Here is another Affiliate testimonial. Thanks Matt and team! You guys are truly class acts over there…

As the throws of holiday shopping are upon us, I wanted to take a second to thank your team for everything. After switching from years with one of the largest networks* over to the AvantLink platform, the tools and technology you guys provide has allowed us to make Affiliate marketing a viable income source for the company. We are shocked as to how well this winter has gone with sales so far, and so much of that is because of the technology you provide. We could have never come this far with any other network.

Matt Sampson
Ski Helmets

*Network name removed for privacy.

InTheHoleGolf.com (Apply)
Back Friday to Cyber Monday Promotion
Promo Details: Get 15% off any size purchase! Use cyber15 at checkout.
Coupon Code: cyber15
Start Date: 11/27/2009
End Date: 11/30/2009

On October 20th we announced the program launches of Mountains Plus (mpgear.com) and TinyTrekker on AvantLink. These are SOLID Outdoor/Recreation programs with an Affiliate powerhouse reputation, and you should definitely be sure to get their links or feeds added asap this Q4.

To facilitate communications and distribute promotions, Mountains Plus and TinyTrekker recently sponsored a dedicated, branded presence on AvantShare.com. Click the Mountains Plus logo below to visit their dedicated blog category, and we also included a list of all the blog posts they have published so far.

Latest Affiliate blog headlines from Mountains Plus and TinyTrekker:

• Mountains Plus is in the Avantlink House!
• Just in time for snow – New Atlas Snowshoes
• Osprey Talon Moonlight Blue – Midnight Sale!
• Get down with cool gear for Tiny Trekkers
• You got the candy, now here is something sweet!

AvantLink Newsletter September 22, 2009 Vol 1, Issue 3

Merchant Newsletter

Now that summer is behind us it’s time to start focusing on Q4, and the busy holiday shopping season that’s quickly approaching. From now through the end of 2009, some web retailers will drive 30%-50% of their Affiliate revenue for the entire year. Get started now optimizing your program so you can take full advantage of the season of spending.

The general theme of this newsletter is how to most effectively prepare your Affiliate program for Q4. We will offer segments of relevant articles, as well as links to the full content. We also have some exciting news about a new Affiliate PPC keyword monitoring tool. The Paid Search Review tool has already seen substantial use (and press!), and it’s a free service for existing AvantLink merchants.

Table of Contents:

1. Management Tools Review Sessions
2. Merchant (Self-Managed) Deal Feed
3. Optimize Your Existing Affiliates
4. AvantShare 101
5. Paid Search Review Keyword Monitoring
6. Affiliate Testimonial: Somewhat new to the affiliate scene..

Management Tools Review Sessions

Over the course of the next four weeks we will be offering Management Tools Review Sessions online using GoToMeeting.com. We’re initially planning three 45-60 minute sessions, starting at 11am MST on the following dates:

• Monday, September 28, 2009 (11am)
• Monday, Octber 5, 2009 (11am)
• Monday, October 12, 2009 (11am)

During these sessions we will cover some of the Affiliate management tools available to all AvantLink merchants, including the self-managed coupon/deal feed for Affiliates, Affiliate tagging and group administration, best practices for managing ad lists, communication, recruitment and more. If you are interested in joining in on one of these sessions, please contact Gary Marcoccia (gmarcoccia/at/avantlink.com) and he’ll get you penciled in. Note there are 15 participant slots available for each date.

More info…

Merchant (Self-Managed) Deal Feed

One of the most powerful management tools we’ll be looking at closely during the tools review sessions is the Dynamic Coupon/Deal Feed that’s available in the account interface. In a nut shell, this is a self-managed deal feed that you control with one click via ad configurations. It’s a popular tool with Affiliates, and program managers can syndicate a special offer or “deal” to hundreds of Affiliate sites instantly. Dynamic Affiliate integration options of the coupon/deal feed include RSS and Javascript. And we also offer daily updated database files for those who would prefer the raw data.

Here is a snippet from a recent post in the category “Merchant Q&A” of our network blog.

Merchants, you’ll want to be sure you flag any special offer, deal or coupon for inclusion in our Dynamic Coupon/Deal Feed. You can easily do this by flagging “Yes” in the ad configuration field for “This is a coupon/deal campaign:”. Once you select Yes the form will provide an additional field for the offer code, if you have one. If there is no offer code then you can leave it blank. Also note that you do not have to include an offer code in the actual ad text, it you include in the “Coupon Code:” field. We will auto embed the code in that case.

Read more…

Optimize Your Existing Affiliates

There is a very straight forward process to engaging and activating your existing Affiliates who have yet to send you traffic. You should follow these simple steps first and foremost when optimizing your program for this holiday season. After all, your active Affiliates came and applied to your program. So at one point at least, they showed interest. 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).

Read more…

AvantShare 101

You might not realize that we have an active Wordpress blog at AvantShare.com. Our network blog URL is AvantShare.com/blog. And we also have a category for merchants at AvantShare.com/merchantblog. At the top level we’re feeding RSS headlines from both the AvantLink and merchant blogs. Our network’s blog archive goes back to November of 2006, with nearly 400 posts. There is also a growing representation of merchants who maintain their primary Affiliate news outlet via AvantShare.

To effectively grow your Affiliate program recognize the value of distributing news, promotions and special offers through one of more communication channels besides email…like a blog or social media sites. This process of Affiliate program branding will not only engage existing and prospective Affiliates, it will help to establish your business as an authority for your category. Keep the news & info flowing, and over time the best Affiliates for your program will find you!

We have One-Off or Packaged Service Levels that can help you brand your program, and acquire new Affiliates.

More info…

Paid Search Review Keyword Monitoring

You now have the ability to monitor specific keywords/phrases Affiliates are using in paid search marketing campaigns! Introducing the Paid Search Review tool, bundled with any service level making it a free service. By default, we will monitor merchant names and domain names.

For example: Grim Reapers, GrimReapers.com.

This default configuration will help you, as well as AvantLink staff, maintain Affiliate compliance with our terms of use. Program managers can also monitor whatever additional keywords/phrases they would like. It’s just a matter of going to the Notification Center and building your keyword watch list.

Read more…

Affiliate Testimonial: Somewhat new to the affiliate scene..

Here is an excerpt from an email we received from Brian at Sure Solutions. Brian has been helping us test some new Affiliate technology…

We are somewhat new to the affiliate scene. I spent more than a month researching, reading forums, crawling the abestweb site reviewing tools and trying to choose some providers for different technologies. I am very pleased that we decided to work with Avantlink first and we feel quite lucky that Brownells was in your network. The combination of quality affiliate content that is contextually correct with our published content is without a doubt a home run. Your tools are excellent and your responsiveness to our requests have exceed all my expectations.

Brian Johnson
AmmoLand.com

Complete testimonial…

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

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!

Just a quick post to follow-up on our Outdoor Affiliate Meet and Greet that took place on July 22nd, at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market. We had more Affiliates and retailers than we expected, and it was a great time to talk shop, eat good food, and have a few cocktails. It looked as though everyone enjoyed networking and putting faces to names. It’s always a special opportunity to meet the folks face-to-face that you do so much online business with otherwise.

I for one had the priveledge of meeting several people that I’ve known from the web for years, but only got to meet for the first time last week.

Thanks to the Salt Lake Hilton for hosting this event, and for their great service. We would especially like to thank our sponsors:

• Tahoe Mountain Sports
• Backcountry.com
• Altrec Outdoors
• Masseys Professional Outfitters
• Rocky Mountain Affiliate Marketers Association (RMAMA)

Look for bigger and better events like this in the future, and let us know if you have any feedback!

Attention All Outdoor Affiliates

(Especially those Affiliates in Utah, or those coming to Salt Lake City for OR!)

We organized a Meet and Greet for Outdoor Affiliates and merchants, at the Salt Lake City Hilton on Wednesday, July 22nd from 5pm-7pm. This event coincides with the 2009 Outdoor Retailer Summer Market at the Salt Palace Convention Center.  Here is the invite that went out to our opt in Outdoor category Affiliates. If you are interested in attending please RSVP by emailing support/at/avantlink.com…

As an AvantLink Affiliate who operates an outdoor related website, we would like to invite you to join us on July 22nd for the Outdoor Affiliate Meet and Greet at the Salt Lake City Hilton!

This event will take place Wednesday evening from 5-7pm during the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market across the street from the Salt Palace Convention Center. The idea is to get a strong contingent of AvantLink Outdoor/Recreation Affiliates and merchants together to meet face-to-face and talk shop. We will have hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and some cool schwag and give-a-ways from participating merchants.

Sponsors of the Outdoor Affiliate Meet and Greet include Tahoe Mountain Sports, Backcountry.com, Massey’s Professional Outfitters and Altrec.com Outdoors. If you are planning on (or considering) attending the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market, we would love to have you.

Please RSVP by emailing support/at/avantlink.com if you can join us.

Gary Marcoccia
AvantLink.com

There are a lot of discussions these days centered around unscrupulous Affiliates using pay per click (PPC) search marketing to drive traffic via searches for merchant names, their domain names and/or any trademarks they might own. Common terms in the Affiliate industry to describe this practice include “Trademark Bidding” or “Trademark Poaching” to name just two. Some merchants offer a wide open PPC policy for Affiliates, which would open up bidding to any keyword including company or domain names. However, these merchants are few and far between. In fact it is safe to say that most merchants do not want this to take place.

It took a while for the practice of trademark bidding to catch on to the point where it became a serious issue for merchants running serious Affiliate programs. Some Affiliate paid search marketing “firms” even built their businesses on trademark bidding across the board with thousands of web retailers. That is until these retailers caught on and started regulating this activity. After all what web retailer wants Affiliates sitting on position one of a paid listing by way of a search on their company name? Especially when they are listed in position one organically already? The answer: Not very many at all.

Just like the story goes with “parasites” and their shady downloads/toolbars, many PPC Affiliates may not be trademark bidding now, but that does not mean they weren’t engaged in this before. This is not to say that this is no longer a problem. Trust me, it is a serious problem. There are still plenty of Affiliates who sign up for a merchant, start bidding on driving traffic for their name (which is likely a very cheap bid price, BTW), and run with it as long as they can. This is especially the case with merchants who do not post terms that prohibit this type of thing, because most major Affiliate networks in the US leave it up to merchants to regulate trademark bidding.

This is costing web retailers a lot of of time and money. Unless of course these retailers are running their programs in the AvantLink network. By default, we do not allow Affiliates to bid on merchant names, their domain names or their trademarks. From our perspective this is the only logical way to approach the issue considering the strong majority of retailers do not want Affiliates trademark bidding. It would be easy to leave it up to the merchant and turn our backs on the issue altogether, and it would surely mean more revenue for AvantLink. But that’s not how mutually respected and fair partnerships should be maintained.

We not only police programs and traffic for Affiliate trademark bidding at the network level, but when we do find these violations we are often times notifying the Affiliate and addressing the issue before the merchants even know it is happening. Word must be out or something, though. Because we hardly see it happening anymore, and this is while our sheer numbers of high-value Affiliates continues to climb!

Of course in the end it’s up to merchants whether or not they want to blow open their paid search policy for Affiliates. But the default policy in AvantLink prohibits trademark bidding, unless the merchant makes the exception and includes program terms that clearly state this is permitted. To handle it in reverse (requiring merchants to state a policy that prohibits trademark bidding) does not seem appropriate considering the full context of the issue.

We polled a few Affiliate industry folks on this topic, to see where they stand. Chuck Hamrick from AffiliateCrew.com (Chuck also handles the FetchDog.com program in AvantLink, in addition to high profile Affiliate Crew clients like Little Giant Ladder) had this to say in response to the following questions:

1. Q. Do any of the merchants you represent allow Affiliates to knowingly bid on merchant names, domain names and/or trademarks? A. Heavily branded merchants are completely restrictive and do not allow affiliates to use trademarks, domain or direct linking. When a merchant is spending a considerable amount on their own PPC they do not want affiliates cannibalizing the ads. Some merchants do allow trademark bidding or to bid below the trademark site with trademark in title/copy but not the display URL. We have one client who allows unrestricted bidding on their trademarks.
2. Q. What are the implications and time commitments of policing your programs from merchant name, domain name and trademark Affiliate PPC bidders? A. Most violations are pointed out by the merchant, PPC department or other affiliates. It is difficult to completely police trademarks without a 3rd party tool like Brand Verity. Networks that provide the affiliate ID in the redirect URL are huge time saves as it can take several hours to run down the affiliate.
3. Q. Do you feel it’s important for a network to regulate this activity by default with a no merchant name, domain name or trademark bid policy? A. It should be the decision of the merchant whether they allow bidding or not. But, the default should be no bidding. Networks should clearly identify a merchants trademark policy, time stamp any changes, notify affiliates and make the acceptance of the policy actionable.

Let us know how you feel about the issue. Affiliate managers, is it difficult to police for trademark bidding? Is it costing you time and money? How do others out there (Affiliates and merchants alike) feel about the default policy of not allowing merchant name, domain name or trademark bidding?

Gary M