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[christine@affiliatefuture]

Hello Everyone!

We’re bringing back Brian’s Tip of the Week. Each week we will update this thread with answers to common questions and ways to improve your affiliate program. Our first two topics are Deep Linking & Tracking and Using Network Promotions to Boost Your Commissions.

Feel free to contact us at inquiries@affiliatefuture.com with any questions or tips you would like to see featured!

Christine

[christine@affiliatefuture]

Hello!

Ever wonder why we make so many promotions? The purpose of Network wide promotions is to make your job easier. We email and post merchants' offers twice a day in the forum and on our site. With all the different start dates, end dates, terms & conditions promoting can be confusing. Network wide promos simplify things by placing all offers on one URL and all offers have the same start date. We post the promotion a few days in advance of the start date so that you can plan accordingly.

Once the Promo is up, read through all of the offers. Consider what kind of merchants convert best on your site, who has the best end user offer, and who has the highest commission. These three factors determine who you should push. But don’t be afraid to try new things! Now is the perfect time to join a new program, with an end user offer they are bound to see sales. If your site has a targeted audience (i.e. you’re a site with advice for moms) try promoting a different merchant in your area. If your site has a broad audience (sites with mixed content, coupon sites, shopping portals) advertising a merchant in a completely different area than you usually do is a great idea. It’s less risky than usual since there is incentive for the end user. You don’t want to miss out on a goldmine- you’d be surprised by some of the high conversion rates we see from affiliate-merchant odd couples!

For your convenience here is a listing of dates that upcoming promotions will be going live. You’ll be hearing from us before each date.
Fall, 9/21. Halloween, 10/1. Christmas/Holidays 11/1. Black Monday, 11/26. Last Minute Christmas, 12/14.

Tune in next week for our next Tip of the Week!!

Christine

[christine@affiliatefuture]

This week we will investigate tracking in great detail; why it is useful, how to set it up and how to read your reports. Deep linking is a related and useful tool for affiliates.

Say you promote 5 AF merchants on your site, banners are in different locations and you have multiple banners for each merchant. Without inserting tracking you receive reporting for each merchant program. You don’t have the information to tell if the difference in merchant performance is because of where you placed their banner, the appeal of the banner you selected, or if the merchant is simply a better fit for your traffic. By adding separate tracking scripts to each banner you can determine what kinds of banners and locations convert best on your site and maximize your earnings!

To add tracking: Go to the banner folder of the program you want to track for. Copy the script that you want to insert. examplehttp://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/AFClick.asp?affiliateID=XXXX&merchantID=YYYY&programmeID=ZZZZ&mediaID=0&tracking=&url=
Add the reference that you want to appear (ABCD) to the tracking=. All of our links and banners have a tracking=. Make sure you don’t add any extra spaces to the script.
exhttp://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/AFClick.asp?affiliateID=XXXX&merchantID=YYYY&programmeID=ZZZZ&mediaID=0&tracking=ABCD&url=
Insert the new script into your site.

To view your reporting: Login and go to my programmes. In the chart look for a number in the Clicks Column that corresponds to the programme name you want information for. This cell will display the clicks, leads, sales and commission for each tracking reference you made (i.e. ABCD). If the number in the cell is 0 adjust the date range for your reporting (in the top of the screen) for data. Compare and contrast the data for each reference you made to see what works best for you!

Deep Linking:
Want a banner or link to take you to a particular page on the merchant’s website? Then deep link! Simply add the full/complete URL (http:// included) of the page you'd like to direct traffic to, to the end of our link where it says &url=

The banner or script you want to use: exhttp://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/AFClick.asp?affiliateID=XXXX&merchantID=YYYY&programmeID=ZZZZ&mediaID=0&tracking=&url=
The site you want to direct traffic to:
exhttp://merchant.com/reallycoolpage
What you would insert on your site: exhttp://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/AFClick.asp?affiliateID=XXXX&merchantID=YYYY&programmeID=ZZZZ&mediaID=0&tracking=&url=http://merchant.com/reallycoolpage
Make sure you don’t add any extra spaces to the script.

Tune in next week for our next Tip of the Week!!

Christine

[christine@affiliatefuture]

Hope everyone had a lovely week!

Next time you are chatting in a forum or at a convention and affiliate marketing comes up, mention us! Affiliate Future’s Bonus for Referrals is substantial. We offer affiliates 5% of the commission your contact earns. This isn’t a one time deal. As a thank you for helping build our network you will receive 5% every month that they are paid!!

With all of our affiliate friendly qualities (auto approval, 5 day cancellation policy and more) you won’t need to do much selling. Simply give them your referral URL which is found in the “My Referrals” tab on the affiliate interface. If they signup through this link you’ll see the “No. of sites referred” section on the same page increase. As the month goes on your money earned will increase too!

Imagine referring a friend that earns $1000 a month in commissions. You’ll earn $50 a month and $600 a year for sending a link to your friend!!! Don’t worry, the money doesn’t come out of your friend’s pocket, it comes out of ours. Wishing you had more friends? Add any of the banners on the “My Referrals” page and you can earn money from strangers that visit your site!!

Until Next Time!
Christine

[Billy Kay]

Can you break up that long url that makes us scan left and right. Too hard to read.

[christine@affiliatefuture]

Billy,

The reason that the deep linking URLs are so long is that they are actually 2 URLs combined. It’s important that the full thing is displayed because it’s a template for how your deep links should look. But for an abbreviated version:

exhttp://scripts…&tracking=&url=http://merchant.com/reallycoolpage

[christine@affiliatefuture]

Hello Everyone,

The easiest way to increase your revenue is to optimize your site. Whether you are making your first site or have enough traffic that you can charge for ad space we have tips for you. Compare your site to these tips to see how you can improve.

URL: The simpler you’re URL the easier it will be for your visitors to come back. Short and sweet is key!

Theme: You want to be specific enough that surfers know what the site is about. A site that talks about sports, movies, fashion and your personal life probably won’t do very well (that is unless you are a celebrity and expert in all areas). Stick to one topic but make sure you don’t run out of things to discuss. For instance, if you pick fashion you could get more specific and make a site about accessories. However, narrowing it down to just earrings may not give you enough content to work with.

Bonus points for having an “about us” section and line about you on the top of the homepage to make things clear to surfers.

Design: The page should be clean and easy to navigate. By laying things out in two or three columns (add/tools, content, adds) the site will be user friendly and won’t be overwhelming. Categories and a search bar make navigation easy for surfers. Rotating articles are another great feature. Surfers don’t want to visit a site with articles that are out of date; they want to see the newest articles/posts straight away!

Content: Having content helps your site come up in search engines. Make sure articles you include have pertinent keywords for your potential traffic to find you! For instance in my imaginary accessory site I would use words like; trendy (relevant adjectives and adverbs), purse (relevant items visitors may buy) and fashion/accessories (words that describe your site).

Considering people’s short attention spans I suggest keeping articles on your homepage around two paragraphs. If one topic doesn’t interest one surfer, they can choose from more articles quickly.

Make sure all banners and links are seasonally appropriate. And try to place them near related articles. Finally, deep link where appropriate. Say I was talking about a style of earrings and Max & Chloe carried similar ones. Taking surfers straight to that page or the earring category, in lieu of the home page makes it easier for them to purchase and you to earn.

Basically the more people you can get to your site and keep on your site the higher your commissions will be!


Happy Changing!
Christine

[christine@affiliatefuture]

Do you have a subscription form on your website?

Sending newsletters to your own email list is one of the easiest ways to build traffic to your site. Why bother waiting for visitors to come back? By emailing them you prompt them to return to your site. I know I like my weekly updates on clothing steals & deals! Regardless of the content in your site there is bound to be news. The newsletter is a great place to send out details on all of our Merchant’s Promotions!

Increased traffic = increased chance of sales = higher commission! Add a subscription box today and start building your own list.


Happy Promoting!
Christine

P.S. Does anyone have any questions about AffiliateFuture? We have covered the most frequently asked questions and want to help!
Plus I am running low on ideas

[christine@affiliatefuture]

Hello Everyone,

New affiliates are joining AF all the time and the interface can be confusing. Here’s a guide on how to Join A Program.

Let’s say you want to join iYogi, a computer support merchant.

Login to your account. Then go to the merchant directory. http://affiliates.affiliatefuture.co...s/default.aspx

Click on the type of merchant you want to add- Computers.
Look through the merchants then and hit "view their programmes" for more information on the one that interests you.

Then hit "click here to join this program" to join. This will take you to their banners folder. Click on the folder for access to all of their banners & links. Scroll through and see what banner is the best fit for you. If you want a link select either of the first two scripts on the page. Just copy and paste the banner/link of your choice onto the backend of your site and you are good to go!

To check that it works go to "my programmes" and see how many clicks you've generated for that merchant. Then click on the banner/link on your site. Refresh my programmes, the number of clicks you've generated for the merchant should have increased. If this is not the case delete all the cookies on your computer (we only track unique clicks) and repeat the test. If this does not work please email inquiries@AffiliateFuture.com.

Hope this helps & happy promoting!
Christine

[christine@affiliatefuture]

Hello Everyone,

What are text links? How do you make one? I have received several questions of this nature lately. This is a more detailed continuation of the last post. Feel free to ask any questions.


Text links allow you to use our tracking but have different characters appear on your site. Let’s say you wrote an article on one of our merchants and you want to link to their site (and receive credit for the sales!). You may not want http://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/AFClick.asp?... appearing in an article you wrote, to change what is displayed you can create a text link.

After joining a program go to their banners folder. In the screen “Add Programme – Choose Banner” you will see all the codes to link to the merchant’s site. Let’s say you want to link to iYogi, like before. The first box you see on the page “generic HTML code” is what you want to use to make a text link. The code varies for all affiliates and will look something like:
<a href='http://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/AFClick.asp?affiliateID=XXXXX&merchantID=2771&programmeID=7305&mediaID=0&tracking=&url='>PUT YOUR TEXT HERE</a>

What would you like to write in the link? Let’s say you want “click here for unparalleled support” to appear. In >PUT YOUR TEXT HERE</a> insert your message without adding any spacing. Simply insert your customized code into your backend and you are good to go!

<a href='http://scripts.affiliatefuture.com/AFClick.asp?affiliateID=XXXXX&merchantID=2771&programmeID=7305&mediaID=0&tracking=&url='>click here for unparalleled support</a>

Hope this helps,
Christine

[christine@affiliatefuture]

Hello Everyone,

Every now and then merchants ask to close their programs with AF. Like any business relationship things change but rest assured that this will not affect your past work. The scenario below will help explain how closing works, how it effects you and more.

Let’s say X.com is an AF merchant and they decide they want to close their program on 2/1. X.com will contact their Account Manager and email all of their affiliates that the program is closing. Affiliates will receive a message that instructs you to remove all links and banners in the next 5 days. It is extremely important that you remove the links and banners within this network window. For the first 5 days the program is hidden; no new affiliates can join the program and current affiliates are receiving credit for new clicks.

After the 5 day window is over we suspend the program. The program will be highlighted in red on your statistics http://affiliates.affiliatefuture.co...s/default.aspx.
Clicks you send X.com after 2/6 will not track, even if the visitor makes a purchase immediately. However, clicks you sent X.com before 2/6 will still track for 30 days (the life of our cookie). In this case affiliates may earn commission until 3/7.

Worried about your commissions? AffiliateFuture guarantees all commissions 5 days after the transaction. That means if X.com decides they don’t want to pay WE pay you.

Not sure who you will promote? Try scrolling through the merchant directory or reading posts. We have new programs launching all of the time! There’s bound to be someone for you! If you need help finding new programs or would like more information on a program feel free to email us.

If you have any other questions about a program closing please email us; inquiries@affiliatefuture.com. I hope this helped clarify closing for everyone.

Christine

[mckelvin89]

Sending newsletter will not build traffic for your website. To increase traffic to your website you have to submit your particular website to search engines or by some tactics which I will tell you.
1. Social Bookmarking
2. Directory Submission
3. Article Submission
4. One Way linking
5. Search Engine Submissions.

[Rufus]

Makelvin is correct newsletters won't build website traffic you need to have a good SEO strategies for this lots of content and it always helps to build the number of links pointing to your site.

But once you've done this it's always good to monetize form the mail list you've built.

Makelvin if you need any help or have any suggestions feel free to contact me

[tieqilin]

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