World’s Best Affiliate Management Agencies Shortlisted for an Award

The landscape of affiliate management agencies has changed significantly since the time that the concept of such an agency came to life. An affiliate management agency is more often called an “OPM agency” or one that manages affiliate programs on an outsourced basis. Back when I started mine, there was less than a dozen of us worldwide. Today, affiliate management agencies are in the hundreds.

It’s often tough to tell chaff from the wheat, especially with multiple pay-to-play “rankings” scoring high on search engines.

Best affiliate marketing agencyBut there are a number of affiliate marketing industry-specific organizations that hand out “Best OPM” or “Agency of the Year” awards, which are always fun (and helpful) to follow. Among these, there are both platform-specific ones like CJ Excellence Awards, Rakuten Marketing Golden Link Awards, ShareASale/Awin ThinkTank Awards, as well as platform-agnostic ones like Performance Marketing Awards and, of course, Affiliate Summit’s Pinnacle Awards.

Today, the latter have just announced their finalists for this year, and we can see 5 agencies listed in the OPM/Agency of the Year category. These are:

Best affiliate management agencies

I am excited to see my very own AM Navigator in such a fine company. Four of these five affiliate management agencies have been in the business for more than a dozen of years, and there are many people within these shortlisted companies that I consider real thought leaders and dear friends.

Being “the best” in any industry is as much about doing your job well as it is about giving back to the industry. Most of the affiliate marketing agencies on this list are amazing at the latter: educating, inspiring, and evangelizing through all their work. I am honored to have my own agency be up there with these guys!

We wish everyone who was shortlisted (regardless of the category) the best of luck; and looking forward to seeing the winners announced at the upcoming Affiliate Summit in New York!

How to Find Companies with Affiliate Marketing Programs

There are tens of thousands of merchants online who have affiliate programs. It can be overwhelming to think about, but also very exciting if you’re an affiliate marketer. While many merchants have them, there are plenty who do not have affiliate programs. For affiliate marketers looking to get started within a niche or just to promote products online in general, we often get the question:

How do I find companies that have affiliate programs?

This is an excellent question and there are many answers. We’re going to cover them today. Here are five great ways to find companies with affiliate programs.

1. Check the Main Affiliate Networks

Affiliate networkThe most straightforward way to find companies that have affiliate programs is to join an affiliate network, dive down the rabbit hole, and start searching for company’s affiliate programs. The main affiliate networks in the United States are ShareASale (owned now by Awin), CJ Affiliate by Conversant, Rakuten Marketing (also known as LinkShare), Pepperjam, AvantLink, Impact, and LinkConnector.

You can go to any or all of these networks, sign up as an affiliate, login to your new affiliate account and then immediately start viewing the available affiliate programs. Each network is a bit different, but they all allow you to search for company’s programs through basic keyword searches and categories.

For additional exposure, it’s common practice for companies to advertise their affiliate program within the affiliate network. This is another way to discover affiliate programs as these advertised programs tend to be front and center on various searches within the network and in promotional emails from the affiliate network.

2. Check a Company’s Website

The next way to find companies that have affiliate programs is to search the company’s website. This is more for when you’re searching for an affiliate program for a specific company.

The common practice for when a company has an affiliate program is to include a link within their website footer than links to more information about their affiliate program. This link could send you directly to the sign up page for the program on the specific affiliate network they run on or it could send you to a landing page diving into more detail about becoming an affiliate for that merchant. Here is an example of an affiliate program landing page from one of our clients.

Checking the company’s website can also be the best way, and sometimes only way, to find their affiliate program if they happen to run their program in-house and are not part of an affiliate network (you may learn about the different ways to support affiliate programs here).

Amazon.com is famous for this. They not only have one of the largest affiliate programs out there, but they also have one of the largest in-house programs. Their program is called the Amazon Associates program and you cannot promote Amazon through one of the main affiliate networks. You need an Amazon account and you grab all your links through the associates program directly on Amazon.

3. Browse Known Affiliate Websites

Affiliate websitesA non-traditional, yet effective, way to find companies who have affiliate programs is to see which companies are being promoted on affiliate websites. Sites like RetailMeNot, BradsDeals, Ebates, and SlickDeals make the majority of their revenue though affiliate marketing. By doing quick scans of any of those sites you can see tons of companies that all have affiliate programs and are being promoted on these sites.

Taking a closer look at which companies are being promoted on other affiliate sites can also give you a good idea on which companies have good affiliate programs that convert and pay well. Sites like these are multi million dollar businesses and they wouldn’t be wasting their time promoting company’s affiliate programs that do not do well for them.

4. Use Affiliate Program Directories

Another place online where you can find various affiliate programs are affiliate program directories. There are many sites like HighPayingAffiliatePrograms.com which people have created to attempt and make a database of all the major affiliate programs out there. These sites can be great resources for finding programs in a specific niche that you might otherwise have missed, glossed over, or maybe had yet to hear about.

5. Utilize Facebook Groups and Other Social Media

Social mediaWhen looking for a new dentist or for someone to remodel your bathroom, you typically will ask around for referrals in order to give someone a shot. It’s no different with a great affiliate program. Affiliate marketers gather in various Facebook groups, social forums and subreddits throughout the Internet and these places are a wonderful place to find companies with affiliate programs.

The subreddit /r/affiliatemarketing currently has over 18,000 subscribers and people post and comment about various affiliate programs and affiliate marketing strategies all day long.

The Facebook group “Affiliate Café” is smaller and more exclusive. It got formed in 2016, shortly after the dissolution of a legendary affiliate marketing forum ABestWeb. It currently has over 300 members (most of which were active members of the aforementioned forum), and it’s a great example of a community of people on Facebook who frequently discuss affiliate programs and affiliate marketing.

On top of these, there are countless other affiliate marketing forums and places where discussions occur. Any one of them can be your next lead to finding a great affiliate program to join.

All in all, it’s pretty easy to find companies that have affiliate programs. You just need to know where to look. If a company has an affiliate program, they are going to want affiliates to join it so it’s very rare that these programs are hiding.

Feel free to contact us or comment below with any thoughts, notes, or questions.

The Complete Guide to Content Monetization Platforms

I am obsessed with home improvement shows. I watch them all — Fixer Upper, Property Brothers, Flip or Flop — and have recently started binge watching Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.

Online content monetizationI realize I am not alone as there are lots of blogs on the rise regarding home projects, DIY and easy ways to update your home to the recent trends. There are several sites that I follow that provide great tips on how to carry out some home projects and where to buy the necessary material. For these sites, valuable and engaging content is what attracts their readers and keeps bringing them back. We’ve all heard that “content is king” and its true. Content is the core of online marketing and how we talk to an audience and attract traffic to a site. It’s necessary if you want to grow a successful business and is what turns prospective customers into buyers. Customers search the Internet for reviews and information about products to help them make informed buying decisions.

What’s a Content Monetization Platform

As a home improvement blogger, I know that strong content is crucial and that is where I need to focus my time. However, I also want to monetize my site and there are several content monetization platforms that can help. These platforms are, essentially, tools that allow you to benefit from affiliate marketing without having to join individual affiliate programs. Once you’ve integrated with them, they would transform regular links into affiliate links. If sales are generated from these links, commissions will be passed back to the website after taking a percentage. For example, if I write about the latest and greatest Dyson to help upkeep my home, these content monetization tools will change my retail link to an affiliate link so that I can earn money from sales that I refer.

So before I give examples of some of the available monetization platforms, let’s talk about the benefits of using them.

Benefits of Monetization Platforms

1. Time Saving

By using these tools you have access to lots of merchants and you don’t have to individually apply for each of their programs. Plus you don’t have to individually create affiliate links.

2. Ease of Integration

Seamless. You can basically set it up and go about what you do best writing content!

3. Links Look Normal

You post a retailer link and they convert to affiliate links. Click-through rates are better and the links are kept up to date.

4. Higher Payouts

Because they do such a large volume of business, these tools can often negotiate a higher overall commission rate with the advertiser. So even with paying them a percentage, you may still be better off than you would be able to get on your own.

If you have a lot of traffic and product-related content, these tools can help you earn money.

5. Robust Reporting

Their reporting interfaces contain great data on your customers and their purchasing habits.

6. Free to Join!

Whatever you earn is incremental. If you already have some affiliate links on your site, the tools will not overwrite those.

Importance of Disclosures

If you choose to monetize the content you produce, remember of the necessity to stay compliant with the Federal Trade Commission’s disclosure requirements.

Now let’s take a deeper dive into some of these content monetization platforms. In what follows, I’ll review several of them for you.

VigLink

VigLink content monetization platform by Sovrn

VigLink converts your normal outgoing links into affiliate links, and if users make a purchase, you earn a referral commission from it. In a normal scenario, you could be linking to product pages on many sites, and you don’t make money when people buy or download the product. VigLink identifies commercial products mentioned within content monetizes those links. All links will go to the highest paying destination so their technology will route your original product link to whichever retailer will earn you the most! With regards to revenue split, VigLink keeps 25% of the commission and 75% goes back to the website owner. Set up is simple! Copy a line of VigLink Javascript code and paste it into your website’s template and let it go to work. The great thing is that it will find old links on your site and monetize so you don’t have to go back through all your old posts.

There are three main products for VigLink:

  1. VigLink Convert. This takes your unaffiliated merchant links and automatically converts them to monetized links. Add links to products and this will link to a merchant.
  2. VigLink Insert. Insert scans your site for common product terms or merchant mentions and adds an affiliate link.
  3. VigLink Anywhere. With VigLink Anywhere, you can turn any social media link, email link or any other link into a robust, high-powered hyperlink that earns you revenue. This means you can now make money from Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and your email list. The opportunities are endless!

Another great feature of VigLink is their dashboard which tracks analytics for your site. You can see what content is popular and what people purchase.

Skimlinks

Skimlinks content monetization platform

A description from their website tells you “If you write about products, we can help you make money from your content. Over 60,000 publishers around the world already trust us to automatically monetize the commerce content they create. Skimlinks aggregates access to 65 affiliate networks (including Awin, CJ, Rakuten, and others), enabling publishers to earn commission from 48,500 merchants around the world, in one place.”

Like VigLink, Skimlinks is also super-easy to install. You add a snippet of code onto your site and all links to merchants in the Skimlinks network become affiliate links. Skimlinks keeps 25% of the commission and 75% goes back to the website owner.

Some of the features of Skimlinks are:

  • Desktop widgets to research revenue-generating products to write about.
  • A comprehensive reporting dashboard.
  • Audience By Skimlinks allows publishers to can gain access to a deeper, broader dataset for better insights on their audience and shopping behaviors.
  • Aggregated product feeds to create your own shop front.
  • URL shorteners so that you can also monetize your social accounts and email.
  • Skimlinks Editor Toolbar Extension. Without navigating away from a merchant’s website, you can see:
    • If a merchant offers a Skimlinks commission rate.
    • What the average commission rate from the last 30 days was.
    • If exclusive commission rates are available.

With this tool you can also:

  1. Find out more details on commission rates and merchants at the click of a button.
  2. Quickly create links for social media and email.
  3. Discover new merchants that offer commission rates.

YieldKit

YieldKit content monetization platform

YieldKit enables publishers to aggregate and optimize their performance marketing via their Yieldkit’s Monetization Platform. Like the others, they automatically convert links, keywords and onsite searches like brand and product mentions into monetizable links from thousands of retailers.

Among some of their tools you’ll find:

  1. YieldWidget – a widget is injected over your links. Its small in size and boosts the user’s experience as it is filled with relevant content and detailed information that will greatly increase conversions. It offers an image of the product, a brief description, top 3 places to buy and reviews of the linked product. Offering a few places to buy helps increase the chances of conversion.
  2. YieldNative – a functionality that allows publishers to generate and embed ads exactly the way they and their users like best. Inserting Native ads in content wherever they provide value.
  3. YieldSearch – a technology that detects keywords in user’s search queries in the publisher’s website search box and shows relevant ads embedded on the results page.
  4. Yield Insights allows you to discover what topics are most relevant to users and what topics deliver the highest revenue. Insights can be used to learn more about your audience.

Infolinks

Infolinks content monetization platform

Infolinks is an online advertising platform that enables website owners to make money from their site by displaying relevant ads to their visitors. You can select from a number of ad units that best suit your needs. It’s also super easy to sign up and install: Just enter your website address, add a snippet of code to your site, and get paid. Each advertiser on Infolinks sets their own price and as a publisher, you receive 65% rev share.

Infolinks offers a range of native ads, including:

  1. InArticle: Highly viewable ad which opens once a user engages with the page content.
  2. InFold: This ad unit takes advantage of the power of search and display, delivering ads on a wider scale of traffic. These will appear in right above the fold.
  3. InScreen: An interstitial ad delivering relevant content between page views.
  4. InText: Ads are neatly presented within a page’s text. You can customize the link color, and choose how many will appear on a page.
  5. InTag: This shows the most valuable keywords related to the content of the page. Hover over these words to view the ads.
  6. InFrame: These attractive display banner ads appear alongside your content.

Brandreward

Brandreward content monetization platform

Brandreward was created to help content networks, apps and websites realize the “real value” of their content by easily and effortlessly monetizing through a complete platform solution. It is a full-service platform which allows publishers to instantly find and connect with top brands. Their site states that they work with 30,000 brands across the world. Some of the brands listed are Nordstrom’s, Kate Spade, Target and PetSmart.

Some of the benefits of using Brandreward include:

  • Real-time reporting.
  • Exclusive deals and offers.
  • 85% commission policy for publishers which is higher than the industry standard of 75%.
  • Brandreward has a real-time advertiser system, ensuring publishers have the highest possible commission at the time of each sale and that links are live and commissionable across servers in 3 different countries.
  • SEO friendly.
  • Referral program.  For every successful referral that you send to Brandreward, you will receive 35% of the earnings for the next two years.

BrandCycle

BrandCycle affiliate monetization platform

BrandCycle is an affiliate monetization platform that connects retail brands with lifestyle publishers. BrandCycle works exclusively with lifecycle publishers – meaning content driven websites that cater to the following niche audiences: Mom & Family, Wedding, Style, Home Decor, Health & Wellness, Baby Boomer and Green.  It is free for publishers to join. 

BrandCycle also has a consulting team to work with large-scale publishers who are looking to enter or grow their presence in the affiliate performance marketing space. They will provide strategic recommendations and dedicated publisher development services to help you get the best deals and maximize relationships with advertisers. 

Publishers/Influencers: Get immediate access to over 300 top retailers on a performance basis through a single payment and reporting interface. We also help negotiate rates and design custom content and campaigns around new products and deals to use on your site or across social media. Leverage exclusive campaigns, value-added content and special promotions to increase affiliate partnerships and drive incremental sales.

Advertisers/Retailers: You want the long tail, but you need to improve efficiencies around long-tail recruitment and activation. BrandCycle provides instant and fully transparent access to thousands of high- quality content publishers and social influencers in the mom, family, baby, wedding, home and lifestyle spaces.

BrandCycle works through multiple affiliate networks, including ShareASale, CJ, Impact Radius, Rakuten Affiliate Network, and Pepperjam with additional integrations underway.

 BrandCycle’s technology delivery content and campaigns to publishers and affiliates in a more streamlined, user-friendly way.

Bookmarklet Tool

  • Make money and create links right from a retailer’s site
  • Access deals and content from a single click
  • Reporting Included
  • product Deep linking

User-Friendly Portal 

  • Access to all retail partners across all networks
  • Sample content and exclusives

Curated Product Feed

  • Access bestseller lists to know what products are trending and have the highest conversion
  • Find the right partners based on the content you want

Proprietary Reporting 

  • Easy to read stats
  • Key Performance Indicators
  • Customized dashboard

digidip

digidip content monetization platform

digidip is another example of a tool that provides an easy solution to monetizing your website. The company started in Germany in 2013 by Sabrina Spielberger, who was a successful blogger. Today they operate in over 50 markets worldwide and provide access to multiple networks and to more than 40,000 advertisers. Some of the advertisers listed are Groupon, Debenhams, Macy’s, Target and Walmart.

They have a lot of the same features as others. They are free to use, saves you time, and easily turns retail links into affiliate links. The difference is that they work on invite only and focus heavily on being ‘premium’. They want to ensure that their publisher network has a high quality and thus creates, not only for the network but also for the associated advertisers, networks and agencies, an additional value. So they have a certain set of guidelines and standards that you need to meet to join.

 

As you can see, there is a variety of content monetization platforms to help you earn money from your website. The key is to make sure that your content is authentic so that your readers continue to return and your audience grows. That’s one of the things makes you a truly valuable partner to any online advertiser. You should partner with brands that are relevant to your audience and deliver value.

I hope that you find this information useful and please contact us or comment below with any questions or feedback.


Disclosure: If you click some of the above links and sign up, we may be compensated for this. Regardless, we only recommend products/services we use personally or believe to be of value.

FTC Disclosure Best Practices for Affiliates

Affiliate managers wear many hats and are asked to manage many tasks on a daily basis. These include affiliate recruitment, affiliate activation, compliance policing, optimization, and communication. Compliance policing is often an overlooked task, but it should be taken as seriously as the rest. In terms of compliance policing, paid search and coupon policing are two of the main activities affiliate managers engage in on a daily basis, but what about FTC disclosure compliance?

Why are Federal Trade Commission (FTC) disclosures important? Short answer, they aid online users in determining if the endorser (or reviewer) has a connection to the brand which they are talking about. The FTC can fine both the endorser and advertiser for not properly disclosing their relationship in a product review or sponsored post. The fine can be upwards of $11,000 per infraction. The FTC requires that endorsements use clear and unmistakable language and should be easily visible. They cannot and should not be hidden or tucked away. The last place a brand or blogger wants to be is on the FTC’s radar.

Last month (September 7, 2017) the FTC updated their endorsement requirements, so the post today will discuss the updated best practices for affiliates, outlining how to comply with the FTC’s rules while marketing on social media and via blog posts.

Facebook

There are multiple acceptable ways to disclose on Facebook, but having it too long may be counterproductive to your goals and turn off your audience. Here are a few examples of how you may disclose the connection:

  • Ad: XYZ is a great computer that is perfect for a small business owner. @XYZ
  • Sponsored Post: XYZ’s computer has helped to keep our business more organized.

Take into account that the phrase “affiliate link” may not be accepted as an adequate disclosure. So using something similar to this at the bottom of the post will be satisfactory:

Note: I am using an affiliate link below which means that if you buy something via this post I may receive a commission.

Twitter

This one is a little more challenging of a context, as there is a 140-character limit; but disclosing still must be done when you are endorsing/reviewing a product via Twitter. Here are a few examples of how to disclose:

  • Start the Tweet with “Sponsored” (uses only 9 characters)
  • Start the Tweet with “Paid Ad” (uses only 7 characters)
  • Use #Sponsored #Ad at the beginning of the Tweet.

Using one of the above options is sufficient, but it is also strongly recommended that you tag the brand in question.

Pinterest/Instagram

Tricia Meyer noted in her latest “FTC Updates Endorsement Guidance” blog post that the FTC requires that all Instagram disclosures are located above the “more” button (to avoid being pushed down the feed) or on the image itself. Here are examples of disclosing:

  • “Ad” or “Advertisement” placed at the beginning of the post
  • “Sponsored” placed at the beginning of the post
  • “Paid Ad” placed at the beginning of the post+

Snapchat/Instagram Stories

Disclosures can be overlaid on images but should be easy to notice on the image(s) and clearly worded. There should be no confusion on whether it is a sponsored post or not. Also, making sure ample time is given to followers to view the image(s) and comprehend that it is a sponsored ad.

Additionally, while disclosing that your social media post is sponsored does not have to be at the beginning of the post, the disclosure must be easily noticeable and understood. This is why, the beginning is, generally, a good place for it.

Blog Posts

The key here is to disclose upfront that there is a relationship between the post and the brand. It should be obvious to the reader that it is a sponsored content that they are going through. The reader should not have to guess if a person is being compensated. The disclosure must appear before the first affiliate link, above the fold, and be easy to find. Do not wait until the end of the post to disclose, as it may be considered misleading. Here is an example to place at the beginning:

This is a sponsored post that contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission if you purchase something mentioned in the below post.

At the end of the post, the disclosure may be reiterated by writing:

I receive(d) compensation in exchange for writing this review/post. This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you purchase something mentioned in this post.

Recommended, but not required is to add a link to your self-hosted “full disclosure statement” page at the beginning of the post. The more transparent the post – the better it is for the blogger and the brand.

Actively managing affiliates and influencers to ensure their compliance with the FTC disclosure requirements is an extremely important task for affiliate and influencer managers. Both the brand and the endorsers must be sure that the FTC disclosures are being complied with.

We also recommend you read the FTC’s .com Disclosures document here. It should answer additional questions you may have.

An Overview of CJ Affiliate’s Cross Device Tracking

Affiliate Marketing continues to evolve and CJ Affiliate has recently introduced (and long overdue) a new technology solution called Cross-Device Tracking. What is it? Why is it important? How does it work? All of these questions will be answered in this post.

What is Cross-Device Tracking?

CJ Affiliate’s Cross-Device Tracking solution gathers all impressions and clicks from all devices a customer uses during a single transaction. Up to this point only one device was trackable, but now customers can use multiple devices (computers, smartphones, tablets) and the final device will be attributed to the sale. This will also allow affiliates to feel better knowing that they will get credit for their hard work even if the sale does not occur on the originating device.

Here is an example: A customer clicks on a CJ Affiliate link today from their tablet and then decides to not continue with checkout, but a few days later (given the cookie is still valid) they use their smartphone to continue the transaction and ultimately purchase. The CJ Affiliate Cross-Device Tracking will track the entire path and credit the appropriate device and affiliate.

Why is it important?

Cross-Device Tracking allows merchants to study customer behavior and market to them more effectively in the future. Understanding why it is important for the merchants is essential, but also understanding why it is important for affiliates is equally as important. When affiliates now promote CJ Affiliate merchants they can be assured they will be credited with transactions if they are completed using one device or four. Happy affiliates will continue to promote merchant’s products and this is one technology solution that affiliates are excited to see.

How does it work?

Currently, this technology solution is unique to CJ Affiliate and connects customers to all of their different devices. They lump together first and third-party data and then create customer ID’s, which enables them to track customers from device to device without losing them after the first one. It is labeled as the most accurate tracking solution in the industry, but it can recognize more customers than any other affiliate network in the world.

If you are a CJ Affiliate merchant and want to learn more about this or enable the technology solution you can contact CJ Affiliate directly or follow the following steps:

  • Navigate to the main navigation bar and click Account > Settings > Account Integration Settings and then locate “Cross-Device Tracking
  • Click “Enable

Simple, right? From there a support ticket will automatically be generated and a CJ representative will be in contact with any next steps or integration instructions. Some merchants are automatically enabled, but check with CJ Affiliate to ensure it is operating properly.

Manually Cancelling Affiliate Orders in Rakuten Affiliate Network

In my last post, I detailed how to manually credit affiliates for sales that did not track through the Rakuten Affiliate Network, so today I going to show you how to manually cancel (void) orders. Cancelling orders is not something affiliate managers want to do, but it is part of the game. Orders can be cancelled for various reasons including: customer refunds, PPC bidding, unauthorized coupon code use, and the list goes on. Below is a step-by-step approach to manually cancelling orders (one or multiples).

Step 1 – Navigate to “Transactions” Page

In order to get started you need to go to the “Account” tab and then click the “Transactions” link. It will bring you to the page where the cancelling process begins.

Step 2 – Click “Manual Cancellation” to Begin the Process

This page should look familiar to you. This is where you can manually credit affiliates for sales. To cancel an order, click the “Manual Cancellation” link.

Step 3 – Cancel by Single Order ID or Multiple Order ID’s

If you have just one order to cancel, simply put the order ID in the box and click the radio button to the left of Single Order ID. If there are multiple orders to cancel, then you must select the Multiple Order ID option or you can upload a cancellation file and the orders will be canceled. If you want to upload a cancellation file (which I recommend if there are more than 10 orders to cancel) you must click the “Upload Cancellation File” and it will show you the format it must be in and the fields that are required. For the purpose of this exercise I am cancelling a single order.

Step 4 –  Confirm the Order to Cancel

After the order ID to be cancelled is input and “submit” is hit, you must verify the action. Once everything is verified and correct click “Submit Selected Items” and the action will be processed and be reflected in the account within 24 hours.

After the orders are cancelled I recommend following up with a network representative to ensure they processed and the commissions were cancelled. Cancelling orders should be done as frequently as possible so that they do not pile up and then require a lot of time at the end of the month.

Creating Text Links in Rakuten Affiliate Network

Are you a merchant with a program on Rakuten Affiliate Network? Do you have questions about the interface and not sure how or where to ask your questions? Over the next few months I will be publishing posts centered on the Rakuten Affiliate Network interface and giving merchants a better understanding of how to effectively complete their daily tasks within it. The first in the series is how to create text links. This may sound like a simple task, but believe me merchants do not properly set up text links and it hurts the effectiveness of the affiliate program.

Step 1 – Click the “Links” tab

Once logged into the merchant interface you will click the “Links” tab, where it will bring you to a page where all the different link options will be presented. In this case you will click the “Text Links” button.

LS 1

Step 2 – Add New Text Links

All you do in this next step is click “Add New Text Links”. If you do have current text links live you can edit them here by using the search function shown in the screenshot.

LS 2

Step 3 – Create the Text Link

Here is the part where you create the text links. Put in the link text (i.e. Save 10% on all orders), landing page URL, name (can be the same as the link text), category, start date, end date, and assignment to publishers (the link can be assigned to all or a select group of affiliates).

Note: If your deals/coupons have coupon codes associated with them then the code should be included in the “Link Text” portion of the set up. The text link should look something like this: Save 10% on all orders – Use code SAVE10. Since there is no specific place to put the code like there is in CJ Affiliate and ShareASale you want to put it in the text of the link.

LS 3

There it is a simple tutorial on how to create text links in Rakuten Affiliate Network. Please remember to be as detailed as possible when creating the links. There should be no confusion on the offer or message with affiliates.

Booking Paid Placements Through CJ Affiliate

Getting additional exposure for your brand is the number one goal when employing various marketing strategies, but some work better than others. Affiliate marketing is a marketing strategy that has numerous ways to get your brand exposure, it could be through content, social media, and/or coupon deals. The three strategies mentioned are popular among affiliates, but there is one that is often over looked by advertisers and it is paid placements. Paid placements allow advertisers to become more visible on affiliate sites and assist in the brand reaching a wider audience. Paid placements can either be paid in a flat dollar amount, a commission increase, or a hybrid of both fee and commission increase.

Where do you go to get paid placements? In the past, you would have to look up the affiliate and their site, reach out to them and then ask them if they are accepting paid placements and get all the information that way. Recently, CJ Affiliate has added a tool to their merchant interface that will allow you (advertisers) to locate and book paid placements without leaving the merchant interface. This is truly an innovative move, which will make the lives of all affiliate managers easier. Please keep in mind that this is still a new tool/service, but I am going to show you how to use it to book future paid placements. You still may have to reach out to affiliates, but this new tool is to aid in booking placements.

Step #1 – Go to “Placements” Tab within the CJ Affiliate Interface

CJ 1

Once you are logged in to your CJ Affiliate merchant account, click the “Placements” tab. A drop down menu will then appear and you will then select where to go next.

Step #2 – Select What Section of Placements to Visit

CJ 2

This next step allows you to look up opportunities that affiliates are offering, review insertion orders from previously booked placements, and review reports from past placements (if any were booked).

Step #3 – Review Placement Opportunities Available

CJ 3

Instead of contacting the affiliate directly to get all the information about the placement, it is all here is one place for an easy analysis. Not all affiliates use paid placements and even some of the larger affiliates have not participated yet, so you still may have to reach out to an affiliate if they are not listed.

As you can see, the available placements are listed with the amount of money it will cost, the start/end dates, and where it will be placed (mobile, email, social, etc.). On the left side there are filters to help find attractive placement opportunities. You can narrow it down to your publishers only, opportunity type, date range, promotions, price, and affiliate network earnings. I would strongly encourage using the filters, especially the affiliate network earnings because you want to be working with affiliate that have a following and have earned commission in the past.

Step #4 – Review Total Cost of Paid Placements

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Once the placements are booked and run you can you the “Reports” tab to view the exact cost of the placements. The placement has a fee and CJ also collects a fee as well. This is a good place to review your overall spend and determine if the placements yielded ROI.

Booking placements with affiliates just became easier. CJ Affiliate created a much needed tool ot help merchants book placements without a lot of the tedious work. All the available placements are now visible within the CJ Affiliate merchant account. I just have some words of wisdom, do not just book a placement on any affiliate site. Do research and ask questions, because the last thing you want to do is throw a significant amount of money away to an affiliate that has no real following or ability to produce and yield a positive ROI.

 

New Placement Finder Tool – CJ Affiliate

With Q4 only one (1) week away I would like to discuss a new feature in CJ Affiliate that will help merchants find opportunities to promote their brands during the busiest shopping time of the year. CJ Affiliate now offers merchants a way to purchase placements with affiliates directly through their interface. Talk about making it simple.

This new feature will not completely eliminate the outreach to affiliates about placements, but it has made merchants lives a lot easier. Not all affiliates are participating in this, but many of the top “super” affiliates are and getting additional exposure is just a click away. In this post I will present a step-by-step guide to using the new “Placements” feature in CJ Affiliate.

Step 1 – Click “Placements” on Main Navigation

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Once you (merchant) are logged in, navigate to the “placements” tab in the main navigation. When clicked it will bring you to landing page where you can now browse and choose what placements to pursue.

Step 2 – Review Available Placement Opportunities

This feature is similar to the recruiting feature CJ has in that it allows you to filter in many ways. For example, if you are looking for placements from your affiliates only, there is a way to do that. What makes this feature awesome is that it gives you the ability to recruit new publishers for Q4 too (not directly, but you will have their contact information).  Other ways to sort placement opportunities is by date range, seasonal events, promotions, price range, and by affiliate network earnings.

Once you have the filters set you will see a list of potential placements shown. It will list the affiliates name, the cost of the placement (dollar amount or commission increase), a way to contact the affiliate and the website it will be placed on.

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Step 3 – Learn More About the Placement

By clicking the “website” box you will see what type of creative is needed (sizes included), the placements position (where it will be listed), and contact name and email address.

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Step 4 – Book the Placement

All that is left is to book the placement and ensure you have additional exposure for Q4 and to be in front of more new customers. Simply click the envelope to email the affiliate and confirm listings.

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This new feature CJ Affiliate added came at the perfect time. No more searching for affiliates and their contact information, no more guessing on the size of the creatives needed, and no more guessing on the amount of money (or commission increase) they are looking for; it is all there in one spot. When reviewing the placements available, remember this could be an opportunity to recruit an affiliate you have been looking to partner with.

Affiliate Banner Ads: Requirements, Sizes, Examples

Banners are an integral part of any affiliate program, but in some instances merchants do not understand how important they really are. Banners and text links make up an affiliate programs creative inventory that affiliates used to promote merchants products or services. Affiliates use them in a variety of ways and require them in multiple sizes.

When we at AM Navigator either take over management of an existing affiliate program or start one from scratch banners are among the most popular issues/topics we discuss with clients. In a few instances I have seen banners not include a sales message or a call to action; so what is the visitor supposed to do? The key is to make the banners entice the visitor to click and buy. Many merchants are unsure of the protocol for creating affiliate banners, including the key elements to an effective affiliate banner and the sizes they should create. Examples of quality affiliates banners can be found by clicking here.

I will go over the 3 main elements an affiliate banner requires and provide a list of banner sizes (and quantities) that we recommended when running an affiliate program.

All affiliate banners require three elements:

1.       Clear Visual Elements

2.       Concise Message

3.       Call to Action

Without the three above elements the banners will not be attractive to affiliates and they will not convert.

Affiliate banner size recommendations (with recommended quantities):

88×31 px button – 2-5
468×60 px – 2-5
125×125 px – 2-5
120×600 px – 2-5

160×600 px – 2-3
120×240 px – 2-3
234×60 px – 2-3
254×331 px – 2-3
728×90 px – 2-3
250×250 px – 2-3

720×300 px – 1-2
300×100 – 1-2
300×250 px – 1-2
180×150 – 1-2

The banner sizes above are broken into 3 groups based on demand from affiliates. Even though the list includes all the most popular sizes, affiliates may still have special requests for custom sizes, so you must be ready to create additional ones that may include different color schemes and images.

The 88×31 is by far the most popular size among affiliates because it can be used in different ways. It is the most popular with coupon/deal oriented affiliates. We recommend having at least 2 created in different styles.

Affiliate banner creation should be taken seriously and include the 3 elements outlined above and most of the sizes discussed. Without quality banners available to affiliates, the less likely they may be to promote your product/service. Next week I will discuss mistakes to avoid when creating affiliate banners.