Eileen Ciravolo Wins Our First Annual NCAA Client Pool
May 12th, 2010
Eileen Ciravolo, Audible’s audacious Traffic Coordinator, is the winner of our First Annual NCAA Tournament Client Pool! Moving ahead of 28 other hopefuls, we recently presented Eileen with a silver plated basketball trophy to share with her office, friends, and family. She also got to take home a little something extra – a brand new iPad! What’s the first thing she’ll be doing with her new gadget? “There’s a the Kindle app, so I’ll definitely be using that. And, of course, the Twitter app, too!”
When asked how she came up with her winning round up, blind luck was attributed. “It took me about two second to pick my teams,” she claims. “I think Duke is good.’ So I picked them. ‘I think Texas is good.’ So, I’ll pick them! That was it. I got very lucky.”
Eileen shares a little more about herself with us:
Audible's Eileen Ciravolo Wins!
Audible has been a part of the NETexponent crew for just over 5 years and we hear it’s a great place to be. Tell us more about your life over there: “I’ve been here for almost 2 years and it truly is a great place to work. I’m the traffic coordinator for the creative department. I’m in charge of making sure all the projects that need copy and design work are scheduled with designers and track the progress from kick-off through to completion. My day to day can be a bit hectic since I’m usually chasing someone down for more information or giving them status updates on things. I’m a very organized planner, so I’m able to stay on top of all the moving parts of various projects while keeping things on track.”
We’ve witnessed your basketball prowess. Are you a big into sports? “I’m a hardcore baseball fan – the Mets are my team. I even play fantasy baseball! The MLB app is one that I’ll surely be using on my new iPad to keep track of the Mets and my fantasy players!”
We can’t help but think that being a part of Audible.com would be a dream for any book lover. “Sure is!”
Give us your top 3 Aubible audio books recommendations: “There are so many great books it’s hard to choose just 3! My first listen was President Obama’s Dreams of My Father, which he narrated himself. Dave Cullen’s Columbine was a harrowing look into the Columbine Massacre. It was a scary but interesting listen. And to be a bit lighthearted, Waiter Rant by The Waiter was very funny – you’ll learn the secrets of what really goes on in the kitchen and what your waiters really think of you when you’re out to eat!”
Eileen talks about discovering her big win!
NETexponent would also like to send a shout out of Honorable Mention to Joe Crowley of Total Gym. It was close!
Posted in Awards and Honors, Events, NETexponent Clients, NETexponent Fun by Lindsey E. | | 0 Comments
Catch the NETexponent team at SMX in Santa Clara, California March 2nd- 4th
January 29th, 2010
Before forming a client relationship with the Search Marketing Expo, we at NETexponent had been attendees of the leading search conference for years. This convention, produced by Third Door Media, always attracts highly distinguished speakers, and SMX West-Santa Clara will not disappoint. This year’s keynote speaker, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, will bring his jovial personality and exceptional brand of technology leadership to set the stage for a highly educational and network-enriching three day experience.
In addition to Mr. Ballmer, team members from Google, Yahoo!, and Youtube (amongst others) will speak on behalf of the most knowledgeable leaders in the industry. Fear not, however, sessions are clearly labeled and expertly tailored to fit any experience level so that all visitors leave feeling educated and inspired, not bored or overwhelmed.
The NETexponent team has always found that SMX offers sessions to match any interest and an exhibition hall to generate quality leads- not just visitors looking for free stuff (although you won’t leave empty handed). Meet us at the preshow meet-and-greet or during one of the more structured networking events.
All in all, we would love to catch up with you there, so take advantage of the early bird pricing to save up to $350. To get more conference details and information about signing up for an attendance pass, visit http://tiny.cc/Meet_NETex_at_SMX.
And if you are as passionate about SMX as we are, click here to join the affiliate program.
See you in Santa Clara!
Posted in Meet Us, NETexponent Clients, Search Marketing by Peter Figueredo | | 0 Comments
A Year in Review
January 6th, 2010
We’re proud to say that 2009 was an exceptional year for NETexponent. We grew as a team and also in our list of clients. Not to mention, NETexponent was recognized with a few awards and several write-ups on notable industry blogs and online forums. This year, we even expanded the list of services that we offer in order to better serve the needs of our new clients.
New Clients
To start, we’ve signed quite a few new clients this year, and some of these relationships grew even further after their initial inception. Early this year, we began working with Total Gym Direct by managing their relatively mature affiliate program. After several successful months, we extended our partnership into managing their search engine marketing efforts, as well.
Shortly after beginning our relationship with Total Gym Direct, we began working with Pingo, a pre-paid calling card service of iBasis, which is a leading carrier of international and long distance phone calls. With this new partnership, NETexponent was able to improve Pingo’s SEM program and enhance their online sales presence. Also early in 2009, we began managing SMX’s affiliate program; having attended the bi-annual search conference in the past, our team had a comfortable understanding of the events and the improvements we could make to the program.
In the fall, we greatly increased the size and diversity of our list of clients, and subsequently our team grew as well! Simultaneously, our affiliate program management grew to include Hot Topic and its subsidiaries Torrid and Shockhound. NETexponent took on managing Automotive Concepts’ (an online auto parts retailer) and Yola’s (website building tools) affiliate programs, too.
SEO Service
Recently, after bringing an industry executive onto our team, we launched our SEO services. These are quickly gaining prominence in our portfolio of search marketing services alongside our long-established paid search programs. We are implementing these services for one of our newest clients, American Listed, a free online classified listings website.
New team members
As mentioned, with the growth of our client roster, we have been excited to expand our team with a number of new positions filled by professionals with impressive, diverse backgrounds. We welcomed the following individuals to the team during 2009:
Wei Zhang- IT Analyst Valerie Russo – Affiliate Media Coordinator
Alex Watson- Marketing Coordinator
Estefanie Duque- Office Manager Nir Shemesh- Senior Search Media Manager Lindsey Murphy- Search Media Coordinator
Noelle Huter- Affiliate Media Manager Julianne Bohl- Search Media Manager Jessica Baier- Account Coordinator
Under the tutelage of our experienced staff, these folks hit the ground running and have become integral parts of our award-winning team.
Awards
Topseos publishes monthly rankings of the top companies in various online marketing fields. In October, topseos ranked NETexponent the 5th best Affiliate Marketing Agency, and we have since stayed in the top five. To see the most recently published list, visit topseos.
In early September, NETexponent was featured on Inc. Magazine’s 500│5000 list of the 5000 fastest growing independent companies. We are extremely proud of our fast-paced growth and for the recognition by Inc. Magazine. Because our revenue is primarily performance-based, we issued a press release heralding this acknowledgment as a recognition of our clients’ success over the past four years.
Speaking engagements
This year, many NETexponent team members demonstrated our industry expertise by speaking at a number of leading conferences in search and affiliate marketing.
First, at the Search Engine Strategies Conference and Exposition, Peter Figueredo joined a panel of industry experts for a session called ‘Dealing With Affiliates: A Roadmap to Success.’ Here, Peter shared with the audience the ‘Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’ of affiliate marketing. He described some of the ways affiliate marketing can be successfully married with search engine marketing practices for a synergistic effect on sales for the client. However, Peter also outlined some of the negative ways that affiliate marketers can abuse SEM and create added competition for advertiser’s search campaigns.
In August, Senior Affiliate Media Manager Sal Conca spoke at Affiliate Summit East during a session discussing affiliate websites’ dynamic shopping features. This panel covered all subjects including website creative, optimization, merchant relationships and analytics/reporting.
At Commission Junction University (CJU), during the “Affiliate Marketing: The Whole Truth” workshop, Peter presented some results from the AffiliateBenchmarks report. These teaser facts gave a broad overview of some of the recently analyzed data points to spark interest in the report that was due to be completed and released shortly after.
On November 10th, at PubCon Las Vegas, Chris Kramer presented data from the newly completed 2009 AffiliateBenchmarks report. This data supported the theme of the session which addressed the varying quality of available market research. Chris cited research applicable to both search and affiliate marketing, and the whole event was promoted in a press release sent out a week before the session.
2009 AffiliateBenchmarks Report
In November, we began a hard release process of the 2009 AffiliateBenchmarks report, following a soft release period in which we sent out the completed report to everyone who filled out the survey in its entirety back in July. Each wave of promotion garnered attention from industry publications and leaders, which we expedited by working with an external agency to assist in the promotion.
In the end, the report and slices of its data were featured on EasyAffiliateMarketing.biz, TJantunen.com, the Performance Marketing Alliance, Website Magazine, digiday: DAILY, Internet Vibes, Visibility Magazine, Biz Report, Marketing Charts, Marketing Vox, Market Scan, MediaTrust. These forums, organizations and blogs all took interest in the report because of its previously unheard of sample size of 3,500 respondent and the depth of its analysis.
Posted in Awards and Honors, Meet Us, NETexponent Clients, NETexponent Fun by Peter Figueredo | | 0 Comments
Nick Jr. Boost Affiliate Program Launch!
December 1st, 2009
We’re happy to announce the launch of the Nick Jr. Boost Affiliate Program in the LinkShare Network!
About Nick Jr. Boost
Nick Jr. Boost is an online educational service designed for preschoolers through first graders. Nick Jr. Boost helps children learn through exciting, adventure-based games based on core curriculum subjects like literacy, math, art, and Spanish. Kids will have the opportunity to team up and learn with their favorite Nick Jr. characters, including Blue, Diego, and Dora, in a totally personalized environment.
Product Offerings and Commissions:
• Nick Jr. Boost Subscription Product
– Features:
• Includes a 7 Day Free Trial
• Free Gift with a paid subscription
• Kids earn virtual rewards that they can exchange for digital prizes
• Nick Jr. Boost is a safe, secure, advertising-free environment
- 2 subscription pricing models to choose from:
• $5.95 per month / 12-month commitment
• $9.95 per month monthly
- Commission: $7.00 / subscription
• Action Referral Period: 30 Days
Everyone here at NETexponent is delighted about this launch. If you are interested in promoting Nick Jr. Boost via LinkShare, you can apply here. Or, in the Search Advertiser Box in the LinkShare interface, type “Nick Jr. Boost” or “MTV Networks Inc.”
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Posted in Affiliate Marketing, NETexponent Clients, Online Marketing by Erica M. | | 0 Comments
Total Gym Affiliate Program Launches in Google Affiliate Network
October 14th, 2009
We’re happy to announce the launch of the Total Gym Direct Affiliate Program in the Google Affiliate Network! Affiliates now have the choice to promote the brand on three of the largest networks in the industry: Google Affiliate Network, Commission Junction, or pepperjamNETWORK.
About the Total Gym
The Total Gym provides an entire gym full of equipment in ONE machine. It takes just 10-20 minutes a day to reshape your body into the one you want. With Total Gym, resistance training, cardio, and stretching can all be achieved in just one workout! Individuals from 8 to 80, beginner to advanced, can benefit from a Total Gym!
You also may have noticed that Chuck Norris and Christie Brinkley have been endorsing Total Gym on television for over 10 years. Total Gym units can now be found in over 3 million homes!
Product Offerings and Commissions
We kindly ask that any affiliate who is currently promoting the brand in Commission Junction or pepperjamNETWORK continue to do so! All of the programs promote the same great products – the Total Gym 2000, 3000, and the XLS. In addition, all programs offer a 10% baseline commission and a 45-day cookie duration.
Everyone here at NETexponent is delighted about this launch. If you are interested in promoting Total Gym Direct via the Google Affiliate Network, you can apply here.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.
Posted in NETexponent Clients by Leslie V. | | 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
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
What Role Will Display Advertising Play In Your 2009 Marketing Plan?
November 24th, 2008
Many companies are slashing their marketing budgets and evaluating how marketing dollars are spent due 
to the tough economic times. Slashing budgets is a clear sign that “Lean and Mean” is the current theme for many businesses. On average most research suggests that (while growing) online advertising still only represents less than 10% of where marketing dollars are spent. Yet even online advertising budgets are getting scrutinized.
For advertisers who wish to get the best ROI (Return On Investment) for their online marketing dollar the focus tends to shift to display advertising and whether or not they should keep spending in that category. We all know that display advertising (eg banner ads on websites bought on CPM or cost per thousand impressions) is typically the hardest online advertising initiative to measure. Comparatively, CPA (cost per acquisition) campaigns can be directly tied to ROI.
Therefore, when under pressure to justify every marketing dollar spent the inclination is to slash display advertising budgets and increase more accountable marketing channels such as affiliate marketing. At the surface this seems to make sense. However, if you take a holistic approach to looking at this situation you may find that display advertising plays an important role.
At NETexponent we have seen how display advertising can boost other online marketing efforts such as paid search and affiliate programs. We evaluate all marketing channels in order to get a holistic view of our clients’ online marketing effort. This outlook has shown us time and time again that spikes and dips in performance driven marketing channels such as search and affiliate can sometimes be directly related to display advertising efforts. When significant display advertising campaigns are running for clients we usually see a boost in traffic and conversions in other online marketing channels. Therefore, display advertising can play an important role even in ROI focused advertising efforts.
Measuring the impact of display advertising on other media channels and choosing the right allocation of marketing dollars is where the tricky part comes in to play. I am not advocating that all advertisers go out and boost display ad spending because it may not have the impact they want. It is true that even boosts in performance related to display could come at a price that is too high for advertisers. My main point is that companies should evaluate the impact display advertising has on other online campaigns and use that data to determine exactly how much spend to allocate to this channel in order to maximize online marketing ROI.
Posted in Display Advertising, Meet Us, NETexponent Clients, Online Marketing, Research by Peter Figueredo | | 3 Comments
Advertisers Tailor Messages To Address Economic Concerns
November 11th, 2008
This LA Times article was extremely interesting since it explores how different advertisers are tailoring their advertising messages to pitch value and savings during this harsh economic environment. Advertisers who have pitched themselves on platforms of luxury or convenience are now changing their tune since those qualities are valued less when money is tight. What is especially interesting is how luxury goods companies like BMW are changing their tune to promote value and savings while competitors like Mercedes are not. (Bad move, Mercedes.)
Even luxury brands are promoting value. The current ads for BMW’s dealer group, for example, focus less on performance and prestige and more on safety and savings. The campaign reminds potential buyers that BMW offers a four-year no-cost maintenance plan.
“The message we feel is most in line with the times is reminding people about our value-for-money equation,” said Shawn Ticehurt, BMW North America’s marketing and events communications manager.
The team at NETexponent brainstormed this very topic a few weeks ago during one of our townhall meetings. We discussed how our clients could tailor their marketing messages so they appeal to the current consumer mindset. The team came up with some great ideas and here are just a few:
- iChapters.com offers students textbooks at a fraction of the cost- a key marketing message to be highlighted. They also offer immediate gratification since they are downloadable textbooks. Focusing more on the savings compared to print and less on the immediate gratification should prove helpful.
- audible.com allows people to purchase downloadable audio books one at a time or through their subscription plans. The subscription plans allow consumers to purchase books at a significant savings off the cover price. This could prove to be a much greater value proposition than the convenience of the download or their vast selection of 50,000+ books.
- The Financial Times newspaper provides great world news coverage, not just financial news as the name may lead you to believe. In this market more and more people are looking for news about the world abroad for financial and political reasons. It’s also great to get a world view on the US to see how others view us. FT’s messaging could benefit from a focus on this value proposition perhaps even more than a focus on price. Timely news with a world perspective is very important in this crazy environment.
- Even The Wine Enthusiast can pitch themselves on value if they promote their clearance section more as well as selling their own brand of products which can be much cheaper than pricier alternatives.
I am sure that some of our affiliates can also find interesting ways to pitch our clients and I encourage everyone to think about how products and services can offer consumers value and/or savings.
Posted in NETexponent Clients, Online Marketing by Peter Figueredo | | 0 Comments
Get Seth Godin’s New Book Free
October 29th, 2008
Our friends at Audible.com want people to hear Seth Godin’s new audiobook for free. Download it now and enjoy.
No Strings Attached!
http://www.audible.com/tribes
Posted in NETexponent Clients by Peter Figueredo | | 0 Comments
