PublishedIn is a startup that helps businesses and online publishers connect and benefit one another. Publishedin patent-pending technology makes it simple for businesses to increase quality traffic from online publishers, and publishers to earn cash rewards from their online content. Publishedin automatically transform links from online publishers to businesses into relations, and allows businesses to reward publishers through Publishedin Reward-Per-Click™ program.

How does PublishedIn work?

Publishers continue write and link to products and services as they normally do. When visitors click on a link, Publishedin tells the business (to which the link goes) that it has received a referral from that publisher. Businesses reward publishers through Publishedin Reward-Per-Click program. This is an excellent way for businesses to find out from where they are getting traffic to their site. Businesses get connected automatically to all publishers who have links to them. Businesses can start Reward-Per-Click program, promote their business, increase quality traffic and acquire new customers.

According to founder Yossi Barazani, the Reward-Per-Click™ program allows businesses to reward publishers for referrals much the same as they pay Google (Pay-per-click) for referrals. Till today, Google as an aggregator of content is making billions from sending users to advertisers website, while the content owners struggle to monetize their content. PublishedIn provides a way for content creators to concentrate on good content (NO ADVERTISEMENTS) and get rewarded for the value they create. And businesses get to build a network of publishers, bloggers, and advocates that will help them get customers.

Target Audience: Online publishers, bloggers, content owners, businesses, companies, marketers.

How can users benefit?

Users will continue to get quality content for free. It will be transparent that businesses may reward publishers through Publishedin Reward-Per-Click program.

Is it free or paid?

Free for publishers and bloggers. Businesses are expected to reward publishers. Publishedin takes a share from publishers’ rewards.

Company: Publishedin
Website URL : http://publishedin.com
Blog: http://blog.publishedin.com
Startup Launch Date : 01/17/11
Company Details

CEO/Founder(s) : Yossi Barazani
Funding amount with Funding Source: Chief Scientist – Israel, Microsoft- BizSpark
Phone : +972 3 5758255
Address 1: David House, 138 Jabotinsky St.
City : Ramat Gan
Country : Israel, 52602

US Address: 4628 Sundance Drive, Plano TX 75024

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Screenshot of Facebook store powered by Infused Palermo

Infused Palermo is an online service that allows merchants to sell their products on their Facebook page and through affiliate publisher networks. If you are a merchant, this is very handy because people who visit your Facebook page won’t have to leave to buy the products you offer. They can buy right on your Facebook page!  You can add a fully functioning store with inventory browsing, shopping cart, and checkout capabilities.

If you prefer to sell through affiliates, you can also give those affiliates a fully functioning store (not just a boring banner ad to click). This breaks the physiological click-off barrier to convert more eyes to buys. It also takes advantage of impulse buying behavior.

Infused Industries launched on 1 June 2010. The founders are Brian Cary, Michael Bender, Arthur Tew, and Andy Cary. They have offices in San Francisco and Raleigh, North Carolina.

You can view a demo of Infused Palermo working on a Facebook fan page.

* * * * *

Q&A with Brian Cary, co-founder of Infused Palermo

What inspired you to launch Infused Palermo?

Statistics have shown that regular display ads are becoming less effective in capturing clicks. We set off in July 2009 on a mission to create an ad platform that enables merchants of all sizes to combine their advertising and e-commerce efforts into an interactive experience for visitors on the web, and to change the way customers interact with brands online.

How are you making money (or how will you make money in the future)?

We charge a monthly fee based on customer’s requirements plus a metered commission on transactions processed through our store. We currently charge a setup fee to bring customers on board to cover integration costs and store management costs. We are working hard on popular integrations to significantly reduce, and in a lot of cases eliminate, the setup fee.

Where do you see your product/service within a year?

We see our product line being expanded into additional ad technology offerings, such as combining online video, social media integration (such as ‘Like this product’ and distribute the message to friends on various social networks), and group buying functionality with our e-commerce enabled advertising platform. We are in the process of releasing mass sign-up functionality and an API for retrieving orders, so in a year we should see creative uses of our technology across the web.

Are you self-funded?

Yes.

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Zferral is an online service that allows companies, especially startups, to create their own affiliate and referral programs. What’s great about Zferral is that the service is free in the beginning and then you pay as you go. There are no contracts or initiation fees. The company was founded in 2010 by Jeff Epstein and Maciej Zawadzinski, It has offices in the US and Poland.

Q&A with Jeff Epstein

What inspired you to start Zferral?

We were inspired to launch Zferral because neither Maciej nor I could not find an affiliate or referral program that fit for our other startups.  We came across networks (which cost several thousand) and rigid out-of-the box affiliate programs yet we could not find what we wanted.  The harder we looked the more we realized there was a need for this software. We offer a custom solution with no upfront costs.  In addition, everyone starts with a free plan and just pay-as-you-grow.  We believe the goal of affiliate and referral marketing is to efficiently grow your business, this is difficult task when you must fork over several thousand dollars up front.

How are you making money?

We have monthly paid plans. In addition, every company will be able to start for free.  We are still in private beta and have not finalized our pricing structure.  We do guarantee that beta-users will receive a LIFETIME discount as long as we own the company.

Where do you see your service within a year?

We see zferral.com as being the most logical choice for companies to quickly and easily build affiliate and referral campaigns.

Are you self funded?

Yes.

The post Zferral: start your own affiliate marketing campaign appeared first on Pajama Entrepreneur.

Branchr is an online service started in early 2009 whose goal is to be the one-stop shop for digital advertising. They deliver text and image based pay-per-click ads. Branchr markets its service as a low cost, low risk, no contract alternative designer to suit any budget. It is particularly attractive to small and medium-sized businesses that cannot spend a lot of money on ads or hire staff to manage their online ad campaigns.

The founders are Christian Owens,  Mark Bao and Arjun Rai (aka: Aaron Ray). They are based in Corby (UK), Boston (Massachusetts), and West Windsor (New Jersey). Below is the Q&A with Aaron Ray.

What inspired you to launch Branchr?

Complications in within the industry that caused waste of time on the client’s part. Additionally, technology was always associated with higher costs for advance targeting metrics and left smaller players out.

How are you making money?

Commissions from the advertising.

Where do you see Branchr within a year?

Industry leader for small to medium sized clients who wish to advertise effectively and efficiently.

Are you self-funded?

Yes.

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Companies that use ZapMe utilize SMS and mobile applications for their advertising campaigns and manage them through the ZapMe distribution platform. The platform has modules for user management, content management, security and reporting. ZapMe clients get real-time information about the people who receive their ads: age, gender, geographic location, brand preference, type of mobile device, and brand patterns. Recipients of advertising from ZapMe clients can choose from among the brands represented by ZapMe, i.e. tell ZapMe from whom they would like to receive offers.

Q&A with Cameron Wall, founder of ZapMe

When did you launch ZapMe?

January 2007.

What inspired you to start ZapMe?

I wanted to solve the following problem: how does a brand and/or information service use traditional media (newspaper, magazine, TV, Outdoor, radio etc.) to engage people via the mobile channel? There are so many different handsets, platforms, operating systems, versions of firmware etc. when it comes to mobile devices that it’s difficult to make the user experience enjoyable. Moreover, it costs companies too much time and money managing their ad campaigns across a variety of mobile devices. ZapMe is a platform that can distribute content to any device at anytime on the fly, usually via simple SMS which is a standard communication method available on all handsets globally.

Where do you see ZapMe in a year?

Most powerful platform in the mobile marketing industry.

www.zapme.com.au

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How does ReTargeter remember that you visited the resort’s home page? ReTargeter places a cookie on your computer. Your personal information is not transmitted to the advertiser. Advertisers can also limit the geography and category in which their ads appear and can restrict the number of impressions per user per day so that people are not bombarded by the same ad. ReTargeter’s prices are reasonable, starting at $500 for 175,000 targeted impressions.

Q&A with Arjun Arora, founder of ReTargeter

When did you start ReTargeter? What is your background?
May 2009. I worked at Yahoo between 2007 and 2009.

Are you self-funded or angel-funded?
I invested my own money in ReTargeter and received funding from Auren Hoffman (Rapleaf) and Tod Sacerdoti (BrightRoll).

What inspired you to start ReTargeter?

I saw retargeting in action at Yahoo and noticed that this was awesome but way too expensive for anybody other than a Fortune 500 company. Moreover, inventory was limited and I could see that this would be great for small and medium sized businesses.

Do other websites (e.g. online publications) complain that you show ads from companies that are part of the ReTargeter network, instead of the ads that pay the online publication (the NY Times example I gave above)?

We are actually buying that ad from NYT and pay more than they would receive otherwise. Our publishers love us because we pay more (since, after all, the user is worth more).

Where do you see ReTargeter going in 2010?

We want to get more customers and find creative ways to use our technology, not just to please our clients, but to make sure that you see ads that are relevant to you.

www.retargeter.com

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Here’s an excerpt from my blog post on Rose Cantine:

I have had it up to here with misleading press releases. I received a press release that read: “XYZ Wireless, one of the nation’s largest wireless broadband operators, has just launched service in  . . . ”

What do you conclude when you read the line “one of the nation’s largest wireless broadband operators”?

The post Are PR people liars or just bad writers? appeared first on Pajama Entrepreneur.

Paul Kent, IDG World Expo’s VP and General Manager, took a stage for his own discussion Wednesday evening to talk about the future of Macworld Expo . . . “This is a different place” than the typical trade show, Kent explained. “We understand and embrace this community, and we want this community to have a say in the conference.” . . . IDG has set up a new site, macworldexpo.ning.com, where both attendees and visitors are encouraged to register, get to know each other, and provide feedback and new ideas for helping the show to continue and grow. Kent explained later that IDG has already been tapping some aspects of the Mac community for Macworld Expo as well, like working with Mac User Groups around the country to lead events.

I got a pass to Macworld Expo (which costs between $25 and $45 but I got in free, however, it does not allow you to visit regular conference sessions). I had a chance to look at the complete conference agenda and to observe Macworld’s visitors, the booths, and the vendor-organized sessions at the Expo.

Here’s what I think is wrong with the traditional conference + trade show formula and what I think should be done, based not only upon what I saw at Macworld this week, but on every other conference I’ve attended in the last five years, including my own Muniwireless conferences:

(1) The traditional conference trade show format is too expensive. You need a large conference center to accommodate all of the sponsors’ booths. If you are holding a conference in a hotel, it must have a grand ballroom with breakout room. You have to pay a substantial non-refundable deposit many months, even a year, in advance to the hotel or conference center. If the market changes and corporate budgets take a hit, many sponsors cancel, fewer attendees show up, but you still pay the full cost of the event. In some cases, you might have to cancel the event completely and take a loss. This is too risky these days so most people don’t even bother organizing conferences anymore. Unfortunately, they can’t think of any other format. They’re stuck to the same old way of doing things.

(2) Organize a conference like SXSW Interactive where the community decides the agenda and the speakers, and where the atmosphere is that of a big party.

There’s only one conference I like to attend: SXSW Interactive in Austin which is held in March right before the regular SXSW Music and Film festival. Why? Because it’s got everything that traditional conferences don’t have:

• Young audience composed of web developers and designers, lots of creative people
• Fun, party atmosphere at the conference and in the evening
• No massive corporate sponsor presence
• Great parties at various night clubs around town

SXSW Interactive asks the community — the people who attend every year — to suggest topics for sessions. You send in a suggestion for a panel and the names of panel members. If approved, you and your panel members do a presentation. SXSW Interactive’s organizers try to make a balance so that different topics are presented to the attendees. The attendees directly participate in the creation of the agenda, unlike IDG’s (and most traditional organizers’) top down way of deciding who gets to speak and what should be discussed. If you and your friends are going to speak on panels, you and your friends will attend. For all the prattle about “community”, IDG’s Paul Kent (as quoted in the Ars Technica article) still doesn’t get it (creating a Ning Group is a pathetic fruitless attempt at “community organizing”) but that’s because IDG is a profit-making company that has to put corporate sponsors in booths. Corporate sponsors want to have a hand in deciding the agenda (albeit in a more subtle way) and often their wishes take precedence over the community’s — check out the way Macworld Expo’s topics are organized: Digital Video, IT, Mac User, Digital Music, New User, Graphic Design, Digital Photography. This is how the vendors categorize their products. It’s not the way the community would categorize their own sessions.

SXSW Interactive isn’t a small “town hall” event. It’s actually a very large event that draws hundreds of mostly young people (although there have been more people over 35 attending in the past 2 years). They use volunteers (the ushers, the people who print and hand out badges, etc.). It’s affordable too. If you’re not speaking the entrance fee is only $300. If you’re speaking, you get in for free. The parties are fabulous and everyone is there to have a good time.

This is not the case with traditional conferences where there are far too many (mostly older men in suits) standing at booths. The worst conferences are telecom-related (3GSM in Barcelona comes to mind) where it’s one massive sea of black suits and where the sessions feature an executive from a telecom operator or an equipment manufacturer droning on and on about how it is the “leading” whatchmacallit in its sector. Macworld is an exception in that regard to the traditional conference. It is more fun. There are more interesting things to see. There are hardly any suits; people are dressed in sneakers and jeans. But most of the attendees are definitely NOT under 30. At one point I saw one of the guards tell a kid that he could not get in unless accompanied by an adult. I would have turned it around and told the adults they could not get in unless accompanied by kids.

(3) I am shocked that there weren’t more young iPhone developers at Macworld.

There’s a huge ecosystem of young iPhone developers – from programmers to designers to users. Where were they? If I had been in charge of Macworld this year, I would have had a separate Macworld iPhone “un-conference”. Entry fee: $50. I would have solicited panel suggestions from the iPhone community, put them on the panels and organized lots of fun parties in San Francisco in the evenings. What did I see instead at the Macworld conference? Aging hippies wearing tie-dye and bandanas (I kid you not, it looked like Halloween). Boring parties with people standing around who have little in common except owning something branded with an Apple logo. This was a missed opportunity for IDG at this Macworld.

There are other problems with these conferences. There are too many of them. They feature boring corporate suits showing endless Powerpoint slides. Macworld at least has interesting sessions for film, photo and other creative professionals, but can’t this be done differently? Isn’t there a better, cheaper more fun way to get this community together without all that corporate overhead – the huge booths, giant convention center feel (not cozy)? The heart of the problem is this: IDG is not at the heart of the community. It’s not part of the community. It’s only a publisher who happens to publish a magazine and books.

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• keep spam out of email inboxes for good;
• take the mystery out of eating healthy wherever you are;
• bring personal finance management to a new level;
• let anyone develop games;
• reduce people’s impact on the planet from energy consumption to traffic congestion.

Click here to see the list of DEMO Fall 2008 companies.

I will be posting more about them over the next few days.

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What is Blyk doing that makes it so different and potentially threatening to the traditional mobile operator model of tying people down with expensive, long term contracts, imposing hidden fees and charging nasty cancellation penalties?

Read my post on Muniwireless:

MVNO Blyk succeeds in providing free mobile phone service

For those who are not familiar with Blyk: it is a mobile phone service available in the UK, soon launching in the Netherlands. No contracts, no hidden fees, no cancellation penalties. You get 43 minutes and 217 text messages free every month, but have to receive up to six advertising messages daily via SMS or MMS. They send you the SIM card to pop into your mobile phone. But you need to be between the ages of 16 and 24 to sign up for the service.

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