R.O.EYE Develop International eBay Category Tree Resource

Here at R.O.EYE we have been listening to publisher feedback and requests for additional assistance and resources. One of the most popular requests has been a downloadable resource for international eBay category IDs and I’ll explain why…

One of the best ways to optimize your custom banner or API integration is to apply category ID filters. This helps to ensure that only the most relevant results are returned.

Pretty straightforward if you are only receiving traffic from one country, however if you are geo-targeting to multiple countries, you will find that the category IDs are not the same in each country. This makes optimizing your custom banner or API integration using category filters more time intensive, especially when you add in the complexities of different languages.

This R.O.EYE blog post has more information on a time saving solution, as well as a sample of what it looks like. Because R.O.EYE created this tool, eBay is unable to offer support for it, however there is a support email address provided by R.O.EYE should you need any assistance.

Finally, make sure that you’re signed up to the relevant eBay Partner Network programs for the territories you want to promote, otherwise you won’t get paid for the traffic you drive to these sites.

Alex Harvey, Technical Solutions Executive at R.O.EYE

Popularity: 4% [?]

French Connection up to 60% Off at eBay’s Fashion Vault

Beginning Monday, August 16th, at 9:00am PDT, eBay’s Fashion Vault will have French Connection products up to 60% off retail prices through Wednesday, August 18th at 9pm PDT! Make sure to check the Fashion Vault for updated information and specific sale items.

About French Connection
The UK based brand with the clever FCUK acronym -offers a fashion-forward clothing range with a quirky spin on design, priding itself on quality and affordable prices. The whole business is born of a desire to be original, distinctive and accessible. Whether fcuk has shocked or amused, it certainly made you think. Bold, witty and intelligent. The collection includes select women’s skirts, dresses, fashion shorts, tops and denim from Fall ’09 and Spring ’09 collections. Prices range from $20 – $110, average price of $65.

Receive an Extra 30% Off
Join the In Crowd to get a coupon code for an additional 30% off, as well as future exclusive offers and coupon codes.

How to Promote eBay’s Fashion Vault
You will be able to promote this exciting flash sale in several ways:

• Dynamic Banners in sizes 160×600, 300×250 and 728×90.
• You can access the Fashion Vault XML Feed.
• Use the Link Generator Tool with the Custom URL or Item ID options to link directly to sale items.
• Use seller id: Stylepremium for the RSS Feed Generator, and Custom Banner.

Happy Promoting!
The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

4 Ways To Add Value For Your Readers; They’ll Return The Favor

Our partner, SHEfinds.com has shared insightful information with us on how to better engage your target market. Whether your site is focused on clothing, shoes and accessories, or any other category, you are sure to pick up tips in this post that will help you to connect with your visitors through your site, blog and social media outlets.

1. Answer the right question
What would you want to find if you were searching for “best bras?” We at SHEfinds think you’d probably want a curated list of expert-approved bras; that’s what we’ve accomplished with our Best Bras guide, which consistently drives search traffic and engagement.

What readers get: A positive search experience
What you get: Conversions; new users

2. Enter relevant conversations
If you’re a guru of some sort – we’re fashion experts – search for Twitter conversations where you can be helpful. SHEfinds editors help Tweeters figure out what to wear. If you’re a home improvement expert, help a frustrated Tweeter hang a photo or fix his leaky faucet.

What readers get: Information they asked for
What you get: Brand engagement

3. Offer free stuff
Giving in to rampant giveaway posts can dilute your core content, but offering free stuff to your readers can certainly boost traffic and engagement.

Find a product that’s relevant to your audience – that home improvement guru might choose a screwdriver set or hardware store gift card – and publicize the freebie in every outlet you have access to. If there’s real value in the prize, new targeted users will find your website and interact with your content.

What readers get: Free stuff!
What you get: New users

4. Find them deals
If you’re blogging about anything commerce-related, readers are always enthusiastic about a sale or deal. eBay is one great way to price-compare and scope out savings for your users; on SHEfinds, we also scan our favorite branded retailers frequently for special savings and coupon codes.

What readers get: Money-saving deals
What you get: Conversions

Thank you SHEfinds for this useful information that is sure to help other site owners grow their businesses!

The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Affiliate Team Heading East to Affiliate Summit

We’re looking forward to late summer in New York! We’ll be heading out soon for Affiliate Summit East Aug. 15-17, which looks like it’s going to be a great show. We look forward to spending some time with our affiliates and partners. The Performance Marketing Association has a booth at the show – they’ll be arming people with knowledge about the Affiliate Tax.

If you haven’t gotten your pass for Affiliate Summit yet, the show has sold out. However, there are some passes on eBay! Check here for available passes and information on how to register.

We’ll be checking out a few sessions that have caught our eye, including the success story panel featuring Sears, American Express and Travelocity, and Joe Stepniewski’s (of Skimlinks) session on exciting new applications in affiliate marketing. The sessions about mobile affiliate marketing and the one about how bloggers can connect with audiences also look interesting.

There’s also a lot on the agenda this year about social media – we’re looking forward to hearing about how affiliates are using it to grow their businesses. This month’s FeedFront issue has some good articles on the topic, including this article from Brian Solis, author of Engage! Brian offers some great advice to use as a blueprint for your social media efforts.

Speaking of social media, are any of you already using it for affiliate marketing? If so, how’s it going? Any lessons learned you’d like to share? We’d love to hear from you in the comments.

If you’d like to meet up with us at ASE, send us a Tweet at @eBay_Affiliates. We’d love to talk with you about your business, answer any questions you have or just use the opportunity to meet face to face.

Hope to see you in New York!
The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Chatting with eBay Partner Network – Episode 4

In this episode Chad introduces JJ McCarthy, the head of eBay Partner Network US. Get to know JJ as he shares what he likes most about his role at eBay, as well as find out his interesting stat of the day!

Chatting with EPN: Episode 4 from eBay Partner Network TV on Vimeo.

Enjoy,
The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Class is in Session – Prepping for Back to School

The extended daylight hours should make summer seem longer, but the season always seems to pass by too quickly, especially for students who are more interested in the beach than books. But before we know it, the yellow busses will again be scooping up the neighborhood children to bring them together for reading, writing, arithmetic and recess. Parents and teachers are already counting down the days until the morning bell rings, and you can capitalize on this by tying in to some of the most sought after back-to-school items for sale on eBay and Half.com.

Of course, there are the basics that every student needs to succeed, such as pencils, pens, notebooks and markers. But the older students can’t survive without a laptop and a printer to help them write all those pesky term papers. And because all students need a way to safely transport their homework assignments from home to class, boys’ and girls’ bags and backpacks are hot sellers right now.

Choosing an outfit for the first day back to school is almost as important as figuring out where to sit in the lunchroom. Parents are searching eBay for clothing by popular retailers and designers like Gap, Ralph Lauren, Gymboree, Abercrombie & Fitch and Justice to make sure their little learners are dressed for success.

Parents aren’t the only ones turning to eBay for great deals; teachers are searching the site to simplify their supply shopping while stretching their paycheck further. Teaching supplies and resources are a hot category, with elementary educators looking for math, reading and phonics items and wholesale and bulk lots of books.

Textbook sales are beginning to pick up with the college crowd. Savvy students know the bookstore isn’t the only place to find the items on the professor’s required reading list. And it’s not just economics students who are scouring half.com and eBay for textbooks – biology, chemistry, physics and anatomy students are searching the site for their educational tomes.

As the temperatures begin to cool, searches and sales on these items will begin to heat up. Don’t forget that you can use the Link Generator Tool to promote these popular search terms and lead your readers directly to the search results. By linking to some of these categories on your site, we hope you’ll not only earn an A+ for effort, but hopefully some additional revenue!

And to help with your promotions half.com has two great coupon codes available:

Coupon code: HALF2010BTS10PERC

• Provides 10% off purchases between $100 and $200
• Max discount of $20
• Valid from 7/20/2010 to 9/30/2010
• Valid only for Books
• Valid for only New Users
• Can be used only once

Coupon code: TAKE5OFFBOOKS10

• Provides $5 off $50 and above
• Max discount of $5
• Valid till 1/3/2011
• Valid only for Books
• Valid for only New Users
• Can be used only once

Good luck with your Back to School Promotions!

eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Chatting with eBay Partner Network – Episode 3

Hi All,

This is the second of two episodes where Chad speaks with Will Martin-Gill, former head of the eBay Partner Network. In this episode, Will and Chad dive deeper into the reasons behind Quality Click Pricing.

Chatting with EPN: Episode 3 from eBay Partner Network TV on Vimeo.

The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Top 10 WordPress Plug-Ins for Internet Marketers

WordPress offers many useful plug-ins that can simplify your daily tasks. We’ve listed ten here that we think you should check out that may help streamline your business (in no particular order):

1. Platinum SEO Pack automates search engine optimization for WordPress blogs. Some of the features of this plug-in include:
   
   
   • Optimized Post and Page Titles for search engines
   • Generates all SEO relevant META tags automatically
   • Helps you avoid duplicate content
   • Add index, noindex, follow or nofollow, noarchive, nosnippet, noodp, noydir meta tags to any post/page
2. GoCodes is great for affiliate marketers, as it allows you to mask long affiliate program URLs and have those URLs blend in with your site more seamlessly by allowing you to create the URL to look like an extension of your own domain name.




3. Robots Meta is a helpful plug-in that allows you to control which of your pages are indexed.




4. SMS Text Message is an interesting widget that you can incorporate into your WordPress site, which allows your visitors to submit their cell phone number and receive updates and alerts from you via SMS.




5. TestIt is a great tool for those of you A/B split testers. This plug-in allows you to perform tests on variations of posts and then see which post generated more clicks within the WordPress Admin.




6. Google Analyticator makes it possible to utilize Google Analytics without having to implement the actual tracking code to your site. In addition, it also includes widgets that will display data right in the WP Admin.




7. BackType Tweetcount allows your visitors to easily retweet a link to your post without forcing them to authorize the program to access their Twitter account by providing their username and password to do so. This plug-in also shows you how many times your posts are being mentioned in Twitter.




8. WP-Affiliate makes it simple to mask affiliate links and now has the ability to search Commission Junction and track clicks.




9. Insights is a great tool to search, edit and insert links easily into your posts. You can also insert images, videos and more with this plug-in.




10. WordPress.com Stats is a simple way to view and analyze only the stats that really matter to writers. It includes a link in your WP Admin where you can see all of this data on a single page.

As always, if there are WordPress plug-ins that you couldn’t live without, please feel free to leave a comment and share with us what you find to be most useful.

The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Battle of the Nations: World Cup Frenzy

The globe is abuzz with FIFA fever, and it’s been an exciting Cup so far! The month-long soccer (or football, to the rest of the world) tournament is in full swing and there’s still time to score some extra revenue by creating a tie-in to some of the most sought after World Cup items found on eBay.

With increased listings for soccer and World Cup during the first two weeks of the games, sellers are capitalizing on the attention brought to the event that only happens once every four years. Memorabilia, clothing and collectibles are hot, along with high-priced tickets to view the matches.

Whether watching the matches live or on television, spectators are no doubt familiar with vuvuzelas, the buzzing South African horns. These instruments weren’t even on our radar a month ago, but listings have skyrocketed since the games began. The same goes for the Adidas Jabulani, the World Cup 2010 Official Match Ball that has been used during all of the games.

With international audiences cheering on their favorite teams, bids and listings for the teams still in the hunt have been increasing as the games play out. Who knows what team will take home the cup, but if the competition was measured by eBay listings, USA and Mexico would be neck and neck, with Argentina and Germany following closely behind. Buyers also seem to have taken an interest in the host country, as items from South Africa – not limited to World Cup memorabilia – have surged since May.

Although defending champ Italy was favored over Slovakia with 6:1 odds, the underdog came out on top, unexpectedly knocking Team Italia out of contention. Italian fans might find a little bit of solace in knowing that their merchandise is much more popular with eBay users, with nearly 25 times as many items listed. However, if Slovakia continues to do well, listings may follow suit.

By keeping an eye on the games and thinking of ways to capitalize on the excitement of the World Cup and other current events, you’ll catch the attention of both current and new website visitors. And by tapping into the buzz, eBay affiliates should be able to score some financial GOOOOOOAAAAAAALS!!!!

The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Beach Camera July Coupon Event

Due to the overwhelming success & popularity of Beach Camera TVs during the June coupon event, Beach Camera is going big this July with two coupons that mark down the low prices on their TVs even further. Currently there are 230 different TVs in the Beach Camera eBay store, and while some may be refurbished, many of these units are brand new and come with complete factory warranties. A majority of these TVs(almost all of them) are also listed with Free Shipping. The two coupon codes for the promotion are:

CBEACHCAML – Save an additional 10% on all TV’s priced under $2000. $200 maximum discount.

CBEACHCAMH – Save an additional 15% on all TVs priced $2000 and above. $375 maximum discount.

The best part about this deal, is that eBay Partner Network affiliates are given a five day head start, as onsite promotions will not begin until July 6. The main landing page for this promotion is here and will be live on July 1st, 2010. Both of these coupon offers are good from July 1-30, 2010, or while supplies last. PayPal payment method required to redeem the coupon. Please note these coupon codes are only valid on TV purchases made at the Beach Camera eBay store. In order to create eBay Partner Network links to this offer, please use the Link Generator Tool with the custom url or item id options.

- The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Targeting Your True Audience

Do you know where your website visitors are coming from, what they are looking at while on your site and where they are leaving your site? Accessing and analyzing this crucial information will give you some insights into your audience. Once you have this knowledge, you can use it to implement changes to your website not only to improve the user experience for your viewers, but also to increase your conversion rate and overall revenue. With a variety of user-friendly and free analytical tools available, you can easily examine your site traffic and use that information to grow your business.

How would this information help me to optimize my site?

Tapping in to your visitor stats can have a tremendous impact on your conversion rates and your revenue. Here are a few examples:

• You may learn that you are getting the majority of your traffic from a particular search engine and that this traffic is very engaged. You may want to consider testing out PPC campaigns on that search engine, if you aren’t already doing so. You may also find that consumers viewing certain types of niche sites are clicking through to your site, which might alert you to further advertising opportunities on similar sites.




• The ability to follow your visitors on your site to see which pages they are viewing may allow you to pinpoint patterns. You could learn that some pages on your site are not as relevant to your viewers, and you might build additional pages with content related to the pages that they are lingering on and develop subjects that your readers are interested in.




• Knowing where your visitors leave your site is crucial. Are they leaving on the home page without looking any further? Are you discovering that the majority of your traffic exits once they reach a certain page? These insights allow you to optimize pages that may be performing poorly.

Diving in a little deeper and looking at demographic stats about your traffic can prove very useful as well. When you put the right message in front of your visitor at the right time, your likelihood of getting a conversion increases dramatically. You may find that your audience is comprised of an entirely different gender and age group than you had assumed, which then allows you to update content and even add advertising that will appeal more to your readers. Additionally, this knowledge allows you to create content and target consumers that you may not have been previously.

A/B Split Testing

Ok, you now have analytics in place and you’re learning more about the traffic that is coming to your site. Maybe you’ve implemented a couple of changes, but you’re not sure what the next step is. This is when you should look at running A/B split tests on your landing pages. This could be as simple as the color of your font in headlines. It may be a small change to the structure of the page. It could be changing one image on the page. It should not be an entirely different page where every single thing has changed. Although you could do that, it is best to make smaller changes and test each one so that you understand which things are truly affecting the outcome and use that knowledge to develop other pages.

The key with A/B testing is to have a tool in place to help you to rotate both of the pages with equal impressions so that you can determine which page outperforms the other. You can find both free and paid tools by performing a search for A/B split testing tools in your web browser.

Once you have completed your test and found a winner you can move on to running tests with other elements of your landing pages. Remember, optimization should be a continuous process! Only when you are running these tests, understanding what your viewers like and optimizing on a constant basis can you be sure that you are getting the best results, conversion rates and earnings that you possibly can be.

Understanding your audience so that you can speak to them in a meaningful way can make or break your business. Once you have an idea of who you are targeting, test, test and test some more so that you can be sure that you are giving your readers what they are looking for. Using the simple tools that are available will help you to maximize your profits today.

To your continued success,
The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

How to Build Trust Online

We found the article The Four Pillars of Building Instant Trust Online by Tim Ash to be very helpful when building a plan of action to increase consumer trust in your website. Here are some ways that you can implement Tim’s advice for building trust while promoting eBay:

• Make sure your visitors know about eBay’s Buyer Protection. When buyers know that eBay will covers their purchase price, including original shipping costs, in the event that they do not receive their item, or it is not as described, they will feel more confident in making their purchase.




• Inform your customers about the positive features of using PayPal as a payment option for eBay products. In addition to the buyer protection plan, PayPal offers a safe environment to pay either by credit card or direct from your bank account, making secure payments convenient to all buyers.




• When promoting items from a particular seller, you can display reviews from previous buyers to build trust in that seller’s store.




• There are many ways in which you can include Tim’s “Objective Numbers” when it comes to eBay. Here are a few examples:
  
  
  
  
  • As of Q1 2010, eBay has 90 million active users worldwide.
  • In 2009, the total worth of goods sold on eBay was $60 billion — $2,000 every second.
  • You can find other statistics on trends and hot items on eBay Pulse or through Terapeak (subscription required).

Applying these tactics, along with eBay’s everyday low prices, will help you to achieve success and grow your revenue!

To your continued success,
The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Beach Camera July Coupon Event

Due to the overwhelming success & popularity of Beach Camera TVs during the June coupon event, Beach Camera is going big this July with two coupons that mark down the low prices on their TVs even further. Currently there are 230 different TVs in the Beach Camera eBay store, and while some may be refurbished, many of these units are brand new and come with complete factory warranties. A majority of these TVs(almost all of them) are also listed with Free Shipping. The two coupon codes for the promotion are:

CBEACHCAML – Save an additional 10% on all TV’s priced under $2000. $200 maximum discount.

CBEACHCAMH – Save an additional 15% on all TVs priced $2000 and above. $375 maximum discount.

The best part about this deal, is that eBay Partner Network affiliates are given a five day head start, as onsite promotions will not begin until July 6. The main landing page for this promotion is here and will be live on July 1st, 2010. Both of these coupon offers are good from July 1-30, 2010, or while supplies last. PayPal payment method required to redeem the coupon. Please note these coupon codes are only valid on TV purchases made at the Beach Camera eBay store. In order to create eBay Partner Network links to this offer, please use the Link Generator Tool with the custom url or item id options.

- The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Introducing Chatting with eBay Partner Network – a New Video Series

Hi All,

We’ve decided to try a new form of communication with you, our affiliate partners – video. This is the first in a series of videocasts we’ll be releasing over the next few weeks, to give you a chance to get to know the team here at eBay Partner Network. We’ll be discussing what’s happening here at eBay, what it’s like to work for ePN, industry trends and other things that pop up along the way. We’ll also be giving you a chance to help us shape future content. We’d love to hear your thoughts along the way (constructive, please!) so that we can improve on this as we go. And, of course, we hope you enjoy them as much as we’ve been enjoying working on them.

By the way, the case study I reference in this video can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/cgVami

Thanks and enjoy!
Chad

Popularity: 4% [?]

Targeting Your True Audience

Do you know where your website visitors are coming from, what they are looking at while on your site and where they are leaving your site? Accessing and analyzing this crucial information will give you some insights into your audience. Once you have this knowledge, you can use it to implement changes to your website not only to improve the user experience for your viewers, but also to increase your conversion rate and overall revenue. With a variety of user-friendly and free analytical tools available, you can easily examine your site traffic and use that information to grow your business.

How would this information help me to optimize my site?

Tapping in to your visitor stats can have a tremendous impact on your conversion rates and your revenue. Here are a few examples:

• You may learn that you are getting the majority of your traffic from a particular search engine and that this traffic is very engaged. You may want to consider testing out PPC campaigns on that search engine, if you aren’t already doing so. You may also find that consumers viewing certain types of niche sites are clicking through to your site, which might alert you to further advertising opportunities on similar sites.




• The ability to follow your visitors on your site to see which pages they are viewing may allow you to pinpoint patterns. You could learn that some pages on your site are not as relevant to your viewers, and you might build additional pages with content related to the pages that they are lingering on and develop subjects that your readers are interested in.




• Knowing where your visitors leave your site is crucial. Are they leaving on the home page without looking any further? Are you discovering that the majority of your traffic exits once they reach a certain page? These insights allow you to optimize pages that may be performing poorly.

Diving in a little deeper and looking at demographic stats about your traffic can prove very useful as well. When you put the right message in front of your visitor at the right time, your likelihood of getting a conversion increases dramatically. You may find that your audience is comprised of an entirely different gender and age group than you had assumed, which then allows you to update content and even add advertising that will appeal more to your readers. Additionally, this knowledge allows you to create content and target consumers that you may not have been previously.

A/B Split Testing

Ok, you now have analytics in place and you’re learning more about the traffic that is coming to your site. Maybe you’ve implemented a couple of changes, but you’re not sure what the next step is. This is when you should look at running A/B split tests on your landing pages. This could be as simple as the color of your font in headlines. It may be a small change to the structure of the page. It could be changing one image on the page. It should not be an entirely different page where every single thing has changed. Although you could do that, it is best to make smaller changes and test each one so that you understand which things are truly affecting the outcome and use that knowledge to develop other pages.

The key with A/B testing is to have a tool in place to help you to rotate both of the pages with equal impressions so that you can determine which page outperforms the other. You can find both free and paid tools by performing a search for A/B split testing tools in your web browser.

Once you have completed your test and found a winner you can move on to running tests with other elements of your landing pages. Remember, optimization should be a continuous process! Only when you are running these tests, understanding what your viewers like and optimizing on a constant basis can you be sure that you are getting the best results, conversion rates and earnings that you possibly can be.

Understanding your audience so that you can speak to them in a meaningful way can make or break your business. Once you have an idea of who you are targeting, test, test and test some more so that you can be sure that you are giving your readers what they are looking for. Using the simple tools that are available will help you to maximize your profits today.

To your continued success,
The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Chatting with eBay Partner Network – Videocast #2

Hi All,

In this videocast Chad talks with his predecessor, Will Martin-Gill, about topics such as what it’s like to work within eBay Partner Network, his advice for our partners and also parting advice for Chad in his new role.

Thank you for your commitment to eBay Partner Network and best wishes in your new position, Will!

The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

How to Build Trust Online

We found the article The Four Pillars of Building Instant Trust Online by Tim Ash to be very helpful when building a plan of action to increase consumer trust in your website. Here are some ways that you can implement Tim’s advice for building trust while promoting eBay:

• Make sure your visitors know about eBay’s Buyer Protection. When buyers know that eBay will covers their purchase price, including original shipping costs, in the event that they do not receive their item, or it is not as described, they will feel more confident in making their purchase.




• Inform your customers about the positive features of using PayPal as a payment option for eBay products. In addition to the buyer protection plan, PayPal offers a safe environment to pay either by credit card or direct from your bank account, making secure payments convenient to all buyers.




• When promoting items from a particular seller, you can display reviews from previous buyers to build trust in that seller’s store.




• There are many ways in which you can include Tim’s “Objective Numbers” when it comes to eBay. Here are a few examples:
  
  
  
  
  • As of Q1 2010, eBay has 90 million active users worldwide.
  • In 2009, the total worth of goods sold on eBay was $60 billion — $2,000 every second.
  • You can find other statistics on trends and hot items on eBay Pulse or through Terapeak (subscription required).

Applying these tactics, along with eBay’s everyday low prices, will help you to achieve success and grow your revenue!

To your continued success,
The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

New eBay Partner Network Features Available on July 26th

We’ve heard your feedback about our tools and our reporting and we are pleased to announce that on Monday, July 26th, we will be rolling out a a major Custom Banner upgrade, a new EPC Download Report, and an enhancement to the Transaction Download report:

Custom Banner Enhancements


We have expanded Custom Banner capabilities to better meet your needs. Here are the new features that will be available soon:

• Custom Banner will continue to offer Flash integration but will now provide new HTML templates with the following options:




• Show the badges for Top-Rated Seller, Free Shipping, PayPal, Buy It Now
• The image-and-text format you are used to will be available but we will also introduce a text-only version
• Contextual targeting available for eBay DE, eBay AT, and eBay CH programs.
• Ability to filter for Free Shipping and Top-Rated Seller.
• Multiple keyword and category search: you can now search across several keywords and eBay categories, or select the “Use Popular Search” option.
• Store custom themes: once you’ve chosen the ideal color and font for your Custom Banner you’ll be able to save them and reuse in future banners.
• Improved performance for a quicker display of the Flash version of Custom Banner.

Enhancements to your reports

• A new EPC Download Report: The EPC Download Report allows all publishers who are on Quality Click Pricing to download their daily EPC at a campaign level for each program. This report will only include information for campaigns that had click activity for the date(s) selected.
• Transaction Download Report: The format of the transaction download report will not change, but we will modify how we populate two columns. For eBay programs, the “eBay Quantity Sold”, and “eBay Total Sale Amount” columns will be blank when an adjustment is being reported to a transaction. These columns will not be impacted when the transaction is included in the transaction download report for the first time.

We continue to listen to your suggestions and enhance eBay Partner Network, the tools at your disposal, and the reports so as to give you the best possible conditions to promote eBay. Please continue to give us your opinion.

The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Introducing Chatting with eBay Partner Network – a New Video Series

Hi All,

We’ve decided to try a new form of communication with you, our affiliate partners – video. This is the first in a series of videocasts we’ll be releasing over the next few weeks, to give you a chance to get to know the team here at eBay Partner Network. We’ll be discussing what’s happening here at eBay, what it’s like to work for ePN, industry trends and other things that pop up along the way. We’ll also be giving you a chance to help us shape future content. We’d love to hear your thoughts along the way (constructive, please!) so that we can improve on this as we go. And, of course, we hope you enjoy them as much as we’ve been enjoying working on them.

By the way, the case study I reference in this video can be downloaded here: http://bit.ly/cgVami

Thanks and enjoy!
Chad

Popularity: 4% [?]

Chatting with eBay Partner Network – Videocast #2

Hi All,

In this videocast Chad talks with his predecessor, Will Martin-Gill, about topics such as what it’s like to work within eBay Partner Network, his advice for our partners and also parting advice for Chad in his new role.

Thank you for your commitment to eBay Partner Network and best wishes in your new position, Will!

The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

New eBay Partner Network Features Available on July 26th

We’ve heard your feedback about our tools and our reporting and we are pleased to announce that on Monday, July 26th, we will be rolling out a a major Custom Banner upgrade, a new EPC Download Report, and an enhancement to the Transaction Download report:

Custom Banner Enhancements


We have expanded Custom Banner capabilities to better meet your needs. Here are the new features that will be available soon:

• Custom Banner will continue to offer Flash integration but will now provide new HTML templates with the following options:




• Show the badges for Top-Rated Seller, Free Shipping, PayPal, Buy It Now
• The image-and-text format you are used to will be available but we will also introduce a text-only version
• Contextual targeting available for eBay DE, eBay AT, and eBay CH programs.
• Ability to filter for Free Shipping and Top-Rated Seller.
• Multiple keyword and category search: you can now search across several keywords and eBay categories, or select the “Use Popular Search” option.
• Store custom themes: once you’ve chosen the ideal color and font for your Custom Banner you’ll be able to save them and reuse in future banners.
• Improved performance for a quicker display of the Flash version of Custom Banner.

Enhancements to your reports

• A new EPC Download Report: The EPC Download Report allows all publishers who are on Quality Click Pricing to download their daily EPC at a campaign level for each program. This report will only include information for campaigns that had click activity for the date(s) selected.
• Transaction Download Report: The format of the transaction download report will not change, but we will modify how we populate two columns. For eBay programs, the “eBay Quantity Sold”, and “eBay Total Sale Amount” columns will be blank when an adjustment is being reported to a transaction. These columns will not be impacted when the transaction is included in the transaction download report for the first time.

We continue to listen to your suggestions and enhance eBay Partner Network, the tools at your disposal, and the reports so as to give you the best possible conditions to promote eBay. Please continue to give us your opinion.

The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Class is in Session – Prepping for Back to School

The extended daylight hours should make summer seem longer, but the season always seems to pass by too quickly, especially for students who are more interested in the beach than books. But before we know it, the yellow busses will again be scooping up the neighborhood children to bring them together for reading, writing, arithmetic and recess. Parents and teachers are already counting down the days until the morning bell rings, and you can capitalize on this by tying in to some of the most sought after back-to-school items for sale on eBay and Half.com.

Of course, there are the basics that every student needs to succeed, such as pencils, pens, notebooks and markers. But the older students can’t survive without a laptop and a printer to help them write all those pesky term papers. And because all students need a way to safely transport their homework assignments from home to class, boys’ and girls’ bags and backpacks are hot sellers right now.

Choosing an outfit for the first day back to school is almost as important as figuring out where to sit in the lunchroom. Parents are searching eBay for clothing by popular retailers and designers like Gap, Ralph Lauren, Gymboree, Abercrombie & Fitch and Justice to make sure their little learners are dressed for success.

Parents aren’t the only ones turning to eBay for great deals; teachers are searching the site to simplify their supply shopping while stretching their paycheck further. Teaching supplies and resources are a hot category, with elementary educators looking for math, reading and phonics items and wholesale and bulk lots of books.

Textbook sales are beginning to pick up with the college crowd. Savvy students know the bookstore isn’t the only place to find the items on the professor’s required reading list. And it’s not just economics students who are scouring half.com and eBay for textbooks – biology, chemistry, physics and anatomy students are searching the site for their educational tomes.

As the temperatures begin to cool, searches and sales on these items will begin to heat up. Don’t forget that you can use the Link Generator Tool to promote these popular search terms and lead your readers directly to the search results. By linking to some of these categories on your site, we hope you’ll not only earn an A+ for effort, but hopefully some additional revenue!

And to help with your promotions half.com has two great coupon codes available:

Coupon code: HALF2010BTS10PERC

• Provides 10% off purchases between $100 and $200
• Max discount of $20
• Valid from 7/20/2010 to 9/30/2010
• Valid only for Books
• Valid for only New Users
• Can be used only once

Coupon code: TAKE5OFFBOOKS10

• Provides $5 off $50 and above
• Max discount of $5
• Valid till 1/3/2011
• Valid only for Books
• Valid for only New Users
• Can be used only once

Good luck with your Back to School Promotions!

eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Chatting with eBay Partner Network – Episode 3

Hi All,

This is the second of two episodes where Chad speaks with Will Martin-Gill, former head of the eBay Partner Network. In this episode, Will and Chad dive deeper into the reasons behind Quality Click Pricing.

Chatting with EPN: Episode 3 from eBay Partner Network TV on Vimeo.

The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Update on Click Filters

Hello Partners,

We have had a few reports that some of our affiliates have been experiencing issues with bots and other automated activity inflating their click numbers. We have been working on enhancements to our click filtering platform to help ensure that click counts in the eBay Partner Network are an accurate representation of valid clicks. We will continue to roll these out in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your continued partnership.
The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]

Publisher Spotlight: Ryan Porter of CarDomain.com

Ryan Porter may spend most of his life chasing the perfect sports car but he also spends his fair share of time tuning and optimizing affiliate marketing and advertising campaigns for one of the largest automotive enthusiast communities on the web along with experimenting on smaller niche targeted sites.

Ryan’s tenure in affiliate marketing is only in its beginning years but it’s a passion of his that goes back to his first startup attempt in 2005. One thing that Ryan firmly believes is that you should never stop digging and selling.

Q: Why did you choose eBay Partner Network (ePN)?

A: It’s pretty plain and simple, eBay really is the number one place for automotive parts and accessories. CarDomain consists of automotive enthusiasts who are avid about modifying and tuning their cars. These guys aren’t buying their parts from the local auto-store, they’re shopping for parts on eBay and finding the best deals from fellow enthusiasts, after all eBay is a community too.

Q: How long have you been a member of eBay Partner Network?

A: CarDomain has been participating in the ePN for about 6 months now, although I’ve personally been participating in the ePN for almost 2 years.

Q: How do you evaluate the economics of different advertising options on your website?

A? Each site varies for me, but at CarDomain I’d say we have a unique perspective on the economics of the ePN versus traditional display advertising. Because of our high volume of content and natural search visitors, I’d say that we don’t always have what the user is looking for. We’re a site that is about showing off modified cars and we lack the marketplace for the products that our users are installing on their cars and while advertisers are pushing products via their websites, no one satisfies the ability to display a part for sale with a price and complete checkout like eBay does for us. So when it comes down to it, I’m really solving a bounce-back dilemma. Rather than losing the visitor 15 seconds after they arrive, eBay is helping me retain visitors and earn revenue off otherwise one-and-done visitors that I might not ever see again.

Q: How did you get started in affiliate marketing?

A: Affiliate marketing for me started with e-mail marketing. I’ve been managing a decent sized double opt-in e-mail newsletter for one of my sites, which until a few years ago I wasn’t monetizing. At that time the market for direct advertisers pertaining to the subject lacked but I wanted to start turning a profit and producing conversions so I turned to affiliate marketing. Offers are constantly changing and advertisers are in and out monthly so it’s a fun landscape to participate in.

Q: What new directions do you think the industry is headed in?

A: It’s obvious that the industry is going in the direction of quality. Over the next few years I anticipate some crazy advancements and I think everything will be far more transparent. I continue to talk with lots of webmasters who are still just getting their feet wet with analytics and tracking. Nobody said transaction downloads and logs are fun to play with but in the next couple years I really expect to see some great dashboards that intelligently predict and extract significant data about your conversions and help you improve results.

Q: Which places (forums, blogs, communities) do you participate in and why?

A: I’m a huge car guy so I participate in a number of automotive forums. It may sound ridiculous but I believe I’m registered at over 60 different automotive forums like Rennlist.com, NASIOC.com, and AudiWorld.com. These automotive sites are both business and pleasure for me so I feel no guilt in spending hours at these sites.
I also frequent a number of closed door sites with fellow webmasters like BigBoardAdmin.com and I’m an avid reader of many architecture blogs (architechnophilia.blogspot.com), sneaker sites (Highsnobiety.com, FatLace.com) and celebrity blogs. I’m honestly not a huge celebrity follower, but I have to find content for a site of mine (celebritycarsblog.com), so I visit all the paparazzi blogs pretty regularly.

Q: One tip that you can share with other affiliates about improving their performance on eBay Partner Network?

A: The only thing I can say is know your consumer and don’t trust your first results. There is never a reason you can’t improve, and when you’ve been running the same play for 3 months, don’t be afraid to mix it up and try something different.

Thank you, Ryan!

The eBay Partner Network Team

Popularity: 4% [?]