As the end of December comes around and the beginning of January nears, people in general start re-evaluating their budget.  A popular new years resolution is “saving money”.  So if this is a common goal why is it so hard to accomplish?

Due to the economic recession many households are making less then before, making it hard to bank extra money.  We also live in a society that thrives on promoting or advertising what you must have!  The line between need and want often become crossed and we end up overspending for the month.

So how can we save?  The answer lies in each one of us.   We don’t have to strive for the moon – to overshoot and miss all together.  If we take baby steps we can be successful, and if one month you fall down, don’t let it stop you!  Get up and start over again.  Here are a few money saving tips that can help you get started:

1. Set up a separate savings account and actually use it to save money.
2. Split your direct deposit so that $25.00 out of each paycheck goes into your savings account.  (out of sight out of mind)
3. Save any change that you receive after making a cash purchase. (you will be surprised how fast this adds up)
4. Plan a monthly budget, start with you needs first i.e. Rent/mortgage, electricity, car payments etc. and then budget in an allotted dollar amount for wants and stick to it.
5. Write out your grocery list before you go shopping and only get what is on the list

If you start implementing even a couple of these suggestion you will be surprised by what you can save!

Happy Savings!

When you hear the words “Payday Loan” what comes to your mind?

1. Do you think of an industry out there taking advantage of consumers?
2. Or, do you think about an industry providing people with relief and peace of mind during this financial crisis?

Most people would say answer a.  But is that true or do we need to educate ourselves regarding this part of the financial industry?  Who are the people that need these payday loans and do they have other options?

According to www.census.gov the official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent, which was up from 14.3 percent in 2009.  In 2010, 46.2 million people were in poverty, which was up from 43.6 million in 2009.

Those are staggering numbers.  People are having a hard time making ends meet. From 2009 to 2010 an additional 2.6 million people were at poverty level.  Where did they come from?  Middle Class families?  Low Income families?   Who is out there helping them get back on their feet?  The banks?  With the foreclosures on homes, the increased account fees, overdraft fees and high credit guidelines… what do you think?

What sort of monthly expenses do all of us face? Rent/Mortgage, utility bills, insurance, car payment, food allowance just to name a few.  If you are running out of money at the end of the month what would you sacrifice?  Your electric bill?  Your rent?  Your car loan?  Or just overdraft your bank account?  All of those choices involve late fees or overdraft fees and may incur being harassed by credit agencies or having your electricity turned off, being kicked out of your home or having your vehicle repossessed.  None of those sound like viable solutions to me.

According to www.wikipedia.org the definition for a payday loan is “a small, short-term loan that is intended to cover a borrower’s expenses until his or her next payday.”   That is truly what a payday loan is there for.  Many times you will hear payday opponents talk about high interest fees, but when you research these fees in comparison to bank charges and late fees of missing necessary payments and/or possible repossessions/foreclosures/losing electricity, going hungry etc. – which sounds better to you?

So before we judge the financial institutions giving payday loans or the people receiving such loans – let’s make sure that we look at the situation from all angles, and form an educated decision.

Google has come out with their own electronic store and it will be giving Amazon some solid competition. Google has scanned about 15 million books they will be using for their store with 4,000 publishers giving them permission to use their books. 52% of the listed sales price will go to the publisher, regardless of Google mark-downs. The Google store will offer consumers electronic books that can be read on almost any machine, except on Kindle. The alternative to Amazon also claims to have one of the most expansive selections because of their various publishers onboard. With E-Books predicted to hit $1 billion in sales by the end of the year, this gives consumers another option.

According to a Forrester study, sales for E-Books are predicted to reach around $1 billion by the end of this year. It is also thought that by the end of 2015 the demand for them will triple. Although only 7 percent of adults are currently using E-Books, these consumers are the ones who typically read the most and therefore buy the most books or spend the most on them.

E-Books offer a great alternative for those who want to get a book online with out having to go to stores like Barnes and Noble or Borders.  These predictions also say the industry will be changed forever as more people will most likely continue to get Kindle or other e-reader products.

Generation Y adults are making it more difficult for the auto world by not having such a large dependence on cars. Todays generation is more likely to buy items such as software, computers, smart phones, or music. Motorists from the ages of 21-30 make a up market of about 80 million people.
Although sales are not expected to decrease, they will not likely be as high as the baby boomers generation who make more multiple car purchases and view cars as a status object. Instead, they are looking for cars that are more affordable and simplistic.

The generation Yers tend to see cars as an environmental threat. Even with the new Hybrid and electric cars, many still view autos as being a polluter. Auto manufacturers and dealers alike are scrambling to find a way to appeal to this generation as the baby boomer’s generation turns 65 next year and won’t be their largest consumer base any longer.

Leadpile works closely with auto finance leads and still has a large demand that tell us people are still interested in purchasing vehicles. Todays consumers might be looking for different types of vehicles,but they are still looking nonetheless.

Q2 2010 North America Email Trends are in! Results show email open rates remaining steady while clickthroughs declined.
This analysis is comprised from 5.6 billion sent emails by Epsilon in April through June of 2010.

Here are some quick stats:

- Open rates increased 18% from the same time 2 years earlier
- Click rates (5.3%) decreased 5.9%
- Average volume per consumer is up 10.5%
- The non-bounce rate slightly increased from 94.1% to 94.8%

Mailers need to practice creating relevant email messages to their consumers, also cutting back on image heavy email and using text based email has shown higher clichthrough rates due to many email platforms blocking images within emails.

Feel free to share your email tips and tricks!

Although there has been some controversy over the new iphone, Apple isn’t going to stop pushing out their products. Apple has new merchandise to offer their users, and many are already excited about the new options.
Starting at $69.00, Apple users will be able to purchase a trackpad that is designed to give the MacBook Pro touchpad experience. Also coming out next month is the new Apple Mac Pros desktop with quad-core and 6-core intel Xeon processors. These desktops will be selling a $2,499. The new iMac is going to be available starting at $1,999. Another product that will be available to consumers from Apple is a 27″ LED cinema display screen for $999 that is compatible with other Apple products. Many businesses such as Leadpile use Apple products and are anxious to continue use of the brand.

Consumer’s fear of sharing personal information is on the rise. Sites selling consumer’s data to irrelevant advertisers who in turn spam or misuse the data often fuel this fear. The TRUSTs seal has become a well-known symbol of verification over the past decade.

Dealix, an auto lead generation site conducted a 90 day test using the seal and saw a 7 percent increase in conversions. Placing the seal at the front end of your funnel helps ensure consumers their data is being protected, especially when a credit card or social security number is required.

TRUSTe requires sites that utilize the seal to have links to their privacy policy and seed TRUSTe to ensure the consumers data is not being mistreated.

It will be interesting to see if the TRUSTe seal is the next trend in the online lead generation space.

For the first time, electronic books for Amazon’s Kindle has outnumbers sales for hardcover books consecutively for the past 3 months. The Kindle which has been on the market for 33 months has been selling an average of 143 ebooks for every 100 hardcover books. This number recently jumped to 180 ebooks for every 100 hardcover books sold on Amazon.com.

Consumers who do not own a Kindle can enjoy Kindle books on many other devices such as laptops, ipohnes, ipads, Blackberries and Android phones.

This study does not include paperback book sales but it’s amazing how technology plays such a large role in such a simple pleasure.

According to recent articles, the amount of money being spent on paid internet searches (such asPPC) has notably risen. Between 2008-2009 there was a 14% rise. Many believe the increase in paid searches can be due to the retail industry being down, leaving more opportunity for non-retail related businesses and consumers to make purchases on the  internet. Search engine sites, such as Bing, are up an impressive 26%, with Google up 15.9% for paid searches.

Paid searches on the internet continue to grow strong and prove to be beneficial to websites on the internet. Leadpile works with PPC publishers to help maximize a site’s potential and bring in consumers who are looking for a service.

A new bill to be passed that would affect what information needs to be disclosed in both online and offline companies privacy policies.

According to The New York Times the proposed bill would expand what information should be considered confidential. Such information would expand to include, health or financial data, a users race or sexual orientation, the users precise location and any unique customer identification number. This bill could also include the users IP address.

Online and off-line companies would have to disclose a description of the information being collected and how it is being used in their privacy policies

Representatives Rick Boucher, Democrat of Virginia and Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida released the draft legislation on Tuesday May 4, 2010. Both parties will collect comments on the draft in hopes to have a formal legislation completed within a month or so.

Consumer groups have been fighting targeted advertisements, which could be based on the internets users actions. Google and Yahoo have already adjusted their own privacy policies around this concern.

This “would be the first law that applies generally to businesses requiring privacy notice, particularly in the offline space” said Lisa J. Sotto, a partner at Hunton & Williams.

The last time I checked, everyone was still saying that we were still in a recessions. So why has there been a increase in smartphone sales and a huge push for big screen TV’s? Frankly, just because people want them. It is true that many consumers have been cutting corners here and there, but it is where they are cutting that is showing changes.
Most people find it very easy to switch from a name brand food to the store brand, or maybe hold off on that new pair of shoes that you have been eyeing in the store window. However, when it comes to electronics, it seems that consumers just don’t want to cut back. They buy the newest smartphone or upgrade to the new version without even thinking twice. This has been great for the technology companies seeing an increase in their sales even in the tough economy.
A lot of consumers are finding themselves trying to rationalize their electronic purchases. They upgrade to a large HD flat screen TV saying that they will stay in more and watch a movie, rather than going out to a movie. Even just switching from a regular DVD player to a Blu-ray player is something consumers are not thinking twice about. The next big electronic buzz you are going to hear about….3D TV. It really was only a matter of time before something like this was going to hit the shelves. 3D televisions are set to hit the shelves in most stores mid 2010, and experts are estimating there potentially to be 4 million sold this year.
The real question is if this is all really necessary? Smartphone are great. We use them at LeadPile all the time to get back to our clients when we are on the run, but a 3D television set? Really? I have a feeling they are not going to be as awesome as everyone thinks. What do you think?