Zoobooks has become quite the popular kids education affiliate program in Share Results. This is not only because of their coupon offers, and dual CPA and rev share commission models. But they are also right up there with The CuteKid.com and Sittercity, as programs that are perfect for affiliates that specialize in online retail offers for families. That being said, there’s more to a merchant like Zoobooks than first glance. Their audience is a little more comprehensive than most affiliates think. For instance, ever take into consideration the language of those customers, the education, the number of children they have, and what age their kids are? This family audience is not a one-size-fits-all type of demographic. Let’s break down the family audience a little more for a merchant like Zoobooks.

Firstly, families interested in Zoobooks are interested in promoting reading in their homes. With this in mind, it may be a good idea to look at offering their educational products to a more multilingual audience. Perhaps it’s not a bad idea to promote to families that don’t speak English as their first language and may want to help their kids further their knowledge of the English language.

In addition to language enhancement, more than 50% of customers for this product have homes run by college-educated parents. Most of those purchasing products are female and to be more specific, they range between 35 and 50 years of age. It also shouldn’t be surprising that grandmothers make for great potential customers of Zoobooks products. They’re as much invested in the education of their grandchildren as the parents are.

The range of products available from this online retailer include animal-themed magazine subscriptions, as well as DVD sets. The reason for this (besides branding) is the fact that families will have an average of 1.5 children with most averaging around 7 years old. The Zootles group (parents with kids two to 6 years) is also a popular audience.

Also, the average Zoobooks customer not only has college education, but they also have a higher income bracket. Besides 95% of Zoobooks customers owning their own home, they also earn on average $65,000 or more annually. This is a great shopping opportunity for affiliates that cater to this audience of online users.

Furthermore, paid search (with restrictions) is a highly popular method of promotion in this program as is email marketing. Evaluate how to carefully tailor your campaigns, especially when it comes to keywords for PPC. Bidding on keywords like “zoo animals” will be costly, so try using more distinct words or variations, such as “zoo” in tandem with other terms. Some examples are “zoo magazine”, “zoölogy”, “zoo hippos”, “zoo animal education”, “animal education for kids”, and “zoo monkeys”.

Because Zoobooks has a wide variety of products and subscriptions, it presents a unique opportunity for affiliates to cater to a niche market looking for unique educational products for their kids age two to 12. If you would like to learn more about Zoobooks or their affiliate program, feel free to view more details via their merchant co-branded page.

The Chick Lit genre has grown in popularity over the past decade. From Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones Diary to the Sex and the City collection of essays by Candace Bushnell, Chick Lit has become a staple in many women’s book lists. With empowered female protagonists choosing between being financially independent, shopping and love (generally in that order), we are often led to believe that these qualities are part of an everyday women’s life. As a genre, the Chick Lit that we’ve become accustomed to is supposed to be representative of a woman’s hopes, fears, dreams and values, but is this an accurate description of the “real” woman? I think not, and neither do an array of authors and publishers who are urging to include a sense of realism into the genre.

As such, there has been a completely new genre of Chick Lit –   a breath of fresh air if you may. “These books are spearheading the revolution towards a more realistic perception of real women in easy-reading literature” says Mink Elliot, author of The Pi**ed Off Parents Club. This new genre is attempting to move in a new direction, away from the focus of women antagonizing over weight and appearance while juggling several love interests and an addiction to shopping.

“Chick Lit is finally holding a real mirror up to its readers, and they can’t get enough of it”, says Elliott. This new sense of ‘body confidence’ is the same concept that is being promoted by leading plus-size retailers like AdditionElle, Penningtons and MXM. By celebrating ‘real women’, these brands are at the forefront of the new wave of body image that is erasing stereotypes everywhere.

Trish Wylie, author of His LA Cinderella – a ‘bigger Chick Lit’ book – offers this interesting tidbit, “All women have body-image issues, no matter how slim they are. The ultimate fantasy for most women is simply accepting themselves, whatever their body weight. That’s what we, as authors, are responding to.”

Power to people like “Ugly Betty” creator Silvio Horta. It’s almost 2010, and it’s about time that the natural beauties of the world started getting together and exuding confidence for who they are. Together, authors like Wylie and retailers like Addition Elle, Penningtons and MXM are leading the way for women who simply want something they can relate to; the truth.

If you would like to promote AdditionElle/Penningtons/MXM, we can provide you with strong content and tailored creative for your audience.

Knowing how well your marketing campaigns are doing is vital to the survival of an affiliate marketer. Without the proper information on where campaigns are succeeding or failing, it will be impossible to know where adjustments need to be made. This is true all year round, but is especially poignant during the holiday season, as the smallest error can be extremely costly.

According to Steven Leung,

“Estimating unique visitors is today’s most popular measurement of a site’s popularity and success. And marketers can easily use this metric to measure the popularity of their campaigns.”

With this in mind, it is important for affiliates to establish metrics for campaigns that can give them important data on success and failures. This will lead to common goals for all campaigns, which is the Conversion Ratio. Goals for Conversion Ratios will be different for everyone, depending on the product being marketed, but knowing what percentage of your visitors are actually converting into sales will show affiliates where to adjust their campaigns to help them reach their goals.

Share Results’ software is equipped with reports that can track impressions, clicks, and conversion rates to measure every aspect of a campaign. Affiliates can also take advantage of Share Results tools such as the ACID feature which the affiliate can use to track the performance of any keyword for their campaign.
If a site isn’t getting many page views, then affiliates will want to explore ways of generating traffic. Similarly, if a site is getting a lot of visitors, but few clicks, then looking into a change in creatives would be worthwhile.

Email affiliates have to measure how often their emails are being viewed, how often their links are being clicked and then how many people actually purchased based on those emails. Measuring Deliverability, Open Rate, and Click Through rates will help to measure if you are reaching your target audience and where to make changes, if necessary.

Being armed with the right statistics is the key to successful campaigns. Lord Kelvin said that,

“If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”

Knowing where campaigns need work, will help affiliate marketers to adjust their campaigns to become more successful in the future.

With the right knowledge, merchants have a greater opportunity to manage campaigns. Finding out where programs are successful and where they might need work can mean the difference between a good business and a great one.

Using feedback acquired over the course of several years, Share Results has worked steadily with partners to provide a software solution that meets the needs of merchants and allows them to track program performance results.

The software (available as a stand-alone proprietary product or accessible to merchants who are part of the Share Results network) is equipped with a powerful dashboard tool that allows merchants to view performance statistics at a glimpse, enabling them to get the information they need to measure campaign performance.

The Traffic Report is a reporting option included in the Share Results software. It allows you to pull reports based on several different criteria, all of which are important to the marketing process. For example, a merchant can group their report by “Affiliate ID” to help assess how many affiliates are actually promoting, and whether or not they find value in using the marketing tools provided for their email or PPC campaigns, or banners they place at the top of their site. If you find that the numbers here are low, one area to explore is whether or not you have a competitive commission payout, because you may have great tools, but if the pay isn’t high enough, it may not be attracting enough partners to your program.

Generating a Traffic Report by “Creative ID” allows a merchant to evaluate what tools are generating the most clicks and whether or not they are converting. Merchants who place a registration pixel on their site will help affiliates to see those results in the report, because our software captures that data. The success of a creative may depend on where the affiliate has placed the tool. If it’s in a prime location on their website and you aren’t seeing any sales, then that is a fairly clear indication that interest in your product may be low and may require more brand exposure.

Using the Share Results software to generate a Transaction Report can help to determine how many affiliates are generating sales and just exactly where those sales are coming from. You’ll know that your product or service can convert if you’re seeing sales, but if you see little or no sales over a three-month period, then you need to evaluate elements of your program, like whether or not you have the right affiliates promoting your product or if you have enough dynamic marketing tools to help them promote. If you already have a lot of quality affiliates, perhaps you need to look at increasing brand recognition.

The Referring URL column toward the far right of the Transaction Report will allow you to see which web pages your affiliates are using to promote your products. Knowing exactly where the sales are being generated from can help you learn more about an affiliate’s campaign strategy.

The knowledge of how to measure program performance is out there, and we can help assemble it for you in such a way as it will make sense to you, and help you in your marketing strategies. For more information on how Share Results can help you as a merchant, or as an affiliate, feel free to contact one of our affiliate marketing managers. Or, feel free to email us at merchants[at]shareresults[dot]com.

This year’s economic reality means that the trends are going to be different than they have been in the past. While an increase in potential online shopping might seem somewhat dire, what it actually presents is a chance to adjust current marketing campaigns and get in on some great campaigns just in time for the holidays.

Practical gifts, such as gift cards, are sure to see an increase in popularity this year. There is a bit of irony here, as many people are planning on using gift cards to purchase the gifts that they will give this year.  So, giving gift cards to your friends might make sure that you get a gift next gift-giving season. One area that consumers have cut sharply is restaurant gift cards.

Spending on food and candy is up, while most other non-gift categories have declined. While statistics show that spending on items like decorations, greeting cards, and flowers is down, there are still opportunities to be found in the holiday season.

The good news is that many of the areas that people are interested in spending their money can be found online and more shoppers are turning towards the Internet to find deals. In fact, last year during the worst part of the current recession, online shopping outperformed brick-and-mortar in several key categories, including apparel, books and magazines, home and garden furniture, and greetings and gifts.

With this in mind, focusing on the campaigns in the best-performing categories in 2009 will boost your traffic and your earnings.  Apparel merchants like AdditionElle/Penningtons/MXM, and T-Shirt Monster are excellent choices to complement your retail traffic, and Zoobooks will be a good bet for consumers looking for educational gift for children. With many people minimizing their gift-giving costs, unique Christmas affiliate programs like Imaginary Greetings (Letters from Santa) and Santa’s Ornament Shop could be just the thing to reach your holiday consumers.

Whatever your focus, affiliates in the Share Results affiliate network will have plenty of options to choose from. Don’t forget to consult with one of our account managers, as they can really make a difference in helping to direct your seasonal campaigns.

Reducing investments in campaigns that might not be as popular this year as they have been in the past and instead focusing energies on the trends for the current climate will help to ensure continued growth in the fourth Quarter and a great start to 2010.

At the end of this past October, eLearners brought a final close to one of their most popular education campaigns yet. The Career Stimulus Package was one of a few exclusive offers within their affiliate program in Share Results and was a huge hit with affiliates actively promoting since its introduction this past summer. Over the last several months we’ve made mention of CSP via our blog, mailers and newsletters to Share Results affiliates.

Just in case you missed all the news, the initiative was all about giving women and men in the US the chance to  boost their careers and overall lifestyle. Participants gained access to online college opportunities to further their education, which was wonderful for those who may have only achieved a high school diploma. The campaign also aimed to assist prospective online students the chance to benefit from financial aid opportunities with a number of reputable online colleges. Furthermore, companies like ELance, Orbitek, spud!, and Entrepreneur Media Inc. were part of a list of companies offering paid internships.

While CSP is no longer available, remember that eLearners is still offering other great edu opportunities through their portals like Criminal Justice and Entertainment Industry Degrees. They are also running their very popular Project Working Mom… And Dads, Too! A monthly campaign perfect for moms and dads who are working and need some financial help to go back to school through an online college.

In the meantime, please check out some video footage from the CSP campaign. It’s a great example of how Americans were impacted by this project.

To learn more about eLearners, feel free to check out their merchant page by clicking here.

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!