Tag Archive for "avantlink"
We started an account at Twitter about a year ago. All we did at first was syndicate our blog headlines using their API, and we were getting some followers here and there. I think we were in the first wave of Affiliate networks to use the service.
In February of this year we added a few social networking icons to our site, under the login form on the homepage. Since, we’ve seen the Twitter account grow steadily and I’ve been trying to engage everyone there on a more personal level. I’m getting better at it, so come on over and FOLLOW AvantLink 
-Gary M
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AvantLink Newsletter April 5, 2009 |
Featured Mother’s Day PromotionsMother’s Day is this Sunday, so be sure you are optimizing your site with all the specific deals for Moms. Below are some of the Mother’s Day Promotions that various merchants in AvantLink are running this week. Campaigns are available in the respective merchant’s ad list, as well as the Dynamic Coupon Feed.
Find these promotions and more by visiting the ad list for merchants you are associated with, then sort by “Show Only Coupons” to see all current deals. |
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AvantLink Newsletter April 23, 2009 Vol 1, Issue 2 |
Merchant Newsletter
In this issue we are going to outline several new Affiliate technology offerings we rolled out recently including tools for content matching, product comparison and other ad widget functionality. Understanding how these tools help your Affiliates maintain relevant, dynamic pricing and product details is a key element to successful program management. We suggest all program managers go through the process of setting up an Affiliate account with AvantLink, then signing up for your own program. Apply Now as an Affiliate*, and once you do, drop us a line to let us know so we can expedite your application to active status.
Below we will also feature a snippet of an article that outlines what merchants can expect over the first 100 days after launching an Affiliate program in AvantLink. This article highlights specific tips and strategies for effectively building and maintaining an authority program for your business, which will by design attract the most productive and value-based Affiliate marketers out there. Link to full article on our blog also included.
*Program managers are asked to sign-up to their Affiliate programs only.
Table of Contents:
1. Submit Mother’s Day & Father’s Day Promos
2. New Powerful Affiliate Technology
3. Product Ad Widget Screencasts
4. Merchant Outline for First 100 Days
5. Affiliate Testimonial: Big Fans of AvantLink
Submit Mother’s Day & Father’s Day Promos
Over the course of the next two months we will move through two distinct shopping periods for both Mother’s Day (May 10th) and Father’s Day (June 21st). For both of these popular shopping events we will be distributing Affiliate newsletters featuring promos from AvantLink merchants specific to Mother’s Day or Father’s Day.
Merchants, you can submit your Mother’s Day or Father’s Day promos (to be featured in these newsletters) for free! Simply email support/at/avantlink.com or your AvantLink contact. Make sure to include the specifics of each promotion you want featured, and the start-end date of each offer. Deadline for Mother’s Day submissions April 29th, and for Father’s Day June 12th.
New Powerful Affiliate Technology
As always the developers are working hard to not only build out new Affiliate tool offerings (labeled [NEW] below), but they are also continuously rolling out upgraded functionality (labeled [UPGRADE] below) to our existing tools and scripts. Here is a list of some of the most notable technology upgrades and releases so far in 2009:
- Product Ad Widget Public BETA [NEW] – We’re pleased to announce the public BETA release of a new AvantLink affiliate network tool. The Product Ad Widget is the next generation of our Product Display Builder. It has a completely redesigned configuration interface that makes use of the Yahoo User Interface (YUI) JavaScript library. The Product Ad Widget has three widget display options: Product Display, Content Match Ad Widget and Flash Widget. Read more…
- Filtering Datafeeds by Brand or Sale Price [UPGRADE] – 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. Second, both types of datafeed tools now support filtering to just on-sale products. Read more…
- Notification Center: Email Event Notifications [UPGRADE] – 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. Read more…
- Additional Product Content Widget [NEW] – We’ve been working for some time now on a project to allow affiliates to easily pull together all of the datafeed information, coupons, video ads, etc. – in other words, content – that we have at AvantLink.com. Well now it’s here! Read more…
- Showing Additional Product Content in the Web Service Datafeed Client [NEW] – Now another of our offerings, the Web Service Datafeed Client, provides the ability to quickly enhance your site with valuable product-specific information above and beyond what it can normally yield. Read more…
- Web Service Datafeed Client Improvements [UPGRADE] – We’re proud to say that we’ve recently rolled out a massive list of improvements to one of our flagship affiliate tools: the Web Service Datafeed Client. Before getting into the exact details it should be noted that all existing deployments of this tool will work perfectly with the new improvements. Read more…
- RSS Product Feeds [NEW] – The large number of options available in that particular API module may be overwhelming to new users. So, we’ve recently added a simpler configuration page to your affiliate login: the “RSS Product Feeds” configuration page (accessible from the “Tools” page, under the “Datafeed Manager” section). Read more…
To compliment some of our new Affiliate technology releases Scott Kalbach, our CEO, has started producing screencast tutorials. So far he has posted two excellent segments to specifically outline the configuration processes and capabilities of the “Product Comparison Widget” and “Content Match” Product Ad Widget options. You can click each of the screen capture images below to start the tutorials. We encourage all program managers to watch these screencasts to better understand the power of the Affiliate tools available FREE OF CHARGE for both Affiliates and merchants, once activated in AvantLink.
Merchant Outline for First 100 Days
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 Affiliate marketing on AvantLink.
Summary of what to expect from, and how to approach your first 100 days:
- 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.
Affiliate Testimonial: Big Fans of AvantLink
As we continue to build the Affiliate end of our business, we have quickly come to appreciate the quality of merchants on the AvantLink network, the ease of use of the Affiliate tools, the consistent and usable product data we can retrieve, and the responsiveness of the entire AvantLink team.
To sum it up we are big fans of, and benefiting financially from, a strong partnership with AvantLink.
Craig & Rusty
GearBuyer.com
| © COPYRIGHT 2009 Avant Marketing Group. |
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
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AvantLink Newsletter March 30, 2009 Vol 1, Issue 2 |
Affiliate Newsletter
Our Affiliate newsletters feature technology news, promotional opportunities, new merchants, industry insight and more.
Anyone interested in being featured on our Affiliate network blog? If you have something good to say about your experience with AvantLink, send us your Testimonial and we’ll consider publishing it with links of your choice.
Table of Contents:
1. Rock/Creek Offers Daily Deal Widget
2. Product Ad Widget Public BETA
3. Attention Bloggers & Forum Owners
4. Affiliate Tax Laws
5. Welcome New Merchants
Rock/Creek Offers Daily Deal Widget
Rock Creek Outfitters, one of the first merchants to launch in our Outdoor/Recreation category, is now offering dynamic campaigns via our Deal of the Day tool! Note that all products featured in the Rockcreek Affiliate program daily deal qualify with a minimum 30% off retail prices.
Remember you can promote RSS subscriptions (with your tracking links embedded) to daily deal feeds, as well as the daily deal itself.
Product Ad Widget Public BETA
We are pleased to announce the Product Ad Widget BETA. This is the next generation of our Product Display Builder tool. It has a completely redesigned configuration interface that makes use of the Yahoo User Interface (YUI) JavaScript library.
The Product Ad Widget has three widget display options.
- Product Display – This is the default html widget that can be integrated using JavaScript or using the server side language of your choice.
- Content Match Ad Widget – This widget provides the same options as above, but products are returned based on a keyword analysis of the content on the calling website page.
- Flash Widget – This is a carousel type flash widget that also has an integrated product search option.
Product Comparison Widget Screencast (see blog post)
Attention Bloggers & Forum Owners
Bloggers and forum owners should pay special attention to the Affiliate Link Encoder (ALE), but any Affiliate marketer can benefit from this innovative tool we rolled out in October of 2007. In a nutshell, the ALE allows webmasters to place one line of Javascript on any page and/or site-wide template, and if a direct link (without Affiliate tracking data) to an AvantLink merchant exists on the page, the script will automatically convert the direct link to a tracking link on the end user’s browser. The script scans the page for domain matches, than does it’s thing. (Also, read about the ALE v2.0…)
Affiliate Tax Laws
If you are not already aware, various states are proposing new tax laws that could have a direct impact on your business, and livelihood. The “Amazon Tax” is already law in New York, California and Connecticut are not far behind, and several other states have proposed the same type of legislation.
We encourage all Affiliates to organize a concentrated opposition by contacting your state representatives. By enacting this type of legislation it is likely that individual states would see an adverse impact that far out weighs the benefits of the increased taxation. For more information on the various tax laws, sample opposition letters, fact sheets and more, visit AffiliateTaxLaw.com, powered by ABestWeb.
Welcome New Merchants
Latest merchants to open their Affiliate programs on the AvantLink network (March 2009). Click here to browse all merchants.
- TopSleepingBags.com (Outdoor/Recreation), 10%-12% commission
- MaknTracks.com (Pet Supplies), 5% commission
- Overstock Jeweler (Jewelry), 12% commission
- Laguna Tools (Tools), 4% commission
- Grim Reapers (Costumes), 10% commission
- InTheHoleGolf.com (Sports), 8% commission
- TetonVillageSports.com (Outdoor/Recreation), 7% commission
| © COPYRIGHT 2009 Avant Marketing Group. |
Exclusive Offer for Internet Retailer’s Top 500
We would like to extend a zero risk offer to all stores listed in Internet Retailer’s Top 500 Guide.
Attention all top 500 retailers, from now through August 2009 AvantLink will waive the integration cost of $1000 to set-up and launch your Affiliate program.
Offer your Affiliates advanced, network-integrated scripts and Affiliate tools for free, while enjoying more brand protection and the benefits of working with high-value Affiliates.
More information (for web retailers) about AvantLink.com:
- AvantLink’s Value Proposition for Merchants
- Is Your Network Keeping Up?
- Why AvantLink? (more testimonials…)
As one of the web’s most savvy retailers, we invite you to join the growing list of quality Merchants using AvantLink to build sustainable and productive Affiliate partnerships.
Contact Paul Kalbach, Director of Sales (sales/at/avantlink.com) to get the ball rolling on this offer.
The economic news has been depressing the last couple of months. The financial industry is melting down, stock market plummeting and not a day goes by that we don’t hear about a major company laying off a significant part of their work force.
Most merchants are preparing for what could be a major recession. If you’re responsible for your company’s online marketing, chances are that you will or already have been asked to analyze where best to spend your online marketing dollars.
So how can AvantLink help, and why should I invest my marketing dollars in AvantLink’s performance marketing Affiliate network?
1. True performance marketing.
We are a true performance marketing network. This means that once you pay the network integration fee, you don’t pay any monthly minimums or any other hidden fees. We don’t have nickel and dime charges you find in other networks that add up to significantly higher marketing costs. This is recession proof marketing in that you only pay for results.
2. Thorough network level Affiliate screening.
Because we screen Affiliates thoroughly at the network level, you don’t have to spend time screening and filtering Affiliates at the program level, ultimately saving you money. This also means that the vast majority of Affiliates in AvantLink are active, ethical, and savvy marketing professionals.
3. Industry leading support.
We fully support the Affiliates and merchants in our network. Affiliates know they can come directly to us with questions about tools, ads, reporting, tracking, etc. because they know we will respond promptly. This translates into a greatly reduced support workload for you.
4. Innovation.
We are your partner for innovation. We are constantly working on new tools, and better functionality. If Affiliates or merchants come to us with innovative and feasible technology ideas, we will develop them. Many of our tools were created in exactly this manner. We’re dedicated to getting Affiliates and merchants the technology they need to increase sales.
5. Brand protection.
By default, our network level terms do not allow Affiliates to bid on your trade name, domain name or mis-spellings. Most networks have many rogue affiliates who try to get away with bidding on trade/domain names wherever and whenever possible. Not paying commissions as a result of trade/domain name bidding translates into huge savings, and more protection for your brand.
In a recession it’s more important than ever to spend your marketing dollars wisely. AvantLinks’ true performance marketing network model means your marketing dollars are only going towards results. For more information, or to speak with an AvantLink sales representative, please email sales/at/avantlink.com. Mention this article and get a special discount on integration.
Scott Kalbach
Founder/CEO
And one of the best things about it is that any new blog post (like this one!), will be added automatically to our Twitter profile page. Here is where you can find us there:
http://www.twitter.com/AvantLink
I’ll also be posting things manually from time to time, so it won’t just include automated blog snippets.
For those using Twitter on a daily basis, this is an easy way to keep up on our Affiliate technology updates, news and new program announcements. Hope to see you there!
RSS Feed
