Introducing a new, exclusive AvantLink merchant:

Climb High

Signup for the Climb High Affiliate program and promote one of the largest retailer of eco-friendly climbing gear and made in the U.S.A equipment. Some of their brands include: Petzl, Black Diamond, Organic Crashpads, Beal, Gravel, Mammut, GSI, Mountainsmith and many more.

Program highlights include:

• 8% commission
• 120 day cookie
• Free ground shipping on all orders AND returns
• Dedicated program management
• Average order size $150.00 (year-round)

Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting Climb High. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager David Crothers, david@climbhigh.com.

Introducing a new, exclusive AvantLink merchant:

Panther Martin

Team up with a Legend!

Panther Martin is “The Greatest Fish Catcher of All Time” and has been for over 50 years. They specialize in Spinners, Swimbait Lures, Superior Frogs, WeedWings, plus the popular Vivifs. Ask any old timer about Panther Martin then sit back and listen, because over 100 Million Panther Martin lures have caught fish in just about every pond, stream, river, lake, and ocean in the world.

The Panther Martin site is dynamic, streamlined and optimized for their Internet customer base. With their 15% commission baseline you have tremendous earning potential promoting a legendary fishing brand direct from the manufacturer. Plus folks, you’ll want to read the following activation bonus twice for it to sink in…

The first Affiliate to reach $5000 in sales will receive a $1000 cash bonus!!!

Program highlights include:

• Earn 15% baseline (with incentives).
• Cookie duration 90 days.
• Professionally designed banners.
• A trusted brand name
• Loyal customer base
• Free shipping on orders over $25 (in lower 48 states)
• Exceptional customer service

Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting Panther Martin. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Ryan Healey, ryan@panthermartin.com.

AvantLink made the decision recently to start tracking in detail the pricing changes for records within our merchant product datafeeds.  While traditionally we have kept track of only the current price for a product, we were able to use our data backups to reconstruct monthly snapshots of the pricing for all of our datafeeds; then since mid-September 2011 the pricing history has been noted for every change in a merchant’s feed.  This allows us to build – and provide to affiliates – full pricing history for products across the entire duration of a merchant’s association with AvantLink.

This kind of information can be invaluable in building advanced tools such as pricing history charts or trend analyzers and predictors (e.g. how long can the price go).

The first of our tools to provide access to this data is the ProductPriceCheck API module.  By utilizing the “show_pricing_history” parameter of that module, you can retrieve all known price points for a given product.  For instance, within the REI.com feed a request for pricing data for “SmartWool Merino Wool Liner Socks” (product SKU “659684″) might be formatted as:

http://www.avantlink.com/api.php?affiliate_id=101&module=ProductPriceCheck&output=xml&merchant_id=10248&sku=659684&show_pricing_history=1

and return XML data such as pictured below.

You can see from those results that this product was originally priced at $10.95, but was on sale for $8.19 in December 2010.  By January 2011 the product was no longer on sale.  It then went back on sale in June 2011 for just $7.59 and finally in July 2011 was back to full/regular price again.

We expect very soon to roll out support for retrieving pricing history information as part of our raw datafeed file solution as well; a separate announcement will be made when that functionality is available.

-David Clark
AvantLink.com

The AvantLink API has been expanded to include a new module: ConfigureDatafeed. This module is designed to allow affiliates to script the creation of raw datafeed file subscriptions, which previously could be done only manually.

With one exception noted below, all functionality that is available through the normal affiliate configuration interface is supported.  This includes the ability to specify:

• file format (CSV, tab-delimited, or XML)
• file compression (none, gzip, or zip)
• taxonomy filtering, to optionally restrict the datafeed to certain categories, subcategories, product groups, or brands
• on-sale / discount filtering, to optionally restrict the datafeed to include only products that are on-sale

For the sake of simplicity, customizable output fields/columns are not supported – instead, any subscription configured using this API module will return all datafeed fields/columns.

By pairing this new module with existing offerings such as the AssociationFeed, SubscriptionFeed, and ProductTaxonomy modules, affiliates with some scripting skills can quickly automate the process of creating raw datafeed files for all of their merchants. In fact, a sample PHP script that does exactly that is included on the documentation page for the ConfigureDatafeed module.

It’s also worth noting that this module can edit or modify existing datafeed subscriptions in addition to just creating new ones. So for those affiliates who’ve been with AvantLink for a number of years and have built up long lists of subscriptions with slightly different settings, this is the perfect opportunity to standardize all of those subscriptions, e.g. to the same file format or compression options.

One final tip: don’t forget to use the “Tools” -> “API Request Builder” page within your affiliate account when experimenting with this or any of our affiliate API modules.

-David Clark
AvantLink.com

Merchant Account Management Refresher – Nov 2011

For every merchant who launches a program on AvantLink, we provide a 60-minute personalized training webinar that covers the main components of the account management interface. During this session we also share some of our principles of program management as well as what to expect after a merchant’s first 100 days in the network.

Although most walk away from this training session informed and ready to go in terms of program management, we do see the need/demand for monthly “refresher” sessions of the same nature. For example if a merchant sees turnover with their Affiliate program manager, or hires additional team members, it’s essential these new folks get up to speed on how to best handle their program(s) in AvantLink.

It’s not uncommon for a merchant to yield a significant up swing in program performance simply by applying some of the fundamental management mechanics we will outline during these sessions.

These AvantLink network refresher sessions are tentatively scheduled for the first Wednesday of each month. Next session: Wednesday, November 2nd 11am-12pm mountain time.

Register Now! November 2, 2011 Merchant Account Management Webinar (11am mountain time)

Introducing a new, exclusive AvantLink merchant:

Backwoods

Promote brand name outdoor clothing for camping, hiking and travel. Backwoods is one of the few online outdoor retailers that ships everything to customers FREE, no minimum purchased required!

They offer Affiliates a 10% flat commission, which is one of the highest baseline commissions in the outdoor industry. They also offer a longer cookie life than most of their competitors in the category.

The Backwoods Affiliate program will make you money. Here’s why:

• 10% flat rate commissions
• 180-day first-party cookie
• 100% parasite free
• Exclusive AvantLink merchant
• Average order size $150
• Site-wide conversion at 3%
• Free ground shipping on all purchases

Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting Backwoods. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Darren Zapsky, affiliates@backwoods.com.

Introducing the first Affiliate Marketing App Market…integrated within the AvantLink platform!

So what does this mean? Think platform technology or application software, then apply it to Affiliate marketing tools. Since day one we have offered Affiliates powerful ad technology for FREE, and now we’re taking that one step further by allowing developers from around the world to add functionality to our Affiliate network as a platform (Browse API).

…this encourages innovators to build capabilities within our architecture that will enhance business relationships, provide new technical tools for Affiliate marketers, and in general, continue to add functionality to our platform.

Through the use of the app market, developers will have the opportunity (once approved) to monetize applications, tools, scripts or widgets by participating in the income streams generated by these capabilities. The AvantLink App Market is…

• FREE for developers to build/submit tools, scripts or widgets.
• FREE for Affiliates to use approved tools to generate sales.

Affiliates: For launch, there are two apps available in the AvantLink App Market. More coming soon, and we’ll announce when new tools have been added. To check it out, login and click “Tools” on your main menu, then the “App Market” link at the bottom of the page.

Developers: The AvantLink App Market is structured like any Affiliate program in AvantLink. To see the functionality and read program terms, apply to the program. If you’re not yet active in the AvantLink network as an Affiliate, complete the network application form as first step.

We put together a short Prezi (1:33 @YouTube, nice work Chad!) to better illustrate how the AvantLink App Market works for developers, and for Affiliates. Take a look at that, and follow the links below for more information. As always comments, questions or suggestions encouraged!

• AvantLink App Market Affiliate program details
• FREE Affiliate access to App Market tools
• ABestWeb: First! Affiliate Marketing App Market
• PRWeb: Affiliate Marketing App Market by AvantLink
• PitchEngine: Affiliate App Market by AvantLink
• AMNavigator: 3 Good News for Affiliates

Introducing a new, exclusive AvantLink merchant:

Warehouse Skateboards

Warehouse Skateboardswas established in 2004 by Founder and President Mike Duncan.

Warehouse Skateboards is arguably the most visible skate shop on the Internet, optimized for both ease of navigation & high conversion. There’s not a quality, legit skateboard brand they do not carry. Warehouse Skateboards is both a cutting-edge e-commerce site and a leader in online action sports e-commerce.

• 100% orders online (no phone orders)
• 7% flat commission
• 120-day cookie
• Free shipping of any order over $89
• $110 average order
• Regularly updated creative
• Best brands in the Skateboarding industry
• Daily updated datafeed w/ over 8K skate products
• Dedicated Affiliate program manager
• Daily deals and sales feed
• Frequent promotions
• Custom artwork and banners

Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting Warehouse Skateboards. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Angela Tice, affiliate@warehouseskateboards.com.

Introducing a new, exclusive AvantLink merchant:

Pharmaca

Join the Pharmaca Affiliate program and promote Organic Vitamin, Supplement, and Beauty products to health-conscious consumers. By becoming a Pharmaca Affiliate, you will gain access to their creative assets and deep product links that have been designed to help you convert on natural health products, and earn generous commissions on high value orders.

Pharmaca Integrative Pharmacy is based in Boulder, CO, and is the nation’s first integrative pharmacy chain offering traditional prescription-filling services alongside natural and complementary health solutions.

Program highlights include:

• 8% commission.
• Strong gift sales potential.
• Special Affiliate-only coupon codes.
• High repeat purchase potential.
• Average order value is over $75.
• Free Shipping on orders over $30.
• 30-day cookie duration.
• Seasonal Affiliate bonus contests.

Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting Pharmaca. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Wayne Aiello, waiello/at/pharmaca.com.

Introducing a new AvantLink merchant:

Sole Fitness

Now promote the same treadmills used exclusively by Hilton, and other worldwide hotels for in-room fitness, through your favorite Affiliate network! Sole treadmills and ellipticals are endorsed by experts and backed by warranties with national field support.

Note this program offers Affiliates an unlimited cookie! (Apply Now)

Sole Fitness Affiliate program highlights include:

• 8% commission
• Average order $1,600
• Average commission $128
• Unlimited cookie

Let us know what we can do to help you get started promoting Sole Fitness. Contact anyone at AvantLink or the program manager Travis Jacobson, tjacobson/at/affiliatecrew.com.