This year at iCan, we are following the message laid out by the new US president. It is time that more of us (the middle and upper middle classes) to start pushing our nation forward. We have modest means, but if each of us put just a few hours of our time, just a few coins of loose change, just one good bead of sweat in the name of helping more people attain the status we all have worked hard to attain.

On that note, we are proud to be volunteering with Habitat for Humanity Palm Beach County. After living most of my life here in Boca Raton, I know that often people see this town as a big bubble for the upper middle class… I guess this post is about calling out to the city I grew up in, and asking them to lend us a hand at the next home we help to build for a family in need. Last weekend we assisted in placing a roof and laying out the floor plan at a house in Boynton Beach FL. The woman who will one day reside there was actually the first person I met on the job site. She was working hard to help the contractors to finish the ceiling layout, and I immediately joined in and lent her a hand. Then, after we ran out of materials for that project, I was moved on to help with relocating all of the lumber to an area of the house that was not being used, and began to help one of the contractors (chris) to lay out the entire floor plan! With a large portion of our team assisting in the completion of the roof portions, and many of us helping around the interior, we got quite a bit completed! (Pictures will follow!) Next week, I believe we are going back to that house to help them with the next steps, and continue to give back to a community that helped to raise me J

All in all everyone, if you have been thinking about helping out around your neighborhood, town, or on a much larger scale … there is no time like the present and together we can kick up some dust, get a few splinters, and help to make our country great again J

 

Proud to be an American

GmC

This morning we had another “town hall” meeting here at iCan, one of our fearless leaders ( Steve Tucker ) gave a speech about fear and the economy, and also about the status of our fine organization.

After living almost a year here at my new home, I have come to truly respect and admire the families that make up our Affordable Health Insurance Company. Diane, Steve, Harold, Sam, Ghen, Ed, Mike and everyone else that makes up the upper echelon have been more than just “bosses” but friends and even some extended family to myself and the crew that make up the technology / marketing wing here at the iCan fortress !

With the presidential inauguration practically underway, and a whole new era approaching the US, it was great to hear that our proud organization is still top of the charts in the eyes of both the legal compliance nationally, and the big Health insurance organizations. Its normally a time for worry and wonder, when the economy is all but bottomed out… but because of the people above, we will remain. Ever vigilant and always pressing forward (smoothly) The iCan Benefit Group Family of companies!

As always, Web Wired and ready to go

Greg M. Chernoff

So , Today is the day I officially paid and reserved my spot in the Internet Marketing course at Full Sail. I have been in the SEO/SEM ring for a long time now, and punching thru to become one of the locally “known” search marketing consultants in my area has been a great milestone in my career. Starting January 09 I will be attending classes to learn some of the most bleeding edge SEM skills in my industry, taking what I already know and applying Full Sail University’s rich history of giving their students only the best tools and knowledge. As I grow into this class , I will of course be bringing a few of the juicy SEO hints , SEM Tricks and of course more of my personal nonsense J

Stay Tuned — 09 is bound to be the best year yet!

Greg Chernoff

Well, this is one thanksgiving for the books…. No turkey, no Cheer, but lots of parades and football! I was out sick, and basically stuck for turkey day!

After spending the first half of this week desperately fighting to stay at work, I finally succumbed to whatever this sickness is Tuesday afternoon, and I am just now starting to come around. Although I am sure Dee is right, I can’t help but feel like all the bugs in the building are out to get me! First a nasty sore throat 2 weeks ago, now this sinus/head cold nonsense J Regardless, here I am back in iCan, and although this is a slow day (most of the ladies are out shopping… Black Friday) I feel we have accomplished a lot. We are Very Close to setting up our first set of serious email campaigns, and are well on our way to great Organic Rankings. 7 Months ago , this company had no websites at all , and we are rolling strong at 34 separate sites , each devoted to one niche or another of our company. Business Management, Direct Response Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Accounting, and so much more each with their own place to discuss what makes their position at iCan so important and Fun! Starting Next year we will be bringing in some of the top guns from each of these departments to speak, and have videos of everyone available on our blogs and websites! Stay tuned to iCan as we are just getting started, and have a great time eating your leftovers this weekend!

 

Greg – iCan Web Guy

 

Well, nearly a year has passed since we began the iCan Projects, and now things are about to change.

Although I am disheartened to lose my team, I am confident that with this gigantic change in our structure here at iCan-Media, it will only help to expand and grow our wonderful group.

Ian and Levi will now both be in different departments, splitting up the web group into their proper divisions( Levi Joins Oliver , Amaury and Dominique in the Technical team , While Ian is now moving over to the newly formed art department!) I will still be handling many aspects of the search marketing here, and will continue to post updates and ideas. Our search marketing campaigns are organically sound, and starting next year we will be attacking the web with marketing like no insurance company before! Thanks for reading my blog everyone, and don’t forget to sign up and comment sometime!!!

 

GmC

I wanted to give a quick shout out to our Quality Assurance technician, Skip LaCroix, Happy Spooky birthday buddy. Also, I wanted to welcome back my boss Ghen , the VP of media. He has been travelling Europe in a Stolen M3 … Just kidding!!! Jason, our Benefits manager, got an awesome new car IN Germany, and got a chance to drive it for a bit before they ship it out to the US.

Now that they are back, it’s back to work … crunching and deadlines for a bunch of new products! Our lead artist here in the web department, Ian Hench – Graphic Artist, is working on some sick new designs for the iCan Media website. We can’t wait to show off what he is thinking up for iCan Media!!!

Also, I have been slowly training the office to use their new blogs. Ray Brookstein can now post his thoughts whenever he feels the need. Dr Morgan is rolling along with her blog, and its turning into a great Health Information center! All in all we have made some great progress this week, launching the HCCUA Back Office – Our members love it, and getting ready for the agent template systems and the Agent back office next! On an SEO front I have watched as week by week iCanBenefit.com gain positions in all my major med initiative terms, as well as our group and affordable health insurance campaigns… Still maintaining that Low CPL on our paid campaigns , and getting ready for the pet sites launch and our first piece of Ecommerce Business!

I absolutely love it here at iCan, there is not a single dull moment, and Mondays go by like Fridays … Fast and furious!

As for my “Manic Monday” We are developing a new State Map for HCCUA, a new VOC System for all our members, and I am taking some time out this week to handle all of the CodeSource SEO clients time, and update CSEO with some fresh content and new pricing! We have come so far in the last 7 months time , developing not only the sites we promised at the beginning of the year, but all the corporate blogs , and the marketing campaigns for the Health Care Discount Plan, and our Major Medical Health insurance Division.

With the year winding down, the economy in a tight corner, our company is using this time to organize structure and complete all the outstanding projects each and every department has on their plates. This is a great time to be working for the iCan Group, as this place runs not only as an insurance company, but a huge Think Tank and business incubator! We all have put forth some great business ideas, and will be hashing them out over the next 2 months, until we decide which major direction we will be heading in the future! So stay tuned everyone, as the brilliant people that brought the controversial Billy Mays Health insurance campaign, will strike again soon!

Now I realize, as my first post on my new blog , I should most likely be discussing the value of search marketing , my position here with iCan , and what we are up to… but as the entire company knows, I don’t always follow the norm!

I wanted to first thank my team , both my head programmer and artist helped to bring the development of the iCan network forward by leaps and bounds in the past 3 months, rocketing us into a dynamic Coldfusion based member and administration system that is a perfect blend of form and function. Yesterday, we gave a preview to all of the department heads, filling a room ,and getting tons of applause!

Also, thanks to the art department for finding this great image(its just my style!).

I have been working hard on developing a network of sites which I believe will propel the iCan network into major positions in the very saturated industry of Health Insurance.  Saturation, or just how densely populated the search engines are for a particular niche, is an ongoing battle for any search marketer in the majors, and this battle must be won!

iCan Media - the company I work for directly, is run by Ghen Sugimoto , Dee Halloran , and myself, along with Stephen Tucker, and provides all forms of marketing both online and traditional, and television direct response marketing.

In future posts, I will discuss every aspect of our online marketing , show examples of progress and more!

But for now lets just say, we have come a long way here at iCan , between the associations rapid technological advancement, and our artistic vision for the new iCan-Media.com site underway, we here at iCan have alot of work left to go , but are so proud of our achievements thusfar!