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Affiliate Profile

I am...

Alicia Navarro, CEO & Founder of Skimbit, a company specialising in tools helping publishers monetise their content in ethical and user-friendly ways. Our key product is Skimlinks.

You can find me...

Skimlinks can be found at http://skimlinks.com, and information specific to merchants can be found here.

What best describes my website?

Skimlinks helps quality publishers that don't have the capacity or ability to do affiliate marketing, to monetise their site easily and transparently. Editors just need to write content as they normally do, linking to products and services on merchant sites. Skimlinks then converts these links into their respective affiliate link equivalent on-the-fly. It means publishers can focus 100% on the quality of their content and on attracting the right traffic, and are motivated to include more links to merchant sites within this content.

The best feature on my website is?

We don't create the affiliate link until a user clicks on it, making the URL appear normal until that point. And we have patent-pending technology that supports affiliate-enabled deeplinks even to merchants that don't support deeplinking. This means our clickthrough and conversion rates are higher than normal. We also provide a comprehensive publisher tool kit that lets publishers research the merchants participating in Skimlinks.

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
Its a unique category: its like outsourced affiliate marketing for publishers

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

Here at Skimbit we are passionate about behaving ethically. We want to add value to all parts of the value chain: users should have a seamless user-experience, publishers should be rewarded for the sales they generate, and merchants should benefit from incremental sales and more quality content written about them. I think a code of conduct has to look at all parts of the value chain and ensure any action helps all parties.

Which methods have merchants used effectively to motivate you?

Merchants that deal with unavailable products well are our favourites. We are reluctant to promote merchants that give users a bad user experience when they click through and find a blank or error page on the merchant site. We also like merchants that have a well-performing purchase process.

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

We don't use this - we work with all merchants we can, to give our publishers maximum potential.

Which retailer site has the best content?

OnePoster.com is fun to explore for ages!

Which retailer site has the best functionality?

Confetti.co.uk is a fantastic site - it not only is a great merchant site, but they have achieved making their site also into a community and content site.

Which retailer site has the best style?

We have become fans of TruffleShuffle.co.uk its fun to navigate, and the products are interesting. Its got a very unconventional style too.

What is your favourite blog and why?

We enjoy the A4U blog , its the best summary of what is happening in the affiliate marketing space.

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

Sunday 1st March saw the top 100 Best Companies to work for published in The Sunday Times. We are really pleased to announce that Digital Window made it into the list for a second year running; in 2008 we came in at 100 in the chart with a 1 star accreditation, this year we sit in 95th position with an 'outstanding' 2 star status. For more information about the Best Companies and a closer peek at our results please visit the Affiliate Window blog post.

Do you want to help shape our industry? Promote the performance based channel? Or just get some good ideas? Then why not consider taking part in the Affiliate Marketing Council; hosted by the IAB, these meetings help to both grow the industry and those who participate in it, you only have to look at the recent IAB Voucher Codes guidelines to see the importance and impact the council can have. To find out more about the AMC please visit our dedicated blog post.

We like to see our merchants making great use of the offers blog and especially the seasonal categories like Mother's Day or Easter. New categories will spring up throughout the year, but we shall keep you posted. However for the time being, to assign either the Mother's Day or Easter categories to your post simply select them from the drop down menu in the Offers Blog interface.

Twitter - catch up with the real time goings on at Affiliate Window HQ! Twitter will not be replacing any existing forms of communication, but we believe it is another great tool to help us to talk to our affiliates and merchants, plus it helps us keep up to date with what's going on too!

Last month our focus was on communication, in particular communicating to affiliates, this month we continue this theme and focus on the various methods available to our merchants. Click here to read the second part of our communication special. If you missed out last month's Newsletter click here to catch up.

Also in this month's newsletter; we hear from Skimbit in our Affiliate Profile, the new AWin traffic light payment system gets the tech tips treatment and we review look.co.uk's website.

Until next time,

Communication Part 2

Methods of Communication

The next step is to select the best way to talk to your affiliates. The key methods are as follows:

News Manager

Our dedicated email tool where you can choose to adopt a simple text format or HTML if you wish to include images and deep links. It's perfect for communicating anything from general announcements directed at all affiliates to specific one-to-one messages.

Affiliate Newsletter

This grants some exposure to merchants that have recently launched on the network, but also contains sections on the Merchant of the Month, the Offer of the Week and Featured promotions. If you have a particularly strong offer, it's a good medium to let affiliates know about it, so contact our content manager via promotions@affiliatewindow.com or your point of contact if you wish to feature.

A4U Forum

A popular industry forum, the A4U Forum is where merchants, affiliates and networks come together to discuss a range of topical issues in the industry as well as merchant-specific threads. There is a dedicated forum for Affiliate Window, which is the only network forum to have a promotions section, so it is good practice to visit this regularly and get some extra exposure for any promotions you may have. To visit the site, click here and please get in touch with your point of contact if you would like a guide on how to use it.

AWin Offers Blog

This is another great platform for miscellaneous communication, with dedicated categories for new programmes, promotions, policy changes and closures. Subscribing affiliates can even receive automatic live updates on particular sections, including offers emerging from specific sectors, allowing your promotions to reach a much wider audience! For a step-by-step guide on how to use this, you can click on 'Offers Blog' under 'Communication Tools' in the merchant administration area.

One-to-One Communication (E-mail, telephone and Instant Messaging)

It is good practice to keep in regular one-to-one contact with your top performers to ensure they have all they need to promote you effectively. Ask your point of contact if you need contact details.

If you have any queries, the Account Development Team is always at hand to assist you. Tel: 0844 557 9242 and E-mail: accountdevelopment@affiliatewindow.com

Tech Tips

Awin Traffic Light system

At the turn of the year Affiliate Window introduced our very own Traffic Light system. This has been implemented in order to grade your payment status and give affiliates more visibility on commission payments. The current format operates as follows:-

Green - This statement illustrates that you have an up to date payment record and no payment restrictions. Affiliates will be paid for all of your commissions regardless of when you pay Affiliate Window.

Amber - This statement illustrates that you're set to restricted invoice terms. Affiliates will be paid for all of your commissions only when payment for the corresponding invoice has been received by Affiliate Window.

Red - This statement illustrates that you have severely restricted invoice terms and overdue payment with Affiliate Window. Affiliates will be paid for all of your commissions only when payment for the corresponding invoice, and the other outstanding invoices, has been received by Affiliate Window. The network would recommend affiliates to not promote you if you're set to this status.

You can view your payment status in the Account Overview section of your admin area:

Most of our competitors pay to the equivalent of the amber status as standard practice. However, we're happy to pre-pay affiliate commissions for you, providing that we can secure adequate credit insurance against your business to cover the risk.

To take advantage of our industry leading payment system it's important that your account is on a green light. This can be achieved in a number of ways, please refer to your admin area for details.

If you have any questions regarding the new payment system or your current status please let us know as soon as possible. You can contact our technical services team on 0844 557 9247 or email us.

Site Review

Content	22/25
Functionality	20/25
Originality	20/25
Creativity	22/25
Total	84/100

Look.co.uk

Affiliate ID: 78531

Following the success of Look magazine, Look website was launched in 2008. The female fashion website emanates the magazines glossy, fast-paced characteristics. Users can access affordable high street fashion items, beauty, competitions and celebrity news all on one site. Members can also interact in the forum and are sent regular newsletters.

The purchase of fashion items is made easy and effortless through smooth navigation and fresh displays of latest trends. The site search function allows items to be selected according to product type, brand, price, body shape and colour; making choosing that perfect outfit a little easier!

Look offer an "Online shop of the week" feature, Merchants are specially presented and a whole page devoted to their range. This ensures Look customers are kept up to trend and in the know about latest hot retailers, as well as providing a great publicity slot for Merchants. The competitions should not be missed either. Products, vouchers and days out are all up for grabs, a gal can't complain!

Look has numerous prospects and a great mix of content. For some it is the fashion Bible. Opportunities to build Affiliate relationships should not be passed up.

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