Learn Blogging & Affiliate Marketing with Rosalind Gardner
Affiliate marketing is a revenue-sharing arrangement between online merchants and distributors (affiliates) in which the affiliate earns a commission.
I get pitched several times a day, every day, by writers and SEO ‘specialists' who want to “help me improve the visibility” of my various blogs.
Granted, with thousands of visitors per day, I wasn't aware that my blogs had a problem with visibility, but OK, I'll bite to see what they are offering.:-)
Sadly (for them), I ditch their pitch for one (or many) very obvious reasons 99.9% of the time. Here are just a few of the reasons their pitches fail: [Read more…]
I asked readers if they could spot the problem with a Clickbank product for which I'd received an affiliate whitelist invitation in my “Clickbank Whitelist Invitation: Can You Spot the Problem?” post.
Everyone was asked to leave a comment on the article if they saw an issue with the product mentioned.
Boy, you folks are smart!
You picked up on more issues than the one that caused me to reject promoting this Clickbank product, the (OFP Kit) because you were looking at the sales page from not only an affiliate marketer's perspective but that of a customer as well.
Good for you!
I agree with everyone who posted comments about the pitch being less than honest, i.e. in terms of results being ‘guaranteed' from ‘Day 1' and a misspelling to boot! 🙂
What very few people noted, however, was the affiliate marketer's primary reason NOT to promote this Clickbank product.
OFP Kit could have been the best product ever to help new Internet entrepreneurs learn to make money online, but I still wouldn't have promoted it for the simple reason that the offer ‘leaked' affiliate commissions, i.e. an effort is made to scam affiliate marketers from their rightful commissions.
Here's how that worked.
I coded my affiliate link for the OFP Kit and at the bottom of the sales page saw an ad for the ‘Lucrative Business Blueprint' product.
Clicking the Lucrative Business Blueprint link and then the ‘Get Started' button at the bottom of that sales page I ended up on a Clickbank order form. I checked to see whether my affiliate ID (webvista2) had carried over to give me credit for sales of that product.
It did NOT.
Circled in red on the graphic below is the affiliate to whom sales would be credited, should YOUR leads choose to buy the ‘Lucrative Business Blueprint‘, rather than the OPF Kit to which you directed them initially.
Hmmm…. not fair, right?
That's not only not fair but SO not kosher in the affiliate marketing world.
The CORRECT way to link to another offer from a Clickbank sales page is to code the link WITHOUT an affiliate link.
For example, if I were to link from my Super Affiliate Handbook page to my membership site's sales page, I would link with its URL.
I would NOT use a Clickbank affiliate link.
It makes me think that the OPF Kit producers added that offer after they got product approval from Clickbank because Clickbank would never allow such leakage.
So… is the problem solved?
No.
So, what do you think we, as affiliate marketers, should do to correct the situation?
Please leave your thoughts in the Comment section below and I'll let you know what I did and whether the problem was resolved.
Cheers,
A few days ago, I received a Clickbank Whitelist invitation with the subject line, “You've Been Added to a ClickBank Affiliate Whitelist”.
Receiving a Clickbank whitelist invitation to promote a Clickbank vendor's product means that the vendor doesn't allow just anyone to promote their product. They've searched through successful affiliates on Clickbank and deliberately picked those whom they want to promote their products. If you haven't been whitelisted for that product, you can structure a typical Clickbank affiliate link, but won't be paid for sales that you make.
What I found particularly interesting is that the invitation I received was sent to my English, Spanish and German Clickbank accounts for the Super Affiliate Handbook, although the product being promoted is only available in English. Hmm…weird.
I clicked through the link attached to the email to check the product offering out.
Arriving at a very well-designed, informative landing page, I actually read the entire thing.
But one very big problem stopped me from even considering promoting their product.
Can you, as an affiliate marketer, spot what that ‘one very big problem was'?
If so, leave a comment below and tell me what you think the problem is with this Clickbank product.
I'll post my answer on Friday. 🙂
By the way, although I reviewed the Clickbank vendor's landing page, I did not buy the product, and therefore this is not an endorsement for or a criticism of the actual product being sold on the page. It could be quite useful, I don't know.
You'll have to do your own research.
Granted, the one good thing is that they need abide by Clickbank's refund policy rules, so if you buy it and don't like it, you can get a full refund within 8 weeks of purchase.
Cheers,
GREAT news for affiliate marketers in States previously excluded by Amazon Associates.
In an email I received today, I learned that as of February 1st, Associates residing in Missouri, Rhode Island and Vermont will now be able to participate in the program.
Woohoo!
It's not great news for Amazon customers, as in at least 10 states they will begin paying sales taxes on their website purchases for the first time ever. Tax collection begins February 1st in Mississippi, Missouri, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Vermont.
Tax collection already started in January in Louisiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Utah, and begins in Wyoming on March 1.
Did you find this post informative and useful? If so, please share it with others! If you have a comment, question or suggestion, please leave a comment below!
Cheers,
Affiliate marketing in October isn't scary at all! There is a whole slew of holidays and events during the month that present lucrative opportunities. The most prevalent of these include:
Month Long Observances include: [Read more…]
As an affiliate marketer who lives in Arkansas, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Rhode Island, or Vermont; you aren't eligible to join the Amazon Associates program.
Moreover, if you join the Amazon Associates program and then move to any of those states, you become ineligible to participate in the Program, and Amazon will terminate their operating agreement with you on the date you establish residency in that state.
So, what's an affiliate marketer who lives in AR, ME, MO, RI or VT to do?
Well, they should sign up for alternative merchants' affiliate programs which offer a wide variety of products and affiliate programs and which don't exclude people from their states from joining.
Here are 6 alternatives to the Amazon associates program…
Affiliates in the Ebay Partner Network earn double commissions for the first 3 months after they join.
For example, let’s say you drive a visitor to eBay, who ends up with a winning bid on a laptop with a total sale amount of $500 and revenue of $40. If the Electronics category rate was set at 55%, your earnings would be $22, or 4.4% of the total sale amount.
According to eBay…
With 162 million active buyers shopping, there’s no end to the great listings that you can share with your audience. We have 5 million sellers offering nearly $70 billion in gross merchandise annually. Plus eBay has global reach, operating in 13 countries around the world.
Check out the Ebay Partner Network.
Earn up to 7% commission on Overstock.com’s broad range of products including: Apparel & Accessories, Books, Movies, CDs, Games, Electronics & Computers, Home & Garden, Jewelry, Sporting Goods, and Handmade Goods. Data feeds are available in both .CSV and .XML formats.
Overstock's affiliate program can be found at CJ by Conversant.
You can earn 5 – 8% on apparel, accessories, home and outdoors goods, between 3 and 5% on baby gear and furniture and 1% on health and beauty products.
They have a 7 day cookie and send a weekly newsletter with updates on promotions, contests, and sales opportunities.
Target's affiliate program is run through the Impact Radius network.
Walmart has 3 separate affiliate programs, one each for the U.S.A., Canada and Mexico. Commission rates vary as follows:
Makes you want to learn to speak Spanish, right? 🙂
Walmart's programs are available through the Rakuten Affiliate Network.
Best Buy claims to be the #1 retailer and most trafficked website for consumer electronics. Their commission rates vary between 0% of sale on Gift Cards, Warranties & Apple Tablets/Laptops/Desktops/iPhone Hardware/Watches, to 0.5% of sale on remaining laptops & tablets and 1% of sale on All Remaining Categories.
You can also earn a $10 flat fee (bounty) on Geek Squad SKUs and a $5 flat fee for mobile plans.
Best Buy's affiliate program is on the the Rakuten Affiliate Network.
See?
Amazon isn't the only game in town when it comes to having millions of users just primed to buy the stuff you want to promote!!
Did you find this post informative and useful? If so, please share it with others! If you have a comment, question or suggestion, please leave a comment below!
Cheers,
Affiliate marketing in September probably brings ‘Back to school supplies' immediately to mind. True, they are the most advertised and promoted items in September, particularly by mommy bloggers and any affiliate whose audience includes parents or college students.
Back-to-school supplies may consist of:
Most of the affiliate networks post specific links to merchants who have back-to-school promotions. The following graphic shows Shareasale Upcoming Holidays list, which can always be found on their main login page.