It’s November, and with Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner, consumers are looking forward to some of the biggest savings of the year. Whether through brick and mortar stores, online retailers, or both, consumers will be browsing products throughout the month to snap up the best bargains, come November 27 (Black Friday) and November 30 (Cyber Monday).

For affiliates and merchants, it’s important to start your campaigns early and to get the word out about your promotions in order to capitalize on impeding traffic. And while many people associate Cyber Monday as strictly online sales, and Black Friday solely about offline sales, the truth is, both days are important to your online sales goals.

In fact, while the majority of consumers identify Black Friday weekend as the time to buy big ticket items, research shows that Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are actually quite similar, suggesting that shoppers don’t separate the two in terms of online and offline sales.

A recent study by the Yahoo Insights team supports this finding, concluding that online sales on Black Friday were not too far behind sales that occurred on Cyber Monday. The study reveals that online retailers experienced a greater percentage increase in conversions on Black Friday, than Cyber Monday.

Trends identify Black Friday/Cyber Monday as having the best deals on personal, home or office and electronic products. Location is also important, with more than 50% of consumers shopping from their workplace, for added convenience.
This year, due to the still recovering economy, Black Friday sales ads are expected to offer shoppers a selection of huge bargains and deals on even more products and services. Free shipping offers are also especially popular during Cyber Monday, with 75% of customers preferring to shop with an online retailer that offers this incentive.

So with mere weeks left until two of the biggest shopping days of the year, merchants and affiliates should definitely make sure their marketing campaigns are ready. Consumers will begin product/service browsing now, so make sure your deals and free shipping promotions take front and center. And remember, online sales are not just about Cyber Monday anymore; Black Friday is going to be equally important to your marketing campaign success.

We wanted to let you know about the latest Share Results Hot Coupon Deals for November 2009. There are some exciting promotions including the launch of one of our newest merchants AdditionElle/Penningtons/MXM – the leading fashion experts for plus-sized women!

NEW:AdditionElle/Penningtons/MXM

Affiliate Promotion: Earn an extra 2% commission for all orders (from 6% to 8%)
Offer expires November 30th, 2009

Coupon Code: Customers get $15 off orders of $75 or more
Coupon Code – Available via the Share Results Coupon Feed
Offer expires November 30th, 2009

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Imaginary Greetings

Coupon Code: Get a free personalized phone call with purchase of a Santa Letter
Coupon Code – Available via the Share Results Coupon Feed
Offer expires December 31, 2009
Coupon code can only be used once by one customer and cannot be combined with other promotions

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StyleFly

Customer Promotion: Black Friday/Cyber Monday Coupon
Coupon Code – Available via the Share Results Coupon Feed
Canadian Traffic Only – Offer available from November 27 – 30, 2009

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Tundra Gear

3 Coupon Codes:Customers get 10% OFF any hat
*Customers save 10% on all products
*Buy 2 hats, get a 3rd hat free

All offers expire after December 31, 2009 and cannot be combined

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The CuteKid

Affiliate Promotion: Brand new $1.25 CPL offer for Member Registrations + landing page

Offer is now Ongoing!

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ZooBooks

Coupon Code:
Get 20% OFF any order (subscription not included)
Offer expires December 31st, 2009

Customers get 10% off all products (excluding subscriptions)
Offer expires February 14th, 2010

Both coupon codes – Available via the Share Results Coupon Feed
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T-Shirtmonster.ca

Customer Promo: Brand new Military T-Shirts for Remembrance and Veterans Day + New landing page for products

Offer expires November 30, 2009
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UnderGroundHipHop.com

3 Customer Promotions:
*10% Off orders
*$10 Off orders $75+ or more
*$25 Off orders $150+ or more
Coupon Codes – Available via the Share Results Coupon Feed
Offer expires December 31, 2009

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Nero

Affiliate Promotion: Earn an extra $25 for your first 10 sales in November
Offer expires November 30, 2009

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Language of the Leaf

Coupon Code: 10% Off on all orders over $30 + Free shipping over $50
Coupon Code – Available via the Share Results Coupon Feed
Offer expires November 30, 2009
Coupon code can only be used once by one customer and cannot be combined with other promotions

Login your Share Results affiliate account to access all these great coupon offers! http://www.shareresults.com/affiliates/login.php

Halloween is in two days and falls on a Saturday this year so the parties and get togethers will be in full swing. It doesn’t matter if you’re throwing a Halloween jam or giving out candies – dressing up in a costume can make it more fun and enjoyable.

So who will you be dressing up as this year? According to a recent article from MercuryNews.com, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga and Kate-minus-Jon will be some of the hottest costumes in 2009.

Halloween can also be a great time to start an affiliate marketing career. Brian G. Johnson from NetMarketingCourse.net said that:

“It is estimated that during the 2009 Halloween season, consumers will spend more than 7 billion dollars on costumes, candy, decorations and other assorted seasonal niche items.”

This can be a huge opportunity for new and established affiliates to generate revenue and ride strong into the holiday season.

Happy Halloween from the Share Results staff!

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.

For a new affiliate, the opportunity to make money from home or working part time can definitely be appealing but there can be a lot of challenges as well.

If you’re looking for some great tips on how to get off on the right foot and succeed in the affiliate marketing industry, check out the following article:

“Many people are looking at affiliate marketing as a source of income now that the world financial situation is so dire. Affiliate marketing is not rocket science, but there are certain guidelines you need to follow….”

Another great way to learn about the industry is by attending conferences such as the Affiliate Summit which provides great opportunities for networking and learning from some of the best experts.

Online coupons are hot these days and people are looking to save money from coupons and deals more than ever.

This trend should be continuing into Q4 of this year. If you are an online retailer and are not presently offering coupons through your affiliate program, you can lose out during this holiday season as consumers are expected to hunt for more bargains and discounts.

Coupon websites are seeing double to triple growth this year which is worth noting as it tells us that there is a huge demand for it. A blog post in GrowFromHere.com brings a good point up about the environment benefits for offering online coupons;

Using the internet to distribute online coupons for some retailers has led to a reduction in catalogue production/distribution, saving both the consumer & the supplier money, not to mention lowering environmental impact by reducing paper waste…

While creating coupon codes, make sure to have codes that are easy to remember, have a clear call to action along with an expiry date.

We’re really excited to announce that Share Results is participating in this year’s CIBC Run for the Cure, taking place Sunday October 4th in Montreal. The 5k run is an international annual event that helps raise money and awareness for breast cancer research.

Over the next couple of weeks our team is working hard to gather as many donations as possible to support this important cause. Almost all of us have a mother, sister, daughter, wife, friend or colleague who has been affected by breast cancer and the objective of the run is to raise funds for breast cancer research, and education and awareness programs. You can make a donation online, all amounts are both welcome and greatly appreciated.

We’re recruited 15 members to our team already, and are always looking for more! If you happen to live in the Montreal area and would also like to participate, please email me and I’ll send you all the details. To get an idea of how serious we are about this, check out Alberto’s Training Exploits on Twitter, and read Lesley’s touching personal account of why this cause means so much to her: Bishin Speaks.

We’ll be posting pictures and highlights from the event, along with how our fundraising campaigns went. If you have any stories to share about this event, please feel free to share!

In continuation of our last post about the Affiliate Summit East conference in New York, Share Results had the opportunity to attend the GLAM Interactive party. While the GLAM parties have been known to be all-female events, this time it was an all-gender affair. In fact, correct us if we’re wrong, but were there actually more men at the GLAM party than women? The GLAM party included a live performance from the band…  wait for it…
Touch my Pixel.

Share Results walked the floor for much of the conference. Monday of course was the first and most popular day for the exhibit hall where most of the networking takes place. The beauty of having the conference at the Hilton in Midtown New York was that there were two floors where companies were exhibiting. Sometimes exhibit halls can get much too chaotic and crowded, so breaking it up into two floors was a good idea. Perhaps it might be a great opportunity for the organizers of the event to segment future exhibit halls by specific sections for merchants, agencies, networks, what have you. We could definitely see how much easier it would be to help affiliates and other existing/potential partners to decide on just where to allocate their time.

Read More…

Nearly every affiliate has considered making the leap from being a part-time affiliate marketer to being a full-time one. Well, in the latest episode of Coffee with Nicky, our CEO, Nicky Senyard, explores what’s involved in taking that step. From the experience it takes, to how it’s a leap of faith that be based on your what you’re passionate about, Nicky goes over some considerations that every affiliate should make when taking their affiliate marketing activities to the next level.

Recently Share Results affiliates received the latest edition of our monthly Hot Deals Affiliate Newsletter. Featuring the latest customer and affiliate incentives, our June newsletter gives affiliates the inside scoop on what new offers are available from merchants in the network. This month, as you know, is when North Americans celebrate Father’s Day. As we approach this and other holidays throughout the year, one of the most common questions we receive from affiliates is “what offers can I promote for this holiday?” Here are 3 great categories in which affiliates can optimize their traffic. Some of these offers are featured in our newsletter, a few are niche, and they are sure to help you make the most of your traffic.

Read More…