Twitter Tweet This Button launches for your site
Posted on | August 16, 2010 | 1 Comment
Yup, it’s official..
The back and forth between Facebook and Twitter continuos with the launch of Twitter’s new tweet this button..
It’s making some social waves around the world wide web as I write this, and there are so many organisations and technology geeks out there that are coding away to get their sites all primed and ready.
Luckily for Wordpress users, our favorite blog hosting solution has already rolled out their integration in a ready to go package.
So, if you’re a Wordpress.com user and also want the new official tweet button all you need to do is:
True, it really is as easy as that and you should be up and running in no time at all.
Not a Wordpress user? Want to get the Twitter Tweet This button on your site? It’s pretty easy anyway and here’s what you need to do:
The great thing is that you can also customise the button is so many ways so head on over to Twitter Tweet This Button and see what Social Magic you can create..
Will you be adding the Tweet this button to your site?? Good luck if you do, it’s sure to be huge and a nice traffic driver.
Tags: facebook twitter button > social tweet this button > tweet this > tweet this button > twitter button > twitter social button
Apple Iphone 4, Duct Tape and a whole heap of problems
Posted on | July 13, 2010 | No Comments
In what can only be seen as a comedy follow up to my latest Apple iPhone 4 story it’s become apparent that Apple are getting nervous and might be looking to buy their way into the Duct Tape market, beating Yahoo and MSN that were only looking at post-it notes and cello-tape…
Going back to my original article written about Apples iPhone 4’s reception problem, it seems they’ve moved into full worry mode and have started deleting threads from their site that previously linked to the Consumer Reports Review that suggested that even though they couldn’t give it a buy rating (although they do give it the top smartphone around thumbs up?), you could just duct tape your way out of the problem to keep your reception.
Readers of an unofficial Apple blog noticed that a number of threads with the search term “consumer reports” had disappeared from discussions.apple.com (Keep an eye on Two Consumer Reports threads that exist on Apple’s support site including links. They have yet to be deleted (here; and here).
Keep an eye out on this topic as it’s not going away. For the first time Apple have released a product that looks to have a serious flaw. Will they produce a fix? Will they recall (never) or will they hope that this all falls away quietly under the piles of press articles they are obviously collecting..
Tags: apple consumer reports review > apple iphone 4 > consumer reports review > duct tape iphone > iphone 4 reception problems
Apple’s response to bad Reception? It’s an equation gone wrong
Posted on | July 4, 2010 | 6 Comments
So you might have heard that Apple have released their most successful product ever, the iPhone 4 (They sold over 1.7 Million units in just three days)….
Being a bit of a tech geek, I was interested in queuing up to get this new toy (I LOVE my Nexus One though so always thought if the iPhone4 was rubbish I could sell on eBay) but work commitments and having a weekend in Ibiza meant that I could not find time to check it out at launch time.. Boy oh Boy am I glad that I didn’t rush in head first..
The talk around APPLE town is that the iPhone4’s reception is not good, and this one piece of negative press has swamped all of the other great strides that Apple have tried to release with this new phone.. With that in mind, what do Apple end up releasing in their OFFICIAL statement? It’s all down to the equation they use to calculate reception bars on your phone??
WHAT.. They say they’ve had this problem across all iPhones? They don’t admit to having a bad design that means by simply holding the phone it drops signal, it’s simple maths and we the public and Apple fans are wrong!!
When they were testing reception out and about, did the old iphone design/cover they were hiding the new phone in have an effect? Why are they pushing away their huge following of Brand Advocates and not handeling the problem properly? Way too many unanswered questions here so I’m waiting until I make a move to the iPhone4r (that’s r for reception peps) and staying happy as Larry with my Nexus One.
Check out the YouTube video here that shows how the iPhone4 drops reception like a brick…
Offical iPhone Press Release
iPhone 4 Users,
The iPhone 4 has been the most successful product launch in Apple’s history. It has been judged by reviewers around the world to be the best smartphone ever, and users have told us that they love it. So we were surprised when we read reports of reception problems, and we immediately began investigating them. Here is what we have learned.
To start with, gripping almost any mobile phone in certain ways will reduce its reception by 1 or more bars. This is true of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, as well as many Droid, Nokia and RIM phones. But some users have reported that iPhone 4 can drop 4 or 5 bars when tightly held in a way which covers the black strip in the lower left corner of the metal band. This is a far bigger drop than normal, and as a result some have accused the iPhone 4 of having a faulty antenna design.
At the same time, we continue to read articles and receive hundreds of emails from users saying that iPhone 4 reception is better than the iPhone 3GS. They are delighted. This matches our own experience and testing. What can explain all of this?
We have discovered the cause of this dramatic drop in bars, and it is both simple and surprising.
Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.
To fix this, we are adopting AT&T’s recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone’s bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.
We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G.
We have gone back to our labs and retested everything, and the results are the same— the iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. For the vast majority of users who have not been troubled by this issue, this software update will only make your bars more accurate. For those who have had concerns, we apologize for any anxiety we may have caused.
As a reminder, if you are not fully satisfied, you can return your undamaged iPhone to any Apple Retail Store or the online Apple Store within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.
We hope you love the iPhone 4 as much as we do.
Thank you for your patience and support.
Apple
Why I’ve been out of touch for the last month
Posted on | June 7, 2010 | 3 Comments
It’s been what seems years since my last blog post and although I have a good few artilces in the making (honest), I felt I needed to explain why I’ve not posted in a while..
You see, the thing is I’ve moved jobs.. Following a call out of the blue, I decided to hand in my notice working as Head of Marketing Acquisitions at Betfair to take up the Head of Marketing role at MOO.COM
A strange reason to some people, who asked why I’d want to stop working for an exciting betting company surrounded by some of the most exciting technology around, revolutionising the betting market and having all the perks of a large company like the huge online budget and sports showing on 50″ flatscreen TV’s 24/7.
This got me thinking.. I’ve made some good decisions in my career path and over the last 10+ years of working in London I’ve been both blessed with good opportunities but also lucky enough to be able to plan and move jobs to help myself grow. I’ll come onto this in more detail in a bit.
You see, too many people nowadays just think that a job chooses you and you end up sticking with it, working hard and hopefully getting something out of it (bonuses, wage increases, management of a team etc)… That’s not the way it should be though. YOU choose the job and YOU make sure that it’ll give you everything you need to help you grow and reward your hard work.
A friend once said to me that hating your job was a good thing, so you didn’t have to care about the work that you did, so you didn’t feel the need to spend that extra hour late at night to make sure that your campaigns all launch in time, track properly etc. He said it gave you the freedom to leave work and feel relieved.. You might have guessed by now but that’s not how I feel..
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t live to work, I work to live.. But working is an important part of life that should be enjoyed and I do enjoy it, a hell of a lot.
When I’ve moved companies, the majority of times it’s been because I’ve had a call from a headhunter (or the business directly) with an offer that has fitted into my career aspirations, my plan for where I want to go and how I want to get there. Everyone should have a plan and if you ever get the call that fits and as long as you feel you’ve made an impact in your current role and picked up any number of learnings (industry, channel etc) consider it.
The short version of my career path falls into the following buckets -
* Finance Industry – Managed across all online channels and learnt my trade. Big budgets and a serious learning curve marketing financial products and learning all the legals.
* Online Family History - Marketing to an older demographic with a subscription based model, a great challenge and one that pushed the boundaries of many normal online marketing channels. I was the third person to join this company and built out their marketing team and channels and quickly progressed into management.
* Online Betting - Fast moving, bigger budgets and apart from porn, the most cutting edge of all online areas. Marketing a product that a lot of people think’s evil usually helps in a strange way. Sponsorship, SEO, Social Media, TV and Radio advertising are all but a few of the things that marketing had to span across including some serious acquisition channel work to grow an already big user base..
Some of you will see why I moved companies, others won’t.. I’ll let you all figure that out unless you really want to know..
I’m excited about MOO.COM and no doubt I’ll talk about it in more detail in the next few months but this is the most exciting move I’ve made out of all of them.
Sometimes it’s good to stand back and take a look at your career path and fit it into the path that ultimately takes you to where you want to end up. Whether that’s early retirement, into your own business or sitting on the board of directors investing in innovative start ups across the world..
So that’s my excuse for my late posting and I hope it makes up for it.. I won’t stay away for so long next time…
iPad Versus the Kindle – Too many technologies or a killer in the mist?
Posted on | May 4, 2010 | 1 Comment
I’ve heard so many arguments online lately about how the iPad is going to kill off the likes of Amazons Kindle and I’m still hearing the same influential people (e.g. Techcrunch writer MG Siegler) banging on about how great this new iPad is and how they never use their Kindle’s any more. It seems that sometimes people like technology for technologies sake and forget the real arguments behind why some of these devices have been created.
Even though I own a good number of Apple products I don’t class myself as a fanboy and being a bit of a technology geek myself I wanted to write an article and put some views across from a different angle about the iPad and the Kindle..
The question that everyone has been trying to answer here is – Will the iPad kill off the Kindle?
- The Kindle uses E-Ink technology making it look more natural like a real piece of paper whereas the iPad uses an LCD screen (laptops etc). Although you can use the iPad in the dark (whereas the Kindle does not show up), you can’t read the iPad in direct sunlight like you can with the Kindle. This is a BIG piece to note as a lot of people read on holidays, outside in their gardens etc and NOT just inside their house with lights turned off.
- Most people who buy the Kindle just want to READ… They want to move away from the distraction of their ever flashing blackberry light, or the email alerts from their GMAIL account about some kind soul from Amsterdam who wants to give you a few Million pounds from winning the Dutch Lottery. If I want to read blogs or quick newspaper articles then I currently do that on my laptop or iPad but I scan through those articles and don’t give myself over to the reading as I do when reading novels on my Kindle.
- Having been privileged enough to grow up with mobile phones from the old analogue days (shudder) my main concern with new technologies is now battery life. Whilst the iPad’s battery life is very good at around 10 hours, the Kindles battery life is way ahead (due to the e-ink display and it’s minimal use of battery except when turning pages) up around the 30+ hours mark. For people who don’t want to take chargers with them on holidays etc the Kindle is on another big plus here.
- The iPad does so much more than the Kindle though so it makes more sense to spend that $300 more?? Hold on here.. Doesn’t a real laptop give you more functionality whilst not acting like AOL of the old days in a walled garden? Aren’t notebooks, or things like the Mac Book Air, light enough to carry around and housing a hell of a lot more power and functionality?? Don’t we all love real keyboards more than virtual ones and haven’t we all already gone out and bought ourselves something that does what the iPad does? Don’t get me wrong here, I’m just saying that that Ipad is for more than just reading, and does not do “just reading” better than the Kindle but also does not do other computing stuff better than other options..
- Readers, because that’s what we are talking about here, people who will stop buying the Kindle because they can read and do so much more on the iPad, have reported that they get eyestrain from reading on the iPad for too long.. I know I get tired eyes from working in front of a laptop and LCD screen all day.. The Kindle, with E-Ink technology is much easier on the eye and is totally fit for its purpose of, yup you’ve guessed it, reading..
- Volume and Price – To date, Amazons Kindle store has over 450,000 titles (the iBookstore has 60,000) and many classic and new books either free or from $2.99. I’ve not come across any discounted books through Apples offering and knowing what Apple have done to keep the price of their iPhones up (almost cementing in 2 year mobile phone contracts in the process) so I don’t think they’ll be able to compete with the likes of Amazon for price and volume. The iPad does however accept more e-book formats opening it up to a much larger library of books but if Amazon were to start renting books and cutting prices, I think they have the power to stop the competition.
- Kindle is a platform that can go across multiple devices. Yes, unlike Apple and their walled garden, the Kindle offers multiple platform access across the Iphone, Blackberry, PC’s, Macs and also the iPad. Books bought can be read across these platforms so you don’t have to be tied down to the Kindle if you really don’t want to.
- The iPad weighs just under twice what the Kindle weighs making the Kindle is a hell of a lot more comfortable to read from for a long period of time than the iPad.
In terms of functionality and technology for technologies sake, the choice between both the iPad and the Kindle is ultimately down to you and what overall functionality you need.
- If you simply want to read books, take your whole library with you and settle into a novel wherever you go then the Kindle is yours..
- If you want to flick in and out of apps and read blogs/newspapers then the iPad is good for you..
- For anything more powerful then it’s a laptop/notebook for you..
Just so you know though.. Personally I’d go for both. I wouldn’t feel comfortable reading with my iPad next to the pool on holiday (battery life, chargers, sunlight etc) but do with my Kindle with its leather looking book cover. I like the iPad for watching movies on the plane when I find it hard to concentrate on reading anything at all. It’s a simple choice sometimes.
What do you think?
Is Internet Explorer trying to mess the web up with crap compatibility for WordPress users?
Posted on | April 22, 2010 | 2 Comments
Sometimes blogging has its problems but platforms like WordPress showed a lot of people that they can build and run as simple or complex websites as they wanted whilst learning about the benefits and challenges of the online world. Getting your voice heard, your opinions out there or your creative flare noticed has never been so easy and has opened up the door for the growing communication channel called Social Media.
Of course, Social Media has been around for ages if you look at how long we have been able to write Blogs (Blogger, etc) but it’s since the introduction and subsequent uptake in platforms like WordPress, that allows people to build their own websites with relative ease, that people can do their own thing on, in their own environment (slightly separate to the shared worlds of Twitter and Facebook) that real “blogging” has taken off..
But, like I mentioned earlier, with blogging comes some problems and in the age old “battle of the browsers” it seems that IE is losing…
I’d say that I’m relatively new at building WP sites and have previously favoured building sites from scratch and using old skool Dreamweaver and other forms of building and maintaining websites.. But since looking further into WP and understanding how many different benefits it offers, together with a huge community of developers pushing the boundaries, I’m converted and love building my WP sites.
To get to the point here though.. I don’t use IE, I’m a Chrome fan and sometimes FireFox and Safari user.. A big fan of those browsers and they have never given me any compatibility issues whatsoever with my sites. Looking at this site (your reading it now) in IE, all of the widgets and plugins that I have on the right hand side are pushed out towards the bottom of the page.. Even when I click the compatibility link on the IE7 browser it does nothing and still displays wrong.
Now I’m no developer so I’ve had to take a structured approach to trying to solve this and here’s what I have tried so far –
- Individually disabled each and every plugin I have – Did nothing at all so assume it is not one of those.
- Checked the source code for site width and ensured that the banners, plugins etc all fit.. They do.
- Tried different templates – some worked, some didn’t, but why should I have to change a template just for IE???
- Tried changing the Compatibility version that IE goes back to (A manual thing that others would not know to do though)
None of these worked for me unfortunately and without having to look further into the CSS code I’m stumped as to how to fix it..
Should I be worried though? Do many people use IE?? Well according to browser usage updated on Wikipedia and other sites like StatOwl YES.. IE still has a large amount of users..
With companies trying to push their own agendas, their own software, their own top line, it seems we may be be in for more of these issues.. Take Apple and Adobe with Apple pushing back on Flash use on the Iphone (Mike Chambers – On Adobe, Flash CS5 and iPhone Applications)
Take Android and Apple OS (Iphone) competing against each other trying to grow their mobile ad sales through their own networks (Apple prohibits ad networks other than its own on the iPhone)
So it seems I’m stuck at the moment but maybe, just maybe, someone will find this article and comment on it with other areas to try and fix my WordPress compatibility problems with Internet Explorer but for everyone else I apologise..
To end this rant though, when building sites, you should always run compatibility checks across browsers. Just because you are a Chrome user, doesn’t mean that everyone else is.. The web can be a very slow moving beast sometimes and IE seems to still capture a lot of business usage and newer web users although I’m all for people witching to Chrome and Firefox.
My site in Chrome and then in IE… Which one do you prefer??
The usage share of web browsers.
Source: Median values from StatIOwl - 92% of sites monitored by StatOwl serve predominantly United States market.
Internet Explorer (54.44%; Usage by version number)
Mozilla Firefox (31.27%; Usage by version number)
Google Chrome (7.29%)
Safari (5.50%)
Opera (1.97%)
Other (0.87%)
Is Twitter Down?
Posted on | April 5, 2010 | No Comments
Is Twitter down? Yes Twitter is down… The Twitter is down failwhale (fail whale) was showing it’s face today for no reason other than Twitter saying it had too much traffic.. What would it do if it got to be the size of facebook..
Here’s the image of Twitter being down today at around 3.15 pm GMT
It’s amazing that when Twitter goes down people don’t know what to do and it would be interesting to see stats over the time Twitter is down to see where they lose traffic to? My bet, Facebook.. People’s need for social connections and random chatting are very strong so next time you see the Twitter is down Failwhale dont freak out.. Just use Facebook a little more..
Is Twitter Down? Yes twitter is down but never for long (luckily).
Are the same ads haunting your Internet usage?
Posted on | March 26, 2010 | 7 Comments
I recently watched the film Paranormal Behaviour and since then I’ve been a little bit paranoid that strange things are happening to me…
The thing is, I’m noticing more and more when visiting a wide variety of websites I use, the same advertisers following my online journey. It’s like they know who I am and just won’t quit stalking me from the depths of Marketing Hell..
Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t think these companies are using the latest and greatest “Ouija Board Campaign Planning tool” but they are employing a great online display strategy – Online Retargeting..
So what’s all this about Retargeting?
Retargeting campaigns can really make the most of your online media/display spend and essentially help you to reach out to consumers who have left your website (or interacted with your brand) and talk to them in a much more friendly manner than the normal cold hard sell you have to employ on banners.
Here’s a good example of what I mean –
- Bob see’s one of your banner ads on the web selling Sunglasses and decides that because he’s going on holiday soon he’ll click the banner and check out what you have to offer.
- Bob, being the ever studious man he is, decides to leave your site to compare prices on a pair of Prada sunglasses he likes from your site.
- The next day, Bob sees one of your banner ads online again (Lets say on his Yahoo Mail account) with an offer to buy the Prada sunglasses he’s been doing his homework on.
- Bobs decision process goes into overdrive with excitement and he clicks the banner ad and buys the sunglasses.
The beauty of this process is that this is exactly how retargeting can work for you but how does this actually work and what else can it do?
At a basic level, retargeting will mean you can re-connect with people who have visited, but not bought anything from your site. Contact can be driven through any channel from Email, Display or perhaps through dynamic personalisation on your site.
Look at Amazon and how they utilise Retargeting on their website. Try clearing your cookies on your computer (warning here – Maybe best to use a test or second browser for this so you don’t loss all your lovely cookies) and visit the Amazon site without signing in to your account (we’ve all got one).. Click around a category like Electronics and then leave the site.. On the same browser you used, go back into the Amazon site the next day and I’ll bet you see Electronics and items that you looked at advertised on the Homepage.. Classic Retargeting.
With something so powerful as this why aren’t more companies using it?
According to the Advertise.com/SEMPO study run in August last year, almost half (46.3%) of the online marketers surveyed felt that retargeting was the most underutilised marketing strategy, by a wide margin, with the remaining being:
- Geo-targeting: 18.3%
- Traffic source optimization: 15.9%
- Keyword targeting: 13.4%
- Other: 3.7%
- Category targeting: 2.4%
For something that can really help channels such as Display become ROI positive it’s a wonder why more companies aren’t using it.
The mechanics of Retargeting comes from Cookies and Cookied data.. Imagine that you use the adserver and optimiser Mediaplex to serve all of your marketing ads across all channels (Affiliates, PPC, Display etc). Depending on your online media spend you could be dropping a whole load of cookies on people that don’t end up being a customer of your site and looking at the Click to Conversions, you’ve probably had an unsuccessful campaign.
On your website you can tag up (Mediaplex tags that are also referred to as being 1×1 pixels) as many pages you want to start gathering cookied data on. For example, Registration page, Fund Account page and Basket Confirmation page (when they buy something).
With all of this Cookie information it’s then possible to set up rules in your adserver (Mediaplex in this case) to show tailored banners/messages to previously cookied people and hence show them more relevant messaging to aid conversion or repeat business (Whilst the non cookied people will see your currently optimised creative and acquisition message).
The more advanced side of retargeting stems from actually buying media specific to the cookies you are looking to retarget, so instead of buying 10 million impressions across a blind network (cheap media) and setting rules to retarget if a cookie appears that you know, you can actually buy media that is specific to and will only show up for each and every bucket/rule that you have set up for your cookies.
There a multitude of campaigns that you can plan using the likes of retargeting and with any luck I’ve helped put your mind at rest that, like me, you’re not going mad seeing banners follow you around the web and always showing up in the same placement on the same site..
Finally, I can thoroughly recommend watching Paranormal Activity.. Haven’t had a good scare like that in years…
Tags: Display > Online Media > online strategies > Retargeting
Simple Affiliate Marketing – Getting it Right…
Posted on | March 13, 2010 | 6 Comments
I’m going to assume that you know what Affiliate Marketing is for this post… If not then I suggest pinging your way over to here – That’s unless you are happy with knowing, in its basic form, Affiliate Marketing is a Pay Per Performance method of marketing where an individual puts your company/product banner on their personal website and if they make a sale you give them a % of sale..
Back to my thoughts though…
I love the affiliate world. When I started off in the Online World it was running affiliate programs and I have worked across a range of large, medium and small affiliate platforms (including internal platforms such as Net Refer).
What amazes me today though is that there are so many affiliate programs out there that are run so badly and companies and Affiliate platforms are missing out on a whole heap of revenue that they could be driving by being more proactive.
What do I mean by badly though?
I get the distinct feeling that many companies think that Affiliates are self sufficient, an easy channel to let itself run that will just keep on creating sales for a company without having to do much for them. I’ve heard it time and time again that the affiliate channel just helps bring down overall CPA’s in a marketing mix etc
Whilst some of your affiliates might not want to be contacted the intelligent ones will still be on the ball and looking to grow ALL of their sales and welcome any help in this area though so a good affiliate program will be worked on every day..
Affiliate marketing is a core marketing channel for many different businesses across a very wide range of verticals but running an affiliate program should not really be that different from product to product so I’ve created a list of actions that all affiliate programs and affiliate platforms should be working on together to help grow their affiliate channels.
- Don’t take more than 24 hours to say yes or no to affiliates trying to sign up to your program? It’s amazing how many companies take weeks if not months to say yes or no to new affiliates. If just one of these affiliates is a big hitter think of the negative impact this will have on the relationship. If you have budget constraints and don’t want to take on new affiliates then make sure you let potential affiliates know. It’s also good practice to answer any affiliate queries about why you might have turned them down as most affiliates don’t show all of their websites under their account so don’t miss out on potential opportunities.
- Do have a set of structured, helpful welcome emails for new affiliates. It’s your first chance to really sell your affiliate programme over others (and trust me, affiliates will sign up to loads of affiliate programs and only use a few of them). The more you can engage with them from the off the better. With this in mind you really need a structured CRM program for your affiliates as well. Welcome Emails, congratulations on your first sale contact, campaign update emails etc
- Do keep your creative fresh and campaign specific. If your brand is on TV or pushing hard online or offline – make sure that your affiliates are able to fit into your marketing channel mix with relevant creative and messages/offers that are backed up by your site and external marketing. A campaign with a stick of rock running through it across all channels helps increase your conversion rates across all channels and affiliates can really help build this awareness up across other channels so need to be taken into account.
- Don’t lump all affiliates into one bucket. It’s good practise to categorise affiliates into, for example, high, medium or low brackets and service them accordingly. Put energy where you know you’ll get a return and by tailoring communication, payment models, service levels etc around these affiliates tiers you can help continue to grow your affiliate program further. BUT, don’t forget that the low and medium tiers need to be serviced. Some affiliates won’t grow on their own but will grow if you can provide the tools they need to grow.
- DO help affiliates run before they can walk. OK, this sounds like a strange one but here goes.. Think White Label Dating. WLD allows you to build a site, plug into their database of singles and get a website up and running with very minimum effort.. What better way to break down the barriers of people not being able to start affiliate marketing. Think around this idea and what the web now offers..
o RSS feeds for content, fresh content and minimum effort to update.
o Unique or affiliate tailored content for affiliates to use that can help build out pages about your company/product.
o Dynamic URLS that allow affiliates to point and track clicks/sales to any part of your site. Don’t force a user journey
o Co Branded landing pages or unique offers for large affiliates.
o Prizes and assets for affiliate competitions to drive visitors to affiliates sites (where the affiliate then looks to convert these users to sales for you).
o Affiliate seminars where you take affiliates through your product and help them further understand your area.
- Do treat you affiliate program like a whole marketing department. Affiliate marketing needs internal attention. There are recruitment campaigns to bring in affiliates, setting up affiliate on finance/payment systems, monthly comms that need to be sent to the base, campaigns to run through affiliates, events to take or go to with affiliates, PPC/Display/SEO affiliates to all deal with differently etc..
- Do provide as much analytical help as possible to affiliates – Some repotting interfaces on affiliate platforms are not that good.. Helping affiliates understand their conversion funnel will ultimately help them try new methods of sending you traffic that converts better.
Whilst this isn’t a comprehensive list of Affiliate Do’s and Don’t I hope it does provide you with a few ideas for direction and how to look at building out your affiliate program and helping it grow into a high revenue and valuable channel within your marketing mix.
Seetickets Website Crashes During their RATM Ticket Giveaway.
Posted on | February 17, 2010 | No Comments
It’s early.. It’s 9am, Wednesday 17th February. The weather is wet but has warmed up slightly and a tun of people are excited as they log into Seetickets.com/RATM to try and claim their free Rage Against the Machine gig tickets..
Like me, everyone else has already submitted their details to see if they are eligible. Address, photos etc and have been through the exciting build up of getting Seeticket emails through saying my picture has been confirmed so good luck in the draw..
RATM, keeping to their word following their drive through social media to the UK number 1 spot at Christmas (we all remember that Facebook campaign) have announced their free gig for their fans in Finsbury park this coming June…
It’s what social media campaigns are made of. Mass awareness, driving a desire to interact with both the band and the site that is now set to give us our tickets.. The campaign continues to create waves in media and Simon Cowel even had to admit defeat to a bunch of kids on Facebook..
After such a great start, it pains me to say that the seetickets website experience has been atrocious and to put it bluntly, their site DIED.. Just look (Click to see full version) at a snapshot of Tweets coming through hashtagging #seetcikets
It’s simple really, Seetickets knew the demand here, the single got to number one selling hundred of thousands online, so why oh why does their whole entire site crash giving everyone a terrible experience of their site? All of their hard earned branding, what they have been building up through campaigns, and against stiff competition from other Ticket selling sites.. It could all really die off in a matter of hours.
The real end to this story is that Seetickets should take Social Media campaigns more seriously because if they mess up as big as this one, it can be hard to gain the consumers trust again and negative sentiment lasts a lot longer than positive.
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Seetickets.com is a website that sells over 9 million tickets a year* and prides itself on Ticketing technology, Ticket Sales, Ticketing Services and the Marketing/Distribution of event tickets and information.
Tags: Rage Against the Machine > RATM > see tickets > seetickets > Social Media Fail