The holidays present online retailers with tremendous earning potential.  With mere days left in the month of October, and the countdown to the real holiday madness just around the corner, now is the time to have a good look at your marketing campaigns to make sure you’re set up to enhance your sales volume, and ultimately, seal the deal.  Here are some key areas of your marketing campaigns that you should look at to make sure you’re in shape for the season.

1. Quality Affiliates
Having knowledgeable, capable marketing partners is crucial to the success of your online campaigns.  A quality affiliate will have an attractive, user-friendly website with a high page rank, and will employ multiple marketing methods to promote your product(s).  So make it a point of recruiting these affiliates and regularly logging into your account to evaluate the quality of partners that you are attracting to your program.

If you don’t feel confident about the caliber of your partners, you should speak to your affiliate manager, or consider re-evaluating your recruitment strategy.  Your Traffic Report can also help you identify your top-performing affiliates, along with their conversion rates, and can be pulled based on Affiliate ID.  Once you have partners whom you believe have the potential to perform well in your program, the more likely quality sales will be generated.

2. Click-Through Rate
Your click-through rate is an important indicator to help you determine whether (a) customers are attracted to your product/service, and (b) if they are abandoning your landing page for some unforeseen issue.  For example, you may create an effective banner ad or coupon, but a problem on an affiliate’s site, your landing page or your shopping cart could be impacting the customer’s ultimate decision to buy.

The Deep Linking tool is applied by merchants who want to help their affiliates highlight specific products that match the need of the customer.  This tool allows affiliates to send customers to an exact area of your site that truly responds to their buying need.  When a customer sees a product on a banner that they like, and then lands on a relevant landing page for that item, you are helping to seal the deal, and reduce the odds of shopping cart abandonment.  If you’re seeing low stats, consider permitting a tool like deep linking in your program, or talk to your Share Results affiliate manager to offer some insight.

3. Seal the Deal
Once an affiliate has sent a customer to your website, and the customer is ready to buy, it’s up to you to seal the deal.   Make sure you have the right tools, and are doing everything you can to make buying convenient and simple.
An example of a deal breaker might be a banner on an affiliate’s site promising a flat price for one of your products, only to have that customer discover shipping charges during the checkout process.  In fact, according to comScore, 43% of shoppers abandon their shopping carts because of unexpectedly high shipping charges, and 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.  Free shipping is just one of several incentives that are important to online shoppers, so make sure to incorporate this in your strategy whenever possible.

Most importantly, remember to apply your Share Results marketing software to its full potential by using the tools at your disposal, and to check in with your affiliate manager regularly to find more strategic techniques for closing the sale.

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 until November 27 for more tips and techniques to help you end Q4 with your most successful campaign yet!

According to a recent article from eMarketer.com, the No. 1 metric of success for the marketing and sales managers polled was the number of new customers acquired. Lead generation and increased sales were also tracked by more than two-thirds of respondents.

This holiday season, it will be more of challenge than ever for retailers to attract new customers to both brick and mortar and online stores. That is not meant to imply that there will not be shoppers. In fact, Marketing experts National Retail Federation (NRF) have predicted that the holiday sales for 2009 will see flat growth largely due in part to the recent recession and consumers being much more money conscious.

So, there will likely be a bevy of shoppers this season, but a post-recession, research savvy new breed of shoppers, best described as the selective consumer. That means that this season, more than ever, it is important to stand out, and make educated decisions about where advertising money should be spent.
That means operators will have to roll out customized promotions that are tailored to their customers. More significantly, it means that the operators who can forge a relationship with their customer base will be those who succeed this Q4.

“Marketers have been aware of the effectiveness of building relationships and trust with content since long before the Internet,”

said Gordon Plutsky, director of marketing and research at King Fish, in a statement.

“Technological change has rapidly increased media channel options and the patterns of information consumption among consumers. More and more marketers are abandoning old media—and traditional advertising—to venture out on their own with original content.”

The marketers studied in the eMarketer.com article considered their corporate Website the best method for achieving their top goal of reaching prospective customers. Social media and custom content and media were not far behind.

As the shift into more in depth consumer research continues, this season will see more value shoppers who will browse research and compare products on the Internet using Social media. Consumers are using social media more to search for deals and coupons via Twitter and Facebook, so marketers may want to channel more resources into that avenue.

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 (http://blog.shareresults.com/). Until November 27, Share Results (www.shareresults.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.

Whether you’re an existing affiliate looking to optimize your campaigns, or just getting started in the industry, here are some the most important tools you need to succeed in the upcoming holiday season.

Optimize Search Campaigns
Online customer acquisition strategies expert NetElixir predicts a 7-10% increase in search campaigns this holiday season. That’s a lot of potential for new sales, and affiliates will want to make sure they’re in a position to capitalize on this opportunity. PPC affiliates wanting to make sure their campaigns are running smoothly should be constantly testing their campaigns, running keyword reports, running promotions early and getting ready for Cyber Monday. Affiliates can also take advantage of SR tools such as the ACID feature which the affiliate can use to track the performance of any keyword for their campaign.

Join Programs
Affiliates looking to maximize sales will want to seek out the best product and program offerings. After all, even the most savvyaffiliate will fall short without teaming up with the right merchants and programs. Affiliates looking for new advertisers or products to promote in Q4, should check out the merchants in the Share Results network such as Imaginary Greetings, UnderGroundHipHop.com, Tundra Gear and Cute Kid, all of whom provide products that can be extremely popular for the holidays. Affiliates can browse a full list of our partners by visiting the Share Results website.

Securing High Converting Offers from your merchants
The months leading up to the holiday are important for setting up the promotions necessary to have a successful season. Affiliates should be using this time to get high performing coupons and deals from their top merchants. An excellent example is a free shipping offer. Shoppers flock to free shipping offers around the holidays, so affiliaters who have taken the time to set up these promotions in high visiblity areas on their sites are likely to reap the benefits.

Highlight Shipping Policies and Deadlines
Last minute shoppers are in abundance the last week before Christmas, and a lot of merchants have extended shipping deadlines. It’s important for savvy affiliates to stay on top of shifting deadlines, and to update promotions accordingly. During the Christmas rush, a few days can make the difference between a sale, and a lost sale.

Coupons
According to a recent survey commissioned by Retail Me Not, 62% of online adults look for coupons for online stores and more merchants are embracing coupons as a way to connect with their budget-conscious shoppers. Affiliates looking to capitalize on this trend should be sure to partner with merchants who have coupon offers. Like other offers, affiliaters who have taken the time to set up these promotions in high visiblity areas on their sites are likely to reap the benefits.

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.

Major retailers are re-evaluating their marketing strategies, with more and more opting to invest in Internet search ads, as this medium becomes mainstream. Indeed, Efficient Frontier, a search engine marketing firm, predicts a ‘double-digit’ increase in search ad spending this quarter, most notably from retail advertisers during the peak holiday online shopping season.

As this marketing medium becomes more popular, marketers are also becoming savvier. As a Wall Street Journal article reports, some of the new strategies include buying top ads tied to phrases consumers tend to search for when they are in the final stages of making a purchase decision. Being aware of how consumers search when they are ready to purchase, is critical to making your ROI as lucrative as possible.

With Halloween fast approaching, a good example of this might be using long-tail keywords like “buy a Spiderman Halloween costume” versus a more general search term like, “Halloween costume”. A consumer would be far more likely to use a long-tail keyword like the Spiderman example above when they are further down the sales channel, and are ready to buy.

When you do incorporate long-tail keywords in your search ads, make sure the landing page where you are sending the consumer truly matches their interest. Using the same Spiderman costume example, it would be wise to send the consumer to targeted page on your website. In this case, unless the landing page had a selection of Spiderman Halloween costumes, chances are that your ROI on this search ad would be less than attractive.

If you haven’t tried your hand in search ads, the holiday season is probably the best time of the year to give it a shot. Whether you choose to go with Google, or with Bing which increased its share of searches and search-ad dollars in Q3 (Source: PaidContent.org), Share Results is now offering its SEM services (contact Jamie [at] shareresults [dot] com), with a team of search engine experts, to get you going with what is now recognized as a very popular, and very savvy way of marketing.

Executing a successful Q4 campaign is possible for online retailers, even if the season’s shopping activity is expected to decrease due to the poor economy.   Merchants who wish to succeed this year will need to be strategic, and plan ahead.   In today’s edition of the holiday blogging series, we’re going to touch upon 5 tools merchants must have if they wish to execute a successful holiday campaign.

According to a recent article from RBR.com, trends show shoppers plan to pinch pennies this holiday season, while InternetRetailer.com reports more holiday shopping will take place on the web. Armed with this knowledge, merchants can tailor their tools and resources to help them better perform during the fourth quarter of 2009.

Here are some suggested must-haves for merchants who wish to succeed this holiday season:

Must-Have 1: Update Terms and Conditions

It is important to update terms and conditions on a regular basis, especially during a busy holiday season when there are likely to be increased transactions.  This is necessary so merchants don’t find themselves welcoming in sales generated through methods not permitted in their affiliate program in the first place (for example,  incentivization, brand name bidding, or social media links through Facebook and Twitter).  While it may seem like a hassle to update terms and conditions regularly, it is far less of a hassle than the alternative; if terms aren’t up to date, merchants have to have to go back, review transactions, and evaluate if the affiliate used methods that were in violation of program.   In order to avoid this headache, merchants should clarify the promotional methods with affiliates – NOW!

Must-Have 2: Marketing Tools

Linking, Banner and Email Creatives are all marketing tools that can be employed to maximize a merchant’s potential for success in the upcoming holiday season.  Deep or Direct Linking has been effective in allowing affiliates to help close a sale from a potential customer. Currently available in the Share Results software, it is being used by merchants like UGHH to allow affiliates to promote a specific product.  Co-branded Banner Creatives are great sales tools for affiliates to use to promote and attract potential sales. These can include a specific product, a coupon code or even a call-to-action like “Free Shipping”. HTML Email Creatives have been great tools for merchants like Zoobooks, who’ve have great success with email marketers who promote their magazine subscriptions to US families. Having attractive email creative (including suppression files and suggested Subject lines) helps a merchant’s affiliates to target specific demographics.

Must-Have 3: Effective Landing Pages & Secure Shopping Cart

Effective landing pages complete with a secure shopping cart can mean the difference between closing or losing sale.  A secure shopping cart convinces shoppers they’re spending money with the right retailer.  A recent DigitalHome.ca article confirmed that shoppers are encouraged to pay attention to issues like security and Privacy Policy’s of a retailer’s site. Language promoting security of shopping cart on landing page reassures customers that their personal details are protected. Generally, affiliates also want merchants to have secure checkouts as well.  After all, affiliates spend a lot of effort promoting for their merchants, and if traffic doesn’t convert, then that defeats the affiliate’s purpose.  A comprehensive merchant will want to research shopping carts extensively, to find the ones that are most compatible with the given business model.

Must-Have 4: Coupon Codes

You may be asking yourself why coupon codes aren’t grouped in with must have #2, Marketing Tools.  That’s because coupon codes are a niche unto themselves, which can be tapped by marketers all on its own. A recent eMarketer article highlights the popularity of coupons and points out that even the most affluent online shoppers are as likely to try and save a buck this holiday season.  Merchants can use this intelligence to be more selective and offer competitive and even co-branded codes. Exclusive coupon codes can be segmented for affiliates who are known or have potential to be top performers.

Must-Have 5: Affiliate or Account Manager

Given the current economic climate and the fact that shopping activity is expected to be down for Q4, merchants are going to need more than just hot items to woo customers.  Having someone communicate with affiliates to answer their needs, or an account manager to liaise with partners on the merchant’s behalf, is essential for creating dialogue, negotiating better placement of an offer, and answering affiliates who want exclusive promos to promote.  A proficient affiliate manager can help facilitate the process by aligning merchants with the right affiliates, and working with both parties to achieve their desired outcomes; brand exposure, increased traffic, maximized conversions and profitability.

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.

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!

Share Results is excited to announce that we now have three employees who have received Google Analytics accreditation. This means that businesses can work with Share Results to maximize SEM efforts and set up analytics campaigns- as well as growing a company’s business through Google and other search marketing opportunities.

The Analytics accreditation is proof of proficiency in using Google Analytics, and qualification remains current for 18 months. In order to receive the accreditation, individuals must complete the mandated Google training sessions and score 75% or higher in the Analytics exam. Receiving the Google Analytics accreditation means that Share Results is now qualified to set up Google Analytics for client websites, offer in depth analysis of statistics and set up conversion tracking and goals on client websites.

If you’re seeking out opportunities for branding and acquisition though paid search, contact Share Results to develop an online strategy.

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.