Today is Veteran’s Day. A day when we pay homage to all of those brave men and women who have answered our country’s call to arms. Now as a youngster, I can vaguely remember the war in Vietnam but it was sort of on the edge of my consciousness and I remember my Grandfather telling me stories about World War II but none of it seemed real to me. It was just something I heard about, after all nothing was going to happen to America and no one I knew would be going to war (ah to be young and naive).
Well September 11th changed all that. Never in my life time did I imagine that I would need to be worried about this great country and NEVER did I think I would see my friends leave behind their loved ones and their life’s to go to war. Now whether or not you agree with the politics behind all of this is a mute point. The fact is thousands of Americans (some of them my very close friends) are answering this country’s call. They believe so strongly in what this country stands for that they are willing to die for it.
So is one day enough to say thank you to these folks for their sacrifice? NO! We need to be thinking of them and keeping them and their families (because they too have made a huge sacrifice) in our minds and our prayers everyday (I’m probably more than a little biased here but you get the point). Get involved, volunteer, let our armed forces know that you appreciate them. There are hundreds organizations – Adopt-a-Platoon, US Troop Support, USO etc – that could use your help to support our troops.
While it’s important to nationally recognize past and present soliders, I want you to take it a step further, go upto military personnel wherever you might see them and shake their hand (I always do this when I see them in the airport. They look at me a little funny when I first approach them but they appreciate the fact that I take the time.) Tell them thank you in person. It means a great deal to them that you recognize and appreciate them. After all they are fighting for our freedom and democracy.
We were just talking about Black Friday yesterday and it got us thinking about how many questions there are.
Some people who will read this post are Black Friday veterans who already know a thing or two about the day. We’d love to hear from you about your best tips, lessons you’ve learned and what confused you the most when you were staring out.
Others may be brand new to Black Friday. Some many not even know what Black Friday is. To those, let us know what most confuses you or what you’d like to know more about.
Leave your questions (and answers) in the comments!
You may have noticed over on the DealTaker home page that our logo has gone black. That’s because it’s November and for bargain-hunters everywhere November means just one thing:
Black Friday.
DealTaker has long been a go to destination for Black Friday information and I think that’s because of the enthusiasm everyone here has for this time of year. There’s a real hubub when a new ad comes in. We all get excited and everyone from the content team, to the merchants, marketing and the developers get chatty when a new ad comes in.
We’ve done some things this year to help make the Black Friday information easier to find. First of all, check out our new and improved 2009 Black Friday Ads page. There’s always a lot of information coming from lots of different directions so we’ve done our best on that page to keep it organized and easy to find. On the left hand side is a list of all the stores that we had ads for last year. As the ads come in a check mark will show up next to it. Click on the store name and you’ll find all of the ad info (including product lists and ad scans when available).
On the main page you’ll also notice that we’re aggregating all of the Black Friday coupons that come in from merchants as well.
This week is always a busy week as tons of new ads come in, so check back regularly for all the most up to date info. And know that when a new ad comes in your trusty DealTaker staff is just as excited as you are!
One of my responsibilities here at DealTaker is adding merchants to the site. For years we stayed around 1500 total active merchants on the site. At the beginning on 2009 I took on an initiative to get to 2000 merchants by the end of the year. I am happy to report that this week we have surpassed that 2000 number!
I hope the result of adding more stores is that people who come to DealTaker will better be able to find what they are looking for with our increased variety of merchants. Moving in to the holiday season, I hope everyone will be able to find exactly what they want, at the price they want, starting right here at DealTaker.com!
Of all the things that DealTaker users have expressed interest to us about over the years, printable grocery coupons would probably be the top of the list. It’s a natural connection to make from saving money online to saving money in the grocery store.
Well, we heard you, DealTakers! We are proud to announce that DealTaker.com now has a printable Grocery Coupons page! From here you’ll be able to search among a huge collection of grocery coupons. Just find and check the ones you want, then print them up from the convenience of home!
Best of all it’s free.
Now you can save even more money with DealTaker than you did before!
It was five weeks ago yesterday that our Affiliate Marketers Give Back Team completed the 40 mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Los Angeles. Our team of Missy Ward, Chris Pearson, Brook Schaaf, Lynette LaPlante, Melissa Salas, Brian Clark and myself raised over $50,000 in the fight against breast cancer. The video is about 11 minutes long (as short as I could get 16 hours of walking) but shows our fortitude to not only give, but participate.
DealTaker had its first “leaked” Black Friday ad posted this week (Half Price Books). Here is the press release announcing the start of the 2009 Holiday Shopping Season -
FIRST BLACK FRIDAY AD OF THE YEAR NOW ON DEALTAKER.COM
Premier Coupon & Deal Site Features Most-Anticipated Sales of the Year Well Ahead of Schedule
PLANO, Texas—October 7, 2009—DealTaker.com today announced the official start of the holiday bargain shopping season with the first Black Friday ad now at www.DealTaker.com/blackfriday.html.
“It’s a great day for bargain hunters everywhere,” said Kevin Strawbridge, President of DealTaker.com. “With pent up demand at an all-time high and retailers eager for consumer dollars, sales will abound and organization will be the key to sorting through myriad opportunities. Perusing the ads well ahead of Thanksgiving makes it easier for deal takers to optimize their time and money, and for retailers to ensure traffic to their stores,” Strawbridge said.
There are 50 days before November 27 which could be the biggest shopping day of the year. To prepare, consumers can quickly and easily find the most up-to-date Black Friday deals, coupons and sales at DealTaker.com. The popular site also features a countdown calendar, a handy downloadable Black Friday Organizer ® exclusively available at DealTaker and a searchable list of free shipping codes for consumers who also take advantage of the online deals every day and on Cyber Monday.
Besides sales from nearly 2,000 merchant partners, more than 225,000 DealTaker.com members actively post deals, ads, coupons and offers on DealTaker.com every day, saving consumers millions of dollars over the past 5 years. Historically, members have posted Black Friday ads directly to the Black Friday forums. But some retailers have balked at members trying to help each other. Already, one major retailer has made a pre-emptive strike with a cease-and-desist letter, insisting DealTaker.com police the forums and remove ads that members post.
About DealTaker.com
DealTaker.com is the premier destination for consumers looking to spend less and get more. A free coupon site for members to share and take deals, DealTaker.com makes it easy to save on merchandise and services including food, travel, electronics, home furnishings, jewelry and pet supplies, among others. Founded in Plano, Texas in 2004, DealTaker.com works with more than 1,900 stores, nearly 19,000 followers on Twitter and more than 225,000 deal-sharing members to provide over 8,000 active coupons and deals every day.
In less than 48 hours I will be in the middle of Long Beach, California eagerly awaiting the start of the Avon Walk forBreastCancer. Ahead of me will lie a 26.2 mile walk on Saturday followed by a 13.1 mile walk on Sunday. This is no small feat. A marathon plus another half marathon in two days is a challenge. I started training back in March for my general well-being and then got involved in this walk. With the support of my DealTaker team, the community of DealTaker users and my friends and colleagues, I can say this has been the least stressful event for which I have ever trained. I think it also has to do with the fact that the cause is worthy and is one that DealTaker has broadly supported during its entire existence. I am grateful to be able to carry the torch further in support.
With the help of DealTaker, we have been able to raise just over $6,400 so far (over the initial $5,000 goal that was set). The team on which I am walking, Affiliate Marketers Give Back, has raised money beyond the $50,000 goal that was set (and it also places us in the top 5 teams raising money for the LA Walk). All in all the path up to the event has exceeded my expectations and my excitement is extremely high.
I again want to express my thanks to all those around us that have participated with well wishes, encouragement and donations. That, combined with the goal to raise money and awareness for a cause that affects so many around us, leaves me even more humbe than when I started. I hope to be able to do my part and complete the walk to the best of my ability. I plan to be tweeting on my Blackberry throughout the event (http://www.twitter.com/kstraw) and will also be bringing a video camera to capture snippets of the event that I will then use to create a small compilation – I will post that here as soon as possible after the event.
For the last 17 weeks I have been walking and training in my beloved “Kstraw” shoes I made on Nike ID about two years ago. They are the the NikeFree 5.0’s. They have been quite comfortable as my walk around shoes and have actually been quite supportive during my walks while training.
However, after consulting with a good colleague at Road Runner Sports in San Diego, she suggested the Men’s Nike Zoom Vomero+ 4. Because of the extra focus on cushioning (which is best for the long walk) and the good look of them, I decided to make those the shoes to wear. Basically, I got the best shoes possible by shopping at RRS online – they provide so much information that the shopping part is easy. Thank you Road Runner.
I can’t wait to get them this week and start breaking them in - Just in time for the Avon Walk September 12-13, 2009.
Over the weekend I reached persoanl highs for number of miles and time walking in one session – 6 miles and 90 minutes respectively. The great thing is that I felt great at the end of ninely minutes and could have pushed on further if not for things I had to do. I feel that when I can get up to 10-11 miles per day the week before the event, I will have plenty of endurance to go the 40 over two days – but will be worn out then.
While vacationing in lovely Northwest Arkansas, we were honored to present DealTaker on a live segment on KNWA. Back to school was the topic of the day and the morning anchor was particularly interested in how good our deals really are. Needless to say, I shared that DealTaker always has some of the best deals around (if you have not gotten your BTS deals yet, check out our landing page with tons of deals). Here is a link to the spot (my first time presenting from the anchor desk) – fun fun – http://nwahomepage.com/content/video/?cid=109711
DealTaker has always proudly supported charities around the country, most notably charitable groups for breast cancer research and support. Each year we give money in sponsorship related ways to the Komen walks in various cities. In addition to that, we are literally going to jump in feet first and raise money and give by participating in the LA Walk of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer September 12th and 13th.
I am going to humbly represent DealTaker and our team of dedicated people by walking with the Affiliate Marketers Give Back Team led by Missy Ward. Missy has been a strong supporter of many charitable projects throughout the years and I am honored to have an opportunity to give back along with a great group of people joining us this year (including Melissa Salas of Buy.com).
The walk is one month from today and I will be geared toward training for the 40 mile walk, raising money via the support of the DealTaker community, colleagues and friends, and working to make a difference in an area that affects too many people around the world. I will post updates on the Inside DealTaker blog from time-to-time, as well as keep up with a daily journal on my own blog at KstrawWalks.
Where you can, please join me in support – either through monetary donations via my personal page on the Avon site at -
From time to time, I’ll be writing on this blog about some features you may not have known existed on DealTaker. Today: Did you know that you can be alerted by email anytime new coupons are posted for your favorite store?
It’s easy. First, go to DealTaker.com and then click the “Stores/Coupons” button in the top navigation bar.
Then select the store that you want to get alerts from. For this example, we’ll use Kohl’s.
Once there, you’ll see a list of coupons for the store. The last coupon allows you to sign up to be alerted when new coupons are posted. If you are already a member of DealTaker (and logged in!) all you’ll have to do is click the “Sign me up!” button and they will be delivered to the email address that you originally signed up to DealTaker with.
If you are not a member of DealTaker, just enter your email address into the box and new coupons will be delivered straight to your inbox!
We have a new Travel Page on Dealtaker! I am so excited to have a centralized area to show the travel deals, discounts, coupons and products.
Also if you are planning a trip and would like to run all or part of it by me, just send me a PM.
I view around 700 travel emails and hundreds of sites weekly, so most of the time I have the info readily available.
I try to keep up with the “hot spots,” areas that are promoting tourism heavily with the use of discount packages, Deals and Free add-ons:
Right at the moment the hot spots appear to be San Diego & Chicago for the states. But the entire country is full of Free Night Deals.
Mexico gave out some big discounts as they tried to recover from being tagged as the center of the Swine flu. They are still offering some specials & freebies but I don’t see the types of deals that would move it back up the Hot Spot scale.
The Caribbean has led the pack with All-Inclusive stays. They are generally less expensive than piecing a vacation together and sometimes include not only all meals but alcohol and activities.
I was looking around at Bed & Breakfasts in Europe and found some very reasonable rates at top rated B&B’s
I wish that the taxes and fees on the flights abroad were less. $300 in extra charges kills even the greatest flight deal. So I wade through all of the oysters and every so often find a pearl which I tweet as fast as I can before they sell out.
Speaking of tweeting – you can follow me @Siddeley and I will do my best to keep you updated on anything travel related, but especially of course, the deals.
This is just the beginning for the travel program at Dealtaker.com – We are striving to bring you the best content with the clearest information. Please send your ideas and thoughts our way.
After much research, discussion, development and tweaking; we are getting very close to officially releasing DealTaker UK. We are pretty excited to see what will happen and hope our friends across the pond will be just as excited to see some great deals and vouchers (voucher = coupons) on DealTaker catering to them.
So, keep your eyes peeled for the British flag to show up on the top of DealTaker, and for a sneak peak check it out here.
We have added some great new stores to DealTakerthis week. Listed below are the new stores along with a brief description of each of their services.
Country Store(coupons): This online general store offers more than 1,300 practical and hard-to-find goods, from apparel to food, kitchen to outdoor, and home décor to cookbooks and as seen on TV items.
Shop Taste of Home(coupons): Is the catalog division of Taste of Home magazine that features delicious, practical home cooking in a very personal way. This website offers a great selection of cookbooks, cookware, bakeware , kitchen tools and small appliances to cook the perfect meal or snack.
Biz Filings(coupons): Professionally forms corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), and nonprofits in as little as 24 hours making business incorporation easy for entrepreneurs.
Tweet Adder(coupons): Automated Promotion & Marketing software that targets your potential Twitter followers so you get a response to your tweets. Its the perfect bonus to any marketing campaign.
Smith & Hawken(coupons): Offers a wide selection of products focused on outdoor living – upscale furniture, decor, plants, and gardening equipment. They’ve even just introduced a line of outdoor flat screen televisions!
Global Test Market(coupons): An online opinion research community in which members are invited to participate in online surveys on numerous topics, and in return for the time and opinons they are given regular and frequent entry into sweepstakes for the chance to win prizes. Membership is free and our registration process is quick and easy.
Ssense(coupons): Canadian online retailer that provides its customers with the latest fashion and the best designers for men and women that strives to give the personal service found in prestigious boutiques.
Suburban Extended Stay Hotel(coupons): A hotel that specializes in helping guests feel at home while on the road. With well-equiped kitchens, free high-speed Internet access, free cable and movie channels and decreased rates for longer stays this hotel focus on the guest that is planning on an extended stay.
Today, in a press release, CheapTweet announces a partnership with DealTaker.
CheapTweet is a site that aggregates deals which are passed along through Twitter. There, a growing community of bargain-hunters vote on the best tweeted deals, making it a great resource for anyone to see real time information about the best deals out there.
Check out the DealTaker/CheapTweet cobranded page here. It’s a great way to see all of the great deals that the DealTaker team tweets and resulting conversations.
We are exited about this partnership with CheapTweet and look forward to seeing our communities grow together!
On June 9th I tweeted a great deal I saw on DealTaker. Not all that uncommon – I see many great deals each week that I try to proliferate to my friands and family as much as possible. This item was the Energizer Energi-To-Go cell phone batter back-up. The cost for the product was $9.99 and had free shipping. The special part of the deal was that once the item was received, a survey would be enclosed that provided a $10.00 rebate when the survey was completed. I am happy to report that the item arrived sooner than I expected, was packaged well and as expected, and a survey was in the packaging as promised. I filled it out, and am now awaiting the arrival of a check. For 10 minutes worth of work, I get a free item. Plus, I got to participate in a deal. It is the little things in life sometimes that make it fun. In this case – very small. The bonus: I also got a $2.00 off coupon for some more batteried when needed. Stealing and enhancing a line from “Hannibal” Smith of the A Team - “I love it when a deal comes together”.
Today's @newatnoon Deals Have Begun! Check Out the 60% Off Hannah Montana Point and Shoot Digital Camera, Just $19.99 http://newatnoon.com/ 2 hours ago
Final Weekend of Black Friday Now Doorbusters @Sears! Get this LG 50in. Plasma HDTV for $879. Look at All the Deals http://tk2.us/searsbfnow4 hours ago
Toys! Toys! Toys! Shop The Big Outlet Blowout And Save Up To 70% Plus Free Shipping w/ $49+ http://tk2.us/6ombW415 hours ago
Early Black Friday Sale #3! Save Big On Televisions, Electronics, PC Parts, Cameras, Cell Phones, GPS and More http://tk2.us/lBkhZI17 hours ago
Extra 70% Off Bargain Bin Items - Polished Brass Semi-flush Ceiling Light $5.99 (was $99.99) http://tk2.us/UQbGu~ 18 hours ago
Take $20.00 Off Any Order! Coral Pendant in Sterling Silver $29.00 (was $119.00) Free Shipping http://tk2.us/WJXB8H20 hours ago
Today is Veteran’s Day. A day when we pay homage to all of those brave men and women who have answered our country’s call to arms. Now as a youngster, I can vaguely remember the war in Vietnam but it was sort of on the edge of my consciousness and I remember my Grandfather telling me stories about World War II but none of it seemed real to me. It was just something I heard about, after all nothing was going to happen to America and no one I knew would be going to war (ah to be young and naive).
BreastCancer. Ahead of me will lie a 26.2 mile walk on Saturday followed by a 13.1 mile walk on Sunday. This is no small feat. A marathon plus another half marathon in two days is a challenge. I started training back in March for my general well-being and then got involved in this walk. With the support of my DealTaker team, the community of DealTaker users and my friends and colleagues, I can say this has been the least stressful event for which I have ever trained. I think it also has to do with the fact that the cause is worthy and is one that DealTaker has broadly supported during its entire existence. I am grateful to be able to carry the torch further in support.
With the help of DealTaker, we have been able to raise just over $6,400 so far (over the initial $5,000 goal that was set). The team on which I am walking, Affiliate Marketers Give Back, has raised money beyond the $50,000 goal that was set (and it also places us in the top 5 teams raising money for the LA Walk). All in all the path up to the event has exceeded my expectations and my excitement is extremely high.
We have a new 
