Building an email list is something that a lot of affiliates ignore or overlook completely, but it can be an extremely valuable tactic for long-term success. When you’re buying traffic, you pay for each click or view and you get their attention for that short time period that you’ve paid for. If you gather email addresses, though, you get an almost entirely free way to keep in touch indefinitely.

The downside to email marketing is that it can be time consuming and a little slow in the beginning. It takes a while to build up a sizable list. That downside is probably why so many affiliates never get around to starting. A program like Chinavasion is ideal for someone who wants to build an email list, though, because many Chinavasion customers are business owners who continue to make purchases for a long time after their initial purchase.

Here’s how it works. First, you sign up with an emailer like aWeber or Mailchimp. Mailchimp is particularly beginner friendly because it’s free until your list reaches 500 members. Your provider will give you code that you can embed in your web page to give users a place to sign up for your list. If you want to sweeten the deal and get more signups, offer some kind of free mini guide or report. It’s a time-tested method used by thousands of other marketers.

You’ll also need to have some kind of focus to your list. Users want to know what it is they’re signing up for. In this case, it could be a list for gadget fanatics, or better yet, a list for small retailers who are looking for products to offer their customers. Retailers are likely to make many repeat purchases once you get them in the habit of shopping with Chinavasion.

Once you get your list built, you can email them with messages about new products, tips to help their business, or even similar promotions that you feel would appeal to that audience. The possibilities are endless once you have an easy and affordable way to correspond with your target audience.

We get questions and concerned messages from non-English-speaking affiliates all the time. That’s why we’ve put this post together to help out with some of the common questions – and to let you know how speaking a language other than English can actually be a huge asset in your promotions.

Shareasale Rejected Me –

This is a common problem for affiliates with non-English sites, but we’ve found a remedy. If you’ve been declined because of a non-English website, click here to use our special referral URL that helps you bypass this requirement.

My Country Isn’t Listed on Shareasale -

A few affiliates have let us know that Shareasale doesn’t include their countries on the signup page. If you encounter this problem, just use the name of a nearby country instead and include a note about the situation on your application.

How Do I Promote the Program if I Can’t Speak English Very Well?

Don’t let a lack of perfect English skills stop you from earning money. In fact, speaking a different language can actually be very useful. Chinavasion has no plans to translate the website into any additional languages, so if you can present the “pre-sell” in your own language, customers can be ready when they arrive on Chinavasion.com.

If you’re writing content in another language, you may be a little scared of sending your traffic to an English site. However, many people who typically search in other languages can still read English, so there’s a good chance that they will still be interested in the products. If you want to make sure they can read the site, though, you can recommend a site like Google Translate or refer your affiliate link through Google Translate to auto-translate the page for them.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at any time. We’re always happy to help out!

]]> http://affiliates.chinavasion.com/non-english-speaking-chinavasion-affiliates/feed 0 http://affiliates.chinavasion.com/treating-your-affiliate-marketing-like-a-business http://affiliates.chinavasion.com/treating-your-affiliate-marketing-like-a-business#comments Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:58:27 +0000 StefanieH http://affiliates.chinavasion.com/?p=245 Talk to any successful affiliate and they’ll tell you one thing – affiliate marketing is a business.  Sure, you can do it as a casual hobby, but if you want to make any real money, you have to start treating like you’d treat any other serious business.

All too often, you see promising new affiliates with all the talent and technical skills needed.  The problem, though, is that they want it to be easy.  Even though they may go to their day jobs and spend 40 or more hours each week there, these same people are often hesitant to spend more than a few hours each week on their affiliate work.  If you want to replace your job or earn a full-time income, that just won’t work – at least not right away.

Still, some people aren’t sure what “treating affiliate marketing like a business” means.  To help you out, we’ve put together a few tips:

• Put in the hours. You wouldn’t expect to have much success if you only spent a few hours each week at your “real” job, would you?  You have to put in time to build up your business at first before you’re going to start having success.  Of course, just like with a real job, you might be able to get away with a little bit less effort once you’re established and you know what you’re doing.
• Give yourself a real workspace if at all possible.  Find quiet time alone to write articles, create pages, or set up ads for your efforts.
• Make it a routine. No career is going to take off if you only come in when you feel like it.  Set up a regular schedule and stick to it, then watch your marketing take off!
• Network.  Success comes much more quickly to those with connections.  Contact your affiliate managers to get suggestions.  Talk to other affiliates on forums.  Be careful, though, that networking doesn’t take up too much of your time and distract you from real work.  You need balance.

When you treat your affiliate marketing like a business, you’re not only going to put in more work, but you’re going to send yourself a subconscious signal that you’re serious.  These simple changes are often the difference between successful affiliates and those who try forever without success.  At Chinavasion, we’re committed to helping our affiliates achieve their maximum success.  Feel free to contact us at any time with questions!

As always, remember to make sure that your promotions are within the guidelines of the sites you choose to use.  Many have rules concerning the nature of your ad or the number you can post, so be mindful of those in your promotions.  Chinavasion does not endorse spamming.

1. US Free Ads
2. GumTree.com
3. Kijiji.com
4. ClassifiedsforFree.com
5. Loot.com
6. Backpage.com
7. StumbleHere.com
8. ClassifiedAds.com
9. Oodle.com
10. EPage Classifieds

If you have any questions, or if you’d just like to discuss new ways to promote Chinavasion’s affiliate program, please feel free to contact us.  We’re always happy to help!

Although there are tons of other article sites out there, each of these was selected because they have a high volume of traffic and they rank well in the search engines.  That means that when you write a keyword-optimized article for one of these sites, you generally have a better chance of getting traffic from the search engines than if you had submitted the same article at a lesser known site.

1. EZineArticles.com
2. Squidoo.com
3. Klatcher.com
4. Yahoo! Answers
5. GoArticles.com
6. ArticlesBase.com
7. Buzzle.com
8. ArticleSnatch.com
9. ArticleAlley.com
10. ArticleDashboard.com

Please remember as you visit the sites, that each one has its own set of rules and restrictions.  Some allow you to post multiple links, while others allow just one in your bio.  Be sure to read each site’s rules before posting, or you risk them banning your account.

If you have any questions about article marketing or other ways to promote Chinavasion, please feel free to get in touch.  We’re always happy to help out!

If you’ve already done the math, you may have realized that you won’t get too far with the Chinavasion affiliate program if you’re struggling to make scattered $50 sales with a 6% commission. Even still, top Chinavasion affiliates are making thousands of dollars. That’s because they’ve learned that the real secret to making money with Chinavasion is in referring the customers who come back again and again. To help you do the same, we’ve put together a list of the types of customers Chinavasion typically sees, and how you can drive the best customers through your affiliate links.

• The Internet Shopper – These are your every day, average customers.who may buy one or two items. Although Chinavasion is happy to work with these kinds of customers, they are often one-time customers and the commissions are usually a bit small.

• The Gadget Freak – Gadget Freaks are high-maintenance customers who are extremely demanding in terms of questions asked prior to purchasing. Although they often become repeat buyers, the fact that they tend to make small purchases of just one or two items makes them less desirable for affiliates.

• The Wannabe – If you have spent much time around “work from home” communities, you are probable familiar with this type of individual. These are people who want desperately to earn their own income and become entrepreneurs, but they usually don’t have the drive to follow through. They take up a lot of everyone’s time and advertising money pretending, though. As an affiliate, you’ll want to think of ways to get the attention of legitimate businesses without spending too much money getting traffic from wannabes.

• The PowerSeller – This title refers to moderate to high volume sellers on auction sites like eBay. These are great customers to refer as an affiliate because you will continue to get commissions for as long as your cookie is on their computer and they are placing orders.

• The Shop Owner – These customers are typically people who have their own brick and mortar shops or stands. They typically place larger orders and they are excellent repeat customers. Although it may be a little more challenging to locate these customers, larger commissions make it worth the effort.

• The Ecommerce Site – Many ecommerce stores actually purchase their products from Chinavasion either through bulk orders or drop shipping. Either way, referring a successful ecommerce site owner through your affiliate link is a surefire way to earn healthy commissions.

• The Dinosaur – These are customers whose needs are often better served by directly contacting factories and arranging extremely large container load shipments. Although their order sizes could potentially be quite large, the fact is that these sales often take a very long time and frequently fall through because Chinavasion is a wholesaler, not a manufacturer. As such, prices are higher than a manufacturer (but Chinavasion does not have such large purchase requirements).

By understanding these types of customers, you’ll be able to more effectively drive your marketing towards the type of customers who are most likely to work for you. If you have any questions, or if you’d just like to discuss some of your ideas, please feel free to contact us.

You can use Chinavasion product pictures and descriptions in any online or offline marketing. You can say anything you like to advertise Chinavasion as long as it is true ad appropriate.

Here are some suggested ways to place your own links:

1. Link or redirect to Chinavasion from pages on your own website;
2. Create new information / review pages or whole new websites dedicated to promoting Chinavasion;
3. Buy banner advertising on targeted (e.g. wholesale / gadgets / electronics-related), high traffic websites;
4. Pay for pay-per-click advertising e.g. Google Adwords, Yahoo, Microsoft, Kontera to send customers through your link – it could be search targeted, content targeted, or site targeted;
5. Put advertisements on online classifieds sites, many of which allow free ad submissions, – click here for a list of some good advertising websites.
6. Write / publish online articles on electronics themes such as product reviews or wholesale sources, and use your affiliate link to Chinavasion in the resource box… click here to find good article directories;
7. Link to Chinavasion from emails sent to your opt-in customer groups (please note we will not tolerate affiliates sending unsolicited email / spam);
8. Link to Chinavasion from within ebooks you publish;
9. Discuss Chinavasion and use your affiliate link on online forums / bulletin boards / newsgroups;
10. Comment on topic relevant blogs and use your affiliate link back to Chinavasion.
11. Use PopShops.com and Wordpress (free blogging software) to create your own virtual shop or product blog.
12. Purchase ads from sites like MySpace and Facebook and target specific demographics or interest groups on a pay-per-click basis.
13. Use offline classified ads or flyers to drive traffic to a page which redirects users to Chinavasion.
14. Create a list of wholesale resources and include Chinavasion prominently with your affiliate URL.

Please feel free to contact us if you’d like to discuss new ideas for promoting the Chinavasion affiliate program.

]]> http://affiliates.chinavasion.com/chinavasion-affiliates-14-ways-to-promote-your-links/feed 0 http://affiliates.chinavasion.com/chinavasion-affiliates-how-you-can-earn-commissions http://affiliates.chinavasion.com/chinavasion-affiliates-how-you-can-earn-commissions#comments Sat, 28 Nov 2009 11:27:09 +0000 admin http://affiliates.chinavasion.com/?p=221

You will earn 6% commission
on the products value of every
completed order you refer.
 

Key Information About Commissions:
 

• You can see in your Shareasale account exactly how many sales you’ve referred, and how much commission you earned.
   
• You will be paid by Shareasale, it’s trusted, easy to use, and the payments are guaranteed in full and on time every month.
   
• Our Program is open to all Shareasale members. You need to be a Shareasale member to join our Program, just click the link below to find out how, it’s FREE!

»Join the Chinavasion Affiliates Guide NOW
To Find Out How To Get Inside And Start Earning!

You also get the trust and guarantee from Shareasale that the money will be paid out in full and on time. It’s a weight off your mind not having to chase multiple small affiliate programs for your earnings.

Consolidated Earnings Mean More Frequent Payouts

Not only are consolidated payments easier for you in terms of processing, but they also save you from the need to meet minimum payment amounts for a large number of separate merchants. For Shareasale, the minimum payment threshold is $50. Whether you earn all $50 from one merchant or you earn $1 each from 50 different merchants, you will be eligible for a payment. If you would prefer to get paid only when your earnings meet a larger amount like $500 or $1000, you can go to the "Edit Account Settings" link in your dashboard and change your preferences.

When you log into Sharesale, you’ll be able to quickly and easily see your balance in the upper left-hand corner of your user dashboard. To view a more detailed account of your sales, you can click on "Activity Details" and select the date range you’re interested in viewing. Here, you’ll see the specific merchants and amounts that relate to each individual sale.

Payments Holding Period

At the end of each month, Shareasale makes a note of all affiliates who have reached their preferred minimum payment threshold. At that point, all commissions are put on hold until the 20th of the month. That delay is both for administrative purposes and because it’s important for Sharesale to give merchants time to reverse commissions if necessary.

As an affiliate, it’s always frustrating to have sales voided. In most cases, however, the merchant is justified in doing so. Often, affiliates fail to read the detailed terms and conditions for each program, leading them to take actions that may not actually be permitted. Many merchants, for example, do not allow affiliates to bid on their trademark/company name in search engine ads. Affiliates who skip over the terms and decide to do that anyway are not only at risk of losing their commissions but they can also be removed from the entire network.

In other cases, sales are reversed because the customer returned the product or because the purchase was made with a stolen credit card. These reversals are considered acceptable because the merchant isn’t actually getting paid for the sale. If you feel you’ve had a commission reversed unfairly, you should submit a support ticket to the Shareasale team and state your case in a calm and rational fashion. They’re always happy to investigate further on your behalf.

What Is A Valid Sale?

In the Chinavasion Affiliates Program you will be credited commission when all the following conditions are true:

a) the customer clicked through your link and set the cookie
AND
b) during the 30 day validity period of the cookie that customer placed an order on Chinavasion.com using the normal online checkout with Paypal / credit card payments
AND
c) that order was fully paid for and successfully sent out

Every different method of promotion will have a different average conversion rate, but if you are not successfully making enough sales, consider:

• is the source of your traffic relevant to Chinavasion, are the people interested in buying something?
• are you sending them to the right page on Chinavasion?
• are you simply sending raw "go here now" traffic, or are you pre-selling the customers, or even creating additional value such as foreign language help pages before they visit Chinavasion?

Reasons Why Your Commissions Might Be Voided

• Occasionally the purchase was made by a fraudster using a stolen credit card. We cancel the transaction, refund the payment, and no commission can be paid.
• You are not allowed to receive commission from orders which you placed yourself. This is called "self-referral" and that is not the point of the Affiliates Program!
• Customer cancelled the order. Sometimes the customer pulls out of the order before it is sent out. In these cases we just refund the customer in full and the commission has to be cancelled.
• PPC bidding on "chinavasion" or variants on our trademark are actively monitored and we void those when we see them. All other keywords are fine though. Tip: find a Chinavasion competitor, bid on their business name but drive the traffic to Chinavasion. Only kidding… maybe…

Getting Paid

On the 20th of the month after you meet the $50 minimum, Shareasale will issue your payment.

Depending on the options you’ve selected in your "Edit Account Settings" page, you’ll receive your payment by either check or direct deposit. For United States affiliates, there is no charge for a basic postal mail check or a direct deposit. For international affiliates, there is an added fee for the delivery of a physical check.

If you ever need to view your payment history, you can do that very easily, too. Simply go to the "Activity Details" area of your dashboard and scroll down the merchant list until you see Shareasale in the list. Once you select Shareasale and refresh the report, you’ll see a record of all payments issued to you over the selected date range.

As you can see, getting paid and keeping track of payments is exceptionally easy with Shareasale. With a bit of hard work, learning, and testing at the start, you’ll be tracking your own ongoing payments in no time at all.

In reality, a datafeed is nothing more than a spreadsheet created by the merchant. It contains information like the product name, URL, description, price, and an image. However, because of the way datafeeds are formatted, computer programs can be used to place that data in a variety of different layouts and search tools. If you wanted to create a page about mp3 players from Chinavasion, you could do that in a matter of minutes with our datafeed.

The Chinavasion datafeed contains a list of the basic details of all of our current in-stock products. The information is updated once a week on Fridays.

To get started, you’ll want to search merchants in Shareasale and look for the datafeed symbol by the merchants you like (signified by three lines of 1s and 0s). If you’d prefer to see only those merchants with datafeeds, you can use the "View Those with Datafeeds" link in your user dashboard.

If you’re fairly technical and you want to work directly with the raw datafeed, you can sign up with the merchant and then visit the "Datafeeds" link in your user dashboard. From there, you can apply to get FTP access to download the merchant’s datafeed.

We will not approve all applicants who request the datafeed. This is (1) because we want to maintain some exclusivity to allow only the good quality affiliates to get this benefit; and (2) because for most affiliates the raw datafeed is not very useful in itself. In fact, in the absence of programming knowledge you can’t do anything with the datafeed. If you are not a programmer or do not have one on your team you have a much easier option available however:

The Easy Way To Benefit From Datafeeds

For most users, it’s far easier to use a program like PopShops to create product-rich affiliate stores. To get started, visit PopShops.com and sign up for an account. You can get started with a free account, but if you want to make many pages, you’ll eventually need to upgrade to a paid account.

To create a shop, you’ll just enter in the types of products you’d like to promote and then click add on the items you would like to include in your store. Remember to use only those merchants whose programs you are a member of.

When your shop is ready, you’ll just click "Pop It In" and download the code for your new store. Keep in mind that Javascript is impossible for the search engines to read, so if natural search engine traffic is part of your strategy, you should use either HTML or PHP code. If your site can interpret PHP code into web pages, that’s generally the better option. With PHP code, you can update your shop from the PopShops dashboard without any need to re-upload the code to your website.

If you’re not familiar enough with web technologies to know if your site can handle PHP, you can either contact your hosting provider or select the HTML. You can also get help at the PopShops sub-forum on ABestWeb.com. Most major web hosting providers will be discussed there if you search.

When you’ve finally uploaded your shop, it should look like a very simple e-commerce page. You can just repeat the process and upload as many product or category pages as you’d like to add to your site.

Once you get a little practice working with datafeeds, you’ll be able to create powerful affiliate sites in a fraction of the time that it would have otherwise taken you to build them manually. Although it may seem confusing at first, it’s most definitely worth the effort to learn.