New year, new reviews and your team expect a feedback and more money. You definitely want to incentivize the good performers to go further in their career and work harder in 2011. The ones you are promoting inside your organization or in the affiliate team tells a lot about your core culture. Look at different aspects of their performance and relationships within the organization – teamwork, performance, focus on the goals and revenue generated. The way we promote our affiliate managers, or any employee in your organization, will send signals to the entire company.

Will your site survive Google Instant Previews? I’m sure many publisher sites out there are full of rich content for SEO, banners to bring in extra revenue, Opt-in links here, contact us links there… Now Google users have the ability to see a small snapshot preview of your site before actually clicking through. So all of these “extras” could actually be hurting your chances of getting customers to land on your site and actually convert. Design is now number 1, your site better be clean and to the point. Clear out some of the banner ads, clean up your font and color choices to make your site cohesive. Have a catchy headline since this is about all your customers will be able to read from the snapshot.

Go check out your site today using Google Instant Preview and ask yourself if you would click through based on your snapshot!

Many think of the new year as a time to start fresh and put the past behind you. This way of thinking may work in some circumstances, but in real life issues that is not always the case. Why you ask? Right when Americans think that the economy has hit rock bottom, it seems as if trends are going to dip down even further into quarter one of 2010. Homes are still expected to foreclose, banks are still going to hesitant about lending, and bailouts have still not personally touched consumers. With America still being on the downtrend, it is not a surprising that many consumers are still saving and spending less (either by choice or necessity).
It seems as if consumers are no longer embarassed, or think they are too good for using coupons, considering the redemption rate of manufacturer coupons were up 26% in the first three quarters of 2009. That is one of the many methods that consumers are utilizing to save a little money, along with not buying as many non-food items, going out for meals, and buying store brand products. Also, consumers have made changes like eating more chicken than beef because it tends to be less expensive.
With all consumer price cutting and shoppers being more aware of their purchases, are there any companies on the rise? Of course there are! As stated above, store brands are bringing in more revenue and are making sure that their shelves are stocked with their items. In some cases a store band product may be several dollars less expensive. Other types of companies that are doing well right now are the super stores (Costco, Sam’s Club, BJ’s, ect), dollar stores, and some online retailers.
Even though there are a lot of companies still in a down turn, it is nice to see that other companies and brands that may not be as popular, are now having THEIR time to shine.

The holidays are the busiest time of the year for stores to bring in revenue. They will pretty much do whatever they can to bring customers to the store and make them buy their merchandise. But what is the one area where their focus isn’t? Customer Service. According to Brandweek.com, customer service among retail stores only scored a 48.2 out of 100. It seems that many stores are not going out of their way to try and help people or when they are helping someone, more time than not, they do not have an answer/will no try to find the answer for the consumer.
Customer service can really make or break the decision of where a consumer buys their product from. Just the other weekend I was at The Home Depot in the gardening section looking for lawn care help and the sales associate was useless in helping me find what I needed (however, the people in the hardware department couldn’t have been more helpful!). I ended up leaving without what I was looking for. You may think that is just one sale lost, but think about the many consumers this may have happened to among all their stores. That could be a substantial unneeded profit loss.
Customer service should be a large focus not just around the holidays, but all year round. With marketing budgets being cut with many companies, sometimes a knowledgeable and friendly work force will keep the customers coming back. I know that there are some places that I will not go back to because of the service that I received.
At LeadPile we always provide top notch service to all of our customers. It not only keeps the customers coming back, but keeps them happy knowing that they are getting the service that they need and deserve. The question is……. What are YOU doing to better YOUR customer service?

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…..

I don’t think there is a day that goes by where something about Twitter is not being talked about. That’s great for them, but what is it really bringing them as far as money in their pockets? It seems they are still working on long term initiatives that would help them make money off it’s popularity. However, for now they are continuing to come up with ideas that will help the current users make money. In the next few days, they will be rolling out the first phase of educational information for businesses on how they can effectively use Twitter to generate revenue for their own company (big and small). Twitter will continue to roll out educational information so they can help their users become more Twitter savvy with Tweeting. They see their site as a great tool for businesses to use to help generate revenue. Does this mean if they are going to help educate businesses on how to make money, then they must have something planned for themselves on how THEY are going to make money? I hope so!
Twitter is looking to be looked at more like a communication network, versus a social network. They have forecasted that they will have revenues of around 4 billion for the 4th quarter, but I am not sure how they will achieve that with the way the site is currently. Maybe they have something “big” up their sleeves????? Leadpile Lead Exchange uses Twitter on a limited basis, however maybe with some new tools available we could look at using it even more! Are other lead generation companies using Twitter to generate leads? I would be curious to see how affiliate marketers and other lead generation companies are utilizing this “communication network” to help their business?

Curious, what’s the next category LeadPile is looking at generating?  Well, folks here you have it!  Tax Debt Leads.  Very popular, and the demand is off the charts.  

The definition of this lead type is clearly back taxes. Consumers that did not file or owe a lot of many preferably in Federal taxes.  Why, the sudden demand?  For years, we have encounter consumers finding themselves in financial trouble, but the economy now is focused on people not paying taxes.  Believe me thousands of consumers owe money to the Federal system.

The downfall for thousands of people is that when you owe money to the Feds, the Federal government has the ability to start garnishment from your revenue or put liens on your property.  Not an experience you would like to encouter.  You will also be penalized and depending on the time frame owed or amount owed it can become a serious headache to deal with them, as you will be fined and some people even experience time in jail. OUCH!

LeadPile Lead Exchange will be introducing Tax Debt Lead.  We will connect the consumer that are in serious tax debt and need assistance talking to a specialist that can assist them.  Stay tune for a more firm ETA!

The airline industry is officially getting a piece of the pie…. the “internet” pie that is. According to the Associated Press today, American Airlines is officially adding internet access to in-flight services it provides. The company that is going to get a piece of this “internet” pie is a company called Aircell LLC.
In a time when you pay for water, soda and everything in between, now you have the ability to purchase internet access for a nominal fee of $12.95. For those that are addicted to the internet, and can not stand the idea of being in flight with no internet, now have their wishes coming true. Having the ability to work while you fly is now becoming a reality for those that are willing to pay for the service. Does this mean new in-flight etiquette will be compromised by those that will be trying to access the internet? Will there be some inappropriate internet website viewing for the passenger in the next seat?
There is a side of this that is kind of crazy in a sense that people can not live without the internet. We have internet access at home, cars, on the go (on our cell phones), and now when we fly. Other Airlines will soon follow in this new service being provided to it’s passengers, however what or where else are we missing that the internet has not become a part of?
Leadpile Lead Exchange would love to have a piece of the pie with being able to have leads generated, even while consumers are in the clouds flying from destination to destination.