The latest from TechCrunch
- Salesforce Launches A Simple Way To Organize Leads With WordPress
- Docstoc Adds Well Known Publishers, 100K Books To Its Premium Docstore
- Why The Co-Developer Of The World Wide Web Isn't On Facebook (Video Interview)
- IMVU's Virtual Cash Cow: Doubling Revenues, Focused On Gaming (Video)
| Salesforce Launches A Simple Way To Organize Leads With WordPress | Top |
| If you run a website that accepts Salesforce leads directly, chances are it’s running on WordPress . Chances are also that you’re getting emailed each of those leads, which you then have to copy-and-paste back into Salesforce, to put them into your system. Not anymore. Salesforce has just launched a WordPress-to-Lead plug-in that allows you to place a sign-up form on any WordPress post or page, which then automatically puts that data into your Salesforce account. No more email required. It’s the first “Consumerprise” play that Salesforce has attempted. Like all WordPress plug-ins, it requires a little bit of work to install WordPress-to-Lead, but it’s relatively simple. You download the plug-in here, upload the files to your server through FTP, then go into your WordPress set up to activate it. You then need to enter your Salesforce.com Organization ID, and then you’re all set. You can use the [salesforce] WordPress shortcode to display the form anywhere on your site. And yes, the form is customizable with different fields. This seems like such an logical addition for Salesforce that it’s somewhat surprising they didn’t have something like this earlier. Especially in today’s world where we’re all bombarded by email, and some are easily overlooked — or you have to hire someone to be in charge of moving these leads from your mail over to Salesforce. This is much, much simpler. The video below has more: CrunchBase Information Salesforce WordPress Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Docstoc Adds Well Known Publishers, 100K Books To Its Premium Docstore | Top |
| Docstoc , an online document sharing site that caters primarily to small businesses and professionals, has just added a big dose of new content to its premium Docstore. Through a partnership with digital media distributor Overdrive.com , the site has added a collection of 100,000 books from a smattering of well known publishers as well as 150,000 new ‘professional’ documents, which include research reports, legal forms, and other content you’re probably not going to find sitting at your local bookstore. Among the publishers that are included as part of the Overdrive.com partnership are McGraw-Hill , Random House , and Simon & Schuster . Included in the collection are book series like the ‘For Dummies’ books, Frommer’s travel books, and Microsoft guides. Docstoc’s Docstore launched in August 2009, but was initially only available to select publishing partners. Earlier this year the site added a marketplace for “Professional” documents (like the reports and forms mentioned above) which anyone can sell their content through. The site competes directly with Scribd , which has also inked deals to feature content from many mainstream publishers. CEO Jason Nazar says that he believes Docstoc is seeing stronger conversion rates on its premium content than its competitors, which he attributes to the site’s focus on professional content and extensive A/B testing. He notes that Docstoc is now able to buy traffic profitably. CrunchBase Information Docstoc Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| Why The Co-Developer Of The World Wide Web Isn't On Facebook (Video Interview) | Top |
| One of the most interesting speakers that took the stage at The Next Web conference held in Amsterdam this week was Robert Cailliau , a Belgian computer scientist who, together with Sir Tim Berners-Lee , developed the World Wide Web now almost 20 years ago. After his talk, I had an interesting conversation with the man, which I captured on video. I was admittedly a bit unprepared, but we talked about everything from his dislike of modern mobile phones, the way social networks suck you in and never let you out, the iPad’s browser and Javascript to Web browsers that don’t adhere to standards. For instance, around the 5:38 mark in the video he explains why he isn’t on Facebook: “I can get in, but I can’t get out. I don’t know what happens to my data.” He also has issues with Skype. Needless to say, it’s something you want to watch. Check out his completely standards-compliant website , too. True story: when we were done with the interview, Cailliau insisted that I check out the digital clock he programmed some time last week because he was dissatisfied with the clock on the hotel room TV. Let me just say that it was utterly surreal to hear the co-creator of the World Wide Web boast about how quickly he programmed that clock and how beautiful the code looked. And that I love my job. CrunchBase Information Robert Cailliau Information provided by CrunchBase | |
| IMVU's Virtual Cash Cow: Doubling Revenues, Focused On Gaming (Video) | Top |
| Just three years ago, IMVU was burning cash at a rate of half a million per month and still not profitable. The 3D virtual world, where souped-up avatars run amok, was gaining users but not on a path to sustainability. Fast forward to 2010, IMVU is increasing its staff by 50% (going from 60 to 90 employees) and is on track to double sales this year. Currently, the company is at an annual revenue run rate of $40 million — and according to CEO Cary Rosenzweig the Palo Alto based company should hit a $60 million annual revenue run rate by the end of this year. For the last two years, revenues have roughly doubled from $11 million in 2008 to $22 million in 2009 and now $40-plus million in 2010. That’s a lot of real world dough for a company whose fortune is based on virtual currency and an endless factory of avatar accessories. The key in 2007, Rosenzweig says, was a basic two-prong strategy: simplify the service and concentrate on creating new payment options. “Before, a lot of the activity was both on the IMVU website and then we had a downloaded client and our users had to go back and forth. And especially for someone who’s new, just coming in, they were a little bit confused, in fact many of them weren’t even sure that they could buy virtual goods. The second thing is we had a lot of users who had money in their pockets and they wanted to buy virtual goods but we weren’t providing mechanisms to do it. Because at that time we offered credit cards and Pay Pal.”(See Video Above) IMVU started selling pre-paid cards at outlets like Target and Wal-Mart and offering SMS payments abroad. The payments change alone, according to Rosenzweig, has accounted for roughly 30% of all growth. Like its closest competitor, Second Life, IMVU is a 3D world where avatars congregate, chat in a variety of settings and make new connections. The company makes the bulk of its profits from users buying credits for IMVU’s virtual catalog, a digital warehouse of some 4 million items including pet dragons, clothes, and new eyebrows. A normal payment is $19.95 for 20,000 credits— to give you an idea of how far that goes in IMVU land: something described as a vampire corset outfit will run you 699 credits. In recent years, many virtual worlds have receded (like There.com, which hit the deadpool March 2010 and shares a mutual co-founder with IMVU, Will Harvey), overshadowed by traditional social networks and bogged down by the recession. However, strangely, both Second Life and IMVU have thrived this past year, Second Life logged a record first quarter with user-to-user transactions up 30% to $160 million. Looking ahead, IMVU’s CEO says the next stage of growth will be driven by three catalysts: the company’s expansion into several new languages, the debut of a Mac product (and possibly an iPad client) later this year and a shift to gaming that will be tied to a more aggressive Facebook campaign. IMVU has been late to Zuckerberg’s party— the company’s only footprint on the site is a relatively young profile page. Rosenzweig says the gaming component is critical to the long term strategy. He estimates that the domestic virtual world market is worth roughly in the hundreds of millions, becoming a real player in gaming unlocks a multi-billion dollar market. Gaming and by extension Facebook are also critical to fostering user loyalty, which has been one of IMVU’s weaknesses. As of today, the company has 2 million active users, just 4% of its 50 million registered users. CrunchBase Information IMVU Information provided by CrunchBase | |
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