Remember my Competitive Intelligence at the Service of Affiliate Program Managers article at Search Engine People which appeared there back in May of this year? If you didn’t see it yet, that would be a good place to start before continuing reading this post… If, however, you did read it you know that — when spying on competing affiliate programs — among the “affiliate program & related performance” things to analyze I recommend looking at “best-performing creatives” and “wording of text links”.

Affiliates, don’t turn away from this post! You need this too. After all, by understanding what works best for other publishers in any given affiliate program you can better optimize your own campaigns.

Well, things aren’t that straightforward with banners and text links. Savvy affiliates and program managers know that not all banner (or text links) statistics should be taken at face value.

Here’s a perfect example I’ve recently spotted:

See the significant EPC difference between banner #1 and banner #2? No, it’s not because the first banner performs that much better. In fact, they are nearly identical (they’re animated banners, and the second frames, which you don’t see, are just a little different). The reason for this overinflated banner EPC is as simple as this: the first banner is higher on the list and easier for affiliates — who don’t necessarily want to use the banner itself but just need to quickly pick up an affiliate code!! — to use. Same often applies to text links (unless you’re comparing deep-linked ones).

As mentioned above, this is an important factor to grasp both for affiliates (not to make wrong conclusions), and for affiliate program managers (who, while engaging in competitive intelligence tasks, may make wrong conclusions as well). Do analyze what works best for others, but do keep in mind that not everything you see there (i.e. with banner and text links’ performance stats) it to be trusted as 100% accurate analytics.

Not too long ago I’ve given ShareASale credit for a convenient mass banner upload function for merchants. It is convenient, and makes complete sense, saving affiliate program managers a lot of time for more fun things (than banner upload) to do.

Just like the mass banner upload, I personally could really use a mass banner/link editing function. At this time, to perform a simple swap of landing page URLs across a number of banners encompasses a time-consuming procedure of opening each banner/link individually and manually changing that URL for each.

I’ve checked with the following 4 networks, and none of them have a mass edit function:

• AvantLink
• Commission Junction
• Google Affiliate Network
• ShareASale

Google Affiliate Network comes closest to it by giving merchants a “Select All” option (arrow #1 on below screenshot), but unfortunately, there is no “Edit” button to select, and you still have to edit each banner manually (arrow #2 below):

C’mon, networks, we need this function! Give it to us, please!!

I manage an affiliate program for a merchant who is simultaneously utilizing two affiliate networks: Commission Junction and ShareASale.

I’ve just had to upload 6 new banners to each network, and in one case it took me 8+ times longer than in the other. Here are the details:

• Commission Junction – 6 minutes 8 seconds (or 368 seconds)
• ShareASale – 45 seconds

How so?

ShareASale has a Mass / Bulk Banner Upload function where you can upload up to 10 banners at once:

In Commission Junction’s case, on the other hand, you have to upload each banner individually using a form like this:

Anything that can be done to streamline and simplify the online work process simply must be done!

If you’re an affiliate network rep reading this, please do everything possible to make life easier and more convenient for your clients (merchants and affiliates).

I have just received an affiliate-geared newsletter from the affiliate program manager at FootballFanatics.com, and it instantly reminded me of the topic I’ve wanted to talk about for a while. It’s the topic of dynamic affiliate banners. Are you using these in your affiliate program? If you aren’t, you should be, as it will immediately make you stand out among your competition.

Definitions first, and then I will provide you with a few exemplary contexts.

Traditionally, “dynamic banner display means that the same banner advertisement changes with each refresh of the page” making it possible to display “a myriad of ads on a Web site without having to clutter a single Web page” [source]. In affiliate programs the situation is similar, yet a little different. When a merchant offers a dynamic banner, it essentially implies a self-renewing creative, which does not need any maintenance on the affiliate side (beyond the initial placement, of course). An affiliate just places the banner code on his/her site, and every time the merchant decides to update this particular banner, they just do it on their end, and it self-updates on all affiliate sites that use it.

Some of the most suitable contexts for the use of dynamic banners are:

• Seasonal (or holiday-related) banners
• Deals of the day (week, or any other time period) banners
• Coupon banners

Here’s that example from the FootballFanatics.com affiliate newsletter that I have referenced above:

We are … moving to making our banners “Dynamic”. What does this mean? That we will automatically update these banners with current events such as a championship, signing or current season. This will allow you to take advantage of what is selling at any time! These banners are named “NCAA Mens (Dynamic)” in our banner inventory so they will be updated with any events in the NCAA Mens sports world.  (For Example: These NCAA Men’s banners will promote NCAA Basketball now during March Madness but will be switched to Baseball when that season starts)

This is a perfect example of how to make your seasonal creatives dynamic.

If you aren’t doing this in your affiliate program yet, today is a good day to start!

You’ve made a decision to start an affiliate program, decided on the tracking platform to use, and now you’re facing multiple questions, one of which may be worded this way: How do I put together best possible banners for affiliates to use for my program?

To a great extent, this question has already been answered in the following articles of mine:

• What Size Banners Should an Affiliate Program Have?
• 10 Mistakes to Avoid While Creating Affiliate Banners
• What Size Should Affiliate Banner Files Be?
• Examples of Affiliate Banners

However, there is one thing that I haven’t yet talked about. It’s a secret that affiliate program managers do not tend to share. I will, but let’s begin with a definition:

…competitive intelligence involves monitoring the company’s competitive environment, including customers, competitors, political and legal developments (regulations and laws), and social forces… The two main tasks are the collection and the analysis of intelligence. (Coombs, 2008, PSI Handbook of Business Security, pp. 217-218 / bold font and italics mine).

Employing the competitive intelligence approach is extremely helpful throughout the whole process of affiliate program management, and the affiliate program setup stage is a perfect time to start. It will help you build a competitive affiliate program, and one of the fronts on which you want to stay competitive is the creative front.

Open an affiliate account with the affiliate networks on which your competitors run their affiliate programs. Many affiliate networks allow affiliates to sort affiliate programs’ links by EPC (which normally stands for average affiliate earnings on 100 clicks on a link). Analyze the wording, and the design of your competitors’ best performing links, and when once you’ve gotten a clear idea of what works well for them, write down the text and design ideas you want to experiment with. This should give you good information to start with, but never stop experimenting (read: split-testing) and improving the quality of your affiliate creatives. This will be of benefit both to you as an advertiser, and to your affiliates.

Ever since the day it was published, the What Size Banners Should an Affiliate Program Have? post has been one of the most frequently demanded ones in my blog. However, while I did cover the most popular banner sizes in it, I made no mention of the banner file size at all.

Surprisingly, most major affiliate networks make no recommendations on the maximum recommended banner file size. The first network that I have seen make such a recommendation is LinkConnector. They advise that advertisers’/merchants’ banner sizes do not exceed 30 KB. Now, in reality, their “advice” is much more than one. It’s actually a restriction. You cannot upload a banner that’s larger than 30 KB while setting up your affiliate program with them. While, imposing such restrictions may not be a very good idea (30 KB is not much for larger skyscrapers and leaderboards, especially if we want them to be of high quality), advising merchants on the file size is actually a very good idea. It helps everyone who is involved in the affiliate marketing channel: affiliates who are using the banners, networks who are hosting them, merchants who risk being less promoted when/if their files are too bulky.

Over the past two weeks I have been polling my blog’s readers on this subject, and while so far the response hasn’t been too overwhelming (to put it mildly), it does look like that 30 KB limit is right around the comfort level mark for online publishers:

Conclusion: by all means, do everything possible for your banner file sizes not to exceed 30 KB/each. If one does have to be larger than that, 60 KB is the next threshold that you want to keep in mind. It’s easy to remember 30 * 2 = 60.

Banner file size is not a small issue. Knowing what’s preferred should help merchants build more affiliate-friendly affiliate programs. If you haven’t yet expressed your opinion in the above-quoted poll, I would highly appreciate you voicing your opinion out by casing a vote, and/or posting your comment below.

Yesterday after I wrote about creating effective landing pages for coupons campaigns, a merchant wrote to me:

I am working on banners for my affiliate program. Read your article on the mistakes to avoid. Could you please provide examples of banners done correctly? [bold font mine]

The above question gave me the idea for this post. Just as it was with my yesterday’s topic, “it is better to see once than hear a hundred times” /Russian proverb/, and I have therefore decided to make this another visual post.

Here are the banners that I believe to be well-suited for affiliate campaigns:

88×31 px Apple button

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120×60 LowerMyBills.com banner

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120×90 Expedia banner

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120×400 Overstock.com banner

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125×125 JC Penney banner

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180×150 Expedia banner

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250×250 Adobe banner

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468×60 Priceline banner

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500×200 LendingTree banner

I hope the above examples give you a good idea of how to put together your affiliate banners.

Best of luck, and do not hesitate to post your questions below.

Not too long ago I posted images of 5 creative advertising ideas which caught my eye in the past.

Today Jeff Sexton of FutureNow has posted an excellent article on the why, the how, and the what for behind all of these outstanding billboards that blast our imagination, and make it click inside of mind (or make our finger click on that mouse button, or both).

Borrowing from Apple’s banner ad techniques, demonstrating his points with most vivid billboard examples and backing things up with words of  “The Father of Advertising”, David Ogilvy, Sexton advises:

1. Make your ad a “visual scandal”
2. It should deliver the selling promise not only in words, but also pictorially (italics mine)
   
3. Use the largest possible type (this one is certainly dependent on the context)
4. Make your brand name visible at a long distance
5. Use strong, pure colors
6. Never use more than three elements in your design

Read more in this excellent post: Visual Scandal, Story Appeal, and Banner Ads

Now that you know what banner sizes you want to cover, it is important to know what mistakes to avoid while creating the banners for your affiliate program.

Apart from the lack of 88×31 buttons and seasonal banners (preferably dynamically renewing depending on what holiday is approaching), there are mistakes that I see being repeated by merchants across different verticals — mistakes that pertain to the very look of the affiliate banners. And the look can often cause a negative affect on the conversion (which is definitely not something that you want to happen).

Below you may find a list of the 10 mistakes one must avoid while creating affiliate banners. Some of the examples I’m using combine a number of mistakes, which you will be able to spot quite easily.

1. Poor Graphics

Many merchants use poor, pixelized graphic on their banners, and not necessarily because they do not have good graphics in their possession.  Most of them are just not paying enough attention to the way the final saved version looks. This often results in an affiliate program having banners that affiliates do not want to use.

2. Unreadable Font

and

Make sure that the inscription (or even a part of the inscription) on your banner is not too small to read. Blurry, unreadable font is neither doing your brand any good, nor helping your conversion.

3. Phone Number

Yes, some merchants actually put a toll free phone number on their affiliate banners! If the word for the untrackable route the end user can take is a “leak”, this is an example of one super-leak. All the end user has to do is call the merchant directly, and the affiliate can forget about their commission.

4. URL on Banner

and and

and 2 all of the above-quote banners

Some affiliates may consider a full URL mentioned on the banner to be a “leak” (as their website visitors may type in the URL directly into their address bar instead of clicking the affiliate link, and therefore the affiliate cookie would never be set). I recommend avoiding the usage of full URLs on affiliate banners. If it’s a part of your logo, use everything but the .com or the .net part on the banner.

5. Excessive Animation

and

Don’t these make your eyes hurt? I’ll tell you more — affiliates generally prefer banners with no animation at all. There is no need to make it flash or blink, and hurt the end user’s eyes, if you want to emphasize something or attract attention. Play with different fonts and different colors. You can attract attention in a much more effective way if your banners do not blink.

6. Missing Call to Action

and and

These are excellent banners (apart from some blurriness on the bottom of the last one), but they have no call to action on them whatsoever. Believe it or not, but some end users will not think of clicking them unless you explicitly ask them to. “Shop now”, “Click here”, “Claim/Redeem now” (for coupons) and other calls to action are a must on all marketing banners, and affiliate ones are no exception.

7. Poor Contrast

This banner has the call to action, but the contrast between the writing and background is extremely poor. It makes the font very difficult to read.

8. Grammar Mistakes

It’s not a terrible one (no spaces before and after the dash, which should have been replaced by a period), but still — by all means, use good grammar on all affiliate banners.

9. No Line Around the Edge

Yes, a simple line around the edge of the above banner (as  well as around some of the banners listed in points 2, 3, and 4 above) would have been of great improvement to its overall look (especially when used on affiliate websites with white background).

10. No Brand

This is a banner used by a chocolate merchant. Beautiful picture. But what about the brand? Same can be said about the banner used in #7 above. Do not leave your brand name out.

I hope you will find the above list of help, and if I haven’t mentioned some of the mistakes worth noting, please post them in the “comments” area below.

This is a very important question regardless of whether you are going to market products or services through the affiliate channel. If it is the former, you will pay a lot of attention to deep-linked text links, conveniently formatted and well-categorized data feed, but you will have to have both general banners and holiday-specific ones. If, on the other hand, you’re providing a service (and you will have no data feed at all), you definitely need a good creative inventory for affiliates to work with. One or the other, you want to provide your affiliates with a solid and diverse creative arsenal.

Below you may find a list of banner sizes that I recommend every affiliate program to have. The list follows this format: [banner size] – [minimum quantity]-[recommended quantity]. Some of these recommendations come from my observations of the sizes that affiliates prefer (e.g.: 88×31 px buttons, the importance of having which you should never underestimate); while the choice of some other sizes rests directly on the assumption that many webmasters, who will be recruited into your affiliate program, are already monetizing their traffic using Google AdSense, and, therefore, it is important for you to provide them with a banner to upload in place of an AdSense unit (e.g.: 120×600 px and 160×600 px skyscrapers). Here is my list:

468×60 px – 2-5 banners
125×125 px – 2-5
120×600 px – 2-5
88×31 px button – 2-5

160×600 px – 2-3
120×240 px – 2-3
234×60 px – 2-3
254×331 px – 2-3
728×90 px – 2-3

720×300 px – 1-2
300×250 px – 1-2

Remembering that some affiliates will need banners of different sizes or color gamma, it is always good to let them know that you are open to creating custom banners for affiliates. If you do not have an in-house capability of handling the creative support, it is easy to outsource such work on the on-demand basis.

If you are an affiliate reading this post, and there’s a banner size that you think must be listed, but it’s not, feel free to post your recommendation in the “comments” field below.