Archive for January 2009
All AvantLink Merchants, we would like to distribute an email newsletter to our opt-in list of Affiliates that features your Valentine’s Day Promotions. If we get enough compelling promos the distribution date of the email will be Monday, February 2nd.
If you would like your Valentines Day Promotions featured in this newsletter email Gary – gmarcoccia/at/avantlink.com.
Gary M
For affiliates using our raw datafeed (datafeed files) or Web Service Datafeed Client we’ve added some new flexibility to the configuration of those tools that you may find interesting.
First, it is now possible to restrict the web service datafeed client to display only products from one or more brand names. This has long been possible in raw datafeeds but was a bit of a technical challenge in the datafeed client – well we’ve finally tackled that challenge! This means, for instance, that you could set up a datafeed client install for only “The North Face” products, and immediately have dynamic, spiderable content specific to the goals of your site without any extraneous or unrelated products.
Second, both types of datafeed tools now support filtering to just on-sale products. You can even restrict by on-sale discount thresholds, e.g. include only products with a 10% sale discount, or 20% sale discount, etc. For discount or deal-oriented websites this could be a handy option to keep your dynamic product data relevant.
If you’ve got thoughts on these new options we’d love to hear them!
David & AvantLink
Introducing a new AvantLink merchant:
ActiveForever.com has a product line that helps make life as comfortable and productive as possible for those with disabilities, injuries and pain. Some of the ActiveForever.com product categories include Bath Safety and Hygiene, Bed and Relaxation, Ergonomic Products, Hobby and Crafts, Home and Garden, Home Health Care, Kitchen Aids, Medical Alert, Nutrition and more. We’re proud to bring our Affiliates this opportunity.
The folks at ActiveForever.com research very thoughtful product solutions for practically any physical challenge, or for added comfort. Staff members themselves try most products before they choose to carry them. Earn 6% on every sale you refer, with an average order value of $200.
Don’t forget you can earn this revenue with free, and fully-integrated access to the most robust Affiliate marketing tools in the industry. Here are the highlights of the ActiveForever Affiliate program on AvantLink:
- Payout: 6% of sale
- Average Sale: $200
- Conversion Rate: 3%
- Cookie Duration: 60 Days
- 100% Returnable
- Prompt Refund Service
- Ships to All US Locations, APO
Read the program launch announcement on ABestWeb.
Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting ActiveForever.com. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Stephanie Sorrels, activeforever/at/eaccountable.com.
Introducing a new exclusive AvantLink merchant:
“One killer deal one item at a time.” At BonkTown, we sell premium road bike products at cut-rate prices. We’re talking completes, components, apparel, tools-just name your vice. Here’s how it works: We slap a primo piece of road cycling gear on our site at a discounted price and sell it until it’s gone. As soon as the deal sells out we throw another one right up. Non-stop road bike deals all day long.
The BonkTown affiliate program is unique and unlike any other affiliate model out there. BonkTown will pay affiliates a $5 bounty for any new customer they refer to BonkTown’s family of one deal at a time sites which includes WhiskeyMilitia, SteepandCheap, Chainlove and Tramdock. BonkTown’s $5 new customer bounty will not be extended to Backcountry’s retail sites which includes Backcountry, BackcountryOutlet, and Dogfunk despite there being leaks to these sites.
Here are some of the benefits of the BonkTown Affiliate Program:
- 100% parasite free
- Coupon Feed with the current deal
- Deal Of The Day Tool
- Dynamic HTML banners
- RSS subscription tools
- $5 new customer bounty
- Detailed reporting
- SEO friendly tools
- Banner/text/flash ads
- Network support from qualified professionals
SIGN UP for the BonkTown.com program in Avantlink!
Introducing a new AvantLink merchant:
Another outstanding merchant in our Baby Gifts category! Pretty Baby Gifts offers products that span from useful items which are used by parents daily, to items that would capture precious moments of their newborn’s lives, to all-in-one baby baskets. Affiliates, this program offers the widest selection online of elegant baby gifts and favors at discounted prices.
Find eye catching banners and other pre-configured ad campaigns as well as a quality datafeed. Of course on AvantLink you’ll also have access to an array of robust Affiliate tools that will help you earn more. All free of charge. Here are some highlights of the Pretty Baby Gifts Affiliate program:
- 12% commission
- 60 day cookie duration
- Our average order value exceeds $65.00
- High conversion rate
- Personalized products
- Free UPS Shipping on orders of $75 or more
Read the program launch announcement on ABestWeb.
Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting PrettyBabyGifts.com. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Shirley Tan, shirley/at/americanbridal.com.
Gary & AvantLink
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AvantLink Newsletter January 15, 2009 Vol 1, Issue 1 |
Affiliate Newsletter
Introducing the first AvantLink Affiliate Newsletter. In our newsletters we will feature technology news, promotional opportunities, new merchants, industry insight and much more.
Anyone interested in being featured on our Affiliate network blog? If you have something good to say about your experience on our platform, send us your Affiliate Testimonial and we’ll consider publishing it with links of your choice. Email your AvantLink contact or use the site form to find out more.
Affiliates, this newsletter will be distributed bi-monthly, and we’ll also send out a periodic email featuring compelling merchant promos for the high-profile shopping days. You can manage your contact settings by clicking on “Account” from the main menu, then “Contact/Payment Information”.
Table of Contents:
1. AvantLink Screencast Series
2. Flash Ads for Affiliates
3. Best Practices: Link Building for Datafeeds
4. Affiliate Tools: Affiliate Link Encoder
5. Welcome our New Merchants
In late 2008 we produced a series of screencast tutorials for Affiliates and merchants. We have already covered a lot of important topics, and there are more to come. You’ll find that each screencast tutorial/how-to has a permalink in the Tutorials category of our Affiliate network blog.
Below is a list of the version one Affiliate and merchant screencasts from AvantLink. These screencasts will also be accessible via our YouTube account.
| Affiliate Screencasts | Merchant Screencasts |
Get your Flash Ads here! Did you know that there are several merchants now offering Flash Ads in AvantLink? Flash is one of five pre-configured ad types merchants can offer you through our platform. Other advertising types include banners, text, html and video ads.
Merchants can now easily integrate Flash banner ads into their ad list by simply uploading a compatible .swf file (1MB size limit)*, which we’ll store and serve to Affiliates through one line of Javascript. Affiliates can then embed flash ads by pasting this Javascript on their site pages or blogs.
Rich media such as Flash has been measured as a more effective ad type, converting at higher rates than static or animated banner campaigns.
Best Practices: Link Building for Datafeeds
It’s getting easier and easier to add product catalogs to your site(s) using any number of different tools and scripts. In fact, we have some of the most robust Affiliate tools right here at AvantLink. But remember more datafeeds does not necessarily mean more sales. Adding the feeds is the easy part.
Below find tips on how you can help product pages get good search engine placements, and some of the best converting Affiliate traffic on the web. This article assumes the use of our Web Service Datafeed Client, but the link building techniques can be used with any Affiliate datafeed.
The most successful Affiliate sites have authority, and good standing in the search engines. A vast organic presence on the SEs takes hard work, dedication, perseverance and original/useful content that naturally gains links over time. But you already know all this, so now the question might become: How would I pass that authority on to my product level datafeed pages?
There are a number of ways you can help the crawlers get to and index these pages, but let me first mention that each Datafeed Client subscription you configure allows you to target that feed to specific categories, product groups or even brands. So consider this when working out your strategy. For example there is no real need to publish the entire Backcountry.com datafeed on your ski related site, when you can just utilize their Ski category.
Affiliate Tool: Affiliate Link Encoder
In October of 2007 we rolled out the Affiliate Link Encoder (ALE). This is an innovative tool and concept that converts direct-to-merchant links to Affiliate tracking links. The ALE conversion takes place on the end user’s browser, and does not change the html source code of the web document. v2.0 of the ALE was released in November 2008, adding a new layer of technology that matches and converts keywords in addition to URLs.
If you’re a blogger or forum owner, you can add one line of javascript to a page or site template and instantly convert all direct-to-merchant links (or even keywords, now with the ALE v2.0!) to Affiliate tracking links. This will track any transaction back to you as the referral, and rightly earn you a sales commission. Of course, the merchant will have to be in the AvantLink network for the ALE to work properly.
This saves you from the need to log in to the network and generate a tracking encoded link everything you link to a product or merchant. There are other creative applications of the Affiliate Link Encoder. For more information browse the list of articles and discussions below.
- Introducing the Affiliate Link Encoder
- New Innovative Tool – Affiliate Link Encoder
- Installing the Affiliate Link Encoder on a WordPress Blog
- A must have for forum owners…
- Attn: Bloggers & Forum Owners
- Affiliate Link Encoder v2.0
- AvantLinks’ Advanced Link Encoder – One Cool Tool
Below is a list of the latest merchants to launch on AvantLink (November/December 2008). Click here to browse all merchants.
- Tahoe Mountain Sports (Outdoor/Recreation), 7%-11% commission
- Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works (Outdoor/Recreation), 8% commission
- SteepandCheap.com (Outdoor/Recreation), $5 new customer bounty
- Tramdock.com (Outdoor/Recreation), $5 new customer bounty
- Chainlove.com (Outdoor/Recreation), $5 new customer bounty
- WhiskeyMilitia.com (Outdoor/Recreation), $5 new customer bounty
- SnowboardFusion.com (Outdoor/Recreation), 8% commission
- deLa Flowers (Special Occasion), 20% commission
- Muttropolis (Pet Supplies), 7%-12% commission
- HaberVision.com (Eyewear), 10% commission
| © COPYRIGHT 2009 Avant Marketing Group. |
Introducing a new AvantLink merchant:
We’re pleased to bring you SKECHERS, a global leader in lifestyle footwear. SKECHERS designs, develops and markets footwear that appeals to trend-savvy men, women and children, and now you can promote their products through the AvantLink platform. All categories of footwear are available on their high converting web site, and you can earn 8% commission on each of the sales you refer (60 day cookie).
With the SKECHERS Affiliate program on AvantLink you’ll have free access to products level marketing tools like dynamic datafeed subscriptions & scripts, tracking embedded RSS feeds and an Affiliate API. Here are some of the highlights of this program
- 8% commission for every sale you refer
- Special offers and significant discounts for your visitors
- Dedicated Affiliate Management
- Search affiliates welcome!
- Regularly updated creative
Read the program launch announcement on ABestWeb.
Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting SKECHERS. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Andrew Morales, skechers/at/affiliatetraction.com.
We’re proud to share another Merchant testimonial, this time from Rett at Backcountry.com.
AvantLink is a true partner for innovation. Their technology is first class and their attention to detail is impressive. The interface is ultra fast and easy to navigate, which saves us valuable time every day. The standard reporting options cover the majority of our needs and customization is easy to implement. AvantLink understands the affiliate space better than most and is very accommodating when additional functionality is requested. Merchants will not be disappointed with the affiliate network provided by AvantLink.
Rett Clevenger
Online Media Manager
Backcountry.com
Thanks Rett! It’s been our pleasure to work with you, Brian and the rest of the team. Here’s to a great 2009 and beyond. 
The goal of the AvantLink screencasts are to help current (or prospective) Affiliates and Merchants learn more about our network, and the technology we offer.
This screencast focuses on our Feed Syndication options, and how Affiliates can syndicate promotional feeds through embedded RSS Affiliate links. Link syndication options are available through our Dynamic Coupon Feed and Deal of the Day tool as well.
Take a look at the Coupon Feed Syndication screencast below, or CLICK HERE to view the full sized version.
Introducing a new exclusive AvantLink merchant:
We have an exciting opportunity for Affiliates to promote more than 15,000 technology products at discounted prices with Gradware.com! Austin, Texas based Gradware offers academic and educational customers hardware and software from the world’s best technology manufacturers including Adobe, Microsoft, Corel and many more. High order value, good conversion and a dedicated/responsive team is what you’ll find with this program.
We encourage you to come on board and be one of the first Affiliates to promote Gradware.com. This is an exclusive AvantLink merchant. Other highlights from the program include:
Gradware has been “Your Premier Source for Academic Software” and the Low Price Leader in student discount software for over two decades. Students, parents, teachers, and academic institutions can shop quickly and easily online at Gradware.com.
- Best selling and most recognized brands
- 3% Commission on every sale
- Average order size is >$250
- 45 day cookie duration
Read the program launch announcement on ABestWeb.
Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting Gradware.com. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Robert Gilbreath, robertg/at/gradware.com.
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