Leadpile’s Blog

Internetnews.com is reporting something “new” with the mega social networking site Twitter. According to the website, “Twitter brass confirmed that it’s signed a deal with TV producer Reveille — which has produced hits like “The Office” and “Ugly Betty” — and with Brillstein Entertainment, a talent agency that also has production credits under its belt that include ”The Sopranos” and ”NewsRadio”. ” This potential show would be something where they are putting ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format.” The idea of this sort of show does not seem to be exciting to the biggest “tweeter” of all: Ashton Kutcher. Leadpile loves Twitter, but is this all a little bit of a stretch for a story line? I do have to say, Twitter is remaining more than just a “phase”! STAY TUNED.

Are you ever watching your favorite television show and some sort of advertisement comes on that really you have no interest in? I know I know a lot of us don’t really care for advertisements at all, but what if the ads that are on your t.v. are things you are potentially interested in? How about if you’re watching a show like Home Shopping Network, and you can then use your remote control, push a few buttons, and charge a purchase from your television? How about voting for your favorite reality show contestant without using your phone?
All these are things that our televisions are going to be soon allowing us to do in addition to relevant commercials. NPRNews points out, “Consumer advocates worry about marketers compromising our privacy by rummaging through our viewing habits and getting us to trade personal information for coupons.” Potentially these marketing companies will know everything you have purchased, however they will not know detail information such as your name. Is this sort of thing crossing the line on your personal t.v time? This sort of thing is already happening with the internet (behavioral targeting) and websites you are visiting (cookies), so why not with your television too? Leadpile Lead Exchange does not use cookies with our lead generation, however many affiliate marketing networks do.

Craigslist has been feeling some heat lately because of it’s “erotic services” section on it’s site. However, according to consumeraffairs.com, “Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster has fired back at South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster, who has been threatening to prosecute Buckmaster on criminal charges of soliciting prostitution. In an unusual turnabout, Buckmaster has filed suit against McMaster, seeking an injunction that would bar him from filing charges.” It seems other states besides South Carolina are raising suits against the site’s owner, yet Buckmaster feels he and his site is protected under the First Amendment and, more specifically, by the Communications Decency Act, enacted by Congress in 1996 to protect Web sites, telecommunications providers and other interactive media. Does Craigslist and other social networking sites have the right to have these “services” promoted on their sites, or is there a difference between “allowing” it and “promoting” it? We will all see how this case pans out, and it is probably going to set some precedence for future cases involving the internet.

Update: Carigslist has removed it’s “erotic services” section of the site, and replaced it with “adult services”.

We all now what the auto makers have been struggling with. Most recently Chrysler filed bankruptcy, and now it appears GM might be following suit. It seems GM is trying to do a quick sale of its “healthy” assets.
The remaining assets of GM would stay in bankruptcy protection to satisfy other outstanding claims. GM has about $6 billion in secured debt, including secured revolving credit and bank debt.
The ownership structure of the company is still being worked out. In addition, the government would extend a credit line to the new company, and potentially forgive a large amount of the $15.4 billion in emergency loans that GM already received. The government has given GM until June 1 to restructure it’s operations to lower it’s debt and employee costs.
Leadpile Lead Exchange is very much concerned about the future of the auto industry. We hope this struggling industry sees the light at the end of the tunnel!

Due to ongoing payday lending regulations, many states are closing up their store front properties. Ohio has implemented recent payday lending regulations and more than a third of the stores have closed up. Cincinnati.com points out, “Payday lenders operated roughly 1,600 retail locations across Ohio before voters approved new restrictions. Now, payday lenders run just 960 storefronts.” Unfortunately, this sort of scenario is happening with a lot of the other states across the country. Will these companies with a brick and mortar presence simply resort to just the online lending route? For some, the convenience of walking in a cash advance store is easier because maybe the inability to get access to a computer.
This also opens up even more questions about what will payday lenders look to do in the future with continuous payday regulations coming up in the various states? “Installment loans” seems to be what payday lenders are going to be able to provide to consumers to help them with their need for additional money. These short term, non securitized loans will allow consumers with the much needed cash, but with a slightly longer period of time to pay back the loan. Hopefully this new venture will then allow our payday lenders to keep some of their brick and mortar stores open, to still be able to provide the much needed loans, even in payday “excluded” states? We hope so!
This leads to potentially some great opportunity with the online lead generators such as Leadpile Lead Exchange. The bottom line is people need quick fast cash, and sometimes it is more convenient to go in a payday loan store, but then for some it is easier to apply online for a loan. Payday loan lead generation is a very popular vertical for affiliate marketers and other online marketing individuals to get into. However, following the proper procedure and making sure the user experience is truly safe and positive is the key.

Leadpile Lead Exchange is committed to giving back to the community. Each month we have a designated charity that we extend a helpful hand to. Some of the things that we contributed to during this month were:

Classroom Project: “TIME to Learn About the World Around Us” – Contributing to this project allows us to give in the purchasing of a subscription to TIME for Kids. This magazine subscription would allow students to learn what is going on in the world around them, in a manner that they understand. This magazine promotes reading and learning in a “kid” friendly format.

Classroom Project: “Teaching Technology With Technology” – Contributing to this project will help in the purchase of an LCD projector that this particular school really needs. The LCD projector is very important in a sense it helps allow students to follow along visually while learning computer skills.

Classroom Project: “Producing Quality Art with a Purpose” – Contributing to this project will help with the purchase of a high quality camera for the graphic design program. This sort of camera is very important for the program so the students can take high quality pictures for the advertising projects.

We were able to help with these children’s projects this month through the website DonorsChoose.org. Donors Choose allows companies like Leadpile to be matched up with schools that are in need of supplies and materials.

In recent news, Google announced some changes with it’s Adwords trademark policy. The new policy will now allow advertisers to utilize trademarked names in their text ads, even if the trademark does belong to someone else. Previously, advertisers could only use generic terms, however with this change advertisers can utilize brand names. There seems to still be some restrictions that Google outlines in their trademark policy. With these changes, Google is now in line with Yahoo and Microsoft, who had already made these changes. This loosened trademark policy is now more in line with standard practices in the offline world.
These new changes to Adwords certainly is something our Leadpile publishers will want to pay attention to.

Has your cell phone or your landline rang many times in recent months, with you only to answer and there is a computerized extended car warranty recording?  I know I experienced this call many times to the point of annoyance.  Well, it appears that there are many other people, 4,000+ complaints to be exact according to DMNews, and now it seems the FTC (Fair Trade Commission) is involved.
There are potentially a lot of issues here with what this company is doing. First, there is the violation of the Do Not Call List and also potentially offering a phony product. The FTC is actively working on stopping this illegal marketing while the court case proceeds.
Working with all sorts of marketing methods, Leadpile Lead Exchange is very much concerned about who it works with and what those partners are doing to generate leads. We would certainly never condone this sort of illegal method of generating traffic/leads. With all these new technological ways to do marketing, the FTC is probably going to have it’s hands full in the years to come. Use the phone as a potential source of generating business, HOWEVER do it the legal way!

It seems Google is trying to make life a little easier for those utilizing their search engine. According to BizReport.com, “New search technology was showcased by Google at the latest Searchology event. One of the products, Rich Snippets, aims to prevent searchers clicking through multiple sites before finding exactly what they want. Google has researched the product with consumers and concluded that it would be useful.” Website owns might think that this is going to affect their visitor count, however Google explains that this new technology will allow the website owners to provide a brief summary in their “snippet” listing that will be more informative at a quick glance. This will then potentially provide even a more targeted customer to their website, because they have already read the detailed listing while doing their search. A more targeted customer to the website will potentially = more conversions/sales.
Once again, Google managing to strive to do better AND better! Heck if you dominate the world like they do, there is nothing else to do but to continue to try and improve your current product(s).  I look forward to seeing this roll out, to then see how helpful it makes searching for my favorite topic.  Great work!

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.
 
 

Google dominates the search world, however others still want to play in the game.  Yahoo seems to have proven that by rolling out the upgraded version of their web analytics tool.  DMNews points out that Google may dominate the “game”, however Yahoo gets the “most improved” award.

Being successful with your online marketing campaigns you must be able to understand details such as demographics of your visitors. If you are reviewing a report and not fully understanding what you are reading, then that reporting lost it’s purpose. Yahoo seemed to understand that and now has updated their web analytics so it is not only good at providing a lot of data, but good at clearly analyzing that data so the average person can understand it. For instance, a successful lead generation campaign with one of Leadpile’s publishers will not work if they don’t understand what they are reading in the reporting. However, if they do understand what they are reading, that PPC campaign will be that much more successful for ALL parties involved. Great job Yahoo!

Paydaypundit.org pointed out VA is the next state to experience some payday loan criticism. It seems some politicians are trying to eliminate the short term loans, yet ignoring consumer needs to obtain money in this tight economy.  Many who do not oppose the short term loans, believe eliminating payday loans only forces consumer to resort to the more expensive methods of obtaining money.

Payday loans are certainly everyone has their opinion about, however don’t we think that the decision should be left up to the consumer and not the government. Leadpile wonders what would consumers do if they did not have this as an option in tough times.