Leadpile’s Blog

In years past YouTube tried to roll out in-stream ads (in 1997), however the acceptance of it did not go to well with viewers. Time has past and there are other sites that have incorporates such ads, so YouTube is now looking at taking another stab at it. It makes sense because YouTube is utilized by so many people in so many ways, that incorporating some sort of ads had to become part the of “YouTube Revolution”. The good thing about what YouTube is doing, is that they are creating these ads that are actually able to be skipped. However, what they are finding is that if you have a short 15 second ad, more people are not “skipping” over the ad. This is great news for the advertiser trying to get their ads played. Maybe the future of high priced Super Bowl ads will continue on from our televisions to our computers?
Leadpile has incorporated YouTube into our marketing efforts to help get our name out there, and we can certainly see a potential with bringing in ads to these videos. YouTube has to learn to make money, so what other options do they have but to look at cashing in on all the eyes they have on their videos? I think it is a good marketing idea…..

Fifteen years ago today the first banner advertisement was displayed on www.Hotwired.com. At the time there were only about two million internet uses in the United States and the only way of getting connected was through a slow dial up connection. When banners advertising was first introduced, many companies were very hesitant and weary about such advertisement. Some of the very first companies to sign on to this new way of advertising were MCI, Volvo, 1-800-Collect, and AT&T. The banner ads were a simple static image located at the top of a web page almost acting as the header. Some of the ads did not even have a call to action or show anywhere in the creative what the product being advertised was.
When it was discovered that an ad could be clicked on and have the consumer redirect to the page advertisers did not know what to think. Some loved it, and others not so much because they did not want to seem like they were being pushy. Volvo had their consumers who clicked on their ads be redirected to simple questionnaire about the Volvo they might be interested in.
Banner ads have come a great distance since 1994 when they first started to appear. No longer are they just static images with no call to action on the top of a web page. They now expand, float on the page, have movies/sound embedded, and even can have the user interact and play games within them. Whether the advertisers are just tracking impressions/CTR or are going the distance and tracking CPA/CPL, the ideas and possibilities seem endless for online advertising. I am sure that we are still at the tip of the iceburg with what we have seen so far. It will be very interesting to see what the next fifteen years will bring to online advertising. Leadpile will attempt to keep up with the innovative ideas of the online advertising world!

It is not a surprise to anyone in the online advertising business that the CTR (click through rate) of your campaign does not always determine how strong or well your campaign is doing. If you are like most people you will just ignore the banner ads, or even more the annoying pop up ads while you are serving the net. Maybe only clicking on one, by accident when you are trying to close out of the page, won’t hurt.
So why do advertisers even bother with display advertising? Even though CTR may not be the best way to measure your success rate (but sure seems to be one one of the easiest) it still drives traffic to the advertisers site. According to adage.com, “Consumers exposed to a display ad were 65% more likely to visit the advertiser’s site than users who never saw the ad.” Personally, I think that advertisers should be focusing more on conversions rather than CTR. Having a high CTR is great, but you need a low CPA (cost per action), and high ROI (return on investment) to maintain/increase revenue.
Even with display advertising becoming more advanced over the past few years with expandable, floaters, and even interstitial, it still does not seem to cut it. Display advertising is great if you are just trying to get your name out there, but if you are looking increase and revenue there are defiantly many other better options to look into.

We all have been saying this for a while…. how does Twitter make money????? Now it seems that we will all now know, because they are officially offering advertisement on their site. Companies of all natures have all been using Twitter as a way of communicating brief updates of what is going on with their world, however now Twitter can pocket some money from this sort of thing.
I have to say reading about Twitter incorporating advertisements on it’s site prompted me to go to the site to check it out. I am trying to now see what changed? Maybe I wasn’t going to the site enough before, but where are the advertisements? I was thinking I would see a bunch of ads etc on the sidebars of the site, yet I do not see any of that.

In a previous blog post, I discussed the FTC cracking down on those that were making “robocalls” to consumers. These were calls where a computerized message was placed to consumers about things such as car warranties. Well now it is official- The FTC (Fair Trade Commission) has enacted new rules forbidding the prerecorded commercial telemarketing calls to consumers without written permission from the consumer. These calls being eliminated has created a lot more buzz for internet generated leads, because now businesses need to get the most targeted people they can for their buck. A perfect example of this is the car warranty leads. The car warranty industry was very much involved in having these pre recorded calls placed to consumers to drum up business. Now that this is illegal, many advertisers are reaching out to companies like Leadpile for the targeted car warranty leads where the consumer physically opted in for information about a car warranty. Other verticals like debt and repairing your credit are services that were using robo type of calls and will be counting more on people like us to get these targeted consumers.
The ironic thing that just happened to me. I just received a robocall from a lender wanting to try and modify my home loan. Unfortunately, I tried to get a live person on the phone and was unsuccessful. I guess these new FTC rules didn’t scare everyone.

In the last few years many new ad networks or lead exchanges have surfaced. Many have survived and many have not. The need for networks and exchanges like Leadpile Lead Exchange came about because of the desire to connect multiple publishers with multiple advertisers to create simplicity for both parties. In addition to simplicity, is there any other reason that a publisher or advertiser should look at using a network versus one on on relationships?
1. As consumers get online more and more, publishers and advertisers need to figure out the best way to get the largest captive audience in once place. This is very difficult if you are trying to set up one on one relationships. Networks and exchanges allow this to be done without the hassle of developing one on one relationships.
2. There are cost benefits to the advertisers with working with network versus working directly with a publisher who usually has higher margins than the networks. This increase cost if passed on to the advertiser, whereas networks have higher volumes which allows there to be more of an ability to have lower margins.
3. The advertisers can capture all types of traffic sources in just a few networks versus trying to get a different publisher for each traffic source they are interested. For instance, to really diversify you want to utilize social networking, PPC and SEO, and SMS marketing.
4. Networks allow publishers an opportunity to sell their traffic/leads to various types of buyers/advertisers which allows them to diversify their ads to have everything funnel through one place, versus setting up one on one relationships with each advertiser.
5. Sophisticated networks/exchanges like Leadpile offer the technical capabilities for advertisers and publishers detailed reporting of the their campaigns. This creates simplicity for the publishers or advertiser with being able to have one place to track all their campaigns. This could be very large headache for someone to track each campaign they have one on one with.
Everyone in this industry has their own opinion on what is more effective: networks or one on relationships, however there just seems to be more benefits with working with an exchange or network versus trying to set up one on one relationships.

The days of newspaper and magazine advertising seems to be becoming more and more extinct as businesses turn to online direct response advertising. Online direct advertising incorporates lead generation, search and online directories into one category and then there is national and local digital media. Businesses seem to be turning more and more to generating clients through search and other more “targeted” media because of the better end result = more business. The costs to print newspapers and magazines has not become as profitable as in previous years because many are not turning to print to get their news, they are turning to a more instant “fix” like the internet. Knowing this, publishers and advertisers are also turning to the internet for customer’s attention. Lead generation companies, like Leadpile, have become more and more in demand as the cost to convert even things such as a television ad to a interested customer rise.
Biz report points out that, “Besides online search, the forecast predicts that online direct response marketing, a new category in 2009, will increase by 2.9%.” Other reports show that by 2014 this sort of advertising is set to increase by 10%. This is great news for lead generation companies and our search engines. However, the picture does not seem as good for national digital media (rich media, online video, email, display and mobile) which is set to decrease by 11%, and local digital media (ie: television, radio and newspapers) to decrease by 5%. The good news is the report also points out that both are set to rebound in future years.
My question is how are other advertising sources, besides online media, going to adapt to increase their revenue? This has to be something that is very challenging for many companies who have built empires by using these non-online media companies (ie- newspapers and magazines). I can’t imagine how people survived in earlier years without the internet, and the capabilities it has to reach so many people in such a little place (computer). This reminds me of growing up and parents stating they did not have televisions or things like calculators in their daily life. I could never understand how they survived, which I know now sounds silly. What will be the next innovative creation that will change our world???????? Who will discover it?

The term “couch potato” was coined because people sit and watch television for hours and hours at a time. However, with the rise of the internet and video sites like Hula, the question is what is going to happen to our nation’s cable/satellite companies…and couch potatoes?
Hula is a site that allows you to view any television show, but on the internet.  You can catch up on any of the missed television shows that you could dream of…. and for FREE! Therefore, if this becomes the newest craze (which it is on it’s way to do that), what will our cable companies do? They can’t compete with sites like HULU who offer “television” for free? HULU is funded by advertisers, so there is no cost passed on to the consumers. Internetnews.com points out a very interesting point that years and years ago this sort of experience happened to our nation’s newspapers. Now look at some of them… they are closing their doors.
Lead generation and affiliate marketing companies may find this to be something of a positive nature, however one company’s happiness is another company’s sadness. Leadpile likes the idea of Americans decending from being a couch potato to an internet junkie.
 
 

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!

The idea of a “lead exchange” or “lead generation” was not something everyone knew about in the internet world years ago. However, with consumers being online more AND advertisers wanting to get more qualified consumers, lead generation has become a very popular space to be in. The space has been getting more and more competition, and Leadpile is happy to say there have been record numbers that have joined our marketplace and helped to make this marketplace a HUGE success. One major factor in this success is knowing how to effectively match up the consumers with advertisers. According to a recent Leadpile Press Release, “Astoundingly, LeadPile’s MicroClick™ form had 2,628,345 impressions in the first quarter of 2009, or loaded approximately once every three seconds on the Internet.” Leadpile seemed to have found that way to be effective with both the publishers and advertisers, so the consumer wins in the end!
This is great news for our marketplace…
We look forward to the rest of 2009, and look for any feedback to help achieve GREAT success!

GREAT WORK TEAM!

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.

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!