Boca Raton, FL - July 13, 2011 –ion interactive, the leading provider of landing page management software, announced that SmartSearch Marketing successfully increased conversion rates from 0 to 16% for individual keywords for their client, QAD, using ion’s LiveBall software.

LiveBall’s Dynamic Content Substitution feature gave SmartSearch Marketing the ability to substitute headline text on their client’s microsite to match the exact keywords and phrases that attracted prospects to click on QAD’s Pay-Per-Click ads.

“Combining our strategies with the dynamic capabilities of LiveBall allows our clients to have complete message alignment - all the way from search engine query, to PPC ad copy, to messaging on landing pages. This is instrumental in increasing quality leads for our clients,” says Dale Hursh, CEO of SmartSearch Marketing.

“This case study highlights the importance of message consistency in online marketing and we hope that it encourages more marketers to start testing their landing pages,” said ion interactive Executive Vice President Anna Talerico.

Dynamic Content Substitution is one of the many LiveBall features that gives marketers the ability to optimize landing pages and online marketing campaigns without code or relying on technical teams.

View the full case study to learn more about the actual results achieved.

about ion interactive 

Founded in 1998, ion interactive provides advanced landing page software that maximizes pay-per-click search, email and online advertising performance. ion’s web-based platform, LiveBall, enables marketing departments and agencies to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without the help of IT or developer assistance

about SmartSearch

SmartSearch Marketing is a full-service search engine marketing company focused on improving client’s marketing ROI and bottom line business results. Services include: Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising, Website Usability, Conversion Improvement and Web Analytics. SmartSearch Marketing’s client base includes national and global enterprises, B2B firms, and companies with complex sales cycles.

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Cleveland, OH March 7, 2011 — Tracking conversions from online marketing campaigns just got a whole lot simpler.

Mongoose Metrics, an enterprise-level call tracking solutions provider, today announced a partnership with ion interactive, the provider of LiveBall, a cloud-based landing page software platform. Customers of ion interactive’s LiveBall will now be able to integrate Mongoose Metric’s call tracking data directly into their landing pages to better track offline conversions.

By combining the features of call tracking and marketing optimization, marketers no longer have to wonder which conversions happen offline. Mongoose Metric’s call tracking data will be integrated directly into LiveBall’s robust reporting dashboard. Now LiveBall users can quickly reference both online and offline conversions to make more informed campaign adjustments.

“We’re excited to have a seamless integration between LiveBall and Mongoose Metrics for greater visibility into online marketing performance that drives business results. Now, our customers will have a single view of campaign performance—including forms completed, sales made and calls generated— to gain better insight into opportunities to optimize for results,” says Anna Talerico, executive vice president for ion interactive.

Mongoose Metrics chief executive officer, Bradley Reynolds says, “By integrating our call tracking technology with ion interactive’s LiveBall platform, we’re providing another tool for businesses to better understand how their marketing spend is performing. When you know which keywords, social media efforts or landing pages produce leads, you can more effectively optimize your campaigns.”

“For marketers who obsess over how to improve ROI and optimize marketing spending, using call tracking with ion interactive’s LiveBall conversion software is a no-brainer,” Reynolds adds.

Simple directions about how to add Mongoose Metrics call tracking to a LiveBall account are provided here.

About Mongoose Metrics

Mongoose Metrics is the authority for exposing what happens before, during and after phone conversations to assist clients with actionable data for quick and effective marketing spending. The company developed the industry’s first patent-pending phone call tracking technology which integrates phone call reports into third party web analytics packages such as WebtrendsTM, Google AnalyticsTM and Omniture SiteCatalyst.TM The company’s innovations also include keyword level tracking solutions for online marketers who need to understand what paid search (PPC) traffic is driving phone calls. In 2010, the company expanded its service coverage area to Canada and the United Kingdom. Mongoose Metrics is a privately-held company based in Independence, Ohio and was founded in 2007 by information technology and telecom veterans, Stephen Abbey, Bradley Reynolds and Jeff Tirey. For more information about Mongoose Metrics products and services visit www.mongoosemetrics.com or call 1.877.784.0496. Follow us on Twitter @mongoosemetrics.

About ion interactive

Founded in 1998, ion interactive provides advanced post-click marketing software that maximizes pay-per-click search, email, social and online advertising performance. ion’s web-based platform, LiveBall, enables marketing departments and agencies to create, test and optimize their most compelling web content. Brands such as American Greetings, DHL and General Mills, all rely on LiveBall to optimize their marketing performance. For more information about ion interactive and LiveBall, visit www.ioninteractive.com. To schedule an interview with Anna Talerico, co-founder and executive vice president of ion interactive, please call 1.561.922.5244. Follow us on twitter @ioninteractive.

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Boca Raton, FL – ion interactive, inc., makers of the LiveBall landing page platform, announced this morning that the company was named to the annual Inc. 500 list, a compilation of the fast growing private companies in America.

ion interactive’s CEO, Justin Talerico, commented on the award, “We are thrilled to be named by Inc. Magazine as one of the nation’s fastest growing companies. It’s exhilarating to see ion’s name on this list, but also exciting to know that landing page management and conversion optimization have become priorities in the online marketing mix. Our customers are able to formulate and execute landing page strategies that help their online marketing efforts perform better than their competitors. More business from less expense is a universal goal, and we’re proud that our software and services help make that a reality.”

Talerico goes on to say “LiveBall is an enterprise-wide, global tool for many large organizations and has found an equally comfortable place in smaller businesses. Even more exciting than today’s Inc. 500, is our continuing commitment to software and services innovation in marketing optimization. We’re just scratching the surface of this exploding market and we’re passionately committed to making online marketing the best and most efficient source of leads and revenue. As we help more and more organizations acquire the know-how and tools to make that a reality, our growth will continue to accelerate.”

Inc. Magazine has been ranking the fastest growing privately held companies since 1982. The list gives readers insight into the hottest trends and emerging themes in the evolving economy available nowhere else. From Microsoft and Domino’s Pizza in the 1980s to E*Trade and Clif Bar in the 1990s, to American Apparel and Shutterfly this decade, the Inc. 500 has always been ahead of the curve.

ion interactive, inc. will celebrate with fellow award winners at the Inc. 500|5000 conference in Washington, D.C. September 29 through October 2, 2010.

# # #

About ion interactive:
Founded in 1998, ion interactive provides advanced landing page software that maximizes pay-per-click search, email and online advertising performance. ion’s web-based platform, LiveBall, enables marketing departments and agencies to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without the help of IT or developer assistance.

Contact:
Kristina Allen
561-922-5244
kallen@ioninteractive.com
www.ioninteractive.com

LiveBall helps companies like DHL and American Greetings reduce their cost per acquisition and increase conversions on their landing pages 

With LiveBall marketers can create, test and optimize high-performance landing pages, conversion paths and microsites. It’s code-free cloud-based software for marketers – designed by marketers.

Anna Talerico, ion’s executive vice president said, “We’re really excited to be listed in the Top 20 Business Apps not only for the recognition, but mainly to see that companies are taking their online marketing ROI seriously and looking for an optimization platform to help lift their conversion rates.”

The GetApp.com Top 20 Business Apps ranking is based on a composite algorithm that incorporates several criteria, including listing popularity on GetApp.com, number of reviews and comments, social media presence, volume and quality of integration points, and input from analyst reports.

The ranking is updated monthly. You can view the rankings online at GetApp.com Top 20 Business Apps [Format as a link to: http://www.getapp.com/evaluation-center/all/top-20-apps].

# # #

About ion interactive: Founded in 1998, ion interactive provides advanced landing page software that maximizes PPC, email and online advertising performance. ion’s web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without the help of IT or developer assistance.

For more information about LiveBall please call Kristina Allen at 561-922-5244 or e-mail kallen@ioninteractive.com .

About GetApp.com:  GetApp.com is a business software app store for the buyers of enterprise applications. It offers a simple way for buyers to find, compare, and evaluate applications, and a low cost channel for providers to be found on.

For more information about GetApp.com please contact Christophe Primault at christophe.primault@getapp.com .

With LiveBall, marketers can create highly-targeted pages directly from their web browser—as easily as posting articles on a blog. Because LiveBall pages are hosted in the cloud, no code changes are required to existing web sites. Marketers can produce entire post-click marketing campaigns—in minutes or hours, not days or weeks—without involving IT or other technical staff. For instance, American Greetings used LiveBall to more than quadruple its number of landing pages, lifting conversions by 30%, while reducing its cost-per-acquisition by 20%.

LiveBall makes it easy for marketers to A/B test multiple versions of individual pages—or even alternate multi-page paths—to determine which has the greatest impact on visitors. With the upgrade announced today, it’s now just as easy to run more advanced multivariate tests (MVT) on elements within a page. Marketers can experiment with multiple headlines, images, and calls-to-action simply by clicking on content and adding new variations. Dozens or hundreds of combinations can be quickly tested in parallel. Results are available in real-time on an intuitive performance analysis dashboard.

Delivering tightly matched landing pages to respondents who click on ads, search results, emails, or social media links—and testing different versions of those pages to find the optimal one for each audience—has been shown to significantly improve conversion rates in both e-commerce and lead generation marketing. For example, data management leader Overland Storage adopted LiveBall for post-click marketing and improved their conversion rate by more than 500%.

“We’re focused on enabling agile marketing,” says Scott Brinker, ion’s co-founder and CTO. “The faster marketers can deploy, test, and optimize landing pages for their advertising and demand generation programs, the higher performance they can achieve with targeted campaigns, Long Tail strategies, and marketing in the moment. MVT makes this more powerful than ever.”

LiveBall was first released in 2007 and has been adopted by hundreds of companies such as Anthem/Wellpoint, DHL, InfoUSA, Juniper Networks, ServiceMaster, and Wyndham, as well as leading digital agencies such as e-Storm, Performics, and White Horse. 

About ion interactive:

Founded in 1998, ion interactive is the leading provider of advanced landing page software that maximizes PPC, email and online advertising performance. The company is privately held with offices in Florida and Massachusetts.

# # #

The series of speaking engagements will focus on increasing landing page conversions, return on investment, and the intersection of conversion rate optimization and search engine strategies. The upcoming speaking engagements include SMX West, MarketingProfs B2B Forum, Conversion Conference, and Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo. 

“Everyone continues to focus on search engine optimization, and while it will continue to be important through 2010, We’re very excited to be speaking about conversion optimization this year. Conversion optimization focuses on engaging the user after they make the initial click  on a landing page. There’s endless potential for converting users post-click, and at ion we’ve seen some great results with companies like SurePayroll and Moog,” says Talerico.

At each event online marketers will get an inside look at landing page best practices, how ion helps customers maximize ROI, and tips for creating a strategy with a high conversion rate.

SMX West — Wednesday, March 3rd

Scott Brinker will speak on two panels at SMX West: “Landing Pages & Multivariate Testing to Increase Conversions” and “The B2B Search Marketing Challenge.” The landing page session will be moderated by Gord Hotchkiss, President and CEO of Enquiro and the B2B challenge will focus on testing strategies to improve conversions. 

Search Engine Strategies 2010 Conference and Expo — Wednesday, March 24th

Brinker will speak on the “Advanced B2B” panel which will focus on turning complex buying processes into opportunities.

MarketingProfs’ B-to-B Forum — Tuesday, May 4th

Talerico will present “Higher Conversions, Better ROI: Advanced Landing Pages that Improve Campaign ROI” with two customers, Scott Brandt, VP Marketing at SurePayroll and Michael Burgess, Online Marketing Director at Moog. The presentation will cover success stories from the two companies, and will offer techniques for improving conversion rates. 

Conversion Conference — Tuesday, May 4th

Brinker will speak at the first ever Conversion Conference on optimizing online campaigns. Stay tuned for the to-be-released conference agenda.

About ion interactive:

Founded in 1998, ion interactive is the leading provider of advanced landing page software that maximized PPC, email and online advertising performance. ion’s web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. 

# # #

If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Scott Brinker or Anna Talerico, please call Megan Leap at 561-922-5241 or e-mail at mleap@ioninteractive.com.

“Many small companies are looking to improve their Google ranking to compete with larger companies, while large organizations are looking to increase leads and gain a competitive advantage online. To do so, companies are turning towards search engine optimization, and LiveBall is now ready to meet this need,” says Justin Talerico, ion interactive’s CEO.

“LiveBall’s nine new features give you control over the things that matter most in search engine optimization such as SEO and analytic friendly URLs, automatic sitemaps, and the ability to ping search engines,” says Talerico.

In addition to the features mentioned above, LiveBall also includes:

• Robot Controls
• Canonical URLs
• SEO Specific Content via SEO paths
• Query String Control
• Automatically generated Robots.txt file
• 301 Redirects

More information about each of these features can be found on the ion interactive website under LiveBall platform features.

About ion interactive:

Founded in 1998, ion interactive is the leading provider of advanced landing page software that maximizes PPC, email and online advertising performance. ion’s groundbreaking, web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. ion’s clients include Fortune 500 companies and start-ups from software to consumer packaged goods and education. The company is privately held with offices in Florida and Massachusetts.

# # #

If you’d like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with Justin Talerico, please call Megan Leap at 561-922-5241 or e-mail at mleap@ioninteractive.com.

ion interactive and the OnMedia Top 100 Companies will be honored at AlwaysOn’s OnMedia NYC event on February 1, 2010, at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City.

This two-and-a-half-day executive event features CEO presentations and high-level debates on which forces are disrupting user behavior and creating new opportunities in the marketing, branding, advertising, and public relations industries.

“Our view is that we are still moving up a very steep Internet innovation curve, which means the media world will continue to be radicalized.” said Tony Perkins, founder and CEO of AlwaysOn.  “We congratulate the OnMedia 100 winners for their success in introducing the tools, services, and platforms that continue to disrupt the old ways of Madison Avenue for the benefit of marketers and content consumers alike.”

The OnMedia 100 winners were selected from among hundreds of other technology companies nominated by investors, bankers, journalists and industry insiders.  The AlwaysOn editorial team conducted a rigorous three-month selection process to finalize the 2010 list.

Liveball, ion’s cloud-based landing page software, generates game-changing results from online marketing. It was developed to make paid search, display, email, social and mobile marketing far more effective. LiveBall extends messaging through landing pages, and puts campaign control back in the hands of marketing’s best talent: marketing departments and agencies can take 100% responsibility for campaign landing pages, microsites, and conversion paths. On average, LiveBall customers convert at 3X the industry average.

A full list of all the OnMedia Top 100 winners can be found on the AlwaysOn website.

“LiveBall is truly changing the game of online marketing for our customers,” said ion interactive co-founder and CEO Justin Talerico. “American Greetings saw its cost-per-acquisition drop 20%. Bronto Software cut its paid-search spend by two-thirds and increased the quality and quantity of leads by multiplying conversions from 2% to 18%,” continued Talerico. “These are game changing results, and we’re honored to be recognized for our revolutionary approach to online marketing.”

About ion interactive

Founded in 1998, ion interactive is the leading provider of advanced landing page software that maximizes PPC, email and online advertising performance. ion’s groundbreaking web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. ion’s clients include Fortune 500 companies and start-ups in a range of industries including software/hardware, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, publishing, education and utilities. The company is privately held, with offices in Florida and Massachusetts.

About AlwaysOn

AlwaysOn is the leading business media brand networking the Global Silicon Valley. AlwaysOn helped ignite the social media revolution in early 2003 when it launched the AlwaysOn network (alwayson.goingon.com). In 2004, it became the first media brand to socially network its online readers and event attendees.  AlwaysOn’s preeminent executive event series includes the Summit at Stanford, OnMedia, OnHollywood, OnDC, OnDemand, Venture Summit Silicon Valley, Venture Summit East, GoingGreen, GoingGreen East, and GoingGreen Europe.  The AlwaysOn network and live event series empower readers, event participants, sponsors, and advertisers to spearhead the global innovation economy.

“LiveBall is transforming the way agencies deliver landing pages services to clients. Traditionally, landing pages are resource-intensive projects that can take weeks or months to complete. But with LiveBall, our agency partners can churn out high-quality, sophisticated landing pages in hours instead of days or weeks,” said ion interactive co-founder & CEO Justin Talerico.

LiveBall, a web-based platform, empowers non-technical users to create, test, and analyze landing pages, conversion paths, and microsites, without developers, code, or IT assistance.

“LiveBall is putting campaign control back in the hands of the agencies’ best talent”, said Talerico. “Copywriters, strategists, designers and account teams can log right into LiveBall and create, edit, and test high-quality landing pages on the fly,” he continued.

Many of ion’s agency alliances see their clients’ ROI from online media double or triple when high-performance landing pages are added to their clients’ online marketing programs.  They extend their service offerings and broaden their relationships. “It’s win-win for both the agency and client,” said Talerico.

For agencies, ion’s LiveBall cloud-based software platform is the leading landing page solution. It enables non-technical creatives & account executives to create, test and analyze campaign-specific landing pages, microsites and conversion paths. LiveBall generates game-changing return on advertising spend (ROAS). American Greetings saw its cost-per-acquisition drop by 20% in its first five months using LiveBall. Bronto Software cut its paid-search spend by two-thirds and actually increased the quality and quantity of leads it got from that spend by multiplying its conversion rate from 2% to over 18%.

A list of LiveBall’s agency alliances can be found at http://www.ioninteractive.com/liveball-powered-agencies/

about ion interactive

Founded in 1998, ion interactive is the leading provider of advanced landing page software that maximizes PPC, email and online advertising performance. ion’s groundbreaking web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. ion’s clients include Fortune 500 companies and start-ups in a range of industries including software/hardware, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, publishing, education and utilities. The company is privately held, with offices in Florida and Massachusetts.

Click for a larger image.

“We’re excited to extend our quick-start program to include mobile devices. There are over 30 million iPhones out there and allowing marketers to extend their ads with optimized user experiences turns the iPhone into a sales and marketing machine,” said ion’s CEO and co-founder Justin Talerico. “And the iPhone is just the beginning. We’re committed to develop device-optimized experiences for Android and RIM as well,” he said.

In addition to LiveBall’s existing Quick Start features, every new LiveBall platform deployed will now include — at no additional charge:

• 5 ready-to-run iPhone-optimized landing experiences — Pre-built landing pages and conversion paths that need only fill-in-the-blank text to launch. Non-technical marketers can go live with high-performance pages within minutes.
• Custom iPhone-optimized image library — Ready-to-use, professionally art directed and optimized images
• Custom iPhone-ready forms — Pre-built and powered by LiveBall’s sophisticated ‘no code’ forms engine

“In-application, display, SMS and search advertising is exploding in this space. One need only look at Google’s pending acquisition of AdMob for evidence of that. Users don’t want to click through from optimized experiences to full-size, pinch-to-zoom-in web pages. That’s a recipe for low ROI. LiveBall enables marketers to quickly and easily make optimized landing experiences that convert a much higher percentage of respondents into customers’” said Talerico. “I can log into LiveBall and launch these amazing, sophisticated conversion paths in about ten minutes,” he said.

“The demand for great user experiences in mobile is extraordinary. 19 months ago when we first announced iPhone device optimization, it was a nascent market. Today, we sold our first iPhone launch pads before we even announced them. It’s an exciting time,” said Talerico.

For marketers, ion’s LiveBall cloud-based software platform is the leading landing page solution. It enables non-technical people to create, test and analyze campaign-specific landing pages, microsites and conversion paths. LiveBall generates game-changing return on advertising spend (ROAS). American Greetings saw its cost-per-acquisition drop by 20% in its first five months using LiveBall. Bronto Software cut its paid-search spend by two-thirds and actually increased the quality and quantity of leads it got from that spend by multiplying its conversion rate from 2% to over 18%.

about ion interactive

Founded in 1998, ion interactive is the leading provider of advanced landing page software that maximizes PPC, email and online advertising performance. ion’s groundbreaking web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. ion’s clients include Fortune 500 companies and start-ups in a range of industries including software/hardware, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, publishing, education and utilities. The company is privately held, with offices in Florida and Massachusetts.

Boca Raton, FL—ion interactive, the leading provider of landing page software, today announced that the company’s President & CTO, Scott Brinker, and Executive Vice President, Anna Talerico, have been invited to speak at 7 key industry events this fall. The series of speaking engagements highlight the online advertising industry’s growing focus on optimization and ROI through better post-click experiences. Along with its clients, ion will speak at prestigious industry conferences through the end of 2009, including SMX East, MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer, and PubCon Las Vegas.

“A few years ago, online marketing conferences were almost entirely focused on how to get the click,” said Anna Talerico, Executive Vice President. “But the industry has shifted focus, and maximizing ROI through better post-click experiences is starting to take center stage.”

At each event, conference attendees will get an inside look at the landing page best practices and strategy for creating and implementing conversion-focused landing page programs.

Fall 2009 Speaking Engagements

MarketingProfs Virtual Conference: Digital Marketing World — Wednesday, September 16th
Talerico & ion client Arden Buchanan, Wellpoint, Inc. will present “High-Performance Landing Pages for Demand Generation”. They will discuss how to generate more leads through landing page best practices & analysis. 

MITX Marketing Tech Series — Tuesday, September 29th, Boston, MA

ion interactive President & CTO, Scott Brinker, will speak at the MITX Marketing Tech Series event, “The Next Generation of Website Personalization”. Brinker will discuss how to use personalization to improve results.

SMX East — Monday, October 5th, New York NY
Brinker will speak on the panel, “Increasing Conversions Through Better Usability”. This panel will discuss how improving user experience can increase conversions.

Masters of Business Online — Wednesday, October 21st, Carmel, IN

ion will present, “How to Develop a High-Performance Landing Page Program”. This session will explain how to develop a high performance landing page program, with actionable tips and best practices to implement immediately.

MarketingProfs Digital Marketing Mixer — Wednesday, October 21st, Chicago, IL

Talerico & Buchanan will present “High Performance Landing Pages that Convert Customers”. They will team up again to discuss how to improve landing page performance with advanced landing page strategy and best practices.

EM9 — Thursday, October 29th, Atlanta, GA

Susan Delz, with ion’s account development team, will share landing page best practices and case studies at the eMarketing Association annual event in her session “Easy Landing Page Tests that Increase Conversions”.

PubCon Las Vegas — Thursday, November 12th, Las Vegas, NV
Two heads are better than one. At PubCon this year Talerico & Brinker will speak together on the panel, “Post-Click Marketing: Landing Page Optimization”. The session will cover post-click marketing tactics and best practices to improve online conversions.

about ion interactive

Founded in 1998, ion interactive is the leading provider of advanced landing page software that maximizes PPC, email and online advertising performance. ion’s groundbreaking web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. In addition, ion provides a range of professional services that complement its software platform, including consulting, strategy and communication development, implementation, creative services, support and training, and best practices. ion’s clients include Fortune 500 companies and start-ups in a range of industries including software/hardware, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, publishing, education and utilities. The company is privately held, with offices in Florida and Massachusetts.

Boca Raton, FL—ion interactive, the leading provider of landing page software, today announced that within its first 3 months of testing, LiveBall client American Greetings achieved a 20% reduction in customer cost-per-acquisition. The $1.7 billion leading manufacturer of innovative social expression products was able to move from a single landing page to over 40 unique landing pages, each context-specific to its source of traffic. Using LiveBall, American Greetings was able to speak to each segment much more specifically, and increase conversions despite economic fallout that actually reduced the flow of traffic.

After a few months of ion’s full-service landing page management, American Greetings now runs their landing page program on their own, using the LiveBall platform to easily create, test and optimize in real-time. Over their first five months using LiveBall, the American Greetings online marketing team has created over 700 unique landing pages, tested across hundreds of unique sources of traffic.

According to AG Interactive Marketing Manager Tessa Fraser, “There’s so much flexibility in the templates. We run 13 or 14 tests simultaneously at any one time and get quick, actionable learning. And we’ve easily extended LiveBall with additional brands like BlueMountain and PhotoWorks.”

The real-time testing and analytics in LiveBall ensure traffic arrives at the best performing landing page for each unique traffic source. Fraser says “As soon as we get statistical significance on a test, we drive immediately to a champion in real time. On Mother’s Day alone, the real-time change in traffic splits resulted in over $45,000 in incremental revenue. That’s revenue that would have been lost without LiveBall’s actionable, real-time approach.

“We’re delighted with the results American Greetings has achieved with LiveBall,” said Anna Talerico, ion interactive Executive Vice President, “And we’re looking forward to seeing them continue increasing conversions in 2010 and 2011—as we are for all our clients. Since the launch of LiveBall, our clients have consistently converted at 3x the industry average. They’re using our LiveBall platform to drive real business ROI at scale.”

Fraser sums it up, “LiveBall gives us incredibly fast speed to market and learning. It’s a visual tool that lets us focus on what’s working to improve our results.”

about American Greetings

American Greetings Corporation is a leading manufacturer of innovative social expression products that assist consumers in enhancing their relationships. The company generates annual revenue of approximately $1.7 billion, and its products can be found in retail outlets domestically and worldwide. American Greetings has the largest collection of electronic greetings on the Web, including cards available at AmericanGreetings.com through AG Interactive, Inc., the company’s online division.

about ion interactive

Founded in 1998, ion interactive (www.ioninteractive.com) is the leading provider of advanced landing page software that maximizes PPC, email and online advertising performance. ion’s groundbreaking web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. In addition, ion provides a range of professional services that complement its software platform, including consulting, strategy and communication development, implementation, creative services, support and training, and best practices. ion’s clients include Fortune 500 companies and start-ups in a range of industries including software/hardware, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, publishing, education and utilities. The company is privately held, with offices in Florida and Massachusetts.

Boca Raton, FL—ion interactive, the leading provider of landing page software, today announced the launch of LiveBall Quick Start features that include everything online marketers need to launch sophisticated landing pages, microsites and conversion paths without help from designers, web developers or IT resources. ion’s “cloud-based” landing page software allows marketers to increase landing page performance while decreasing resources needed to make it happen.

“We know marketers need to move quickly and don’t have a lot of time to spare,” said Anna Talerico, ion’s co-founder and Executive Vice President,  “So we launched these new quick start features to turn landing page friction into landing page freedom.”

The quick start package of features includes:

• 12 ready-to-run landing experiences - Pre-built landing pages, microsites and conversion paths. Users need only add copy and take them live
• Custom image library - Professionally art directed and optimized photographs 
• Custom forms - Pre-built, and powered by a sophisticated “no code” forms engine
• Automated reporting - Real-time reports in HTML, PDF or Excel XLS formats 
• Data exports - Pre-configured based on user requirements
• High-touch support - Dedicated account managers provide training and guidance
• Testing - Three clicks to set up powerful A/B testing

For e-commerce marketers, LiveBall integrates easily with other third-party tracking software, and for lead generation, data can be exported in almost any format to CRM systems.

“With LiveBall, there’s nothing to install, nothing to maintain, nothing to worry about,” says Talerico, “It’s the fastest way to get landing pages from concept to launch with the least amount of work.  And most importantly, LiveBall lifts our clients’ conversion rates by an average of 100%.”

about ion interactive

Founded in 1998, ion interactive is the leading provider of advanced landing page software that maximizes PPC, email and online advertising performance. ion’s groundbreaking web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. In addition, ion provides a range of professional services that complement its software platform, including consulting, strategy and communication development, implementation, creative services, support and training, and best practices. ion’s clients include Fortune 500 companies and start-ups in a range of industries including software/hardware, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, publishing, education and utilities. The company is privately held, with offices in Florida and Massachusetts.

Boca Raton, FL—ion interactive, the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software, today announced the launch of a free online marketing ROI calculator that helps marketers identify the true costs and realistic revenue potential of their programs, and calculate the net business impact. No registration is required to use the tool, and all data entered is anonymous. Users can access the calculator online at http://www.ioninteractive.com/roi-calculator/

Boca Raton, FL — ion interactive, the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software, today announced a range of new, advanced features on its LiveBall platform.  The combination of sophisticated technology, strategic leadership and consistent client conversion rates over 4 times the industry average continues to keep ion interactive on the forefront of post-click marketing globally.

“Particularly now, marketers need to demonstrate a clear ROI from every dollar they spend,” said Scott Brinker, ion’s President and CTO, “These enhanced features improve accountability, flexibility and deepen respondent engagement.”

advanced “code-less” form customization

With enhanced features for design and functionality, users can easily create forms in LiveBall that are far more sophisticated than traditional marketing automation systems - all without coding or IT involvement. With the WSIWYG editor, users can instantly set relational dependancies to individual data fields. For example, if “US” is country selected, then “state” is required. In addition, users can easily customize form appearance, including size, number of columns, corner style and more.

Excel reporting with superior analytics

Beyond simply conversion, LiveBall’s clear, easy-to-read Excel reports show user segmentation, respondent tags and how behavioral actions impact conversion rate.  Schedule and export reports in Excel or PDF formats to circulate to management or clients. Run reports immediately and/or save for scheduled reports to be emailed to specified recipients.

click auditing for suspicious clicks

Need peace of mind that your advertising dollars are paying for legitimate clicks?  Easily generate a click audit report to share with search vendors. Analyze each campaign or traffic source in HTML or Excel formats including IP address, and referrer URL. Provides a quick check-and-balance for paid advertising.

track social content results

By popular request, users can now better organize and monitor results from Social Content by specifying traffic sources for media such as Del.icio.us, Digg, Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn and Twitter.

analyze by daypart

New analytics gauge on performance pages shows respondents and conversions for each day and hour.

email export integration

New email export format provides easy integration with packages like Aprimo.

about ion interactive

ion interactive is the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software. ion’s groundbreaking web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. In addition, ion provides a range of professional services that complement its software platform, including consulting, strategy and communication development, implementation, creative services, support and training, and best practices. ion’s clients include Fortune 500 companies and start-ups in a range of industries including software/hardware, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, publishing, education and utilities.

Boca Raton, FL—ion interactive, the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software, today announced several key industry speaking engagements, including expanding the Post-Click Marketing Power Breakfasts to three additional cities. 

The ion interactive Power Breakfast seminars provide actionable strategies and best practices that can be immediately applied to online marketing initiatives to provide measurable increases in marketing ROI.  “The response to our recent Power Breakfasts in Austin and Raleigh has been amazing ,” said Anna Talerico, ion Executive Vice President and co-author of “Honest Seduction, “As a result, we’ve expanded the series to include three additional cities, with more coming in the late summer.”

Attendance is open to online marketers in all business sectors. The 2-hour breakfast seminars are complementary, but seminar size is limited to allow for in-depth discussion and Q & A. Registrations are accepted on a first-come basis and can be made online, or by calling 561-922-5141.

Power Breakfast Series

San Francisco, CA — Tuesday, June 9th, The Westin Market Street

Register: www.ioninteractive.com/sanfrancisco

San Jose, CA — Wednesday, June 10th, The San Jose Marriott

Register: www.ioninteractive.com/sanjose

Chicago, IL — Tuesday, July 14th, The Westin Michigan Avenue

Register: www.ioninteractive.com/chicago

Additional Industry Events

Separately from the Power Breakfast series, ion President and CTO, Scott Brinker, will be appearing at two upcoming industry events.

SMX Advanced — Tuesday, June 2nd, Seattle WA

Landing pages for PPC are possibly the most superstitious, myth-filled topic in paid search marketing. Brinker will dispel 5 popular PPC landing page myths, all illustrated with real-world examples, on the panel “Mythbusting PPC Urban Legends” at SMX Advanced on June 2nd at 11 AM.

Affiliate Summit East — Monday August 10th, New York NY

Brinker will also participate in the roundtable discussion, “Advanced Landing Pages for Affiliates.” Join the panel of leading experts as they answer questions and discuss strategies for improving the performance of affiliate landing pages.

about ion interactive

ion interactive is the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software. ion’s groundbreaking web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. In addition, ion provides a range of professional services that complement its software platform, including consulting, strategy and communication development, implementation, creative services, support and training, and best practices.

Boca Raton, FL—ion interactive, the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software, today announced that its LiveBall post-click marketing platform now seamlessly integrates “borderless video” provided by iSpeakVideo. See a sample LiveBall landing page with iSpeakVideo here. 

The LiveBall SaaS platform allows marketers to create, test and analyze landing pages, microsites and conversion paths without developers, code or IT assistance. Using a series of templates and a sophisticated “WYSIWYG” editor, users can create rich, multi-media landing experiences including flash objects, widgets and social elements. Now it is equally as simple to add a virtual spokesperson using the “borderless video” pioneered by iSpeakVideo.

“Engaging, involving landing experiences really do impact the bottom line”, says Anna Talerico, ion interactive’s Executive Vice-President, “In fact we consistently see conversion rates for our client base over three times the industry average.  This video capability from iSpeakVideo adds another game-changing tool to our clients’ arsenal.”

According to Erik Kretschmar, VP of business development for iSpeakVideo, “We’re excited to see how ion will integrate our ‘borderless video’ into the landing experiences they create for their clients. Adding a virtual spokesperson will help ion’s clients connect with their customers in a personal way and drive those conversion rates even higher.”

about iSpeakVideo

iSpeakVideo is the leading provider of online video spokesperson technology. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, FL iSpeakVideo is home to a state-of-the-art video production studio, talented technology and creative teams, sales force and customer service. It maintains a network of more than thirty video studios in every region of the U.S. plus Canada, Europe and Asia to meet clients’ needs. iSpeakVideo also operates iSignVideo, which provides online sign language services for the hearing impaired. 

about ion interactive

ion interactive is the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software. ion’s groundbreaking web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. In addition, ion provides a range of professional services that complement its software platform, including consulting, strategy and communication development, implementation, creative services, support and training, and best practices. ion interactive founders Scott Brinker, Justin Talerico and Anna Talerico are the authors of “Honest Seduction: Using Post-Click Marketing to Turn Landing Pages Into Game Changers.”

Boca Raton, FL—ion interactive, the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software, today announced that the company’s Q4 2008 revenues increased 55% over the prior quarter—with year-over-year growth at 92%. Bucking mainstream trends, ion interactive experienced double-digit growth while maintaining an aggressive schedule of technical enhancements to its LiveBall platform. High-profile exposure at leading industry conferences, prolific and oft-quoted blog posts, along with the release of a new book entitled “Honest Seduction” helped solidify the company’s thought leadership position.

“We were very pleased with our results last quarter,”said Justin Talerico, ion’s CEO, “when we first launched our LiveBall platform in 2007, we had the extra challenge of explaining the concept of post-click marketing. With growth like this, it’s clear marketing professionals in industries across the board recognize the value of a cohesive post-click marketing plan, plus need the tools and expertise to carry it out.”

new features for LiveBall

While it was rapidly expanding its client base, the company also developed and launched significant enhancements to its LiveBall SaaS Platform, including:

• expanded analysis capabilities with additional scheduled reports and convenient reporting formats
• advanced page editor that instantly toggles between preview and layout modes 
• ability to search individual respondents
• extended dynamic form capabilities (format and design)

book release: Honest Seduction

In January, the company released “Honest Seduction: Using Post-Click Marketing to Turn Landing Pages Into Game Changers.” Written by ion interactive founders Scott Brinker, Anna Talerico and Justin Talerico, the new book is a strategic and tactical how-to for not simply beating, but smashing the industry averages in online marketing conversion.

speaking tour

Scott Brinker and Anna Talerico have also maintained a high profile at a number of key industry conferences, with speaking engagements at SMX West, Search Engine Strategies in New York, SMX Search Analytics in Toronto, and eM9 in San Francisco, along with hosting “Power Breakfasts” for online marketers in Boston, San Jose and San Diego.

about ion interactive

ion interactive is the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software. ion’s groundbreaking web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. In addition, ion provides a range of professional services that complement its software platform, including consulting, strategy and communication development, implementation, creative services, support and training, and best practices. ion’s clients include Fortune 500 companies and start-ups in a range of industries including software/hardware, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing, publishing, education and utilities.

Boca Raton, FL—ion interactive, the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software, today announced that the company’s President and CTO, Scott Brinker, and Executive Vice President, Anna Talerico, have been invited to present at several key industry events in the coming months. Separately, ion interactive will be hosting two exclusive  “Power Breakfasts” for a limited number of industry professionals in San Jose and San Diego.

“We’re barely into 2009, but so far it has been very positive for the company,” says Brinker, “Along with the great response we’re getting for our new book, “Honest Seduction,” and coming on the heels of our participation at SMX West, these speaking invitations indicate the industry’s adoption of post-click marketing as a strategic standard for online marketers.”

industry events

Search Engine Strategies, New York — Wednesday, March 25th, New York, NY

In his session, “Advanced B2B”, Scott Brinker will share “the latest tips and trends in using search to find those niche decision-makers that drive your business.”

SMX Search Analytics — Wednesday, April 1st, Toronto, Ontario

Scott Brinker will be speaking at the first ever SMX Search Analytics event in Canada. His session, “Traffic Segmentation & Why It Matters,” will cover “audience segmentation and how to do it right.”

eM9 — Wednesday,  April 29th, San Francisco, CA

Anna Talerico will cover post-click marketing strategies and best practices for lifting conversions and improving ROI at her session, “Boosting Your Online Advertising ROI.” 

power breakfasts

ion will host two seminars in California exclusively for online marketers designed to provide strategies for improving landing pages and increasing online marketing ROI:

• San Jose, CA — Tuesday, February 24th, San Jose Marriott
• San Diego, CA — Thursday, February 27th, Westin Gaslamp Quarter

During the “Power Breakfasts,” attendees will 

• Learn how to spend less and convert more online traffic
• Get strategic best practices for improving landing page ROI
• See examples of how companies like Overland Storage, Citrix Systems, American Greetings, and Howard Johnson increased landing page conversions & gained a competitive advantage

about ion interactive

ion interactive is the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software. ion’s groundbreaking web-based platform, LiveBall, enables customers to create, test and analyze landing pages, conversion paths and microsites all without IT or developer assistance. In addition, ion provides a range of professional services that complement its software platform, including consulting, strategy and communication development, implementation, creative services, support and training, and best practices.

Boca Raton, FL—ion interactive, the leading provider of post-click marketing services and software, today announced the release of Honest Seduction: Using Post-Click Marketing to Turn Landing Pages Into Game Changers. Written by ion interactive founders Scott Brinker, Anna Talerico and Justin Talerico, the new book is a strategic and tactical how-to for not simply beating, but smashing the industry averages in online marketing conversions. 

As an extended compilation of blog posts and articles from 1999 to 2008, Honest Seduction also tells the history of ion interactive, along with the founders’ evolution of thought giving rise to the concept of “post-click marketing,” and the development of the company’s groundbreaking LiveBall landing page management platform, within the context of the decade-long growth and maturity of the online marketplace.

In quick-reading, entertaining essays, Honest Seduction lays out the principles of engaging respondents after their first click, and through the conversion process, whether it’s measured as a lead or a transaction. The book is essential reading for online marketers, and the secret advantage that changes the playing field.

According to research by Compete Inc, the leading web analytics firm, “It is possible that your competitors could be generating five times the ROI as you are with comparable messaging and spending. What can you do right now to increase the ROI of your ad campaign? Pay more attention to the post-click experience.” 

“The goals of post-click marketing are quantitative, adds Justin Talerico, CEO of ion interactive,  “but the means of achieving those goals are highly qualitative and user-focused. If you’re using paid search, email or display advertising to drive traffic, leads or transactions—you need to learn the art and science of Honest Seduction.”

Honest Seduction is available on Amazon.com in both print and Kindle versions.

BOCA RATON, Florida —A series of upcoming events highlight the positive impact of post-click marketing on online advertising campaign results. ion interactive, the post-click marketing company, will kick off a coast-to-coast tour with 8 speaking engagements in Q4. Along with its clients, ion will be speaking at prestigious industry conferences through the end of 2008 including SMX East, Marketing Sherpa’s BtoB Demand Generation Summits, ad:tech New York and Search Engine Strategies Chicago.

BOCA RATON, Florida — ion interactive, a leading post-click marketing company, will participate in Search Engine Strategies’ San Jose conference as both a speaker and an exhibitor. Scott Brinker, ion interactive president and landing page 2.0 advocate, will share how the next generation of landing pages is changing search marketing dynamics for companies ranging from American Greetings to Wyndham Worldwide.

“Landing pages are a valuable branding platform. The more creative the structure and content, the more substantive and engaging your landing pages can be, the better the results” said Brinker. “Landing Pages 2.0 are not limited to one page — more like a microsite experience — they contain more rich media, segment respondents and employ more sophisticated ways to personalize the experience and increase conversions.”

Brinker will be speaking at two sessions, “Landing Page Utopia: Expert Roundtable” on Tuesday the 19th, and “Post-Click Marketing: Converting Search Engine Traffic” on Thursday the 21st. Showing real client examples and results, he will demonstrate how every marketer can create advanced landing pages for a Web 2.0 world.

ion interactive will be exhibiting at the SES conference in booth number #529. ion’s Director of Client Strategy, Michele Hickford, will be available to provide booth visitors with best practices for creating advanced landing pages with LiveBall, ion’s platform that powers landing pages 2.0.

LiveBall, a software-as-a-service (SaaS), enables marketers to create, test and analyze powerful landing pages — without developers or IT. The platform provides marketers the ability to optimize their online campaigns quickly and efficiently:

• Create & launch multi-page experiences without any coding
• Test, track & optimize performance for each discrete traffic source
• Easily include widgets and rich media on pages
• Segment audiences in an open, transparent way
• Employ sophisticated behavioral rules to personalize the experience
• Identify click fraud

“The LiveBall landing page platform lets you engage your respondents more deeply through the simplified creation of multi-page experiences, audience segmentation and the integration of social media and widgets,” said Brinker. “It was designed by marketers, for marketers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of landing pages in online marketing.”

In a recent survey, 95% of ion interactive’s LiveBall clients indicated they were very or extremely satisfied, and 100% of client respondents indicated they would recommend LiveBall to a colleague or business associate.

“We are proud to say that our LiveBall clients convert globally at over four times the industry average,” said Justin Talerico, CEO of ion interactive. “Although it’s not just the conversions that keep our clients satisfied. The simplified creation and management of landing pages, easy testing and improved ROI enables us to exceed their expectations.”

BOCA RATON, Florida – On August 1st, 2008, ion interactive packs up and heads “west” to its new office located at 124 E. Boca Raton Road. ion’s new spacious pad is located about 50 feet west of the historic home that’s been the company’s office for the past three years. While the team will miss their “home”, everyone is pleased to be staying in the same urban downtown Boca Raton neighborhood.

“It’s a great time to be a part of the interactive space. We are excited about the growth our industry is realizing as well as the growth of our team,” said Justin Talerico, ion interactive CEO. “Our new space at 124 is close to our roots, and is an ideal location for our staff.”

The new Florida office will continue to house ion interactive’s creative, account and sales teams. ion also continues to operate its Boston, Massachusetts office under the direction of President & CTO Scott Brinker.

ion’s phone and fax numbers remain the same, however extensions and options have changed. Contact ion at 561-394-9484 (or toll free at 888-466-4332).

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — June 3, 2008 — Scott Brinker, ion interactive President and CTO, will join a panel of leading online and search marketing professionals for “Conversion Optimization: Winning After They Arrive” at the SMX Advanced conference being held at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle on June 3 and 4, 2008. The session is scheduled for day one of the event — Tuesday, June 3 — from 1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.

This advanced session will provide a panel of industry experts, including Brinker, that will address how marketer’s can increase the conversion rate and ROI from their existing traffic. Attendees will get a deep-dive into the good and bad practices of post-click marketing as well as testing methods, tools and strategies.

Key concepts on the content agenda that drive post-click marketing success include:

• Landing pages 2.0
• Conversion paths
• Directed behavior segmentation

“Whether you are a hard-core search marketer or an aficionado of Seattle coffee and music, or both and you’re attending SMX, this session promises to provide plenty of examples and real-world, take-home-and-use-immediately tactics that will make a measurable impact on your PPC ROI,” said Brinker.

About Scott Brinker

As ion interactive’s President and CTO, Brinker leads the company’s product development and technical operations. He is a passionate advocate of post-click marketing, and has written articles for Advertising Age, BtoB Marketing, MarketingProfs, and DM News. Brinker is also a regular speaker for multiple online and search marketing conferences.

About ion interactive

Over the past 3 years, ion interactive has pioneered “post-click marketing”, helping companies do a better job of engaging and converting respondents to search marketing, online advertising, and email marketing campaigns. ion’s primary product is LiveBall, a software-as-a-service solution that enables marketers and agencies to manage dozens or hundreds of different landing pages in Long Tail marketing campaigns. Based in Boca Raton, FL and Cambridge, MA, the company also publishes a thought leadership blog on landing page strategies and tactics at http://blog.postclickmarketing.com.

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — June 2, 2008 — Following recent announcements by Facebook, Google, and MySpace — which have enabled their respective social networking services to be integrated into third-party web sites— social networking can now be easily integrated into the context of landing pages with ion interactive’s new version of its landing page management software LiveBall.

“Marketers are already doing the heavy lifting of finding a particular audience, placing ads to win their clicks, and building niche-specific landing pages as a destination for them,” said Scott Brinker, ion’s President and Chief Technology Officer. “A landing page can serve as a ‘connector’, bringing together people with a specialized, shared interest.”

The reasons for a company to add social networking features into its landing pages can include the following 7 benefits:

• increased brand equity with respondents who value the social networking connections with their niche-specific peers that the company has enabled;
• a reduced “bounce rate” on campaign landing pages as social interactivity engages more participants than static content;
• additional traffic via referrals through respondents’ social networks;
• invitations into respondents’ social networks to develop threads beyond the campaign;
• the ability for respondents to interact with one another to provide peer support;
• a strong signal to respondents that the company has enough confidence in itself to facilitate open discussions around the campaign;
• an excellent stream of qualitative feedback—even from respondents who may not “convert” — to balance quantitative stats such as bounce rate and conversion rate.

“Social landing pages may not be right for every campaign, but we believe this category of interactive features can deliver a significant boost to many,” said Brinker. “In fact, aside from enhancing content-oriented or offer-oriented landing pages, we envision that some campaigns will have purely social response vehicles, where the ‘conversion’ isn’t a lead or a transaction, but rather a social interaction— friending or following the company, contributing to a discussion, adding a review, making a referral.”

Using ion’s landing page management software-as-a-service, LiveBall, marketers can simply plug social networking features into their landing pages as “widgets” without any coding or IT resources. LiveBall’s extensive widget support makes sure that these social elements flow properly into page designs according to a company’s brand standards. It also gives marketers the option to dynamically change parameters of these widgets — such as which particular social group or discussion thread is being connected to — based on the behavior or segmentation data of each respondent.

About ion interactive

Over the past 3 years, ion interactive has pioneered “post-click marketing”, helping companies do a better job of engaging and converting respondents to search marketing, online advertising, and email marketing campaigns with more sophisticated landing pages. LiveBall, ion’s primary product, is a software-as-a-service solution that enables marketers and agencies to manage dozens or hundreds of different landing pages in Long Tail marketing campaigns. Based in Boca Raton, FL and Cambridge, MA, the company also publishes a thought leadership blog on landing page strategies and tactics at http://blog.postclickmarketing.com.

BOCA RATON, Florida — May 21, 2008 — ion interactive, a leading post-click marketing company, unveiled the latest version of LiveBall, its landing page management software-as-a-service. This new release includes extensive support to enable non-technical marketers to plug in widgets and other existing web applications into their landing pages.

“Widgets have become the de facto method of distribution for dynamic content and applications that can be embedded in a web page,” said Scott Brinker, ion interactive president and chief technology officer.

In the context of landing pages, relevant widgets can include RSS feeds with up-to-the-minute news and announcements, product features, and special offers. More interactive widgets can be things such as calculators, polls, and promotional games.

With LiveBall’s widget support, companies can take advantage of plug-and-play features through widget distributors and platforms such as WidgetBox and Sprout, or widgets offered by complementary sites and services, such as live Twitter streams. Alternatively, companies can build their own custom widgets using Javascript.

LiveBall delivers several advantages with its widget support including:

• quickly add a widget to professionally designed landing pages, while adhering to brand standards, using LiveBall’s custom page templates;
• change widgets on-the-fly based on the actions or profile of individual respondents through LiveBall’s “advanced rules”;
• extend widgets to “tag” or “convert” respondents based on the way people interact with them by passing in tracking information from LiveBall.

As part of this release, LiveBall has also expanded its support for iframes. An iframe is a separate “inner” web page that can be seamlessly pulled into “outer” web page so that the two appear to be one unified page. In the context of landing pages, this enables a marketer to pull in existing web applications, such as sign-ups and checkouts, into many different landing pages, each tailored for particular marketing campaigns and niche audiences.

“Dynamic widgets and iframes are one more way we’re helping marketers excel beyond plain old landing pages in their online marketing,” said Brinker. “The more relevant content is on a landing page—and the more engaging its presentation—the higher conversion rate it achieves. Widgets can be a great way to inject more creativity and dynamism into post-click marketing.”

About ion interactive

Over the past 3 years, ion interactive has pioneered “post-click marketing”, helping companies do a better job of engaging and converting respondents to search marketing, online advertising, and email marketing campaigns. ion’s primary product is LiveBall, a software-as-a-service solution that enables marketers and agencies to manage dozens or hundreds of different landing pages in Long Tail marketing campaigns. Based in Boca Raton, FL and Cambridge, MA, the company also publishes a thought leadership blog on landing page strategies and tactics at http://blog.postclickmarketing.com.

SAN FRANCISCO, California — April 15, 2008 — Now, for the first time marketers can reach the highly desirable iPhone user demographic with iPhone-optimized landing pages using a new platform framework introduced today by ion interactive. The ion LiveBall iPhone framework gives marketers another channel-optimized opportunity by taking advantage of the iPhone’s superior mobile web user experience. When users click on an ad from their iPhone, they’re delivered the very best landing pages possible, one which is optimized for the iPhone and more likely to convert users into customers. For iPhone users, it means zero to minimal scrolling or zooming on ads – less ‘point and flick.’

Mobile online advertising in the U.S. is forecast to jump to $4.8 billion by 2011 from $1.6 billion this year, according to research firm EMarketer Inc. According to the Mobile Advertising Report from Nielsen Mobile, mobile users exposed to ads jumped 38% between the second and fourth quarter of 2007. Further, 85% of iPhone users accessed online information in January 2008 compared with 58.2% of the wider smartphone market, making the device the most popular for accessing online information while on the go (M:Metrics).

ion’s LiveBall post-click marketing technology platform now lets online search marketers rapidly and cost-effectively deliver iPhone-optimized landing pages. LiveBall is a “marketer’s playground” that creates, hosts, tests and analyzes landing pages, microsites and conversion paths. Combining specialized content management, testing and analysis into a seamless, real-time platform, LiveBall increases conversion rates and makes online media spending more effective.

“Finally, mobile marketing is fulfilling its promise, driven by the phenomenal success of the Apple iPhone, which has already achieved 28% smart phone market share in less than a year,” said Justin Talerico, CEO, ion interactive. “ion’s LiveBall is the platform that is making effective mobile marketing an accessible reality, especially when targeting the 85% of iPhone users who access online information monthly.”

Reflecting the increased prominence of the Apple iPhone as a strategic tool for online search marketers, iPhone-optimized landing pages can be created and deployed with point-and-click ease. Even non-technical marketing professionals can develop iPhone-optimal pages within minutes. As a result, online marketers can differentiate their brand with the affluent and influential iPhone customer base – said to be more likely to earn over $100,000/year and have advanced degrees, leading to increased conversion rates and revenue.

• Portrait and landscape orientation optimization, eliminating pinching or zooming;
• Formatting and design optimized for the iPhone screen size and ultra-high pixel density, resulting in attractive, high-performance experiences requiring little or no scrolling;
• Optimization to take advantage of iPhone-only browser standards, providing a savvy user experience for this influential and lucrative market;
• Offering a fast, easy alternative to a company’s core website, whereby a company’s site can sense for the iPhone and redirect the traffic to LiveBall’s optimized iPhone experience.

“ion interactive is committed to delivering the highest quality user experience, leading to conversion rates above the global average. Robust iPhone optimization is the next logical step toward meeting our goal of delivering the best experience for all respondents, including mobile handset users,” added Talerico.

ion interactive will showcase its LiveBall iPhone solution at booth #6451 on the ad:tech show floor in San Francisco from April 15-17, 2008. Using live iPhones showing LiveBall landing pages, respondents to search, email, or online advertising will automatically be delivered to their optimal experience.

NEW YORK, New York — March 17, 2008 — ion interactive, the post-click marketing company, today announced the availability of robust Adobe Flash capability within its LiveBall post-click marketing technology platform.

Until now, developing and modifying Flash creative has been beyond the typical resource and economic constraints of online search marketers. Now, with Flash-enabled LiveBall, marketers can quickly and easily develop Flash creative to produce richer, more engaging and compelling customer post-click experiences, ultimately leading to increased conversion rates and ROI.

“With today’s announcement, ion enables online search marketers to break through the ‘boredom barrier’ by providing an economical way to deliver much richer post-click experiences,” said Justin Talerico, CEO, ion interactive. “Average, non-technical marketers, using only a web browser, can easily, rapidly, and cost-effectively build their own Flash interactions and animations including text, images and links.”

The ion interactive LiveBall Flash Solution

LiveBall is ion interactive’s post-click marketing technology platform. It’s a “marketer’s playground” that makes, hosts, tests and analyzes landing pages, microsites and conversion paths. Combining specialized content management, testing and analysis into a seamless, real-time platform, LiveBall increases conversion rates and makes online media spending more effective.

Each LiveBall post-click marketing console will now include a library of client-branded, ready-to-use LiveBall Flash Objects. In addition to this starter kit, LiveBall customers can easily build their own custom Flash objects or commission ion to create additional objects just for them.

“Search marketers using LiveBall can now develop one Flash element and use it over and over again, and modify it in real time, without incurring the cost and time of working with developers,” added Talerico.

Marketers can alter the text within buttons and animations, change the images or video inside the Flash, and change the links—all with just a browser and LiveBall. Interactive buttons, polished segmentation choices, image rotators with refined transitions, and even Flash videos can all be easily manipulated using LiveBall.

As a result, rich multimedia experiences can now be delivered and tested against one another in post-click marketing. This new economy of power creative can be leveraged to significantly raise the user experience bar, engage prospective customers longer, and increase conversion rates far beyond the global average.

“Now what?”: Visit ion interactive at SES

ion interactive, the company that brought online marketers the No More Landing Pages campaign and thought-leadership blog in 2007, recently launched its new campaign, entitled “Now what?” In the face of rising PPC costs, “Now what?” raises the question of how can CPC’s continue to escalate when the people clicking—and their likelihood to convert—are static or declining? Learn ion interactive’s answer to “Now what?” at booth #1016 on the SES show floor.

BOCA RATON, Florida — March 12, 2008 — ion interactive, the post-click marketing company, recently unveiled its new “Now what?” campaign and thought-leadership blog. Designed to assist online marketers in formulating strategies and solutions for increasing conversion rates and multiplying ROI, “Now what?” succeeds ion’s popular 2007 “No More Landing Pages” campaign.

Online marketing costs are continuing to escalate across email, paid search, and banner advertising, and clicks from these vehicles are static or declining. With a combined annual spend estimated at $42 billion per year, it’s critical to ask “Now what?” in order to increase the overall return on marketing investment (ROMI) from these vehicles.

“For online marketers to succeed and profit, a proven, next-generation methodology for increasing conversion rates must be adopted,” said Justin Talerico, CEO, ion interactive. “ion has the answer to the ‘Now what?’ challenge. ion’s post-click solutions segment, qualify and convert search, email and online advertising traffic. Our combination of best practices and optimizing technology delivers conversion rates at more than four times the industry average.”

Want the Answer? Get LiveBall

Liveball is ion interactive’s post-click marketing technology platform. It’s a “marketer’s playground” that makes, hosts, tests and analyzes landing pages, microsites, and conversion paths. Combining specialized content management, testing, and analysis into a seamless, real-time platform, LiveBall increases conversion rates and makes online media spending more effective.

“Now, marketers can test and optimize landing experiences mid-campaign to better convert traffic and ensure the maximum return on their online marketing spend,” said Talerico.

On average, ion interactive’s LiveBall clients convert at more than 11% — 4x the global average — with individual client improvement at 2x to 10x above where they started.

“I have strong confidence in LiveBall,” said Sally Lowery, Internet Marketing Manager, Bronto Software. “We were using landing pages, but they were so full of content and they were only converting at 2%. Now, we’re averaging over 18% and some campaigns are up at 35-45%. We also have much better insight into our prospects and leads. That insight helped us make better keyword buys. We now net more leads from less than one-third the paid search spend. And they’re more qualified.”

Get Up to Speed: ion’s New Post-Click Marketing Blog

ion interactive’s popular “No More Landing Pages” blog, long a source of intelligent discourse around landing experience best practices, has been folded into a new blog dedicated to post-click marketing. The blog is an integral part of the “Now what?” campaign, and is a valuable resource for online marketers seeking to improve conversion rates and multiply ROI.

To learn more about ion interactive’s answer to “Now what?” visit booth #1016 at Search Engine Strategies New York (March 17th - 20th) or booth #6451 at ad:Tech San Francisco (April 15th - 17th).

Scott Brinker, ion interactive President and CTO, will join a panel of leading online and search marketing professionals for the Ad Copy and Landing Page Clinic at the Search Engine Strategies (SES) event, being held in New York City from March 17th through March 20th, 2008.

The interactive session is scheduled for day two of the event – Tuesday, March 18 – from 4:30 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. During the clinic, industry experts, including Brinker, will examine actual ads and landing pages offered up by audience volunteers, and will provide strategies for improving click-through and conversion rates.

“This session presents a great opportunity for in-house search marketers to receive practical, real-world advice that can be easily implemented,” said Brinker. “Every attendee – even non-volunteers – will be able to walk away with executable strategies for increasing their paid search ROI.”

As ion interactive’s President and CTO, Brinker leads the company’s product development and technical operations. He is a passionate advocate of post-click marketing, and has written articles for Advertising Age, BtoB Marketing, MarketingProfs, and DM News.

ion interactive, the company that brought online marketers the No More Landing Pages campaign and thought-leadership blog in 2007, will debut its new campaign Now what? in March at SES New York. In the face of rising PPC costs, Now what? raises the question of how can CPC’s continue to escalate when the people clicking—and their likelihood to convert—are static or declining? Learn ion interactive’s answer to Now what? at booth #1016 on the SES show floor.