Leadpile’s Blog

With all the fancy phones that we all have, there are challenges that have come up for the wireless carriers. Unlike the internet, wireless carries are concerned about regulations being implemented that would allow users to freely go to any and every website(s) on their phones. They see this as a real issue because there are designated wireless towers in specific areas that are providing the wireless service for those in the area. If wireless carries are not able to manage traffic that their users can utilize, then certain “internet surfing” is going to ultimately affect those around them. For instance, there are certain websites/applications that are considered bandwidth “hogs”. This is not necessarily an issue when on the internet, however certain sites/applications are affecting the service of those around you because of the “hogs”. For this reason, wireless companies are wanting the traffic to be managed so you can not access certain websites or applications, because they do not want the others to feel the affects from this “internet surfing”.
So what is the best way to resolve this sort of issue? Should there be regulations put on wireless customers on what websites or applications they utilize on their cell phones? My concern is this is only the beginning of what our cell phones and internet are going to be able to do, so isn’t there a way to maybe increase wireless towers around our country to overcome this potential issue? If we are facing issues with not enough bandwidth for everyone to go to any website or use any application they want, then isn’t it just a matter of adding more service?

Leadpile is looking for more publishers to drive traffic to our car warranty offer. With recent changes to the car warranty industry, many are turning to the internet for leads of people looking to purchase a car warranty/auto service plan/vehicle protection plan. Leadpile realizes this, and has created custom banners and a landing site for our publishers to utilize. If this is something that you would be interested in doing, let us know!

It looks like big brand names are maybe seeing that technology (the internet specifically) is where they need to look to to promote their products bigger and better. In recent years, luxury brands have not had to look at using the internet to generate business. They would do costly things like high end fashion magazine layouts or lavish displays at their stores. However, when times are tough (and you see a lot of traffic on your website) you brainstorm on ways you can generate business for the smallest cost. This is why many luxury brands are now looking at the internet as a way to generate more interest in their “brand”. Previously, businesses could solely depend on traditional sources of revenue, but never the internet. Adage.com reports that less than 33% of luxury companies were using the internet to generate business. I can not imagine this, but it seems it is in fact true. The future of the internet is really where it is at, yet some are just a little slower at seeing the “light” it seems. I guess better late than never!

We hear so much news about social networking sites and all the changes that are going on with them. However, I would have thought that reports would show internet users tend to use social networking sites more than content related sites. That does not seem to be the case. DMNews is reporting that users are actually spending almost twice as long on content websites versus the social networking sites. I found that very surprising. According to the reports, “Consumers spent an average of 6 hours, 58 minutes on content sites, while they spent about half of that time on community sites: 3 hours, 1 minute.
Consumers spent an average of 2 hours, 40 minutes a month on e-commerce sites; communications — e-mail and instant messaging — sites commanded 4 hours, 54 minutes; and search took up 57 minutes. Compared with 2008, time with content rose slightly, while communications, community and commerce slipped a small amount, and search jumped by a few minutes.
In terms of share of online time per category, people sent 42% of their time on content sites, down 2% compared with 2008. They spent 13% of their time on e-commerce sites, down 19% vs. 2008; and 13% of their time on community sites, up 63% compared with last year. Time spent on searches remained flat at 5%.””
So actually when looking at the numbers the community sites/social networking sites had increased which now really makes sense. In future years, this report I am guessing will continue to show a rise in the social networking sites year after year. I would also have guessed that e-commerce sites would have been higher because a lot of people purchase products online. Maybe because of the status of our nation’s economy has made an impact on the figures for that category? Either way, this is pretty interesting information for all of us that are looking to know where consumers are.

Two of the most popular search engines have both released a new and innovative way to look at your search results . Bing.com and Google.com just introduced “visual search”. Visual search is going to allow the users to select search images rather then typing in key words.
The visual search lets users sort through popular search categories by using pictures. Yet Google’s new Fast Flip will show thumbnails of pages when searching for news stories, instead of the short descriptions and headlines the company usually provides.
With this new and unique way of searching topics and articles it is sure to bring more web traffic to both of these sites. People are always looking to check out new ideas, and this is definitely a fun new way to utilize both Bing and Google!

Believe it or not there is a network out there promising if you pay, they can increase your Facebook friends. Does more friends really = something worth paying money for? With today’s use of social networking, I might have to say yes. According to Adage.com, as we all know Twitter and Facebook are effective marketing tools, so maybe the idea of companies really getting into this and helping others build their “friends” list, could be an effective idea. If “friends” = more money then this is certainly something I could see other marketing companies looking into doing. Nothing is free and who has time to try and generate 5000 new friends like this company says they can help you do? Great idea.. hope it works out for this company! At the present time, Leadpile will continue to build our “friends” list and Twitter “followers” little by little.

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.

Leadpile has rolled out a new offer for the payday loan lead type, and we are looking for more traffic!
We are looking for traffic to Green-paydayloan.com through PPC, email marketing, banner or social networking. The top payout is currently at $73.60. If you are a Leadpile publisher and looking to drive traffic to the offer, you can locate the text link in your seller account under the “offers” tab. If by chance Leadpile is not already working with you, we would like to see you join our marketplace and generate payday loan leads as a Leadpile seller/publisher!
As we all know, a lot of consumers are looking for help in their temporary setbacks, so a payday loan is a lot of the time that in-between money that is going to help them in their current situation.

Lately it seems to be a dog-eat-dog world with all our search engines trying to get the biggest piece of the search engine “puzzle”. Yesterday I spoke about search engines and the need to bring new things to the table in order to stay competitive with other search engines. Ask.com is one of those search engines that is offering a unique service that other search engines are not offering. For instance, Ask.com is great for longer questions you want answered versus entering them in a standard Google search, and having to filter through all the results. Comscore reports that Ask.com’s ranking rose from 10th place to now 6th place, compared to other properties such as eBay and Facebook (in May based on unique users). This explains why a lot of Leadpile publishers are using this search engine to generate traffic to their payday loan, debt, auto finance, online education and other websites. Just like search engines trying to do something different to attract users, affiliate marketing and lead generators have to think of unique ways to generate traffic to their properties. Ask.com seems to be a good option to consider. It appears that others think so too, and that’s why their rankings seem to be headed in the right direction. Another GREAT alternative to the Google BEAST!

Can business be TOO good for AT&T right now?  The exclusive deal AT&T has with Apple for its iPhone customers has brought many new consumers.  These customers now account for 7.5% of the AT&T subscriber base.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that these consumers use two to four times the data of other smart phone users, but are being charged the same ($30.00 monthly) as other users.  AT&T is in a difficult position, because they obviously want to hold onto as many customers as possible, but they need to add bandwidth to handle the added traffic.  Raising prices or limiting plans to the consumer does not seem an option, so the cost will be AT&T’s burden.  AT&T has some difficult decisions ahead, and the ending of their exclusive arrangement with Apple does not make things easier.

UPDATE:

AT&T angered more people this week when they announced that they would restrict the new SlingPlayer Mobile iPhone application to operating only on Wi-Fi.  The company said the app would take up too much bandwidth, but critics believe that restricting the app to Wi-Fi effectively diminishes the advantages and content of the application.  More challenges for AT&T brought on by the popularity of the iPhone and its applications.

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!

Craigslist took over the top spot for the most searched term that Internet users clicked through to in the United States, during the week ending March 14. Myspace had held the top spot as the most popular term since March 2006.    According to Hitwise, “U.S. searches on the term “craigslist” have increased 105 percent for the week ending March 14, 2009, compared with the same week last year.”  Why is this?  Could this increase in searching “craigslist” be a result of the economic position many consumers are in?  Either way, this is positive for Craigslist!  

So, who will be the next king of the hill?

Publishers in The Leadpile Lead Exchange certainly look at Craigslist as a place to promote their websites and the Leadpile offers. Those that are not, should maybe look into this site as a potential source of traffic.