As you know, W3i gives users access to a wide catalog of applications on a variety of unique sites. At the same time, we also create value by connecting users to other apps they might find useful, interesting or relevant during the installation of these applications. As a clear investment in our application network, content discovery and furthering distribution opportunities for our advertising partners, I have the pleasure of announcing the release of a new internal product called Integrated Content Network.

Integrated Content Network (known internally as ICN) improves content discoverability through increased content availability and dynamic categorization on our sites. This benefits both users and advertisers. Users will discover more applications to download thus leading to greater distribution opportunities for our advertising partners, getting more of their applications in front of more potential users. Visit the freshly redesigned Freeze.com to see our first site powered by ICN.

But there’s more: ICN also increases internal efficiencies by leaps and bounds, allowing us to ensure we stay on top of application trends and seasonal changes. Couple that with ICN’s real-time site updates and we’re set to meet users’ needs with great speed.

ICN has a bright future. We have some great things in store for it, providing even further benefits to our partners and users. When these improvements are ready to be rolled out, you’ll be sure to hear about it.

As W3i moves forward, now is a better time than ever to become part of our application network. ICN is a perfect example of our investment in improving user experience and increasing distribution opportunities for advertisers. Looking for distribution for your app or monetizing your current traffic? You’ve come to the right place.

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i, LLC
Eric is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified Product Manager and uses his experience in internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution from both a consumer and business standpoint.

This evening I went online to BestBuy.com to pick up a new monitor for my home office PC. My old monitor crapped out a few days ago, and I’ve been meaning to get around to purchasing a new one. I tend to avoid brick and mortar stores for consumer electronic purchases, and BestBuy.com is usually the first website I start with when shopping for consumer electronics. (Apparently, I am like most other online shoppers… I read a recent analyst report that ranked BestBuy.com as the number one in total online consumer electronic sales.)

After using BestBuy.com’s user ratings to sort through and find the best-rated 23-inch monitor, I settled on an Acer H233Hbmid 23 inch Widescreen HD LCD Monitor listed at $209.99.

Thankfully for me, I use a couple of different browser add-ons which provide me with timely shopping related information while I am browsing the web. For this purchase, I followed through a message that came up from PriceGong (http://www.pricegong.com), which I had installed through W3i’s (http://www.W3i.com) Install IQ process a few months back. PriceGong alerted me that CompUSA.com had the exact same monitor for $199.99 with no shipping and handling, and no sales tax.

Later on, I proceeded through the checkout on BestBuy.com just to see what my final total would have been had I purchased this same monitor through BestBuy.com. With $14.99 for shipping and handling, and $16.37 sales tax, my total would have come to $241.35. I saved $41.36 because my installed application, PriceGong, recommended CompUSA.com while shopping at BestBuy.com!

Most tech bloggers talk down about any application that requires an install, such as Windows applications and hybrid applications (like the PriceGong browser add-on). Most tech bloggers are so caught up in the cloud these days that they fail to remember why operating system integration can be so useful. How can the cloud compete with the kind of timely information an installed application can provide?

Rob Weber, VP of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over nine, profitable years evolving W3i in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.

Recently the FTC published its guide on endorsements to address the application of Section 5 of the FTC act. This prompted some confusion and questions. Following by way of overview, I attempted to de-mystify the guide.

First, the guide contemplates endorsements and written testimonials. The examples provided in the guide make clear that activity subject to the guidelines must meet one of three criteria:

1. Expression of or appearing to express an opinion by words or acts. This criteria classically applies to the celebrity endorser who appears in a commercial;
2. Compensation to individuals. This criteria applies to the regular Joe who might write a blog post about a product received for free and to blogging services where persons are compensated for posting; or
3. Reviews of products. An independent reviewer who is quoted creates potential applicability if the excerpting of the review does not reflect the substance and thereby distorts the reviewer’s opinion.

Second, the guide generally prohibits the following acts:

1. Presenting an endorsement out of context;
2. Distortion of the original endorsement;
3. Unsubstantiated claims; and
4. Failing to disclose material connections with the endorser.

The specific proscriptions above, notwithstanding liability, accrues where there is an attempt to mislead by presenting as an independent endorsement, or in the alternative, the endorser’s statement is untrue. Note too than an advertiser can be liable for unsubstantiated, unprompted claims (if it does not attempt to refute and halt such claims) made by a paid endorser.

Third, consumer endorsements are scrutinized:

1. Claims made must be substantiated (including where applicable with scientific evidence); and
2. Where the depiction in advertisement implies actual consumers, actual consumers must be used or otherwise there must be a conspicuous disclaimer.

The guide gives attention to consumer endorsements because consumer endorsements are powerful and a significant opportunity for misdirection. Bottom line conspicuous disclaimers where applicable and substantiated claims (results of the endorser must set reasonable expectations) are required.

Fourth, expert endorsements by individuals or organizations require special care:

1. The endorser must have the expertise with respect to the endorsement;
2. The expert endorser must have credibly evaluated the product and the findings must be consistent with the endorsement (e.g. when claiming superiority).

Finally, when there is a connection between endorser and seller of the advertised product that might materially affect the weight and credibility of the endorsement, such connection must be fully disclosed.

The blogosphere has been uproarious in its critique of the guide requirements, so in closing I note instances where the guidelines do not apply:

1. Employees posting on a company website or blog;
2. Bloggers who post personal opinions without remuneration or connection;
3. Person’s using a clearly demarcated company sponsored Twitter account;
4. Posts to any social network site Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn where the post is associated clearly with a company’s attempt to self-promote.

In the end, the guidelines serve to clarify allowed and disallowed activity and, regardless of where you come down on their efficacy, are intended to promote forthrightness in company promotion to the consuming public. I for one commend the FTC for their attempt.

Hayden Creque, VP and General Counsel, W3i Holdings, LLC
Hayden counsels W3i on intellectual property, Internet law, privacy, and employment law issues. W3i strives to meet or exceed industry best practices. To learn more, click here.

W3i just wrapped up its first, of what will intently be annual, B2B Market Survey. We dubbed it the Application Distribution and Business Model Survey. Our goals were to improve our understanding of the Windows Application Market and its needs as well as broaden our understanding of how W3i can improve its services for both business partners and users.

I want to share three key insights gained from the survey. These insights are macro-level and, if instituted soundly, can provide consistent and copacetic results, fueling growth in the app market.

Insight #1: Know the Market Landscape

One thing is certain; the Windows Application Market is complex. Our survey added clarity into the diversity of verticals, needs, priorities, and anxieties that exist in this marketplace. It’s important to understand the landscape of the market(s) you’re in and to put that information to work. W3i has a unique vantage point in that we see the market across the entirety of application verticals (social networking, shopping, utilities, etc.), and we intend to use this information to better solve problems that uniquely impact the market.

Insight #2: Security and Trustworthiness Rule

Throughout the survey, respondents sent a clear message as to the importance of security and trustworthiness (see Figure 1). In every business partner and user interaction, these two values must be communicated with crystal clarity. Not only that, but your actions must match your words. W3i has a commitment to upholding a secure and trustworthy experience for users and partners. Our TRUSTe-certified InstallIQ is a perfect example of our testament to this.

Insight #3: Invest in Your Business Partners

We are humbled yet proud to have received high marks in the survey for our Business and Operational Support. Business Partner Satisfaction is one of our core corporate values — on a day-to-day basis our team works relentlessly to maximize growth and business partner relationships. Investing in a partner is truly an investment in the entire ecosystem – the entire market. Doing this acts as a direct conduit to improved user experience, improved campaign effectiveness and partner and user problems that get solved.

So there you have it. In sharing a few of the insights gained, our hope is that we can further drive innovation and growth in the Windows Application Market. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i, LLCEric is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified Product Manager and uses his experience in internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution from both a consumer and business standpoint.

With the next holiday season right around the corner, it is important for businesses to be prepared and enter the season with an online holiday media buying strategy; so when Santa comes down the chimney at the end of the holiday season he is carrying sacks of money instead of coal.

Every company is unique; and because of this, everyone’s media buying strategies are different. There is, however, some common steps that every media buy should possess to ensure success during the holiday stretch, whether your business is connecting people with applications or selling computers. The holiday season is the highest traffic time period on the net, which means it is important that you have a marketing strategy to best help promote your company or product. If you wait until Black Friday or Cyber Monday to start running your campaigns, you’re going to play catch up and have a tough time being competitive and maximizing your ROI. All this traffic in such a short period of time means there will be a lot of online inventory available. It is important to have a strategy in place so you are putting your product in front of the most valuable and qualified user instead of throwing your money away like leftovers after Thanksgiving.

Below is a graph indicating the increase in traffic during the major holidays. It proves that you need your strategy in place in order to get the best ROI on your media buys because the traffic comes fast and drops off even faster.

 Graph provided by http://www.google.com/trends

Goals
With any good strategy and a holiday media buying strategy in particular, goals must be in place. In order to create accurate goals for your campaign you must set some benchmarks. Do your research and ask yourself these questions: What worked last year? What didn’t? How much was spent? What channels were effective? Was it paid search? Display? An affiliate program? What were the rates? CPM, CPC or CPA? If you can answer these questions, it will not only help you optimize your campaigns with efficiency, it will also help you in determining the precise and most effective window of opportunity when starting and ending your campaigns. The goals you implement into your marketing strategy this year must be based on last year’s results. If you are a startup company and you are approaching your first holiday season, it is important to document and track everything you do this season so you will be firing on all cylinders next holiday season.

Test, Test, Test
Testing is a vital part for any media buy especially during the holiday season. Starting your tests early will give you and your team time to analyze the results and build historical data. It is important to choose which KPI’s (key performance indicators) are important to the particular buy. Once you have chosen which KPI’s to measure you will then need to determine what to test. There are many variations of tests you can run so that’s why it is important to test early.

Deploy and Observe Vigilantly
Deploy and monitor campaigns before the holiday season enters its peak period. This is essential for a variety of reasons, most notably because consumers are beginning to shop online earlier than ever before, according to Shop.org. Prior to the season, identify the newest and hottest trends (examine user browsing behavior, wish list activities, or whatever is important and pertains to your business or product). Observe your buy closely so you can be prepared for any shifts, and you can optimize at a moment’s notice. This is especially important when running display campaigns because they tend to take more time and effort when optimizing.

No Guarantees
There are no absolutes to creating the perfect holiday media buying strategy or any media buying strategies for that matter. These three tips are not the magic bullet and will not guarantee a successful holiday season on their own, but if you add them to your holiday media buying strategy you will definitely increase your chances for success.

Mitch Bain, Marketing Manager; W3i, LLC
Mitch has 4 years experience focusing on Display Advertising, Search Engine Marketing, and Mobile Marketing, in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.

St. Cloud, Minnesota – October 9, 2009 – W3i Holdings, LLC announced today that Lisa Nistler was appointed Vice President of Marketing.

Lisa will be responsible for W3i’s marketing strategy and functions including: Owned and Operated web sites, creative services, usability, and client relationships.

Prior to joining W3i, Nistler was Vice President of Marketing and Technology at St. Francis Private School, where she was responsible for all traditional and interactive marketing, as well as technology educator. Lisa has extensive experience leading strategic account teams at technology companies. Before St. Francis, Nistler led Digital River’s strategic account development organization, focused on interactive marketing, optimization, and global ecommerce. Nistler has a broad-based background that spans technology, retail, direct marketing, agency, and academia.

Lisa attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, focusing on interior design, and the Minnesota School of Business, focusing on business administration.

Nistler will report to Andy Johnson, CEO. “Lisa is a key member of our team and is very committed to the growth of W3i. We congratulate her as she takes on new responsibilities in this leadership role,” comments Andy.

About W3i:
W3i, an application network that increases revenue, distribution and engagement for Windows applications and plug-ins, combines the demand for free and trial applications monetized by the distribution of recommended, relevant applications when the consumer is in the installation mindset. The W3i Application Network uses InstallIQ, W3i’s proprietary Windows installation manager, the first installation manager to be certified in the TRUSTe Trusted Download Program. Tested and optimized on over 300 million installs–currently over 9.6 million installs monthly and growing, W3i will prove to be a valued partner in growing your application business. To learn more, visit the W3i Application Network.

Press Contact:
Deborah Manthei
W3i Holdings, LLC.
deborah.manthei@W3i.com
320-257-7571

As a product manager, when doing market research, I always come across interesting articles, blogs, and other media that are worth sharing with others. What I want to do today is share three of my favorite YouTube videos that really made me think critically about how to build application experiences that users love. So sit back, grab some popcorn, and soak in the shared knowledge.

1. Understand your users
   Google set out to understand how many people knew what a browser was. If this video teaches you anything, it’s that if you are involved in this space, you probably know much more than the majority of your users. Building a connection with your users might mean you have to break down barriers. Understand them and speak in their terms. The result is a pretty fun video that shows the barriers Google has in place when trying to increase adoption rate of Chrome:
2. Embrace social; it’s huge and it’s important
   No way around it, social media is huge and is no fad.  Watch this video to grasp its enormity.  Then, brainstorm how to build social media and features into your applications and marketing plan.
3. Obsess over customers, invent, and think long term
   Jeff Bezos, CEO and founder of e-commerce site, Amazon, describes what he’s learned over the years about providing a great service.  All of the items that Jeff reviews can be applied easily to building a great application that users love:

If anyone has favorite videos that speak to anything remotely related to the Windows application marketplace, feel free to share in the comments!

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i, LLC
Eric is a Pragmatic Marketing Certified Product Manager and uses his experience in internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution from both a consumer and business standpoint.

St. Cloud, Minnesota, September 30, 2009 – Andy Johnson, CEO of W3i, to speak at Software Business 2009 today in San Diego, CA. Andy will address ways to increase revenue for applications with the freemium model.

Many applications start with a developer passionate about technology looking for a better way to accomplish something online. They love to build the application but hate to market, frequently giving their application away for free. Andy will cover various business models as well as W3i’s unique application network. By making money, passionate developers can continue to develop applications that enrich people’s lives.

“I appreciate the opportunity to attend Software Business 2009 and discuss new ways to increase distribution and revenue generation for application marketers,” comments Andy Johnson.

About W3i
W3i, an application network that increases revenue, distribution and engagement for Windows applications and plug-ins, combining the demand for free and trial applications monetized by the distribution of recommended, relevant applications when the consumer is in the installation mindset. The W3i Application Network uses InstallIQ, W3i’s proprietary Windows installation manager, the first installation manager to be certified in the TRUSTe Trusted Download Program. Tested and optimized on over 300 million installs–currently over 9 million installs monthly and growing, W3i will prove to be a valued partner in growing your application business. To learn more, visit the W3i Application Network.

About Andy Johnson
Andy, CEO of W3i Holdings, LLC, formerly served as President of CMS Direct, a leading network database company serving the direct marketing industry. Earlier, Johnson served as President of Prefer Network, a leader in the network database industry.

Prior to that, he served as President of Fingerhut’s Electronic Commerce Division and managed Fingerhut’s Credit Card Portfolio. His background in various marketing management capacities includes direct response catalog marketing, customer acquisition, database management, credit marketing and telemarketing. In 1995 while serving as Fingerhut’s Senior Vice President Marketing, Johnson led the development effort to bring Andysgarage on line. Andysgarage was Fingerhut’s award winning closeout merchandise e-commerce site that brought the “Big Deal of the Day” to millions of consumers worldwide. In addition to numerous other awards, Andysgarage was named Best Retail Site in 1997 and Best Auction Site in 1999 by the Web Marketing Association. Johnson led the launch of Fingerhut.com in June 1997, which was the beginning of Fingerhut’s transformation from its catalog heritage into a leading web based direct marketer.

Press Contact:
Deborah Manthei
W3i Holdings, LLC
deborah.manthei@W3i.com
320-257-7571

I love getting a great deal, and I don’t have a lot of time to search for alternative offers so I use a shopping application. The shopping comparison sites are great. I bookmarked Overstock.com, Shopzilla, SmartBargains, Shopping.com, PriceGrabber.com, and Yahoo! Shopping. Of course, there is always Amazon and eBay. (Dangerous, as these sites are addicting and I couldn’t pass up several great bargains doing my research.)

However, I really love the convenience of desktop applications. And there are many benefits for the retailer. Being on the user’s desktop keeps your site top-of-mind and increases impulse purchases. Who doesn’t get distracted occasionally and begin to play with the apps on their desktops? Voila, a potential sale for you. Or the app can jump in when the user is searching for an item that the retailer has in their inventory. Voila, another potential sale.

Reminders. Shopping applications can offer reminders and promotions—creating an urgency to buy during key times of the year. What man doesn’t need to be reminded that they should buy their wife or girlfriend a gift during the holidays? Also if they are planning to buy online, they might need a reminder to buy now in order to get the gift there in time for the holidays. Gift suggestions can also do the trick. Shopping apps can offer more product information as well as recommendations; things that increase the value for the user.

While shopping applications were once difficult and time consuming to develop, new tools such as Adobe AIR exponentially speed up time to market. Adobe AIR allows developers to use web based technologies such as HTML, JavaScript and AJAX to develop shopping applications with the ability to support multiple operating systems. Adobe AIR also allows the shopping application to interact with your website if the user has it open in their browser. Previously this was much more difficult to do. Typically websites are sandboxed, however, Adobe AIR gives developers the ability to access some operating system features that only the typical shopping application could access to in the past. Adobe AIR is a remarkable technology that will allow you to get your app developed and out to your customers in no time.

With the simplicity of Adobe AIR. a shopping application can be built to maximize sales for this year’s holiday. Once a shopping comparison application is built, a large user base is necessary to reap the rewards. W3i has distributed over 300 million applications with proven results for e-retailers. The VP of Business Development at a major shopping comparison site comments about W3i’s Application Network, “W3i’s distribution partnership helped us build a loyal and active user base of well over three million daily consumers comparing prices across thousands of Internet stores within six months of launch.” Click Here to learn more about the W3i Application Network, a performance-based distribution opportunity, and how it can begin building your user base.

Thomas Heitz, Business Development, W3i
Thomas is a Business Development Executive at W3i, an application network that increases revenue, distribution, and engagement for Windows applications and plug-ins.  His expertise is in increasing revenue and traffic for shopping and entertainment applications.

I suspect that most of you reading this blog post are interested in applications and are not Minnesota Timberwolves junkies or have some strange fix for the silly Trix rabbit.

Last week was an interesting week.  I found you can learn a lot about application marketing by listening to other successful businesses. 

I started off the week working with my team here at W3i on finalizing a survey for anyone in our industry on the topic of Application Distribution And Business Models.  For the first time, W3i offered a free White Paper to contacts who participated in the survey.  Immediately, we saw the number of completed surveys per solicitation outperform our wildest expectations (feel free to participate if you like).

On Wednesday, I headed to the Twin Cities for the PDMA event being hosted by General Mills’ iSquad team.  iSquad is a specialized business unit which helps facilitate new product development/innovation for Generall Mills.  General Mills sells $15B+ of food every year and has hundreds of products including my very own favorite, Trix cereal.  I hear a lot about General Mills’ world class marketing team, and after attending their presentation, I was not let down.

The iSquad team delivered a presentation on innovating innovation.  The four key aspects they outlined for their process were.

• Find Great Ideas Regularly
  • Using the I3 approach to identify great ideas.
    • Immersion – Understand the problem
    • Interaction – Experience the problem
    • Idea Creation – Solve the problem
• Expand Available Talent
  • Isaac Newton said it best “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants,” meaning you should leverage the best internal and external knowledge available so that you are not inefficiently discovering things which were already discovered. 
  • Similarly, you could think about partnering with other companies to increase your available talent
• Get Smarter Sooner
  • A new product blunder cost the company $16M which could have been prevented if they would have released an earlier prototype of the product and understood how it would be used.  Get Smarter Sooner is a commitment they have to get high quality, but not perfect, products to market to real consumers faster so that they have a better understanding of the opportunity/challenges for the product.
• Pave A New Way
  • They try to work within their organization to have cross-functional resources involved in new product development so that as the new product is developed and deployed there are experts who are prepared to help with the transition post-launch.

Last night Kurt Rambis (the new head coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves and NBA legend) and players (7th overall draft pick Johnny Flynn and Ryan Gomes) presented my brother and co-founder, Rob and I with the The Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal’s 2009 Young Entrepreneur Award. Kurt spoke about the Timberwolves need to innovate if they are to become more effective than their recent struggles. The Timberwolves sponsored the event to engage the business community (potential customers of their corporate suites, etc.) with the major changes underway with the franchise. The changes to the front office, coaching staff, and players have led to a totally new team for 2009/10. 70% of the roster is comprised of players that were not on the team last year. Rambis spoke a lot about the personnel changes made as well as his process, knowledge, and experience that led to his past success (7 championships as a player/coach with the Lakers). I was quite surprised by the interaction and openness by the Timberwolves coach in responding to questions and sharing his perspective on the team. I believe that Kurt will be a great coach and a welcomed member of the community.

As VP of Corporate Strategy, I oversee the Product Management team here at W3i. We are constantly soliciting our business contacts and users for feedback so that we can be more tuned in with their needs.

Click here to complete the Application Distribution and Business Models Survey (only takes 10 to 15 minutes to complete) and you’ll receive a free White Paper to help you become more informed on this subject and support innovation with your application business.

A special thanks to all of the many users and business contacts who have provided feedback which have helped W3i get to where it is at today.

Ryan Weber, Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Co-Founder, W3i, LLC
Entrepreneur and pioneer of Internet marketing focusing on increasing revenue and distribution for digital downloads.