By Cynthia Arko
Now is a great time to increase
affiliate commissions by offering your visitors seasonal coupons, special offers and deals available exclusively to the
Internet bargain hunter.
Merchant and affiliate sites alike are taking advantage of coupons and special deals to help boost affiliate sales, liquidate
unsold inventory and encourage repeat traffic.
In the past few weeks, merchants have been flooding affiliate e-mail boxes with special offers geared towards outdoor
grilling, summer travel, Father's Day, Graduation Day and The Fourth of July. Here are a few of the current hot deals:
- Amazon.com is offering FREE shipping on Weber grills (expiration date
June 18) and a coupon for $5 off of $35 orders for new customers.
- Proflowers.com doesn't want
you to forget your Dads and Grads. Affiliates can earn DOUBLE commissions (20 percent) this summer by promoting
Proflowers.com!
- Don't miss your chance for increased commissions during the busy grilling season at Omaha Steaks! All Omaha Steaks sales
up to $499.99 in June will earn 10 percent commission. The top ten sales generating affiliates for June will get a $300
picnic pack to grill up for the entire staff.
- The Nordstrom.com
Half-Yearly Sale starts June 6th! Save 25-75 percent on hundreds of spring and summer styles starting June 6th! Find
incredible values on great special-purchase items
(hurry, quantities are limited).
For more information
about affiliate programs, check out these other articles from Cynthia Arko's ongoing weekly series:
Getting Started in Affiliate Marketing
Revenue Sharing
101
In this first in a series of weekly articles, Cynthia Arko, Product Director for internet.com's Refer-it.com affiliate
directory, presents a no-nonsense approach to generating revenue from your Web site.
How to Indentify Quality
Affiliate Programs
With literally thousands of affiliate programs available on the Internet, it could be difficult to determine which ones
are high quality. However, the process could be made easier when using some basic criteria.
Understanding Affiliate
Commission Structures
If you want to get paid, you need to understand affiliate commission payments and the many different commission
structures that exist.
Content
Sells
Making money with affiliate programs requires much hard work and continued attention to developing and retaining visitor
traffic.
Search Engine Tips, Part
I
For affiliates, it is important to be listed with the major search engines because they can potentially generate much
needed traffic.
Search Engine Tips, Part
II
Cynthia Arko explores the impact search engines have on affiliate programs in this second article of a two-part series.
Develop an Opt-in E-mail
List
Mailing lists are a very popular way to create traffic and generate repeat visitors to a Web site, often leading to
additional affiliate sales and referrals.
How to Achieve Super
Affiliate Status
How to take your affiliate program from "ordinary" to "extraordinary."
Common Mistakes of
Affiliates
If you're not generating much revenue from your affiliates, it could be due to some common errors.
Profiting from Seasonal Coupons and Hot Deals!
Now is a great time to increase affiliate commissions by offering your visitors seasonal coupons, special offers and deals available exclusively to the Internet bargain hunter.
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Oftentimes, these steep discounts can attract many new customers and create quite a boost in affiliate sales. Several
affiliate sites that are capitalizing on the merchant coupon craze include PromoCode.com, ShoppingBookmarks.com
, eDealFinder and CouponSurfer.com.
You can't be everything to everyone.
Just as your site should maintain a clear focus, so should your coupon offerings. KidsTownDirect.com (my little side project) offers promotions geared
toward young families and online shopping for children's products. For example: EStyle.com has recently made available a wide
selection of special offer banners/text links promoting 15 percent savings on baby clothes, $10 off a $30 purchase for new
customers and a blowout gear sale! The BabyOutlet.com is offering a 7.5 percent discount on any purchase promotional banner
for all affiliate sites. By focusing on offers that appeal to my target audience, I can increase my affiliate sales and
commission.
Keep it fresh.
Identify merchants that offer a special deal of the day. Many times merchants will provide affiliates with HTML code that is
automatically updated on the affiliate site.
Every day, eStyle.com features one special product at its lowest price ever! It only lasts for 24 hours and then returns to
its original price to make way for a new "Steal of the Day." Other sites offering deals of the day include Buy.com, FingerHut, and Marthastewart.com.
Get the word out.
If you don't have an opt-in newsletter, get one. Developing an opt-in
e-mail list can be an effective vehicle for letting your visitors know of upcoming sales, promotions and hot
deals. A newsletter that has a good mix of content, tips and special deals can generate a steady flow of affiliate income.
Diversify.
Promotional codes and hot deals are a great way to attract new customers but you must provide a unique experience to your
visitors to encourage repeat visits when special deals may not be available.
- Editorial or Product Reviews further enhance the content on your site and provide your visitors with additional
information on a particular product.
- Providing articles is another great way to maintain a balance between banner ads, hot deals and content.
- Syndicated Content and Dynamic News are quick and easy ways to get fresh content without having to manually
update HTML or source code on a daily basis. Syndicated content sites provide Webmasters with a wide selection of headline
news, sports scores, stock quotes, e-mail, calendars, chat games, horoscopes, comics, movie reviews, weather reports and
more.
Stay cool this summer and be sure to take advantage of Hot Deals offered by merchants!
Cynthia A. Arko is the Product Director for internet.com's Refer-it.com (Refer-it.com) affiliate directory. She coordinates advertising,
site development, and conference planning. Cynthia helped grow Refer-it.com from a small directory of Affiliate Programs to
the Web's leading resource for information about affiliate programs. She also currently maintains KidsTown Direct, a shopping
portal for parents and young families. Cynthia can be reached at carko@internet.com.
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