We’re seeing green and red! This can only mean that Santa’s Ornament Shop has gone live in Share Results!

Santa’s Ornament Shop offers the largest selection of personalized Christmas ornaments available online. These ornaments have been hand selected for their quality and uniqueness so that the selection always meets the needs of anyone looking for that perfect inexpensive gift for even those who seem to have everything.

With something for everyone, affiliates can easily promote Santa’s Ornament Shops’ 3,000+ ornaments to visitors looking for the perfect Christmas gift. Customers who purchase will also enjoy free shipping on their orders of 5 items or more, adding just the right touch for the holiday season.

The site also features three very popular traffic generating fun activities (Disco Santa, Gingerbread E-Card and Birthday Cake E-Card) to which affiliates can direct their traffic if they choose.

Placements permitted in this program include:

• Banner Creative
• Text Ads
• PPC/Search Marketing (For more info please click here: http://www.shareresults.com/local_affiliate_desc.php?mid=17280)
• Coupons
• Email
• Newsletter
• E-Cards
• Incentivized
• Deep Linking
• Direct Linking
• 120-day Cookie
• Targeting US and CAN customers

Commission Offer
As a new affiliate to the Santa’s Ornament Shop affiliate program, you will earn 12% commission on all verified sales.

Special Launch Promotions
For every location an affiliate places one of Santa’s Ornament Shop banners (including links to the e-cards) affiliates will earn a chance in a drawing to win one of three $100 cash prizes. New affiliates must email SOS with their banner locations to qualify.

Affiliates also have the opportunity to earn up to 15% commission on sales during the month of December.

-Affiliates who refer between 25 and 49 sales: 1% bonus per sale 25 and over

-Affiliates who refer between 50 and 99 sales: 2% bonus per sale 50 and over

-Affiliates who refer over 100 sales: 3% bonus per sale for all sales

*As calculated at the end of December. An affiliate can only earn one of the three bonus structures based on their overall sales volume.

Join the affiliate program today to take full advantage of these exclusive affiliate promotions expiring December 31st, 2009.

If you are retail affiliate with a strong family audience and/or are a PPC or coupon affiliate, you are an ideal partner for this affiliate program!

For more info or to join, please visit: http://www.shareresults.com/local_affiliate_desc.php?mid=17280

Whether you’ve just launched an affiliate program, or you’re experienced in the field and are looking to increase your sales, attracting the right kind of affiliates is a must to ensure a successful Q4.  The following checklist highlights recruitment strategies that merchants can apply to ensure they are bringing in the right affiliates into their program.

1. Brand Exposure
Merchants love affiliate marketing for its performance-based  revenue model, but affiliates are savvier than ever before and know that their customers won’t buy brands that aren’t well known and trusted. You need to increase brand exposure every place possible, online and offline. For example, a merchant that wants Canadian traffic needs to launch on and offline ad campaigns north of the border, or it will be hard for any affiliate to give prime real estate space on their site to promote a brand their customers don’t recognize.

2. Customer Promotions
Coupon codes, free shipping and other deals make a major impact on whether or not a customer will buy a product/service.  Affiliates flock to offers that are unique, exclusive and convenient—so if you can, introduce these marketing incentives, then make sure they are clearly visible when marketing your affiliate program to new partners!

3. Get Social
Technorati, Google Alerts, Facebook and Twitter are all great channels for attracting new partners who promote products/services that may be similar to your own. Use keywords related to product/service in Google Alerts and Technorati to find blogs that are good match for your own program.  And keep in mind that Google and Microsoft both recently secured deals with Twitter, and Microsoft has also inked one with Facebook to include updates into Bing search results.  This makes social media marketing all the more important to marketing in general, and specifically to search engine marketing.

4. Performance Bonuses
Performance bonuses are excellent incentives to attract new partners, or even to complement an existing affiliate’s performance campaign. Merchants can either offer a set dollar amount or a tiered bonus commission that is based on sales. Try tailoring your bonus system according to your budget, and if you so choose, only offer these incentives to affiliates who’ve performed well in the past.

5. Referral Commission
Many affiliates get into the business of affiliate marketing because of friends who are also affiliates. Encourage this word of mouth marketing through referral commissions. Many affiliates may hear of affiliate programs through forums and search engines, but word of mouth is just as influential. Offer a flat referral commission and if you can afford it, a lifetime commission on transactions the referred affiliate sends.
If you’re already active with all or some of the above recruitment strategies make sure your affiliates and potential affiliates know about them.  Announce these details in your company newsletters, on your blogs, on your website and even in industry print publications.  The more affiliates know of these details, the more likely you are to attract quality affiliates to your program.  And if you’re not yet active with these recruitment strategies, Q4 is the perfect time to get started!

For more techniques, tools, tips and great resources to make sure you’re getting every last drop out of your affiliate marketing campaigns, be sure to come back to the Share Results blog. Until November 27, Share Results is throwing a big Holiday Blogging Event, packed with all kinds of seasonal information regarding trends for Q4, tips to get the best deals, consumer trends and how best optimize your affiliate marketing campaigns.

You really can’t ignore the vampire trend that has seemingly swept the nation. From television shows and movies, to merchandise, vampires are in, and the buzz surrounding them is only increasing. As such, the new vampire blockbuster Twilight: New Moon is set to open November 20^th worldwide, and the hunt is on for official Twilight merchandise. This Halloween definitely wasn’t without its fair share of Edward costumes and Bella outfits, but for any other day of the year, how may someone show their admiration?

Official Twilight: New Moon Merchandise

MXM has the EXCLUSIVE plus-size Canadian rights to the OFFICIAL MOVIE TEES from THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON!

MXM, a trendy 14+ fashion brand, is 5 years young and has quickly grown in popularity by featuring the latest hottest looks and trends. This new line of exclusive merchandise from the Twilight Saga is a huge benefit to affiliates who are interested in promoting MXM and/or one of its sister brands AdditionElle and Penningtons. Together, these three brands are the leading fashion experts for plus size women.

For November Share Results is offering MXM affiliates some fanastic affiliate and customer promotions. All affiliates will benefit from an additional 2% rev share commission for the month! That’s a total of 8% commission!

Customers will benefit from $15 off any order of $75 or more during the month of November. Customers can purchase from all three brands in a single checkout and benefit from a low, flat shipping rate to Canada and the US, therefore making this coupon even more effective! Login to obtain the coupon code!

If you are not already an affiliate of the AdditionElle/Penningtons/MXM program, you can read more and sign up for the Plus-Size Clothing Affiliate Program

Happy Fall!

It’s week two of our Holiday Blogging Event, and in our last blog of the week, we ask, what one incentive do online consumers want more than anything else?

According to Forrester Research, 75% of customers prefer to shop with an online retailer that offers this incentive, and The Conference Board Survey supports these same findings, reporting that 90% of consumers say this would also entice them to spend even more online.

The incentive here is free shipping. It’s an attractive enticement, and most consumers have come to expect it, especially around the peak holiday season.

Many merchants debate whether offering free shipping or a discounted purchase price will be more attractive to the consumer. David Bell, marketing professor at the Wharton School observes that

For whatever reason, a free shipping offer that saves a customer $6.99 is more appealing to many than a discount that cuts the purchase price by $10.

Bell also concludes that 60% of online retailers cite “free shipping with conditions” as their most successful marketing tool.

So why is a free shipping offer so important to an online retailer?

• 78% of online customers say that exorbitant shipping costs discourage them from online purchases. (Source: E-tailing Group, 2008)
• 75% of people prefer to shop with online retailers that offer free shipping, compared to 61% in 2007. (Source: Forrester Research, 2008)
• 43% of shoppers abandon their shopping carts because of unexpectedly high shipping charges. (Source: Paypal, comScore, 2008)
• 61 of the largest 100 online retailers offered free shipping as of the week of Monday, November 10, 2008. (Source: Internet Retailer)
• 90% of respondents say free shipping offers would entice them to spend more online. (Source: The Conference Board Survey, 2008)
• 72% of consumers say that if an e-commerce site eliminated free shipping, they would use another e-commerce site that did offer free shipping. (Source: comScore Survey, 2008)
• People are searching for ‘free shipping’ earlier in the Christmas shopping season, and for longer. Searches for free shipping began to rise in October of last year, and actually peaked in the first week of January. (source: eConsultancy.com, 2009)

Need more reasons to offer free shipping this holiday season? Check out Free Shipping.org for a list of retailers who are incorporating this incentive into their marketing strategy—and succeeding!

Is your affiliate marketing campaign ready for the holiday season? If not, this is the blogging event to get you ready for the busiest season of the year. Check out last week’s blogs, and make sure to tune in again next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for more tips and techniques to help you end Q4 with your most successful campaign yet!

We’re excited to announce the launch of the AdditionElle/Penningtons/MXM Affiliate Program in Share Results!

Together, these three sister brands are the leading fashion experts for plus size women.

ADDITION ELLE celebrates the “body confidence” of its plus size shoppers with an exciting array of contemporary and classic fashions. In addition to superb collections of work and weekend styles, Addition Elle carries a beautiful selection of intimate apparel, sleepwear, outerwear and accessories designed to address all of its customers’ lifestyle needs.

Penningtons Featuring a beautiful assortment of classic as well as contemporary styling, Penningtons offers the plus size customer a great selection of affordable career, casual, intimate apparel and accessories that fit her lifestyle.

MXM, a trendy 14+ fashion brand, is 5 years young and has quickly grown in popularity by featuring the latest, hottest looks and trends.

With orders averaging $100 CDN, affiliates can easily promote Addition Elle, Penningtons, and MXM styles to shoppers looking for fashionable pieces at affordable prices. Customers can purchase from all three brands in a single checkout and benefit from a low, flat shipping rate.

Join the affiliate program and take advantage of these three top plus size fashion brands.

Placements permitted in this program include:

• Banner & Text creative
• Content
• Coupons
• Incentivized
• Email traffic
• Deep linking
• 45-day Cookie
• Canadian/American traffic

Affiliates earn 6% commissions on each transaction with opportunities for increased commissions and bonuses. Affiliates are also able to leverage the banners with additional coupon codes that can be accessed through their affiliate portal.

A variety of regularly updated text links, coupon codes and banners are available for use on your website.

If you are a retail affiliate with a strong female audience (especially in the plus size category) and/or are a search, coupon or blog affiliate, you are an ideal partner for this affiliate program.

For more info or to join, please visit:

http://www.shareresults.com/local_affiliate_desc.php?mid=16648

As the cold air begins to flow, merchants are on the lookout for what kind of online shopping trends are on the horizon for this 2009 season. October is half over, and if you haven’t started to prep your Q4 campaigns already, it’s time to get started!

This year, it is estimated that US retail e-commerce sales (excluding travel) will total $132 billion, down 0.4% from 2008. eMarketer forecasts online sales will begin to rebound in 2010 and hit full stride in 2011 if the recession is to end in 2009 as economists have predicted.

Trends suggest consumers will be spending less this holiday season making it more of challenge for retailers to attract ideal customers to both brick and mortar and online stores. That, of course does not mean there will be no shoppers, but it means that consumers will be more selective. That simply means that this season, more than ever, it is important to stand out, and make educated decisions about where advertising money should be spent.

Trends also show a progressive shift in consumer research, and there are more value shoppers who will browse research and compare products on the Internet. Consumers are using social media more to search for deals and coupons via Twitter, Facebook. So, marketers may want to channel more resources into that avenue.

In preparation for the 2009 holiday shopping season, online retailers looking to create the most effective e-commerce site should take the following steps:

1. Optimize website with holiday focused content
2. Improve pay per click (PPC) advertising campaigns for holidays
3. Driving more sales through the Comparison Shopping Engines
4. Create more customer loyalty programs
5. Humanizing customer service
6. Increase free shipping offers
7. Offer exclusive holiday coupons
8. Plan long term on how to reach consumer AFTER the holiday season have passed

For more techniques, tools, tips and great resources to make sure you’re getting every last drop out of your affiliate marketing campaigns, be sure to come back to the Share Results blog. Until November 27, Share Results.com is throwing a big Holiday Blogging Event, packed with all kinds of seasonal information regarding trends for Q4, tips to get the best deals, consumer trends and how best optimize your affiliate marketing campaigns.

Last week we posted the first of a two-part interview with online education merchant eLearners. In addition to getting some great insight from them about the online education industry, we learned what popular degrees that students have been gravitating to and how eLearners has dealt with the ever increasing interest in the online edu affiliate marketing sector.

This week, we continue that conversation and find out what type of edu affiliates are preferred for their program and more…

Q: Tell us about the diverse education offers available to affiliates who join eLearners. What would you say is your most successful campaign to date?

A: OnlineStudentFinancialAid.com has had a long history of success and continues to be a dominant force, and Project Working Mom has been an instant hit, generating national press coverage, but we prefer not to dwell on past successes. We continue to work on innovative new campaigns to reach new demographics; The Career Stimulus Package just launched this summer, and the response has been overwhelming.

• Did you know that OnlineStudentFinancialAid.com can be promoted in Spanish to online users?

Q: What are some of the biggest misconceptions affiliates have about the eLearners affiliate program?

A: One of the biggest misconceptions is that we are just looking for a high quantity of leads. Our main focus is actually making sure our leads are of high quality and continue to enroll.

Q: With all the different type of affiliates who partner with eLearners, what promotional methods would you say do best in the program?

A: All promotional methods, whether SEO, display, PPC, etc., have their own strengths and weaknesses, but all serve a purpose within our program and add a specific value.

Q: What are the key elements do you look for when affiliates apply to your affiliate program?

A: When looking at sites to partner with, we look for (in no particular order) unique content, a good layout, a high page rank, good traffic, high ranking on key search terms, etc. In general, we are looking for something that doesn’t necessarily look like it is set up for just lead generation, but has a larger purpose.

Q: What would you say are the top 3 common inquiries from prospective students that affiliates should know when promoting to their audience?

A: Some common inquiries from prospective students include tuition prices, financial aid/scholarship options, school accreditation and even the location of the school offices so that students may be able to take care of things in person if needed.

Q: Based on your experience in the industry, what would you say are some of the forthcoming trends affiliates should expect to see in the overall online edu market?

A: Social media seems to be something that people are starting to make a big push for.

Q: What kind of exciting campaigns can affiliates expect to see from eLearners’ affiliate program in the forthcoming months?

A: I can’t reveal all our secrets just yet, but we definitely have some exciting things coming in the next few months…

Update: The Career Stimulus Package campaign has indeed been a big hit with online users; however, this offer is only available to be promoted until October 31, 2009.

If you have any questions about Career Stimulus Package or any other eLearners opportunity, please don’t hesitate to reach us via eLearners(at)shareresults(dot)com.

Affiliates! Merchants! Are you ready for Q4, aka the busiest season of the year for affiliate marketing?!

October is half over, and if you haven’t started to prep your campaigns already, it’s time to get started!

And do we have the event to get you in the holiday spirit. From October 14 to November 27, Share Results is throwing a big Holiday Blogging Event, packed with all kinds of seasonal information regarding trends for Q4, tips to get the best deals, consumer trends and how best optimize your affiliate marketing campaigns.

Affiliates, here’s what you can look forward to during our Holiday Blogging Event:

• Affiliate marketing strategies
• Tips on how to best communicate with merchants—and how to secure the best deals!
• Tips on what shoppers will be looking for most this holiday season
• Tips on achieving higher conversion rates
• Tips on earning more revenue

Merchants, we have customized tips that will help you end 2009 with a bang. Here’s what to expect:

• Time and affiliate program management tips
• Trends that apply to your program
• How to be best prepared to accommodate affiliates during Q4
• What tools to have in place to ensure your success
• How to communicate effectively with affiliates
• How to develop a detailed promotional strategy to maximize revenue-earning potential

If you haven’t visited our Share Results blog before, now is a great opportunity to get started. The blog is designed to give you techniques, tools, tips, industry news—and so much more. And it’s a great resource to make sure you’re getting every last drop out of your affiliate marketing campaigns.

Join us starting this Friday, to launch our Holiday Blogging Event. Our first blog will look at online shopping trends for 2009, how consumers are looking for holiday deals and what online retailers can do to create the most effective e-commerce site in preparation for the holiday shopping 2009 season.

The popularity of online education affiliate programs has grown exponentially over the last few years with a few online edu lead aggregators playing a leading role in offering a wide variety of academic opportunities that benefit both affiliates and prospective students alike. eLearners, Share Results’ highly popular online education advertiser, has seen major growth within the online edu industry, and, naturally, increased interest from affiliates looking to promote online degrees from land-based colleges in the United States.

We took some time to chat with eLearners about their widely-recognized affiliate program in Share Results. In the first part of this merchant interview blog series, eLearners gives new affiliates the inside scoop on the online education industry, the most sought after degrees by students, and how they’ve adapted to the growth in online degree opportunities.

Q: For novice affiliates out there who are just entering the online edu space in affiliate marketing, can you explain exactly what eLearners is?

A: eLearners.com is the premier destination for anyone in school or considering furthering their education. We service all phases of the life cycle of a student —  from prospecting for students by connecting them with colleges, to introducing them to resources such as financial aid and scholarships, to ensuring enrollment and retention, to providing a safety net for current students who need support, to helping them move on to their next degree.

Q: What distinguishes eLearners from other online edu aggregators out there?

A: What makes eLearners unique is that we are more than just an aggregator, since our focus is applied more towards the entire life cycle of a student, but in addition to this, we work with over 200 fully accredited schools (more than anyone in the industry) while simultaneously carrying a strong reputation for quality and a reach that is unmatched.

Q: Studies show that land-based operators are seeing a drop in the number of student applications, but also another challenge is the availability of financial aid. How has eLearners been affected by this trend?

A: We actually work with a number of schools that provide financial aid options, and these schools have seen a great response from prospective students. What we have done on our own, though, to meet this trend head-on, is develop a series of scholarship programs to reach a multitude of demographics. Two of our scholarship programs, Project Working Mom and the Career Stimulus Package, respectively, have already given away a combined $6+ million in scholarships in 2009.

Q: How does the number of school applicants compare to two years ago? What valuable feedback from schools can you pass on to affiliates who partner with you about the wealth of online edu applicants?

A: The number of prospective students continues to grow year by year. Online degrees have become increasingly popular, and traditional schools have recognized this trend. Traditional campus schools understand that a virtual campus is now a necessity in order to maintain a competitive edge.

Q: Based on trends you are seeing, what would you say are the most popular degrees and subjects of study in the online edu space?

A: The online education space is ever-changing, but three areas in which I have seen pretty consistent interest are healthcare, business and criminal justice.

Q: What would you say distinguishes eLearners’ affiliate program from other online education affiliate programs out there?

A: We pride ourselves on the happiness of our partners and being available for them, so a high level of customer service is always our priority.  Our industry reputation, competitive payouts, unmatched selection of schools/programs and high conversion rates are what tend to attract people to our program.

Q: Some affiliates think that the education sector in affiliate marketing is too saturated. What do you think of this perspective and how has eLearners coped with the ever-growing online edu sector of affiliate marketing?

A: Especially with the recession, this arena has seen quite a bit of growth over the past year. We see it as a plus because this just means we have more potential partners to work with.

Next week in the second part of our blog series, eLearners will dish on the biggest misconceptions about their program, the three things student look for from online education, and what it takes to become an affiliate of their program…

In the meantime, if you have any questions about the eLearners offers that are available, please feel free to reach us via eLearners(at)shareresults(dot)com. If you have inquiries about any of our other education affiliate programs in Share Results, please email us: affiliates(at)shareresults(dot)com.

If you are an affiliate looking to promote products associated with a charitable cause this fall, you may want to consider partnering with T-Shirtmonster.ca. This October, the online t-shirt retailer is working in affiliation with the Breast Cancer Society of Canada to offer fully customizable t-shirts in honour of Breast Cancer Awareness month. ”The Breast Cancer Society of Canada is a registered, national not-for-profit,  charitable organization dedicated to funding Canadian breast cancer research into the detection, prevention,  treatment and to ultimately find a cure for the disease that women fear most.” If you have Canadian traffic, T-Shirtmonster.ca is a great way to promote to your potential customers north of the border who are in favour of this type of non-profit initiative.

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