We hear a lot of talk these days about Web 2.0, so now lets take a look at Affiliate Marketing 2.0 and see how AM is evolving. One of many examples has been the evolution of email and forums as the primary communication channels of 1.0 evolving into blogs and RSS feeds for the Web 2.0 generation. Affiliate forums were a communication medium that was filled with problems for some affiliate managers on certain affiliate forums. Affiliate emails many times simply were never read. Even though blogging and RSS feeds are more of a one way communication channel, many progressive affiliate managers have proven this to be an excellent channel for getting new product promotions, sales info and coupons out to affiliates, especially to affiliates that don't bother to read merchants emails or can't find important affiliate news emails due to ever increasing spam.
Another significant Affiliate Marketing 2.0 trend is the proliferation of datafeeds and other automated product page building tools. Affiliates used to just put up banners going to the merchants homepage, where the consumer would then need to hunt to find the products they were interested in. Affiliate datafeeds and page building tools such as PartnerCentric's IPC (Instant Page Creator) and various datafeed page building tools like those offered by AMWSO can help affiliates triple conversion rates by eliminating clicks and sending consumers to the exact product they are looking for. With many of these tools affiliates can build an entire store filled with thousands of products in less than an hour. However along with new technology comes new challenges, like how to avoid duplicate content penalties with the search engines. Affiliates need to use creativity and add value to the merchant's product feeds to differentiate themselves from other affiliates that simply pull a free datafeed and create a mirror image of the merchant's store.
This iMedia Connection article written by Shawn Collins, one of the leaders in the Affiliate Marketing industry, does a great job of comparing past and future Affiliate Marketing trends. iMedia Connection: Affiliate Marketing 2.0.
Another significant Affiliate Marketing 2.0 trend is the proliferation of datafeeds and other automated product page building tools. Affiliates used to just put up banners going to the merchants homepage, where the consumer would then need to hunt to find the products they were interested in. Affiliate datafeeds and page building tools such as PartnerCentric's IPC (Instant Page Creator) and various datafeed page building tools like those offered by AMWSO can help affiliates triple conversion rates by eliminating clicks and sending consumers to the exact product they are looking for. With many of these tools affiliates can build an entire store filled with thousands of products in less than an hour. However along with new technology comes new challenges, like how to avoid duplicate content penalties with the search engines. Affiliates need to use creativity and add value to the merchant's product feeds to differentiate themselves from other affiliates that simply pull a free datafeed and create a mirror image of the merchant's store.
This iMedia Connection article written by Shawn Collins, one of the leaders in the Affiliate Marketing industry, does a great job of comparing past and future Affiliate Marketing trends. iMedia Connection: Affiliate Marketing 2.0.
Go check out Shawn's article and his Affiliate Marketing 1.0 vs. Affiliate Marketing 2.0 chart. Then come back and discuss it with us.
