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Affiliate Profile

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QualityNonsense.com
LateLateGifts.co.uk

What best describes my website?

Over the last few years, I've focused almost exclusively on direct-to-merchant pay per click advertising. I'm now diversifying into content sites. LateLateGifts.co.uk, for example, reviews shops that offer same day and next day delivery gifts.

The best feature on my website is?

Feckless gift givers can find last minute gifts pronto. It's a subject very close to my heart (even if the site needs a facelift).

Which of the following best describes your affiliate activities?

PPC
Niche or true content site
Blog / Personal Website
Product /Price Comparison
Directory
Loyalty site
Coupon or Voucher Code     redemption site

What is the best piece of affiliate marketing advice you've been given?

A quote from IBM founder Thomas Watson: "Double your rate of failure. You're thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn't at all". Making a living as an affiliate is all about making enough mistakes to learn what makes money.

What advice would you give to a brand new affiliate programme manager?

Meet your affiliates, in person if possible. Ask the uncomfortable questions that provide actionable information: What is our company not great at? How could we improve conversion rates? What have your users complained about? Etc. I never learned anything from a compliment. Listen to affiliates' requests to make your programme fly. A decent datafeed, for example, can be make-or-break for whether I add a merchant to a site. I've not got time to clean their data if they're not willing to do so. Treat affiliates as an asset, not a business cost.

What are your thoughts of creating a code of conduct for merchants, affiliates and networks to follow?

Of course, people in the industry should be held to account for their behaviour. But the idea of a committee of my competitors deciding what is and isn't acceptable for my business doesn't much appeal.

Which methods have merchants used effectively to motivate you?

I'm a sucker for once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Buyagift rule the school here: they're taking me to Vegas to fly a fighter jet. But I think the best advice is simply to be original, whatever your budget. Cash bonuses are ten a penny and really don't make merchants stand out. But Lego, bless 'em, sent me a Lego keyring just for joining their programme.

How do you use the AWin index to help profile suitable Merchants?

As a PPC affiliate, I want merchants who approve sales fast and with low decline rates, so Affiliate Window's metrics are invaluable.

Which retailer site has the best functionality?

It's hard to pick one, but I'm a big fan of video content when done well. It's great to see more merchants offering this for affiliates.

Which retailer site has the best style?

ASOS.com does a great job of matching great style with a functional e-commerce site.

What is your favourite blog and why?

Disclaimer: both are friends, but Blogjam.com and LadyShambles.com for effortlessly witty writing.

If you like what you have read so far, please click here to invite them to join your programme.

Dear Merchant

Happy April fool's day! I can assure you that there are no tricks or practical joke inside this April edition of the Affiliate Window Newsletter, nothing involving spaghetti trees or beef burgers for left-handed people; instead we introduce you to two more of our affiliates in the Affiliate Profile and the Site Review, revisit click append and discuss maintaining an affiliate friendly site.

Technical Account Manager Dean Murr has offered us his tech tips on many an occasion but get to know him a little better in his interview in the AWin Life in Brief.

As the Fashion sector continues to grow Affiliate Window has teamed up with leading true content fashion affiliates to present 'Fashion Sense'. This event will be held on the 17th April and we have two spare tickets to give away in this newsletter. Simply send me an email titled "Fashion Sense comp" to kirsty.grimes@affiliatewindow.com and I will award the first two to reply the tickets to the event.

Also we are giving you the opportunity to get your brand out in front of top fashion affiliates like Living TV, Kinicker Picker, OSoYou and the Daily Goss; we are collecting small gifts to be included in our Fashion Sense goody bags. So if your brand resides within the fashion sector and you would like to take advantage, please contact me or Sarah Wellock as soon as possible and we will be more than happy to assist you.

How to create and maintain an affiliate friendly site

We are often asked what makes a website particularly attractive to affiliates, so here are a few simple reminders of what they are looking for:

Dos

The design of your site is extremely important to the customer journey, so it should be attractive and relevant. Best selling products and promotions should go on the home page.

It is crucial that navigation through your site is simple and logical. Creating intuitive categories at the top of the homepage will ensure that conversion is optimised.

Including secure shopping signatures or similar accreditations will build the buyer's confidence in your site. It's also a good idea to include a list of possible payment methods.

Make sure you have detailed product descriptions, and that all images are high quality. Customers will want to know as much as possible about the products they are buying.

It's important that the checkout process is quick and easy. Conversion is dramatically reduced by a long or unclear checkout process.

Don'ts

Don't display products on your site that are out of stock. This not only irritates customers, but also irritates affiliates who push these products. Leaving out of stock products on your site will also reduce conversion.

High delivery charges which only become apparent during the checkout process will severely reduce conversion.

Leakage points such as telephone numbers or links to other sites will deter affiliates from promoting you. You can either take these off the homepage or use the click append functionality to direct traffic to a page without any leakage. If removing the telephone number is not possible for customer service reasons, try reducing its size.

If you want any more information please contact Account Development on 0844 557 9242.

James' Tech Tips

Click Append Revisited...

Recent experiences have suggested to me that a straight forward explanation of Affiliate Window's Click Append maybe useful for some merchants.

My intention is not to tell you why to use Click Append or the technicalities involved, as this has been well documented in the past. What I hope to convey in the next few paragraphs is an outline of who is involved and the task of each party through this process.

So let's begin

When Affiliate Window enables Click Append, essentially all we are doing is allowing a string of characters to be tagged at the end of your URL. The information within the Click Append would be dependent on why you require it, and would only appear for visitors arriving via an Affiliate Window link.

The clever part of this procedure now sits in the hands of your web developer, who will write a script (sorry, no one script fits all I'm afraid!) to make your website store and recognise the Click Append. When this is achieved your website can then be manipulated to behave in certain ways (sorry, more scripting!) when it sees this Click Append.

Don't get me wrong, this is not a 5 minute script that can be copied and pasted into your website. However, I do think a lot of time can be saved if the merchant knows what has to be done (and can explain this to the developer), rather than how it is done.

When to seek the Click Append:

1. Run Affiliate Window tracking code only for Affiliate Window transactions
2. Remove affiliate unfriendly content from your website (e.g. Order telephone number)
3. Identify Affiliate Window traffic within your 3rd party analytical tracking

For more information contact the Technical Support team via e-mail or telephone 0844 557 9240.

James Talbot
Technical Support

Site Review

Content	11/25
Functionality	21/25
Originality	22/25
Creativity	20/25
Total	74/100

ShopCodes.co.uk

Affiliate ID:3911

affiliatewindow@surfmyads.com

ShopCodes.co.uk is a directory of UK shops and services, with a particular focus on those merchants that offer promotional codes. The site is a well established website in the UK offering users the largest collection of exclusive retail codes in the UK.

Innovatively the site is very user friendly as all the codes are clearly visible without any 'click for code' buttons that hide content and force new windows to open making the site more streamlined for the end user. The side navigation menus on both the right and left sides of the page gives the users quick access to Hot codes, exclusive codes, New March sales and many more user offers. The content on the site is basic and to the point, focusing on promoting merchants through end user offers. The site is continuing to grow with the resent purchase of the Shopcodes.com URL which should establish Shopcodes as a key player in the UK market.

You can also click here to invite this affiliate to join your programme.

AWin Life in brief

Q: Describe your typical day as a Technical Account Manager.

My role has only recently been introduced, so I'm still finding my feet. Much of the day is spent tending to the technical needs of my clients, such as The Sun, M&S, Sky, and Vodafone. My duty is to ensure all problems are fixed as smoothly and swiftly as possible before having an impact, if any, on the programme's performance. When I have my quiet moments, which only seem to last minutes, I concentrate on optimising these programmes so that they take advantage of our latest tracking technology, and datafeed improvements, which I feel will add significant value to the programme.

Q: Do you have a background in Technical Account Management?

I qualified as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, which seems irrelevant to the job I do now. However, I think it's important to have a technical background in the job I do. It allows me to problem solve with great depth and understanding. I've always been rather online savvy and have created many a website in my time. Before taking this job, I was quite advanced in coding - so understanding how we track on both the merchant and affiliate side came quickly.

Q: What is your favourite website?

I've always been very interested in graphic design, www.deviantart.com is an amazing place for artists to create portfolios and share their creations. We also love icanhascheezburger.com here at Affiliate Window. I couldn't forget www.facebook.com, I think I spend most of my free time on this website (yes, free time).

Q: What is your favourite aspect of Technical Account Management?

Techies are often perceived as nerds who are tucked away at the back of the office - which is exactly where we're seated at Affiliate Window. However, I've always really enjoyed meeting and interacting with new people believe it or not, so the Technical Account Management role is perfect for me. It allows me to do what I primarily do best, and still have client-facing opportunities. I've had the privilege of presenting at our merchant training seminars - and I love it.

Q: If you could give one piece of advice to merchants what would it be?

I would advise them to upgrade to our latest tracking technology, product-level tracking. For a merchant, reporting on products sold through the affiliate channel will enable them to access greater granularity of information on products sold. The products reported at sale will be tied in with datafeed clicks to allow for per product performance analysis. This increased granularity of reporting will also mean their affiliates have a higher level of information with which to target and improve their campaigns.