Freelance Consultant's Diary

Myles Felsing, director of online marketing at gift Retailer RedEnvelope , says, "For us as an upscale gift retailer, there's just not a lot of general articles out there talking about gifts." In fact what we have found in our research studying the marriage of content and ebusiness is that there is no incentive to create content for many nano-publishers when there are no advertisers. (Related article: Advertisers need to be part of both AdSense and AdWords if they want publishers to mention their products ) There is another reason why Felsing is wrong. There are Adsense advertisers for all kinds of high-end products. Some examples are private jets , online trading , online banking , retirement planning , asset management , spas for men , etc. Yes, while our readers love such insightful articles, they were on a high priority list of content when we knew that there were excellent advertisers available. A word of advice to advertisers: those advertisers that have embraced co...

As is becoming quite obvious, the four hottest market for growth are nicknamed BRIC (pronounced as brick) and they are: Brazil (Lula, while a Leftist leader has done things that would delight any free-market supporter), Russia (Not sure if Putin is a great leader but the growth potential in Russia is huge), India (with a middle class as big as the United States that is fairly comfortable with English language and western culture, and now that markets have opened up, the pent-up demand for foreign goods cannot be satisfied fast enough), and of course, China (so much so that they had to raise interest rates to cool down the economy). In this article, though, we will discuss some of the latest trends insofar as direct marketing is concerned in the Indian market. Here are a series of factors that make India an attractive market for western companies to market in India: Fascination with anything "foreign" (particularly American, European, or Japanese) No language problem Well-info...

We have been arguing all along that affiliate programs are one-sided and do not create as much value for a publisher as they do for the merchant. Over a 10-month period, through an aggressive program of working with a range of affiliate programs on our eCreativa network of websites , we have concluded that publishers would be much better off either dumping affiliate programs altogether or minimizing their role in their business (and embrace PPC advertising instead). We have published our findings in the following two articles as well as in the eBusiness blog : Building a business with affiliate programs Business model transformation (from affiliate programs to PPC) While we had suspected it all along, the current strategy in the merchant community with regards to affiliate programs is to use it solely as a vehicle for generating quality traffic and getting a higher PageRank. If they do get some orders, well that is great and they will split the profits with the affiliate but there is n...

Let us review some of the economic indicators as we close the month of October 2004. Good news The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index rose to 68.5 from 61.9 Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of economic activity, grew at a 4.6% annual rate Few signs of inflationary pressures Business investment growth at strong 11.7% GDP growth, while not robust, is fairly strong Bad news Continued loss in manufacturing jobs Almost anemic private sector-job growth Falling incomes (but as consumer spending stays high, it is very clear that credit levels are rising and savings levels are down) Three straight months of declining consumer confidence Out-of-control oil prices (Related article: Will oil shock cause a recession in 2005 ?) iProceed's analysis of economic data We are tempted to think that US economy may be becoming more like those in England, France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, and other similar developed countries (moderate growth, relatively high unemployment, ove...

David Birch points out that just one in three Inc. 500 companies is able to keep growing fast enough to make the list for two years running. Like many other statistics of failure of small and mid-size companies, this is another scary one. The problems are known to all: growth pains, lack of access to capital to fund growth, competition from 800-pound gorillas who want to see them dead, and management's capability to grow from a startup to sustenance phase (Related article: From a startup to sustenance phase - Ed Zander's views ). iProceed's recommendations on what can firms do to balance growth with their capability for long-term survival If possible (particularly if you are privately owned or have a smart group of investors), agree on an optimum level of growth and stick to it. Yes, you may miss some opportunities for value creation but it is best to grow at a pace that you can keep your customers, employees, and shareholders happy in the long run rather than increase the...