Archive for the Merchant Tools Category
Everyone on your team worked hard to meet the AvantLink tracking and datafeed specifications, perform the appropriate test measures, collect collateral and program materials, etc. Now your Affiliate program is open for business on the premiere Affiliate network, but you are a little confused on what comes next. Let’s discuss the first 100 days of your Affiliate program in AvantLink.
Retailers that are new to Affiliate marketing, and those that have been in the space for a while can both benefit from this outline on what to expect.
Once we flip the switch to active status your program will automatically hit the new merchant RSS notifications, and your branded info page will be linked up from our homepage and the merchant directory. Next, several hand-built launch announcements get distributed via high-profile Affiliate communities and social sites including ABestWeb, Twitter, Facebook as well as our Affiliate network blog at AvantShare.com. We also send an email blast to the network opt in list announcing each new Affiliate program.
Since we’re selective with merchants there are large, branded shopping sites that sign-up for just about every new program, and start driving traffic immediately. They have the technical infrastructure to add new products, stores or promotions quickly. And they know that if AvantLink brings the program on board, they’re ready for prime time. Expect to see anywhere from 2 to 5 dozen high-value Affiliates sign up within the first week.
This initial wave of Affiliates from our announcements will likely be enough to show you an ROI on your set-up fees in a matter of months. The key is to compel them to add your links or feeds right away. To do this be sure there are at least a couple of Affiliate-exclusive coupons or promotions available in your ad list. Also consider an activation bonus of some kind, for example “First 5 Affiliates to send $1000 in sales gets a $100 cash bonus.”
Special coupon offers or an activation bonus are two great reasons to email, or “get in the face” of the first wave of Affiliates who sign up.
We offer a robust email tool where you can contact all Affiliates at once or specific subsets of Affiliates. Establish the reputation early of being a good communicator. Update ads and feature fresh promos as often as possible, following up regularly with communication using the email tool. Be sure to embed your campaigns directly in your emails. This will increase the likelihood that Affiliates will feature your coupon or promo. It’s also encouraged to send out structured quarterly or monthly newsletters.
Once you get eight or ten weeks into your program, view the list of your active Affiliates and note the column that says “Recent Traffic”. That column holds a yes or no value which tells you whether or not the Affiliate has sent a click within the last 30 days. Sort that column and start going through the list. If you see an Affiliate that looks perfect for your program, and they have not sent recent traffic, drop them a line. Ask how you can work together and what they need from you to get started.
This one-to-one contact is much more effective then mass emails; in terms of motivating Affiliates.
Your active Affiliate list is always the first place to start in terms of optimizing your program. All Affiliates are qualified for network acceptance based on a set of standards that hold the objective of bringing our merchants value. If 50% of your active Affiliates are not sending traffic yet, that’s the best place to start. They signed up, so they must have some level of interest in your product line.
As stated above we take advantage of several distribution channels to get the word out on new Affiliate programs. This comes with launch and it’s a great jump start for branding your program, which is essential. A positive brand for your program tells prospective Affiliates that you are the authority for your category, and that they should be sending their traffic to you instead of one of your competitors. Convince them that you’ll convert their traffic better, and you win.
The AvantLink network email tool is a must for communication, but consider maintaining your own branded channels for your program news as well. There are social networks that work well for this. But you can also take advantage of Affiliate industry specific channels like ABestWeb.com, NewsForAffiliates.com, AffiliateProgramBonus.com or AvantShare.com. We offer a Branding Package for Merchants, which is a structured service level with substantial discounts to a full blown presence on ABestWeb for your program. Email us for more info on our Branding Package.
Here is a summary list of what to expect from the article above, and how to approach your first 100 days of Affiliate marketing on AvantLink.
- Be sure there are a few good promotions for Affiliates to feature as soon as you go live. You could also consider some kind of activation bonus to create a buzz around the launch of your program.
- Follow-up on launch announcements by engaging readers on those articles with comments and/or participation in the discussions.
- Maintain your own branded communication channels for Affiliates. Be creative with the news on your own blog, Twitter account, press releases, etc.
- Communicate often with your active Affiliates using the AvantLink email tool. Embed ad creative directly in the emails you send out.
- Consider creating a newsletter for Affiliates that will keep them informed of promotions, seasonal best sellers, and new product additions.
- Make sure to view your active Affiliate list often to see who is sending recent traffic, and who isn’t. This is the best place to start when working to optimize your program.
All the above set aside, the single best tool for building a strong Affiliate program is communication. Having someone engaged on a daily basis is also key. Building a strong program is a process, and done correctly it is the most cost effective advertising model online…especially with the value proposition AvantLink brings to the table.
After your first 100 days I suggest using our internal recruitment tool to solicit new partnerships, recruit from outside of the network and of course commit to an ongoing effort of communicating via our network email tool, and through the external channels mentioned above. You’ll get out what you put into this effort, and in the meantime (until transactions start moving through the network) we won’t be sending you a bill 
Gary for AvantLink
The AvantLink Notification Center aims to provide a central location for ways to keep tabs on your AvantLink.com account. Whether it’s via RSS feeds, report subscriptions, or Firefox plugins to show your daily stats, you’ll find it there. However, one thing that was historically lacking was a way of receiving certain event notifications via email: for instance, if you wanted an email each time a sale was credited to your account in AvantLink.com you were out of luck. Until now, that is.
With our latest update we’ve gone through all of the RSS feeds that we make available and added email notifications for these wherever they did not already exist. Specifically, all users can (as mentioned above) receive an email each time a sale occurs in the network. Additionally, affiliates can sign up to receive an email each time a merchant creates or modifies an ad. Similarly, merchants can sign up for an email reminder when their ads are about to expire.
Many of our RSS feeds already had a built-in email component within our network. New merchant announcements, for instance, are always sent via email as well as being made available via RSS. So there’s no new sign-up option in the Notification Center for this - such emails are sent to you by default. Of course you can still control whether you receive these standard notifications from our network with your overall (or per-merchant) contact preferences.
-David & AvantLink
We’re excited to announce that we now offer a 5th ad type on the AvantLink platform: Flash Banners!
(Five Ad Types now available on AvantLink: Banner, Text, Html, Video, and Flash)
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.
Merchants also have the option of including an alternate image file for Affiliates that will display whenever browsers do not support Flash, so there is no risk of a blank ad display. You can’t go wrong with this ad type!
Affiliates, to view all the Flash ads currently available from your active merchants follow these steps (note that we just released this new ad type functionality so you may not find very many Flash campaigns yet):
- Login to your Affiliate account and click on “Tools” from the main menu.
- Under Ad/Link Tools, click on “Get Merchant Ads”.
- Leave the Merchant drop down menu blank, then select “Flash” from the Ad Type menu.
- Click “Get Ads” to see all Flash campaigns associated with your active merchants.
You could of course filter by any of your active merchants, then select “Flash” from their respective Ad Type drop down menus. If the merchant has Flash ads configured, you’ll be returned with their Flash Ad options.
Merchants, to include Flash campaigns to your ad list it’s the same process as adding a banner campaign. Simply select the “Flash” Ad Type when creating a new campaign, and follow the instructions.
Let us know what you think, or if you have any questions.
* In order for Flash ads to function properly it must make use of the “clickTAG” parameter, as described by Adobe in their guidelines for rich media tracking. The “clickTAG” is how we provide your Flash movie with the tracking information necessary to credit the appropriate affiliate with click-throughs.
Time for another Affiliate Marketing Best Practices article, but this time it’s an article for merchants. Disclaimer: It’s been a while since I’ve managed an Affiliate program, so correct me if I need it. But I think the primary concepts and techniques for effective Affiliate management may just be timeless.
Just as Affiliate marketing has evolved and matured, so has the roll of Affiliate Manager (AM). Today’s managers (and the merchants they work for) have to understand the process of building a quality program. And a process it is, especially if the program is new. It takes a lot more these days than launching in reputable networks. There is too much competition among merchants for the top Affiliates. Retailers, maintain a program that’s more compelling and higher converting for Affiliates, and you win. You attract the most talented marketers who consistently bring you new customers and large sales volume. But how can that be done? And what resources are available?
Over the years one thing that has remained the cornerstone of effective program management is consistent communication with Affiliates. So email your Affiliates. Email them collectively with big news or with a monthly newsletter. Email them one-to-one and support them, offer ideas, talk shop. Over time effective communicators build solid relationships and get honest, constructive feedback. Both of which empower Affiliates to drive more sales.
Options for program management include hiring in house, hiring a management firm or using a network. AvantLink recently rolled out a very competitive Managed Solution service level for merchants. And there is a strong proof of concept in what we’re doing. The fundamentals are rooted in business and branding strategy, and any web-based business can benefit from them. Especially web retailers with Affiliate programs, and Affiliate marketers themselves.
For communication, traditionally AM’s used email, instant messaging, and telephone. And more recently Twitter. That’s all good. But consider these additional channels for engaging Affiliates, link building and growing your Affiliate program brand; all at the same time.
- Wordpress. Start a blog dedicated to your Affiliate program and nothing else. Distribute your monthly newsletters as blog posts, make a post about new banners, new products, and of course sales and promotions. Think critically about the subject line, and use a good link strategy. There are many reasons why you should use Wordpress for your blog, but that’s for a different article. Take a look at the Backcountry Affiliate Blog to see a working example.
- ABestWeb. Sponsor a branded, sub-forum on ABestWeb.com. This is the largest Affiliate community on the web, and every inbound link from ABW is gold. Essentially, what you post to your Affiliate program blog, you can post to your ABestWeb category. Tweak the subject line a bit, and don’t re-purpose the content exactly from your blog. The extra 10-15 minutes you take to rewrite the article is well worth the effort. Check out Altrec’s sub-forum on ABestWeb to see an example.
The reality is that the best Affiliates won’t simply take your word for it. Especially if you’re not a nationally recognized brand. Any retailer can talk up how good their program is, and how well their site converts. Likely the first thing Affiliates will do before signing up with any program is Google “Merchantname Affiliate program” and see what comes up. So make sure there is more in the results than just the Affiliate program info page on your site. The more blog articles and forum threads about you, the better. But no thin posts or articles!
A couple of other examples of distribution channels AvantLink regularly uses includes the AvantLink category at the Rocky Mountain Affiliate Marketing Association’s (RMAMA) blog. We’ve also used PRWeb.com (see sidebar of blog) consistently over the years to get important news out. These articles also include very important links to our content. We try and take full advantage of any opportunity to pump out good news!
So to conclude, Affiliate managers who are competent communicators should align themselves with the distinct branding and content distribution channels discussed above. Not only will this open up more communication mediums (your Wordpress blog’s RSS feed, for example), but every bit of content being distributed will get picked up quickly by Google and the others. This is what builds your authority and positive brand in the Affiliate space.
Once prospective Affiliates get a sense that your program is an authority, and that someone is communicating effectively, it will in essence become a powerful recruitment or acquisition channel as well. The task of forming good, long-term and prosperous relationships just got easier!
Gary M
Note: Visit our Solutions page for more information on our Branding Package for merchants. With this package we offer merchants the distribution channels highlighted in this article, at a substantial package discount. The Branding Package may be utilized as a stand alone service, or encompassed in our comprehensive Affiliate Management Solution. Contact us for more information.
Just a quick post to introduce our latest merchant to join our blogging network: Backcountry.com! Brian Boyd and the Backcountry Affiliate program will now be maintaining a dedicated category on AvantShare.com, AvantLink’s dedicated blog network. Look for compelling offers and other relevant news from their killer program to be posted regularly there.
You can even subscribe to the Backcountry Affiliate Blog RSS feed 
to have the news and content delivered to you.
Check out it: Backcountry Affiliate Program Blog
Reminder to all AvantLink merchants: We offer a very competitive one off service that allows you to brand and maintain a news distribution channel for your program on our high-profile blog network. A dedicated category on our blog also comes as part of the Branding Channel for merchants. Drop us a line if you would like more info.
At this time we thought it would be appropriate to get into detail on our new Managed Solution service level we now offer merchants. We know what works, and what doesn’t, in terms of program management. Here are the key points and information on this full service management and branding package we offer…
Earlier this month we announced that as of July 1st we were providing Affiliate program branding & management services for two Active Sports, Inc. stores on our network. These two stores are The-House.com and Proboardshop.com, and both are high-converting sites selling popular brand name outdoor gear and apparel. It’s been so far so good, and you can bet the sales volume for both programs will continue to improve.
This is namely because the cornerstone of this unique proposition utilizes a branding strategy with proof of concept to not only effectively brand a program as the authority in their category (which naturally attracts and retains the highest volume Affiliates), but also provides an array of communication and distribution channels for sale details, coupon offers, promotions or otherwise general Affiliate and business news related to the program. This is all the content that is exactly relevant and important for Affiliates to have at their fingertips in a timely fashion, and on a regular basis!
Merchants, when you contract with AvantLink to handle day-to-day Affiliate program management and branding, you’ll be assigned a dedicated, experienced and focused program manager. The emphasis will be on incremental and consistent growth in AvantLink, and you won’t be pushed to any other network where you’ll invariably shell out thousands more to get started.
The keys to bottom line growth in the Affiliate channel include dedicated management, regular communications, program branding, and of course patience. Despite what you may have heard otherwise, building a strong Affiliate program for your business is a process, and it will take time. Especially if you’re starting from scratch.
Below are the two main elements included with our Managed Solution…
- A Dedicated Program Manager - An experienced individual with dedication to your bottom line success in AvantLink. This person’s management role will be a pro-active one with emphasis on the distribution of optimized promotional and news content through several high profile channels. Your AvantLink program manager will…
- Review and approve Affiliate applicants, screening them for suitability and offering our expertise in properly integrating and using our tools.
- Provide branding for your Affiliate program(s) through the posting of campaigns, specials and other vehicles (see below).
- Manage the campaign and collateral materials in the merchant interface.
- Discuss strategy and campaigns ideas on a regular basis.
- Provide day-to-day relationship management for affiliates.
- Manage correspondence with affiliates.
- Full Branding Package Utilization - A package with proof of concept that offers branding and communication opportunities above and beyond what managers can otherwise find in the network. We’ve partnered with Haiko de Poel, Jr., owner of ABestWeb.com, to offer merchants a substantial discount on several ABestWeb service levels. As well as access to some of the one-off services in AvantLink. Distribution channels that come with the Branding Package include…
- AvantShare Branded Merchant Affiliate Program Blog - $500 value
- AvantLink Featured Merchant Homepage Placement - $250 value
- ABestWeb Sub-forum of a Category - $1,500 Annual Value
- ABestWeb Merchant’s Blog Inclusion - $1,000 Annual Value
- ABestWeb Run of Site Banner Rotation - $1,500 Annual Value
- ABestWeb Recruiting Email - $800 Annual Value
For pricing information on our Managed Solution drop us a line. We’re also happy to answer any question you may have on the unique value proposition of what we’re offering. You certainly don’t want to spend too much on program management, or otherwise adding your program to multiple networks. Both of which can put you in a very challenging position in terms of seeing an acceptable ROI for your Affiliate marketing efforts!
Gary for AvantLink
A couple months ago we rolled out the Specialty Datafeed Administration tool that lets you create targeted datafeed subsets to feature things like top sellers, etc.
This last week we added a couple more features to this datafeed administration tool.
1. Merchants can now download the current feed as it exists in our database in either CSV or XML formats.
2. We’ve added a “Last Updated” time stamp so that you can see when we last imported/updated the datafeed file you supply to us.
Scott & AvantLink
Just a quick post to highlight an upgrade to our Affiliate Recruitment tool. For those who may not be familiar, in AvantLink merchants have the ability to send out recruitment offers to Affiliates that have chosen to opt-in to these recruitment offers.
We do not disclose Affiliate contact information, however; until the Affiliate has applied, or is active, with a program. The recruitment tool uses an email form we provide in the management interface to send out offers to the email addys Affiliates have configured in their AvantLink account.
At the request of Krystofer from the REI Affiliate program, and some other merchants, David added a filter option that will allow you to select from among “Available recruits”, “Pending offers”, or “Declined offers”.
Hope this is helpful to the program managers out there!
Gary & AvantLink
Merchants, note an update to the Co-branded Application Forms post from March 14th. We’ve added functionality to automatically submit an application to your program once an Affiliate you refer completes your co-branded application form.
Here’s how to link to your co-branded application form:
- Take our standard application form URL, which is:
https://www.avantlink.com/affiliate_app.php - Add the parameter of “mi=MERCHANTID” to that URL, with MERCHANTID being your merchant ID in AvantLink.
So for example, Wakeside.com would use the following href to link to their co-branded application form:
<a href=”https://www.avantlink.com/affiliate_app.php?mi=10089″>
This URL in the link above would pull in the Wakeside logo and auto apply the applicant to their program once s/he is approved at the network level.
If you don’t know your merchant id in AvantLink feel free to email support/at/avantlink.com and we’ll send it over. Or you can just go to your public branded detail page, which will be linked up from our Merchant Directory, and note the # in URL that’s before your name. For example with “10089/wakeside.html”, 10089 is the merchant ID.
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
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