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Over the past year, user generated feedback to companies big and small has really taken off. Why are so many companies adopting this new system of feedback on their websites? These feedback forums spark innovation. It’s simple, customers get what they want, and companies become more efficient. However, it is important to note the relationship between company and customer here is essential. Companies need these feedback ideas to stay ahead of the game. Plus, customers want to see their ideas implemented so they can be more productive. The best part is that this whole relationship is completely transparent.

Who is doing idea and feedback sharing right?

Adobe

They are using a custom service from Brightidea, Inc. that allows Adobe users to collaborate and decide which innovative ideas they like best.

Whole Foods

Based off the service from Get Satisfaction, like the name says, everyone is satisfied! Whole Foods gains valuable insight from their shoppers.

TweetDeck

Somewhat similar to Whole Foods, TweetDeck is using UserVoice. The best part is that UserVoice is being the most innovative!

CrowdSound

I don’t have much experience with this one, but it is an awesome tool to gain feedback from all areas on your site.

Are you letting your customers give feedback that will allow your company to be innovative, and drive business to the next level?

A while back I was flipping through Entrepreneur magazine when I came across this ad:

“HARD WORK. DEDICATION. EATING, BREATHING AND LIVING YOUR DREAMS, EVERY DAY. PUSHING HARDER. TAKING RISKS WHEN OTHERS WON’T. NEVER STOPPING. NEVER SURRENDERING. BEING FEARLESS. BEING A LEADER. INSPIRING YOURSELF. INSPIRING THOSE AROUND YOU. EVERY DAY.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR?”

This ad sits adjacent to my monitor, and inspires me to be an entrepreneur every day.

Do you have what it takes?

There is no question that everyone reading this post uses internet tools to live smarter. Whether the internet tools you use help you simplify, organize, monetize, or save money, we all use them. As of 2009, participation on the internet is at an all time high because people want to live more efficient lives. This means more and more people continue to be exposed to different media, diverse viewpoints, and posses the ability to connect with one another at the same time. Really, now how fascinating is that, when compared to just 50 years ago?

So, as you can see, the internet is revolutionizing the way people live. I know, that first paragraph was way to generic. Here are some specific examples of how the internet allows the world to live smarter:

Education– The intended use of the internet. How many of you have learned what you do on the internet now, through a book?

Communication– Probably the most vital aspect of being able to function. Email saves paper, thus saving the environment. Plus it’s a whole lot cheaper than regular mail.

Performance Marketing– Businesses are now able to maximize advertising ROI because they have the ability to micro target consumers, who are interested in buying their products online.

Analytics– Humans have never before been able to analyze, compare, and contrast people’s actions. Therefore, more precise trends can be predicted.

Social– Relationships are important to success with anything. Social media has taken relationships to the next level.

Save Money– This past weekend, I booked a room on Priceline.com for $90/night in D.C.. I bid for a 4 star hotel with 2 kings. I ended up with a suite that had 3 kings, 3 bathrooms, a dining room, a large living room, and 4 LCD TV’s. The best part, the room’s standard rate is $5,500/night. Now would you call that living luxurious or living smarter?

What do you do on the internet to live smarter?

Edit: Related article- http://tinyurl.com/chrhn6

All of the sudden actively maintain an online profile/identity has become mainstream. More people than ever before are sharing content and producing content, because web developers have made it extremely easy for them to do so. However, with the current generation of web developers reaching their prime now, where is the next generation of developers to continue building new programs, applications, and other tools on the web? Two blog posts that I’ve read recently explain just that:

Where is the Next Generation of Developers (SitePoint.com)

10 Skills developers will need in the next five years (TechRepublic.com)

The younger generation is certainly involved with the computers, but they are not learning how to build these programs that they use everyday. This is not a good sign for the future of computer science, since computers use continues to grow, while education of how to use computers declines. Some of the most important reasons that kids are not interested in learning about programming are that to many it seems straight up boring, all of the programs that they need exist already, and educators don’t offer it to them in school.

First, the boring part can be fixed most of the time. To get kids interested in programming, engage them. Easier said than done, but if you make it relevant to their lives and provide meaning, they will want to learn. As for programs existing already, this is vital to applications that will be developed progressively. Understanding and manipulating existing code is vital to the innovation of currently developed applications. This is hard to solve though, because in most schools, computer science courses are limited and educators do not see the importance of computer programming literate students in the future. Checkout this eye-opening video:

If you are involved with affiliate marketing, you know that it is hard to go through the day online, and not see the term “Super Affiliate” somewhere. The definition varies from person to person, as seen in Shoemoney’s post here: http://tinyurl.com/cmfr9p. Some say that they are people who rake in tons of cash each month, people who make a lot of money off referral commission, or just have a lot of people following their blog. The way you define a super affiliate is up to you, but one thing is for sure, we can tell if they are for real or not.

So, why do affiliate marketers read the super affiliate’s blogs? A few possible answers could be that people are bored or looking for new content that they are interested in. However, one thing is common among all affiliates who subscribe to these super affiliate blogs: I want to make more money. So, lets be real, if the super affiliate blogs constantly about general ramblings in the industry, they essentially do not help you make any money.

What about the super affiliates who give away all of that cool stuff to their readers? Great, that is super cool in the short term, but you are screwed when it comes to making money long term. The point I’m trying to make is that these so called super affiliates are absolutely worthless, and simply making money off of you, unless they help you make money. Therefore, I can testify that 99% of the blog posts super affiliates make are worthless and unproductive. Just because they have 2,000 subscribers doesn’t mean that they make any money, except from you. Unless they give you information that allows you to be more efficient or make more money. Thus, a super affiliate is for real if they teach you how to make more money.

Lets take a look at the super affiliates who are for real:

Nickycakes

Why? His newbie guide says it all. His posts for n00bs will make you money. If they don’t, then the Cakes chat is full of people who are always offering tips.

Kris Trujillo

Why? His case study PPC videos say it all. Combine Kris’s PPC videos with the Cash Tactics free PPC mentoring and you will start making money very quickly. 

Ralph Ruckman

Why? His step by step tutorials on the Convert2Media forum and his free reports on Cash Tactics have proven to be some of the most helpful advice any affiliate has gotten. Mostly because Ruck likes to take lesser noticed paths when developing marketing strategies. 

Brad Bertsche

Why? His scripts are extremely useful, not to mention sick nasty because they are free. 

Brandon Adcock

Why? He might not have blog very often, but his lessons from his affiliate marketing experience will save you a lot of time and money. Not to mention he offered to help me get started with AM.

Wes Mahler

Why? Affiliates can’t thank him enough for the powerful PPC analytics tools he has developed for you, for free. Ontop of that, his new series of interviews are worth watching.

Other helpful affiliates:

• Scar from Gaming YouTube
• Paul from inspiredmoneymaker.com
• Barman from PPC.bz

If you think someone else deserves a shout out in this post, let me know, I will be glad to add them.

I was inspired to write this post after a recent talk with the MediaTrust CEO Peter Bordes about innovation within the internet marketing industry.

Online advertising spending is projected to reach $25.7 billion in 2009, and $42 billion by 2013. A 78% increase over 2008’s $23.6 billion in online spending.(emarketer.com) For an industry that is growing at astonishing rates, most of the companies that are heavily profiting have not put much back into researching and devloping new tools to capitalize on this growth in the coming years. To all affiliates out there, please name 3 recently released tools that allow you to be more productive, your campaigns to be more efficient, and ulitmately more profitable. Not so easy, huh? This lack of innovation will only hurt affiliates in the future. This is because the few networks that are investing in developing better ways to market online now, will blow past competition when growth slows. The affiliates who are associated with the networks that are investing in the right places will benefit tremendously, no doubt.

There are a few reasons for a lack of innovation by both affiliate networks and advertising networks. First, a lot of affiliate networks don’t care because there isn’t a lot of competition, and today they are growing strong. Their antiquated tracking systems work, and affiliates continue to promote their hot offers, which not to mention always “higher payouts than anyone else”. Secondly, advertising networks keep seeing gross clicks and impressions increase as the web is used more and more. So, advertisers will have cheaper rates and the publishers will make more and more money. In other words, the mentalitly of the affiliate and advertising networks is that people will continue to go where the money is. That’s definitly not a sound long term business strategy.

So, the question is which people are setting the right example and more importantly, are setting themselves up for strong business in the future? Most certainly Advaliant/MediaTrust, Motive Interactive, and Wes Mahler/Prosper202. Both Advaliant and Motive posses the leading affiliate interfaces that will soon posses algorithims to match offers with an affiliates past history promoting other offers, and maximize the relationship between affiliates and advertisers. Wes Mahler is worthy of being thanked by every single successful affiliate today, thanks to his opensource PPC tracking system Prosper202.

On the flip side, the companies that are lacking in the innovation department (among others): MaxBounty, and almost all networks using DirectTrack. Take a look at MaxBounty’s homepage, when I applied at first I thought  I was in the wrong site. Their site is straight out of the dot com bust. Seriously, would you feel safe putting your PPC budget into very technology developed 9 years ago?  Remeber that’s like 100 internet years. To the networks using the DirectTrack interface, great, you are making lots of money. However, DirectTrack serverly limits the amount of customization in the affiliate interface. Not good when it comes to 2010 and several other netowrks have more powerful tracking sytems and limitless opportunities to help out affiliates even more. Props to Ads4Dough for initiating their own switch over to their own custom tracking platform.

So, to the affiliate networks out there, take the hint, you will be ahead of the competition down the road if you invest now. As for the advertising networks, first make an effort to be friendly with some of your biggest spenders, then innovate. Watchout in the coming months for industry leading changes by Advaliant. They are brewing up some pretty neat features for affiliates, not seen anywhere else.

I’ve finally moved my domain to a different host! Now I will be using this site as a blog to post about anything internet/tech related.