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.

One of the most exciting things about working in the online world is that it is constantly evolving and growing. Those who are able to remain on the leading edges of new technologies will continue to be the most competitive players in what has become a world in which only the savviest survive. And in what might seem like a bit of a paradox, the ever-growing online world is actually becoming smaller.

No, the amount of opportunity for business is not shrinking, but with new technologies like iPhones, and Google Android devices – to name just a couple – tech-savvy marketers are finding ways to shrink the sizes of their marketing materials to fit onto these new devices.

It’s not unusual to see teenagers or twentysomethings with smart phone devices these days. In fact, you’re almost as likely to see someone walking along the sidewalk while accessing a 3g network as you would be to see a young hipster with a laptop in a Starbucks. A recent survey done by Sprint says that 80% of those in the 18-34 demographic cite their cellular phone as their “lifeline” to others.

And that’s exactly what they’re doing with their phones: they’re communicating. They’re heavily invested in social networks and, according to one source, the top 20% of those using social networking sites are spending up to 31 minutes a day on them. What that means to marketers is that those people are spending more time with ads.

The opportunity to reach out to that market is there— it’s just a question of how to best market to your target audience. More people with mobile devices means that they are going to be spending more time online, which makes them easier to reach. It’s definitely worth looking into ways of reaching these consumers. In 2008, smart phones accounted for 13% of the total handset market, and this number will only continue to grow. The more you can adjust your marketing campaigns to accommodate new technologies, the greater your market share will be.

For more information on how to best market your campaigns in this exciting new market, you can contact our SEM Agency to get some advice on how to get started.

Because Share Results is committed to providing you with every service possible to help your business grow, we have started a new SEM Agency that offers services in PPC Management and SEO. We are now poised to offer services that help online business networks develop their Internet footprint and brand recognition. We are also offering supplemental Marketing Support because, at the end of the day, it’s really all about converting those leads into sales.

One of the most frustrating and challenging parts of SEO these days is the constant changing of the criteria that helps web pages to rank. Keeping track of these changes is really a full-time job, so unless you have someone employed within your company that can make sure that all of your codes and protocols are up to date, then you may be missing out on some small protocol that might be keeping your pages and PPC campaigns from ranking as high as you might like. That’s where we can help.

We have a team of dedicated professionals whose entire function in life (well, at work, at least) is to make sure that they have the most up-to-date SEO information. They can dissect your website, page by page, and show you where improvements can be made in coding, and keyword distribution. In addition, a navigational review of the site can be performed that will show you how you can keep traffic for longer, creating more opportunities for conversions.

It is one thing to get traffic coming to your site, but it’s something else entirely to convert that traffic into sales, so along with SEO support, Marketing Support is one of the most important aspects of the SEM Agency’s function. Our SEM professionals will help you to improve your web copy, and show you how you can more effectively reach your audience on websites and PPC campaigns. You’ll also receive some tips and tricks to help you increase your online presence and how to get there faster than your competition.

The best part of this service is that it is always personalized to your individual needs. We want to help your business be the best it can possibly be, and our new SEM Agency is just one more step in that direction. To find out more about how we can help drive qualified traffic to your site, feel free to contact us at agency [at] shareresults [dot] com and we’ll get you started in the right direction.

A recent Web Marketing Group article reveals very promising Internet usage statistics:

• Around seven new people use the internet every second
• For the millions of Internet users, every 4th person is using it to purchase something.
• An average of US $1 billion in Internet transactions are conducted every month.
• In a year, this figure rises to roughly US $1 trillion.
• In a year, there are 88 million new users. And this figure is constantly rising.

Suffice it to say, there’s a huge online market out there, ready and willing to buy. But with different backgrounds, tastes and interests, it’s not just about advertising everything, to everyone. Research shows that knowing who your audience is, what their needs are, and how they behave are key factors to making a successful sale.

This is crucial information to keep in mind during the holidays, when affiliates may want to look at trends for seasonal products and services, which they may not otherwise promote. Having this information will help you to invest your time and energy in markets that are more likely to provide an excellent return on your investment.

Affiliates will also do well during Q4 by looking at their own interests and expertise. If you are passionate about something, ideally something that is also part of a seasonal trend, it will be much easier to promote and sell.

If you’re a PPC affiliate or a blog affiliate, knowing your target audience is even more important. Without this information, these kinds of affiliates may be using irrelevant keywords, and providing content that is uninteresting and indeed unconvincing when it comes time to make the sale.

With trends suggesting that consumers will be spending less this holiday season, it’s more important than ever to make sure your Q4 marketing campaigns are on target.

“Consumers are more aware of their spending than ever and are very active in trying to find the best deals. Coupon websites are still growing rapidly in popularity, with nearly two-thirds of consumers checking for coupons when they shop online,”

said Guy King, co-founder of RetailMeNot.com.

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.

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.

The holidays are the most wonderful time of the year, and present merchants and affiliates with tremendous earning potential. In fact, holiday shopping can account for up to 50% of an online retailer’s yearly sales, meaning that affiliates too have an equal opportunity to leverage this peak shopping season.

In 2008, an estimated 85 million people shopped on Cyber Monday, known as the kick-off date to the online shopping season. This year, many online retailers are looking to the Monday after Thanksgiving to bring another sales surge.

The Black Friday – Cyber Monday weekend accounts for a significantly large portion of the holiday sales for online retailers. Yahoo Advertising reports that Black Friday is the new Cyber Monday, stating,

“When compared with the average day in November, Black Friday showed a 147% increase in conversions, while Cyber Monday had a 73% increase in conversions.”

This year, the lucrative Black Friday – Cyber Monday weekend falls between November 27-30; affiliates, make sure your campaigns are ready!

The 2009 forecast looks promising, when compared to 2008. Amazon.com has reported its third quarter income has increased to $199 million from $118 million last year. It’s forecasting 4th quarter growth of 21% to 35% over last year.

To leverage your earning potential, it’s important to note what shoppers will be looking for:

1. Deals
2. Discounts
3. Coupons

As economic difficulties continue, consumers are looking for money-savers now, more than ever. Coupon sites have seen monumental growth this year, with shoppers looking for discounts and deals. Sites such as RetailMeNot are seeing over 200% growth over last year.

According to Netelixir , keyword search advertising is expected to be the most important customer acquisition channel during the 2009 holiday season. With Google reporting a 7% increase compared to the third quarter of 2008, PPC affiliates will have a great opportunity to increase their search revenue. For affiliates looking to try their hand at PPC, the holidays are the perfect time to get started. And with Share Results’ recent launch of their SEM Agency , it’s easier than ever to get the support you need to drive the success of your affiliate marketing campaigns.

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.