Lammo.net: Affiliate Marketing Blog

I’m just planning my holidays for 2009. Er Indoors has been going on for years about how I’ve never taken her to Paris, so a brief getaway to the home of the rudest people in the world is in order. It’s also been a few years since I’ve been ski-ing, so a ski-trip somewhere in Europe sounds like a plan. Finally, we need a guaranteed sunshine holiday, and I’ve always fancied Dubai, so a five star, all-inclusive jolly should round off the 2009 travel plans quite nicely.

Oh, and did I mention I don’t plan to pay a penny for any of them?

Thanks to Prezzybox’s Great Winter Incentive, I can bag myself those free holidays, just by meeting some tough, yet achievable sales targets. The incentive period runs from yesterday (1st October) right up to (and including) 14th February 2009. So you’ve not only got four and a half months to hit the targets (meaning us SEO/Content affiliates get a chance as well as the PPC big hitters), but you’ve got 3 of the biggest markets for gifts included in that period - Valentines Day, January Sales, and of course the BIG one - Christmas

The best bit about the prize structure is that by hitting the minimum £3,000 sales target (which is easily achievable for a great merchant like Prezzybox), you’re guaranteed a fairly decent prize. None of this “ticket to win” malarky with Zak and co - “Thanks for the sales guys, have some nice prezzies” seems to be their ethos. And if you can really rack up the sales, you can collect as many of the star prizes as you want!

So if I’m going to take Er Indoors to Paris, Ski-ing in Europe and off on the All-inclusive trip to Dubai, I’m going to have to sell £100,000 of products from Prezzybox by the end of Valentines Day. A tough task indeed considering I haven’t done much retail this year and don’t really have any sites that I can instantly send traffic from. But so great is the incentive (and so achievable given the length of time you’ve got to rack up the sales), that I’ve come up with a number of ideas to promote their products, and maybe, just maybe I’ll be able to hit the £100,000 sales target and have 3 free holidays next year.

Even if I miss the huge target, as long as I hit the £20,000 target to take Er Indoors to Paris it’ll be worth it, and of course I’ll have a number of SEO’d pages that will continue to sell products throughout 2009.

Merchants everywhere take note - This is the Ultimate affiliate incentive. As you can see it’s spurred me (who does next to nothing in Prezzybox’s sector) on to really make an effort to promote them via content and SEO, which is exactly the effect that I’d imagine Zak is looking for - It runs for long enough for my SEO work to take effect, the prizes are really sh*t hot, and it’s got the “everyone’s a winner” element - If I hit tough yet achievable targets, I get a brilliant prize.

Prezzybox is available on Affiliate Window and Paid on Results. They are managed by “Affiliate Manager of the Year 2007″ Zak Edwards, who is certainly doing his best to win back the award for 2009. not only is there this fab incentive, but there’s the now-as-traditional-as-mince-pies Prezzybox BIG Christmas Plans information overload, full of new tools for affiliates, top sellers lists, stocking filler ideas, etc, etc.

What else could you need? Prezzybox give you the products, the creative, the ideas and the incentive. Are you planning to join me in Dubai?

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Jackpotjoy.com is the leading instant win gaming site in the U.K, with more than 13 cash bets being placed every second. The website has evolved over the last 7 years to a membership of more than 2 million, with annual wagering reaching over £1 billion each year and payouts of over £80 million each month! This fast growing website offers a generous affiliate program consisting of different commission options and seems a sound bet for any affiliate who wants to tap into the highly lucrative U.K online gambling scene.

The program gives a choice between two different methods of commission. You can select either their revenue share option, which is 30% (sometimes this rate is higher - but they never pay less than the 30% benchmark) of the net revenue produced by an affiliate across the life of players they refer. Conversely, you can choose a combination of CPA (Cost per Acquisition / Action) and revenue commission. This consists of a £20 single payment per acquisition and a 20% stake in revenue share for the life of the player’s membership. It is important to note that the CPA payment only refers to real money players who pay a deposit, and is not paid simply per sign up.

The cookie lasts for an entire year. The premise behind this is to allow time for players who use the free games time to convert to a “real money” player. Due to the nature of the website, the length of the cookie is beneficial to potential affiliates as it allows sufficient time for a player to become accustomed to the website and games, place a deposit and begin wagering (at which point you receive your commission / CPA).

The range of different games on offer is impressive. They include many different branded games such as the exclusive “Deal or No Deal” money games (of which there are two), Price is Right game, Strike it lucky game, and Family Fortunes game. All of these can be played for real money and are to be found only on Jackpotjoy.com.

The website also features a selection of different bingo games, for which they won the much coveted industry “2007 Bingo Operator of the Year Award”. They offer both 1p and 2p bingo promotional events with jackpots of around £100, and bigger money games with jackpots approaching £200,000. Various Casino games and Lotteries are also offered, however the Bingo and Branded games constitute the bulk of the site.

All games are unique to Jackpotjoy.com and are created by an in house team. Importantly, they are also all browser based with no downloads required - players can start straight away. A number of games are also available to play on your mobile, including the popular Deal or No Deal game.

The website is also well known for continuously running promotions across the games. These regularly include daily promotions such as “Supernova Saturday”. Moreover, they also offer to match a player’s first deposit up to £100, and provide updated notification of jackpot totals on the homepage. All of these factors make the website appetising for visitors.

It is very important to note the legal constraints under which Jackpotjoy.com is obliged to operate. They must prevent, under any circumstances, US or Australian citizens signing up to the site. This is due to the online gambling regulations in those jurisdictions. In addition, no one can deposit funds with an American card, even if they are not from the US. Jackpotjoy.com also stipulates that you cannot advertise their affiliate program specifically to US or Australian citizens. If you are an affiliate with a website targeted at these geographies then this clearly isn’t the affiliate program for you!

On a lighter note, the advertising material offered with the program is excellent. There is an impressive range of flash banners, emails, promotional codes, landing pages, interactive flash games and static banners. They also provide a useful selection of written content including, for instance, access to winner testimonials (of which many can be found on their website). Jackpotjoy.com also offers the opportunity for bespoke advertising material to be created for you, should you require a particular branding etc.

The Jackpotjoy.com affiliate program seems to offer an excellent opportunity for the right affiliate wanting to enter the competitive world of gaming with the advantage of an established brand, engaging site and strong affiliate support. They offer competitive commission rates with a mix / choice of CPA and revenue share. Just make sure you’re not targeting the US or Oz!!

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Marks and Spencer are currently offering a promising affiliate opportunity with their popular online catalogue (to be found at their website www.marksandspencer.com.) Marks and Spencer are a leading retail brand not only in the UK but in over 30 countries worldwide, making them an international firm with a broad ranging reputation and brand appeal. Posted revenues exceeded £9 billion last year and the company has a workforce of more than 70,000 staff. As more than 21 million people enter their stores each week, they are certainly a major force in British retail.

The Marks and Spencer affiliate program is with Affiliate Window, and comprises a 5% commission on all lines and a cookie length of 7 days.

The Marks and Spencer website offers a good range of products, many of which you would find in their stores. This includes a wide range of their women’s clothing (following their TV advertising campaign in the U.K), menswear, children’s clothes and toys, footwear, home furnishings, electronics, gifts and food. They also offer some direct services, such as a travel insurance policy - all of which are commission-bearing in the affiliate program. There are around 20,000 or so items on offer in total across all the ranges, which is on par with other department store websites of this nature.

Some products are only exclusively available on the website. This is seen mainly throughout the more expensive ranges of electronics (portable media players, IPOD accessories etc) and home furnishings (for instance furniture and household appliances etc). The website also allows those who may not be a practical distance from a larger Marks and Spencer store to purchase items that would otherwise not be available in their locality. As an example, much of the luggage range cannot be found in many smaller Marks and Spencer stores but the complete range is available for anyone to purchase online.

The site also continually runs promotions based on the time of year, together with offers specific to product lines. Examples include 33% off Australian Wines, and 30% off selected fabric upholstery, along with free delivery on all standard orders.

Prices range a great deal on the website, with much of the adult clothing being priced at between £25 and £40 and home furnishings along with many appliances being priced around the £100 mark. Electrical goods and games consoles remain relatively competitively priced, however, these could be easily found cheaper elsewhere. It is possible to pay from £2 for some male deodorant through to nearly £2,000 for a leather sofa.

The program does not provide details on average basket values, however, it is a reasonable assumption that with the popularity of the website and the M&S brand reputation, they would compare favourably with other online retailers of this genre (e.g. House of Fraser etc).

Marks and Spencer do, however, insist on a code of practice when using any PPC / Paid Search or similar campaigns. They require the use of a landing-page instead of direct forwarding. Your landing page is not to appear to be part of the Marks and Spencer Company and the words “official” and “TM” are explicitly banned from the page. Most of you will be familiar with similar branding and PPC constraints from other programmes. Keyword restrictions are also in place, including bidding on misspelt brand names (”Mrks and Spencer” etc) or competitor brand names in PPC campaigns.

The affiliate program also provides a good selection of advertising creative for use. This consists mainly of static banners — no flash components are supplied. New advertisements are released on a regular basis in accordance with new product lines and promotions. As an example, there are banners available at the time of writing for the new Halloween ranges of toys and foods. Advertisements are also often split into target audiences with many being separated into “male” and “female” products, particularly surrounding clothing ranges.

The affiliate program seems to be a good option for an affiliate looking for a new revenue stream in the run up to Christmas. Perhaps one small disappointment is the short cookie length of 7 days - which in comparison to other affiliates - is below par. Clearly the requirement to create a landing page for any PPC campaign creates more work if you are looking to promote this program but this is to be expected with a major brand. However, this is more than compensated for with a strong flat commission rate of 5% on all items and lines in the context of such a well known retailer.

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