The Smallest Gesture Make a Big Difference

Usually a small time publisher like myself you work on your affiliate projects and earn as much commission as possible with the eventual hope that you will make it one day. I am just a small fish in a pond full of big fishes - sometimes it is hard because you put 1000% and get nothing in return other times you get a little surprise like today.

After a hard days work I found a parcel waiting for me, (the first time I got this parcel I missed because there was no one at home). The normal thought process begins - What did I order? Is it a late delivery? Maybe it is a mistake? The parcel is a addressed to me so I will open it. I have a lovely surprise waiting for me from Affiliate Window - it’s a Christmas gift. A box of lovely hand made biscuits and a kind message on the tin wishing me a Merry Christmas.

As mentioned earlier I am not a big revenue generator for Affiliate Window but I appreciate that they actually thought of me to send me such a nice gift. Each biscuit was individually wrapped, hand made and some had 'AW' initialled. To be honest they looked too good to eat and after one hour I cannot decide which one I will try first. My family were with me when I opened the box and they were impressed this gift.

Why Do I Use Affiliate Window?

 I normally enjoy talking to the Affiliate Window social media team on twitter so a big thank you to them for taking the time to talk to me. I also loving the Darwin interface which is easy to use, simple to navigate and easy to pick. I love the fact there are a variety of merchants for me to apply to and Darwin profiles are a big plus - great merchants fill you in so you can make an informed choice.


New Year Plans

As much as enjoy using Affiliate Window I decided to give other affiliate networks a try and in some cases another try because for the reasons above I prefer currently using Awin but seeing as I feel so comfortable with Affiliate Window I will continue using this network on my voucher code site and look at opportunities with other sites in my portfolio.

What Is The Point of This Post?

Apart from saying thank you to all of the staff at Affiliate Window who have been a joy to work with throughout 2012. I also wanted to let other would be/ new affiliates know that even when it seems like there is a mountain to climb, keep on working at it because one day someone like Affiliate Window might send you some tasty biscuits in the post.

Affiliate Marketing If You Have No Clue

Where do we start?

Affiliate marketing is a form of internet marketing in which merchants promote services and products through affiliate relationships with publishers who use text links, banners, newsletters, etc to advertise offers and information thus publishers who advertise merchants are commonly known as affiliates and merchants are known as advertisers.

How do merchants benefit?

Merchants need exposure beyond their existing marketing channels such as:

• Television
• Press
• Radio
• Pay Per Click
• Search Engine Optimisation

Targeted marketing to a relevant audience has always been a proven marketing strategy and affiliates tend to build and market interesting content to a niche audience.

The brilliance of the affiliate marketing channel is that costs can vary to suit large well known brands and small merchants with no brand presence provided there is effective affiliate management.

Why Be an Affiliate?

In the beginning and to an extent this is still true now affiliates started off as webmasters of websites which were started to do or say something but as these webmasters realised they could make money they learnt clever ways to build their audience using search engine optimisation.

Being an affiliate is great because you are not tied to promoting one product or a range of products. Also why deal with the hassle of selling, shipping, supporting for a low margin when you could spend your time marketing to a growing audience.

Google Buys Affiliate Site BeatThatQuote

This is every affiliate website’s dream come true and nothing can beat it, a big major wealthy corporation buys your company and your little business is famous. In the case of BeatThatQuote.com, a small price comparison site which was recently bought by search engine giant Google.

The news of this purchase has been buzzing all of the internet so we don’t really need to report on the acquisition but we must ask what really make your online website have value because big company such as Google, Microsoft and Adobe regularly buy small companies with value in the form of assets.

In the case of BeatThatQuote which is a price comparison website covering loans and financial products with at first glance an awful site design. The site gives visitors pricing data on credit cards, mortgages and loans as well as insurance products too. If Google wanted they could have created a price comparison site and they did it for mortgage rates in the past.

What else? Technology of course, all affiliate must realise that making money is the first huddle and growing that revenue over time but making money with technology that drives your business forward could result in a big player buying your company. This trend has been happening all over the IT world from when niche industries like online gaming when big recognised brands buy affiliates and gaming operators to Adobe buying Macromedia to own assets such as Macromedia Flash.