Archive for May 2008
Introducing a new exclusive AvantLink merchant:
We would like to welcome yet another quality outdoor retail in Appalachian Ski & Outdoors (AppOutdoors.com), the adventure source for quality outdoor gear, clothing and apparel since 1974. AppOutdoors.com is a dealer for practically every major manufacturer in the outdoor, ski, and snowboard industries. They have a customer satisfaction guarantee, and a commitment to the best customer service that can be delivered. Couple that with a generous 10% payout on all orders, and we have a winner.
Appalachian Ski & Outdoors has had a store in State College, PA for over three decades. They have a dedicated Affiliate program manager who will be accessible, and regularly posting promotions that will convert nicely on your outdoor site or category. With that 10% payout, you’ll also get 120 days on the cookie. Outstanding baseline terms for a killer site in the Outdoor/Recreation category.
From the Appalachian Outdoors Affiliate program description:
Welcome to Appalachian Ski & Outdoors (Appoutdoors.com), the adventure source for quality outdoor clothing and equipment since 1974. We carry the following products within our online store; hiking boots, sleeping bags, tents, rock & ice climbing equipment, water filters & purifiers, child carriers, sandals, alpine & cross country skis, snowshoes, and outdoor clothing.
Read the program launch announcement on ABestWeb.
Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting Appalachian Ski & Outdoors. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Tyler Donaldson, appoutdoors/at/gmail.com.
Gary & AvantLink
Time for another blog article for the Best Practices category of AvantShare.
Affiliates, with this article I would like to discuss a unique tool that’s available to you only through AvantLink. It’s officially called the Coupon Feed Syndication tool in the network tool center, but a similar variant of the tool comes with the dynamic Deal Of The Day campaigns we provide as well.
This is a unique proposition because it allows you to syndicate your Affiliate feeds (product content or ad campaigns) to your site visitors by way of RSS feed distribution. When one of your site visitors in fact subscribes, the outbound links from these subscriptions will have your Affiliate tracking embedded in them. This provides a new level of customer ownership for you that moves well beyond that of a cookie placed on an end user’s PC.
With these powerful Affiliate feed syndication options, you can effectively promote RSS subscriptions to deal feeds, as well as display the feed content on your site(s). So it’s very much in your interest to become proficient at not only selling the products, but selling subscriptions to the feeds from AvantLink!
This is sometimes hard to explain to folks because it doesn’t fit the traditional mold of any type of Affiliate marketing campaign that you may have seen before. But I’m here to tell you that it’s VERY effective, and from those who have embraced these syndication techniques for the deal feeds, we’ve seen impressive sales volume.
Your question at this point might be: “How do I go about promoting subscriptions to RSS feeds for coupons and daily deals?”
Ok it’s simple. Really simple. Just remember that every merchant on our platform has the ability to easily flag text links to be included in the Dynamic Coupon Feed. Once they do that, it’s accessible to you.
Here’s how to offer RSS subscriptions to merchant coupon feeds:
- Login to your Affiliate account, and click “Tools” from the main menu.
- Under “Coupon Feed Syndication”, click “Get Merchant RSS Coupon Feed Syndication Links”.
- Select the merchant for the coupon feed RSS subscription you want to promote, and your website.
- Click “Get HTML”.
After you click “Get HTML”, in part, here are the instructions you’ll find:
“Subscribe icons for some of the most popular RSS readers are available below. Simply grab the code, paste to your site, and encourage your customers to sign-up to the feed. This creative has your Affiliate tracking ID embedded, which gives you lasting control over that customer.”
So in essence, you’re retrieving the RSS reader subscription icons through our system just like you would retrieve a banner.
Paste this code on your web page next to the coupon feed itself, and offer a call to action like “Subscribe to the REI deals feed and have their latest sales, promotions and coupons delivered directly to you.”
Note that you can find these same RSS subscription icons in the output HTML for the RSS integration option of the Deal Of The Day tool. So the same call to action (encouragement to subscribe) can be applied to those as well. Both the coupon feeds and the daily deal feeds are compelling subscriptions for shoppers, because it saves them some bucks. Take a stab at it, and you may just secure long term subscribers who will set your Affiliate cookie on every click from the feed for months, even years, to come!
Comments, questions and suggestions are certainly encouraged!
Gary & AvantLink
Merchants in the AvantLink Affiliate Network now have the ability to configure ads that are only viewable and usable by a particular Affiliate. To create an exclusive Affiliate ad, use the standard “Add/Edit Ad Campaigns” page under the “Tools” menu and look for the new “Affiliate Restriction” option.
Ads configured with an Affiliate restriction are validated during the click-through process to make sure they contain the correct Affiliates tracking information before being redirected to the merchant website.
Scott & AvantLink
Introducing the Patagonia.com Affiliate program on AvantLink!
It goes without saying that we’re proud to present Patagonia.com to our high-value Affiliates. Promote one of the most recognized brands in the outdoor industry, sending your traffic direct to Patagonia’s world-class web store. In case you don’t know already, Patagonia offers outdoor clothing, technical apparel and gear for climbing, hiking, skiing, fishing and much more. In addition to their award winning products for adults, Patagonia manufacturers children’s clothing, kids apparel and baby clothes.
There are obvious benefits of promoting a direct to manufacturer Affiliate programs like Patagonia. For one the power of the brand alone will increase conversion. Combine this high conversion with a 7% payout and a 60 day cookie life, and your efforts will be rewarded. There is also the added benefit of knowing you are supporting a company dedicated to environmental stewardship and responsible, low impact business practices.
From the Patagonia Affiliate program description:
Patagonia grew out of a small company that made tools for climbers. Alpinism remains at the heart of a worldwide business that still makes clothes for climbing - as well as for skiing, snowboarding, surfing, fly fishing, paddling and trail running. These are all silent sports. None requires a motor; none delivers the cheers of a crowd. In each sport, reward comes in the form of hard-won grace and moments of connection between us and nature. Check out our website. If you like what you see, please apply to our affiliate program.
Read the program launch announcement on ABestWeb.
Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting Patagonia.com. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Mark Shimahara, mark_shimahara/at/patagonia.com.
Gary & AvantLink
Introducing a new exclusive Affiliate program on AvantLink:
At Chifly.com, the online version of Chicago Fly Fishing Outfitters, shoppers will find a comprehensive inventory of top brand names in fly fishing equipment, tying supplies, clothing, books, videos and everything else you can imagine fly fishing.
This is a new and growing ecommerce site that’s part of a well respected full service fly fishing outfitter located in Chicago. They are offering a 7% commission payout on all Affiliate sales, with a 60 day cookie life. With Chifly.com, promote the top brands in the fly fishing industry like Simms, Patagonia, Ibex, Sage, Scott, Winston Rods and many more.
From the Chifly Affiliate program description:
Chifly.com is the online version of Chicago Fly Fishing Outfitters, which have been serving the needs of Chicagoans and beyond since 2001. Since our customers fish some of the most diverse locations, we have an incredible variety of gear and expertise. If it pertains to fly fishing - we have it.
Read the program launch announcement on ABestWeb.
Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting Chifly.com. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Andy Kurkulis andy/at/chifly.com.
Gary & AvantLink
Introducing a new AvantLink Affiliate program:
We’re excited to offer you the WetSuitWearhouse.com Affiliate program, another addition to our growing Sports category. Simply stated, WetSuit Wearhouse Inc. is the largest wetsuit specialty shop in the world. They proudly serve individuals, clubs, organizations, fire and rescue, the US Government, and all branches of the military. Folks, this is a one stop shop for surfing, wakeboarding, kayaking and SCUBA diving wetsuits, neoprene accessories and much more.
From the homepage of their site: “We know wetsuits! Our expert staff has created an easy to use website that makes sense out of complicated wetsuit technology. Check out the Wetsuit Buying Guide for everything you need to know about choosing the right product for your needs. We love to talk about wetsuits, so feel free to call us with any questions.
The Affiliate program management team at WetsuitWearhouse.com is experienced, and they have taken extra steps to support your efforts and convert your traffic. If you have a relevant site or category, take a close look at what they have to offer. For starters, a competitive 10% payout on their high dollar average order value should peak your interest!
From their Wetsuit Affiliate program description:
WetSuit Wearhouse Inc. is the largest wetsuit specialty shop in the world. Our website features 128-bit encryption and a completely safe checkout experience. We accept VISA, MC, AMEX and Discover and ship anywhere in the US or internationally via UPS or Federal Express.
Read the program launch announcement on ABestWeb.
Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting WetSuitWearhouse.com.com. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Alisa, affiliates/at/primevisibility.com.
Gary & AvantLink
Introducing a new exclusive Affiliate program on AvantLink:
We’re excited to bring you the first daily deal Affiliate program on the AvantLink platform! RedTagSports.com offers HUGE daily discounts on gear and apparel. This new deal site is powered by an established warehouse of outdoor overstock and closeout items. To start, RedTagSports.com will offer one deal a day. But once the site gains traction they will move to a platform were more than one product each day will be featured.
Just a reminder that AvantLink offers the only network integrated Deal Of The Day tool for Affiliates, so it’s very easy to add dynamically updated campaigns which pull in to your site the daily discounted product. Options for the Deal Of The Day tool include dynamic text ads, RSS feeds or html ads. Click here for DOTD campaign examples.
Please note that with the RSS integration option for the Deal Of The Day tool, you can offer your site users the ability to subscribe with RSS feeds to the daily offers through your Affiliate creative! Just select any of the RSS integrations options and you’ll be presented with RSS feeds and icons for popular aggregators. The note on the link retrieval page will read: “Add the following links to your website to allow your visitors to subscribe directly to your Affiliate encoded Deal Of The Day feed.”
The nature of the RedTagSports Affiliate program alone should drive huge conversion because the popular outdoor products they feature will be so heavily discounted. To make the offer even more compelling, consider the terms of 7% baseline payout, with incentives that will pay you up to 10%. Plus there is a 90 day cookie life on the traffic you send!
From the RedTagSports Affiliate program description:
By selling overstock items from our warehouse RedTagSports.com will be able to offer Massive Savings on name brand gear. All of us at RedTagSports.com live the sports we sell. We are all gear junkies that burn through equipment like Richard Simmons burns through calories…
Read the program launch announcement on ABestWeb.
Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting RedTagSports.com. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Dana Westbrock, danaw/at/the-house.com.
Gary & AvantLink
Introducing our newest exclusive merchant in AvantLink:
We are pleased to announce the program launch and welcome HeirloomIronBed.com to our Home Furnishings category.
Located in Atlanta, Georgia Heirloom Iron Bed offers the best in fine quality turn of the century iron beds as well as brass beds. They are in fact “the largest customer iron bed and fine bed linens Store”. HeirloomIronBed.com are currently the only store selling Brass Beds of Virginia online. There beds are reproduced with the same original elegance but with reinforced support and durable made possible through modern materials.
HeirloomIronBed.com is offering a 7% base commission payout with 120 day cookie, four months to earn commissions. The crew at HeirloomIronBed.com is very easy to work with, professional and friendly and we are excited for the potential they have to offer to the affiliate marketing industry. If you have a furniture/home furnishings related blog or niche site you should take a look at this great new merchant which is exclusive in the industries leading affiliate tools provider - AvantLink!
Here is a bit from the HeirloomIronBed.com affiliate program detail page:
We are Atlanta s largest customer order Iron Bed and Fine Bed Linens Store.
We are the only store in Georgia allowed to sell the Brass Beds of Virginia beds and currently the only store selling them online. Featuring beautiful Iron and Brass Beds handcrafted in the sultry south, which are guaranteed to last for 2 generations
The beds are authentic reproductions of the original iron and brass beds built at the turn of the century. Reproductions provide the same design of the original iron and brass beds, with the improvement of strength and durability through the availability of stronger materials. The dovetail interlocking, cast solid steel frame system; no nuts, bolts, or screws ensure stability with no shaking or squeaking.
We offer a full selection of Luxury Linen lines from the best Italian, German, Austrian, French and American weavers such as Anichini, Ann Gish, Sferra, Sontuoso, Leitner, Peacock Alley, Legna, SDH, The Purists, Matouk, Yves Delorme, Pine Cone Hill, and more, as well as a full line of Down products.
Read the program launch announcement on ABestWeb.
Feel free to contact anyone at AvantLink or the folks at Heirloom Iron Bed here: affiliates/at/heirloomironbed.com and let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting them!
Mark & AvantLink
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