The Value Per Action business model is similar to the Cost Per Action (CPA) model. CPA is where the merchant would pay a “commission” only when a shopper clicks on an ad and completes a purchase, whereas under a Cost Per Click (CPC/PPC) model, the merchant would pay a fee every time an ad is clicked. VPA is different because instead of just taking a commission when a shopper completes a sale, the consumer would receive a percentage of the commission as a discount, lowering the bottom line price.

CPA removes a lot of risk for merchants, but with VPA, there is value built in for both the merchants and the shoppers. It’s a win-win situation. This business model is a breath of fresh air for merchants who are sick of paying CPC’s in excess of .70-.80 on many of the major CPC Shopping Engines.

Leave it to Jellyfish to take this already remarkable business a step further with what they call “Smack Shopping”, a Live Internet Shopping Game Show that combines a shopping community with daily auctions, games and prizes (not to mention the host, Smack Daddy). Smack Shopping was Jellyfish’s answer to those who questioned how they were going to attract customers and build brand awareness. I can’t think of a better way myself, to build a community around a source of entertainment that will have every “sneezer” out there talking about it. +2 for Jellyfish.

Any Online Marketers who read Seth Godin know this industry was in need of a Purple Cow, and I think we might just have one.

The refinement/attributes menu has moved from the top of the page in Froogle, down to the bottom of the page in Product Search, along with some slight changes in the refinement/attributes interface. This means users are more likely to click on the top ranking products rather than skimming down into the refinement and attribute options, although Google does provide a link to narrow the results down to those that support Google Checkout.

Rumors have it that Google is not finished changing and experimenting with Product Search and how it will integrate with the main search results page via OneBox. I believe that we will soon see an expanded product results box with a secondary search form as well as attributes or refinement options. These are all reasons why you better be on top of your game with an optimized data feed.

Optimizing your data feed really consists of two main parts:

1. 1. Providing as much information about your products as possible, utilizing all required, optional and custom attribute fields.
2. 2. Optimizing Feed Content

I can tell you there really is no science to optimizing the content in your feed, your best bet is to just test, test, test. I have been getting some good results lately by just breaking each field down to its most simple, but descriptive form, sometimes including a common misspelling or alternative formatting in addition to the correct product name.

Google will also factor in how much information is attached to your product when determining when and where to return it as a search result. This is why attributes are so important. The information attached to your product in a feed is much more useful, and usually much more accurate than an organic search result, and Google recognizes this. It also helps the user by allowing them to dig down into refined product searches based on attributes.

Paid Search Advertising and SEO are common topics these days, but Data Feeds and Optimization are rarely discussed in comparison. Going forward, this channel may take the main stage as Google continues to change the way it organizes and returns product information.

Are you going to be ahead of the game, or left trying to catch up?

The underlying question remains… how will this affect my ads? One theory is that this area will suffer from Banner Blindness, the minds ability to block out ads on websites after being bombarded by them for so many years. I am not convinced that the paid ads will ever be affected by Banner Blindness when it comes to the majority of search queries.

Google users usually fall into one of two categories; those who are experienced with Google and understand the difference between paid, natural results, and those who just see results as results, and could care less where they come from. Both types of users click on these ads! Google’s advertising system is so well designed that the ads that it displays are usually equally (if not more) relevant than the natural listings.

Banner Blindness has occurred on the web because most banner advertising is irrelevant, annoying, and generally leads to a negative experience for the user. Google Paid Results are friendly, ultra relevant and often leads to positive user experiences, so this theory holds no water in my opinion.

I predict the increased visibility will lead eyes to this area of the page first, therefore resulting in a slight increase in click through rates (CTR), and an even slighter increase in conversion. Google is doing this to promote more clicks, which is in turn going to make them more money, and make advertisers (their customers) happier with an increase in CTR and Conversions.

As usual with Google, everyone wins.

I get more questions these days from friends, colleagues, and clients about blogs, blogging, and blogging for business, than about any other form of online marketing. I certainly understand why. Blogs and blogging is not just a trend or a fade that will be here today, and gone tomorrow, but should now be an intergral part of the marketing efforts of every company doing business online. The benefits of having a blog, and of blogging, is a post in itself, so I will leave that for another time. What follows are my 5 keys to creating (and maintaining) a successful blog.

5 Keys to Creating (and Maintaining) a Successful Business Blog

1. Focus - When creating and maintaining a business blog, it is important to keep yourself focused on the topics or themes of your industry. If your company makes Dog food, write about dog food, dog health, and dogs in general, not cats. It is okay to occassionally venture outside of your topic or theme, to gain a broader readership, but make sure you tie in your product, services, and company as it relates to the outside theme.
2. Voice - Companies do not blog, people do. It is paramount that you find one person, or a few people within your organization, to contribute to your blog. Companies are often uncomfortable with being personal, but you can be personal and still preserve your professionalism.
3. Passion - No one wants to read dull, boring, corporate fodder. Your voice, whoever that may be, must be passionate about your company, your industry, and your blog. There are too many other choices today - a passionate voice will attract and keep a passionate readership. A passionate readership is a loyal readership. A loyal readership can easily be turned into a loyal customer base.
4. Interaction - A blog should be a conversation; with your readers, with other bloggers, with your customers, and with your colleagues. Ask questions, solicit feedback, answer questions, link to others thoughts and ideas. Interaction and conversations build communities, and when combined with passion, you can create a legion of company evangelists.
5. Promotion - You should be proud of your blog. Do not hide it. Tell everyone about it - your current customers, your business partners, vendors, and other industry bloggers. While there are many advanced methods to build traffic to your site, the easiest way to instantly gain a readership (and to start building a passionate community) is to tell everyone you know about what you are doing.

One More Key, For Good Measure

Creating and maintaining your business blog may at first seem like a daunting task, but if you are able to effectively execute on the 5 keys outlined above, your hardwork will pay off. Remember that, in addition to the 5 keys listed above, you will to need to always be Creative, Original, Open, and Honest. This is tough, but important. Don’t be afriad to take things to the edge and get a little uncomfortable. The results will be well worth it.

On Wednesday, Sayers Media Group, a newly formed sister company of VoIP Supply launched PBX Prompts, a site that supplies voice over talent for phone, ivr, and voicemail systems. Our first products, Spanish and English voice prompt packages for Asterisk that are complete replacements, have been flying off our virtual shelves!

The PBX Prompts Value Proposition

PBX Prompts true value is in the ability for a customer to have a complete set of prompts including all system prompts and more importantly matching custom menus and on hold commercials is something that would cost a company a lot more than a couple hundred dollars if done from scratch on a one time recording. This is something that many small medium business and solutions providers have needed, but until yesterday have not been able to find.

I would like to thank those that assisted us in getting the word out about PBX Prompts over the last few days and for all of the folks that have visited and purchased our initial product offerings. Look for more great product and service offerings from PBX Prompts over the coming weeks, and if you have not yet visited the site, please check it out!