You may wonder why should you know your car insurance companies. One very good reason is that in the event of an accident you would be less likely to accept a false proof of insurance. How's that possible?
A few months ago my car was hit while I was sitting at a stop sign waiting to turn left. The other driver coming from my right cut the corner before realizing there was a car there. Needless to say it was a head-on collision, but thankfully she was slowing to turn.When the time came to exchange insurance information, she handed me a letter on official letterhead that gave a policy number for auto insurance. The letterhead said "DriveTime". I'd heard about DriveTime as being a place where one could easily get an auto loan. I never questioned the validity of the "proof" of insurance I was given.
I found out later, when I tried to file a claim for repairs with the other insurance company, that DriveTime insurance ONLY covers their car. It is a comprehensive coverage that protects DriveTime against any loss. However, it is up to the car buyer to obtain liability coverage from another source.
So before you get stuck with a "proof of insurance" that is no proof at all, glance at the list below just to get an idea of those real full-coverage auto insurance companies. These are American insurance companies with a strong regional and national presence.
* American National Insurance Company
* American Automobile Association
* AIG
* Allstate
* American Family Insurance
* American Farmers and Ranchers Mutual
* Amica
* Auto-Owners Insurance
* California Casualty Insurance
* CapitalOne
* Commerce Insurance Group
* COUNTRY Insurance & Financial Services
* Cuna Mutual Group
* Electric Insurance Company
* Esurance
* Expatriate Insurance
* Farm Bureau Insurance
* Farmers Insurance
* Frankenmuth Mutual Insurance Company
* GAINSCO Auto Insurance
* GMAC Insurance
* Geico
* The General
* GuideOne
* Hanover Insurance
* The Hartford
* Hastings Mutual Insurance Company
* Haulers Insurance Company
* Infinity Auto Insurance Company
* Liberty Mutual
* Nationwide Insurance
* National Interstate
* Metropolitan Life Insurance Company
* Mutual of Enumclaw
* OneBeacon Insurance Group
* Pekin Insurance
* Pemco
* Progressive
* Safeco
* Safeway Insurance Group
* Standard Insurance Company
* State Auto Insurance Companies
* Shelter Insurance Companies
* Solid Insurance Group
* State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company
* The St. Paul Travelers Companies, Inc.
* Trustgard Insurance
* Unitrin Direct Auto Insurance
* USAA
* Wawanesa
* Westfield Insurance
Of course, there are a lot more insurance companies that this, but this is a list of the most common. So if someone gives you a proof of insurance that doesn't sound like a company name that you are familiar with, make sure you get all of the contact information, including their driver's license number…just in case.
10/31/2008
How can you make your presence felt upon the web through search engine Optimization.
Competition is so tight among business tied to the web nowadays. Your website serves as your product display area, and the more surfers land in your webpage, the more potential customers you will have. Your website has to be designed such that it stands out prominently. But one thing more, it has to land among the top ten when a surfer uses a search engine to find a product or service along your niche. One strikingly effective way to achieve this is to avail the services of a Search Engine Optimization expert.
Business efforts and initiatives would start taking shape, once the website and its optimization is in place. With the world becoming a smaller place and with the outbreak of viral and buzz marketing, no one can afford to relax out there in the chair. Activities of a business organization in the market arena and its visibility in the trade space can only make it a frontrunner.
Need & Benefits of Search Optimization With SEO Services available right at the click of the mouse, improper ranking of website would no more be a problem. Many individuals and businesses not aware of the same might be wondering about what is wrong with the website and why is the website not able to attract traffic. The problem might lie in the other end. The root cause may well be poor ranking in the search engines and there could be several reasons for this. What needs to be done is a thorough look at the reasons of lower rankings and addressing the issues in a stepwise manner to make it capable of better ranking. It is also best to follow an approach preferred by search engines.
The problems faced with poor ranking structure on web search engines: Poorly designed website Web content not matching the design and idea Unutilized page contents Poor Web linking structure and inability to carry the search forward to other sites Plagiarism issues and duplication of content
The positive, down-to-earth approach of SEO services in dealing with the problem of low ranking and traffic is critical to the success of your promotional campaigns. Filling the gap between what is available and what should be attained is best motivation to request their services, and these will go a long way in building the success of the business. These SEO service providers must address all stages in the development of your business
Redesigning of the web page and its content to enable visitors to carry on a more useful and well linked search,
Facilitating easy click and follow approach, Ensuring that an optimized site page is submitted to top search engines like AOL, Yahoo, Google, AltaVista, etc.; and
Taking a holistic move towards optimizing the website brings in tangible benefits to the business in the long run. Benefits that can accrue by making a correct move towards utilizing SEO experts are:
Obtaining a top ten ranking on the search engines
Improved visibility and reputation,
Improved surge of traffic towards the webpage,
Improved profitability for the business and
Sustained and steady growth of the business and the capability to face any fluctuations - positive or negative - of the business cycle.
Thus, by paying a nominal fee to SEO experts and following their suggestion, it is easy to attain the effectiveness sought to lay a hand on that final goal of increase in targeted traffic and revenues. Relevant traffic drawn towards the website will eventually and ultimately pay off. SEO services provide a platform of huge magnitude to attract and catch innumerable customer leads. In taking seriously the significance of Search Engine Optimization — an activity that ranks second to the more popular online activity called e-mail — one can take his or her business to unimaginable heights.
Business efforts and initiatives would start taking shape, once the website and its optimization is in place. With the world becoming a smaller place and with the outbreak of viral and buzz marketing, no one can afford to relax out there in the chair. Activities of a business organization in the market arena and its visibility in the trade space can only make it a frontrunner.
Need & Benefits of Search Optimization With SEO Services available right at the click of the mouse, improper ranking of website would no more be a problem. Many individuals and businesses not aware of the same might be wondering about what is wrong with the website and why is the website not able to attract traffic. The problem might lie in the other end. The root cause may well be poor ranking in the search engines and there could be several reasons for this. What needs to be done is a thorough look at the reasons of lower rankings and addressing the issues in a stepwise manner to make it capable of better ranking. It is also best to follow an approach preferred by search engines.
The problems faced with poor ranking structure on web search engines: Poorly designed website Web content not matching the design and idea Unutilized page contents Poor Web linking structure and inability to carry the search forward to other sites Plagiarism issues and duplication of content
The positive, down-to-earth approach of SEO services in dealing with the problem of low ranking and traffic is critical to the success of your promotional campaigns. Filling the gap between what is available and what should be attained is best motivation to request their services, and these will go a long way in building the success of the business. These SEO service providers must address all stages in the development of your business
Redesigning of the web page and its content to enable visitors to carry on a more useful and well linked search,
Facilitating easy click and follow approach, Ensuring that an optimized site page is submitted to top search engines like AOL, Yahoo, Google, AltaVista, etc.; and
Taking a holistic move towards optimizing the website brings in tangible benefits to the business in the long run. Benefits that can accrue by making a correct move towards utilizing SEO experts are:
Obtaining a top ten ranking on the search engines
Improved visibility and reputation,
Improved surge of traffic towards the webpage,
Improved profitability for the business and
Sustained and steady growth of the business and the capability to face any fluctuations - positive or negative - of the business cycle.
Thus, by paying a nominal fee to SEO experts and following their suggestion, it is easy to attain the effectiveness sought to lay a hand on that final goal of increase in targeted traffic and revenues. Relevant traffic drawn towards the website will eventually and ultimately pay off. SEO services provide a platform of huge magnitude to attract and catch innumerable customer leads. In taking seriously the significance of Search Engine Optimization — an activity that ranks second to the more popular online activity called e-mail — one can take his or her business to unimaginable heights.
10/26/2008
An online driver for GM
The advertisements extolling General Motors’ Chevy Volt electric car on the Planet Green “eco-lifestyle” TV network are a far cry from the fast-paced, 30-second spot normally associated with vehicle pitches.
For a start, they run for two minutes. One sets a gentle, erudite tone with soft piano music and shots of a pianist tickling the ivories. He turns out to be Frank Weber, the Volt’s project director, playing one of his own compositions. At the end of the spot, viewers are invited to “join the conversation” – not at a GM website, but at planetgreen.com.
Such ads, which GM prefers to describe as “short-form videos”, highlight a tectonic shift in the way the struggling carmaker is trying to revive its image among present and future car buyers.
GM’s objective is to “engage in a conversation”, says Betsy Lazar, executive director for advertising and media operations. “The idea is: how do you get from a 30-second opportunity to a deeper engagement?”
The strategy is driven by two emerging realities – one harsh, the other offering boundless opportunities.
GM’s financial troubles – it has racked up losses of $67bn (€52bn, £41bn) since 2005 – are forcing it to slash costs in almost every part of its business. TNS Media Intelligence, which tracks how much companies spend on advertising, estimates that GM has cut its advertising budget by almost $1bn over the past three years.
The company spent $2.1bn last year, making it the US’s fourth-biggest advertiser. Ms Lazar declines to confirm the accuracy of TNS data beyond saying that it greatly underestimates digital media spending.
The new opportunities come from the internet, which has enabled carmakers to target prospective buyers more effectively and at lower cost than through traditional media.
GM estimates that the average prime-time TV network show now delivers only about 3 per cent of its target audience. Cable-channel audiences are even smaller. What is more, many TV viewers skip ads or are distracted by other tasks – not least, surfing the internet.
For the first time in many years, GM has decided not to screen ads on three of TV’s biggest crowd-pullers – the award ceremonies for the Oscars and the Emmys, and the National Football League’s Super Bowl.
“It’s very hard to justify the cost of something like the Academy Awards because the world has changed and we’ve got better insights of how to connect with consumers,” Ms Lazar says. “The more targeted we can get in our efforts, the more effective we’re going to be.”
Enter the internet. GM estimates that more than two-thirds of US car buyers now do part of their research on the web. And these people are younger than the average TV audience, which is a key point as the Detroit carmaker works to improve the image of its brands. Youngsters still not old enough to drive – and unaware of GM’s past mistakes – have become a key target.
According to Ms Lazar, ads placed on any weekday on the homepages of MSN, AOL and Yahoo, the three biggest portals, have a broader reach combined than a Super Bowl TV spot.
Homepages featuring an ad for the Chevrolet Malibu sedan registered 960m hits during a one-day blitz a year ago marking the car’s launch. Some 3.7m internet users not only saw the ad but “engaged” with it by clicking on it, thus accessing more detailed shots of the car and motoring writers’ reviews.
The cost of online ads “is very, very efficient relative to television”, Ms Lazar says. She declines to provide details, but notes that by adding pages and content, websites can expand supply in ways that TV cannot, thus damping bids for space and containing rates.
The internet also offers the ability to track prospective buyers in ways that are not possible with TV and newspapers.
“In the old days, unless it was an old customer coming back, we had no idea when they were in the market,” Ms Lazar says. “Now when they type in Chevrolet, car, crossover, fuel-efficient vehicles or Toyota, we can engage in a conversation.”
Television, newspapers and event marketing have increasingly become a means to drive prospective buyers to the internet. GM’s new Cadillac CTS sedan featured prominently in Damages, a murder-mystery series that aired in the US last year. Viewers could take part in a competition to solve the mystery and win a CTS, but they had to sign up on the Cadillac website.
On the newspaper side, GM sponsors an advertorial supplement in the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times, whose readers have deserted Detroit in droves for Toyota, Honda and other Asian carmakers. Vehicle and dealer websites are displayed prominently, often in bold type or colour.
The carmaker gauges the success of its online ad campaigns using software known as a “digital dashboard” that enables it to monitor usage on a real-time basis. The tool, developed by Digitas and Starcom Mediavest, both part of the Publicis advertising group, measures how far users “drill down” into GM websites and those of about 30 portals and online vehicle-pricing services that carry information on GM vehicles.
“A very proactive headline can get someone to click on an ad,” Ms Lazar notes. “But what really matters is whether they are engaged.”
For a start, they run for two minutes. One sets a gentle, erudite tone with soft piano music and shots of a pianist tickling the ivories. He turns out to be Frank Weber, the Volt’s project director, playing one of his own compositions. At the end of the spot, viewers are invited to “join the conversation” – not at a GM website, but at planetgreen.com.
Such ads, which GM prefers to describe as “short-form videos”, highlight a tectonic shift in the way the struggling carmaker is trying to revive its image among present and future car buyers.
GM’s objective is to “engage in a conversation”, says Betsy Lazar, executive director for advertising and media operations. “The idea is: how do you get from a 30-second opportunity to a deeper engagement?”
The strategy is driven by two emerging realities – one harsh, the other offering boundless opportunities.
GM’s financial troubles – it has racked up losses of $67bn (€52bn, £41bn) since 2005 – are forcing it to slash costs in almost every part of its business. TNS Media Intelligence, which tracks how much companies spend on advertising, estimates that GM has cut its advertising budget by almost $1bn over the past three years.
The company spent $2.1bn last year, making it the US’s fourth-biggest advertiser. Ms Lazar declines to confirm the accuracy of TNS data beyond saying that it greatly underestimates digital media spending.
The new opportunities come from the internet, which has enabled carmakers to target prospective buyers more effectively and at lower cost than through traditional media.
GM estimates that the average prime-time TV network show now delivers only about 3 per cent of its target audience. Cable-channel audiences are even smaller. What is more, many TV viewers skip ads or are distracted by other tasks – not least, surfing the internet.
For the first time in many years, GM has decided not to screen ads on three of TV’s biggest crowd-pullers – the award ceremonies for the Oscars and the Emmys, and the National Football League’s Super Bowl.
“It’s very hard to justify the cost of something like the Academy Awards because the world has changed and we’ve got better insights of how to connect with consumers,” Ms Lazar says. “The more targeted we can get in our efforts, the more effective we’re going to be.”
Enter the internet. GM estimates that more than two-thirds of US car buyers now do part of their research on the web. And these people are younger than the average TV audience, which is a key point as the Detroit carmaker works to improve the image of its brands. Youngsters still not old enough to drive – and unaware of GM’s past mistakes – have become a key target.
According to Ms Lazar, ads placed on any weekday on the homepages of MSN, AOL and Yahoo, the three biggest portals, have a broader reach combined than a Super Bowl TV spot.
Homepages featuring an ad for the Chevrolet Malibu sedan registered 960m hits during a one-day blitz a year ago marking the car’s launch. Some 3.7m internet users not only saw the ad but “engaged” with it by clicking on it, thus accessing more detailed shots of the car and motoring writers’ reviews.
The cost of online ads “is very, very efficient relative to television”, Ms Lazar says. She declines to provide details, but notes that by adding pages and content, websites can expand supply in ways that TV cannot, thus damping bids for space and containing rates.
The internet also offers the ability to track prospective buyers in ways that are not possible with TV and newspapers.
“In the old days, unless it was an old customer coming back, we had no idea when they were in the market,” Ms Lazar says. “Now when they type in Chevrolet, car, crossover, fuel-efficient vehicles or Toyota, we can engage in a conversation.”
Television, newspapers and event marketing have increasingly become a means to drive prospective buyers to the internet. GM’s new Cadillac CTS sedan featured prominently in Damages, a murder-mystery series that aired in the US last year. Viewers could take part in a competition to solve the mystery and win a CTS, but they had to sign up on the Cadillac website.
On the newspaper side, GM sponsors an advertorial supplement in the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times, whose readers have deserted Detroit in droves for Toyota, Honda and other Asian carmakers. Vehicle and dealer websites are displayed prominently, often in bold type or colour.
The carmaker gauges the success of its online ad campaigns using software known as a “digital dashboard” that enables it to monitor usage on a real-time basis. The tool, developed by Digitas and Starcom Mediavest, both part of the Publicis advertising group, measures how far users “drill down” into GM websites and those of about 30 portals and online vehicle-pricing services that carry information on GM vehicles.
“A very proactive headline can get someone to click on an ad,” Ms Lazar notes. “But what really matters is whether they are engaged.”
Rishikesh Trip
Rishikesh, I have been to this small town on the foothills of garhwal himalayas several over the past 4 years and every time i discover a lot more about this magical place and a little bit about me.
A trip to rishikesh has something for everyone. It is known as the YOGA capital of INDIA, the town is full of ashrams which house many yoga gurus of the country. As the evening approaches the air is filled with spirituality and chants of shlokas.
A trip to rishikesh has something for everyone. It is known as the YOGA capital of INDIA, the town is full of ashrams which house many yoga gurus of the country. As the evening approaches the air is filled with spirituality and chants of shlokas.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)