This Friday, September 26, 2008, Lunch 2.0 will be hosted here at SuggestionBox.com HQ. The full details of the event can be found on the Eventbrite page. If you are interested in coming, be sure to RSVP as soon as possible.

In case you aren’t familiar with Lunch 2.0, it is basically a lunch time web/tech networking event. Members of the local tech community will pile into our office, exchange business cards, eat pizza, and have a grand ole’ time. You can checkout the Lunch 2.0 website to learn more about past events and some more history of the event.

Here are the details:

• When: Friday, September 26, 2008 from 12:05 PM - 02:00 PM (PT)
• Where: 120A South Sierra Avenue, Solana Beach, CA 92075 (across from the ‘Surf n Saddle’)
• Parking: on the street, or in the Service-Now lot
• Tone: casual & informal
• Suggestions: You betcha
• RSVP: click here so we know how many to expect

For those of you who can’t make it to the event, we will be streaming it live via UStream. If you have any suggestions for the event this Friday, share them here. If you have some suggestions for Lunch 2.0, go here.

We are looking forward to meeting everyone!

We are happy to announce the launch of the SuggestionBox.com affiliate program! We designed the affiliate program to be both simple and rewarding. We truly appreciate the support and promotion we have received from our community and this is a great way for us to reward all their hard work.

Here’s how it works:

1. Sign up and become an affiliate - you get a $10 bonus in your account just for signing up!
2. Add our banners, links or text ads to your website -clicks from your ads are automatically tracked
3. Make money - when someone signs up from one of your links, you earn 20% of the monthly billable total
4. Make more money - each month you will continue to earn 20% from customers who signed up from one of your links
5. Keep Track - Log into your account. View traffic and commission stats to see how you’re doing.
6. Cash out - payouts are sent the 1^st of each month by check or PayPal once the minimum payout level is reached.

If you have any suggestions as to how we can make our affiliate program better, you know what to do.

Trackur, an online reputation monitoring and buzz tracking tool, is giving away a free Acer Aspire One to one lucky Suggester who wants to help make Trackur better.

Here’s how to enter:

1. Sign up for a free 14 day trial and take Trackur for a test drive (no credit card required).
2. Submit your idea for improvements and new features to the Trackur SuggestionBox.
3. On October 3rd, Trackur will publish those ideas that demonstrate an honest attempt to help make Trackur even better – that should screen out those that submit suggestions like “Change the color” without backing up their idea with reasons.
4. If your idea is published, you’ll see it listed as “Under Review” in the Trackur SuggestionBox.
5. That same day, Trackur will randomly pick a winner from all of the suggestions marked “Under Review.” Make sure your suggestions isn’t made anonymously - they won’t know who you are and be able to send you your new Netbook!

You can read the full contest details and rules on Marketing Pilgrim.

Do you have any idea for a great SuggestionBox.com contest? Let us know.

It’s late on a Friday night and the office is quiet.

I wanted to create a connection between my own usage of SuggestionBox and how I thought it related to the other Suggesters in our community and on top of that what outcomes you might expect by engrossing yourself in your own community.

This morning I was sitting in on a call hosted by Learn From My Life featuring Lois Kelly, author, entrepreneur and marketing expert. During the call I noted some things she said about attracting and keeping great customers then developing relationships and trust. She said, “If you can provide a great customer experience you are sure to be on your way to achieving the latter two points.” Specifically in the area of “trust”, it’s important to understand an organization’s beliefs and values. This led me to think that if I could be a maverick for our own organization here at SuggestionBox and be the power Suggester, then I could wear my heart on my sleeve around others in the community. So I’m up to 90 suggestions! What’s also important is that I feel it’s important to reach out to others who would benefit by setting up a SuggestionBox page. Here are the ways to show your love and benefits that I feel any organization, SMB, Enterprise, Nonprofit, group, association or club could derive from building a community of raving fans:

• Infuse some trust and authenticity into the relationships you have with current and potential customers
• Empower your customers by doing things with them
• Generate Word of Mouth Marketing via the people around you that care
• Avoid missed opportunities like connecting with someone who may not have had the best experience or has a question
• Understand your customers and save time, money and the anxiety
• Improve the overall customer experience, starting with a simplified feedback channel

So we covered my usage, what a community can do for you on SuggestionBox and let’s look at the Suggesters. We’re working on a series of content that will help explain what a Suggester is. And we’re going to own this personality as an organization. As a Suggester, we are going to try to change the perception that when you submit feedback that you won’t receive a response. We often hear this is biggest hurdle for why people don’t often give feedback. We are challenging ourselves with taking this head on and doing everything we can to ensure our Suggesters are taken care of and are given the tools to succeed in their efforts to suggest and have their voices heard.

So over the next couple weeks, you’ll see some new tools launching and new ways that you can keep track of your progress against everybody else in the Suggester community. Of course, I challenge anyone to out-suggest me and any company to avoid missing an opportunity to connect with the people that care about them.

Like any relationship it starts with listening. So show some love, you just might get the same in return.