ShopWatchBuy on Posterous

So you've lurked around ShopWatchBuy.com for a while, but still haven't been convinced that video sales is the way to go. Not to worry, with today's ever-changing internet marketing and sales techniques, it's easy to get lost in what's new and what can make a great return-on-investment (ROI).

A recent report from eMarketer shows that video advertising doubles the "dwell time" of an advertisement; " Rich media ads with video had a higher dwell rate than those without, and almost double the dwell time." said eMarketer in their report.

For those in the marketing field, this increases your results while using less impressions.

For those interested about using or upgrading their ShopWatchBuy.com account, this means good news! Register today to reap the benefits of video marketing!

View this post on my blog: http://www.shopwatchbuy.com/blog/video-advertising-letting-double-takes-happen-every-day/

It's ALMOST HERE. You may start freaking out now. Thanksgiving is this Thursday the 26th. Here are some tips for surviving the season.

EVENTS: From the top, the annual traditions of Macys and Football continue.

This year's Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade has a new parade route. This year's route follows 77th Street to Central Park, goes onto 7th street to 42nd, turns onto 6th avenue and ends at Herald Square.

Coverage on NBC starts at 9 am. This year, expect to see Carly Simon, Gloria Gaynor, Jane Krakowski (of 50 Rock), Mitchel Musso, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, Ziggy and Judah Marley and Katharine McPhee.

If watching the best examples of your furry friends is high on your list, stay tuned after the parade for the 2009 National Dog Show, hosted by John O'Hurley. An interesting fact from the NDS, " In order to win "Best in Show" a dog must first be judged the dog must first be judged the best of many dog shows of its same breed competing in the show. Some breeds have more than 100 dogs entered".

If the pigskin is more your game, NFL fans can see three different games this year (all times are EST).

Green Bay plays at Detroit (12:30, FOX)
Oakland plays at Dallas (4:15, CBS)
New York Giants plays in Denver (8:20, NFL Network)

If you prefer college games,

Texas vs. Texas A&M, (8:00, ESPN)

FOOD & ENTERTAINING: The Butterball turkey hotline is open for your questions. Phone operators have heard it all. Call at 1-800-288-8372. Each of the operators, "holds a degree in either dietetics or home economics, roughly half of which are Masters-level. The most frequent question asked is how long a turkey takes to defrost".
Butterball is also giving a $2.00 off coupon for a whole Butterball turkey. The coupon is good until the end of 2009.

Also check out Martha Stewart's Thanksgiving Guide, as well as Oprah Winfrey's tips.

Worried about making a good first impression? Check out these links for Thanksgiving Etiquette:

Etiquette Grrls
Press Release, K-State.edu
InfoZine

Here's to a good, happy, healthy Thanksgiving!

-The ShopWatchBuy Staff

P.S. Worried about Tryptophan, the drug that allegedly makes you sleepy from eating turkey? Get the record straight from Webmd.

View this post on my blog: http://www.shopwatchbuy.com/blog/tips-for-surviving-the-thanksgiving-season/

It's ALMOST HERE. You may start freaking out now. Thanksgiving is this Thursday the 26th. Here are some tips for surviving the season.

EVENTS: From the top, the annual traditions of Macys and Football continue.

This year's Macy's Day Thanksgiving Parade has a new parade route. This year's route follows 77th Street to Central Park, goes onto 7th street to 42nd, turns onto 6th avenue and ends at Herald Square.

Coverage on NBC starts at 9 am. This year, expect to see Carly Simon, Gloria Gaynor, Jane Krakowski (of 50 Rock), Mitchel Musso, Jimmy Fallon and the Roots, Zoggy and Judah Marley and Katharine McPhee.

If watching the best examples of your furry friends is high on your list, stay tuned after the parade for the 2009 National Dog Show, hosted by John O'Hurley. An interesting fact from the NDS, " In order to win "Best in Show" a dog must first be judged the dog must first be judged the best of many dog shows of its same breed competing in the show. Some breeds have more than 100 dogs entered".

If the pigskin is more your game, NFL fans can see three different games this year (all times are EST).

Green Bay plays at Detroit (12:30, FOX)
Oakland plays at Dallas (4:15, CBS)
New York Giants plays in Denver (8:20, NFL Network)

If you prefer college games,

Texas vs. Texas A&M, (8:00, ESPN)

FOOD & ENTERTAINING: The Butterball turkey hotline is open for your questions. Phone operators have heard it all. Call at 1-800-288-8372. Each of the operators, "holds a degree in either dietetics or home economics, roughly half of which are Masters-level. The most frequent question asked is how long a turkey takes to defrost".
Butterball is also giving a $2.00 off coupon for a whole Butterball turkey. The coupon is good until the end of 2009.

Also check out Martha Stewart's Thanksgiving Guide, as well as Oprah Winfrey's tips.

Worried about making a good first impression? Check out these links for Thanksgiving Etiquette:

Etiquette Grrls
Press Release, K-State.edu
InfoZine

Here's to a good, happy, healthy Thanksgiving!

-The ShopWatchBuy Staff

P.S. Worried about Tryptophan, the drug that allegedly makes you sleepy from eating turkey? Get the record straight from Webmd.

View this post on my blog: http://www.shopwatchbuy.com/blog/tips-for-surviving-the-thanksgiving-season/

Coffee: the lifeblood of the modern man or woman in this century. Whether the original percolation machine, a fine espresso press in Rome or Florence, or the brew dripping at "Central Perk" in Friends and “Monk’s” in Seinfeld, no one can go very long without having their opinion about, or having their favorite type of coffee.

With the seasons starting to change, and that nip into the air coming, ShopWatchBuy is a small haven for coffee lovers trying to save a few bucks in the economy.

Picture this; you’re at the local Starbucks, Seattle’s Best or great local coffeehouse, you order your medium, extra-shot-skim-milk vanilla latte. You ake your first drink and OUCH! Most coffeehouses steam their lattes to at LEAST 150 degrees Fahrenheit; “extra hot” may bring your coffee upwards of 180-190 degrees. Home-brewed coffee can get even hotter. Jolex’s Brugo mug solves this problem. With a flick of the wrist, your coffee travels into a cooling chamber. From there your liquid caffeine cools to the perfect temperature to enjoy. No more burned lips or tongues (not to mention, most coffeehouses offer a discount if you bring your own mugs!).

Make sure to check out the other coffee and hot beverage offerings we have on ShopWatchBuy.com

View this post on my blog: http://www.shopwatchbuy.com/blog/fresh-brewed-coffee-minus-the-tongue-burns/

Coffee: the lifeblood of the modern man or woman in this century. Whether the original percolation machine, a fine espresso press in Rome or Florence, or the brew dripping at Central Perk in Friends and “Monk’s” in Seinfeld, no one can go very long without having their opinion about, or having their favorite type of coffee.

With the seasons starting to change, and that nip into the air coming, ShopWatchBuy is a small haven for coffee lovers trying to save a few bucks in the economy.

Picture this; you’re at the local Starbucks, Seattle’s Best or great local coffeehouse, you order your medium, extra-shot-skim-milk vanilla latte. You ake your first drink and OUCH! Most coffeehouses steam their lattes to at LEAST 150 degrees Fahrenheit; “extra hot” may bring your coffee upwards of 180-190 degrees. Home-brewed coffee can get even hotter. Jolex’s Brugo mug solves this problem. With a flick of the wrist, your coffee travels into a cooling chamber. From there your liquid caffeine cools to the perfect temperature to enjoy. No more burned lips or tongues (not to mention, most coffeehouses offer a discount if you bring your own mugs!).

Make sure to check out the other coffee and hot beverage offerings we have on ShopWatchBuy.com

View this post on my blog: http://www.shopwatchbuy.com/blog/fresh-brewed-coffee-minus-the-tongue-burns/

I love John's english accent in this video!

View this post on my blog: http://www.shopwatchbuy.com/blog/panasonic-lumix-g1-dslr/

I love John's english accent in this video!

View this post on my blog: http://www.shopwatchbuy.com/blog/panasonic-lumix-g1-dslr/

Okay, obviously I’m biased about the power of online video, but this weekend was such a nice jolt for me.

I think a start-up is a bit like having a young child.  You want your kid to grow to be strong and healthy, and as a parent you often wonder if you’re even doing the right thing half the time!

But then, every so often, you get glimpse of something special.  Something that your child does or shows you that reveals their potential.  Funny thing is, it probably doesn’t have anything to do with you!  It’s just something innate in their DNA, their dreams and aspirations.  When it happens, you just want to jump out of your own skin and burst with the excitement of possibilities for your baby!

Well, I had such an experience this weekend for our Start-Up child ShopWatchBuy.com.  It was a glimpse of its potential along with the power and promise of online video.

We attended a local craft fair.  It was something fun to do with the family along with the chance to talk to people about ShopWatchBuy.  Now granted, as I chatted with people some didn’t “get it”, but a quite a few did.  And some were even great sports and we did a video right there on the spot!

Like this one by John of Galactic Images.  He has so much knowledge and passion for what he does it unbelievable.  You just can’t get that from static images and text.

Notice also how the “Go To Store” button in the video widget takes the viewer right to the product page on his website.  It so powerful because we’re so flexible with that link it can be any URL or PayPal address the Seller chooses!

Here’s another great example.  Mark at d’marie is a MASTER at working the crowd at these shows and this video captures it.

It’s also proves something else.  While a professional video may be nice, it’s NOT necessary to capture the essence of a Seller’s personality and expertise!  I did these vides off the cuff with my little Flip Video camera. Sure, the video’s short and there’s a bit of background noise, but it’s so authentic!

This is the power of online video.

View this post on my blog: http://www.shopwatchbuy.com/blog/the-power-of-online-video-to-sell/

Like a particular seller? We’ll let you know when their Storefront has a new product.

Want to know what’s available on the entire site? We’ll give you a buzz.

Just tap into our RSS feeds.

Really Simple Syndication feeds (RSS) are commonplace in the internet world. These feeds scour the internet for a particular phrase or common reference and present a list of links to you. Those with Firefox browsers can easily hit the “Latest Headlines” button for an RSS feed to the BBC. Other browsers have similar functions.

Starting today, ShopWatchBuy has posted RSS links at the top of the page and in the storefronts of sellers. Once clicked, these boxes ( , ) will ask if you want to add ShopWatchBuy or that particular storefront to your feed.

Currently, SWB offers two feeds:

Most Recent: Click the orange RSS icon in the “products” box at the top of every SWB page. When our marketplace has a new entry, we’ll send it to you.

Storefront: Like the products from Washington Golf or La Prima Shops?  Hit the blue RSS button to the right of their titles on their storefronts. When the shop you subscribe to adds a product, we’ll let you know.

No personal information is collected, and no spam will be sent, just window shopping is ahead.

We’ll be adding more of these feeds over time – let us know if you have any suggestions!

View this post on my blog: http://www.shopwatchbuy.com/blog/online-window-shopping-with-rss/

We've developed an exciting new technology here at ShopWatchBuy called embedABLE™
Click here to watch the demo video

 This new feature is designed for Merchants (Advertisers) and Affiliates (Publishers) who want to monetize product videos. It works like this:

 1. Merchant Uploads Video with a default "Buy Now" link
2. Affiliate clicks embedABLE™ link
3. Affiliate selects player size, adds affiliate link and "gets code"
4. Affiliate Embed Code on his/her site - now the "Buy Now" button is their affiliate link!  PLUS, if anyone "Gets & Shares" from there, the affiliate link travels with the video!
5. Look in your ShopWatchBuy control panel to review the info
Click here for a PDF Product Brief

 Here's more details:

 A Merchant uploads a product to the ShopWatchBuy marketplace and immediately gets the benefits of Traffic-Boost™, Video-Boost™ and Product-Boost™ just by virtue of being a Platinum Member.  But, the video is also embedABLE™
Here's a sample video from Ice.com.  Notice that the Buy Now button goes to Ice.com. This is the "default link" the merchant has decided to use for this video.

  
But, on the product page, there is a "This video is embedABLE™" link.  And, on the Merchant's ShopWatchBuy storefron, there there is an ebmbABLE™ text under the price.  Again, here's an example for Ice.com: http://www.shopwatchbuy.com/store/ICE

 When the affiliate click this link they are presented with a page like the one below (note, you need to register with at least a FREE account to get the video).   They put their RAW affiliate link into the white box:  http://my-affiliate-link.com.  In this example we're using a linkshare link, but it can be a CJ,  Share-A-Sale, Google, etc... it works with any affiliate network link.

 After the affiliate places the code on his/her website, blog, etc.... They get the video widget below. It looks the same. However, if you click the "Buy Now" button you will notice that instead of going to Ice.com's home page it goes to a detailed product page on Ice.com via the Affiliate Link.  Also, if anyone grabs THIS version of the video from the Affiliate's site, the Affiliate Link TRAVELS WITH THE VIDEO.   This means the affiliate still gets credit when his/her instance of the video is shared! Pretty Cool, eh?

 Now, here's what the Merchant see's in their ShopWatchBuy control panel:

   Product being used (they could have several)
  The number of times it's been embeded (i.e. several different affiliates grabbing the video)
  Plays, Clicks
  Contact the user (affiliate)
  Remove - we give the merchant the ability to remove in case an improper link is being used

 Here's what the Affiliate would see in there control panel:

   The product (they might have several they've grabbed)
  The merchant (they might have grabbed it from several merchants)
  Plays and Clicks
  The ability to get the code again
  Delete the link

 This system is a great way for Merchants and Affiliates to monitize video!  Merchant's need to sign up for a Platinum account to upload products.  Affiliates need register with at least FREE account  (Affiliates can also get a Silver or Gold account if they have thier own videos to upload).
Join Today!

 View this post on my blog: http://www.shopwatchbuy.com/blog/embedable/