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
Chipotle Inspires Creativity At NETexponent
May 7th, 2010
Creativity can be seen in many different ways. Watch this quick video to see how our folks showed their creative skills in order to win a Chipotle burrito. (honestly I think they really just did it for fun but the burrito was a nice prize anyway)
Posted in NETexponent Fun 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
NETexponent Celebrates the Opening of our New Break Room!
December 4th, 2009
This week, NETexponent co-founder, Chris Kramer, put the ceremonial scissors to the red ribbon stretched across the sliding glass doorway of our new break room. The scissors, surprisingly neither large nor gold, snipped the ribbon to successfully signify the conclusion of the week-long construction in the office and the official opening of the first NETexponent break room.
Now the area surrounding the refrigerators, water cooler, and coffee machine is enclosed with sky blue walls and smooth sliding glass doors. Upon entering the break room, you can find two shiny white tables partnered with eight contemporary, Swedish-engineering inspired (IKEA) chairs. To complete the new space, we will be installing a full-sized fridge in the near future.
Of course, this event was heralded with an invitation sent out to each member of the team, wrought with reference to KitKat’s early 1990’s “Give me a break!” campaign. Following this theme, the team found a dish (just beyond the red ribbon) overflowing with KitKat candy bars. Within an hour of Chris’ ceremonial ribbon cutting, the new space was bustling with conversation and proved an exceptional investment to the environment of NETexponent.
Showing her support and approval of the new room, Valerie Russo, NETexponent’s Online Advertising Coordinator remarked, “I think the new space will help us all relax better while eating lunch and make us more productive when we’re at our desks.” Undoubtedly, the whole team is excited about the utility of having a break room available where they can unwind and relax during lunch or at the end of the day. The open space is also great for brainstorming!
Check Out The Video
Posted in NETexponent Fun by Peter Figueredo | | 1 Comments
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
New Affiliate Marketing Industry Organization
June 13th, 2008
You may have wondered why there is no major industry organization to support affiliate marketing. I can tell you that many have tried this in the past and they have all failed for one reason or another. I have personally 
been involved in several attempts to build an Affiliate Industry Organization. One or two recent attempts even had the backing of Performics, LinkShare, CJ, Affiliate Summit, and several large agencies and advertisers. Unfortunately, they all fizzled out before they had a chance to take off. Hopefully that will all change with the formation of a new group called the Performance Marketing Alliance or PMA.
The group defines itself in these words:
The Performance Marketing Alliance is a new industry association for performance marketing professionals. The goal of the Performance Marketing Alliance is to raise the visibility and credibility of performance marketing.
Performance marketing is a comprehensive term that refers to online marketing programs where marketing partners are paid on the performance of their marketing programs. Stated another way, online merchants (also known as advertisers) pay their performance marketing partners (also known as affiliates or publishers) only when an action is completed, such as a sale or completion of a lead. Performance marketing includes affiliate marketing, CPA (cost per action) marketing, search marketing, lead generation, and other types of performance based programs. Performance Marketing is one of the most effective and measurable forms of online marketing because merchants only pay marketing partners when a transaction is completed.
The intent is to officially launch the Performance Marketing Alliance in January 2009 as a self-sustaining non-profit organization supported by membership dues, managed by a full-time professional staff and directed by volunteer industry leaders voted on to a board of directors.
It is important to note that this group is trying to go beyond the normal “Affiliate Marketing” classification in order to address larger issues facing pay-for-performance advertising.
I have had several conversations with the folks creating this group and I think they are on the right track to avoid the mistakes of past groups. Let’s wish them luck. The performance marketing industry desperately needs an organization to educate the online marketing community, promote best practices, condemn unscrupulous behavior, and promote performance marketing.
Some suggestions to help the PMA avoid the mistakes of the past:
- Have a clear and well-defined vision – know where you are going so that members can all strive towards a common goal
- Focus on integrity and transparency – this should not be a secret order of performance marketers…transparency is the key to trust building
- Avoid being too pro-affiliate - affiliate marketing has many benefits but it is not the right answer for all advertisers…recognize the pros AND the cons of affiliate marketing so that everyone can make informed decisions. If the group is viewed as being affiliate evangelists then their statements will be less valued than if they are viewed to have a balanced outlook on the industry.
- Quality vs Quantity – do not go out looking for tons of members by offering free membership because most of those folks will never add any value to the group. Focus on quality in order to ensure an active and committed membership base. Two ways to do this are to have a formal membership application and review process as well as requiring membership dues. Anyone who doesn’t meet set criteria or who is not willing to pay a membership fee is probably not qualified or committed to the group.
- Dedicate resources – many groups fail because they are run by volunteers only and not dedicated staff. We are all busy executives who may have good intentions but get pulled in many directions…without a dedicated staff who will focus on this group it will almost certainly take the back seat to other pressing responsibilities and the group will suffer. Use member dues to fund this where appropriate.
I hope those tips come in handy.
Best of luck PMA!
UPDATE
I am pleased to say that I was nominated to the be on the Formation Advisory Board (FAB) for PMA. Perhaps this blog post had something to do with that. Thanks for the nomination PMA, I humbly accept.
Posted in Affiliate Marketing, NETexponent Fun by Peter Figueredo | | 1 Comments
Feel The Love – Client Love
June 11th, 2008
At NETexponent we have a term to describe the feeling we get when our good work is recognized by clients, “Client Love”. Client Love can
manifest itself in many forms such as a friendly email note praising our efforts to a smiling face and pat on the back during a client meeting.
Our team at NETexponent feeds on this Client Love and (since we are a team) when one person gets Client Love they immediately pass it around the company and share that love with everyone. For confidentiality reasons I cannot share many Client Love examples with you but I just wanted to let our clients know we appreciate their business…but we crave- their Client Love!
Here are a few public examples so that you can see what I mean by “Client Love”
- One of our newest clients announced our relationship on their own company blog.
- Another one of our clients praised our PPC Search Marketing services on an agency comparison site.
- Of course we love when clients let us post testimonials on our own website.
- Clients sometimes post testimonials to LinkedIn.
- Many folks have even joined our Facebook Group and/or Fan Page.
Thanks again to all of our loving clients…the feeling is mutual!
Posted in Meet Us, NETexponent Clients, NETexponent Fun by Peter Figueredo | | 0 Comments
