Almost a year ago exactly, I mused outloud here, "Wouldn't it be nice if trendy green grocers, Abel & Cole had an affiliate program ?", or as Alex from Big Brother might put it "Remember I told ya!"

Well, I was pleased to note when I logged into Affiliate Window that Abel & Cole have indeed gone and got an affiliate program. I haven't actually shopped with them myself, but their card came through my door and it just looked so good and of a sudden, vegetables seemed exciting to me (for at least five mintues). They are offering affiliates 5% of the basket value.

Possibly at these times of rising food prices, people are tending towards budget food items rather than organic, but I'm sure the Yummy Mummies can't get enough of this stuff. Coincidentally, I just bought a nice new domain name (more of that soon) which will sit with this quite nicely so it looks like the beginning of a plan coming together.

Labels: affiliate window

I rather publicly slated Affiliate Window the other day for the timing of their "Christmas presents" promotion. I did also praise them by saying "It's a really nice idea to give Christmas presents to affiliates" but questioned the thinking behind the timing, based on what I think is a fairly good understanding of the typical family Christmas day.

I had a bit of an internal dilemma as to whether I should try at all since I had been a critic, but I had collected seven coins and curiosity got the better of me, and I managed to log on at about 4.30pm and won a Palm Z Plane from Iwoot.com.

Many thanks to Affiliate Window and their merchants (and Iwoot.com especially) for the generous promotion. Some of the prizes, such as a TV, mountain bike and an actual website, sound outstanding.

My post on the subject of the giveaway's timing seemed to raise the ire of award winning blogger, Kieron Donoghue, who interrupted his planned day off from blogging on the 25th to say:

Affiliate Window and their merchants are giving us the opportunity to win prizes and you bloody well moan because it isn’t convenient for you?

The fact that it wasn't convenient for me personally wasn't actually the issue but rather I suspected many - but clearly not all - affiliates would be, quite understandably, otherwise occupied at 3pm on Christmas day with all the normal family commitments which are associated with a day like that.

I think if Affiliate Window had said the giveaway was at 5 o'clock in the morning, other people might have said "hang on, that's an odd time". And if you are able to accept in principle that it's not unreasonable, ungrateful or "bizarre" to hold or express an opinion about the appropriateness of the time, then there's a valid discussion about that which can follow without descending into personal digs. I don't resile from any of the points I made on the timing and am happy to use my blog to give feedback to them where I think it's called for.

My own view of the "Christmas spirit", or lack thereof, is perhaps not fashionable in increasingly secular times. But, that aside, you'd have to say it's been a successful promotion on the whole so I'm pleased to congratulate Affiliate Window on a laudable effort.

Labels: affiliate window

Affiliate Window have posted a reminder on their blog that you should head over to their site at 3pm on Christmas day to claim a free present, if you have been collecting the "coins" in the run up to Xmas. There are 450 presents available, and 1200 affiliates who have collected coins. I forgot one week and have 7 coins collected.

Now, who wouldn't want a free gift at Christmas, and who knows what it might be. The gifts could be something totally cool, or they may not. But am I alone in thinking it's actually a little bit distasteful to promote some mad scramble for gifts between affiliates on what really should be a family day and a day away from all this.

Many affiliates have worked hard all year. There's a reasonable chance that affiliates will be relaxing with their families at 3pm on Christmas day, having perhaps just enjoyed their dinner or about to have it. Many will welcome the opportunity to get away from the family for five minutes no doubt, but others just won't be in a position to go logging onto Affiliate Window's website - and why should they.

I don't want to be churlish about it, and maybe I should just be a little more grateful, like Tiny Tim perhaps. It's a really nice idea to give Christmas presents to affiliates, and how they choose to do it is their call, but I just don't get the thinking behind attempting to disrupt what should really just be a day off for everyone. Personally I won't be near a computer, and may try and get on from my mobile phone, but the very idea behind the timing leaves a sour taste in my mouth - and that's usually a job best left to brussel sprouts on Christmas day.

Labels: affiliate window

Toys are of course a big priority at Christmas and I'm spending quite a bit of time on my UK toys site at the moment. It's basically built around the Toys 'R' Us product feed, which is generally quite good although one of my visitors wasn't very impressed to see "For Mum Washable Breast Pads" categorised under 'Gifts, Gadgets & Toys". The downside to using Toys 'R' Us is their very restrictive PPC policy and quite a miserly standard commission of 3% though, so I've tried to build in an Amazon price comparison alongside the Toys 'R' Us, as another merchant option. Amazon of course pays up to 10% if you can generate enough volume.

I noticed earlier on that The Entertainer, formerly on Webgains, has relaunched its online presence under the domain "www.thetoyshop.com" and the affiliate program is available on Affiliate Window, with an excellent introductory commission rate of 10%. This really means that Awin pwn the Toy sector in affiliate marketing when you consider their other merchants such as:

• Toys 'R' Us
• Hamleys
• Early Leaning Centre
• Woolworths
• John Lewis

And then they have plenty of boy's toys/gadget type sites like Firebox, DrinkStuff, IWoot etc. With the Christmas gift season approaching, that's a very impressive portfolio of merchants.

Talking of toys, I happened to come across Toys 'n' Playthings - "The UK toy trade's no.1 magazine". I must admit, the idea of looking at trade publications is something I had completely overlooked but this is really useful for getting insights into what products will be hot for many months to come and right into next year. Do you read trade magazines for the sectors you operate in? Do you find them useful and can you recommend any?

Labels: affiliate marketing, affiliate window, toys

OK, so this isn't new news. In fact, its verging on old news. But I didn't mention it at the time so thought I'd throw it in now anyway.

Affiliate Window has changed its name to Digital Window, "due to the launch of new products and services", apparently. I'm not sure if their range of new services will extend as far as dealing with existing support tickets and answering emails, but we can only hope so, eh.

Labels: affiliate network, affiliate window