Intelligent Performance Marketing

Don’t Miss The Latest Headlines In The NetX Industry News Update!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Steve Jobs passes away while experts predict growth for this year’s holiday sales.  You can find these headlines and more in this week’s industry news update!

Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs Passes Away
WashingtonPost.com
Steve Jobs, a co-founder of Apple Inc., has sadly passed away at the age of 56.  An original thinker who helped create the Macintosh also reinvented the portable music player with the iPod and reordered the cell phone market with the iPhone.  The introduction of the iPad also jump-started the tablet market, and now it dominates the field.

Holiday Sales to Rise 2.8% to $465 Billion
MediaPost.com
The National Retail Federation says it expects holiday spending to rise just 2.8% this year, to a total of $465.6 billion.  While that gain is far less than the 5.2% gain retailers saw last year, it is still above the 2.6% average of the last 10 years.  Retailers have posted sales gains for the last 14 months but ongoing concerns about the economy have them worried.

Google Analytics Adds Real-Time Traffic Data
Mashable.com
Google for the first time is providing a window into real-time web traffic with Google Analytics Real-Time.  Real-Time reports are available in the new version of Google Analytics, and administrators with Analytics accounts will get Real-Time reports.  For users trying to gauge how a campaign or post is performing, Real-Time will track the immediate impact to site traffic.

Mobile Ad Spend to Hit $1 Billion
SearchEngineWatch.com
According to eMarketer, mobile ad spending could reach $1.23 billion for U.S. advertisers by the end of the year, up 66% from last year’s $743 million figure.  They also predict that this figure will continue to see escalating growth, reaching $4.4 billion by 2015.

Google Launches Trusted Stores Program
InformationWeek.com
To ally doubts about the legitimacy of the e-commerce sites, Google has announced a new program to highlight exemplary online merchants.  Google Trusted Stores aspires to help shoppers recognize online stores that offer compelling shopping experiences.  Google has already begun admitting merchants into the program, which will require participating sites to share shipping and customer service data with Google.

Flash-sale E-mails Spark More Purchases When Sent Late in the Afternoon
InternetRetailer.com
Flash-sale e-mails sent after 3 P.M. generate more transactions and more revenue than e-mails sent out earlier in the day, according to an Experian CheetahMail analysis.  The data reveals that messages sent after 3 P.M. have an open rate 90% greater than e-mails sent at mid-day.  Late-day messages stand out more in consumers’ inboxes because fewer e-retailers send messages late in the day.

Filed in Affiliate Marketing, Online Marketing, Search Marketing | |

Be Sure To Catch All The Latest Headlines In The NetX Industry News Update!

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Amazon announces their new tablet while Google releases the Google Wallet.  Don’t miss these headlines and more in this week’s industry news update!

Holiday Web Sales Expected to Grow 13.5%
InternetRetailer.com
U.S. web sales during the fourth quarter will hit $60.4 billion, up 13.5% from the $53.2 billion spent by online shoppers during the same period last year, predicts Kantar Retail.  The growth rate for the 2011 holiday shopping season will likely be a bit lower than the 16.5% increase registered in 2010, thanks in part to declining consumer confidence.

Amazon Launches New Tablet and Slashes Kindle Prices
Wired.com
Amazon has announced that they will be releasing a color, 7-inch tablet device called Fire for just $199.  The Fire is set to compete with Apple’s iPad by offering consumers an affordable and simpler tablet that is complimented by a powerful inventory of books, movies, television shows and digital tunes.  At the same time Amazon unveiled a new e-book reader called the Kindle Touch which will cost $149 and include Amazon Whispernet mobile connectivity.

Net Neutrality Rules Will Go Into Effect November 20th
EcommerceTimes.com
The Federal Communications Commission has published its long-awaited net neutrality rules, designed to generally prevent internet service providers from giving priority to certain forms of web traffic.  The heavily debated measures were approved in December, 2010 and will go into effect on November 20th.

Mobile Devices Expected to Aid Holiday Shopping
MediaPost.com
According to recently released data from the mobile ad network Mojiva, at least half of mobile consumers view their mobile device as a holiday shopping resource for product information, coupons and sale information.  The study also found that four in ten consumers feel comfortable spending $50 or more on a single holiday item using their mobile device.

Google Launches the Google Wallet
Googleblog.blogspot.com
Google has officially released the first version of the Google Wallet.  The Google Wallet stores virtual versions of a user’s payment cards, and leverages near field communication technology to allow users to tap, pay and save with their phone.  The app is currently available on Sprint Nexus S 4G phones but Google is looking to expand to more phones soon.

Bing Launches Deal Aggregator
DMNews.com
Bing has created an offer aggregator that lets consumers browse and sort through more than 200,000 discounts available from around the country.  Bing says it’s responding to 87% of consumers who said they’d increase their use of daily deals if they could find them in one place rather than sort through e-mails from multiple providers.

Google Expands Video Ad Options
ClickZ.com
Google wants video advertising to be as pervasive across its network as search and display ads are.  The company announced their plans to enable more integration between its AdWords and YouTube ad offerings for all advertisers.  Though the formats available do not all enable video to play directly within the ads, Google hopes the offerings will expand inventory for video ad buyers and inspire more advertisers to use video ads.

Filed in Affiliate Marketing, Online Marketing | |

Read All The Latest Headlines In The Netx Industry News Update!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Didn’t have a chance to read this week’s headlines? Well you can find all the latest news in the Netx industry news update!

California’s Governor Brown Expected to Sign Affiliate Nexus Tax Repeal
PerformanceMarketingAssociation.com
This morning the Performance Marketing Association delivered a letter to Governor Brown, asking for his signature on AB 155, which would repeal the Affiliate Nexus Tax for one year.  The Governor is expected to sign AB 155 into law and since this is an ‘urgency stature,’ it will go into immediate effect once it is signed.

Michigan Bill Pushes for Affiliate Nexus Tax
DETNews.com
Michigan lawmakers are renewing a push to require more business selling items over the internet to collect the state’s 6% sales tax.  Proponents claim that online retailers have an unfair price advantage and it hurts Michigan businesses that have storefronts and collect sales taxes.

Mobile Landing Page Quality Now Affects AdWords Quality Score on Media Ads
SearchEngineWatch.com
Google has just announced that within weeks, mobile optimization will be a factor in ad quality for AdWords campaigns driving mobile search traffic.  Since advertisers with a higher quality score get a lower cost per click and better ad placement, it is strongly encouraged to optimize mobile landing pages.  Some optimization suggestions include keeping layouts simple, prioritizing content, making it easy to convert and designing the page for thumbs, not mice.

Display Spending Rose 13% in First Half of 2011
ClickZ.com
A new report from Kantar Media has found that display ad spending rose nearly 13% in the first half of 2011.  The report also found that search ad spending rose 8.6% while internet media spending has increased 10.4%.

Behavioral Targeting Comes to TV Ads
MediaPost.com
Companies targeting ads to consumers on TVs based on location, channel surfing activity and more might seem like a futuristic platform to some, but in reality companies offer the service today.  MStar and Channel Island have collaborated to advance TV advertising and applications in set-top boxes by creating new software that supports profiling and geographic targeting for motion video ads.  Network operators will receive audience measurements and response metrics that include behavioral information and, in the future, what consumers watch on TV will influence the ads they see online.

Twitter Influences Consumers’ Purchases
InternetRetailer.com
It turns out that Twitter may be more influential than Facebook in helping drive consumers’ shopping decisions.  A recent survey of over 2,000 online shoppers found that 35% of consumers said Twitter was influential or extremely influential in their decision to buy a product.  That compares with 24% who said Facebook helped guide a purchase.

Email Deliverability Rates Stagnate at 81%
DMNews.com
Only 81% of emails sent during the first half of 2011 reached consumers’ inboxes, according to a study released by the email deliverability firm Return Path.  In addition, the report found that 7% of emails worldwide were classified as spam while 12% went missing.

California’s Governor Brown Expected to Sign Affiliate Nexus Tax Repeal

PerformanceMarketingAssociation.com

This morning the Performance Marketing Association delivered a letter to Governor Brown, asking for his signature on AB 155, which would repeal the Affiliate Nexus Tax for one year. The Governor is expected to sign AB 155 into law and since this is an ‘urgency stature,’ it will go into immediate effect once it is signed.

 

Michigan Bill Pushes for Affiliate Nexus Tax

DETNews.com

Michigan lawmakers are renewing a push to require more business selling items over the internet to collect the state’s 6% sales tax. Proponents claim that online retailers have an unfair price advantage and it hurts Michigan businesses that have storefronts and collect sales taxes.

 

Mobile Landing Page Quality Now Affects AdWords Quality Score on Media Ads

SearchEngineWatch.com

Google has just announced that within weeks, mobile optimization will be a factor in ad quality for AdWords campaigns driving mobile search traffic. Since advertisers with a higher quality score get a lower cost per click and better ad placement, it is strongly encouraged to optimize mobile landing pages. Some optimization suggestions include keeping layouts simple, prioritizing content, making it easy to convert and designing the page for thumbs, not mice.

 

Display Spending Rose 13% in First Half of 2011

ClickZ.com

A new report from Kantar Media has found that display ad spending rose nearly 13% in the first half of 2011. The report also found that search ad spending rose 8.6% while internet media spending has increased 10.4%.

 

Behavioral Targeting Comes to TV Ads

MediaPost.com

Companies targeting ads to consumers on TVs based on location, channel surfing activity and more might seem like a futuristic platform to some, but in reality companies offer the service today. MStar and Channel Island have collaborated to advance TV advertising and applications in set-top boxes by creating new software that supports profiling and geographic targeting for motion video ads. Network operators will receive audience measurements and response metrics that include behavioral information and, in the future, what consumers watch on TV will influence the ads they see online.

 

Twitter Influences Consumers’ Purchases

InternetRetailer.com

It turns out that Twitter may be more influential than Facebook in helping drive consumers’ shopping decisions. A recent survey of over 2,000 online shoppers found that 35% of consumers said Twitter was influential or extremely influential in their decision to buy a product. That compares with 24% who said Facebook helped guide a purchase.

 

Email Deliverability Rates Stagnate at 81%

DMNews.com

Only 81% of emails sent during the first half of 2011 reached consumers’ inboxes, according to a study released by the email deliverability firm Return Path. In addition, the report found that 7% of emails worldwide were classified as spam while 12% went missing.

Filed in Affiliate Marketing, Search Marketing | |