Practical Ecommerce » Carolyn Kmet

After almost 20 years in affiliate marketing, I’m leaving the industry to teach full-time at a university. It’s a bittersweet transition. However, I’d like to leave you with five best ... ...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/After-20-Years-in-Affiliate-Marketing-5-Rules-for-Success

Affiliate marketing data for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2016 showed shifts in consumer behavior that could impact strategies for 2017. AvantLink is an affiliate marketing network for over 500...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-Results-for-Black-Friday-Cyber-Monday

There are thousands of retailers that offer affiliate marketing programs. Potential affiliates have many options to choose from. A goal of an affiliate manager should therefore be to build loya...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/A-Strategy-to-Retain-Affiliates-for-Affiliate-Marketing

The fourth quarter is busy for affiliate marketers. Consumers start perusing content and deal sites in October, gathering ideas for holiday shopping. Merchants with affiliate marketing programs w...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/9-Affiliate-Marketing-Pros-Offer-Holiday-Sales-Pointers

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing channel. The direct selling cost occurs only when a transaction, lead, or other pre-defined activity happens. Affiliate marketing therefore ha...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/4-Misconceptions-with-Affiliate-Marketing

One of the first questions retailers ask when launching an affiliate marketing channel is “what should my commission structure be?” My advice is to research what competitors and retailers in ...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-Advanced-Commission-Structures

When evaluating the performance of an affiliate marketing program, avoid measuring success by how many affiliates are enrolled. Instead, measure how many of them are actually driving traffic. I ...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/5-Strategies-to-Activate-High-producing-Affiliates

Earlier this month, Pinterest announced a policy change so that users can insert affiliate links with their pins. This is a reversal from its decision in February 2015 to “automatically remov...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Pinterest-in-a-Change-to-Allow-Affiliate-Links

Consumers can complete a transaction on a smartphone with just a few taps. Responsive site design and easy-to-use apps enable shoppers to quickly find what they’re looking for. Stored values m...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/3-Keys-to-a-Mobile-ready-Affiliate-Program

Earlier this March, department store retailer Lord & Taylor agreed to settle U.S. Federal Trade Commission civil charges that it deceived consumers by paying for blog and social media placements....

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-Learning-from-F-T-C-s-Paid-Placement-Disclosures

In August 2015, Rakuten Affiliate Network commissioned Forrester, the research company, to conduct a study on the factors driving growth in the affiliate industry. Forrester surveyed decisionmak...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Study-3-Factors-in-Affiliate-Marketing-Will-Drive-Growth

The Performance Marketing Association promotes the growth and practices of the affiliate marketing industry. The PMA recently published a free whitepaper exploring the notion of “co-opetition�...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Co-opetition-Comes-to-Affiliate-Marketing

The following are leading affiliate marketing events in 2016. All are worthwhile to attend, but their benefits and specialties vary. Some are focused on the affiliate marketing industry in genera...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Notable-Affiliate-Marketing-Events-in-2016

Before you close the books Black Friday and Cyber Monday, there are a few more ways to maximize affiliate revenue through the rest of the year. Here are five ideas to keep your ... The post ...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/5-Ways-to-Engage-Affiliates-for-Final-Holiday-Sales

Coupon and deal sites tend to drive a lot of traffic. For some retailers, coupon sites will bring mostly new customers. For others, the same coupon site could deliver mostly ... The post Affili...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-How-to-Manage-Coupons-Deals

As a retailer, you are likely focused on the fourth quarter — lining up promotions, ordering inventory, and readying your fulfillment processes. Now is time to also start preparing your ... T...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/5-Pointers-to-Help-Affiliates-with-Holiday-Selling

A good affiliate marketing program never stops growing. By continually recruiting and engaging new affiliates, you can produce new traffic and new customers. However, you must first decide which ...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-5-Steps-to-Identify-Recruit-Affiliates

A "conversion funnel" describes a consumer's path to purchase, when awareness develops into interest, interest develops into desire, and then the transaction occurs. When it comes to ecommerce, t...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-Many-Ways-to-Attribute-Sales

The more complex a commission structure is, the less likely an affiliate is going to prioritize your products. For example, say that you pay different commission rates for different product ... ...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-How-to-Set-a-Commission-Structure

A successful affiliate marketing program requires oversight — uploading and maintaining the creative inventory, approving and communicating with affiliates, and reporting and analysis. The ...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-Manage-In-house-or-Outsource

Affiliate managers often strive to add content-focused affiliates, such as blogs, forums, news sites — most any site that informs and shares knowledge. The reason content affiliates are so desi...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Content-Certified-Connects-Affiliates-and-Retailers

In early February, Bitly, the popular URL-shortening service, partnered with affiliate tool Viglink to auto-monetize every shortlink generated by Bitly’s millions of users. To understand the im...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Bitly-Viglink-Affiliate-Deal-Raises-Concerns

On February 12, 2015, Pinterest announced that it would “automatically remove all affiliate links, redirects and trackers on Pins.” This is important news because merchants with affiliate mar...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Pinterest-Bans-Affiliate-Marketing-Links

Banner ads are best used for branding, not to drive clicks. Affiliate marketers realize this. Increasingly, affiliate marketers are relying less on banner ads, and more on their affiliates’ con...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/3-Affiliate-Tools-for-Content-Marketing

The following is a non-exhaustive list of top events in 2015 for affiliate mangers to consider. Deciding which events to attend will depend on whether your primary goal is to ... The post Affil...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-Events-in-2015

Set aside some time in December to map out what 2015 will look like for your affiliate marketing channel. Many times, “thinking” becomes consumed by “doing,” which results in a ... The ...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/3-affiliate-marketing-action-items-for-2015

Affiliate marketing tracks a consumer from a referring source to a completed sale. When we think of affiliate marketing in this simple manner, it opens up an entire realm of ... The post Affili...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-Offline-Entities-Can-Generate-Revenue

One of the biggest challenges in affiliate marketing is working with loyalty sites, which provide consumers with cash back, points back, or some variation of the two. Some loyalty sites ... The...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-Working-with-Loyalty-Sites

Just as you’re gearing up your ecommerce business for a busy fourth quarter, your affiliates are going through the same exercise for their own audiences. Many affiliates step up their ... The...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Affiliate-Marketing-Holiday-Action-Items

Simply launching an affiliate program does not guarantee revenue. I’ve seen many affiliate programs fail because of the “if I build it, they will come” mentality. Affiliate programs need to...

https://www.practicalecommerce.com/Importance-of-Affiliate-Marketing-Managers