Happy Belated Birthday To Us
February 27th, 2009
NETexponent was started in January of 2001 by myself and Chris Kramer which means we just turned 8 years old!
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in our work that we forget to stop and celebrate our wins. Today we are taking a short break and celebrating as a team with a company lunch. Nothing extravagant (gotta watch that budget) but a good chance to sit down with our NETexponent family and celebrate.
It is also a good time to thank all those who have helped us over the years. We have had the pleasure of working with amazing clients, partners, and staff. Chris and I would like to offer our deepest thanks to each and every one of you.
“Thank You All”
* I will be uploading some old photos to our Facebook Fan Page so stop by and check em out for a chuckle.
Posted in Meet Us, NETexponent Fun by Peter Figueredo | | 1 Comments
Affiliate Tax Goes Coast To Coast
February 26th, 2009
It looks like California may be adopting a tax on affiliate sales similar to the one approved in New York. California tax law can still be fought so if you work in affiliate marketing and live in California please contact your congressman/congresswoman immediately.
Unless these laws can be stopped it is only a matter of time before all states enact similar taxes. Millions of dollars in additional state revenue (California is hoping for $55million) is way too tempting not to try.
Posted in Affiliate Marketing by Peter Figueredo | | 0 Comments
Amazon Kindle 2 – First Impressions
February 25th, 2009
What does the Amazon Kindle 2 have to do with search and affiliate marketing you might ask? Well I will tell you…
A. NETexponent manages paid search and affiliate marketing programs for leading companies in the audio book and ebook markets. Kindle is an ebook reader and can play audio books. I strongly believe that we cannot effectively market our clients products and services unless we fully understand their market. Kindle has small market share but plenty of buzz and opportunity for fast growth.
B. Kindle has Wispernet, Amazons 3G wireless network that allows Kindle users to connect to Amazon anywhere they go. This technology is a new way for users to shop and the fact that Amazon provides it for free is very interesting. Could this be used for email? web browsing? general e-commerce?
C. Kindle users can read books, blogs, newspapers, and listen to audio books. Ads are stripped out of blogs and newspapers but they could come back and i wanted to see what the experience was like.
D. Finally, I just plain love gadgets and new tech
So…Here are my first impressions
Pre-Kindle 2
I did not own a Kindle 1 so I am not sure how Amazon handled the launch of that product. The first thing Amazon did really well was send an email to me a few days before my Kindle shipped welcoming me to the Kindle family and telling me to get ready for my new Kindle’s arrival by building my library at Amazon.com. It was a nice email, not salesy.
Arrival
My Kindle 2 shipped early and arrived via 2-day shipping when I only ordered via regular 5-day. All in all I got my Kindle 8 days early! Great management of expectations here. Amazon clearly under promised and over delivered. (this is a trick well known to Dell and Zappos customers)
My First Time
The Kindle came pre-charged so I didnt need to wait a while to charge it. (nothing worse than getting a new toy and having to wait to use it) There is NO set-up necessary. Amazon pre-programmed my Kindle with the email and one click account settings associated with the account I used to make the purchase originally. Brilliant! The Wispernet (wireless 3G) service was already enabled and connected out of the box. Pre-loaded on the Kindle was instructions (no need to waste paper on these) and a nice welcome note from belly laughing Bezos
The screen resolution is very clear and it reminded me of an old black and white palm pilot. Nothing sexy about the resolution but it is easy on the eyes so reading long hours would not be an issue. The Kindle itself is really small…it is actually THINNER THAN MY IPHONE. The dimensions are about 1.75 IPhones long and 1.2 IPhones wide.
I quickly figured out how to download a book and bought an issue of The Financial Times, another great NETexponent client. (we love supporting our clients) The purchase only took a few seconds and the download only a few more. I had my first Kindle purchase all set in less than a minute. This speaks volumes about the Wispernet speed. (which I could easily see being used for reading text email)
Speaking volumes is a great transition to another functionality the text to speech option on Kindle, where the device will convert any text into spoken word. You can listen via the internal speaker or through headphones. Our audio book client team was especially interested in this function. I was surprised how good it sounded. It sounded no worse than any GPS device on the market and certainly way better than the Speak-And-Spell voice I imagined.
I was disappointed because I could not find any way to download audio books and play them on the Kindle. I know it is possible but I could not figure out how to do it on my first attempts. If anyone knows how to do this please tell me via comments.
Posted in NETexponent Clients, Online Marketing, Research by Peter Figueredo | | 0 Comments
Search Engine Strategies NYC Features NETexponent
February 23rd, 2009
I am happy to announce that NETexponent CEO, Peter Figueredo, has just been asked to join an SES panel at the upcoming NYC show.
So if you are attending SES NYC feel free to stop by and enjoy his panel (described below) on Wednesday March 25th 4 – 5pm
Dealing With Affiliates: A Roadmap to Success
Join this panel for a no-holds-barred discussion where performance marketing’s top contenders square off. As SEM evolves, marketers find themselves competing head-on with affiliates. Marketers want more leads/sales, increased affiliate-generated leads/sales, and less cannibalization of search campaigns. How can this be achieved in a world filled with increasingly hostile rhetoric on both sides? Join a panel of experts as they break silence on taboo issues and work through the finer points. You’ll walk away with fresh, new perspective and the ability to collaborate profitably.
Moderator:
Jeffrey Rohrs, VP, Marketing, ExactTarget
Speakers:
Kristopher Jones, President & CEO, Pepperjam
Jeff Ferguson, Director of Online Marketing, Napster
Lori Weiman, CEO, The Search Monitor
Peter Figueredo, CEO, NETexponent
Posted in Events, Meet Us, Search Marketing by Peter Figueredo | | 1 Comments
Follow Me If You Dare
February 13th, 2009
Admittedly, NETexponent was a little late to the game using Twitter. With everything we have been working on in 2008 we just did not have the time. However, after launching a personal twitter account at https://twitter.com/figueredo I now have some good learning and a much better understanding of how NETexponent friends and family can benefit from a company twitter stream. I made the time in 2009 and we quietly launched a company twitter account recently. You can follow us on twitter by visiting https://twitter.com/netexponent.
This blog will continue to be your main source for information related to NETexponent, our clients, and issues concerning the performance marketing industry. We will use twitter to provide quick updates on relevant topics and some of those topics will be discussed in more detail on this blog. So please continue to read this blog but also feel free to follow us on twitter.
Posted in Meet Us, Social Media by Peter Figueredo | | 0 Comments
Total Gym Direct Picks NETexponent Affiliate Management
February 4th, 2009
What do Chuck Norris, Christie Brinkley, and Wesley Snipes all have in common with NETexponent? We all love the Total Gym. I am proud to welcome Total Gym Direct to the NETexponent family. We were originally chosen to provide an affiliate program assessment for Total Gym Direct. This $999 service allows us to provide advertisers with an in depth review of their affiliate program in the areas of recruitment, affiliate mix, competitive analysis, creative, and much more. After we presented the results of this project and our recommendations for moving forward the folks at Total Gym Direct decided they wanted to use our outsourced program management services and implement them ASAP. Our team is very excited to be working with such a great product.
Here are some program details:
- Commission rates start at 10%
- 45 return days
- Unlimited action occurrences
PEAK SEASON IS NOW
JOIN NOW or CONTACT US to see if you qualify for preferred commission rates
Just like Chuck, Christie, and Wesley – NETexponent does not only promote Total Gym Direct but we also use it. We have a Total Gym Direct in our office and I just got one at home. So feel free to ask us about using the product and we can tell you about all the great features.
Posted in Affiliate Marketing, NETexponent Clients by Peter Figueredo | | 0 Comments
Birth Of A New Super Affiliate
February 4th, 2009
I recently announced the birth of a new site that has the potential to quickly become a super affiliate. This post is not designed to regurgitate my ReveNews blog but to personalize it for NETexponent clients. I am happy to announce that all NETexponent affiliate clients are being promoted on the new site offers.com. This is no small feat since the site just launched. Based on their relationship with NETexponent, the developers gave us the courtesy of previewing the site before it went live and including our clients at launch. (Chris Kramer even helped out by identifying a minor bug on the site.)
We talk a lot about leveraging our agency relationships for clients and I thought this was a great example of how that comes to life. Good luck to the friendly folks at Vertive; we hope Offers.com takes off.
Posted in Affiliate Marketing by Peter Figueredo | | 0 Comments
