New Features

Improved Lead Validation
We strive to deliver the best quality leads at the best possible prices. Previously we used to check the content of each lead and then call the sender where we deemed appropriate to validate further. This normally equated to approximately 1 in 2 leads. Our validation process has now been improved. From now on, our validation team will validate every single lead by telephone. No leads will get transmitted through our system without one of our team actually speaking to the sender of the lead to verify the authenticity of the lead. This means that sometimes the lead takes longer to be validated but we believe it is worth it to ensure quality. We will soon be improving this system further by introducing a standard questionnaire for the senders of leads with the aim of getting more detailed information about their requirements.

The Seed is Blossoming!
The Seed is growing rapidly. Over the last 3 months we have doubled the size of the team to 15 people. There will be some exciting developments taking place at The Seed over the next few months. We believe our customers will benefit greatly from this growth as it will enable us to increase both the volume and quality of leads. We will keep you updated on the many enhancements and developments in subsequent newsletters.

Enhanced Customer Profile
Did you know that we have enhanced the customer profile page? This was done a few months ago and most customers have taken advantage of enhancements and changed their profiles but there are still some that haven’t so we thought we’d just remind you. The profile page is the page that you fill out about your company with details such as company name, logo, services, etc. This is what we use to promote your company so it is very important that you add a good profile. We have made the following enhancements to this page:

News

Click Fraud Undermines Online Advertising
TheRegister.co.uk reports that a recent survey by ClickForensics estimates that up to 14.1% of recorded clicks on Pay-Per-Click (PPC) ads are bogus.
This is a concern for Internet giants such as Google, Yahoo and MSN as PPC constitutes a large proportion of their revenues. PPC, if you are not familiar with the term, is where advertisers pay for ads or links to their site to appear in prominent positions on the major search engines for particular searches. The advertiser pays for every visitor that clicks through to their site.

Click fraud takes place for one of two reasons. Scammers generate fraudulent revenue for themselves by using automated ‘bots’ to repeatedly click on ads or they target search terms purchased by their competitors with the aim of draining their marketing budget. Either way, the advertiser loses out because they pay for every single click and obviously they have no chance of getting a sale or an enquiry from any of these bogus clicks.
This is a problem for the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo & MSN. A recent survey of 407 online advertisers in the US by market research firm Outsell estimated advertisers may have spent €637m on bogus clicks last year. Google has admitted that click fraud is a problem. The company's chief executive, Eric Schmidt, said recently that the issue is being addressed by the company. In fact, Google has recently settled a click fraud case for $90m.

For more details of the click fraud problem click here:
The Register - Click Fraud Increasing
The Register - Google Click Fraud Case

This issue has relevance to any of our customers that currently use PPC. They may be using PPC to drive traffic to their website with the aim of generating a lead or enquiry from a user interested in the services they offer. If the above data is to be believed they are paying for bogus clicks and these clicks will have no chance of generating such a lead. This obviously increases the overall cost per lead generated from the genuine traffic.
We feel this is another reason why our business model at TheSeed.com appeals to businesses. They are not exposed to such a risk. Businesses only pay for each genuine business lead they receive. They know exactly what they are getting for their money. In fact, click fraud is more of a problem for us to contend with than our customers as PPC is one of the channels we use to promote our customers and generate leads for them. We know our customers like the simplicity of paying only for each genuine lead they receive. It means they don’t have to worry about such issues as click fraud and can concentrate on growing their businesses.

Case Study

"We have been associated with 'The Seed' since January 2006 and have built an excellent working relationship. Like all new arrangements there is a settling in period when minor problems are resolved but unlike other companies that court your business then forget you 'The Seed' are responsive and always know who they are talking to when you call up, I'm pleased to say the old adage of 'after sales service' is very much alive.

The quality of leads is generally good and with all leads checked before being passed on for authenticity you can be reassured they are credible. I have tried other companies offering a similar service but none match 'The Seed'.
My simple comparison is against the cost of a representative, compare that with the unit price of each lead. How many leads (quotes) would you expect that person to generate and how much would that cost you as a company, no contest!

If those quotes are translated into jobs is down to your company's price structure but I'm more than happy with the current 42% of quotes that become live jobs, it's down to us as a company to improve on that, and we will."

Stephen Boyles
All Things Print
www.allthingsprint.co.uk

Top Tips

Better Profile = Better Success
It is very important to create a good quality profile for your company. This is what we will use to promote your company. It is on the strength of this profile that companies seeking the services you offer will decide whether to send you an enquiry.

It is therefore crucial you take the time to write a professional profile that promotes the benefits of using your business. Include all the information a prospective customer needs to know about your company.
We find that the better a company profile the more likely they are to receive a lead. We recommend taking advantage of the new improvements to the profile page described on this newsletter to enhance their profile. For instance, prospective customers love to see testimonials so we always recommend to our customers that they take advantage of this section of the profile page.

Another thing we have noticed is that many customers have not uploaded a logo. We recommend all customers upload a logo. Customers that have a logo accompanying their profile do tend to experience better conversion rates than those without a logo. If you are struggling to do this yourself we will do this for you. Go to your profile page and click on "Help" button by logo upload. Click the button in the popup and a member of our team will contact you to help with your logo.

Feedback

We value the opinion of our customers and are always keen to hear from them. If you ever want to send us feedback, please follow the link below to go to our feedback form.
Feedback Form


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