Affiliate WISHES - If I could wave a Magic Wand and give you ANYTHING you wanted, that would make Affiliate Marketing better or easier - what would it be??? I just wrote an article for WebProNews which has over 100,000 subscribers including lots of affiliates. It was basically the same article I wrote over at the 5 Star Affiliate Blog a few days ago about the evolving world of AM: Affiliate Marketing Web 2.0 Style - Past and Future Trends http://affiliate-blogs.5staraffiliateprograms.com/2005/11/21/affiliate-marketing-web-20/ In re-reading the article today I started thinking about the fact that the Holidays are coming which is a most "magical" time of the year. I aso reflected on the fact that I'm an innovator at heart and love to be on the bleeding edge and come up with new solutions. I have so many ideas but have been too busy to to really just pick one and focus on it. So all of that comes together to make me want to put on my Fairy God Mother Hat and to ask the DP affiliates some questions: When you read that article and think about the old and new trends in affiliate marketing - can you thinking of anything the industry needs that does not yet exist? Think outside the box! What other future trends do you see coming in our industry? If I could wave a magic wand and give you a new solution that would make affiliate marketing better and/or easier what would it be? I'm waiting to grant your Affiliate Wishes. Come tell me what they are...
I think it would be cool if you could view banners for various affiliates on one page so that you can find one that fits with your site layout, Then if the content matches use it?
How about an online script or downloadable software that lets you manage all your affiliate accounts (ie. instead of logging into multiple accounts you just use the software). Downloadable files (Excel stats and zipped art/code) could be an alternative. Rss feeds of new updates would be great as well. Maybe there's something like this available already and I've missed it. I have more ideas along these lines but they're still sort of fuzzy.
Great ideas from both of you! Dreamshop there used to be a a program called www.affstats.com that does this. Just checked the link and it's down. May be temp. There is also a program called www.affiliateorganizer.com that the super affiliates swear by. It does not log in to check stats but keeps you organized in many other ways. I also recently found a free program that does this but I can't find the link. I will look again. Many merchants are starting to do this. I wish more would. There are a couple cool new coupon RSS feed tools available so if you have lots of merchant coupons to maintain - it auto updates and keeps all of them fresh. Very cool app for RSS. I'm also trying to find RSS product datafeeds and a CSV to RSS conversion program that does what I know it needs to. There are a couple solutions that aren't quite perfect. I'm working with a couple developers to come up with everything I need but so far no one can.