Go Mobile with Google Affiliate Network: Advertiser best practices

Learn mobile optimization tips for your affiliate program in our blog: http://goo.gl/Su600

Go mobile with your affiliate program

Learn how to "Go Mobile with Google Affiliate Network" with our blog series that kicked off today. http://goo.gl/sOZvw

Reminder: Tag your links for seasonal promotions

Tag your links for upcoming seasonal promotions, including Valentine's Day. 
Learn more: http://goo.gl/FsoFu

Enter your 2012 shipping deadlines

Please fill in your shipping deadlines so that publishers can accurately promote you this holiday season! Click here to submit today: http://goo.gl/CYDMB

Google Affiliate Network Holiday 2012 Optimization Guide

Happy Holidays from Google Affiliate Network. In order to power through the holiday season, click here for a few easy optimization tips. These tips are basic reminders on ways to maximize your program in a few short minutes.

Optimize your creatives for the holidays

Make sure your creatives and links are up to date: http://goo.gl/MU23q

Accelerate: A deeper look at attribution

Today, we kicked off an educational series called 'Accelerate' on the Google Affiliate Network blog, highlighting insights from this year's Client Summit.

The first post features a video of the popular session by Neil Hoyne, Google's Global Program Manager for Attribution. In the video, Neil encourages affiliate marketers to identify more actionable performance metrics and build stronger industry relationships as the advertising market continues its rapid evolution away from last-click valuation.

Back to school shopping season is NOW!

Google Affiliate Network News Back to school shopping season is NOW!

 • Review back to school publisher opportunities available. Click here. • Develop themed banners with notable vanity offer codes.
 • Create links frequently. Category, top sellers, clearance and features are great additions.
 • Offer your top publishers increased commission for additional placements and consumer cash back.
 • Pay for premium spots if your budget allows.
 • Consider publisher incentive plans to drive sales and increase average order size.
 • Keep your pending publisher queue current.
 • Review your declined publisher list for missed opportunities.
 • Use the publishers>recruiting filters to search for publishers by keyword, KID or name.
 • Create links frequently. Category, top sellers, clearance and features are great additions.
 • Offer your top publishers increased commission for additional placements and consumer cash back.
 • Pay for premium spots if your budget allows.
 • Consider publisher incentive plans to drive sales and increase average order size.
 • Keep your pending publisher queue current.
 • Review your declined publisher list for missed opportunities.
 • Use the publishers>recruiting filters to search for publishers by keyword, KID or name.

Network-Wide promotional communications Gain additional network-wide exposure for your clients.• Submit Halloween promotions by 9/17 here
• Submit Q3 October exclusive offers by 8/22 here
• Tweet an offer or message to over 17K @GoogleAffiliate followers here • Submit Q3 October exclusive offers by 8/22 here• Tweet an offer or message to over 17K @GoogleAffiliate followers here 
Publisher placement opportunities • Click here for Back to School publisher placements!  
Answers.com: coupons.answers.com

• KID: K385695 
• State: MO 
• Answers.com is very excited about getting into the affiliate space. Merchants will appear under the coupon site, coupons. answers.com, and have the option for enhanced site placement by providing "Answers" branded vanity codes. 
• If you are looking to run a test CPM/CPC placement on Answers.com contact Larry. He may consider a slotting fee in lieu of a CPM. 
• Contact: larry.tumacder@answers.com

Loylogic: URLs: http://shoptoearn.hhonors.com, http://morerewards.etisalat.ae/etearn, http://shop.balticmiles.com/bmearn, http://www.earnmiles.etihadguest.com/eyearn

• Publisher KID - K261849 
• Publisher Classification - Loyalty/Rewards • State - CH (Switzerland) 
• Opt-In - Y 
• Loylogic is a leading reward solutions provider to loyalty program sponsors worldwide. We help loyalty programs increase member engagement by combining loyalty innovation with state-of-the-art technology and the fastest-growing global merchant network. Loylogic has managed Earn Malls for the following loyalty programs: Etihad Guest (Etihad Airways), BalticMiles (airBaltic), Etisalat MoreRewards (Etisalat), and just launched the Hilton Honors Shop To Earn Mall (their first US-focused mall). 
• Contact : Nina.Stemson@loylogic.com, Baiba.Trainovska@loylogic.com 

 Pinshoppr:

• KID: K9997 
• State: Ontario 
• Data feed required 
• Pinshoppr.com is a social shopping engine that leverages the social sharing done on Pinterest. They've worked hard to verify hundreds of eCommerce retailers to allow their users to browse search and actually buy the hottest and most popular products pinned on Pinterest. 
• Contact: connect@pinshoppr.com

How you can drive higher converting traffic

By promoting your top products and categories, you could potentially reach customers shopping for a particular type of product but may not be familiar with your brand. Click here to read more. 

Increasing your conversion rate

There are a variety of tactics you can implement to help increase your conversion rate. Click here to review a handy checklist. 

Monthly order reconciliations due Friday, June 8th

Monthly order reconciliation is the process where advertisers check transactions reported to Google Affiliate Network against valid transactions in their internal systems, validating them in the Google Affiliate Network interface by the 8th day of the month. Advertisers are responsible for validating and reconciling transactions to adjust for scenarios such as cancelled sales, violations of Advertiser-specific terms, fraudulent activity, or data integrity errors. Click here to read more. 

Spring with Optimization Tricks

Who said a Spring cleaning isn't fun? Now is a great time to give your program a tune-up in the affiliate space and reap the rewards! Click here to read a few easy optimization tips you can take part in to help give your program a little boost.

Affiliate Optimization Center

Learn how to improve your affiliate program's performance and reach more customers.

2012 Exclusive Opportunities: Q1 due 2/22

Our Exclusive Opportunities program is back! Below are the dates, help center article and submission form.

• Help center article
• External submission form

Quarter	Participation requirements due	Communication launch	Deals live
Q1	2/22	3/14	3/23-3/26
Q2	5/23	6/13	6/22-6/25
Q3	8/22	9/12	9/21-9/24

*Q4: This opportunity is only available for Q1-Q3.

Best practice: If you or your clients can't create exclusive offers or this timing doesn't work with your schedule, don't forget to always include 'Exclusive' in your link names for exclusive offers. Affiliates can then search for links with this name anytime within the interface. You should also do the same for any seasonal offer such as Valentine's Day.

Don't forget- Today Free Shipping Day!

This is a busy shopping week! Make sure to post and promote last minutes deals to ship in time for the holidays today and include free shipping offers. 


“We know that Green Monday will rank among the top online spending days of the season, but its hold on the number one position may be slipping somewhat over time," comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni observed in a statement. “One possible reason is that as Free Shipping Day (Friday, December 16 this year) gains in importance each year, online spending during the heaviest week of the season is being more evenly distributed throughout the week, whereas in the past there was a much higher concentration of spending during the early part of the week."
PCWORLD 12/12/11

Black Friday/Cyber Monday Best Practices

Here are some best practices to help your affiliate program gain exposure throughout the holiday season.

Maximizing affiliate exposure for your Seasonal deals

1. A special Black Friday/Cyber Monday-focused newsletter is slated for delivery to affiliate publishers this week before Thanksgiving. 
2. Make sure your deals are live (or scheduled to go live) in the Google Affiliate Network interface on or before the start date.
3. When you create links for Black Friday or Cyber Monday, use the following standard naming convention for Link Name in the Google Affiliate Network interface:
   • BlackFriday_xxx (i.e. BlackFriday_50% off all digital cameras_Use Code XYZ)
   • CyberMonday_xxx (i.e. CyberMonday_50% off all digital cameras_Use Code XYZ)

Naming your Black Friday and Cyber Monday Links

The xxx may include any additional information you want the link name to have, including the promotion itself, coupon code (if applicable), etc.  If you can’t have "BlackFriday" or "CyberMonday" in the prefix of your link name, please include the term(s) somewhere in the link name. Publishers will use these naming conventions to find Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals in the interface. Additionally, please be sure to include the appropriate promotion type, start date and end date. Lastly, if your deals have any restrictions, be sure to include them in the merchandising text.

5 Easy Steps for a Successful Holiday Season

1. Clear Pending Publisher Queue
Publishers sitting in a pending queue are publishers that are not driving traffic or revenue. These publishers are eager to work with your brand. The sooner you clear out your pending queue, the more visibility your brand will receive for holiday and boost your sales.


2. Cyber Monday & Black Friday Publishers
Ensure you are partnering with Cyber Monday and Black Friday publishers. These publishers perform well specifically during November and December. For a list of recruitable publishers, visit this previous post. Last minute placement inventory may still be available.


3. Refresh Creative and Update Competitive Promotions Regularly
Always keep your creative fresh and promotions up to date. Banners with holiday language resonates better with consumers. Loyal consumers will check publisher sites often for updated offers. You will want to make sure your promotions are in line or better than your competitors since consumers are looking for the best deals online. Check the site Evreward for current competitor offers.


4. Set Promotions Live Early
In addition to keeping your creative and promotions current, you will also want to set them live early in the interface. We recommend making your promotions available a week in advance so publishers have time to update their site. You can include the date the promotion is valid in the promotion text or merchandising text so consumers are aware when the offer is available. Setting your offers live early allows publishers access to the links in the platform and communicates them through Link Subscriptions well in advance to allow for site preparation. 


5. Communicate Best Offers to Top Publishers
Develop a short communication to provide your top publishers and email or call them in advance with your upcoming holiday promotions. Early communication is key during the busy holiday season. This allows publishers ample time to update their sites and in return grants your program maximum exposure. 

Advertiser optimization checklist

Now that back to school is over for many and Halloween is right around the corner, review the advertiser optimization checklist today to optimize elements of your affiliate program. These strategies and tactics will help attract publishers, increase conversions and sales.

• Goal Planning and Strategy
• Technology
• Recruitment and Optimization
• Creative
• Communication
• Policy Development

Order Reconciliation Reminder

Lockdown for July orders takes place on August 8.  Please be sure to check transactions reported to Google Affiliate Network against valid transactions in your internal systems.  For more information on monthly order reconciliation please see the following link: http://goo.gl/1RyQZ