Daily Archives: July 23, 2009

Digital River, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRIV), a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions, introduced a new B2B e-commerce solution called Business Direct. Through Business Direct companies can offer their global resellers, and business customers and partners private online portals for making direct purchases and renewing subscriptions. The login-based portals complete with tailored purchasing plans, custom pricing and financing options, are designed exclusively to help companies strengthen business relationships and increase their online sales.
“Today’s challenging market conditions call for companies to examine their prospective revenue streams and expose those that are untapped,” said Joel Ronning, Digital River’s CEO. “With Business Direct, we can help businesses efficiently unlock the revenue potential in the B2B market and turn their business relationships into long-term partnerships that continue to generate sales on an ongoing basis.”

Business Direct is designed to help companies manage their B2B businesses in a highly efficient and scalable way. The solution allows companies to launch as many self-service online portals, which are accessible through custom logins, as their business customers and partners require, based off of one, central product catalog. Further, companies can use Business Direct to easily design and deploy customized purchase plans for each partner. The plans can be tailored with unique product prices and selections, custom IDs and passwords, and pre-set purchase limits based on quantity or time-period thresholds. Through Business Direct, companies also can offer their partners a wide range of payment options, including Bill Me Later® Business, as well as extend lines-of-credit. As an integrated part of Digital River’s comprehensive global e-commerce platform, Business Direct offers companies end-to-end e-commerce services and tools, including transaction processing, digital and physical product fulfillment, and subscription renewal capabilities, among others.

The Business Direct solution complements Digital River’s recently announced Channel Partner Network program, also designed for the B2B market segment. Both solutions can help businesses mitigate channel conflict and enhance efficiencies with powerful program management tools. Channel Partner Network offers online businesses a comprehensive toolset to automate and simplify the complicated tasks related to managing their reseller and distributor relationships, including tracking and reporting sales and commissions, and running specialized marketing programs.

About Digital River, Inc.

Digital River, Inc., a leading provider of global e-commerce solutions, builds and manages online businesses for software and game publishers, consumer electronics manufacturers, distributors, online retailers and affiliates. Its multi-channel e-commerce solution, which supports both direct and indirect sales, is designed to help companies of all sizes maximize online revenues as well as reduce the costs and risks of running an e-commerce operation. The company’s comprehensive platform offers site development and hosting, order management, fraud management, export controls, tax management, physical and digital product fulfillment, multi-lingual customer service, advanced reporting and strategic marketing services.

Founded in 1994, Digital River is headquartered in Minneapolis with offices across the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America. For more details about Digital River, visit the corporate Web site at www.digitalriver.com or call +1 952-253-1234.

Digital River is a registered trademark of Digital River, Inc. All other company and product names are trademarks, registrations or copyrights of their respective owners.

The Branning Group has just launched a feature-packed, independent social networking platform. This package will allow investors and businesses to launch their own social network (like MySpace, Facebook, etc) targeted towards a local and/or niche market. The first site that launched off of the platform is bluecanvas.com; a social networking site geared towards the artist community.

Alex Branning, the founder and Chief Technology Officer of the Branning Group, was ecstatic when asked about the possibilities: “Our platform will allow investors to leverage their existing relationships to create a stand-alone Internet business with an organically expanding community that is actively involved in content creation and word-of-mouth marketing.” When asked about the security and capabilities of the platform Branning responded, “I learned from the best of the best. My co-workers were a who’s who of social networking development; I have taken those lessons and applied them to a solid, secure code base that can be transplanted into an existing web site or used to create a new online venture.” Branning argues that there is no better time to invest in an online business with the instabilities on Wall Street and the ever-dropping real estate market, saying “an online business provides a constant cash return, provided you have a solid marketing plan to get it started.”

The Branning Group Social Networking Platform comes with the following feature set out of the box: user management (with full statistics and reports); peer relationships through the network (users can become “friends” with each other); micro-blogging, complete content management system; image upload with folder system; activity feed; blog system for members; classifieds system; events broadcasting; internal messaging; powerful search engine that can retrieve content from all areas of the site; a message “wall” that allows users to leave notes on their friends’ profile pages; and many more (see http://www.branninggroup.com/Feature_Set_Branning_Group_Social_Networking_Platform.pdf for complete list).

Social networking is a new concept to many people but it has been around for over ten years. What is a social network? A social network is a way for people to make a public profile within a system that will allow them to connect with others. Within the social network a person is able to create content for their specific profile and share it with people that he or she is connected with. The most popular social networks are Facebook and MySpace; many media-centric sites have been adding social components to their sites.

For more information please contact Alex Branning at (661) 946 9008 or go to http://www.branninggroup.com .

Motivity™, a website optimization platform, has been recognized by Google as an official Google Website Optimizer™ Technology Partner (WOTEP). Of the thousands of content management (CMS) companies worldwide, there are only seven Google Website Optimizer Technology Partners. Motivity™ is currently the only partner that integrates with Website Optimizer to make ecommerce testing easy.

Motivity’s integration with Google Website Optimizer allows site owners to simultaneously test combinations of website content and layout to determine the best modifications to increase conversion and usability.
CEO, Kayden Kelly says, “Google Website Optimizer is an amazing tool that has the potential to help businesses opt-out of the recession and increase their revenues and market-share. Now integrated into the Motivity™ ecommerce and content management system, it allows marketing teams to easily setup and manage tests without the IT department since no website code needs to be touched.” Kayden Kelly is an evangelist for Google Website Optimizer and believes the tool takes website analysis to a new level that provides actionable data for clients. In a recent Motivity™ client test, Google Website Optimizer helped us to identify an improved page variation that increased the conversion rate 591%. (View the Google Website Optimizer case study)

Motivity™ is focused on improving the user experience of websites through ongoing website testing and analysis. With the integration of other Google tools like Google Analytics™, Webmaster Tools™, and AdWords™, Motivity™ helps you to improve your free and paid advertising so you can drive more, quality traffic to your website.

“Motivity™ is a website optimization platform that measurably drives business growth for ecommerce and B2B lead generation websites” states Ken Colborn, Vice President and Engineering Director of Motivity™, “and the content and ecommerce management capabilities can be customized to meet a client’s exact needs based on their unique business processes.”

To be considered an authorized partner for Google Website Optimizer applicants must demonstrate a history of success and a proficient knowledge of the tools, which Blast Advanced Media has exhibited through numerous articles on the subject published on their blog and web site, speaking and training at various industry related conferences and seminars, and through the documented results Blast has achieved for its clients.

About Motivity:

Motivity™ is the marketing and web site optimization platform for ecommerce and lead generation focused companies. Motivity™ makes it easy for your marketing team to improve campaign ROI and user experience with tools to analyze site activity, make and test changes, manage and verify search optimization and drive more quality traffic. The Google Website Optimizer module makes it easy to run A/B and Multivariate tests anywhere on your site(s). Motivity™ is the product of 10 years of experience and development at Blast Advanced Media, an online marketing and web development agency located in Northern California. Learn more about Motivity’s Ecommerce, CMS and Website Optimization features.

GreatSchools, the national education nonprofit that 35 million people turn to in order to find the right school and support their children’s education, today announced the launch of The Great Parents Pledge, a social media initiative that encourages parents to commit to greater involvement as they prepare for the Back to School season.
In the most challenging economic climate in recent history, with family, state and school budgets tighter than ever, GreatSchools is encouraging parents to exercise their influence by agreeing to three free, easy and vital ways they can dramatically increase their child’s academic success. The Great Parents Pledge calls on parents to:

1. Read or talk 20 minutes a day with your child

2. Partner with your child’s teacher

3. Volunteer at your child’s school

“As we enter Back to School season when everyone – from parents to policy makers – is thinking about education, we have a simple message: Parents have a huge influence on their child’s academic success and must be equipped to be effective champions of education at home and in their community,” said Bill Jackson, founder and CEO of GreatSchools. “The Great Parents Pledge helps parents make a commitment to greater involvement and participate in a broader conversation about the role of parents in education.”

GreatSchools aims to get one million parents to take The Great Parents Pledge and is also reaching out to thought leaders, artists, political leaders, child educators and other influential parents to encourage them to take the Pledge. Some early supporters include:

Po Bronson, author of NurtureShock;
Debbie Phelps, mother of Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps;
Charles Best, CEO of DonorsChoose.org;
Rob Corddry, comedian, actor and former correspondent for The Daily Show;
Andrew Shue, actor and co-founder of CafeMom;
Tiffany Shlain, Founder of The Webby Awards;
Barbara O’Brien, Lt. Governor of Colorado; and
Sandra Tsing Loh, writer/performer and author of Mother on Fire.
The Great Parents Pledge is designed to tap into social media channels, enabling parents to easily take it and share it with others. After taking the Pledge, parents can view which states and cities have the largest number of pledging parents. GreatSchools also developed The Pledge as a distributable widget so that parents can post and share it virtually anywhere on the Web. GreatSchools will feature The Great Parents Pledge on its website and on its Facebook, MySpace and CafeMom pages.

The GreatSchools.org website (www.greatschools.org/pledge), which serves as the destination for The Great Parents Pledge, also features rich content to help parents prepare for Back to School season – including how to avoid the summer ‘brain drain’ by keeping kids involved in learning, a shopping guide for cost effective school supplies, and a ‘Back to School Quiz’ to learn how to ensure kids have a smooth start to the school year.

Private and Public Sector Support

Numerous organizations in the education and parenting sectors are helping to promote The Great Parents Pledge, including America’s Promise and DonorsChoose.

Hallmark, an iconic brand, manufacturer and retailer of expression cards, is serving as the inaugural sponsor of The Great Parents Pledge. The Great Parents Pledge includes specific actions parents can take to ease their children’s back-to-school butterflies, such as slipping their child an encouraging card.

About GreatSchools

GreatSchools is an independent, nonprofit organization that improves education by inspiring parents to be involved.

Parents choose GreatSchools to connect with each other – to find the right schools, share stories and advice, and get their parenting questions answered. Over the past 10 years, GreatSchools has empowered and inspired millions of parents to support their children’s education. In the past year alone, more than 35 million people – approximately one in three K-12 households in the U.S. – visited GreatSchools (www.greatschools.org). With hundreds of thousands of ratings and parent reviews of schools nationwide, GreatSchools is the paramount parent-to-parent education community.

A Webby Award-winning site, GreatSchools is now expanding its reach and impact with its College Bound initiative, a new program that will provide structured online and offline training, mentoring and community resources to unlock the power of parents in guiding their children’s success in school and beyond. GreatSchools is supported by numerous foundations and corporations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Robertson Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation.

Documation, an awarding winning provider of document management and workflow solutions has ventured into the growing world of social networking by creating a profile on the popular micro-blogging site, Twitter.

“Communication is crucial to maintaining close relationships with customers and partners. With the ability to post up to the minute news, musings, accomplishments and other updates, it has never been easier to maintain this contact” Victoria Walmsley, Marketing Executive at Documation said: “Twitter is a fantastic engagement tool, and we look forward to forging relationships with other companies and individuals through our tweets.”

Documation sees Twitter as the ideal way of connecting with potential clients and partners to quickly inform them of any company activities. “It is a fantastically easy way to keep in touch with clients; it’s also brilliant to be embracing web 2.0 technologies like this. Documation is ready to join the conversation!”

If you have a Twitter account and would like to get the latest news, updates and offers from Documation, please go to www.twitter.com/Documation to start following.

About Documation
Documation is a software developer and system integrator of document management and workflow solutions. Utilising over 19 years experience in the document management business they develop tailored solutions to meet the needs of each individual business customer. Documation are based in Eastleigh, Hampshire.

What are you doing? It seems like everyone, especially in the media, is answering that question in 140 characters or less with a “tweet” and letting their “followers” know what they are up to each hour of the day. But is Twitter something that is in its infancy, something that is just a media darling or has it already experienced its fifteen minutes of fame?
These are some of the results of a new LinkedIn Research Network/Harris Poll® of 1,015 advertisers from agencies or corporations who are involved in the advertising decision making process surveyed online between June 22 and 30, 2009 and 2,025 U.S. adults surveyed online between June 24 and 26, 2009.

Opinion of Twitter

Just under half of advertisers (45%) say that Twitter is something is in its infancy and its use will grow exponentially over the next few years, while one in five (21%) believe Twitter will not move into the mainstream and is something mostly young people and the media will use. Just under one in five advertisers (17%) believe Twitter is already over and it’s time to find the next best thing while 17% of advertisers say they don’t know enough about Twitter to have an opinion on it.

Among consumers it is a different story altogether, as over two-thirds (69%) say they do not know enough about Twitter to have an opinion about it. Just over one in ten say it is just at its infancy (12%), 12% also say it is just something that young people and the media will use and 8% of consumers say it is already over and it’s time to find the next best thing.

As might be expected, there is also an age divide on opinions of Twitter. Younger advertisers are more likely to have an opinion on Twitter than their older counterparts (only 11% of 18-39 year olds do not know enough about Twitter to have an opinion compared to 20% of advertisers 40-49 years old and 21% of advertisers 50 and older). Among consumers, the same applies and only half (55%) of adults, 18-34 years old say they don’t know enough to have an opinion, compared to 80% of those 55 and older.

Effectiveness of Twitter

Among those who have an opinion regarding Twitter, feelings about the effectiveness of it for promoting products and ideas are lukewarm among both consumers and advertisers. Among advertisers, just 8% say Twitter is very effective for promoting products and ideas while half (50%) say it is somewhat effective. One-third (34%) of advertisers say it is not that effective and 8% believe it is not at all effective for promoting products and ideas. Among consumers, 8% also say it is very effective for promoting ideas and products and 42% believe it is just somewhat effective. Three in ten (31%) consumers say Twitter is not that effective and 19% feel it is not at all effective for promoting products and ideas.