Archive for November 2007
Another Outdoor/Recreation merchant recently started to populate their Deal of the Day tool for Affiliates. The main requirement for eligibility, and use of this tool, is that the products featured must be minimum 30% off the retail price. Integration methods of Javascript, RSS, and datafeeds (CSV, tab-delimited and XML) are available. There are also options in the configuration interface that allows Affiliates to customize the layout of the daily deals they feature.
A quick reminder, Massey’s Professional Outfitters launched four distinct programs in AvantLink back in September. These programs include:
And let me add so far so good with these programs. How does 5.9% conversion rate on ALL Affiliate traffic sound to you?! That’s what we’ve seen with the MasseysOutfitters Affiliate program so far.
Remember, if you’re featuring dynamic daily deals for your customers, you can also promote RSS subscriptions to these daily deal feeds. Wrap your mind around that for a second. If you get one of your site visitors to subscribe through creative we give you, then you’re Affiliate cookie will be set on outbound clicks from that feed for the life of the subscription.
To see what I mean, login to your Affiliate account and follow these steps to get RSS subscription icons and syndication tools you can place on your site:
- Click on ‘Tools’ from the main menu.
- Click ‘Deal Of The Day Sign-up’ under the Deal Of The Day Tool.
- Select your Website, then Merchant, you want to configure the DOTD tool for.
- Select one of the RSS options, then click ‘Get Html’.
Once you click ‘Get Html’ we’ll return the RSS feed URL that includes the dynamic daily deal, in addition to code you can place on your site (much like banner code) that will display subscription icons from popular aggregators including Bloglines and Technorati. Here’s the messaging you’ll get from the tool center console once you configure an RSS version of the daily deal:
Add the following links to your website to allow your visitors to subscribe directly to your Affiliate encoded Deal Of The Day feed.
Best Practice: Place the dynamic deal of the day HTML ad on your site, then underneath the dynamic display add the subscription icons and a call to action to your customers like “Subscribe now and have these daily deals delivered to you!”.
Daily deals are hot on the web now, and these deals convert huge on a price driven requirement of 30% off retail. Please take a look at what Masseys and the other merchants using the daily deal tool have to offer. BTW, we also offer these syndication creative options for the Dynamic Coupon Feed as well. See the Coupon Feed Syndication tool for more info.
As always, contact anyone at AvantLink if you have questions or suggestions. Happy converting!
Gary & AvantLink
*Note the WeGotYourPack.com program has not launched their DOTD offer yet, but it’s coming soon enough!
Just a quick note to bring attention to a great Holiday Charity Promotion from the Beaucoup Affiliate program. Beaucoup is a high converting merchant (2.75% on all Affiliate traffic for the year) in our Special Occasion category. They’re going to be donating a portion of all sales this holiday season to multiple organizations devoted to helping underprivileged families escape poverty. Here is the creative that’s available in the AvantLink interface for this offer, as well as a snippet from the press release:
MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – October 1, 2007 — Beaucoup Wedding Favors, Inc. (www.beau-coup.com), a leading retailer of wedding favors, bridal shower favors, baby shower favors and gifts for all special occasions announced today that it will donate five percent of sales from every order it receives from November 1, 2007 through December 31, 2007 to Oprah’s Angel Network, Kiva.org and World Vision, among others. This will be the company’s largest charitable contribution to date.
The Masseys Outfitters Affiliate program brought four niche stores into AvantLink back in September. These programs perfectly compliment our Outdoor/Recreation category for Affiliates. Mike Massey posted today in ABestWeb about one of their stores (800-SKI-SHOP) that just stocked up on coupons. And big time. Right now in the program’s ad list there are 10% off discounts on some of the top brand name outdoor gear in the world. Brands discounted include The North Face, Camelbak, DAKINE and Marmot. Many more. From the post today:
just a quick heads up for our 800-SKI-SHOP coupon-oriented affiliates. we just put up a ton of fresh (good) coupons into avantlink. these are converting very well in CJ. 10-20%. north face, marmot, mountain hardwear…
Posted by Mike on November 20th, and it looks like he has all discounts valid through the remainder of the year!
I wanted to let Affiliates know that one of the merchants that make up our top Outdoor/Recreation category just rolled out a dynamic Deal of the Day campaign at AvantLink. Proboardshop.com will now feature daily discounts at least 30% off retail from the world’s best board sport brands. Proboardshop now joins The-House Affiliate program and several other stores who offer this unique online marketing tool for Affiliates.
Affiliates, to configure Proboardshop’s Deal of the Day login, click on ‘Tools’ from the main menu, and then ‘Deal Of The Day Sign-up’. Select your website, the merchant and integration method…and you’re off and running with a powerful piece of creative for your site page(s)! Optimize a page around outdoor gear deals, then utilize the RSS options of our tools and the end output result will be spiderable fresh daily content. Google food, if you will 
.
Login -> Tools –> Deal Of The Day Sign-up
Please note: We upgraded the Deal of the Day tool. We’ve now added the ability to customize the layout of the DOTD campaigns during the ad configuration. Fully customize the Text/HTML Ad (RSS), and the Text/HTML Ad (JavaScript).
Gary & AvantLink
We rolled out the Affiliate Link Encoder tool in the network just over ten days ago. I highlighted the technology by announcing the release on ABestWeb and on this blog post from October 30th. Well so far so good with the results on this little gem! In fact I was just emailing an Affiliate this morning who runs a renown backcountry ski blog, and I was happy to report to Lou that he already referred over two dozen clicks and a sale for $859 through the Backcountry Affiliate program…in just two days! These clicks were all a direct result of the ALE script he added to his blog header template. Outstanding!
The latest news distribution surrounding the Affiliate Link Encoder happened today through PRWeb.com. You may or may not know, but we’ve been loyal for nearly two years to the PRWeb distribution (read about effective uses of Press Releases and Your Site). It’s been a consistent and powerful way for us to get the message out on our Affiliate tools, network technology and new merchant partnerships. Review the Press/News category of the blog, or the AvantLink Press Room for more info.
As far as this latest news distribution is concerned, below find a quote and link to the full article:
AvantLink Affiliate Greg Blasko, owner and operator of AlpineZone.com, explains “This tool is a must have for forum owners. We have an outdoor gear forum and members post links to merchant products all the time. Now we can get some deserved commission on sales from these links!” Additionally, bloggers with years of archives have added the ALE JavaScript and instantly hundreds of direct to merchant links on their blog archives now track and credit sales accordingly.
Read Article: AvantLink Releases Technology for Optional Direct to Merchant Affiliate Links
Sharon Page emailed me recently with a link to an article published about the Altrec Affiliate program on InternetRetailer.com. This is a great feature detailing Altrec’s Affiliate-centric approach to their program. There are a lot of good things happening with this program, folks! They’ve made incredible strides in recent months, and I a proud to say that we worked closely with their team to make it all a reality.
Here is a summary of the improvements to the Altrec.com Outdoors Affiliate program this fall:
- Two point baseline commission increase
- New and improved datafeed
- New dedicated ABestWeb category
- One point seasonal commission bump
Here is a teaser from the article:
Altrec in September showered its affiliates with new tactics and tools that include commission increases, cross-selling and upselling links, color swatches, customer reviews, new promotions, an apparel fit tips guide, and an online forum not for consumers but affiliates.
This major upgrade to the affiliate program can benefit Altrec and its affiliates in numerous ways. Cross-selling and upselling links can lead to increased sales. Color swatches and customer reviews can improve the shopping experience and boost conversion. And the fit tips guide can reduce returns.
Read the entire artice: Hooking Partners
Introducing a new exclusive AvantLink merchant:
Marissa Collections is celebrating 30 years of dressing the most fashion savvy women in the country. And now, they’re offering you their famous inventory to promote through MarissaCollections.com, an online luxury destination for shoppers. Marissa Collections presents a selection of both youthful and sophisticated fashion including elegant collections from Balenciaga, Yves St. Laurent, Lanvin, Brunello Cucinelli and more. Famouse shoe brands from companies like Manolo Blahnik, Marc Jaocbs, Chloe and Pedro Garcia are also stocked and available.
Promote popular upscale brands and exclusive designer items not available anywhere else with the Marissa Collections Affiliate program. They have a very impressive site-wide conversion rate on all traffic, and the average order value is $325!
From their program description:
…superior service and styling surrounds elegant collections from Balenciaga, Lanvin, Brunello Cucinelli, Jil Sander and Valentino and Michael Kors shops. The Boutique area is playful and trendy with prices to match offering Phillip Lim 3.1, Tory Burch and the latest in fresh new designers.
Read the program launch announcement on ABestWeb.
Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting MarissaCollections.com. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Corinne Pendley, corinnependley/at/marissacollections.com.
Gary & AvantLink
Just a quick note to share the encouraging news on the GourmetStation Affiliate program’s 4% plus conversion rate for the months of September and October! Geno highlighted this news on the AM Navigator ABestWeb category earlier this week, so I wanted to get the word out here as well. Here’s a snippet from the thread:
Been going through the 1 September – 31 October GourmetStation’s statistics as far as our AvantLink-based affiliate program goes, and I see a solid conversion of over 4.5% there.
Thank you, all AvantLink affiliates that promote GourmetStation!! You rock!
We announced the addition of this program back in July, and it’s proven to be a great opportunity for Affiliates with gourmet food related traffic. We anticipate even higher conversion for the coming holiday season, so if you haven’t signed up with them yet have a look. Just click on ‘Merchants’ from the main menu, then their name…to access the apply now link for this program.
Note: There are specific Thanksgiving related creative in the ad list. Drop me a line if you have any questions, or contact Geno Prussakov at AM Navigator (info/at/amnavigator.com).
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