Last night you read on your local newspaper's website about how gas prices could reach $4 a gallon this summer, so you went to a car site to check out some reviews about hybrid vehicles and then visited an automaker site to learn about the car prices. This morning when you checked your email, you saw two ads for hybrid cars. Did you think - wow, this relevant ad sure is handy … [Read more...]
Online Is Sweet
Food has recently been called everything from the new theater to the new porn. Regardless of how you think about food, you certainly can't avoid it. Food has become America's No. 1 obsession and food companies - from providers of high-end gourmet goodies to those feeding the fast-food nation - are battling to get on the dinner plates of today's consumers. And because everybody … [Read more...]
Search Is Getting Personal
Your phone rings. A good friend is calling, more excited than you've heard her in months. "My book is on the home page of Amazon! I can't believe it. My book was just published last week and already it's on Amazon's home page!" Exciting? Maybe not to someone who knows how Amazon works. Your friend has seen her book on her version of Amazon's home page, but a closer look shows … [Read more...]
The Lure of Youth
They're wired, they're affluent and they are a largely untapped market. This prized group is teens. They are often referred to by a variety of different monikers including Echo Boomers, Millennials, Netizens, Generation Y, Trophy Children (because of the strong impact that parents have in their decision-making process) and Generation N (for Net). When analyzing this group, … [Read more...]
Recess Is Over
Back-to-School promotions can lead to big bucks if online marketers start early.Back to school is a big deal for affiliates - it kicks off the part of the season between June and January where many earn the majority of their annual revenue. The overall "back to school" season refers not just to shopping for kids in grades K through 12, but other spending periods including "back … [Read more...]
Scrutiny on the Bounty
As every good bounty hunter knows, capturing your target requires exacting execution of a well-designed plan. But unlike intrepid fugitive hunters such as reality television star "Dog" Chapman, earning sizable rewards by corralling customers online doesn't require risking life or limb.Instead of offering commissions paid in nickels and dimes, bounty programs attract a growing … [Read more...]
Lost in Translation
Ten years ago, Jaime lived outside Managua, Nicaragua, worked in a shoe factory and took college classes. The then-35-year-old did not own a car and shared a house, a TV and a stereo with his parents, along with his brother and sister- in-law. Both Jaime and his brother helped his parents pay the rent, and the rest of Jaime's paycheck went toward saving for a move to the United … [Read more...]
Pitching a Fit
Sites related to health, fitness and total body wellness are humming at this time of year based on the good intentions of millions of people who make New Year's resolutions to get in shape, shed unwanted pounds, start exercising more and devote more effort to their overall health and well-being.But what happens when the resolve begins to dissolve and consumers begin the … [Read more...]
Analyze This
Affiliates are capitalizing on the predictable behavioral patterns of consumers by using Web analytics tools to decode customers' habits and boost revenue. So if you're a publisher and want to know who exactly is visiting your site, how different types of visitors come back, what they are looking for when they arrive and what specifically makes them want to leave, you should … [Read more...]
Online Travel Takes Off
Schlepping his burgundy leather briefcase and navy canvas travel bag through the Portland airport, George Bragg doesn't care as much about how he gets his ticket as how soon he'll get home to Dallas. He'd happily buy tickets from affiliates, discounters, travel agents or airlines. With travel representing the single largest source of Internet commerce, travelers like Bragg have … [Read more...]
The Secret to Being Super
They're called superaffiliates, but there are no secret powers behind their amazing sales. They follow the same path every other affiliate does: They publish a Web site, sign up for affiliate programs, download the affiliate codes and troll on the search engines. But they work a little smarter, make a few more calls, send a few more emails and do a lot more testing. And what … [Read more...]
Collecting Your Share
Paul DeMoney is an affiliate marketer's dream: a shopper who is always ready to buy. Anytime, anywhere. He wants, no, he needs Star Wars action figures, and he doesn't care where he gets them. Your site. Another e-commerce site. The nearest toy store. Whatever. He just wants the new toys wherever he can get them. And whenever. No need to wait for the holidays. He's always … [Read more...]
Wooing the Lonely Hearts
With thousands of dating sites on the Web, it can be as hard for surfers to find the right site as it is to find the right mate. Affiliates are the matchmakers of the online dating world, bringing lonely hearts to dating service merchants who can light the path to true love, or at least some warm companionship. In a space Jupiter Research projects will more than double to … [Read more...]