easy to do without a
webmaster.
Have a form where they enter name and email. You get free info
for use in email promotions.
Google can't read pictures or flash.
How does the site look on a mobile phone?
Have your pages in your pages to link to other pages
in your website, with content keyword-rich. Google doesn't rank websites,
it ranks web pages.
If you have questions give Ken a call at 602-330-6602.
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