eCommerce, Affiliate and Tech news   |   Tips for Online Publishers

The Debate Over Online Sales Tax, the Problem with Baby-Boomer Marketers, Tips on How to Business Blog and Choose the Right Affiliate Marketing Niche . . . It’s Skimming the News!

Happy Friday, everyone! This week the debate continues over the Marketing Fairness Act, and companies on both sides of the argument weigh in. Baby-boomer marketers don’t understand millennials and the digital revolution, wrote Bonnie Fuller. Meanwhile, Priceline.com CMO Brett Keller says that the idea of automated branded content is just an illusion, and another writer argues the bait-and-switch tactics masquerading as forward-thinking content marketing are turning users off. In tips we have five ways not to use social media, how mobile responsive website design affects your SEO, the importance of business blogging, and how to choose the right affiliate marketing niche . . . It’s Skimming the News!

NEWS:

Online Sales Tax: Why E-Commerce Companies Are On Both Sides Of The Debate via Marketing Land

The Marketing Fairness Act, which aims to level the playing field between online retailers and brick-and-mortar businesses, could – if it makes it through the House – go into effect as soon as this fall. There’s debate on both sides over this online sales tax. Many support the bill, including state legislatures who will be able to collect the nearly $11 billion they lose through e-commerce annually. Even Amazon has done an about-face and joined ranks with many retailers like Lowe’s who complain of “showrooming.” Customers often go to the physical, local store to research products then order online to avoid the sales tax. The bill does have some issues, which opponents point out. For now, we wait and see what changes will be made by the House and if the bill will become the law of the land.

Baby-Boomer Marketers Are Misreading Millennials’ Media Behavior via AdAge

Many marketers obsess over branded campaigns, carefully choosing which magazines and TV shows are aligned with their message and should carry their advertising. But when it comes to digital advertising, many baby-boomer marketers simply turn over their advertising dollars to a digital agency to be placed willy-nilly with no idea where those dollars are going, wrote Bonnie Fuller. The problem is the disconnect. Often the ad dollars are simply given to Google and Facebook, the big guns, since marketers don’t understand the multitude of options out there that are available to connect with the younger generation. That creates a huge opportunity for those who are willing to jump into the digital game and win over the millennials.

For Priceline, TV Is For Branding, Programmatic For Conversions via AdExchanger

Programmatic direct, the idea of using automated buying tools for branded campaigns, is a nice concept. Unfortunately, according to Priceline.com CMO Brett Keller, that idea is an illusion. They’ve been running a commercial for branding practically every single day for the past 14 years. The goal for them in the digital space is conversion. When looking at branding his colleagues are “tortured by trying to figure out the impact of someone seeing the video ads,” he said. “We’ve tried to move upstream and we’d love to get ‘programmatic premium’ – but we don’t think it exists. For us, it’s all about conversions, and that doesn’t happen in online branding campaigns.”

Content Marketing’s Got a Quality Problem via Digiday

Content marketing promised links to high-quality content from recognized publishers. It wouldn’t even be advertising, they said. It would be engaging content. In reality content marketing is often looked at as just another form of spam and bait-and-switch by consumers. Actual quality storytelling is few and far between. Headlines aren’t labeled as advertising, but instead read “You might also like” or some other misleading title. Then they often simply push readers into a purchase funnel. It helps the click rate for sure, but is it worth the alienation of the viewer? This writer at Digiday doesn’t think so.

TIPS:

How NOT to use social media for Ecommerce via Fourth Source

Now that brands are on social media, they have ample opportunity to make public mistakes. The five things you shouldn’t be doing: be inappropriate, be selfish, think measurement doesn’t matter, assume it’s not working, and smother your social media team. Some examples of mistakes include Urban Outfitters’ infamous #frankenstorm tweet (in part: “This storm blows (but free shipping doesn’t)!”) and Facebook pages that are flooded with buy, buy, buy sales posts and no engagement. Remember that social media isn’t a broadcast channel. It’s about communication.

Could Mobile Responsive Website Design Hurt Your SEO? via CopyBlogger

Consider this fact: there are over 1 million more mobile devices activated every day across the world than there are babies born. Clearly mobile design needs to be a priority with your site. But is the mobile responsive trend the way to go in every instance, and can it actually hurt your SEO? The answer, as with everything in web design, is it depends. In the end “ask not whether your design is good for SEO; ask whether your design is good for your content and your readers. The latter is what has the greatest impact on the former in the long run.”

Content Marketing Tactics: Business Blogging Pros, Cons, Best Practices & Brands Doing It Right via TopRank

With the popularity of blogs, you would think everyone in business would be using them to their maximum advantage. Companies use blogs to attract, engage and convert their target audience. Some companies are exceptional at this. Take Whole Foods and their blog Whole Story, in which they share healthy eating tips, recipes and other non-sales driven information to keep their name front and center in readers’ minds as a resource, not an advertiser. They can be time consuming to create and a step out of the comfort zone for many without a publishing mindset, but when done properly they are an essential part of any marketing strategy.

Did I Choose a Wrong Affiliate Marketing Niche? via Blogging Tips

Affiliate marketing is a great way to make money, but it’s about more than just products. It’s about demand. That’s why it’s so important to choose the right niche from the outset. Choose an area you’re passionate about and you have an expertise in to build authority and trust. Also take some time to find a niche with low competition. You can take the headache out of affiliate marketing by using Skimlinks to automate the process for you. Then once you find a profitable niche, you can use your passion and skills to earn extra income.

Enjoy your weekend!

eCommerce, Affiliate and Tech news   |   Tips for Online Publishers

It’s another week over and another happy Friday! This week YouTube finally dips its toes into the paid content pool by launching several paid channels. Will it work is the question on everyone’s mind. E-commerce has a bright future, and so does mobile, which now receives one-fifth of all paid search clicks. Both aren’t expected to slow down anytime soon. With all the money being poured into search ads, Simpli.fi CEO Frost Prioleau looks at some lessons display advertisers can take away from search’s success. In tips we have the importance of affiliate marketing, the future of guest blogging, ways to increase organic traffic, and the importance of testing when it comes to, well, everything . . . It’s Skimming the News!

NEWS:

YouTube Launches Paid Channels With ‘Sesame Street,’ ‘Young Turks’ via AdAge

It’s finally here, paid YouTube content. Thirty initial partners, including the popular “The Young Turks” with over 800,000 subscribers, will take part in the new pay-by-the-channel approach. Content partners will now have the ability to charge a fee starting at 99 cents a month for access. It’s expected that only a small amount will elect to charge a fee, at least at the outset. The big question is if anyone will actually pay? It’s a question that’s been asked for awhile. Now, at least, we will finally find out.

E-commerce Trends Point to Bright Future via Practical Ecommerce

E-commerce has grown at twice the pace of total retail sales the past five years, and that trend is expected to continue. A few things are helping to drive that growth. Brick-and-mortar retailers and online-only merchants are adapting to customer demand by allowing more customer reviews, better shipping options, and increased personalization. Increased connectivity from phones – and particularly tablets – have given consumers more opportunity and proved that many are comfortable buying on mobile devices. Finally, overseas markets like the Asia-Pacific area are booming and driving huge amounts of e-commerce growth. But much of the growth is coming from existing users who are buying more online rather than new users coming into the market.

Mobile Gets One Out of Five Paid Search Clicks via eMarketer

Total U.S. search spending is expected to reach $20 billion this year, and mobile search spending has tripled in the past year, but mobile ad dollars – at least in the U.S. – are still lagging. In the first quarter of 2013, tablets and phones accounted for almost 20 percent of paid search clicks, but those same devices only received about 14 percent of search spending. Look just at phones and the gap is wider – nine percent of clicks, yet only 5 percent of the total spend. By 2017 it’s expected that more than half of search spending will go towards mobile devices.

Search and Display: A Lesson In What Works via AdExchanger

Search takes four percent of consumer’s time, yet accounts for 46 percent of internet ad revenues. Simpli.fi CEO Frost Prioleau takes a look at three lessons display advertisers can learn from search: unstructured data, timing and data quality. The ability to bid, report and optimize at the keyword level sets search apart from display advertisers who are often stuck in the mold of targeting prepackaged audience segments. Search ads also come in right when the user needs something, but certain longer-term searches – mortgage rates for example – are perfect for more branding-focused display ads. Finally, it’s important to use methods like site retargeting and contextual data to help connect to consumers.

TIPS:

Affiliate Marketing: Cult or Cash Cow? via ProBlogger

Despite all the Google algorithms and search engines out there, we still need word-of-mouth to make sense of the world. “I am swayed by the opinions of those I respect,” wrote Brook McCarthy “And therein lies the power of affiliate marketing.” We rely on those we respect to curate, interpret and recommend things for us. Affiliate marketing, if done right, can help you fulfill that role and make some money at the same time. Want to jump in the game and aren’t sure where to start? Check out what Skimlinks has to offer. We automate affiliate marketing to make boosting your income quick and painless.

The Future of Guest Blogging and What You Need to Know via Blogging Tips

Right now guest blogging is huge, and many sites and big-name blogs are buying up as much content as they can. Many people only look at the page rank of a site when deciding where to guest blog, but other factors are in play. There’s always speculation about what Google will do next, and this includes potentially punishing some websites for trying to game the guest blogging system. To stay safe use a free tool to check the backlink history, and make sure the sites you’re guest blogging on have not just many incoming links, but that those links come from many domains as well.

6 Smart Ways To Drive Organic Traffic To Your Blog via BloggingPro

Everyone wants more organic traffic – web traffic that comes from unpaid sources like search engines. BloggingPro offers six things to keep in mind to help boost traffic to your website or blog: deliver quality content, search engine optimization, build natural backlinks, internal linking, exposure on social media, and having a professional looking and SEO friendly design. Search engines are constantly evolving, and there’s no guarantee what will work, but a combination of solid, consistent approaches is bound to generate results.

Two Words That Will Make You a Smarter Content Marketer via CopyBlogger

Two words that should drive every marketer are “test” and “paranoia.” Test, as in test everything. Paranoia, as in “only the paranoid survive.” In marketing everyone thinks they’re right, and there’s only one way to prove whose paranoia is correct – a test. Four areas you should be testing constantly are copywriting, engagement, sharing and lead generation. Within each of those areas lies a dozen metrics you can analyze. It’s the only way to throw ego aside and do what actually works best.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone!

Fashion sites make for a great case study in monetization. There are many qualities specific to fashion sites that play strongly into the advertising methods that they choose to employ.

With our big NEWS recently announcing our new Fashion Engine and Showcases, we wanted to take a look at what makes fashion sites different from other sites and dive into how the suite of Skimlinks products: SkimLinks, SkimWords Fashion Engine and Showcases can help this particularly stylish vertical.

Skimlinks is widely used by fashion sites like Cosmopolitan and Elle UK, Lucky Magazine and others, so we are often asked how our suite of products can be used to help fashion bloggers get the most out of their blogs. What follows is our answer – first we address the monetization challenges fashion content creators face, then we explain Skimlinks’ various products and how they solve those problems.

*****************MONETIZATION CHALLENGES FOR FASHION PUBLISHERS*******************

Challenge #1: Preserving Aesthetics of Your Site

Ensuring that the monetization methods you employ on your site compliment your content and design is key, and a big reason fashion sites turn to affiliate marketing, particularly Skimlinks. Affiliate links connect your content to the retailers you love, such that you get paid for any sales you drive. However, link creation is extremely manual and signing up for affiliate programs with every retailer you love is cumbersome. Publishers from all stripes use Skimlinks because we do the link creation for you, and automatically grant you access to our network of more than 18,000 merchants.

Additionally, SkimLinks does not impose any new visual or design aspects to your site. Skimlinks blends seamlessly with your content, enriching it with an interactive element so you can bring more great ideas to your readership without altering the design of your site.

Challenge #2: Relevance

Fashion sites not only need to look good, but they also need to always be on-message. Herein lies a problem, as many forms of display advertising can be oblivious to a site’s design as well as content. Display ads can often be highly intrusive from the design perspective, where a flashy ad doesn’t suit the site and ends up distracting readers, as well as from a branding perspective, where the brands included in the ads don’t carry the right message. In a case study we put together with OffBeatBride’s Ariel Meadow Stallings, we learned first hand about the challenges that can come from using 3rd party ad platforms. In Ariel’s case, she was promoting a supportive, body-positive lifestyle, yet weight loss ads were appearing – in direct conflict with her message.

The SkimLinks product is entirely opt-in and SkimWords Fashion Engine always creates links to the right products, ensuring relevance. With SkimLinks, bloggers provide links to the desired products themselves, and SkimLinks affiliates the links chosen by bloggers so they can earn a commission. Using Skimlinks, bloggers have full control over what merchants and what products are associated with their content.

Challenge #3: Finding Retailers to Partner with and Getting the Best Rates

One of the most frustrating aspects of manual product affiliation is signing up with all of the merchants you need in order to to take full advantage of affiliate marketing. Thankfully, our Merchant team has worked tirelessly to not only add different companies to our merchant program, but even negotiate higher commissions with key retailers in the fashion industry, so that we can offer better rates!

This is what we call our Preferred Partner Program, and it includes more than just traditional companies like Nordstroms and Amazon. Our Preferred Partner Program includes top fashion Merchants such as Shopbop, Uniqlo, ASOS, and Anthropologie. Essentially, we work closely with companies who offer Skimlinks Publishers higher commissions and exclusive notification of flash sales, among other perks. Making sure you get paid more with Skimlinks than anywhere else is our focus! Learn more at www.skimlinks.com/merchant-program.

Challenge #4: Monetizing Images

We are often asked if you can monetize images, and the answer is a resounding yes. Whenever you place a picture of a product on your site, remember to place a link behind the image, so that someone can visit the retailer and make a purchase. Thanks to Skimlinks, you will get credit automatically for any purchases.

Challenge #5: Can Skimlinks create *relevant* product images for me?

Yes! With the release of Skimlinks Showcases and our new Fashion Engine, Skimlinks can pull images and price information of the products you discuss and display them wherever you deem appropriate on your site. Learn more about Showcases at Skimlinks.com/showcases.

*****************SKIMLINKS PRODUCTS FOR FASHION BLOGGERS*****************

1. SkimLinks

Install Skimlinks on your site, link to your favorite retailers and we will automatically create affiliate links for you to ensure you get paid for the sales you drive! Learn more about how Skimlinks works in our video here:

2. SkimWords and the New Fashion Engine

Turn SkimWords on and we will find relevant phrases on your site, create links to retailers – all automatically! The SkimWords Fashion Engine automatically creates relevant links from fashion phrases, solving the problem of detecting tricky fashion phrases. SkimWords picks up granular attributes of the products you or your audience mentions, like “little black dress,” and automatically creates affiliate links for these pages. Fashion Engine harnesses in-text monetization to seamlessly create links and images for the right retailers, based on the exact phrasing and messaging on your site!

 3. Showcases

Skimlinks’ new Showcases offer a customizable display that features images of products mentioned in your text, making them another great option for the aesthetically-conscious fashion blogger. Any fashion blogger knows that an aesthetically pleasing site is a must for attracting and retaining readers, and occasionally, banner advertising can have little to do with the content of your blog, violating the visual feng-shui. Showcases flawlessly integrates merchandise references from your blog into a visual display, complete with product information such as pricing. Furthermore, Showcases comes in many forms, ready to tailor to fit the aesthetic of your blog.

Thanks for Reading – we hope to see you on board soon!

Skimlinks offers a number of other great incentives to sign up, including access to our suite of APIs, URL shortener (monetize anywhere), and streamlined reporting. Get exclusive deals from Skimlinks Preferred Partner Merchants via the Scoop and earn higher commissions than other affiliate programs. Find out why fashion sites like Cosmo UK, Lookbook, Refinery 29, ShopStyle, Elle, Polyvore, and thousands more trust Skimlinks for their affiliate monetization. Sign up at www.skimlinks.com/signup. Getting started is easy as 1.2.3!

eCommerce, Affiliate and Tech news   |   Tips for Online Publishers

Happy Friday! This week Skimlinks is making headlines for launching two new products that improve affiliate marketing. Showcases allows you to visually compliment your content by showcasing the products you discuss, and our Fashion Engine detects fashion references in content to automatically create relevant affiliate links with the right products and merchants in mind.

In other news, eMarketer shares a survey on just how annoying display ads can be, with 9/10 users bothered (hint for publishers: use Skimlinks’ Showcases instead of ads). Mozilla’s new browser plans to block cookies, but we all need to relax and realize that cookies aren’t going anywhere. And we take a look into rejection and neuroscience, which reveals the importance of making customers feel special. In tips we have advice on developing an image sharing strategy, ways to boost affiliate revenue through good content, the importance of blogging for online companies, and how to use ebooks in your marketing strategy. It’s Skimming the News!

NEWS:

In the Wake Of Funding, Skimlinks Launches New Products  via TechCrunch

Skimlinks is in the news again and launching two major initiatives. The first, called Showcases, is a visual alternative to in-line text and sits alongside content. The images and affiliate marketing are automatically generated and geo-targeted to the user. The second, called Fashion Engine, is able to find product references using normal English rather than relying on model numbers or brand names. The race is on to capture this market,” writes Mike Butcher, adding, “Skimlinks seems to be making most of the running right now.”

The Peril of Terrible Ads via eMarketer

According to a recent survey from InsightsOne, 90 percent of internet users reported being annoyed by some type of ad. Email and sidebar ads ranked highest in general annoyance for internet-based ads, followed by ads on websites. When getting specific, the most annoying type of online ad was irrelevant pop-up ads. The annoying ads are leading consumers to take action. While 60 percent said they’d unsubscribe from future emails and 45 percent said they’d just ignore them, 14 percent said they’d stop using the product advertised and 13 percent said they’d boycott the company advertising altogether.

Calm Down: Cookies Aren’t Going Anywhere Fast via AdExchanger

Mozilla will start blocking third-party cookies by default with Firefox 22. That’s lead to doomsday predictions for cookies in general and a wild overreaction, writes Jeremy Cornfeldt. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon. Tagless and long-term solutions like browser fingerprinting either aren’t scalable or aren’t proven. “A ‘tagless’ solution is undoubtedly coming, but I don’t think it will necessarily be a cookie-less solution,” he adds. Whatever happens, it won’t come suddenly, and there’s no need to panic.

Do Your Customers Feel Ignored? via Neuromarketing

People – and the sales generated by them – are often driven by emotions, impulses and subconscious feelings. A research project was conducted where people were slowly excluded from of a computer game. Even though it was a computer, “this virtual shunning lit up areas of the brain associated with physical pain,” writes Jane Bromley, leading her to speculate it may be part of the reason Amazon is so successful. Customers there, even in the virtual world, never feel ignored. They’re constantly evaluating feedback and making changes to improve their service. Do your customers feel special?

TIPS:

Do You Have an Image Sharing Strategy? You Need One! via BloggingPro

Social media like Pinterest and Instagram are changing the way we interact with images. Content with relevant images receives 94 percent more views than content without images. People love pictures, infographics and sharing them, but many people don’t have a solid image sharing strategy. Start with having quality images. Then understand your users. For example if you’re after traffic from Pinterest, its users are 80 percent women. Finally, make sure your images comply with copyright laws, are being used properly on social media, and are optimized for search engines.

5 Ways to Write Product Content that Sell via WebTrafficROI

Affiliate marketing can be one of the best ways to boost your revenue. Satish Patel offers five tips to help boost your writing and affiliate income. It starts with writing about great products that you use and love and having a relationship built on trust with your readers. Don’t flood your site with tons of reviews of products you’d never use hoping to make more money. That will just turn people off. Want to make affiliate marketing even easier? Use Skimlinks to automate the process and boost your income.

Is Blogging the Future of Online Companies? via WeBlogBetter

It seems like everyone has a blog now. As a business, is it worth investing the time and resources into an already overflowing pool? Of course, writes Dragan Palla, if it’s done the proper way. A business without a strong online presence will not be taken seriously. When it comes to your blog, put some energy into thinking about your goals. Even if you’re not an expert, speaking directly to your audience on a casual level can help build relationships and build long-term customers.

How to Use Ebooks Strategically and Reach Your Content Marketing Goals via CopyBlogger

Ebooks can be used to both market your business and as a source of income. They traditionally come in two forms – PDF books that are easy to create and share and the more advanced EPUB books that have a higher learning curve but allow you to put your book on Kindle, iPad and Nook. An ebook can be used as a cornerstone piece you give away to grow your marketing list, or you can continue to publish many ebooks and watch your reputation – and income – slowly climb. Have you created your first ebook yet?

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend! This week in news we are thrilled to announce that we’ve raised another round of funding to further grow the Skimlinks business, we share thoughts on big data driving personalized commerce and and reiterate the argument that the time for simply talking about big data is over – action and new models are needed. Programmatic buying continues to gain momentum, but there’s still room for improvement according to a new survey. Following a panel at PaidContent 2013, the discussion continues on the future of native apps vs. HTML5. In tips we have five ways publishers screw up mobile, advice on using Google+ Hangouts, creating a sales page that converts customers, and social media marketing fails. It’s Skimming the News!

NEWS:

Skimlinks Raises Growth Funding Led by Greycroft Partners, Opens Japanese Site via TechCrunch

We are thrilled to announce that we’ve raised a new round of funding to help us further our growth efforts around the world! If you know anyone who is a good candidate for Skimlinks anywhere in the world, refer them to us and take 35% of our revenue! Learn more about our referral program at www.skimlinks.com/referral.

Personalized Commerce: Coming to an Internet Near You via AdAge

Data is pushing pricing and promotion in two directions – toward both national and personal pricing. The traditional, once-a-week price change are a thing of the past thanks to Amazon re-pricing products several times a day, and most retailers are pricing and promoting more quickly to keep up with users who can quickly compare prices on their smart phones. At the same time online shopping is becoming much more personalized. With the increase in big data, personalized promotional offers are becoming commonplace.

Big Data: The Time For Talking Is Over via AdExchanger

The amount of data is growing by leaps and bounds, and it’s time to do something about it, wrote Lung Huang, Vice President of Digital Advertising and Global Partnerships at Dunnhumby. “It scares everyone from the highest-level boardroom executives to junior analysts in the deepest, darkest cube farms,” said Huang. He added, “The granular data is now available, and using it only within the same old model doesn’t seem relevant.” Trying to limit the influence of big data isn’t the answer. According to Huang, ideas like media attribution – connecting an exposure with a purchase – may be a game changer. It’s time to not just talk about big data but to actually explore the new models it makes possible. If leveraging big data is daunting, start small. Our Marketing Director provides tactical tips on how you can improve your business with small data in a post last month on Forbes entitled “Don’t Worry About Big Data; Sweat The Small Stuff.”

Despite Reservations, Programmatic Buying Gains Steam via eMarketer

More media buyers are using programmatic exchanges, and some buyers are even looking towards using programmatic trading to replace their direct relationships with publishers according to a survey conducted by Digiday and OpenX. More than one-third of the media buyers surveyed were at least somewhat likely to replace direct marketing with programmatic buying, and another one-third said they would pursue that route depending on success. Despite the growth, many have reservations about buying ad space through automated technology and real-time bidding exchanges. Among publishers the top concern was controlling pricing. Among ad buyers the top concern was wanting more data to inform their bids.

Are Native Apps a Bust for News and Magazines? via GetElastic

Every digital and retail business is faced with a decision – build and support native apps, HTML5, both or none. That was the question posed to panelists from MIT Technology Review, Vimeo and ESPN at PaidContent 2013. The answer, wrote Linda Bustos, could be boiled down to “if your content needs to tap deep into the software and hardware of a device, and you want to do things HTML5 can’t do yet, go for native.” But it would be a mistake for the publishing industry to completely write off native, she added. There are plenty of ways to minimize risk and keep costs down if you’re uncertain of investing heavily in a native app, and success stories from magazines like Popular Science and Popular Photography have shown it’s a viable option.

TIPS:

5 Ways Publishers Screw Up in Mobile via Digiday

Despite all the talk of “mobile first,” many publishers are still designing from a desktop philosophy. That can lead to frustrating mobile experience. Porting the desktop version, tiny font that causes the user to zoom and scroll, and pages that load too slowly for a mobile connection are just some of the deadly mobile sins that may make a viewer jump ship. Breaking a story into a 20-page slide show can be annoying for desktop users, but it’s much worse for people viewing on slow mobile connections. And if you use hover to display important information, mobile users will miss that completely.

How to Build an Audience with Google+ Hangouts via CopyBlogger

The text-based interactions of traditional social media have been a become a necessary part of any marketing strategy, but an even better way to engage your audience and your customers is through group video chat services like Google+ Hangouts. This new “human media” takes social media one step further and creates a much deeper connection that can be a great tool to boost your authority. It may be a difficult transition for some, but the new clients, customers and other networking opportunities that result will make it well worth your time.

10 Tips to Create a Sales Page that Converts Prospects to Customers via Domino Connection

Creating a sales page that engages viewers and converts those prospects into customers is key to having success. Domino Connection shares ten rules to creating a great service page in its step-by-step guide. It’s good practice to start with a narrative that sucks the reader in and keeps them hooked on what you have to offer. Another tip is sharing your technique. Many people are afraid to give away their best advice, so offering a free preview of what your product or service will do can often help drive home a sale. Keep it simple. Keep them engaged, and give them a reason to buy.

Brands Gone Wild: Social Media Marketing Fails & Lessons Learned via TopRank

Companies dream of their marketing campaigns going viral, but sometimes it can be for all the wrong reasons. Top Rank covers some memorable marketing fails, including KFC’s #IatetheBones and McDonald’s #McDStories campaigns on Twitter. Both seem to have backfired. The problem with social media marketing is that it puts the power in the hands of the users. You have to be thoughtful and assess if the campaigns are worth the time, money and potential risk. If not you may end up going viral in all the wrong ways.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

So it is with a heavy heart that we share that one of our own, one of our team members, died tragically last week.

Dominic Thorpe-Poynter was a Front-End Developer who joined us in February of this year after an exciting year of back-packing around Asia. Like me and my co-founder Joe, he was Australian, but had come to London to build his career, and although he was only with Skimlinks for a short time, it was clear he was a star: clever, talented, diligent. He was also one of those golden people that you warmed to as soon as you met him: his eyes glowed with joy, and his smile made you feel good about life.

To our heartbreak, Dominic was killed on Friday 12th April. We have spent the last week mourning his loss with his family and girlfriend, and helping our fellow Skimlinkers process the news and heal from the tragedy.

Throughout this horrible time, what warms the heart is watching how our team support each other, and reached out to help a suffering family. The selflessness and pure love our team have shown has awed me, and I have never been more proud to be a Skimlinker.

Dom will always be part of our Skimlinks team, and we are just glad we had the opportunity to work with him and get to experience what a wonderful person he was. Please join us in sending warm wishes to his family and friends in Australia, and remember to tell the people you love that you love them every opportunity you get.

Alicia Navarro

CEO & Co-Founder – Skimlinks

Happy Friday! The big news this week in the affiliate world featured the closing of the Google Affiliate Network. Skimlinks has launched tools that will automatically re-write GAN links.

We also have several stories debating the future of marketing. The last few years have seen a shift in focus from marketing individual products towards developing the larger corporate-level story. At the same time Fred Pfaff and Art Cannon argue the need for marketers to organize around the most important principal – utility. Advertising on social media is expected to grow $5 billion over the next 5 years, much of it driven by growth in mobile, and Twitter’s foray into music is totally going to work, says Mat Honan at Wired. In tips we have help defining new advertising lingo, the importance of balance artistry and science in marketing, growing traffic through LinkedIn Groups, and advice for building a PR strategy. Without further adieu, it’s Skimming the News (and TIPS for publishers & merchants below)!

NEWS:

Google Pulls Plug on Affiliate Network (GAN) via A4U

A year after expanding into the European market, Google has decided to shut down the Google Affiliate Network. Tracking will cease to work starting July 31st and it remains to be seen how the retailers who were working with GAN will react to the news.

Skimlinks Launches Tools to Help Publishers Affected by Google Affiliate Network Shutdown via Wall Street Journal

Over the next few months, GAN advertisers will be jumping ship to join other affiliate networks the world over. Once these programs close on GAN, your existing GAN links may be broken and unable to earn you commission. In response, Skimlinks is launching specific updates to their existing technology to identify all these GAN links, and automatically convert them into the appropriate deeplinks on new networks.

The Resurgence of the Corporate Brand via AdAge

After decades of focusing on individual products, there’s a growing shift in marketing towards telling the larger corporate story. Slogans like Procter & Gamble’s “Proud Sponsor of Moms” have helped lead the way toward a new focus – emphasizing the impact of a corporation’s wide array of products and the mission behind them. Exxon Mobil, Dow, Google, GE and others are all investing on branding the corporate-level story. In today’s transparent environment a company’s integrity and values matter more than ever, and building up a reservoir of goodwill can help weather a storm if a crisis arises. If a corporation isn’t proactively managing their brand image, someone else might do it for them.

Why Marketers Need to Reorganize Around the Most Powerful Behavior Principle of All: Utility via Adage

It’s time to reorganize around a unifying principle in marketing, and that principle is utility. Smartphone adoption is at 54%, and having the world in the palm of our hands means increased expectations. “As consumers, we’re gravitating instinctively to that which saves us time, deepens our experience, widens our connection, gives us more control or increases our social capital,” say Fred Pfaff and Art Cannon. People no longer clip articles and compare products. All of that can be done within minutes by clicking links. Companies that focus on utility and help consumers accomplish what they want can turn the speed of consumer reaction to their advantage.

US Social Spend Breakouts Show Rising Influence of Mobile, Local Outreach via eMarketer

Social ad spending in the US is expected to total $6.1 billion this year and nearly $11 billion in 2017. Three major trends are helping to drive that growth: mobile, local outreach and native ad formats. Mobile is the key trend as expected. Last year mobile accounted for 13% of the total ad dollars on social media. That number should jump to 20% by 2017. Over that same time period local ad spending is expected to rise from one-quarter to one-third of all social media ad dollars. Native advertising, such as Facebook’s Sponsored Stories and Twitter’s Promoted Tweets, now accounts for nearly 40% of spending and is expected to remain at that level over the next few years.

Why Twitter Music Is Totally Going to Work via Wired

Twitter’s entry into the music business left some scratching their heads, but the reason is quite simple, says Mat Honan. It’s all about engaging their audience and getting them to spend more quality time on Twitter. It’s also a smart way to get more musicians to become more active. Full songs are available for those with Rdio or Spotify accounts, and those without accounts can still hear 30 second iTunes previews. The ability to play songs, retweet them, and even embed those tweets in news stories and blogs effectively gets Twitter into the music industry without competing against them. Also, Honan writes, Twitter Music is just plain fun.

 TIPS:

[INFOGRAPHIC] It’s a Mobile World via Affiliate Window

Affiliate Window put together a flowchart highlighting the tremendous growth in mobile commerce. Over the past 2 years, AWin’s Network sales have risen from 2% to 14% on mobile, despite the fact that conversion rates on mobile still trail those on desktops. Creating mobile optimized landing pages and leveraging affiliate tracking will allow marketers to be more effective driving sales on mobile and across platforms.

Time To Define Native Advertising via Digiday

If you’re having trouble keeping up on the latest marketing buzzwords such as native advertising, sponsored content, brand content and content marketing, you’re not the only one. Even the New York Times has gotten tripped up trying to define them. Digiday walks through some of the definitions. Native advertising is unique to one platform, such as Twitter’s Promoted Tweets. Sponsored content is when a brand pays to have its name associated with a story. Brand content is produced through a brand’s own channels – think Redbull’s YouTube channel. If you’re still not sure which term to use, content marketing is a catchall phrase that covers most of the terms.

Are You a Marketing Artist or Scientist? via CopyBlogger

Marketers fall into two distinct categories, says Mark McGuinness. Those who think in terms of story are marketing artists. Those who think in terms of numbers are marketing scientists. Artists are in a good position right now. Content marketing is all the rage, and those who produce solid, engaging content are in high demand. Scientists have the ability to help make something not only more popular, but more profitable. Increased competition means a shift is taking place. You need to learn the best of both worlds to succeed, or at least you need to partner with someone who balances out your weaknesses. Are you an artist or a scientist?

How LinkedIn Groups can Explode your Blog Traffic via ProBlogger

Getting your name out into social media and expanding your blog community can be time consuming and expensive. One of the best – and free – options out there is LinkedIn Groups. These groups are industry focused, so finding a few of them that align with your product and message can easily boost traffic and create new business opportunities. One small business saw its readership grow 334% in 24 hours just by posting to a few groups. Take a little time to join LinkedIn, learn the ins and outs of how groups work, and take advantage of this free traffic booster.

Online PR for Brands: How to Make Company News, Real News via TopRank

A well-executed PR strategy can help with brand visibility, increase traffic and even boost sales. But is there harm in the put-it-all-out-there mentality, where media and consumers are getting bombarded with too much useless content? Too much non-news and poor targeting of good content are the issues, says Miranda Miller. Take some time to think before you publish. Each piece should have a goal and be targeted towards a particular segment of your audience. Don’t blast everyone on your email list when the information is meant just for journalists or primarily for new customers. Take the time to get creative in your approach, and make sure it’s focused on what your audience needs, not you.

Enjoy your weekend!

Yesterday, Google announced that they’ve given up on their affiliate network. What may have been a token experiment for the Big G was an essential revenue stream for the thousands of publishers promoting GAN advertisers.

With the closure of GAN, these affiliates are left hanging.

Here at Skimlinks, we devote ourselves to easing the pains of publishers the world over and, as such, we’re excited to announce the following:

Skimlinks is releasing a full toolset to enable GAN publishers to switch advertiser links simply and easily.

What does this mean for you, the publisher?

Over the next few months, GAN advertisers will be jumping ship to join other affiliate networks the world over. Once these programs close on GAN, your existing GAN links may be broken and unable to earn you commission.

In response, Skimlinks is launching specific updates to our existing technology to identify all these GAN links, and automatically convert them into the appropriate deeplinks on new networks.

We’ll be monitoring all the movements as advertisers switch over their services, and as soon as a new program is live, we’ll be there to monetize on your behalf, leaving you to do what you do best: create great content for your readers and users. Much more fun than having to manually update all those GAN links yourself!

Skimlinks won’t affect any of your existing links posted for other networks, but we’ll sweep up any un-affiliated links as well as your old GAN links with one simple JS installation.

It really is that easy.

To save yourself the hassle of manually identifying broken links, and identifying new affiliate programs, just follow these simple steps:

1. Sign up to Skimlinks.

2. Once approved, copy and paste our JS snippet into your site.

3. Profit.

Google may have given up on their affiliates, but we never will.

Mark Macdonald, Sr. Director, Account Management

Skimlinks will update all publishers on our rollout timeline in the coming weeks. For any additional information, please contact support@skimlinks.com.

Happy Friday, everyone! This week in news, Digiday wonders if Amazon’s growing reach in selling ads makes them the sleeping giant of media. Social ad revenue is expected to grow by 18% over the next five years to $11 billion by 2017. New viral advertising like Pepsi Max’s “Test Drive” featuring Jeff Gordon showcases the new kind of video ads some companies are striving to achieve, and over 60% of marketers say that big data is part opportunity and part obstacle. In tips we have ways to keep your creative juices flowing, build your email list, get big business results from your blog, and use the new Pinterest tools to boost your traffic. It’s Skimming the News!

NEWS

Is Amazon the Sleeping Giant of Media? Via Digiday
Six years ago Amazon began selling ads. Now, through its Amazon Media Group, it can display ads across sites it operates like IMDB.com and Zappos.com as well as through its Kindle devices. Amazon has an advantage when it comes to advertising – years of consumer buying habits and the sixth most visited site on the web. It’s all about creating ad experiences that enhance the customer’s shopping experience, said Lisa Utzschneider, vice president of global sales for Amazon Media Group. Amazon as a publisher is still in its early stages. With advertising now one of its priorities, the question is if they will become a dominant player in the ad game.

U.S. Social Ad Revenue to Hit $11 Billion by 2017 via Mashable
Social ad revenue in the U.S. is expected to have a growth rate of 18% over the next five years and reach $11 billion in total by 2017, according to a study by BIA/Kelsey. The growth is expected to come from improved ways to advertise in social media, principally mobile and video. The report comes on the heels of Facebook launching its Facebook Home app, which will put the social networking company front and center on some Android phones. Mobile advertising on Twitter and Facebook is expected to see more than $2 billion by 2017.

 Blurring Lines Between Video Ads and Content via Digiday
Video has long been one of the best ways get a product seen by a large audience, but times are changing says Giselle Abramovich. Consumers now prefer storytelling over pitches for products. Case in point the most viewed ad videos on YouTube tend towards humor, pranks or stunts. Pepsi Max’s video of disguised NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon going for a test drive at a dealership went viral. It’s received over 30 million views in less than a month, and it doesn’t even mention Pepsi Max. Nissan has also refocused its videos. While they do showcase their product, they often have a story being told. The younger generation expects authenticity and participation. Some brands are trying to provide that.

What Do Marketers Want From Big Data? via eMarketer
Big data is front and center in the minds of many marketers. Putting it to good use is something few have mastered, according to a survey from CMO Council and SAS. Over 60% of those surveyed said big data was part opportunity and part obstacle and that they have a long way to go. Over half the marketers said the data has helped identify new business leads, but only 29% said it has forced a change in the culture, process and solutions to manage information or that they had increased investment in technology to manage the data. The data most marketers really want? Over 70% would like predictive analytics around the lifetime value of a customer.

 TIPS

How to Create Consistently Great Content for the Long Haul via CopyBlogger
As a content creator one of the most valuable things you can do is develop better creative habits. CopyBlogger looks at legendary choreographer Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life. One way to develop better habits is by having a system for storing all the bits and pieces of ideas you come across. There should be a system to organize your research, inspiration, newspaper clippings and whatever else you use. You should also develop consistent ways to generate new ideas and add to the skills in your toolbox. These can include free writing, reading other people’s work and finding other creative outlets. Once you find what works, make it habit and lean on those habits when you’re stuck in a creative rut.

30+ Killer Ways to Build Your Email List via BlogWorld
Everyone wants to reach as many people as possible. A bigger email list will let you do just that, but what’s the best way to go about growing your email subscribers? The compilation at BlogWorld shares 32 tips and techniques to help you reach out to your target market. They include offering incentives like free ebooks, discounts, and other exclusive content to subscribers and using social media, live events, and current subscribers to help grow your numbers. You won’t use every tactic on the list, but pick and choose a few that make sense for you and watch your subscribers grow.

The State of Pinterest: What Content Marketers Need to Know Now via CopyBlogger
According to a study from Simply Measured, Pinterest is now home to 69 of the top 100 brands, and they drive more traffic to websites and blogs than Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ or YouTube. When users purchase something they’ve seen on the site they also spend twice as much as Facebook buyers. Pinterest recently got a new look, added new business accounts, and created new analytics tools to help analyze data within Pinterest and your website. These tools make Pinterest an even greater tool for marketers. Are they part of your marketing strategy?

 NEWS

How Facebook Home Will Deposit Ads Right Into Your Pocket via Wired
The new Facebook Home mobile platform was unveiled earlier this week. It essentially turns an Android phone into a “Facebook phone” by putting the app front and center. It doesn’t currently have ads in the “Cover Feed,” a new feature that’s essentially a scrolling version of the News Feed on a phone’s home screen, but that’s the end game wrote Wired. “Putting ads in Cover Feed gives Facebook an unprecedented opportunity to aggressively push commercial messages at users. Since Cover Feed scrolls through updates automatically, a user could pull a phone out of his pocket and immediately see an ad, before even unlocking the device.” If users will be eager to adopt the new Facebook Home is something the advertising industry will be watching closely.

Why the Blog Post Is the New Ad Unit via HubSpot
With the rising importance of content creation, the blog post has once again risen to prominence with marketers looking to generate new leads and connect with customers. Steve Hall at HubSpot goes as far as to call the blog post the new ad unit. He backs his claim up with 13 reasons why. A key reason is that blogging is a free and long-lasting opportunity to get your message out, unlike typical ads which can be expensive and eventually expire. They can also drive quality leads, as those who come to your blog via search engines or social media have a built-in interest in what your offering. Long-lasting content that attracts leads and helps convert them to customers – it’s the perfect ad, says Hall.

Upworthy says we’ve been doing viral all wrong via PandoDaily
In March Upworthy, a curator of socially-conscious news and content, passed 11 million unique visitors. It’s an impressive feat considering they’ve only been in existence for a year. Co-founder Peter Koechley says many media companies have it all wrong when it comes to social sharing and viral media. People want to share the aspirational side of themselves. They want to show that they actually care about social issues, and that involves more than just cute and wacky fluff. Upworthy has also mastered the art of creating catchy headlines and using social analytics to drive traffic to their site. The challenge now is if they can turn all of that traffic into cash.

The mobile war is over and the app has won: 80% of mobile time spent in apps via Venture Beat
80% of mobile time of American consumers is spent in apps, according to top apps analytics firm Flurry. The data shows that we spend an average of 158 minutes each and every day on our smartphones and tablets. Two hours and seven minutes of that is in an app, and only 31 minutes is in a browser, surfing the old-school web.The introduction of HTML5 brought a great deal of speculation that it would kill mobile apps. Quite the opposite became thru, though, when developers started using it to build cross-platform apps.

TIPS

How to Write Copy Like Google via CopyBlogger
Ever wonder how Google gets such great copy? You probably haven’t given it much thought, but something about their writing makes you want their product. It all boils down to one thing – knowing your audience. Google knows their products will satisfy their audience, and they use that knowledge to hit the right emotions in the reader. Like Google, try to spend ninety percent of your time researching your customer, and the copy practically writes itself.

4 Key Stats to Monitor the Health of Your Blog via ProBlogger
Blogging can take up a lot of your time, but it’s important to go beyond just creating content and invest in analyzing your blog’s stats. It’s the only way to know if your blog is healthy and if you’re on the right track. ProBlogger recommends spending an hour per month monitoring your traffic, costs, revenue and subscribers. With month-to-month data you can look for the areas that need improving – it can range from unique visitors to social media to product sales – and make sure to focus your time in the right direction.

Why Blog Audit Is the Fastest Way To Gain More Traffic via John Chow
When is the last time you audited your blog? Content isn’t always the cause of low traffic. Your web hosting service, your design theme and the way you format your posts can all invite users into your site – or turn them away. Are your blog posts and tagline working in unison to let readers know why they should buy, hire or subscribe to you? Many people haven’t audited their blogs since they began blogging. Take a few minutes and look your blog to make sure everything is working together to help drive quality traffic.

Want Better Email Revenue? Send Late at Night via eMarketer
The expectation is that people don’t want to be bothered late at night, but that doesn’t hold true for emails. According to an analysis by Experian CheetahMail, emails sent between 8 p.m. and midnight get the best results. Late night beat out all other times of day by a significant margin for open rates, clickthrough rates and average orders. Emails sent between 8 p.m. and midnight generated 48 cents per email, nearly double the second time period at 22 cents. The weekend also generated the best return overall, with nearly 20 cents per email.

Have a great weekend!

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