Linkshare Questions

[GGLuv]

I have been with Linkshare for exactly one year but have been really, really bad in generating income. I have made less than $100 by sending links and info thru Twitter. That is obviously NOT the way to go. So now, I'm going to try promoting via my own website.

The problem I'm now having is learning the apps and tools that Linkshare provides. While I've read about every single one of them, I'm still not sure how they work or even how to use them. I don't know which ones will be beneficial to me. I particularly want to know about the ones that would make it easier for me to keep the products I offer on my site, fresh and up to date.

Does anyone know of an individual who might have this knowledge content that I could read that would make it easier to understand.

Like the statement on this forum says "There are no dumb questions", otherwise I may have been a little hesitant in asking for help.

Thanks...

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi GGLuv,

It's a great question and I wish I had an answer. But I've never worked with Linkshare as an affiliate and don't really know anyone who has. Sounds weird, because they are BIG and I know have tons of affiliates BUT you never see anyone blogging about LS or how to use their tools or anything.

Most affiliates I know use CJ or Shareasale, so I just don't know of any LS resources.

 

[GGLuv]

Before I registered for this forum, I did read some posts about LS so was hoping there would be individuals I could ask. Oh well, I'll just keep looking.

Thank you so much Linda for such a quick response.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Well hopefully someone sees this post that can help. Like I said, I know there are LS affiliates out there, just not much discussion about it here.

 

[Ron Bechdolt]

It's been years since I was an active affiliate but I used to use Linkshare and did well with them on a couple of merchants. Although I preferred CJ and SAS, there were just some merchants they did not have back then that LS did.

My best suggestion is to contact the affiliate managers for the merchants you want to promote at LS and ask them directly what links/banners/etc they think would work best for the site you want to use them on. If you are not sure how to use their links, let them know and they should help you. It will save you a lot of time and trouble and increase your chances of success. If it's a good program with a good affiliate manager, they will take the time to set you off in the right direction. Start small with just a few merchants, learn the ropes, then expand on your own with other LS merchants.

 

[GGLuv]

Thank you Ron, those are definitely very good suggestions and ones I will incorporate into my "It's Time to Fly" affiliate marketing strategies.

I've been fumbling around for so long and now I'm eager to burst through the gates and get my website published/rolled-out but I see I still have a lot to learn. While I will probably stumble and fall many times, I can at least learn while I grow. As the old saying goes, we cannot walk until we crawl and we cannot fly until we walk.

---------- Post added at 12:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 AM ----------

Hi Linda,

I took a look at the "5 Star Affiliate Directory" listed in the supplementary information provided in the signature area of your posts. I am really impressed with the "Local Shopping" affiliate network. I am more of a newbie than I thought I because I did not know any of these networks existed. Is "Local Shopping" really as easy as it looks. Any information I can get would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...

 

[Linda Buquet]

Hi GGLuv,

Yes LuckyLocal is a VERY cool solution - but it's not a network.

They offer tools that pull 'local' inventory and then tie it into affiliate networks so you can get paid. It's like they are the bridge or offer the infrastructure. It IS pretty easy to set up and they DO have some Linkshare merchants I think. It's free, so join and see what merchants they have that you would want to partner with. Then use LuckyLocal support if you need help getting set up.

 

[GGLuv]

So does that mean that I would partner with affiliates through networks like LS and CJ then use the tools provided by Local Shopping to integrate products into my website? If so, is it as easy as it looks? I've just about completed my site for publishing. Just taking care of a few tweaks and checking for errors, etc. As I said earlier, I'm really looking for a way to keep my site fresh without a lot of manual intervention. Do you know if that is what Local Shopping provides.

Thanks...

 

[Linda Buquet]

Well yes, in a way - but honestly unless your site has some type of local focus Lucky Local would not be your 1st choice. It's hard to explain, but there's a big difference in what they do.

If you want to automatically add products and keep your site fresh then what you want is a datafeed solution. Popshops I think is probably one of the easiest and best.

Over 50 million products from your favorite merchants across all major networks. PopShops keeps your product content up-to-date and dynamically builds links with your affiliate IDs/sub-IDs. Best of all, you keep 100% of the commissions directly in your network account the way you do now

Watch this video of a 3 year old building an affiliate site about bulldozers and see if this may be what you are looking for.

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KvrlYaeCWZA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>​

Then here are all the Linkshare programs Popshop integrates with.
Affiliate programs in PopShops - Affiliate program data feeds in PopShops

Hope this helps!

 

[GGLuv]

I did look at Popshops once but since I am already paying for a host among other things, I wasn't sure if I wanted to take on an additional cost. In viewing everything, I'm thinking that what will help me the most is the Data Pack and that price is too hefty for me. Since they do offer a 30 day free trial, I think I might take advantage of it just to see if and how it could benefit me. Thank you so much for mentioning this site because I had forgotten all about it

 

[Ron Bechdolt]

I was one of the beta testers of Popshops and can appreciate what all their program offers. Something maybe not mentioned is that a lot of affiliates use Popshops to find merchant programs. It is a great tool to do searches for product to find out what merchants offer what you are looking for.

 

[GGLuv]

I want to be able to have products dynamically generated on my website. It is not a job that can feasibly be done manually. Linkshare has a feed that I think will do what I need but the code is a tiny bit above my head and Linkshare does not offer any personal support for their tools. That's why I found this forum. I was looking for a Linkshare forum in hopes of getting a little help.