St. Cloud, Minnesota, April 9, 2009-W3i, LLC today announced a global partnership with Yahoo!, under which W3i will continue to offer the Yahoo! Toolbar, as well as sponsored search and contextual advertising services, to over 16.5 million visitors monthly.

As a leader in desktop and browser marketing solutions, W3i provides its users with useful, safe, free software and utilities to improve their Internet experience.  W3i’s goal is to connect users with downloads that add utility to their desktop and make their time on the Internet more productive.

“Our partnership with Yahoo! allows us to offer world-class search capabilities to our users. Yahoo! has made impressive strides with its search marketing system, and continues to innovate to drive the most compelling user and advertiser experience,” said Andy Johnson, CEO of W3i. “As a leader in delivering quality, downloadable content, W3i is excited to continue our partnership and looks forward to growing our relationship with Yahoo! even more over time.”

About W3i:
W3i delivers proven, integrated desktop and browser marketing solutions.  With solutions tested and optimized on over 200 million installs–currently 4.2 million installs monthly, W3i can increase revenue and traffic for downloadable software, applications and digital content or provide a receptive consumer base for customized, targeted distribution programs while the user is in the download mode.  W3i’s solutions utilize Install IQ, a proprietary Windows installation system and download manager developed by W3i.  Install IQ is the first installation system to be certified in the TRUSTe Trusted Download Program.  To learn more about W3i, visit www.w3i.com.  For premium quality, free consumer content, visit freeze.com (screensavers, wallpaper and clip art), wallpapers.com (animated, static and Wallery wallpapers), screensaver.com (3D and flash screensavers), and my.freeze.com (latest news, home page).

Contact:
Deborah Manthei
Director of Marketing Communications
320-257-7571
deborah.manthei@W3i.com

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One of the weaknesses of desktop software installers is usability.  They interrupt what should be a consistent, user-friendly web-site or application design.  Software installation is also a great place to recommend other valued software to your users while users are in the download mode allowing you to make additional money.  Learn about challenges, opportunities, and tools so that you can get the most out of your Windows installer.

Most Windows installers add nothing to the user experience.  The boring design doesn’t match the web-site of the provider and has no resemblance to the software that is being installed.  When testing, W3i sees double-digit increases in conversions when keeping an integrated design look between the landing page and the Windows installer.   

For Windows installers, success is measured solely by the technical utility of whether or not the install can complete the software installation process.  User abandonment, user satisfaction, and user discovery (if tracked at all) are not a priority.  Other than a possible “Read Me” file, users are not offered any way to customize their settings or review recommendations for additional software, both common practices for web applications. 

Working with Windows installers for over nine years, I have experience getting users to install software, as W3i has installed over 200 million desktop software applications from hundreds of software providers.  I hope to provide you insight into challenges, opportunities, and tools available so that you have the knowledge to make your installer more productive.

Installer Challenges

Windows desktop installation is typically a specialized skill that few developers have experience with, other than configuring one of the big installation packages.

Developers can face a great deal of complexity with their installer in areas such as packaging, deployment, testing, and management.  These are very important aspects of the installer and have become the dominant focus of available software tools.  This, however, ignores the very important user experience as well. 

As desktop software distribution is increasingly moving from the CD to the Internet, most software tools are retrofitting their solutions instead of building web-based capabilities for optimizing installer design and interacting with the user.  Installers built with the standard tools have the same stale look and feel as software installed on your first Windows 95 computer from CD.

Installer Opportunities

A big shift from CD to Web-based installation is where the user abandons the process.  With a CD, once the user makes the purchase and opens the package, the installation process will not deter her.  In contrast, if the Web installation looks confusing, daunting, guilty of delivering malware, or even not that cool, a user simply clicks out. 

Designers frequently help design the website and software interface, but the installation is usually off limits, making this non-integration feel even more pronounced.  Building an installer that mimics the look and feel of your website can provide a significant boost in completed installations.  See the article W3i posted called, “Creating Consistency To Increase Conversions” (http://blog.w3i.com/index.php/2009/03/06/creating-consistency-to-increase-conversions/).

Utilizing the installation to recommend other software has also become big business.  Apple, Sun, Adobe, McAfee, Symantec, Google, Yahoo, W3i, and many others are all participating.  The simplest example is recommending a toolbar that matches your user interests.  The key is making it relevant to the user.  It is estimated that toolbars generate more than $1 billion of annual revenue, a nice piece of additional business. 

Questions To Ask About Recommending Software Within Your Installer

1. What if the user already has the software you are recommending? 
2. What if you have a variety of software which you’d like to recommend?  How do you pick the right software? 
3. How will adding additional software recommendations in the installer impact the funnel? 
4. How can you track the activity that occurs during or after installation to understand the results of these recommendations? 
5. How can you ensure your software is following industry best practices? 
6. How can multiple software applications be downloaded and installed with a consistent, understandable, process flow for the user?

Installer Tools

There are numerous open source and commercial tools for creating Windows installers (MSI packages) including: InstallShield (http://www.acresso.com/), NSIS (http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page), and Wise (http://www.symantec.com/business/package-studio).  Tools range in cost from nothing to thousands of dollars.  The commercial solutions are typically sold on a paid-license model.

You can easily spend hours researching software tools available for creating your installer, but it only takes a quick visit to their websites to know how big a business it has become and how complicated it is to license their software tools just for installing–not improving on the user experience.

Most of the simpler tools provide almost no configuration of the navigation, look and feel, or ability to capture response input from the installation experience; and focus on simply solving the technical task of creating an MSI package with appropriate system integration.

The more sophisticated tools typically provide access to an editor which allows you some control over the background image, navigation, and inputs; but not at the level required to reach the optimal level of performance.

W3i used Wise extensively in its past, so prior to writing this article, I spent considerable time researching the most popular tools.  My hope was to uncover some great solutions to enhance design and advertising within the installer.  I really struggled and found my quest led to more questions than answers.  I began to appreciate the value that these tools provide for the technical aspects of building your installer, but they still fall short on providing for those interested in design or advertising. 

W3i built a proprietary Windows installer, InstallIQ, after the frustration we had using Wise, to implement our installers need for design and advertising.  Wise, I believe, is characteristic of all the software tools currently available.  They do not cater to those with a significant appetite for design and advertising.  Only through extensive investment in tweaking their code can you develop something that is functional.

With InstallIQ, our installation is as sophisticated as many websites.  We have total creative control and also a rich set of decision-making data that you would expect from a website.  The software tools typically allow you to turn them silent, which essentially means you can disable any dialogues/messages to the end user and rely instead on something else to manage this.  At W3i, we found it very effective for our system to manage the user experience, including advertising through software recommendations, and continue to leverage the best available software tools to manage the other aspects of the software installation. 

InstallIQ is available to software publishers.  Because of the ad-supported focus, W3i’s clients are paid based on the performance of the software recommendations made through their distribution.  This focus on performance is what aligns W3i’s interest with its clients.  For more information, contact W3i.

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.

Attending the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco last week, I was able to pick up on the Web 2.0 buzz.  Web 2.0 is a conference that centers on opportunities created by Web 2.0 technologies.  Big names in the industry were there:  Facebook, eBay, Google, Amazon and a vast number of startups, as well.  Through walking the show floor and attending a variety of educational seminars, I picked up on quite a few hot topics currently buzzing through the industry.  There were three that stood out for me in particular because of their implication on the future of the web and impact to users:  crowd-sourcing content, social objects and interest measurement.

Crowd-sourced content is not a new idea, but is one that is being perfected by the likes of Threadless.com and Etsy.com.  In this community model, users are in full control of the content that is available on a site.  What’s interesting is how these companies built a passionate community; they did so by adopting a bottom-up notion of brand-building – this involves little control of the brand itself.  The users are in full control; submitting, voting on and consuming their content with little brand interaction.  By effectively running a crowd-sourced site and truly allowing the users to have control, a passionate, vibrant community can be formed.

Social objects are the concepts that bind a social network.  For a social network to be successful, it first has to be useful.  Without the correct social object to bind the network, users will not coalesce into a stable community.  Take, for example, LinkedIn — for a time, the central object on LinkedIn was the user’s connections.  This wasn’t particularly useful as it didn’t serve the true purpose of the site, which was to create a community centered on the user’s job.  LinkedIn realized this and made changes to their site that focused on the job rather than the connections.   When a social networking site is built, it’s important to understand its social object and how users interact with it.

Interest measurement is based on the idea that it is important to find what is most interesting to users.  Recommender systems look at explicit and implicit user data to find commonalities in neighborhoods of users to show content that a user might like.  But a question remains: how do you know what is highly interesting within a network?  The answer is straightforward:  by using a Page-Rank-like algorithm and applying it to, say, Twitter, value is given to content that is shared with the network.  The more the content is proliferated through the network, the higher the interest score that content gets.  Using this data could have broad implications as one could create a Digg-like site that would automatically sort stories based on user interest with no manual digging required.

Overall, the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco was a great place to meet people, learn about new products and pick up on the Web 2.0 buzz.  I highly recommend it for anyone wanting to achieve these things.  The web was built by the people and should continue to serve the people in exciting and innovative ways as we move forward.  There are many ways that the web is growing and maturing.  But even by looking at the Web 2.0 topics I mentioned: perfecting social networks through use of social objects and crowd-sourced content and providing more insight into what is users truly find interesting, the web should become an even more personal and compelling place.  And that’s what the Web 2.0 Expo buzz was all about. 

Eric Montag, Product Manager, W3i Holdings, LLC
Eric uses his experience in graphic design, mobile, and internet marketing to lead the charge in product research, planning, and execution, from both a consumer and business standpoint.

For years, as part of my job, I’ve scoured the web for innovative browser and Windows software applications.  In the spirit of the Final Four tournament, I broke down the apps that make up my Elite 8 for innovation and let them battle it out for the one I crown as national champ.

The Final Four (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/tournament/bracket) plays out this Saturday in Detroit with Michigan State facing off against Connecticut and Villanova facing off against North Carolina in this year’s semifinals.  The finalists will be played on Monday for the national championship.

I was compelled to take this opportunity to respond to a common question I receive.  What browser and desktop software applications do I find interesting?

W3i is a leading provider of distribution, revenue generation, and user engagement solutions utilized for more than 200 million downloads by a wide range of browser and desktop software publishers.  It is my job to understand browser and desktop software trends.  I am also an enthusiast who believes software done right creates a compelling user experience that web-sites alone cannot compete with.

I will begin with an overview of the apps which make up my Elite 8.  My only criteria was what I found to be the most interesting and innovative apps.  These are not necessarily my most often used nor the most complex applications.  The apps include browser (toolbars or other add-ons) and Windows desktop software applications.

1. Xobni - http://www.xobni.com/- Xobni is an Outlook plug-in that has even captured Bill Gate’s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr5zOxG7wbU) attention. I have found this application helpful in understanding the relationship I have with people I frequently exchange emails. Such as the fastest responder or the most frequent people I interact with. There are also various methods they use to organize your emails in a way that creates a new and valuable experience.



2. Digsby - http://www.digsby.com - Digsby is my preferred software interface for aggregating my many social networks, instant messengers, and email services.
3. Recipe Feeder - http://www.recipefeeder.com - My wife loves pasta but I have a particular taste for it. Using Recipe Feeder, I inputted my preferences within a few seconds. After a few minutes, Recipe Feeder scoured the web and found the recipes that met my criteria. I have taken an interest in pulling recipes, but as of yet haven’t mastered my own kitchen!



4. TurboSaver  by Upromise – http://www.upromise.com/partner/origin.do?partnerName=turbosaver&ax=turbosaver&cm_mmc=Other-_-Toolbar-_-Menu-_-toolbar – I have had a Upromise account for a few  years but found it a bit painful to always navigate back to their web-site when shopping online to look for opportunities to earn cash for my 5 year old nephew’s college fund.  Since they have released TurboSaver, a browser plug-in to help aid in your discovering participating merchants, I have found it much easier to purchase from their participating merchants.



5. Skype Phone Number Recognition – http://www.browserhighlighter.com/ – Dialing a phone number seems so old fashioned.  Why not leverage Skype’s browser plug-in to dial a phone number directly from a web-page?  Skype recognizes the phone numbers found on a web-page and allows you to easily click on them to dial.



6. Wakoopa - http://www.wakoopa.com – A desktop application which tracks your Windows and web software usage.  You will see an overview of the types of software you use, usage, reviews you have written, and can share this information with friends.
7. MashLogic - http://www.mashlogic.com  – A Firefox application which modifies the web-page to enable keywords matched on the web-page to source additional information retrieved from sources you configure.  The matching and speed are of high quality.  With the right information this tool can be quite handy.  I use it to save time when looking up information on other web-sites or companies.



8. Youlicit Search Enhancement - http://www.youlicit.com/download/ – Youlicit mines the social web to find out which web-sites are being recommended by real people.  The Firefox application highlights web-sites (see green highlights in below screenshot) which Youlicit has found to be recommended as well it provides additional recommendations on the right side of the search results.

The Most Innovative Apps Tournament Bracket

And the National Champion is… Xobni!

These are all very innovative apps.  So what’s so special about Xobni?  Besides being a really cool application, it stands out because I love seeing something interesting in what otherwise tends to be a boring application experience with my basic business applications.  We all spend so much time on the desktop and so providers like Xobni deserve a lot of credit.

Looking to step up your game with downloads?  Check out our website to learn more about how we can help you improve distribution, revenue generation, and user engagement with your downloads.

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

St. Cloud, MN, March 19, 2009 – Young Sohn, Chairman of W3i’s Board of Governors and President and CEO of Inphi Corporation, a private Analog semiconductor company, will be a panelist at GSA Emerging Opportunities Luncheon on April 7, 2009. The panel will be discussing, “Driving Semiconductor Development-Opportunities in Communications and Computing.”

The GSA Emerging Opportunities Expo & Conference brings together suppliers and semiconductor professionals in an effort to advance and cultivate global business partnerships. The panel will discuss how communications and next-generation computing (cloud computing, etc.) will provide new opportunities in emerging applications that will drive the future of semiconductor development and product delivery.

“Young Sohn’s advice and perspective are crucial to the success of W3i.” comments Andy Johnson, CEO of W3i, providing revenue and distribution generation for software marketers. “His insight will be as beneficial to those attending the GSA Conference as it is to W3i.”

About W3i:

W3i increases revenue for downloadable software, applications and digital content by providing a receptive consumer base for customized, targeted download distribution. W3i uses a network approach combining the demand for free and trial software supported by the distribution of value-added software when the consumer is in the download mindset. W3i’s Download Network uses Install IQ, W3i’s proprietary Windows installer, the first installer to be certified in the TRUSTeTrusted Download Program. Tested and optimized on over 200 million installs–currently 4.2 million installs monthly, W3i will prove to be a valued partner in growing your download business. To learn more, visit W3i’s Download Network.

Contact:
Deborah Manthei
Director of Marketing Communications
320-257-7571
deborah.manthei@W3i.com

St. Cloud, MN, March 13, 2009 – W3i, providing revenue and distribution generation for software marketers, announced that it was named to the Upshot50, a listing of the most innovative, powerful and useful marketing tools and technologies.

“We are excited to be included in the Upshot50,” said Andy Johnson, CEO. “W3i has worked for over nine years perfecting a proprietary Windows installer, Install IQ, supporting a network of download marketers that are either looking for increased distribution or increased revenue for their consumer downloads.  It is great to be recognized among the ranks of innovative marketing companies like Omniture, Adfusion, and PRWeb.”

The Upshot50 are companies recognized for offering the most innovative, powerful and useful marketing tools and technologies that are empowering marketers in today’s complex new world. Recognized leaders in the field, the Upshot50 are marketing technology providers reshaping the world of marketing.

The Upshot Institute is an information, analysis, education and consulting services firm, with a focus on marketing technology and the ways in which it may be applied in marketing organizations. The Upshot Institute delivers a range of useful resources and opportunities for both marketers and vendors, such as free on-demand summits, workshops, vendor reports, podcasts and the insanely popular Upshot50 Awards. For more information, please visit www.UpshotInstitute.com.

About W3i: 

W3i increases revenue for downloadable software, applications and digital content by providing a receptive consumer base for customized, targeted download distribution.  W3i uses a network approach combining the demand for free and trial software supported by the distribution of value-added software when the consumer is in the download mindset.  W3i’s Download Network uses Install IQ, W3i’s proprietary Windows installer, the first installer to be certified in the TRUSTeTrusted Download Program.  Tested and optimized on over 200 million installs–currently 4.2 million installs monthly, W3i will prove to be a valued partner in growing your download business. To learn more, visit W3i’s Download Network.

Contact:
Deborah Manthei
Director of Marketing Communications
320-257-7571
deborah.manthei@W3i.com

Minneapolis, MN – On February 6th, several hundred high tech entrepreneurs connected at an event called MinneDemo. The conference provided a chance for high tech start-ups from the Twin Cities and the broader state of Minnesota to network and to show off their cool new technology.  Great job to everyone involved in organizing and sponsoring this event!

Click here to listen to Rob Weber’s podcast interview by Graeme Thickins at MinneDemo(http://minnov8.com/2009/02/07/m8-gang-episode-24/, featured at 11:00 mins)

Rob Weber, Vice President of Business Development and Co-Founder, W3i
Rob is an Internet marketing pioneer with over nine, profitable years building proven business models that increase revenue and distribution for downloads.

St. Cloud, Minnesota, February 13, 2009 – The freemium business model can increase your bottom line.  In 1865 when King Gillette started giving his safety razor away for free, creating demand for his high-margin, disposable blades, the freemium business model was born.  Without using the freemium business model, Gillette would not have built his empire, and it is now a commonly used business model especially in the marketing of digital content. 

The freemium business model has many names—try-before-you-buy, shareware, tiered service, trial—to name a few.  Basically, it means giving something of value away for free, supported by revenue earned from the sale of an upgrade or complimentary product.  This is a very common business model in the software industry.  Software marketers promote a free version of their software supported by the premium, paid version.  The trick is to create the right mix of features, offering enough utility to the free user to create credibility, and promoting highly attractive features that will persuade the free user to become a paid subscriber.  

To create profit, the financial model looks like this:  the lifetime value of paying customers must be greater than the cost of acquiring and supporting both free and paying customers.  Reported conversion rates to the premium version vary by product, but range from .05 and 5%; the average being 2%.

There are several reasons why you should consider a freemium business model.  Here are some of them:

1. When done right, quality trials build loyalty and trust.
2. Reduces risk by giving the user a chance to experience the value of the software.
3. Expedites a large customer base, increasing network effects and efficiencies resulting in:
   • more brand awareness
   • collective intelligence
   • faster product adoption
   • a more defensible business model, and
   • more efficient marketing, as costs are spread out over a larger base.
4. The cost of distribution and the support of digital content are never lower, allowing this model to increase in popularity.

There are also several reasons why this model has its limitations:

1. People value what they pay for and will make more effort to discover how it will benefit them.
2. It is difficult to cover the acquisition and support costs if only 2% of those installing your software are actually paying for the product.

There are other “free” models that you might consider:

1. Give a “desired” product away for free when a customer commits to a long-term subscription with you.  The mobile business uses this extensively when they give a cell phone away for free if a user signs up for a long-term contract.
2. Ad-supported free – Many magazines are free or highly discounted because of the revenue-generated from their ads.
3. Giving a product away for free while charging for a complimentary, high-margin product.  King Gillette had this down to a science.  Also consider that every time you go into a theater the cost of the ticket is subsidized by the profit the theater makes when you purchase popcorn and other high-margin snack items.

Whichever business model you choose to pursue, W3i can piggyback with your offer to layer on an additional revenue or distribution stream.  Through W3i’s Download Network you have the ability to increase distribution and revenue for your downloadable content.  By using W3i’s proprietary Windows Installation System, Install IQ, you can increase distribution for your download by being one of the value-added software offered during the installation process.  Or you can increase your revenue by using the demand for your download to be combined with other value-added software offers during the installation; and you are monetized when the user selects your software as well as the additional software.  You can then earn money on 98% of users that would otherwise get away.  Software offered through Install IQ converted by as much as 60%.  Contact W3i to learn more. 

Josh Fiedler is the Business Development Lead at W3i Holdings.  As a leader in innovative ways to increase revenue and traffic for downloads, he focuses mainly on downloadable games and utility software.

About W3i:
W3i delivers proven, integrated desktop and browser marketing solutions.  With solutions tested and optimized on over 200 million installs–currently 4.2 million installs monthly, W3i can increase revenue and traffic for downloadable software, applications and digital content or provide a receptive consumer base for customized, targeted distribution programs.  W3i’s solutions utilize Install IQ, a proprietary Windows installation system and download manager developed by W3i.  Install IQ is the first installation system to be certified in the TRUSTe Trusted Download Program.  To learn more about W3i, visit www.W3i.com. 

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

We are proud to announce the launch of the redesign of one of our core properties – Wallpapers.com. As one of the oldest wallpaper sites on the internet, we didn’t take this task lightly. We implemented many improvements to enhance user experience; ones that we hope will enable our visitors to navigate and access our wallpaper content more easily.

The following outlines some of the areas that were affected by the redesign:

Design

One of the core visual elements that was upgraded was the logo. We’ve streamlined it to be bolder and more legible, and included subtle nuances that draw a nice connection to the different types of wallpaper content offered on Wallpapers.com. Keep reading and you will see the connection.

Before we talk about that though, those who are loyal Wallpapers.com visitors will have noticed a relatively drastic change in the redesign. Based on results from landing page tests, we noticed that users responded particularly well to dark themes, so we set about to implement these findings into the redesign – out with the eye-straining pastel green from the 80’s, in with the sleek, modern shades of charcoal gray with highlights of silky blue. The more neutral color allows the content to stand out and provides a sense of focus. Oh, and unless you are using an LCD screen, you might save a little on energy consumption on the side.

Speaking of focus, we’ve also reworked the layout of the site. Instead of poking around in random locations on the page to find content, everything has been baked into one central navigation bar at the top of the page. Easy to find and easy to navigate. We like easy. Once you find yourself in a subcategory, we’ve provided secondary navigation in the top right underneath the main navigation bar to explore content further.

One of the themes running throughout the site are the three unique content types available on Wallpapers.com – wallpaper, animated wallpaper, and our own custom developed wallpaper slideshow software, Wallery. We did offer all three previously, but some had higher priority, while others got almost no attention in the design. With the redesign, the primary focus is on wallpaper categories where all three content types are given (almost) equal exposure.

As an added bonus, we decided to make it easy for the user to identify what type of content they are browsing by color coding it. Near the wallpaper in question, you will notice three different icons representing each of them. For those with an eye to detail, take a closer look at the power light of the screen showing a preview of the wallpaper. Nifty! This then, is where we have this nice connection to the new logo, as mentioned above.

Don’t know what wallpaper, animated wallpaper, or Wallery is? Have no fear, convenient brief descriptions are here. With exception of the main page, these are always located towards the bottom of the right column, to provide additional insight as to what it is you are actually getting (hint: click on the title to browse just that type of content).

Generally speaking, we cleaned up the design, improved visual balance, equal spacing, and alignment, all adding up to more consistency and fluidity throughout the site.

Additional Features

Not only did we bring the design into the next century, we also added some tasty features in terms of functionality. They are aimed at giving the user the ability to engage with the site and increase stickiness. There really are three main features to highlight.

Like search within Google Reader, search functionality on Wallpapers.com was long overdue. Finally users are able to take matters into their own hands and navigate the content using their own input, literally. The new “Search” is easily located in the top right corner throughout the site. Also, since we’re talking about that vicinity of the site, it’s worth mentioning that we always display the user’s current screen resolution so they can easily match up wallpaper dimensions to their current resolution. For added convenience, we also included this feature near the download button on static wallpapers.

Additionally, to further engage the user with the site and content, we implemented a ratings system that allows the user to express their love or hatred (maybe dislike is a better word) for a particular piece of wallpaper content. Coupled with that (and that would be our third highlight) is the ability for users to leave behind comments.

We realize these are not revolutionary features, but basics any content site should take advantage of. Our users agree as they are heavily utilizing these features already.

Technically Speaking

Prior to the redesign, Wallpapers.com hadn’t been structurally updated for a number of years. The result was a mess of nested tables as incremental updates were made. The redesign allowed us the opportunity to clean the site up.

Since we value the benefits of web standards, we have gone extra lengths to ensure the site complies with W3C guidelines. As such, it now validates for XHTML 1.0 Transitional and CSS 2.1, meaning that we care about using semantic markup that adheres to best practices. The result is a strict separation of content and presentation, clean and easy to read code.

Furthermore, we now comply with Guideline 2 of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0), which translates to increased accessibility when navigating Wallpapers.com.

We tested the site in various browsers and platforms to ensure that users have a consistent experience across the board.

Where to go from here?

All these improvements are great and users are responding well, but of course it doesn’t stop here. Wallpapers.com isn’t perfect (yet), but we’re off to a great start. We plan to implement continuous improvements to the site, both user-facing and internal.

Offering compelling content to our users is at the top of the list. Consequently, we plan to continually add quality content and, in fact, have already started doing so.

After the dust of the redesign settles, along with user feedback, we will seek and execute on any opportunities to make Wallpapers.com as great as it can be.

David May, Manager of Creative Services; W3i, LLC
David has been working in the design industry for over 6 years and carries a fancy B.F.A. with focus in Graphic Design. He’s a native of Germany and loves peanut m&m’s. He’s not only passionate about his family, but also everything related to the web and design in general.

In late November, we were invited to speak to St. Cloud State University’s Advertising Creative class, to bring insight about the overall profession of online Media Buying. Mark Eden, one of my former educators and professors of Advertising at SCSU, thought it would be important for his students to get some understanding of the emergence of online marketing and how strategic media buying plays a vital role in marketing/advertising departments. Michael and I initially had prepared a 15 minute presentation, but unknowing to us, the class was eager and willing to dive deeper into media buying than just a broad overview. The class, containing juniors and seniors, were prepared and full of questions.

Below are some of the things they learned about us:

• A quick history of W3i
  • Successful company in the integrated interactive media industry for the past 8 years.
  • Entrepreneur magazine ranked Freeze.com as the 31st fastest-growing new business in the U.S in 2004.
  • Over 15 Million Unique Users Monthly.
  • Over 4 Million Installs Monthly. 
• Our responsibility
  • We are responsible for the company’s advertising budget, and therefore, must work to get the most value out of each dollar spent, depending on the goals.  
• The Pricing Models we use to make our buys
  • CPM (Cost Per Thousand) pricing ensures that the publisher is paid, it is up to the advertiser to make sure they get the most for their money.
  • CPC (Cost Per Click) pricing means the advertiser only pays once a user has clicked an ad and visited their site. This simplifies things greatly for the advertiser and distributes some of the risk to the publisher (if no one clicks the advertiser doesn’t pay).
  • CPA (Cost Per Action) pricing puts the optimization responsibility on the publisher. If no users respond to the ad (convert) the advertiser pays no money. The publisher and advertiser incentives are aligned in this model. 
• The daily routine of a media buyer
  • Checking and researching current industry news.
  • Completing important statistical reports that help form current and future strategic decisions for media buys.
  • Researching trends
• The current state of the market
  • With the economic market in such a state of chaos, it is our prediction that companies will shift their budget towards online because of its ability to track and retain data, the ability to make real time changes to campaigns, quick feedback, and proof of performance to better optimize current and future campaigns.

The 15 minute presentation soon turned into a 90 minute discussion, in what Mark later called an “eye opener”. With most businesses allocating more of their advertising budget towards Internet advertising and marketing, Mark thought it was crucial for his current and future students to know as much about online advertising and marketing as possible. He contacted me after the presentation and asked if Michael and I would be interested in speaking to his class next semester. We both agreed that it was not only a great opportunity to help educate the next generation of marketers and advertisers, but also a great chance to promote W3i and its presence in the local community.

Mitch Bain & Michael Liebelt, Marketing Managers; W3i, LLC
Michael and Mitch have 4 years combined experience at W3i (owner of Freeze.com), focusing on Search Engine Marketing, Display Advertising and Mobile Marketing in the Integrated Interactive Media industry.