Upon reviewing a good number of different top brands’ affiliate programs recently, I have been really surprised to see how many of them do not deep-link. It is isn’t at all unusual to see a merchant of the Top 500 Internet Retailer List caliber have specific text (e.g.: “Save up […]
Are Your Affiliate Links Deep-Linked or Homepage-Bound? Read More »
I have conducted an experiment, and applied to 107 advertiser/merchant affiliate programs which are listed in LinkShare‘s “Premium Advertisers” section: The results were quite interesting: 18 merchants auto-approved me into their affiliate programs right away (i.e. without even seeing my website), 10 automatically declined my application (again, without even reviewing
Over 26 Percent of LinkShare Premium Advertisers in Auto Mode Read More »
It’s Friday again, but my today’s blog post isn’t going to be another thematic Twitter list, or not just a list of Twitter accounts you may want to follow, but also a list of invaluable content websites you want to visit if you’re involved in affiliate program management. I’ve hand-picked
15 Must-Follow Resources for Affiliate Program Managers Read More »
Today I’ve had Caterpillar apply into an affiliate program I manage. At least so it looked from the URL on the application. Had it happened 5 or 6 years ago I would have probably even gotten excited about it. But not today. As an affiliate program manager you do not
Affiliates Who Fake URLs Read More »
Earlier today, Shawn Collins has published a long list of comments left by affiliates in response to 2010 AffStat encouragement for affiliates to share their “complaints, ideas, suggestions or opinions … regarding affiliate marketing.” Having read through the whole list, here’s a cumulative bullet-point advice-list that affiliates want to give
What Affiliate Program Managers Affiliates Want Read More »
A couple of days ago (September 21, 2010) LinkShare affiliate network has announced its completely new advertiser dashboard. To find out a merchant opinion on it, and get a little in-depth here, we chatted with one of LinkShare’s top advertisers — that also made the 2009 Internet Retailer’s 2009 Hot
Gaiam Gives In-Depth Look at LinkShare New Advertiser Dashboard Read More »
I have received a very good question from a starting OPM (outsourced [affiliate] program manager). After a detailed preface on his attempts to get good clients, he wrote: Do you have any advice for a new affiliate manager? I mean, I know what I’m doing pretty much, and when I’ve
How Can a New Affiliate Manager Find Clients? Read More »
No matter what the communication piece (a 140-character-long tweet or a newsletter), or the context (affiliate-oriented, customer- or client-focused, etc), it will benefit from the following 3 Ps. In fact, I believe these 3 elements to be integral components of any effective communication. Let me illustrate each by looking at
The 3 P's of Effective Communication Read More »
Over a year ago — soon after starting to play with Twitter — I recorded a video on using Twitter as an affiliate program support tool. Are you using it as one? Since it’s Friday again, I have decided to put together a list of Twitter accounts maintained by 20
Affiliate Programs on Twitter. You Tweeting to Affiliates Yet? Read More »
Reversals happen. They happen to merchants, and by extension, they hit affiliates too. Of course, affiliates love programs with “no reversals” policies, but if you, as a merchant, aren’t ready to offer one, I strongly encourage you to at least stick to the following 3 best practices: 1) Locking Periods
Best Practices for Affiliate Commission Reversals Read More »