We’ve added functionality to our merchant interface to allow scheduling version changes to banner/image and Flash ads.  This allows merchants to prepare updates to creative assets for existing ad campaigns, while keeping the current campaign configuration intact for affiliates.  Of key importance in the solution is that affiliates won’t have to obtain new HTML to utilize the modified ad when the changed version swaps into place.

This is a bit different from the “Staged Campaign” support that we’ve had for some time. Staged campaigns are ads that are configured with a “go-live” date; affiliates have no access to the ad until that date is reached.  Scheduled version changes, on the other hand, help you to repurpose an ad campaign that’s already live and in use by affiliates – but without having to be at your computer when you want the changes to take effect.

Just think of this as one less reason to be chained to your office during promotions.  Pair this with the ability to schedule emails to your affiliates for future delivery dates for ultimate flex-time efficiency!

-David & AvantLink

P.S. Merchants – look for this new functionality in the “Tools” -> “Add/Edit Ad Campaigns” section of your account when you edit a banner/image or Flash ad.

Just a quick post to let you know that we released some updates to the affiliate email tool for merchants. Here’s an overview of the changes to this tool.

1. The first thing you’ll notice is that the interface has been simplified significantly.

2. We removed the text email option. Instead, all emails will contain a standard text email part that allows those with text only email capabilities to link to the full HTML version of the email.

3. The HTML email form element has been converted to use the YUI Rich Text Editor which allows for rich formatting of text content, much like a standard word processor.

4. Ad campaigns and personalization text variable tags can now be inserted directly into your email without having to copy and paste HTML like the old version of this tool.

5. Emails can now be scheduled for future delivery. As part of this functionality, we’ve also also added the ability for you to insert staged ad campaigns into your emails. This means that you can setup promotional ads and emails before the promotion start date and schedule the email to be delivered when the promotion goes live. No more staying up late or getting up at the crack of dawn to get your promotional emails out

Scott Kalbach
AvantLink.com

Merchants, we offer a communication  channel that allows you to reach beyond your existing Affiliates. Have a look at our company blog at AvantShare.com. Although the network email tool is effective, functional and easy to use…it’s only reaching your existing Affiliates. You could (and there are times when you should) use our integrated Affiliate Recruitment Tool to reach out to our network wide opt-in recruit list, but there is a better way to acquire new Affiliates while branding your Affiliate program at the same time.

Sponsor A Branded AvantShare Blog Category

This is a one-off service that gets you a dedicated and branded category on our Affiliate network blog. Post to and link from your Affiliate program blogs at-will. This is a unique value proposition for our merchants because:

1. It’s affordable.
2. It’s a mechanism for not only communicating effectively, but branding & link building.
3. It’s a powerful new Affiliate acquisition tool.

Each of your blog article headlines feed to the login screens/dashboard for every network Affiliate, not just those active in your program. This means that any Affiliate who logs in will see your news and offers. There is also a broader value in having the link building tool, ie, link directly to product pages by name for search engine optimization. All merchants who sponsor a dedicated AvantShare category get a login, and two categories for posting. Drop us a line for more info and pricing, and in the meantime take a look at the existing Merchant Affiliate Program Blogs to see how it works (browse each retailer via links in side bar).

Gary M

Merchants, you may have noticed we have been publishing a series of program management tips recently. This is not a coincidence. With the quickly approaching 4th quarter and holiday shopping season, now is the time to start getting your Affiliate program dialed in and ready for strong sales.

Note: If you’re a retailer who has an Affiliate program on auto pilot, it’s never too late to start putting more into it! But perhaps Q4 2010 would be a more realistic goal for a fully optimized and cranking program. So read on…

With this post I would like to write about how to optimize your existing Affiliates in AvantLink. Often times this is overlooked and Affiliate managers go on to cold recruit, when in fact it’s likely that there are many quality Affiliates already active with your program(s)…who have yet to add links or send traffic. Remember these Affiliates came to you, so at some point they had an interest in promoting your products. Maybe all it takes to find your new top-performing Affiliate, is reaching out to your inactive list person-by-person with an email.

To access a list of Affiliates who are active, but not yet sending traffic. Follow these steps:

1. Login, and click on “Affiliates” in the main menu.
2. Click “Affiliate Program Applications”.
3. Filter “Affiliate Status:” to “Active”.
4. Sort the “Recent Traffic” column header (click that twice and all Affiliates tagged as “No” for recent traffic will filter to the top of the list).

The next step of course would be to browse that list of inactive Affiliates, emailing those you want to engage and start a relationship with. I am willing to say that 9 of 10 merchants on AvantLink can increase sales volume substantially just by engaging already active Affiliates, to get them fired up! Drop me a line if you have any questions…

Remember, we will be offering three Management Tools Review Sessions over the next several weeks. Drop me a line (click link above for details) to sign up for one!

Gary M

For the last five or six weeks we have been developing a tool that offers merchants the ability to monitor specific keywords/phrases Affiliates are using in paid search marketing campaigns. The Paid Search Review tool is available in the Notification Center and as a standard reporting option with performance summaries, sales/commission details, etc. Program managers can access this tool by clicking “Reports” or “Account -> Notification Center” from the main menu.

Inspired by the open source code from Mark Silliman, owner of Spadout.com, the Paid Search Review tool expands upon that original idea with enhanced keyword monitoring functionality specific to, and integrated within our Affiliate network. The Paid Search Review tool is bundled with any service level, making it a free service for merchants. For those retailers (considering AvantLink) interested in quality Affiliates and brand protection, this tool alone is your ROI!

By default, we will monitor each merchant’s name and domain name. For example…

Grim Reapers
GrimReapers.com

This default configuration helps merchants, as well as AvantLink staff, maintain compliance with our Affiliate terms of use. Program managers can also monitor whatever additional keywords/phrases they want. It’s just a matter of going to the Notification Center and adding the keyword.

“One of the major business issues we find ourselves battling every day at AvantLink.com, is the problem generally referred to in the Affiliate marketing industry as Trademark Bidding,” says Scott Kalbach, founder and CEO of AvantLink. “This is the practice of Affiliates bidding on merchant names or trademarks via paid search ads to drive traffic.” He continues, “We have a policy that prohibits this activity, and we enforce it. However enforcement has become increasingly difficult. This tool will assist us, and our merchant partners directly, in more robust brand protection and Affiliate terms of use compliance.”

We believe this is the only network integrated Affiliate marketing tool for Affiliate paid search bid monitoring. Questions, comments or suggestions are certainly encouraged. Special thanks to David Clark for his work on this project!

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):

1. Login to your Affiliate account and click on “Tools” from the main menu.
2. Under Ad/Link Tools, click on “Get Merchant Ads”.
3. Leave the Merchant drop down menu blank, then select “Flash” from the Ad Type menu.
4. 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.

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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.

1. 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.
2. 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.