Leadpile’s Blog

No really? The social networking site Facebook has hit it BIG because it passed Google in the number of visitors coming to their site. Information Week stated, “For the week ending March 13, Facebook accounted for 7.07% of all U.S. Internet visits, while Google accounted for 7.03%, according to Hitwise. It was the first time Facebook had held the No. 1 spot for a week.” This is great news for Facebook, because this sort of ranking could potentially help them out financially. So, who will benefit besides Facebook themselves on this sort of increased ranking?
In the lead generation space I wish there was maybe some additional opportunity for this mega social networking site to be able to truly produce some great lead generation results. I have yet so see a publisher we work with at Leadpile that is effectively using Facebook to generate leads. What needs to happen in order for Affiliate Marketing to truly be able to capitalize on this site, or are there publishers that are showing success with monetizing Facebook traffic? I would like to speak with them if it is happening!
Great job Facebook… keep doing what you are doing, because it’s working!

In previous years, marketing strategies involved companies utilizing direct mail as a source to reach consumers. However, it seems to be going extinct because of it’s lack of effectiveness and cost. Today, companies are using email marketing and other direct marketing sources as a way to reach new consumers. Many however are still planning on utilizing direct mail as a source to get new clients, however the other source to generate consumer is growing at a much faster pace. The bottom line is, the economy seems to be heading in the right direction, which means marketing budgets can start coming back to now generate more customers. Any other marketing methods that are seeing a downward trend from the economy? Mail can’t be the only marketing method being affected by the nation’s struggling economy? Leadpile is certainly seeing the affects of the economy and it’s traffic coming in, so maybe this is affecting all sources of marketing.

Being in the lead generation business it is key to understand consumer trends and what they are doing. Knowing this helps to create new offers to help connect them with the service provider(s). However, are we seeing more consumers buying online now versus going directly to the store?
Permuto.com is stating that some areas of consumers purchases have gone up online, while many consumers still remain loyal to their local stores. The biggest gap I am seeing is with the drugs and health aid category. Is this a trust issue with trying to get the proper medication from places such as a drugstore versus an online site?

So how does a company like Leadpile and ecommerce sites get more people online purchasing services and items they need for their every day lives? Is there a “secret sauce” that will bring more people online, or is it simply with time more and more people will start trusting online purchasing as a safe way to get things they need?

Being in the internet marketing industry, it is pretty common knowledge that there are huge benefits to utilizing the social networking site LinkedIn. However, have you ever thought of LinkedIn as a source for traffic to your site? Webpronews, referenced some good points about the business social networking site, and it’s huge advantages. “You need to take into consideration that LinkedIn has the highest average household income per user over any other social networking site (even NYTimes.com and BusinessWeek.com readers).” “That being said, these are business decision makers you are targeting with your traffic from LinkedIn. The network is for real, and it will only continue to grow in time as there are currently 60 million professionals.”

The steps you should follow in order to truly maximize the capabilities of the LinkedIn site:
1. Complete your profile.
2. Increase you connections.
3. Customize your website links.
4. Answer questions.
5. Update your status.
6. Join niche groups.
7. Post comments in groups.
8. Add RSS feeds to groups.
9. Create a group.
10. Add the blog application to your profile.
I find this information very helpful and am going to look at following these steps with my LinkedIn profile, but also with the Leadpile profile. In the age of competitive traffic, finding a “free” way to get more traffic to your site is very very important. LinkedIn seems to be able to help with that if we all use it to it’s fullest potential.

Those five words seem to be to most said that day after the Super Bowl. It seems as if people are more interested in watching the new television ads rather than the actual Superbowl (unless your team is playing or you have money riding on it, of course!). This year does not seem as if it is going to be any different. According to a Nielsen survey, 51 percent of viewers are more interested in watching the Super Bowl for its ads, rather than the actual game. The survey also shows that viewers are more likely to remember the ads that are shown in the first quarter rather then the second, third, and fourth (the fourth having the least recall, only at 25 percent). Most of the ads that show in the fourth quarter tend to have similar ratings to a regular television commercial.
So how much cash is being shelled out this year? For a thirty second spot, it will cost an advertiser three million dollars. When spending that type of money for such a short period of time, advertisers are trying harder than ever to make sure that their commercials are remembered. Companies such has Papa Johns got creative by taking this years Super Bowls roman numeral and turning it in to a new pizza offer. Super Bowl XLIV will now be a Papa Johns Xtra Large four(IV) topping pizza. Boost Mobile is giving consumers a sneak peak of their ad on YouTube, for hopes that it will create excitement and buzz before it is aired during the game. Brands are also trying to use social media more for their Super Bowl advertising. Marketers are realizing that social networks is a great way to have people buzz about a product and get the word around.
It is interesting how on a daily basis so many of us will skip through the commercials, but for the Super Bowl we sit down to watch them. Some of the big players that you will see this year will be Frito-Lay, Boost Mobile, Diamond Foods, and many more. It is very important that brands are taking the time to make sure that they are remembered and are coming up with new and creative way to advertise. LeadPile has also been working hard to create new successful offers, however unfortunately we will be sitting this one out with advertising during the Super Bowl. Wishful thinking uh?
Now the only real question is, are you going to be watching it for the game, or the commercials?

Leadpile is excited to be a part of the upcoming Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas, NV. If you are an affiliate that will be attending this weekend’s upcoming show, please make sure and stop by our Meet Market booth on Sunday January 17th. This show is a great opportunity for us to see some past, present and new partners all in one place. We would love to talk about lead generation, publisher opportunities, advertisers opportunities, affiliate marketing, traffic and anything else related to affiliate marketing. If you are not attending the show, make sure and reach out to us so we can discuss how we can potentially work together (mari@leadpile.com).

In the last year or so we have talked about the controversy over China blocking certain websites from being viewed by the Chinese residents. Unfortunately, it seems there might be another website “victim” being added to this now long list – Wired.com. There doesn’t seem to be any common factor involved in the websites that this country continues to block, except for the fact that these sites are too dangerous. Currently, the sites blocked are: YouTube, Facebook, the BBC, Wikipedia, Google and a movie information site called IMBD. So does this sort of restriction prevent affiliate marketing from happening in China? Many use some of the banned sites as a source for traffic and some are even working with Leadpile……and WHAT is so “dangerous” about Google? I don’t get it! What will be next?

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.

We all turn to the search engines to help us locate information, however did you know that the most popular search is one-word searches? Hitwise is reporting that 24.13% of the searches in November were people only using one word. Interesting enough, eight-word keyword searches had the biggest increase last month, however it only made up a little less than 4% of the searches. This sort of data is something that SEO/SEM experts should pay attention to for their campaigns.
This information is also really important to study if you want to optimize your website. Leadpile publishers should pay attention to articles such as this one if they are trying to understand what consumers are doing when searching the internet.

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks and express gratitude. The LeadPile team would like to express our appreciation for your business! In combination of saying thank you, we thought we would share some helpful ideas on increasing your sales during this holiday season:

- Send Thanksgiving cards to your customers, everyone likes to hear thank you!
- Send out an email blast to your clients offering discounted services. This keeps your name in front of your customers and potentially brings them back for more services.
- Get involved with your community and do local sponsorships, to get your name in front of more people. Now is the time to share and people appreciate companies that help the community.
- Look at utilizing social networking as a source for advertising and building relationships, because families and friends stay well connected over the holidays.
- Emphasize family in your communications with your customers.

These are all ideas that might help you jump start your sales during this holiday season.

LeadPile wishes you a warm and happy holiday.

Many of you may be thinking that I am crazy saying that there are benefits to the H1N1 virus. Getting the flu may not be fun, but if you are are in the business of household personal care items, you could not be happier. Brands such as Johnson & Johnson have been seeing a large increase in sales on many of their germ killing products. Purell hand sanitizer, Clorox, and cold medicine are just a few of their germ products that people are reaching to. Just looking around the office I can see all three of the above products with people using them constantly. With that being said, it comes to no surprise that in October along with Johnson & Johnson saw at 10.7% sales increase. That was the larger increase among all companies in this market.
People are going to do whatever it takes to not get sick, if that means buying a bottle of hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes a week, they are going to do it (at least until the H1N1 virus subsides). If you are a marketing there is no reason why you should not be taking full advantage of this. Especially since we are still in a “recession”, having the biggest sale increase for that market is amazing. For all you green enthusiast who do not want to get sick and do not want to hurt the environment, there is a whole line of environmental friendly disinfectant products. Whatever the case may be, it definitely pays to work with what is out there and target what people are buzzing about.

95 percent of college students between the age of 18-24 use some form of social networking. That is defiantly not a surprising statistic. What is more surprising is that the students who are involved in using social networking tools, which includes texting and instant messaging, are more apt to learn. This is because many of the students are using the different social networking tools to network with their teachers/classmates for academic help. It makes for a quick and easy way to get the answers or information that a student needs. This could help increase the performance of the students because they have all their resources right at their fingertips.
I know when I was in college a few years ago, I found texting and social networking tools such as Facebook, to be a huge help. Not only with talking to my teachers on chat, but talking to other students as well. It was a great way to get informed on a class that I may have missed, so that I did not fall behind. It was also extremely helpful for online classes because you can get into chats and discuss as a group what is going on in the class and hear different perceptions on a single topic.
Online classes and community college is also a great way to advance yourself. Everyday LeadPile matches people who are interested in advancing their degree with the right college program. By taking online classes and using some forms of social media, being involved in your studies may be much more beneficial than you may have thought.