Tag Archive for "Newsletter"
 |
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.
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.
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:
- Login, and click on “Affiliates” in the main menu.
- Click “Affiliate Program Applications”.
- Filter “Affiliate Status:” to “Active”.
- 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).
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.
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.
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
|
AvantLink Newsletter May 26, 2009 Vol 1, Issue 3 |
Affiliate Newsletter
Our Affiliate newsletters feature technology news, promotional opportunities, new merchants, industry insight and more.
We have a lot of new technology to highlight this Spring, which is the emphasis of this newsletter. To help facilitate the use of these new tools, and to get the word out there, Scott Kalbach has done a great job producing v2.0 of our Screencast Series for Affiliates. These screencasts do an incredible job of detailing the powerful tools and scripts you have access to free of charge. We also have a lot of outstanding new merchants since the last Affiliate newsletter, and you’ll find those listed below.
Table of Contents:
1. Affiliate Screencast Series v2.0
2. Inactive Merchant Link Handling
3. RSS Product Feeds
4. Web Service Datafeed Client Improvements
5. Welcome New Merchants
Affiliate Screencast Series v2.0
We started producing v2.0 Affiliate (and merchant) tutorials/screencasts for the large selection free Affiliate tools we offer. In time we plan to have a dedicated section of the Affiliate account interface where we will list documentation files and tutorials. But for now, please click the links below to see the first four v2.0 screencasts for Affiliates:
- Product Ad Widget Screencast – Product Comparison Widget
- Product Ad Widget Screencast – Content Match
- Screencast: Web Service Datafeed Client – Configuration and Installation
- Screencast: Web Service Datafeed Client – Customizing Your HTML Template
Inactive Merchant Link Handling
Introducing brand new functionality for handling inactive merchant links that result from merchants deactivating Affiliates, or leaving the AvantLink network altogether. Affiliates have always had the option of sorting to, and browsing “My Inactive Merchants”, but now there is an option on that page to “Configure inactive link handling” as well.
When a merchant terminates their association with your affiliate account, or leaves the AvantLink.com network altogether, any affiliate links you have to that merchant will cease functioning. For large sites with many deep links to relevant content, it can be a time consuming operation to fully target a new merchant, and while this conversion is in progress your site visitors experience will be less than ideal. This page can help you control how those links behave while you update your site to advertise for other merchants…
We recently added an “RSS Product Feeds” configuration page to your affiliate login (accessible from the “Tools” page, under the “Datafeed Manager” section). When you click the option to “Create an RSS product feed” you will be able to choose a particular merchant datafeed, restrict to a department/category/subcategory, and set various product-level filters. You can also customize whether or not to include product images, abbreviated/short descriptive text, and merchant names in the RSS item content. The end result is a fully tracking-enabled RSS feed URL that points to our Affiliate marketing API.
Web Service Datafeed Client Improvements
We’re proud to say that we have 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.
Highlights of the changes:
- Improved the built-in searching functionality.
- Better construction of page keywords (normally used in meta tags).
- Improved/simplified the use of local template files.
- Revamped the communication between your local server and our web service.
- Added support for XML-based sitemap functionality.
Latest merchants to open their Affiliate programs on the AvantLink network (April/May 2009). Click here to browse all merchants.
- Vargo Outdoors (Outdoor/Recreation), 10% commission
- Opedix (Apparel), 12% commission
- TrekLightGear.com (Outdoor/Recreation), 8% commission
- BerenShoes.com (Footwear), 3% commission
- Junonia (Apparel), 8% commission
- Play Outdoors (Outdoor/Recreation), 10%-12% commission
- TopoRanch.com (Apparel), 8% commission
- Backstage Gallery (Photographic Art), 8% commission
- Nantucket Brand (Apparel), 20% commission
- FontanaSports.com (Outdoor/Recreation), 10%-12% commission
- Makai Bikes (Cycling), commission
- InlineSkates.net (Outdoor/Recreation), 8% commission
- WaterOutfitters.com (Outdoor/Recreation), 8% commission
- HucknRoll.com (Cycling), 5% commission
- RealCyclist.com (Cycling), 5% commission
| © COPYRIGHT 2009 Avant Marketing Group. |
|
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. |
|
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. |
|
AvantLink Newsletter January 15, 2009 Vol 1, Issue 1 |
Affiliate Newsletter
Introducing the first AvantLink Affiliate Newsletter. In our newsletters we will feature technology news, promotional opportunities, new merchants, industry insight and much more.
Anyone interested in being featured on our Affiliate network blog? If you have something good to say about your experience on our platform, send us your Affiliate Testimonial and we’ll consider publishing it with links of your choice. Email your AvantLink contact or use the site form to find out more.
Affiliates, this newsletter will be distributed bi-monthly, and we’ll also send out a periodic email featuring compelling merchant promos for the high-profile shopping days. You can manage your contact settings by clicking on “Account” from the main menu, then “Contact/Payment Information”.
Table of Contents:
1. AvantLink Screencast Series
2. Flash Ads for Affiliates
3. Best Practices: Link Building for Datafeeds
4. Affiliate Tools: Affiliate Link Encoder
5. Welcome our New Merchants
In late 2008 we produced a series of screencast tutorials for Affiliates and merchants. We have already covered a lot of important topics, and there are more to come. You’ll find that each screencast tutorial/how-to has a permalink in the Tutorials category of our Affiliate network blog.
Below is a list of the version one Affiliate and merchant screencasts from AvantLink. These screencasts will also be accessible via our YouTube account.
| Affiliate Screencasts | Merchant Screencasts |
Get your Flash Ads here! Did you know that there are several merchants now offering Flash Ads in AvantLink? Flash is one of five pre-configured ad types merchants can offer you through our platform. Other advertising types include banners, text, html and video ads.
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.
Best Practices: Link Building for Datafeeds
It’s getting easier and easier to add product catalogs to your site(s) using any number of different tools and scripts. In fact, we have some of the most robust Affiliate tools right here at AvantLink. But remember more datafeeds does not necessarily mean more sales. Adding the feeds is the easy part.
Below find tips on how you can help product pages get good search engine placements, and some of the best converting Affiliate traffic on the web. This article assumes the use of our Web Service Datafeed Client, but the link building techniques can be used with any Affiliate datafeed.
The most successful Affiliate sites have authority, and good standing in the search engines. A vast organic presence on the SEs takes hard work, dedication, perseverance and original/useful content that naturally gains links over time. But you already know all this, so now the question might become: How would I pass that authority on to my product level datafeed pages?
There are a number of ways you can help the crawlers get to and index these pages, but let me first mention that each Datafeed Client subscription you configure allows you to target that feed to specific categories, product groups or even brands. So consider this when working out your strategy. For example there is no real need to publish the entire Backcountry.com datafeed on your ski related site, when you can just utilize their Ski category.
Affiliate Tool: Affiliate Link Encoder
In October of 2007 we rolled out the Affiliate Link Encoder (ALE). This is an innovative tool and concept that converts direct-to-merchant links to Affiliate tracking links. The ALE conversion takes place on the end user’s browser, and does not change the html source code of the web document. v2.0 of the ALE was released in November 2008, adding a new layer of technology that matches and converts keywords in addition to URLs.
If you’re a blogger or forum owner, you can add one line of javascript to a page or site template and instantly convert all direct-to-merchant links (or even keywords, now with the ALE v2.0!) to Affiliate tracking links. This will track any transaction back to you as the referral, and rightly earn you a sales commission. Of course, the merchant will have to be in the AvantLink network for the ALE to work properly.
This saves you from the need to log in to the network and generate a tracking encoded link everything you link to a product or merchant. There are other creative applications of the Affiliate Link Encoder. For more information browse the list of articles and discussions below.
- Introducing the Affiliate Link Encoder
- New Innovative Tool – Affiliate Link Encoder
- Installing the Affiliate Link Encoder on a WordPress Blog
- A must have for forum owners…
- Attn: Bloggers & Forum Owners
- Affiliate Link Encoder v2.0
- AvantLinks’ Advanced Link Encoder – One Cool Tool
Below is a list of the latest merchants to launch on AvantLink (November/December 2008). Click here to browse all merchants.
- Tahoe Mountain Sports (Outdoor/Recreation), 7%-11% commission
- Sangre de Cristo Mountain Works (Outdoor/Recreation), 8% commission
- SteepandCheap.com (Outdoor/Recreation), $5 new customer bounty
- Tramdock.com (Outdoor/Recreation), $5 new customer bounty
- Chainlove.com (Outdoor/Recreation), $5 new customer bounty
- WhiskeyMilitia.com (Outdoor/Recreation), $5 new customer bounty
- SnowboardFusion.com (Outdoor/Recreation), 8% commission
- deLa Flowers (Special Occasion), 20% commission
- Muttropolis (Pet Supplies), 7%-12% commission
- HaberVision.com (Eyewear), 10% commission
| © COPYRIGHT 2009 Avant Marketing Group. |
|
AvantLink Newsletter January 2, 2009 Vol 1, Issue 1 |
Merchant Newsletter
Introducing the first AvantLink Merchant Newsletter. In our newsletters we will highlight our latest technology releases and network news.
We recently posted a comparison of our features/functionality vs. what other networks offer. If you are in more then one network we encourage you to take a look at how we stack up against our competition. If your other network(s) aren’t keeping up, email us about special incentives for going exclusive with AvantLink.
Merchants, this newsletter will be distributed quarterly. In part with each issue, we’ll solicit your targeted promos to be featured in seperate network-level distributions to our opt-in Affiliates. Including your special offers in our Promo Newsletters will help increase sales and recruit new Affiliates. More info…
Table of Contents:
1. Feature Your Valentine’s Day Promos
2. AvantLink Screencast Series
3. Value Proposition for Merchants
4. Affiliate Testimonial: Why AvantLink?
5. Affiliate Tool: Affiliate Link Encoder
Feature Your Valentine’s Day Promos
One of our new features for 2009 includes a “set” of newsletter distributions that are scheduled to go out to both Affiliates and merchants. These newsletters will include a bi-monthly publication for Affiliates, a quarterly publication for merchants (this being the first) and several promo-specific newsletters centered around the highest profile shopping days of the year.
We are now soliciting your Valentine’s Day Promos for inclusion in our first Promo Newsletter, scheduled for distribution on Monday, February 2nd. Including your Valentine’s Day promos in this newsletter is FREE, and it will help you increase sales and attract/recruit new Affiliates to your program.
If you’re interested in having your promos featured the deadline for submission is January 20th. Please email support/at/avantlink.com or any AvantLink representaive. Make sure and use “Valentine’s Day Promos” as the subject line, and include the following for each offer: Specifics of Promotion, Start-End Date
In late 2008 we produced a series of screencast tutorials for Affiliates and merchants. We have already covered a lot of important topics, and there are more to come. You’ll find that each screencast tutorial/how-to has a permalink in the Tutorials category of our Affiliate network blog.
Below is a list of the current Affiliate and merchant screencasts from AvantLink. These screencasts are also accessible via our YouTube account.
| Merchant Screencasts | Affiliate Screencasts |
Value Proposition for Merchants
In uncertain economic times merchants need to be sure their online marketing dollars are spent wisely. AvantLink runs on a true performance marketing model with no nickel/dime fees or monthly minimums. Couple this with many additional platform benefits, and it’s the best deal going for serious web retailers.
Read AvantLink’s Value Proposition for Merchants from Scott Kalbach, CEO
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?
- True performance marketing.
- Thorough network level Affiliate screening.
- Industry leading support.
- Innovation.
- Brand protection.
Affiliate Testimonial: Why AvantLink?
We often receive emails from Affiliates and merchants alike that offer support and encouragement for our efforts. We take great pride in these testimonials. If it’s agreed to in advance, we publish these testimonials on our blog. The following is quote from Dave MacLeay of Trailspace.com.
Why AvantLink? In a nutshell: they have robust, reliable tools for datafeeds and reporting, outstanding personal customer service, and a great philosophy and approach to the business. They’re more flexible and nimble than any other network I’ve worked with, and are very responsive to new ideas from both merchants and publishers. Rather than trying to enforce a top-down, network-centric relationship, they really seem to understand that their role is to facilitate, enable, and support productive relationships between merchants and affiliates.
Affiliate Tool: Affiliate Link Encoder
In October of 2007 we rolled out the Affiliate Link Encoder (ALE). This is an innovative tool and concept that converts direct-to-merchant links to Affiliate tracking links. The ALE conversion takes place on the end user’s browser, and does not change the html source code of the web document. v2.0 of the ALE was released in November 2008, adding a new layer of technology that matches and converts keywords in addition to URLs.
The simplicity of the ALE tool (pasting of one line of javascript on a web page or site template) has enabled high-powered blogs and forums to instantly monetize years worth of archived content that may include direct-to-merchant links.
There are other creative applications of the Affiliate Link Encoder. For more information browse the list of articles and discussions below.
- Introducing the Affiliate Link Encoder
- New Innovative Tool – Affiliate Link Encoder
- Installing the Affiliate Link Encoder on a WordPress Blog
- A must have for forum owners…
- Attn: Bloggers & Forum Owners
- Affiliate Link Encoder v2.0
- AvantLinks’ Advanced Link Encoder – One Cool Tool
| © COPYRIGHT 2009 Avant Marketing Group. |
RSS Feed
