Leadpile’s Blog

Some very interesting information regarding women and what they prefer. Bizreport.com study finds that women of different age ranges are either on their PCs or their mobile phones more so than the other. This information is very important for Leadpile publishers because knowing your demographics and how to create sites effectively, will ultimately make or break your success with marketing. The study finds that women under the age of 25 tend to be more on their mobile phones, versus on the PC. Whereas women over the age of 40 tend to be more on their PCs. This means that mobile content types of sites should really be geared towards the younger age women, where the web based sites should really target the older women. If these two groups of women are spending their time on one or the other, really how does this affect publishers wanting to generate leads?
This really points out a few different things to pay attention to if you want to effectively market to women. If you are looking for various sources of advertising you might tend to be more effective with younger women if you are using things such as social networking, SMS marketing or Google Adsense on mobile applications. Your target audience would be younger and you would want to choose lead types that would work well with this demographic. However, if you are wanting to target a product/service to older women utilizing the traditional web would be the way to go.
This study really makes sense in the fact that the younger and younger generation will adapt to what is the most up to date technology, where older women are more comfortable in the PC world that they were brought up in. My guess would be if this study had included women over the age of 60, that they would tend to not have much involvement on the internet, and other sources of advertising would work better with them. Understanding what is going on with different demographics is very important as a publisher, because if you are not marketing effectively you waste time and advertising dollars. Studies such as this one is something to pay attention to and really try and understand, so we all can become effective in marketing our products and services to the right target market.

Hitwise always comes out with it’s top searched terms for the month, and I know this sort of information can always help the Leadpile publishers with generating traffic. Getting as targeted traffic as you can will always help with the conversions of clicks to converted leads. For example, people selling items to generate income is a very important term consumers are searching for on the internet. Here are some examples of what consumers are searching for when trying to “sell” something.

Previous months Top 10 Search Terms by Category (April 2009) (%)
Automotive Manufacturers

Search Term/Search Volume

Honda 1.50
Toyota 1.37
Ford 1.37
Harley Davidson 1.04
Oreilly auto parts 0.98
Nissan 0.87
Dodge 0.69
Chevrolet 0.67
Kia 0.67
Honda motorcycles 0.66

If you are wanting to generate auto finance leads with Leadpile, these might be some terms to utilize when setting up your PPC campaign or trying to be indexed in the search engines (SEO). Keywords should be relevant to the products or services represented on your website being optimized. Keywords, should include single- and multiple-word phrases.

Net Communities and Chat

Search Term/Search Volume

Myspace 5.00
Facebook 4.28
Youtube 1.83
Myspace.com 1.61
Facebook login 1.23
Facebook.com 0.90
www.myspace.com 0.61
My space 0.56
You tube 0.40
Twitter 0.36

In many potential ways, social networking sites are a part of lead generation. Utilizing sites like Hitwise, helps with knowing more information about the consumer and where they are looking on the internet. Do your research, and know more about the consumer you are trying to attract to the website.

NEXT: Wisconsin please step to the plate. It appears WI is the next state to have lawmakers trying to pass a bill that would cap the interest rate on payday loans. Todaystmj news is reporting that Wisconsin’s new proposal would cap interest rates at 36 percent annually. Similar to other states and potential laws being passed, there is opposition to this potential law and it will all have to pan out in court. Leadpile will keep an eye on this.

In years past, online media was not an option. Years ago you did radio, television, mail or things like billboard advertising. However, in recent years performance advertising has been something most companies are venturing into to promote their product(s). Lead generation is a performance type of advertising, however not all are embracing it because of various objections they have to it.

1. No money to do lead generation
2. Lead generation does not work
3. They do not know how to set up CPL campaigns
4. They do not have any creatives to do a lead generation campaign
5. They don’t have any incentives to offer the consumer on a CPL campaign
6. They don’t really care about leads
7. They don’t have the time to work on a lead generation campaign

These are all commons excuses companies will make instead of moving forward with a lead generation campaign. Mediapost.com points out all these excuses companies have on why they are not getting into lead generation.
These are all legitimate objections to lead generation, however companies like Leadpile are open arms to speak with anyone that has any questions or concerns about doing lead generation. Where else can you get a targeted consumer that is opting in for a specific product or service? Lead generation allows companies to focus less on generating clients and more on handling the targeted ones that they are working with in their lead generation campaigns. As a company trying to generate business, would I want to send out a 1000 mailings or purchase leads of 50 people who opted in for my service? Hands down lead generation produces a higher ROI if you are utilizing your lead generation campaign effectively. Ask a lot of questions of the lead generation company you are potentially working with, so you know the process from A to Z. Know how the leads are being generated, where they are being generated and what the cost to you is. You will see, lead generation will be an effective way for you to spend your advertising dollars.

In a previous post, I pointed out the importance of the Long Tail concept. This concept was coined by Chris Anderson and it states niche products and services in low demand could be the big revenue generators.  Chris Anderson is also promoting businesses to embrace the “freemium” concept.

He believes that anything on the internet will be FREE, and companies will be competing with this idea unless they choose to offer FREE.  According to InternetNews.com, “There are a lot of ways to make money,” he said.  Give a basic version of a service or application away for free, but also offer more full-featured versions.” With a “freemium” type model, a product or service is offered free to a large number of customers hoping a minority will pay for a premium or added-value service.

How could this maybe relate to lead generation or the Leadpile Marketplace?
How about the idea of giving away leads for FREE knowing that down the road this is going to result in a long term satisfied client? How about offering potential great partners FREE web design assistance or custom banners and forms? People get to use the service and understand it’s value, then they want to commit based on their experience with already using the company.” This concept is really not anything new, but maybe in the lead generation business it is time networks look at not just each individual client as a way to make the most money, but look at offering something to clients for free, knowing that the long term benefit to their company is much greater.

Sounds like the idea …give a little, get a lot!

Thursday the House of Representatives passed a bill that has potential to protect consumers from the credit card companies. It appears this potential law could pretty much affect all credit card holders. The good news is some of this could be implemented within 90 days if the law makes it through the Senate and our nation’s president. The Associated Press points out some of the details of this new bill. The bill would prevent retroactive rate increases and prevent credit card companies from giving credit cards to anyone under the age of 18. “This is a unique opportunity to end abusive practices that afflict millions of families across the nation, to contribute to our economic recovery, and to take a stand for American consumers,” Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and the bill’s primary sponsor, said after the House vote. “Now it is the Senate’s turn to act.”

With our nation’s auto makers, mortgage companies and financial institutions getting a “bail out”, it is kinda nice to see the government lending a helping hand to consumers when it comes to their credit cards.

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!

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…..

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.

Everyone knows eBay for it’s marketplace of buyers and sellers of all sorts of items. Leadpile Lead Exchange often times refers to itself as the “eBay” of leads. However, there is no affiliation to one another, yet many people know the concept of how eBay works and is considered a household name.

This household name is now expanding it’s portfolio of services it provides.  Ebay Motors is a division of eBay that provides a directory of automobiles. According to DMNews, eBay Motors has now launched an online classified section. This will allow sellers of automobiles to be connected with the buyers locally. The article goes on to state, “The new listing option is designed to connect car buyers and sellers within a 100-mile radius of their local market, and is being offered free through an initial promotional period ending July 15.” Pre-internet consumers utilized local newspapers to find a car, however this new enhancement of eBay motors will mirror that old school classified section, but be on your computer.  According to eBay, eBay Motors has 12 million monthly unique visitors, and they sell a car every minute. I guess this really means bye bye newspaper classifieds?

In addition to eBay Motors, eBay has a family of websites such as rent.com, half.com, kijiji.com, paypal.com, prostores.com and shopping.com.