Posts Tagged "DGM"

Twitter Tools To Help Promote Your Business

Posted on 10 Jun 2009 in Development | 0 comments

Wanting to see what other people thought about personalised car number plates, I searched for a Twitter application that would allow me to post a poll which other people could quickly and easily take part in.

Came across Twtapps which, in my opinion, is a fantastic suite of Twitter tools that are useful not only for personal Tweets, but business too!

TwtPoll
Create an online poll by simply typing in a 140 chars question, multiple choice answers, and embed or share it!

Twtvite
Create an event, enter the location, date, time, your 140 chars description, and share it whilst managing RSVPs.

TwtBizCard
Send and manage your Twitter business card by adding #twtbizcard to your tweets.

TwtQpon
A simple coupon creator for businesses. Enter your promotion details, choose an image and enter a code + url!

Twtjobs
Got a job opening or wanting a change in career? Create your “Twitter resume,” post job openings, apply to jobs, and embed and share them!

TwtBiz
A Twitter business directory allowing you to find businesses, entrepreneurs and even investors!

Other useful and fun applications twtapps have developed include;
twtTRIP – travel organizer
twtwlst – gift registry
twtcard – greeting cards
twtpets – game for pet lovers

As you would expect, you can follow Twtapps and keep up to date with their new developments and suggestions on how best to use the mini applications to help promote your business.

A4U Awards

Before heading off to the A4U Awards in Park lane, myself and Jane headed for a cheeky drink or two courtesy of the DGM guys & girls in the Met Bar where we were lucky enough to stumble across the current F1 Leader, Jenson Button.

After chatting to him for 5 or so minutes, it transpired that we has on bottled water as he was racing (and won) in Turkey at the weekend. He was surprised at the number of people Tux’d up in the Met Bar, and asked what was going on. Didn’t bore him with what affiliate marketing was, just explained there was a big party with about 500 people just down the road and left it at that.

The awards took place with not too many surprises (well done to all!), and the next morning a rather sore head was dragged out of bed to make the Eurostar to Paris for the next 5 days. Luckily we had fantastic weather in Paris and made plenty of friends by opting for Italian Wine with our meals

Sadly we didn’t go in the Moulin Rouge but headed to Crazy Horse instead. After little more than 10 minutes I was counting the number of lights in the ceiling and look at my watch wondering how much more I had to endure. If we could have, I think we would have escaped at the earliest convenience especially as it was €20 for a regular bottle of Leffe!

Was 2008 A Bumper Year?

Posted on 2 Feb 2009 in Development | 9 comments

In the past, I’ve kept track as to the amount of sales I done on behalf of merchants purely out of interest. 2008 has been a good year mainly due to the introduction and focus on new sites, especially niche and seasonal ones, helping to bump up sales throughout the year.

Sadly the huge increase in sales, isn’t reflected in the same way when it comes to commissions. Trust me, I would be jumping for joy if I could say an average 10% commission was paid for each sale, and certainly would be giving up the day job!

Even so, it goes to show that us small affiliates (the ones that do it along side fulltime jobs, in our bedrooms) can still help companies achieve growths and profits.

So why the changes? Well once again a lot of it is down to my relationships with networks. CJ, who in the past I’ve found to be a bit of a faceless company, have made contact with me. Just having a contact on MSN (thanks Hildegunn) has driven me to look at and push their merchants a little more, resulting in a 426% increase.

Another possible reason is the introduction of a bi-weekly newsletter. After collecting email addresses since I care to remember, I never did a single thing with them. Now my newsletters are sent out every 2 weeks, pushing merchants who in turn offer me and my visitors something special.

All in all a good year, but I’m not holding out much hope for this year with the credit crunch, yet think Eco Friendly stuff maybe worth a punt.

Innovation At Last!

Posted on 28 Jan 2009 in Merchants | 4 comments

How often do you find a site you like and then Google it to see if there’s an affiliate programme? Personally I do it maybe once a week, and in the lead up to seasonal sales, possibly twice a week! After using Marks new website, Affiliate Merchants for a number of days, I think it’s something all us affiliates should offer our support to.

It’s not a completely new idea, infact it WebAffiliate started off listing merchants way back in 2001. Due to the manual update required it was scrapped pretty quickly. Affiliate Bounty then emerged as a solution, but again over recent months, has been pulled. Now we have Affiliate Merchants, the latest attempt at informing affiliates of all the programmes in the UK, available on all networks.

The site makes use of feeds from networks, meaning the updating should be a breeze (in theory). Mark’s website is new, and so modifications and additions will take place over time. Currently Affiliate Merchants doesn’t list ever merchant, due to not all networks supplying him with the information, but as a starting point, it’s definately one to have in your favourites or bookmarks.

The site is very easy to navigate and allows you to search for a merchant by name or category, something Kieron could have used only a few days ago when Figleaves pulled the plug and he asked the question about alternatives lingerie merchants.

Currently the information provided on each merchant is minimal, which in one respect is a refreshing change. I don’t want to know the merchants history as I can often find this out from their network signup page. Straight to the point info such as which network their with, the category, whether they have a feed or allow PPC is whats relayed currently. I have fed back to Mark that it maybe useful to include the commission levels offered by the merchant too.

I know DGM are actively seeking representation on the Affiliate Merchant Directory website, and hope the remaining networks such TD, CJ, Paid on Results and Affiliate Future are quick to follow. This could prove to be an invaluable resource if all networks contribute.

Take a look at http://www.affiliatemerchants.org.uk

Free Advertising For Merchants

Posted on 9 Jan 2009 in Merchants | 2 comments

Firstly, it’s not EXACTLY free but you won’t be paying me a penny, instead you will be helping my nominated chairty

As many of you know, over the past couple of years, I’ve taken part (and completed) a number of 10k races and with thanks to family, friends and affiliate contacts I’ve managed to raise;

• £2521 in 2006 for Cancer Research
• £903 in 2007 for MacMillan Nurses
• £0 in 2008 (although I did run, just didn’t fund raise but helped Helen @ DGM around )

For 2009, while many of you put your feet up, I’ll be spending my May Bank Holiday (25th May) in running shoes, pounding the streets, taking part in the London Bupa 10,000, this time raising money for Diabetes UK.

I have family, friends and work colleagues (in and out of Affiliate Marketing) affected by Diabetes and it’s one of those diseases where people accept and get on with their lives without complaining or muttering a word. I have total respect for those that have to inject themselves on a daily basis, as giving blood once every 4 months, is the maximum I can handle!

So Whats On Offer?

I’m willing to give any merchant or network extra exposure in return for a couple of pounds sponsorship. There is no limit, you decided how much you wish to donate, just add it to my dedicated sponsorship page here.

Sponsorship availability is as follows;

• 120 x 300 banner in my bi-weekly newsletter to circa 30,000 members.
  • Maximum of 3 merchants in each edition.
  • Sent out on Thursdays (incase you want to tie in a particular promotion)
• 2 weeks Page Peel exposure on site that attracts circa 100,000 uniques per month
  • Runs Friday to Friday. Teaser image | Reveal image
• 250 x 250 banner exposure on site that attracts circa 100,000 uniques per month
  • Runs Friday to Friday

Take a look at my Google online calendar, decide what advertising option you want and select a date. Once you are happy, drop me a line with the details and I will book you in… at which point you can then make a donation

I hope to raise £1000, but for time being I’ve set the target at £500… I can always bump it up later.

How Exclusive Deals Can Be Improved

Posted on 15 Nov 2008 in Merchants | 5 comments

After some negotiation with both network and merchant, I was issued with an Exclusive discount code for Wilkinsons via the DGM network. In order to obtain the code, I have agreed to extra exposure such as giving them space on my Page Peel and in my Newsletter, in order to drive sales during the 2 week offer.

When I was given the code on Friday afternoon, I questioned as to how long it would remain exclusive and sadly it wasn’t even 24 hours before VoucherCodes.com, a persistant code pincher, had decided to publish it on their website. Its not hard to see it’s Exclusive as it has a blue EXCLUSIVE TO US image next to it and even has EXCLUSIVE in the title of the offer, so no playing dumb on this one.

This site was actually listed as an affiliate site that rocks despite their constant lifting of codes from others. Refrained from commenting on that post, as I thought Kieron may have been ill whilst writing that post

VoucherCodes.com even have the wrong information, publishing it as £5 off £35 spend when it is infact £5 off £39.95 and there is no mention of any end date.

I’ve written to VoucherCodes.com and DGM asking that the code be removed immediately and that any commissions made with my exclusive code, either given to me, or at the least removed from VoucherCodes.com. They, like the rest of us, should respect exclusive codes, which some affiliates have worked hard to obtain and not just profit from other peoples hard work.

Recently Tesco and Figleaves have been clamping down on codes that are issued outside of the affiliate channel, whereby any sale made, no commission is given to the affiliate. Surely the next step is to protect affiliates who have been issued with an exclusive code, and if used by another code site, the same rule applies. This is something Webgains introduced last year and you hardly ever see an exclusive code being pinched for one of their merchants.

Sadly I am now in the position of contemplating whether to remove the Wilkinson Page Peel and not feature them in my newsletter, as the offer is no longer “exclusive”. I am tempted to get back in touch with some Webgains Merchants and offer them the space in return of an exclusive code, as long as it can be tracked so any misuse isn’t rewarded.

Time for merchants and networks to spank persistant offenders, similarly to how they insist that discount codes outside the affiliate marketing channel, aren’t used.