[Taliessen, Ltd.]

Hi there,

We're just starting out with affiliate marketing, so any help our affiliates, or potential affiliates can offer will be gratefully accepted.

We're a boutique aromatherapy, massage, bath & body product manufacturer and retailer. Right now, we're running a Valentine's Day promotion.

Our products would likely convert well on sites with traffic catering to women, women's health, romantic gifts, pagan & spiritual topics, health and body work.

Right now, we're set up to have our traffic go to our homepage, rather than a specific landing-page, because we want affiliate input on how to make our landing pages the best they can be.

We are on auto-deposit and want very much to share our success with our affiliates. We clearly understand that you are the key to our profitability, and experts at what you do. We're looking for as much help from you as you're willing to give us to make this program rock.

Right now, our product selection is fairly limited, but of high quality and competitively priced; Scented massage oils and the Valentine's kit. We'll be introducing candles, bath-gel and soaps as seperate products over the next few weeks. After that, our most exciting idea... We'll be allowing our visitors to custom-blend their own oils and gels. They'll be able to pick and choose what essential oils to include, how much, and we'll blend them and send them out the next day.

We appreciate you taking the time to consider our program.

http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472


Here's to a profitable relationship!

Bill & Lisette Maness
Taliessen, Ltd. (http://www.Taliessen.com/)

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

One other note. We have a selection of creatives, but we'd like to develop more. If you have specific ideas, or need something that will integrate well with your site, please let us know. If you have a particularly high-click banner that you think would be compatiable with our products, drop a line and we'll see if we can adapt what's working well for you.

Best,

Bill & Lisette

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

Hi there,

We're a small merchant, looking to find our success through affiliate marketing. (Talk about stating the obvious) We're with SaS, on autodeposit and are wondering how many affiliates are using the SaS product datafeed feature? I'm just trying to guage how important that is to you affiliates out there. Tell me you want it, and I'll make it happen. If I just hear the crickets of indifference, I won't bother. :biggrin: Thanks for your time.

Best,

Bill & Lisette
Taliessen Ltd.
Click Here for Program Details (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)

[Chocolate_Chicken]

Can you send me a copy of the feed file via email, without putting it up for anybody else to use?

Thank you!

[Rhia7]

Hi Bill & Lisette,

I recently joined SAS but I have been an affiliate with CJ & LS since 1999.
Product links (i.e. a picture of the product that is clickable) has always worked for me.

I have not tried datafeed yet but all the recent bruhaha says it's the best thing since sliced bread.

I would recommend that you develop your collection of product links and also enable the "make-a-page function" SAS has.

Best of luck :)

[Rhia7]

Can you send me a copy of the feed file via email, without putting it up for anybody else to use?

Thank you!

If that is a serious request, you are being rude.

You should make deals like that secretly and on the sly especially since this is a new merchant who would like to become established in general.
You question can hurt business.

You remind me of the bratty kid at a birthday party who insists on eating the roses on the cake before anyone else gets a slice :D

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

Thanks Rhia... I'll go do that right now... (The make a page thing that is)

Chocolate_Chicken... I don't have access to your eMail. I'm happy to send any of my affiliates anything I put together for the program. Unless that's a tongue-in-cheek that I'm not getting because I'm a noob ;)

Bill & Lisette
Taliessen, Ltd.
SaS Affiliate Program (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)

[webworker]

If that is a serious request, you are being rude. Oh, and since when did they make you a moderator around here?

Now, Rhia, you are the one being rude. If you think a post is inappropriate, why don't YOU handle it by PM, or even better yet - there's a little "report a post" button upper right of every post that you can use to have a moderator take a look and handle it if necessary.

[Chocolate_Chicken]

No worries, webworker. If somebody doesn't have a sense of humor or isn't inclined to read between the lines, that's their own bag.

I'm ready when the feed is. What's taking so long?

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

I've put all our current online products into the SaS database, with pictures and descriptions. I think that will enable the 'make a page' option on the affiliates side of things. That's the 'feed' right?

Be well,

Bill & Lisette
Taliessen, Ltd.
Taliessen Affiliate Signup (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

We've added a two-tier program to our SaS offering. We're offering 10% to the recruiter. (I hope we did this right. It's 10% of the original commission, right? Not an additional 10% on the gross sale)

So, if I've got this right,
Sale = $30.00
Affiliate gets 18% = $5.40
Affiliate recruiter gets 10% of $5.40 which is $0.54
making the total I pay affiliates for the sale $5.94, plus SaS's 20% $1.19
Resulting in a total marketing cost on the sale of $7.13

I think I've got that right. Somebody, PLEASE tell me if I've got it wrong :)

- Bill & Lisette
Join our SaS Affiliate Program (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)

[UncleScooter]

That works provided you find affiliates who want to recruit competitors. I was looking at this program because my GF is a licenced massage therapist and aesthitician and I have a dedicated skincare site, but I tend to not delve in programs with multi tiers.

[Haiko de Poel, Jr.]

Affiliate gets 18%
Affiliate recruiter gets 10%


Pay 19% to begin with and begone with the horsehockey ideology that someone (an affiliate) will recruit a competitor for 1%, cause it AIN'T happening.

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

Pay 19% to begin with and begone with the horsehockey ideology that someone (an affiliate) will recruit a competitor for 1%, cause it AIN'T happening.

I didn't even think of it that way. I thought with the downline that people who have networks would be interested. Easy enough. Two-Tier is gone bye-bye. Gosh, one can learn a lot very quickly here. Thanks Haiko!

- Bill

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

Instead of the two-tier, we upped the tracking cookie to 120 days. We want to make sure that the affiliates who do join us get what they've earned. Again, thanks for the feedback.

Also, we've added all of our products to the SaS database. Is that the same as a 'feed' when we enable the FTP option for our affiliates?

Best,

Bill & Lisette
Taliessen Affiliate Program (SaS) (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)
:goodwitch

[Rhia7]

I've put all our current online products into the SaS database, with pictures and descriptions. I think that will enable the 'make a page' option on the affiliates side of things. That's the 'feed' right?

Be well,

Bill & Lisette
Taliessen, Ltd.
Taliessen Affiliate Signup (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)

I think "make-a-page" is different from feed.
"Make-a-page" creates static product links whereas I believe datafeed is a code installed onto a webpage/site that will deliver an entire range of products at a specified amount to the site with a different product each time.

I haven't yet touched datafeed, perhaps someone else could offer a better description. I do not think it is static -- I think it is a real time display where the display changes.

[Leader]

"Make-a-page" creates static product links whereas I believe datafeed is a code installed onto a webpage/site that will deliver an entire range of products at a specified amount to the site with a different product each time.

The first part's right: "Make-a-page creates static"...Product displays. It's more than just product "links"--it lays them out in a nice table, and includes pictures.

The feed itself, though, is a spreadsheet of products, descriptions, prices etc. which can be used in various ways. It DOES NOT come with any predone code to "install" on the page, nor does it make anything be different with every load--it's just the raw data--what system you use in order to make use of that data is up to you. Whether that system involves putting any special code directly on the page, depends on the system, not the feed itself. Any randomization would have to be done by whatever script you choose to use to process the feed.

If you want to just put a code onto a page and have something automagically happen, you're probably thinking of GoldenCan. With that, you don't get the feed itself. They've got it, and when you put their code on your page, Things Happen. Unfortunately, they're not Things that can be seen by spiders...which can be good if you don't want Goofle knowing there's a store on the page, but is no good if you *want* G to know about it (like if you're trying to rank for those particular products, without writing a bunch of content for each one).

As for using the feed itself, rather than some offsite tool:
It is possible to make a "make-a-page" showcase from a feed, yourself. The difference is, with a feed, you aren't limited to just that type of implementation. You can make single pages for each product (either static or dynamic), or put them in a database with search capability, or make the site dynamic so you don't have to fool with manually updating things--to name just a few of the things which can be done.

Think of the feed as gasoline. In order to get the good out of it, you need to put it into some kind of a motor. WebMerge is a good ground-level one, and various forms of PHP coding generally are behind the higher-level methods.

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

The feed itself, though, is a spreadsheet of products, descriptions, prices etc. which can be used in various ways.

When I used SaS's product database, and turn on the FTP option for my affiliates, can they download a feed file from that database? Or does the database only power their 'build a page' engine? I don't have any visibility on the affiliate side of things, so I can't directly see what my actions and entries are providing them.

Thanks for the help!

Bill & Lisette
Massage Oil & Candles & Chocolates, Oh My! (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)
:newb:

[BurgerBoy]

Why don't you or one of your friends register as an affiliate and then you can see exactly what we see.

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

Why don't you or one of your friends register as an affiliate and then you can see exactly what we see.

Because I'm a lame newbie who didn't think of that. :biggrin:

Thanks for the great idea... I just checked us out from the affiliate's login and was able to see our products, creative and download a .CSV file with all our stuff in it.

We have our products available, both in the 'make a page' option, and in the 'view products->Download .CSV' section. Pictures and everything :) The FTP datafeed doesn't seem relevant to us, since the data in the downloaded .CSV is exactly the same.

Cheers,

Bill & Lisette, getting a little less newb by the day.
Taliessen Affiliate Program (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

Hey there! We got our first conversion through SaS today! On 17 visits since we started our program (we're just staring up... 20 affiliates so far). It is so neat being able to watch the system work. And yes, the first order from an external lead is seriously cool too. Thanks to everyone who's helped us refine our offering, and especially thanks to our affiliates!

Cheers!

Bill & Lisette :howdy:
Taliessen Affiliate Signup (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)

[Rexanne]

Hey there! We got our first conversion through SaS today! On 17 visits since we started our program (we're just staring up... 20 affiliates so far). It is so neat being able to watch the system work. And yes, the first order from an external lead is seriously cool too. Thanks to everyone who's helped us refine our offering, and especially thanks to our affiliates!

Cheers!

Bill & Lisette :howdy:
Taliessen Affiliate Signup (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)

Whooo Hoooo!!! Congratulations!

You will do well because your attitude is awesome. And you'll find plenty of help and suggestions here. Keep absorbing ... :biggrin:

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

Whooo Hoooo!!! Congratulations!

You will do well because your attitude is awesome. And you'll find plenty of help and suggestions here. Keep absorbing ... :biggrin:

Thanks Rexanne! We appreciate your words of encouragement. The feedback and suggestions we've gotten so far have made a big difference in how we're presenting and crafting our offering. It's been a blast. It is such a huge difference than buying adwords, where Goofle just scarfs the money, click-fraud or not, and has nothing useful to offer in the way of 'how to do it right' or even 'how to do it better.' Affiliates on the other hand, have a vested interest in our success, as we have in theirs. The relationship is small enough to be useful. It's easy to have a good attitude when you're working with people who actually want to help.

Best,

Bill & Lisette
Taliessen Affiliate Signup (SaS) (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)

PS... Your signature rocks. :approval:

[Taliessen, Ltd.]

Hello everyone,

I noticed something odd today. I went to Google and typed in our company name, Taliessen. An adword advertisement came up, with our company name, the (R) symbol, a small bit of our valentines copy and a link to our website. Clicking on it passes the browser through Shareasale, then to our site. Clearly, one of our affiliates has taken out an adword on our company name.

Taliessen ®
Show Your Lover Some Serious Intent
Massage Oils & Romantic Gifts
Taliessen.com

This seems really odd to me. Why would an affiliate advertise on our company name, when our company name already comes out #1 in the listings? They might catch a sale, but don't most people click on results, not the ads?

Really weird and kinda puzzling. I don't really mind that they've done it, but I don't understand their reasoning.

Bill & Lisette
Taliessen SaS Affiliate Program (http://www.shareasale.com/shareasale.cfm?merchantID=9472)