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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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It’s that time of year again. The time to eat, drink and be merry – or overeat, drink a little too much and pass out during football. Whatever your Thanksgiving weekend brings you, it won’t be complete without some shopping!

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday this holiday weekend, this is the prime time for amazing deals and timely gift shopping. Almost all merchants are running fantastic deals this weekend and this means we benefit from huge savings!

Been waiting all year to buy a new LCD TV? Me too, which is why this weekend I’m going to take care of that and take advantage of the savings.

To get a head start on what’s being offered, you can check our Special Holiday Edition of the Hot Deals Affiliate Newsletter, which showcases the best deals from our merchants. This includes both Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts for your visitors, as well as performance bonuses and coupon codes valid right through till New Year’s Eve. Furthermore, if you are an affiliate looking to maximize your sales during this busy spending period, you can read about the trends of the New Holiday Consumer on our Share Results Affiliate Blog.

There’s lots to be had out there, so be sure to look out for great deals and get your shopping done early this year.

Good luck!

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Black Friday Kicks off Holiday Shopping

Because affiliates and etailers are more focused on conversions than anything else, they often wonder whether social media has any real value. Well, a recent study conducted by Sage Software and AMI-Partners shows that more than 260,000 small businesses in the US and Canada are using social media in some form, but sales/conversions didn’t at all figure into the top 7 social media priorities.

Rather, the most common uses were for customer engagement and networking. And even advertising/promotion came in 4th, with only 33 percent of businesses doing so on social networks.

This, of course, doesn’t mean that social media isn’t valuable for driving sales/conversions. Much to the contrary, social media is exceptionally useful for building trust within a given market demographic. And that trust, in turn, can not only help you gain added customers, but actually retain them. After all, when a consumer feels like they have a relationship with your or your brand, they are that much more likely to become a loyal customer.

This was the impetus behind our CEO’s suggestion that affiliates use Twitter to build brand trust, as well as why Chris Brogan emphasizes that communities are best used for building trust-based relationships, and by trying to just “sell to them,” you’re very likely to shoot yourself (and your bottom line) in the foot.

But this doesn’t mean that social media is only good for “hanging out with your customers.” Rather, Website Magazine illustrates, different social networks have very specific demographics.

So by determining where your target market is most active and engaging them there, you can build your brand reputation in a way that actually converts. It’s important to bear in mind, though, that like all solid business initiatives, social media is no get-rich-quick-scheme. Rather, it’s about building brand, reputation and trust.

Using Social Media to Drive Sales

With the current economic situation and the all the gloomy talk about an impending recession, I was delighted to read some very positive news this week about the projections for online sales this holiday season.

In a recent study by eMarketer.com, their experts forecast roughly 10% growth in online sales over the 2008 holiday season, for a total of over $32 billion. If this prediction comes true, it will be the first year that online sales outpace and outperform traditional offline sales which is very exciting news for affiliate marketers and other types of online entrepreneurs. To the right is a breakdown of how they predict the numbers will fall.

This projected growth is directly related to the economy’s recent troubles, as shoppers turn to online stores to find better deals, deeper discounts, and save money on the gas that would be otherwise used going to and from shopping malls.

Now this does not mean that affiliates should sit back and let the traffic just roll in. Maranda wrote an excellent piece, Making a Profit During an Online Recession which offers some great tips on strategies that can help you capitalize on the current market. Coupon sites, free shipping offers and other savings angles are the way to go!

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Positive Outlook for Online Holiday Sales

Establishing maximum value for your price is never easy. In today’s volatile economy, it’s even more of a challenge. For most companies, costs are increasing, yet the ability to pass them along to the customer is fraught with numerous roadblocks.

The customer’s response to a price increase is rarely positive, with the usual line of objections that go along with it. In addition, there are the concerns that a competitor’s price may undercut yours or that the customer may choose to go down a different path instead of buying from you at all.

As big as these issues are, they pale in comparison to the number one roadblock to maximizing your price point: the confidence of the salesperson. The main reason why companies do not capitalize on their potential revenue is because their salespeople do not have the confidence to ask for and receive the highest price point.

If a salesperson is secure in what they are selling and in knowing how the customer will benefit from their products/services, then they will be confident in asking for and getting the desired price point. The problem is that many times the salesperson lacks confidence in at least one of these areas, resulting in their inability to make their sales quota.

To rectify this problem, it’s important to examine how the salesperson first developed a lack of confidence in their ability to maximize their price points. Generally, it stems from a sale they perceived to be lost because their price had been too high. On the surface, their assumption probably appeared to be correct. However, in reality, it just seemed that way because the right price-value relationship had not been established. If the salesperson had executed a proper sales strategy that allowed both himself and the customer to see the product’s/service’s true value, this could have been avoided.

It needs to be communicated that in a B to B environment, the benefits are to both the buyer and the business they’re buying it for. In a B to C environment, the benefits are to both the buyer and to the person who will actually use the product or service. When the salesperson and the customer understand this, it can help erase the uncertainty that the price may pose. In general, new salespeople often lose the sale shortly after they’ve stated their price. Thus, it’s only natural for them to believe that the price was the determining factor. However, when digging below the surface, the price was not what prevented them from closing the deal. Rather, they lost the sale because they didn’t ask enough questions to fully establish the needs of the customer.

Top-performing salespeople ask questions that allow the customer to elaborate on their needs and then demonstrate their listening skills by asking appropriate open questions and probing deeper with great follow-up questions. They use the information that they learn to better explain how their product or service can be beneficial to the customer.

In my 25 plus years of selling, I’ve learned that the customer’s real needs, hurts, and wants don’t often surface until you’re demonstrated genuine interest in what their thoughts and goals are. Ironically, this means that you can throw out their initial comments, as it is rarely the need they are looking to fill.

In summary, today’s economy is full of opportunities for top performing salespeople to ask really good questions that get customers talking. This allows both the customer and the salesperson to see, feel, and understand what their true needs are. When the salesperson can experience this across multiple customers, they will begin to develop the assurance they need to be able to confidently convey the maximum price point their company expects them to receive.

Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter”, is a sales expert who speaks to thousands each year on how to increase their sales profitability. For more information, to receive a free weekly email sales tip or to read his Sales Motivation Blog, visit http://www.TheSalesHunter.com

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Selling in a Soft Economy

Here are 10 easy yet highly effective ways to set your online sales ablaze! These methods can be utilized by Affiliate Marketers, Internet marketers, and Clickbank Affiliates.

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10 Easy and Creative Tips To Fire-Up Your Sales Posted By : Jennifer Forest

A new study shows that over 300% of sales get lost because affiliates do not shrink their URLs. How much have you lost because of that? However much, most likely too much!

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Long Links Lose 300% Of Sales! Posted By : Konrad Braun

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While that may seem exclusive to one of the world’s largest online retailers, even small businesses can take advantage of the resources used by Amazon. It’s not as difficult or expensive as you might think. Data-driven marketing applications are now affordable, easy to use, and something your must consider as part of your marketing mix.

What does your customer data say? In order to create personalized recommendations and maximize the value of your current customers, you must perform a thorough analysis of your existing database. To do so, organize and review your current customer list. Perform additional analysis to predict customer tendencies in terms of clusters, and other data modeled groupings.

Doing this will help to determine the type of message or offer to send to each group based on past behavior. Then you’re ready to leverage your data and analysis in order to move your best customers to higher purchase levels. This might take the form of making a specific set of cross-sell or up-sell recommendations to individual sets or cluster of customers.

If your current customer files are not in the condition necessary to take advantage of some of these types of analyses, make it a priority to clean up your data so you can maximize your ability to harvest your own greatest asset.

What about recommendation systems? The idea is that customers are not all the same so why would you treat them that way? Amazon was the first to really utilize the, “Customers who purchased this also were interested in the following items”, technique. But you can use the same approach (and even improve on it, as Amazon clearly does not always get it right) for your own Web site.

In the movie rental arena, Netflix, Blockbuster and FamilyVideo.com have used recommendation systems successfully, and Netflix is even running a $1 million contest offering programmers the chance to beat the current Netflix system by more than 10% and win the big prize. They are doing this because a better system will drive incremental sales well above $1 million over the life of its implementation.

Personalized recommendation systems can cost well over $100,000 for companies with a large number of product offerings. But for companies with a smaller amount of products costs can be less than $50,000 for set-up, and monthly maintenance charges can be tied to performance.

An added benefit is that creating a truly personal shopping experience for your customers engenders increased customer loyalty. Even though its suggestions may not always be on the mark, we return to Amazon again and again when looking for items for ourselves and gifts for friends and relatives.

The friendly service seems to know us — it certainly recognizes us — and it appears to have been waiting patiently for our return. Why not create a “My-store,” “wish-list,” e-mail alert, or an intelligent search function on your site and make your customers’ shopping experience truly unique? Today’s shoppers want to feel that they are in control of their shopping “experience” and affording them choices to make (but not too many) is a key to success.

Whether it is in print, on your Web site, or both, data-driven applications offer your precious customers new products, destinations and experiences — and provide you with stronger income opportunities.

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Increase Your Sales By Getting Personal

Insider secrets to solo ads andamp; other ad sources that work. The Good, Bad, and Ugly of online advertising.

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