comScore released its February 2010 U.S. Search Engine Rankings yesterday, announcing that 14.5 billion core searches were conducted, with Google Sites taking 65% of the search market.

The comScore press release listed Yahoo! Sites next, taking 16.8% of the search market, followed by Microsoft Sites (11.5 percent), Ask Network (3.7 percent) and AOL LLC (2.5%).

While the numbers are encouraging to the affiliate marketing industry, they are down 5% from January 2010 figures. On the plus side, Facebook.com showed a whopping 10% increase to 436 million searches, and Craigslist jumped to fifth position with 629 million searches.

We found this drop a bit surprising, considering that February includes Valentine’s Day, which usually makes for a busy search season. Plus, the Olympics were taking place, which often has sports enthusiasts searching for athletes and results.

On the other hand, February is a shorter month, and I’m wondering if, since it seems fewer people searched for Valentine’s gifts, perhaps there were a few more Americans slumped in front of their TVs during the Olympic Games—with broken hearts.

Now, who can search with a broken heart?

Related posts:

1. Vancouver 2010 Olympics Facts
2. Bing’s Got Bang!
3. Do Free Shipping Offers Attract Customers?

If you spend enough time around people who use computers to make their living, eventually you are going to run into a Star Wars fan. Really, it is so obvious that it almost doesn’t warrant a mention. Nevertheless…

Mark John’s Law states that for every 1.272727 computer users, there is one Star Wars fan.

I have worked as a computer programmer, currently make my living in the online marketing business, and I am a Star Wars fan. Of the 14 people who sit within about 25 feet of me and use computers for programming, SEO, writing and design, 11 of them are Star Wars fans to one degree or another. That is 1.272727%. While this is a very small test group, I know, I am reasonably certain that one could extend this over a broader group and still get very similar results.

As a Star Wars fan, every now and then, when I am faced with a difficult task, I ask myself, “What would Luke Skywalker do?” And this morning, as I was thinking about writing a blog post, I asked myself that question and it got me to thinking that Luke Skywalker would make a great affiliate marketer. Here’s why:

He got the right training from a mentor
If you’re a new affiliate, I highly recommend spending some time with someone who knows the business. Make friends with them and ask them to show you the way. Luke had several mentors. He got training from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda on how to leverage The Force to meet his needs. Without that training, he’d probably still be on Tatooine farming moisture. Just like young Skywalker, new affiliates need a mentor.

Talking to an affiliate manager who can spend some time with you is a great way to get your start as well. Those who know and understand The Force in affiliate marketing are often very willing to share their knowledge with new affiliates, so don’t be shy, get out there and ask for help!

He can sense disturbances in The Force
Affiliates have to stay in tune with current trends and practices. For example, the recent inclusion of certain types of social media in Google search results may take some affiliates by surprise, and they could end up losing out on some excellent opportunities if they’re not following the latest technology developments.

It’s also important to keep up with industry trends. Seasonal trends are just as important. Can you imagine getting to the holiday season and not using it to leverage your marketing campaigns? It is important for affiliates to understand what’s about to happen in the world of online marketing, and how to adapt.

Use your instincts. If Luke had not followed his heart and used The Force to destroy the Death Star, who knows what untold horrors would have befallen the Rebel Alliance!

He got his hand cut off and kept going
Many affiliates have seen their sales decline dramatically, or watched their rankings in search engines drop off. If Luke Skywalker had this happen to him, would he have given up? No way!

Tenacity is a quality that an affiliate marketer can’t do without. Regardless of what might happen, it is extremely important to hang in there and renew efforts to make affiliate marketing campaigns successful. Remember that no matter how bad it gets (and it can’t get much worse than your dad chopping off your hand with a light-saber), hang in there, and all will be well.

He made friends with robots
In the same way that Luke could communicate in robot language with R2D2, affiliates with websites need to make sure that they are communicating with search engine bots in a way that’s going to get them on their side. Make sure your code is up to date and you’re creating relevant, keyword-rich content that the bots and spiders can understand. When the robots are your friends, they’ll help you along on your quest.

He did not give in to the Dark Side
As tempting as it may have been, Luke Skywalker never gave in to the Dark Side. There is a lot of temptation for affiliate marketers to employ Black Hat SEO techniques to get business. Some affiliates use other questionable tactics to get traffic, but we all know by now that the most successful affiliate marketers are the ones who are straight up and honest about what they do. Take a cue from Luke and don’t give in to the Dark Side.

He had Han Solo and Chewbacca on his side
Make friends! This industry is blessed with a great community of affiliates who love to explore new ideas with each other. Of course, it’s not an entirely Utopian society where people are holding hands and skipping down the street with each other, but there are some great people to get to know. Take advantage of the great community aspects of affiliate marketing. You never know when you’re going to need a ride on the Millenium Falcon.

Jedi Mind Tricks
This is not about manipulating people into taking action on websites, but a call to action is imperative to making a sale. “These are not the droids you seek” is probably not exactly the kind of thing you’re after. However, you will find that your results will increase when using the right language in your Call To Action.

Can you think of any other reasons why Luke Skywalker would make a great affiliate marketer? Let us know in the comments section below! If you have a website and you liked this post, be sure to let us know who you are, so that we can come and check out your site!

May The Force be with you.

Related posts:

1. Attracting your Affiliate Audience: the Who, the What and the How
2. How to Become an Affiliate: Part 3—Types of Affiliates

Morning Coffee Run

5 a 7

Sunday Brunch

Date Night

Jump into Spring with all the latest trends in fashion at AdditionElle! Timeless classic pieces dominate the collection with trending pieces that pop with the latest spring colors to keep your outfits current and contemporary. Give your fashion traffic some great new ideas, flip through the current flyer offered on the AdditionElle website.

All AdditionElle customers now have the chance from March 10th to March 30th to enter and win a $1000 wardrobe! Not to mention they can take advantage of the current promotion which gives 40% off their second item bought online!

And affiliates! You can benefit from their sales even more, because the 1-plus.com affiliate program is providing cash bonuses all month long!!. For more information, click here!

For any questions at all, send us an email at 1plusaffiliates@shareresults.com

Related posts:

1. This week at AdditionElle
2. Spring Fashion, Spring Banners
3. Cash Bonuses for all 1Plus affiliates

Whether you’re just getting started as full-time affiliate marketer, or are thinking about moving into full-time efforts, if you’re going to be working from home, we have a list of the top 10 working from home survival tips to help you make it.

Many people think that working from home means an easier life, but it’s not always the case.  As someone who worked at home for several years, I can tell you that I came by these tips for working from home by trial and error. However, after experiencing it for myself and discussing the right way of going about things with people who had experience at working from home, I came up with these 10 tips for surviving in your home office. Here they are!

1. Get Your Own Space
It’s probably fair to say that at the last place you worked, you didn’t sit at a kitchen table, or on the couch. To be able to get to the task at hand, you are going to need to cordon off a space that is yours for work. Carve out a niche in your home with lots of light that is quiet, and allows you to concentrate on your work.

2. Eliminate Distractions
This does tie in a bit with the first point; however, it’s worth mentioning that in order to get quality work done, you will have to find a way to eliminate any distractions that might come up throughout the day. Don’t keep the television on all day, as it will only take you away from concentrating on your work. If there is someone else in the house at the same time that you are, make sure that they understand that this is your time to work.

3. Regular Hours
One of the most important working from home survival tips is working regular hours. The tendency might be to do your work when you’ve done whatever else you’ve got going on that day, but remember that unless you are getting it done, it’s just not going to get done. Be accountable to yourself, pick regular work hours and adhere to them. Remember, you’re running a business.  And more importantly, you’re running your business.

4. Get Dressed!
It sounds like a funny thing to say, but for myself, I couldn’t get in the right mind frame for me to get my work done during the day until I had dressed like I was going to work. This doesn’t mean that I wore a suit everyday to walk down the hallway to my office; it just meant that I didn’t walk down that hallway in my bathrobe and slippers. Feel comfortable, but feel like you’re going to work.

5. Don’t Juggle Home and Work
Wouldn’t it be great if you could take care of your kids, do all the housework, and work for a living, all at the same time? If you’re going to work from home, you’re going to have to forget that you’re at home.  By doing so, you’ll be able to ignore the fact that there are dirty dishes in the sink, your kid’s clothes are on the floor and your partner still hasn’t done their laundry. It’s hard to do, but you have to separate you’re “at home” time from your “at work” time while you’re working from home.

6. Take Regular Breaks
Just like working in any other office, you have to take some time away from the monitor to refresh your eyes and your brain. The danger here is getting caught up in your “home life” while you’re supposed to be at work, so find a way to get that break done without returning to the swing of things in your home. Remember number two on the list of working from home survival tips and incorporate it into your break-time strategy.

7. Find Social Time
Working at home by oneself can be a lonely proposition, so make sure to take some time to be social. When I worked from home, I lived alone, so in an effort to remain a social being, I would go for lunch somewhere every day. If the only contact I had in a day was with the waitress who took my order, then at least I had some human contact. Like any other job, making time for friends and family will increase your overall feeling of well-being, invigorate your energy levels and make you a more productive person.

8. Exercise
Chances are that you want to work from home because you have a desire to improve your life, so don’t let the desk and chair get in the way of your health. A sedentary lifestyle can greatly reduce your quality of life, so be sure to incorporate an exercise strategy into your day, even if it just means a 15-minute walk.

9. Be Prepared for Long Hours
Working a 9-to-5 lifestyle is mostly possible when someone else is paying you, or if you have people working for you. Working from home as your own boss means that if you’re not doing it, then it’s not getting done. So, a very important working from home survival tip is to make sure that you are prepared for the fact that you may have to put in longer hours than you might at a traditional job. It’s not going to happen for everyone, but it will for many, and especially at the beginning of your business venture.

10. Monitor your ROI
What is your time worth? Are you working 20 hours a day and only making $4/hr? Are you willing to invest that much time in a small profit margin? If not, it might be time to re-evaluate your at-home business or, at the very least, the way you’re going about it. If working from home means working twice as much, ask yourself if it’s worthwhile. Of course, one can expect to put in more hours, especially in the beginning of your own business, but the goal is to strike that balance that all of us are trying to achieve.

These are some of the tips that I have found helpful when working from home.  They have helped keep me focused and productive, and moving my business forward.  What kind of strategies do you use for working from home?  Tell us here!

Related posts:

1. Tips for New Affiliates
2. Survival of the Savviest: Mobile Marketing
3. 12 Tips for Social Media Newbies

Welcome to the newly redesigned Share Results blog. We’ve been working hard to make this space more accessible for affiliates who are looking for information on the industry, affiliate marketing tips and techniques and information on how to use the Share Results software to leverage their affiliate marketing campaigns.

Not only does the site look a lot different, we have also added some new functions to open up the space to encourage interaction between affiliates and commenting on blogs. The intention of the redesign was to create a forum where affiliates and merchants can learn more about the business, and get involved in the conversation.

Our goal at Share Results is to provide merchants and affiliates with the tools they need to spearhead successful affiliate marketing campaigns. Lately, we have been writing blogs about how Facebook might affect affiliate marketing campaigns, what makes for effective affiliate managers and tips for merchants on brand bidding. Of course, we also use this space to let affiliates know about promotions that affiliates can take advantage of by being a part of the Share Results network. And if you’re looking for tips on how to write effective blogs, you’ve come to the right place.

If you like a blog entry, you can use one of around 220 different networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to immediately share it with your friends. You can also vote on each article to let us know whether you like it or not. And be sure to let us know why in the comments section!

The whole team at Share Results gets involved with blogging. You will find posts from our marketing department, affiliate managers, and even our designers like to get in on the blogging action from time to time. If you’re looking for entries by a specific person, you can now click on their name, read their bio and find all of the articles that they have contributed.

Affiliate marketing works best when it happens within a community, and we’re proud to present an arena for affiliates to become a part of a community. We also want to share with you some posts by other bloggers that we think are pretty great, so look for lots of interaction and information.

Stay tuned for more great articles and exciting affiliate offers. We have some great contests coming up for affiliates, so make sure to come back and check us out regularly.

We’d love to know what you think about the new blog and our articles. Make sure to leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

Related posts:

1. Make 2010 your Best Year Yet
2. Affiliates, Merchants, Join us for our Holiday Blogging Event to Get Ready for the Holiday Season!
3. Share Results Enters the New Year with a New Website Design

Social Media is a complex and highly integrated marketing practice and at times can be quite more bamboozling than necessary.  DaveFleet put together a visual model to highlight social media as an evolving tool in a “marketing media ecosystem.”  His model visually describes different marketing media including social media and how they can connect to a corporate brand including LinkedIn, Facebook, MSN, etc. [Personally I would have loved to have seen affiliate marketing in the diagram ]

Secondly,  he put forward the idea that social media should be a fourth model considered in Corcoran’s Model on owned, paid and earned media.  Corcoran describes that all marketing media can be categorized into these three groups and Dave has put forward a fourth, “social,” because these categories on their own do not singularly encompass social.  Irrespective of how you wish to define your media in your marketing mix,  these models pose interesting questions to an affiliate marketer including:

- Am I leveraging the most opportunities available to me to promote my message?

- How does our approach to affiliate marketing impact on the brand we represent?

Furthermore, depending on your philosophy and approach to affiliate marketing your affiliate program can infiltrate into all forms of marketing media.

1) As a brand you own your affiliate program  creatives/messages – via affiliates we influence how we are seen on the internet and the community.

2) If your budget is big enough you can buy affiliates’ real estate with commissions, bonuses, prizes or

3) You can earn your affiliates by building trust and transparency through good affiliate management practices and affiliate software.

4)You can use social media to support your affiliate marketing activities and strengthen your overall marketing mix.

Related posts:

1. 12 Tips for Social Media Newbies
2. Social Media Updates Now Part of Google and Bing Search Results
3. Using Social Media to Drive Sales

If you read our blog regularly, then you know how much we like to talk about the importance of testing different things on your sales, or landing pages. One of the important aspects of those pages that should be taken into consideration is the color of your page. There are a lot of psychological influences at work with page colors, and these can be used to build a sense of trust from the audience that you are targeting. Here are a few tips on how to use colors on your website to put your customers in the right frame of mind to purchase the products that you are selling.

Basically all colors can be divided into three groups. Thus, blue and green are considered cool colors, whereas red, yellow, pink and orange are warm ones. Black and white are neutral.

Blue represents a feeling of security and trustworthiness. Subconsciously it is associated with the sky. This particular color is recommended for business-related websites (e.g. banks).

Green, on the other hand, represents wealth (deep green) or calmness (light green). Emotionally it is related to the color of money (”the color of success”), while light green is related to trees and spring. Therefore, dark green is suggested for finance related websites. As for light green, it is recommended for entertainment and leisure related websites.

Among warm colors, red is a very powerful color, able to grab attention and make one energetic by subconsciously activating one’s pituitary gland. Red is recommended for eye-catching logos and calls to action.

Black is also a very powerful color. It creates a feeling of color absence, and should be used for promoting expensive products.

Yellow is a color of optimism, subconsciously associated with the sun. This is why yellow is often used on attention-grabbing websites, especially when it is used in contrast with other colors.

People often think of pink as a feminine color. Hot pink stands for energy, while lighter pink represents romantic feelings. Both should be used for websites related to products for young women and girls.

Orange is a cheerful color, making us think of citrus fruit. You will quite often see these associated with children’s websites.

White is the color of simplicity and purity and effectively catches the eye. There are numerous associations related to this color, from weddings to hospitals. It is why the response to this color can be unpredictable. White is highly recommended for health-related product sites.

The main purpose of colors on a website is to put your visitors in a mindset that is in tune with the goal of your site. All these techniques are widely used to improve the appearance and effectiveness of websites. This is because our subconscious minds consist of our feelings, thoughts and aspirations. So, in order to make a connection on a subconscious level with visitors, it is important to put them in the right mind frame by using a color that makes the right association with the product that you’re promoting.

Have you played with color on your website? Tell us about the kinds of products you promote, and the colors that you use to convey your message. What colors work best for you?

Related posts:

1. LoveToner Unveals New Website, New Shopping Cart
2. The New Share Results Website
3. Share Results Enters the New Year with a New Website Design

Have you started taking advantage of the cash bonuses the 1-plus.com affiliate program has made available for March at Addition Elle?

If not, you should log in now to Share Results and become an affiliate for the 1-Plus affiliate program - because for this week Addition Elle has some exciting promotions ready for their online clientele only!

From March 3rd to March 9th, 2010 Addition Elle is offering all their online clientele the chance to Buy 2 Bras and get the 3rd one FREE! This is an excellent opportunity for retail affiliates to write some value-added content, highlighting all the features of The Convertible Bra – a versatile, comfortable, flexible bra with seamless design.

For more information on how to promote this brand, send us an email at 1plusaffiliates@shareresults.com

Related posts:

1. Share Results to Launch New Look Early Next Week
2. Win a $1000 Shopping Spree at AdditionElle
3. Spring Fashion, Spring Banners

When it comes to best blogging practices, one of my favourite resources is Copyblogger. In fact, I took the format of this headline from some of their blog-writing tips: “[Fill in the Blank] That Everyone Ought to Know About”, because I trust that since it came from them, it might help my blog get some extra attention.

And that’s really the goal, isn’t it? Getting the most eyes on your blog, the most comments—and of course, ‘going viral’.

A lot of the affiliates that we work with in the Share Results network use blogs to generate traffic, and create a buzz around the product that they’re promoting.

We love blogging at Share Results, and because it’s a team effort, it’s always a lot of fun to bounce ideas off each other, and come up with some pieces that we feel are really going to be effective for our readers.

Most recently, our writing team teamed up with our SEO experts to present a training seminar on Best Blogging Practices. We got a lot of great feedback on this training, so we thought we’d include these tips on our blog to help out some of our blogging affiliates, and anyone else involved in blogging.

1. Make Sure Your Headline Rocks
In a world of RSS and Twitter feeds, where the headline of your blog is all you have to pique a reader’s attention, it’s so important that it be a good one. Take one of Copyblogger’s most recent blogs, for example: The Mr. Rogers Guide to Blogging from the Heart. I mean, as a blogger, I could barely click on the link fast enough. (Not to mention, I have a bit of special spot in my heart for Mr. Rogers). And really, that’s the effect you want to have every time.

A tip that I recommend when it comes to writing great headlines is, summarize your wow-factor. If one of the merchants you are promoting has a product that you have tried and made you look ten years younger, I suggest you get that in your headline—it’s your wow factor!

2. Hook Your Reader with a Great Lead
Ok. So you’ve managed to garner some reader excitement with your great wow-factor headline; next in line is your lead paragraph. In terms of best blogging practices, after the headline, your lead paragraph is the second most important element of your post. Readers are busy, and there is an abundance of really great blogs out there, so if they’ve given your blog a chance, based on your great headline, then the goal of your lead is to hook them into reading your whole blog.

Say something bold, get personal, expand on your wow-factor, but at all costs, engage your reader. Report on some unbelievable new research that is affecting the industry, the most interesting aspect of a product you’re promoting or state a product benefit that you know will be of interest to them. Whether you like to use humor, or prefer a more serious approach, be like Mr. Rogers, and convince your reader that what you’re about to share in your blog has real value, and that you care.

3. Keywords, Anchor Texting and Inter-Linking
Keywords are essential for obtaining blog traffic from search engines. Keywords should be incorporated into your headline, and then every 75-100 words in the blog post. In this blog, for example, I am using the keyword, “Best Blogging Practices”. You will find that keyword as part of my headline, and then I have used it throughout the rest of my blog. For best blogging practices, you also should bold your keyword on the second mention.

In addition to using keywords, interlinking to other blog posts should be done with every entry. You can use your own blog for this, and even link out to other blogs. You want to use an anchor text to link to the blog that uses your keyword from your article title, or if not, then a related keyword to the text of the entry.

4. Closing with a Strong Call to Action
A good call to action will not only prompt a reader to take the steps you are suggesting, but will get them to take that action NOW. You may want a reader to visit a merchant’s website, sign up to your newsletter, take a demo of your affiliate marketing software solution, or simply provide their feedback. Whatever it is, make it ridiculously clear what they are suppose to do, and what will happen when they do so.

Statistics show that incorporating “Click Here” into your Call to Action is the most effective way of getting readers to take the step you are suggesting. It’s even better if “click here” is at the end of the sentence, like this: “To sign up to my affiliate newsletter, click here.” But here’s the trick. Whatever link you use in your “Click Here” link in your Call to Action, HAS to also be used in the body of your blog, and must also be relevant to the page you are linking to. And a final word of caution here, I don’t recommend using this approach each and every time, as it can get a bit dry and predictable. So make sure to switch it up!

These are some of the best blogging practices that we try hard to incorporate into our Share Results blog. We’d love to know what practices have worked best for your blog. Tell us about them here! (That’s your cue to take action now!).

Related posts:

1. Affiliate Blogging Strategies 101
2. Effective Creatives Part 2 – Text Creatives
3. Blogging for Money

Based on the book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, by Robert Fulghum

Share everything
One of the great things about the affiliate marketing community is that it really is a community. If you discover a new technique for online marketing that you’re finding successful, don’t be afraid to share it with your friends. In turn, they’ll share their tips to success with you, which makes everyone richer; figuratively AND literally.

Play fair
This can be a tough business, and the temptation exists to employ questionable techniques, like Black Hat SEO, for example. When employing these techniques, rest assured that they are very likely to come back at you with unfavorable results, eventually. Play fair, work hard, and reap the rewards.

Don’t take things that aren’t yours
As above, affiliate marketers who attempt to get their traffic by duping people into coming to their site most often end up bouncing a far greater amount of traffic than they convert. The rewards just aren’t there, especially when one considers the harm that this does to legitimate affiliate marketers. Trust is what motivates a sale, above all other conditions.

Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some
Incorporate that balance into the work aspect of your day as well. Endeavour, on a daily basis, to learn something new about affiliate marketing. Find out about new SEO practices. Discover how other affiliates are converting traffic. Read about website analytics; read someone’s affiliate marketing blog. Get to know your affiliate manager. Constantly test your methods of marketing and employ new ones to see what works best. Find the techniques that work best for you by constantly trying different things. It’s all about trying to achieve that balance.

Take a nap every afternoon
Seriously. Life as an affiliate marketer can be trying, so take a rest when you have a chance. When I was working as a full-time affiliate marketer I took a 45-minute nap every single day on my couch and it helped me get re-energized for the rest of my workday, no matter how much longer it was. We last a lot longer when we take the time to recharge our batteries.

When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together
Many of the people I know who are successful affiliate marketers have made a point of becoming active members in affiliate marketing communities. There are a lot of benefits to getting to know people that are also involved in this business, and I guarantee that you’ll be surprised at the amount of people who are willing to help you out. Of course, there are some who do not play well with others, but there always have been, and there always will be. Just seek out positive people who are headed towards success and you’ll be following in their footsteps in no time.

And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK
I can never stress enough the importance of testing and then analyzing your campaigns. Use affiliate marketing software that lets you see track impressions, clicks and conversions. Having affiliate marketing software that provides you with in-depth analytics can make the difference between a lukewarm program and a red-hot one. Keep testing and analyzing, and never, ever take your eye off the prize. It’s there for you; all you have to do is reach out and grab it.

If anyone can think of a way to incorporate the “warm cookies and cold milk” part of this into an affiliate marketing strategy, let me know in the comments section below!

Related posts:

1. Unique offers for Learned Affiliates
2. Effective Creatives Part 4 – Monitoring Affiliate Marketing Campaign Results
3. What Role do Race and Gender play in Affiliate Marketing?