A special treat to ring in 2010 will be a full moon in the sky! Typically, a full moon only appears once every 29.5 days (once a month) but an extra full moon occurs once every 2.5 years and tonight is the lucky night! According to Yahoo, the last lunar double or “blue moon” was in May of 2007.
The occurrence of a blue moon (the name does not reflect the actual color of the moon) very rarely happens on New Years Eve, appearing only once every 19 years! The next time you will have the change to view a blue moon for the new year will be in 2028 – so be sure you enjoy the view tonight!

Happy New Year from LeadPile!

Believe it or not Wi-Fi is going to be available in cars in the near future (2010 to be exact). Many of us need to go to coffee shops or other public places that allow us the convenience of getting internet access, however it seems that Ford cars are going to be starting to install WI-FI capabilities in next years models. This will be possible with the SYNC system who is partnering up with Microsoft. Consumers will then be able to utilize their laptops in their cars wherever they want!
The advancement of technology is so amazing. Not only can people use their cell phones to access the internet, now they are going to be able to sit in their cars and be on an actual laptop when needed. So will something like this maybe impact the lead generation world, where more people can potentially fill out online forms such as Leadpile’s Microclick form on a website? I think so!

In the current state of the housing market and economy, there are many homes being sold or auctioned for well below the value they would have been sold at 3, 4 or even 5 years ago. During the housing boom, prior to the poor economic state, large amounts of people attempted to make money by buying and then quickly selling new houses and condos. That kind of flipping came to a halt as the economy started to fall, and now the flipping is being fueled by bargains at foreclosure auctions.
According to msn.com, there are many risks with purchasing auctioned homes, as buyers often times have to make quick buying decisions without being able to inspect the house prior to purchasing. When purchasing these homes, bidders need to keep in mind the house may need repairs. Purchasing homes from auctions is a gamble in the fact that you win some, and you will loose some. Hopefully, the economy will continue to recover, and buying will continue to be something that is possible for everyone!

After months and months of talking about naming someone to help with our nation’s cyber security, the White House has finally named someone to run this very important division. This past week, they named Howard A. Schmidt as the National Cyber Security Chief. Schmidt is bringing some attractive experience with him, with having worked for eBay and Microsoft.
So the question is what is someone like this going to do to help with cyber security? This sort of position is not something that any other president has appointed, so what will he be doing? The one thing we do know is that the computer systems of the US government need watching, but what about the watching over of the whole technology world that is currently exploding?
Either way, this gentlemen seems to have some history under his belt to help with the US government’s computer systems and hopefully any threats to the our nations cyber world. Time will tell exactly what this new role will be responsible for, however I am sure it is a position that will be constantly evolving with what is going on in Cyber world!

Holiday shopping has entered into “crunch time” as Christmas is just hours away. Many stores this season have offered exceptional discounts and incentives for shopping with them and it hasn’t stopped yet!
Stores such as most Walgreens locations will be open until midnight Christmas Eve with a large percentage of them staying open all night, and even staying open on Christmas with hours of 9am-6pm. Walgreens, as well as stores like 7-Eleven, Borders, Toy R US, Target and CVS will be open extended hours with selections of items such as iTunes gift cards, prepaid cell phones and online game gift cards.
According to yahoo! even Christmas Day is not too late to send gifts via email! Stores such as Victoria’s Secret says you can order a gift certificate online until 3pm that day and it will be delivered via email by the end of the day. Macys.com also offers the option to purchase e-gift cards until 1pm on December 24th and guarantees delivery.
It’s hard to believe that it’s already Christmas time once again! Hopefully you have all of your holiday shopping done and will not have to “take advantage” of the late holiday shopping hours tonight!
Happy Holidays from the whole Leadpile Team!!

Leadpile is happy to be a part of the volunteer efforts in the community for the holidays. This year several people from Leadpile (including Natasha Aronov and yours truly) took a few hours out of our busy schedules to help those less fortunate go shopping. We are very proud to volunteer our time to help those less fortunate, and are very excited on what the Salvation Army does for these children and all those across our nation. Thanks for letting us be apart of this effort. Also, thanks to John Murray and his wife Alicia who do this special event each year for the kids. You are the best!

Many think of the new year as a time to start fresh and put the past behind you. This way of thinking may work in some circumstances, but in real life issues that is not always the case. Why you ask? Right when Americans think that the economy has hit rock bottom, it seems as if trends are going to dip down even further into quarter one of 2010. Homes are still expected to foreclose, banks are still going to hesitant about lending, and bailouts have still not personally touched consumers. With America still being on the downtrend, it is not a surprising that many consumers are still saving and spending less (either by choice or necessity).
It seems as if consumers are no longer embarassed, or think they are too good for using coupons, considering the redemption rate of manufacturer coupons were up 26% in the first three quarters of 2009. That is one of the many methods that consumers are utilizing to save a little money, along with not buying as many non-food items, going out for meals, and buying store brand products. Also, consumers have made changes like eating more chicken than beef because it tends to be less expensive.
With all consumer price cutting and shoppers being more aware of their purchases, are there any companies on the rise? Of course there are! As stated above, store brands are bringing in more revenue and are making sure that their shelves are stocked with their items. In some cases a store band product may be several dollars less expensive. Other types of companies that are doing well right now are the super stores (Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s, ect), dollar stores, and some online retailers.
Even though there are a lot of companies still in a down turn, it is nice to see that other companies and brands that may not be as popular, are now having THEIR time to shine.

In recent news, Leadpile is getting some great recognition from Revenue Performance Magazine. Here is a recent press release from December 11th:
Revenue Performance Magazine today ranked LeadPile as a Top Ten Performance Marketing Network in the United States in the Advertising and Marketing Category with 10 or fewer employees. LeadPile ranks the #1 Ad Exchange in the prestigious Revenue Performance Blue Book Top 20 rankings. The list is designed to provide some answers, by aggregating expert views, traffic data, and measures of industry influence.

LeadPile joins MediaTrust, ShareASale, Commission Junction and NeverBlue in the top ten list. LeadPile is the premier Lead Exchange, providing a central marketplace for the buying and selling of targeted consumers or “leads”. According to Revenue Performance Magazine, LeadPIle was selected to the celebrated Top Ten List because of its size, growth, and simplicity it offers both buyers and sellers of leads.

Eugen Ilie, LeadPile’s Marketing Director, says, “We are honored to be included in such an important publication as Revenue Performance Magazine. It is a testament to our team that we have been evaluated on our overall influence and reputation, and have earned the spot decided on by so many industry experts. It is our goal to continue to live up to such an honor, and our entire organization is committed to continuing to leverage our position in multiple verticals within the industry.”
LeadPile is the premier Lead Exchange, providing a central marketplace for the buying and selling of targeted consumers or “leads”. The Company, also ranked by Inc. Magazine as the Number 3 Company in the United States in the Advertising and Marketing Category with 10 or fewer employees, is the world’s largest exclusive online lead marketplace. LeadPile offers the lead-gen space the first ever, secure, online centralized location for buyers and sellers of exclusive leads to engage in an efficient, exclusive, lead exchange.

It seems that we have a new winner on the highest credit card interest rate to potentially charge a consumer…….. 79.9%! It appears that First Premier Bank has a credit card available to subprime consumers, however the potential interest rate can exceed 79%. It seems that there are fees being charged to the consumer that were more than the allowed balance (first year fees of $256 and the maximum line of credit is $250).
Does this mean that since there are a lot more credit challenged people these days, that this sort of credit card is going to be their only option? On the other hand if someone is not able to get any money elsewhere and really needs to start establishing their credit, then this could be their only option. I am sure giving out money to those that can not get credit anywhere else is a risk in itself to First Premier Bank, and charging higher than normal interest rate is something that have to do, but really 79+%? I think having a credit card interest rate this high, just seems a little excessive. Pat on the back to those that are willing to lend and give money to those that can not get credit elsewhere, but can’t you be a little nicer than 79.9%?

Recent news with Leadpile and the payday loan industry was that we entered the Canadian cash advance space, and now we are excited to announce we are now going to be working with Canadian auto finance leads. Just like the US auto industry, this appears to be the time when the Canadian auto finance industry starts taking a turn for the better. People need cars whether they are in Canada or the US, and we are looking to match them with dealers.
We are seeking new publishers to generate this lead type and also additional buyers that are working in Canadian auto leads. If this is something that you are looking at doing, please contact us!!!

Steve Beshear, Governor of Kentucky, has renewed his efforts for putting an interest cap on payday loans. The new limit that Steve Beshear would want in place is 36% for every $100.00 lent. This is the same cap that people in the military have on their payday loans. The main reason for the cap is because of the hard times that residents in Kentucky are having just to put food on their tables.
Currently, no new payday lenders are even allowed to open in Kentucky (the state has 743 lenders at the moment). Some believe that such a restricted cap will cause lenders to go out of business. What do you think?

Most of us receive a large amount of emails each day that make it into our spam folders, however how many spam emails are you receiving each day that are actually making it to your inboxes? The answer is too many! 6 years ago, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) implemented the Can-Spam Act which was supposed to help crack down on those that are illegally sending out spam emails. However, even with a potential $16,000 fine, spammers are not going away. Why?
Leadpile works with publishers that are doing email marketing, however violating any Can Spam laws is not something we would ever allow. So the question is, how are the spammers continuing to get away with sending out all these unnecessary emails and not getting caught? It seems that many use famous people that are in the news, being bait for some that will unknowingly click on their emails. Some use credible names as the sender thinking the consumer will trust the name where it came from. Then there are some that try and use inappropriate words/phrases thinking they will ignite the curiosity factor of the reader. You name, spammers are trying it.
The key is if you are getting emails from someone you don’t know and there is just a link on the site to click on, don’t click on it. The remaining of the month there will be an increase in the number of “holiday” scams attempting to reach your inboxes, so always be aware of who you are paying attention to in your inboxes.