Leadpile’s Blog

There has been much written and talked about Twitter over the past few weeks.  Celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Ashton Kutcher have brought much hype and attention to Twitter.  It turns out that all of this discussion may just be hype after all.  Nielsen Online released some research this week indicating that new users of Twitter are not staying around very long.  In fact, their research indicates that over 60 percent of Twitter users have stopped using the micro-blogging service a month after joining the service.

With a retention rate around 40%, Twitter’s growth will certainly be limited in the long run.  Facebook and MySpace had retention rates nearly double of Twitter’s at similar times in their respective growths.  Even today, Facebook and MySpace have retention rates around 70%.

So, perhaps all those companies that are trying to capitalize on Twitter should take pause, and wait to see what the core Twitter audience will be.  If people are not staying with Twitter for long, the challenge will be to engage this audience and keep them engaged for more than a month.  Apparently, Ashton, Oprah, and others can bring a large audience, but unfortunately it also appears this audience is leaving very quickly.

There are not many people these days that have not had some sort of interest in going back to school.  Online degree/online education is a very important subject consumers tend to research online.  Leadpile Lead Exchange realizes this, therefore we have rolled out some banners and a landing site for our publishers to use as a way to connect future students with educators.

Those looking to further their education have some common questions, and they tend to look for these answers on the internet.  Questions such as:

*  How long will it take for me to finish?

*  How much time do I need to dedicate to this schooling?

*  What type of degree program should I do?

*  How much does it cost to do online education?

*  Where do I get connected with people to get information?

Knowing these questions are being asked, Leadpile is trying to connect those interested people with some of the answers.  If you are a publisher interested in connecting this very important group of people, with those that can answer their questions, please contact us.

www.fastonlinedegrees.com is a site our publishers can drive traffic to, or utilize our Leadpile Microclick forms and banners.  Congratulations to all those looking to pursue their education!

I am not sure if this is something new, or maybe just a White House position I have never really paid attention till now, however President Obama has named 2 high profile company executives to his tech council.  Tech Council?  Yes, there is such a thing and I think this is a sign of the times.  America has gone internet “crazy” and it is only right to have a President working closely with individuals from Google and Microsoft.  Google’s Eric Schmidt and Microsoft’s Craig Mundie have joined a team (PCAST) of 20 advisers to the President.

“PCAST is designed to give the White House a pipeline to some of the leading voices in science, engineering and technology as the administration crafts policies in those areas,” according to Internet News.  Leadpile Lead Exchange, and other internet companies, like the idea of the potential of more advacements and assistance for this growing internet world we are all a part of.  Maybe in the next presidential term there will be representatives from social networking sites and maybe affiliate marketing companies? Now that is a great idea!

How many times a day do you open up an email that contains some strange prescription drug or nudity content?  How many minutes or hours a day does it take out of your day to delete these emails?  If you are like everyone else, there is a large amount of time spent on dealing with spam emails.  On the flip side, did you ever think how much time and energy spammers spend on generating these waste of time emails?

An interesting article in DMConfidential pointed out some facts about spam and the waste of energy these emails cost the world. The article pointed out, “Spam-related energy use could have powered the homes of everyone who flew on an airplane on a day in 2008 (2.2 million), or the country of Jordan.” In a “eco-friendly” world that we have become, bringing to light some of the wasted energy causes is probably a good thing. I am not sure really it will make a “spammer” say I am not going to send out these emails, however maybe it will get some of us who don’t like the emails to seek out those doing it and stop them.
Lead generation and companies doing their own marketing often times involves some sort email marketing. Email marketing is a cost effective way to generate traffic. However, is this something Leadpile Lead Exchange and other companies will eventually eliminate because of it’s lack of effectiveness and the “bad” name (and huge carbon footprint) spammers have caused it to get? OR is this just another article trying to get more of the McAfee product sold?  You decide.

125.1% Growth versus first quarter of 2008.

Leadpile, The World’s Largest Online Exclusive Lead Exchange announced today record results for the 1st Quarter 2009. LeadPile posted record Revenues from Leads generated by its Lead Sellers or Affiliates. Total Revenues from Lead Sellers were up 125.1 percent in first quarter 2009 as compared to first quarter 2008.

Leadpile provides their publishers the Adwords API – an improved version.

Imagine this….. you fell behind on your mortgage and you are going to have to move out of the home you spent your hard earned money building to your satisfaction. Out of anger you do some things to this home to express your frustration of the situation you are now in. Broken windows, damaged walls, and you decide on your way out you are going to put a nice little hammer to the A/C unit.
Unfortunately, this consumer’s damaged house needs to be then put up for sale by the bank for some other consumer to purchase. Who is going to want to purchase a home that requires so many repairs before even moving in? Fortunately, someone else’s “garbage” is another person’s treasures. With a great deal on the home, that home sells to a new consumer who sees so much potential with this damaged foreclosed home. The new homeowner also did their homework and found out with the Obama Plan, there are tax credits available to homeowners for things such as windows, HVAC, and a few other home improvements. In an effort to help consumers who are willing to purchase these damaged foreclosure homes, and for those that have to stay in their home and can not sell, the Federal Government rolled out some great tax credits for 2009 and 2010. The tax credits available are up to 30% of the cost of the designated repairs up to $1,500. There have been tax credits available to consumers in previous years, however to this level they have never been available.
Leadpile Lead Exchange works with the home improvement vertical and thinks maybe assistance like this, will only help with the demand for this lead type. Leadpile is currently looking for publishers that can potentially bring in this lead type so we can connect homeowners wanting to take advantage of these credits, with the advertisers that want to provide the services.

We all know payday loans don’t exactly have the best image, however there are a need for them in certain situations. I came across this article on personalmoneystore.com, discussing a very interesting type of loan. This “automobile down payment loan” is said to be a loan that no credit check is performed, and there is no collateral securing this loan. However, after reading more about this, I thought this reminded me of a payday loan, but with a different name.

We all know lending requirements have gotten a lot more strict, however consumers still need to pay close attention to the specifics of any money they are getting. Don’t get me wrong, this is not necessarily a bad thing that consumers should not look at. However, maybe the key to getting a more positive image on the payday loan industry is to put different “names” on the loans. Leadpile will keep an eye out for any other names we identify as a payday loan.

Companies working with consumers to modify their mortgages has been going on for almost a year now. However, Ocwen Financial Corp (a servicer of sub-prime mortgage) is one of the first mortgage servicers to begin modifying mortgages under the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Home Affordable Modification Program. The new government program was rolled out in an effort to help mortgage holders who are potentially going to fall behind on their mortgages.
According to Business Journal,”For a loan modification, lenders would have to reduce the mortgage payments to no more than 38 percent of the borrower’s income. The Treasury Department would share the cost for lenders to cut that debt-to-income ratio to 31 percent.
Loans could be extended to up to 40 years. Those lenders who do participate would have to modify all loans, not just the worst ones. Loans originated before Jan. 1 are eligible for the program, which runs through 2012. Homeowners who have an unpaid principal balance of as much as $729,750 can participate. There are also incentives for firms such as Ocwen (NYSE: OCN) that service these loans.
They will receive an upfront fee of $1,000 for each eligible modification meeting guidelines established created by the initiative. They will also receive “pay for success” monthly fees – as long as the borrower stays current on the loan – of up to $1,000 a year for three years.”
Leadpile Lead Exchange has seen the loan modification lead type go through periods of high demand to not much demand. Maybe this lead type has some more life in itself in our marketplace. There still seems to be consumers that will want to be a part of this new government plan. We shall see…..

Advertisers are always looking for effective ways to reach consumers, however sometimes it is not always the easiest task to accomplish. If done correctly, email marketing is a cost effective way to reach a large audience in a short amount of time. The biggest trick businesses have to face is getting “that email” delivered in the consumers inbox. Last week JetBlue Airlines utilized email marketing, press releases and partner’s emails to get across a HOT deal they were offering.  JetBlue was offering tickets from NY to San Francisco for $14!  That is unheard of, however it was no joke.  The unfortunate thing was this email and press release blast made the airline sell out quickly (within an hour to be exact). This also created a great buzz about the airline and traveling, and that is what they were looking to accomplish.  What other way can you effectively market something that HOT in such a short amount of time???? According to DMNews, this wasn’t such a bad scenario for the airline to be in…..

Email marketing is also a great way to monetize data.  Leadpile Lead Exchange is very happy to offer TEXT links to it’s lead publishers to use in an email marketing campaign.
Bottom line is… email works!

Tax Day is just about here and many Americans are scrambling to file their taxes.  According to Internet News, 87 million tax returns were filed electronically in 2008. This means a lot of extra personal information is circulating on the internet for thieves to get their dirty paws on.

Data thieves used to be interested in credit card numbers, however with all the added security a credit card has, there is now not much use for just a card number. Therefore, things such as tax returns are very attractive because they contain everything from banking information to personal information that can be maliciously used. Experts suggest if you are filing your taxes online that you install some sort of internet security package and scan your PC for malware.  Another crime tax filers should watch out for is the individuals that prepare your online tax returns.  Using a trusted company to help you with your taxes seems to be the best option.  As I have pointed out on a previous Leadpile blog post, BE AWARE where you enter your information and this also applies to you with your tax returns.

DON’T forget to file your taxes by April 15th!

Facebook passed a remarkable figure this week.  The 200 millionth user was added this week to the popular social networking site.  If Facebook was a country it would have the fifth largest population in the world. Facebook isn’t only getting larger, it is also getting older.  People ages 26-44 make up the the fastest growing segment of the Facebook population.  

Most Facebook users are still reluctant to click on adds, and businesses are still trying to leverage the social networking space.  Real problems and perceived problems regarding products and customer service can be monitored with social media.  Great opportunities lie ahead for Facebook, Twitter and others.