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!

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!

In recent conversations with many of my affiliates, the conversations about the economy and the housing market have been very popular. The housing market as we all know has impacted those around us in a very dramatic way. There are short sales, foreclosures, and home sale conversations going on with those on the internet, and with those in our every day lives. If you are one that is in the market to buy a house, this is certainly the time to do that. However, knowing what a short sale , foreclosure and FSBO (for sale by owner) are is very important. To help with finding homes to purchase AND becoming educated on these terms, there is a list of websites that Hitwise.com considers the highest ranked real estate websites ending the week of 3/21/2009:

1. Realtor.com
2. Yahoo! Real Estate
3. Zillow
4. ZipRealty
5. RE/MAX Real Estate
6. US Department of Housing and Urban Development
7. Rent.com
8. Homegain
9. Trulia.com
10. ServiceMagic
11. Homes.com
12. Apartments.com
13. Century 21 Real Estate
14. Foreclosure Store
15. Foreclosure.com
16. Reply!
17. RealtyTrac
18. Coldwell Banker Real Estate
19. RealEstate.com
20. MyNewPlace

Leadpile Lead Exchange is always looking for new partnerships with websites such as these, and any other websites that are looking to be monetized. However, we are also looking for those sites that are great resources for consumers to learn information from, such as the ones listed above. Being educated on a large transaction, such as buying a home, is key to making that transaction that much more successful. These listed websites can certainly help with accomplishing that, so you might want to take a look!

Over the counter drug companies (OTC) are big at advertising on television during our favorite shows. OTC drugs are medicines such as the allergy, cold/flu and headache medicines we purchase from our local grocery stores. However, advertising budgets are getting smaller, and companies are looking at using these advertising dollars in a more viable sort of way— online.  According to DMNEWS, advertisers are looking at using more online advertising because it is a way to measure their ROI (return on investment) much easier.  Online marketing allows companies to grow a database and track their data. “I think that the trend towards online marketing is continuing because it’s easier to target a specific market for a product,” says Larry Mickelberg, EVP of strategy and new busi­ness at Digitas Health.”

Companies can use the information from the consumers, that are opting in for information, for future offers that allows them to monetize the data again.  These OTC companies are only looking to do opt in advertising online, because not being able to use the consumers data AGAIN does reduce the company’s ROI.  Online lead generation seems to be the way to go with a lot of these companies that have not necessarily looked at it as a viable option.  Leadpile Lead Exchange understands that companies that are not necessarily doing online lead generation, might want to take a look at it.  It is a great way to increase your ROI.

Much has been written and spoken about Twitter recently.  Some people love it, and others view it as a waste of time.  Also, the lack of a business model that produces revenue has been discussed.  Does Twitter act like email, search, and/or social networking?  The answers currently appear to be no, no, and yes.

This week, the people at Hitwise came out with some research on where people are going after visiting Twitter.  Indications are that Twitter is acting more like social networking than search or email.  Two out of five visitors are visiting social networks or entertainment sites after visiting Twitter.

At this point, very little Twitter traffic is visiting retail sites (search activity) nor is the traffic visiting finance, business or dating sites (email activity).  It appears to be more about social networking and distributing content, especially photo-sharing, than on selling products or services.

Things are sure to change rapidly, but it appears that the monetization of Twitter and its growing traffic is a work in progress.  This potentially huge opportunity is still there for the taking.

It’s a sad day in one of America’s great cities, and for one of the that city’s oldest businesses.  What can be said when a business that is almost 150 years old has closed its doors?  The last edition of the Rocky Mountain News was published this morning.  Yesterday, the owners announced there would be only one more edition of the paper.  It was not a total surprise, as the paper was recently for sale, but shock and sadness was felt in the newsroom, and throughout greater Denver.

There is little blame to be passed around, as the business model of daily newspapers has abruptly changed for the worse.  The poor economy has drastically affected display advertising, and classified advertising has either moved online or been drastically reduced.  The newspaper industry could perhaps overcome the loss of one revenue stream, but they cannot handle the loss or reduction of two revenue streams.  Heck, their third revenue stream (subscriptions) is also down.

Sadly, there are only about ten cities that still have two daily general interest newspapers.  A community is always served better by two voices rather than one.  More newspapers will surely close and some are looking again at charging for online content. (An experiment that hasn’t work for most papers)  If it’s not too late, perhaps some papers can figure out a way to monetize their websites.  (Please contact our V.P. of Marketing, Eugen Ilie, if assistance is needed.)

Tomorrow morning will be sad, and very different for many in Colorado.  Change is usually good, but when it is quickly forced on you, it can be unsettling.  Enjoy that cup of the coffee, and for many, the “Rocky” will be missed, but not forgotten.