Make Money Online

In this session, web developer Justin Sainton set out to cover three areas: (1) WordPress 3.0, (2) Ecommerce Trends, and (3) the WP e-Commerce plugin. Justin has 3 years of experience developing with WordPress. Everything that follows this italicized paragraph is based on Justin’s presentation, and not my own ideas.

WordPress 3.0

Justin started out with an overview of WordPress 3.0, and what advantages and opportunities it offers publishers. Essentially, there are many new features and functions that can help publishers integrate ecommerce into their WordPress site.

For starters, the default username after you install it is no longer “admin”. Rather, you can select your default admin username. This gives it added security because it’s harder for hackers to guess your admin username.

Another benefit is that the default theme, 2010, is a very strong parent theme — meaning that publishers can build better “child themes” off of WordPress 3.0 right out of the box. WordPress 3.0 also offers a lot of custom post types and taxonomies that give publishers more flexibility in creating custom front-end user-experiences.

Ecommerce Trends & Improving Conversion Rates

This part of Justin’s explored ecommerce data, analysis, statistics and making money with WordPress sites.  Specifically, he focused on conversion rates, and addressed how, on average, 80 percent of traffic on most sites are new users, and new users are the hardest to convert.

One of the things that improves conversion rates is if users can easily return products. So a return policy is something that any ecommerce site should have.

Another conversion improvement method is product search. Forty percent of users coming to ecommerce sites are looking to search. So ecommerce sites should offer an easily accessible product search.

Product recommendations or cross selling are another way to improve conversions. Amazon does a great job of this — e.g. XX percent of people who bought this also bought that.

Most online consumers also like to see some kind of security logo. So such a logo should be prominent through the shopping and check-out process.

And don’t forget SEO. 20-25 percent of Google searches are new search queries. So don’t assume that the market is too competitive or too saturated. Chances are you’ll be able to attract targeted new users on a variety of long-tail search terms.

Also, a toll free number helps increase conversions. It reassures users that they can reach someone for assistance if they need it.

Finally, requiring pre-registration will deter 40 percent of user from completing the check-out process. So allow the user to fill out a shopping cart and proceed to check-out without having to set-up a profile with you.

Similarly, almost half of users will abandon the check-out process if the page takes more than 2 seconds to load. To address load times, Justin recommends using either the W3 Cache and WP Super Cache plugin.

Essentially, there are 3 keys to improving conversions, and they come down to testing:

• Analyze: Dive into your analytics, and determine where the bottlenecks are.
• Modify: Once you identify your bottlenecks, try changing stuff. For instance, if you’re losing most users at the check-out page, try adding a security logo, reducing the check-out steps, or even adding bigger product pictures (might reassure users that they’re getting what they’re paying for).
• Evaluate: Now, once you’ve made some changes, keep monitoring the funnel. Conduct A/B testing and determine what kinds of changes are driving conversions and which ones are not.

WordPress Ecommerce Plugin

Justin recommends use the WP e-Commerce Plugin. Although the plugin has had some issues in the past, version 3.8 (not yet released) is said to address many of these bugs. In the meantime, the latest branches of 3.7 are said to be very stable.

For starters, the admin and user-interface are completely new. The tax system is also more customizable so that merchants can manage different kinds of tax rates in different regions.

Version 3.8 will also offers advanced control over search, cross-sales, and social media sharing. And on the data side, it will offer analytics on conversion funnel trends, such as shopping cart and profile abandonment rates.

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Over the last two days, the dust from Affiliate Summit East 2010 has settled and most of us have recovered from the jet lag and three consecutive days of late nights and early mornings (for some there may have been some drinking involved).  And now that we’re starting to settle back into an everyday pace, a lot of us are assessing just what we took home from the conference. Well, here are the top 5 things I took away from ASE 2010.

1. AdWords faces some tough competition

From Facebook Ads to Plenty of Fish, advertisers seem to be turning to user-driven-networks spread their message. And it’s no surprise why.

While AdWords only lets you target by location and intent, user-driven networks let advertisers reach users by both location (great for localized offers) and demographics while at the same time fostering a network affect of like-minded shoppers. So while Adwords only helps you reach users that are already aware of the kinds of services/products you offer, user-driven networks allow you to reach a completely untapped customer base through their social interests.

2. Facebook Ads are the new big thing

Despite the fact that Facebook Ads are bupkis advertisers are drinking the Kool-Aid. No matter if it was a session or a one-on-one interview, everyone seemed to be talking about Facebook Ads. Those who’d figured out the platform heralded positive results, and those who hadn’t figured it out weren’t ready to give up on it just yet and wanted to know more about how to leverage it.

In a nutshell, Facebook Ads let advertisers target users by demographics and personal network; and that affords them a bit more trust currency. And as we know, belief is essential to selling. For instance, your ad might tell a user that one of their friends “liked” your product/service, and that seems to help with conversions more than a run-of-the-mill banner ad or sponsored result. Of course, the flip-side of that is that your product/service can’t completely suck.

3. Email remains a vital component

Believe it or not, email is not just still important, it’s more important than ever. And the reason is that email notifications are an integral part of the social networking experience. Just think about it: whenever a contact takes any action on your profile or content on a social network, you get an email notification.

As Declan Dunn pointed out in his session, marketers should pay attention to users’ email experience for two reasons. First, email is obviously integral to keeping users engaged in whatever community you’ve built-up through social media.

Secondly, and more importantly, depending on the platform you use to manage that community, either you can’t advertise directly to them or it’s inappropriate/inadvisable to do so because it infringes on their community experience. So email notifications become one of your best opportunities to promote any product or service.

4. A picture is worth a thousand clicks

During his awesome session on Facebook Ads, Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker broke down the most important elements of a Facebook Ad. And the most important piece of the puzzle was, you guessed it, the image.

Essentially there are three elements to a Facebook Ad: the title,  the ad copy, and the image. From his own personal experience with Facebook Ads, Jeremy has found that the image impacts an ad’s performance much more so than the body or the title. So much so, in fact, that between the three elements, Jeremy focuses 70 percent on the image, and only 20 percent on the body and a mere 10 percent on the title.

5. Sex still sells

Credit: Adrants

Of course, this isn’t exactly a revelation. But sometimes, it helps to be reminded of  age old truths — if only to not lose sight of them.

For starters, there were no shortage of pretty face representing the CPA networks and merchants. One network even had a pair of bikini babes prowling the conference floor.

But sex seems to work even on a performance-basis (no pun intended). In fact, one of the examples Shoemoney offered during his session (linked above) was an experiment where he sent US traffic to ad pages where some of the ads featured a cleavage pic and some foreign text. The cleavage/foreign language pics got more clicks than the non-cleavage ads that had English copy.

So it seems that sometimes, it doesn’t matter what your call-to-action or value propositions. Users seem to judge books by their cover, and have their minds in the gutter.

The sum of it all

Overall, Affiliate Summit East 2010 is the best conference I’ve been to this year, and maybe one of the best ever. Unlike a lot of other industry conferences, everything was extremely well organized (from sessions to parties), and the networking opportunities abounded in both quantity and quality.

More importantly, all the intelligence to be gained through sessions came directly from the front lines. After all, these are affiliate marketers. They live and die by their performance, so there’s no margin for error. They’re very focused on results, and very quick to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

In a nutshell, everything I learned was about what is working, not what was fun or cool to do with someone else’s money. I’m looking forward to doing it all again in Las Vegas in January.

The rest is here:
Top 5 Take Aways from Affiliate Summit East 2010

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Over the last two days, the dust from Affiliate Summit East 2010 has settled and most of us have recovered from the jet lag and three consecutive days of late nights and early mornings (for some there may have been some drinking involved).  And now that we’re starting to settle back into an everyday pace, a lot of us are assessing just what we took home from the conference. Well, here are the top 5 things I took away from ASE 2010.

1. AdWords faces some tough competition

From Facebook Ads to Plenty of Fish, advertisers seem to be turning to user-driven-networks spread their message. And it’s no surprise why.

While AdWords only lets you target by location and intent, user-driven networks let advertisers reach users by both location (great for localized offers) and demographics while at the same time fostering a network affect of like-minded shoppers. So while Adwords only helps you reach users that are already aware of the kinds of services/products you offer, user-driven networks allow you to reach a completely untapped customer base through their social interests.

2. Facebook Ads are the new big thing

Despite the fact that Facebook Ads are bupkis advertisers are drinking the Kool-Aid. No matter if it was a session or a one-on-one interview, everyone seemed to be talking about Facebook Ads. Those who’d figured out the platform heralded positive results, and those who hadn’t figured it out weren’t ready to give up on it just yet and wanted to know more about how to leverage it.

In a nutshell, Facebook Ads let advertisers target users by demographics and personal network; and that affords them a bit more trust currency. And as we know, belief is essential to selling. For instance, your ad might tell a user that one of their friends “liked” your product/service, and that seems to help with conversions more than a run-of-the-mill banner ad or sponsored result. Of course, the flip-side of that is that your product/service can’t completely suck.

3. Email remains a vital component

Believe it or not, email is not just still important, it’s more important than ever. And the reason is that email notifications are an integral part of the social networking experience. Just think about it: whenever a contact takes any action on your profile or content on a social network, you get an email notification.

As Declan Dunn pointed out in his session, marketers should pay attention to users’ email experience for two reasons. First, email is obviously integral to keeping users engaged in whatever community you’ve built-up through social media.

Secondly, and more importantly, depending on the platform you use to manage that community, either you can’t advertise directly to them or it’s inappropriate/inadvisable to do so because it infringes on their community experience. So email notifications become one of your best opportunities to promote any product or service.

4. A picture is worth a thousand clicks

During his awesome session on Facebook Ads, Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker broke down the most important elements of a Facebook Ad. And the most important piece of the puzzle was, you guessed it, the image.

Essentially there are three elements to a Facebook Ad: the title,  the ad copy, and the image. From his own personal experience with Facebook Ads, Jeremy has found that the image impacts an ad’s performance much more so than the body or the title. So much so, in fact, that between the three elements, Jeremy focuses 70 percent on the image, and only 20 percent on the body and a mere 10 percent on the title.

5. Sex still sells

Credit: Adrants

Of course, this isn’t exactly a revelation. But sometimes, it helps to be reminded of  age old truths — if only to not lose sight of them.

For starters, there were no shortage of pretty face representing the CPA networks and merchants. One network even had a pair of bikini babes prowling the conference floor.

But sex seems to work even on a performance-basis (no pun intended). In fact, one of the examples Shoemoney offered during his session (linked above) was an experiment where he sent US traffic to ad pages where some of the ads featured a cleavage pic and some foreign text. The cleavage/foreign language pics got more clicks than the non-cleavage ads that had English copy.

So it seems that sometimes, it doesn’t matter what your call-to-action or value propositions. Users seem to judge books by their cover, and have their minds in the gutter.

The sum of it all

Overall, Affiliate Summit East 2010 is the best conference I’ve been to this year, and maybe one of the best ever. Unlike a lot of other industry conferences, everything was extremely well organized (from sessions to parties), and the networking opportunities abounded in both quantity and quality.

More importantly, all the intelligence to be gained through sessions came directly from the front lines. After all, these are affiliate marketers. They live and die by their performance, so there’s no margin for error. They’re very focused on results, and very quick to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

In a nutshell, everything I learned was about what is working, not what was fun or cool to do with someone else’s money. I’m looking forward to doing it all again in Las Vegas in January.

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Top 5 Takeaways from Affiliate Summit East 2010

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It being my first time at the Affiliate Summit and it being my first time at the conference, it might sound naive to say it was the best conference yet… but it was. I enjoyed the enthusiasm and the energy of the conference participants, the contacts made through various networking events, the shared knowledge and experience from all types of industry and the atmosphere provided by Las Vegas itself. I barely slept, but I barely noticed! (Until I got home.)

Only some of our highlights were caught on camera – apparently I like talking more than I like taking photographs? Here, for your enjoyment is a brief recap of our time in Vegas…

In online marketing, one of the best benefits of attending conferences is putting a face to the names you are in contact with on a daily basis.

Julia is modeling some of the must-have tools when standing at a booth at the conference- well done Julia!

I purchased these Blundstone boots just before the Summit and am ever pleased as punch that I did. After tottering around in heels at parties in the evening time, my feet needed the welcome relief of some stylish comfort boots. Or is it shoe-boots? Or sh-oots?

Getting to see some of the sites of Vegas on our way to sponsored events was a real treat – nothing can prepare you for this… and it gves some great decorative ideas for your home renovation plans. Next up for reno plans: the Giant Manta Ray Aquarium.

We attended several parties and we enjoyed all of them =) It’s pretty amazing to see something like this when I’m someone who is just shy of six feet tall and feels proud on those days that I can almost touch my toes.

I think this was supposed to be an imitation of that Charlie’s Angels silhouette.

So. I admit. I always chose pubs and dives over clubs. This is what happens when you’re an ill-advised 20-something.

Thanks again to OPMPros.com for organizing such great parties.

I’m leaving this re-cap with this photo, because I enjoy it.  It is only when you enter a glass elevator do you discover who likes and who dislikes heights.

If you have your own photos to share of ASW10 – post your link in the comments! We’d love to see them.

Original post:
ASW10: Photo Recap!

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Last week Share Results attended and exhibited at the Affiliate Summit West Conference in Las Vegas, and I can easily say that this was one of our most successful summits yet. So successful, that it took me 4 full days to recover, after a whirlwind of meetings, networking events, sessions, parties, booth duty, more meetings, more parties, and lots and lots of business cards. Here’s a quick recap of some of my personal highlights:

-The scale and quality of the this summit – by far the largest and most productive affiliate summit I’ve attended to date. The sessions were all well attended, the meet market was packed to the gills as usual and the conference floor was a buzz with constant activity, but what surprised me most was the number of conference attendees EVERYWHERE – walking the halls of the Rio, attending the networking parties and events, we were everywhere! Even when I dragged my weary self to the gym for an early 7am run I ran into fellow affiliate marketers who were passionate about their business and eager to share ideas. It’s a fantastic sign for the industry.

-The diversity of attendees – No longer are people fitting into the usual publisher/advertiser/network molds. Most affiliates I met were also starting do to some consulting work, software development, or program management on the side, while networks were becoming advertisers, and third party agencies and service providers were developing their own new opportunities. This means that you have to listen a lot more closely and ask questions to find out what people do, but the payoff is that there are more diverse ways of working with partners and competitors that may have not been considered before.

-More indepth sessions – I only had a chance to attend one, but it was really worth it. A panel discussion on coupons in affiliate marketing, it was a great opportunity to hear ideas from affiliates, OPMs, and merchants on how to make coupons profitable and successful for affiliate programs and merchants. Annabelle and Vanesa attended some sessions as well and both came back with pages of useful notes.

-More great networking events – this year the trend seemed to be more private or invite only parties, I’m assuming because logistically it’s too hard to organize parties for 4,000 plus attendees. The upside was that the quality and choice of events to attend was stellar, and I got to see some really neat venues in Vegas. Kudos to Paresh of OPMPros.com for organize two amazing nights at Club Vanity and Club XS, Plimus for hosting a sushi and drinks event where I won a bottle of Dom Perignon, and SAS for the cool photobooth, awesome deserts, and free darts at their karoke party.

We’ve already booked our booth for New York, can’t wait to see what the next summit brings!

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With the Affiliate Summit coming up very shortly, we’re taking the opportunity to share with you as much as we can about the different departments here at Share Results and what they can do to help support you and your business.

A vital part of our organization here is the Affiliate Management team. Our dedicated affiliate managers are committed to allying merchants with the most appropriate affiliates to help them market their products. Their skills lie in being able to help businesses establish themselves in the affiliate marketing world through a six-point approach, outline below.

1. Getting to Know You
First, we take the time to find out everything we can about your business. What are your strengths, your potential weaknesses and your unique selling point? We take the time to analyze everything we can about your business, your products and services to get a firm foundation of what your business represents.

2. Assessment of your Marketing Goals
In the next step, we assess your affiliate marketing goals. What are you willing to invest and what are your short- and long-term goals? Additionally, an assessment of your company’s resources is imperative to understanding what tools you will be able to provide affiliates with. Do you have a design team? Do you have an affiliate manager, or management team? Assessing these aspects of your business will help us to understand what goals can be accomplished over the short and the long term.

3. Competitor Analysis
The next part of the process is a competitor analysis. Understanding who your competition is will help you to establish your current position in the marketplace and give you an idea of how to proceed. Who are the other companies that are competing for your affiliates/customers and what are they doing to achieve that? This will help you to understand how and why your customers are spending money and how you can best reach your customer base.

4. Establish Target Market
Once this is established, we have the foundation necessary to establish the target market. And by doing so, we can then match your business with the appropriate affiliates, and help you target the right customers. Having established very strong relationships with our affiliates allows us to determine who the best fits are going to be for your specific business.

5. Strategy Set-up
From here, we form a strategy for differentiating your business from the others. We know what makes you special and how you are currently positioned, so from there, we are able to plan on how to best expose your company and use best practices for branding.

6. What is Your ROI?
Of course, the goals that your company has will dictate the actions taken at this point. And because we understand how affiliates are driving traffic to their sites, we can assess who is going to be the best for your brand and is the best match for your goals. You know what you want to spend, as well as what you want to get out of that expenditure, so with all of the steps we’ve taken up to this point, we’ll be able to provide you with a detailed assessment of what is possible and help you to put that plan into action.

While at the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas, we’ll be at booth #413 and we encourage all of your to come by and find out more about our Affiliate Management team and our full-service marketing solution. In attendance will be Director of Client Relations, Kristyn Gaffney, IT Operations Manager Vanesa Cantt, Affiliate Marketing Manager Julia Stead and Affiliate Manager, Annabelle Agnew. They are there to answer all of your questions and are looking forward to sharing their experience with all of you. See you there!

Excerpted from:
Affiliate Management: Six Steps to Success

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Innovation, at its best, is something that changes lives for the better. This is why I don’t find 3D television sexy, although it is what everyone is all a flutter about at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. 3D television won’t improve life as we know it (even a movie junkie like me realizes that). It is simply an immersive distraction. If CES is about true innovation and not just cool devices then more attention should be given to those companies whose products embody that. So here are my picks for truly innovative technology you might have missed while wearing those silly glasses:

The BSL (Basic Service Level) Robot:

What it is: At first glance you might mistake it for furniture, but what Gamma Two, Inc has created is quite the amazing little robot. Currently available in custom production the robot, known as “Basil”, is designed for service around the house. Once turned on it is can respond to a wide array of voice commands. Basil’s most simple function is to transport items from room to room. A function perfect for folks whose physical condition impedes them from carrying such things as laundry baskets. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what Basil can do.

Using a combination of infrared sensors and sonar it can detect the difference between a person and normal household objects. It is self mobile, can “wander” and thus map out the layout of a room. It can be “taught” to remember areas of the house in order to go to or return to them. Whatsmore Basil is highly interactive. It can provide verbal question and answer responses to its owners; for example it could potentially remind someone to take their medication or remind them of an event.

What makes the potential of Gamma Two’s creation extremely interesting is the extensive capabilities of the Cybernetic Brain developed for Basil. Basil has the capability to “learn” (I use the word in a very non-scientific sense) tasks from simple “Basil carry the laundry” to complex “Basil alert if there is an intruder”. The potential of Basil’s brain is really quite astonishing.

Editor’s Note: Look for a more in-depth interview piece with the makers of Basil and its counterpart “Wilma” later this week.

The way I see it: In its service functions Basil has a lot of potential. Basil currently has the ability to have internal drawers put in to store items in the robots care. The Gamma Two team are also developing “arms” and “eyes” for the robot. But what is truly the most exciting is the wide variety of potential of the Cybernetic Brain Gamma Two has developed which would allow for a vast array of ability. And yes, Asimov’s Laws were taken into account in Basil’s development.

The Peregrine:

What it is: Representing one step closer to the screen interactive movements of Minority Report and one leap up from the debacle of the Nintendo Power Glove, the Peregrine was designed to help PC gamers’ ditch the keyboard…almost.

Developed by Iron Will Innovations the Peregrine is a gaming glove that can trigger hotkey commands. Sleek and comfortable it contains 18 touch points and three activator pads that in combination offer 30 different programmable commands. 5 different command configurations can be saved as profiles thus you can have one profile for World of Warcraft and another for Civilization. The Peregrine interfaces with the computer via a magnetic break-away “pod” that attaches to the glove at the back of the hand. Although designed for gamers, the glove can be used to implement any hotkey command. You can even type with it (although that kind of defeats the purpose). It is available now for preorder for $129.

The way I see it: In many ways the keyboard is obsolete. The technology is there to make it so but the demand isn’t. We’ve all grown up with and are accustomed to them. The folks at Iron Will Innovations have definitely taken a step in the right direction. Being able to initiate 30 hotkey commands is great. What would be better if the glove was wireless and if it could handle mouse functions specifically moving the cursor and clicking. If the Peregrine could do those things and function in tandem with a headset microphone you would never need your keyboard OR your mouse again.

DuoFertility:

What it is: From one wearable gadget we move to another, although one designed for an entirely different purpose. Developed by Cambridge Temperature Concepts Limited, DuoFertility is a non-invasive, female fertility monitor which offers a precise way of maximizing a couple’s chances of getting pregnant. While that, in and of itself, is a noble cause CEO Shamus Husheer feels the monitor can provide a deeper set of health diagnostic benefits as well.

The DuoFertility monitor works by measuring and recording skin temperature up to 20,000 times during a normal sleep cycle. This continuous monitoring determines when a woman is ovulating using a much more sophisticated version of the basal body temperature (BBT) method.

The monitor has two components: a small sensor the size of a button that is placed via adhesive strip under the armpit; and a reader that takes in the sensor’s data, works with a desktop software database, and provides a date indicator which shows the best date to increase the chances of pregnancy. What’s more the data the DuoFertility monitor collects can be used with a woman’s doctor to identify potential fertility issues and other related health issues as quickly as possible. That means there is quite a lot of potential of early diagnosis of common health problems.

Not yet available in the US the monitor is expensive at £495 but offers a lot of potential health benefits.

The way I see it: The human body indicates a complex variety of things through body temperature. Fluxes in temperature could indicate bacterial or viral infections, or the body’s reactions to other systemic problems. The trick is creating an accurate and consistent baseline for individuals. If Cambridge Temperature Concepts Limited’s technology can accurately be predictive to problems with a woman’s reproductive system through temperature date, it could also be potentially used to provide early warnings to other medical issues.  After all early detection is key to surviving many life threatening health issues.

Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies “Off the Grid” Portable Units:

What it is: Green technology is finally building momentum. Not simply in the ways corporations are trying to be more green because it is in vogue. But with real innovations that revolve around developing, storing, and transporting green energy. Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies featured a set of portable units at CES designed to work in tandem for users who wanted to be or needed to be off the grid. They are:

• HydroStik: Shaped like a battery the HydroStik stores hydrogen gas in a safe solid form. The Stik contains metal hydride alloys that absorb hydrogen into crystalline structures and release it at low pressure. What this allows for is the highest volume of energy capacity of hydrogen storage. It takes 10 liters of hydrogen to charge one Stik and each Stik has a 12Wh capacity. It is designed for use with the MiniPak to power devices and with the Hydrofill to be recharged.
• MiniPak: A pocket sized universal charger and power extender for any USB device. It is powered by the HydroStik and can power anything from cell phones, to cameras, to small LCD screens. It has an output of 5v@o.4A
• Hydrofill: Is what truly makes the MiniPak and HydroStik system off the grid. It is a water based extraction system that through an electrolysis membrane produces 10 liters of hydrogen per hour at a minimal cost of 60W DC in power. It is AC, solar, and wind compatible system. The water has by be de-ionized or distilled.
• HydroPak: The heavy duty cousin in the Horizon Fuel Cell portable family this pack is designed to be self charging and can output 5x the amount of energy than a lead based battery of equal size (3.5kg). It has a 60W DC output and can invert to AC. It has two USB outlets and a 12V cigar lighter style outlet. Since it doesn’t have emissions it can be used indoors

All are slated to be released this year for consumer sale.

The way I see it: Beyond its substantial off the grid / emergency applications, what’s most interesting about the direction Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies is going is that it is providing the end user with the ability to develop infrastructure without having to wait to utility companies to adopt a technology. There are lots of innovative green companies whose goal is just that. Horizon was easily the most interesting one at CES this year.

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From Robots and Gaming to Fertility and Green Energy: The Coolest Tech at CES 2010

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We’ll be at the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas from January 17-19 and we want to meet with you there to discuss how our software can improve your business profile. Whether you’re a merchant or an affiliate, we have the solution to your retail marketing needs in our robust suite of affiliate marketing software solutions.

One of the messages we want to convey is the strength of our software transparency features. In the first post of this series, we discussed how our software helps to track information and what it can do to help improve your business. In part two, we discussed exactly how we track information and how that data can be used to improve marketing campaigns and improve relationships between merchants and affiliates. And in this, the third and final part of our series, we’d like to introduce one of the most important concepts in developing transparency between merchants and affiliates: people.

Specifically, we’re talking about the people that make up our affiliate marketing team. We have a dedicated team of affiliate management professionals who work hard to make sure profitable relationships are being formed and that the right matches are being made to ensure the success of both the retailer and the affiliate.

One of the biggest parts of the affiliate marketing team’s job is to match merchants and affiliates. From the merchant’s point of view, it is important to know that reputable affiliates with solid websites are promoting their products.

We work hard to make sure that each of our affiliates is trustworthy. Our fraud detection devices allow us to track the activity of affiliates and the system alerts notify affiliate managers of anything out of the ordinary. If anyone is acting outside of the terms and conditions that apply to the program, they are immediately removed. This ensures that merchant’s brands are only being associated with the most reputable websites possible, which in turn results in invaluable brand exposure and increased conversions.

From the affiliate point of view, we’re there to make sure that they get the best products to promote from merchants with proven respectable business practices. And because it is our responsibility to pay affiliates, we make sure that the merchants are able to meet their monthly invoicing requirements. We can also act on behalf of affiliates to negotiate special commission structures, bonus incentives, unique promotions and co-branded creatives.

All of our dealings with merchants and affiliates are to make sure that each partyinvolved is meeting their marketing goals and achieving success. We take a personalized approach to all of our dealings and everything we do seeks to ensure the continued success and improvements for everyone in the Share Results network. We approach transparency from our affiliate management side with the same sense of earnestness that we do our software, and this is a big part of the reason why we have achieved the kind of growth in our network that we have in the last couple of years.

To learn more about how we can help you to achieve your marketing goals, meet with one of our representatives at booth #413 during the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas. We’re looking forward to meeting with you and showing you how we can become an integral part of your business success.

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With so many affiliate programs available to choose from, it has become increasingly difficult to decide on one that is going to be best for you and your needs. There are several factors that make up a good affiliate program and one of them is transparency in tracking and reporting. This is just part of the message that we will be bringing with us to the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas, which is being held from January 17-19, 2010.

In our last post on transparency, we explored the tools that Share Results provides to merchants and affiliates to expedite processes that lead to enhanced transparency. And in this post, we’re going to explore the processes whereby this is accomplished.

To keep track of creative, our software uses a simple pixel tracking system. Affiliate links contain two variables that track the traffic and transaction – their unique affiliate site ID, and the creative ID. When a visitor clicks on the affiliate link, a cookie is dropped on their computer, containing these two variables. Then, when the visitor completes a sale, an additional tracking pixel is fired on the merchant’s site, and the details of the sale, along with the affiliate’s site ID are automatically uploaded to the system reports.

And in the end, merchants and affiliates end up with a report that breaks the user interaction down from impression to eventual sale. Each side of the equation is able to see the results, creating a partnership of transparency between merchants and affiliates.

If visitors are not converting into sales or leads, then that is also tracked by the Share Results system. For example, if visitors are seeing the creative and then clicking on it, but are not purchasing the item, something is going wrong in the sales process. This information may encourage the merchant to revisit their sales funnel and landing pages, or look at the price of the item they are offering.

On the other hand, it may be that the affiliate is misrepresenting the saleable item, which causes people to lose interest once they come to the sales page. With the transparency on the sale journey, created in our system, merchants and affiliates can work together to achieve a solution to the situation.

To learn more about how our software works for you and can help you generate higher sales revenues, come and visit us at booth #413 at the Las Vegas Affiliate Summit, January 18th & 19th . We’re there to answer your questions about transparency in affiliate reporting as well as our affiliate management team that helps to facilitate this process.

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After the success of last year’s Affiliate Summit East, the Share Results team is getting excited about heading to Affiliate Summit West 2010 in Las Vegas. We’ll be at booth 413 from January 17-19, and will be taking the opportunity to reach out to our partners and affiliates, and develop some new relationships along the way.

Accompanying CEO, Nicky Senyard will be Director of Client Relations, Kristyn Gaffney, Affiliate Marketing Manager Julia Stead and Affiliate Manager, Annabelle Agnew.

We’ve got a lot to share with you this year, and we’re particularly excited about the re-launch of our software solution with multi-language support. With our software available in any language, make sure to ask us how this exciting language feature can help you branch out to new international markets, and develop new relationships with affiliates in different countries.

With the ease of integration provided by the software solution and implemented by our dedicated teams, this is a great solution for anyone looking for superior affiliate software supported by a knowledgeable affiliate management team.

The other thing that already seems to be creating some buzz this year is the formation of our new Search Engine Management team. Our SEM expert team is Google Adwords and Google Analytics certified and can help you to generate some extra qualified traffic. They can perform in-depth audits of the performance of your website, and can even help to point you in the right direction once the assessment is complete.

Of course, everyone is free to come by and chat about anything at all. Our team of delegates is there to answer all your questions, so come on over and chat with them. They’ll be set up at booth 413, so make sure to drop by and say hello. You’re also welcome to set up an appointment beforehand; email Julia Stead at Julia [at] shareresults [dot] com to make an appointment today!

Looking forward to seeing you there!

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Affiliate Summit West 2010, Here We Come!

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This is a clip of Loren Feldman and Chris Brogan talking shop at Affiliate Summit East. They make some interesting comments about how affiliate marketers differ from tech bloggers and social media types. Check it out…

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Loren Feldman and Chris Brogan from Affiliate Summit East

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New York City is the current setting for Affiliate Summit East and there’s no shortage of events to go to and people to meet. While Sunday was officially the first day of the summit, festivities actually kicked off Saturday, August 8, with a night of various sponsored parties in Midtown. The following morning, the Christian Affiliate Marketing Association’s (CAMA) held their regular conference Gospel Brunch. For the first time since the CAMA brunch began at Affiliate Summit, Share Results was one of the proud sponsors of the event. It may have been off site, but the commuting was well worth it as the CAMA brunch took place at the legendary Cotton Club in Harlem and was an opportunity to get out and about in the city.

An “interactive” gospel music performance was coupled with a heavenly soul food-style brunch (shout out to Helen Slade and her ensemble for a powerhouse performance). If you missed this event, I strongly encourage you to sign up for the next CAMA brunch at the forthcoming summit in Las Vegas.

The Meet Market, an afternoon Sunday event, was filled with advertisers and networks specializing in email marketing, CPA offers, and other placements and commissions. This market gave exhibitors a chance to showcase to interested affiliates looking for new partnerships and offers. If you arrived early, you also probably had a chance to grab a share of the sugary sweets that were being offered at various tables.

Among some of the key faces at Sunday’s events were Wade Tonkin of CAMA, Affiliate Summit emcee Jim Kukral, as well as Melanie Seery, an important voice for affiliates of all levels and backgrounds across the United States.

While these are just a few highlights of the events and the people involved, there are plenty more activities to participate in at the summit.

If you weren’t able to make it to New York this time around, you’ll be happy to know that buzz is already circulating about the next summit in Vegas. Get on board early, because the next Affiliate Summit is expected to be BIG!

To be continued…

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Putting the Soul into Affiliate Summit East

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So it’s official: Share Results is heading to New York City for Affiliate Summit East 2009. The conference takes place from August 9-11 at the Hilton New York in New York City, and the Share Results team will be there to network with partners, peers, affiliates and colleagues. We’ll also be sponsoring one of the events.

Two members of the Share Results team will be on hand to meet with existing and prospective affiliates and merchants. The first is our very own CEO, Nicky Senyard. And the other is our long-time affiliate manager, Maranda Moses. To schedule an appointment with Nicky or Maranda during Affiliate Summit East, send an email to bizdev@shareresults.com.

The event that Share Results is sponsoring is the CAMA Gospel Brunch. The CAMA’s Gospel Brunch will be at the historic Cotton Club, is open to everyone, and will feature a delectable menu. And we want to see you there so badly that we’re offering Share Results affiliates enjoy a special rate of just $30. But seats are limited, so register now for your special rate!

Whether you make it to the brunch or are just going to be in the Big Apple for the conference itself, we’d love to meet up with you and discuss how we might be able to help you meet your business needs. So, please, feel free to drop us a line.

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Share Results Headed to Affiliate Summit East 2009

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Blogs, ning, myspace, wikis, facebook, twitter, youtube. web-based CRM, google docs…What the heck is a website nowadays? Just about anyone can have a web presence. The options are endless: personalize a twitter account, edit wikipedia, create an event on facebook, and on and on. At Affiliate Summit East, a panel of marketing experts will explore the traditional website model, with a focus on their evolving role in a business plan. For details on the session, check out the agenda (where this session is listed about a quarter down the page).

Two participants on the panel have blogs that delve into these issues. (We’re adding the to the BAMroll because if they’re at Affiliate Summit, they must be into affiliate marketing.)  Take a sneak peak at their positions to get a sense of how the discussion might go.

• The moderator of the panel is Shashi Bellamkonda whose personal blog is happenings, advice, and other technology thoughts ! He works for an online marketing company, and uses real-life examples in his posts to prove his point: social media is invaluable to business growth!
• Ramon Ray is a technology evangelist, and together with colleague Laura Leites, posts on Small Biz Technology with the same purpose that drives their eponymous business. They serve small and medium-sized businesses who want to reach their potential with the help of technology. This includes keeping a finger on the pulse of affiliate marketing, as well as suggesting smart business practices, reviewing products, and well, offering insight on what websites are for!

Let us know if you’re going to the Affiliate Summit, which begins August 9 in New York. If you’d like to speak with Nicky Senyard (CEO), or Maranda Moses (Affiliate Manager) about how Share Results could serve your website-related needs, they would be happy to set up an appointment. Like the panelists above, we have lots to say about what websites are! Of course, what we say will depend on your needs. Even if you’re not going to Affiliate Summit, email us anyway to have our own ’session’ to discuss what websites are for. Get the conversation started by emailing us at info@shareresults.com.

See you next Thursday, with our final Affiliate Summit focused BAMroll update!

Credit:
BAMroll Update: July 30, 2009

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The two new additions to the Big Affiliate Marketing blogroll will both be attending Affiliate Summit East. This must-attend event is held in New York City from August 9th to 11th. If you go, you would have the chance to meet these bloggers, and also Share Results Affiliate Manager Maranda Moses, and CEO -Nicky Senyard.

Both of this week’s affiliate marketing bloggers also happened to write about contests and boats in their most recent post. Coincidence? You tell us

• Beautiful British Columbia is writted by someone who loves boating, and also affilate marketing. A good example of a unique combination of the two is her most recent post. It’s part of her entry for a yacht party — a spin on a music video that’s gotten a lot of hits on youtube lately.
• Logan Thompson doesn’t share his video with us, and I’m wondering how it compares to aforementioned entry. He may not have had to make one, since he already has a ticket for the Market Leverage party held during the Affiliate Summit.

Many of the other bloggers we’ve featured on the BAMroll will be attending Affiliate Summit East. A good way to find out is to download the OPML file found on our BAMroll page, to get a feed of recent posts from BAMrollers. Those who are attending will surely be mentioning it in coming weeks. And maybe they’ll share their entry videos too!

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BAMroll Update: July 24, 2009

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