Publisher Affiliate Spotlight: Strong and Fit

In this round of Publisher Spotlight, we had the opportunity to speak to Kevin Sanders and get his feedback about using the Shopzilla Publisher Program on his website http://strongandfit.net.

Kevin, tell us about yourself and your website.
Kevin: My name is Kevin Sanders. I’m a Christian missionary, author, blogger, and fitness enthusiast. Strongandfit.net is a fitness website/blog with special emphasis on building muscle and losing fat. The website also has some brutally honest reviews of fitness products (nutritional supplements, etc).

What got you interested in blogging, and particularly health and fitness?
Kevin: I’ve had at least one personal website since the mid 90’s. I think my first site was one of those free AOL pages. I’ve always enjoyed having my own little space on the Internet (I’m easily amused). I started blogging consistently about three years ago—it seemed like a good way to reach out to students I met in seminars, etc. That first blog (kuyakevin.com) led to the publication of a successful book. Strongandfit.net was my second blog. I’ve been lifting weights for about twenty years, so friends often come to me with workout questions. Writing about fitness kind of came naturally.

What kind of experience have you had using the Shopzilla Publisher program?
Kevin: About a year ago I noticed one of my pages had a decent search engine rank. I added some Shopzilla codes to it (first time I’d tried it) and completely forgot about it. You guys emailed me a few months later and asked where to send the check. That opened my eyes to the earning potential of Shopzilla.

Are there any particular features that you like?
Kevin: One word: control. There’s a whole lot of garbage being sold in the fitness industry. If I personally recommend a specific product, I want to place an ad with only that product

What tips can you offer other Publishers, or potential Publishers?
Kevin: One more word: integrity. Don’t promote a product unless you would recommend it to your best friend. Readers will keep coming back if they know you are trustworthy.

Anything else you would like to add?
Kevin: I encourage bloggers to focus on high quality content. I’m not really a blogging guru, but that’s one thing I’ve learned.

Thank you Kevin for your time on this! Kevin can also be found on Twitter, @KuyaKevin. To any Publishers reading this, if you are interested in participating in our regular Publisher Affiliate Spotlight series, please contact us.

Shopzilla Publisher Program reviewed by va4business.com

Steve Arun, of va4business.com and cellphonesupersale.com, recently wrote a great review of the Shopzilla Publisher Program, and we thought we’d share it. Steve, who has been a Shopzilla Publisher for a while, seems to have a good understanding of our affiliate program and gives many accurate descriptions through his honest feedback. We have to agree with Steve’s conclusion about the Shopzilla Publisher Program:

“In conclusion, I’d say that this program is worth checking out. It does not hurt to start a campaign and see where it will take you because like millions of Publishers out there, they certainly found the results they desired, so perhaps it is your turn to reap the rewards!”

I am sure there was a lot of research involved, but we think it was time well spent. We would encourage any potential publishers to head on over and read Steve’s review for themselves on his website va4business.com.

New Boutiques on BizRate.com

To give your users unique gift ideas, you may want to link to some of the newly released boutiques on BizRate.com. These themed buying guides are available for Easter, Mother's Day and Earth Day. Discover the perfect gifts for friends, family or even for yourself with a little help from our BizRate boutiques!

Create text links to BizRate boutiques by using our "Link to Any Page" custom link tool or grab ready-made stock text links by logging into your account and selecting "Text Links" under the Get Content tab.

Please keep in mind that many of these boutiques are seasonal and once the targeted shopping season is over, they will no longer be live on BizRate. So, please post your links with care and diligence!

If you have any questions about our newest boutiques, or if you would like assistance creating text links, please feel free to contact us!

New 300x250 Product Pod!

I'm happy to announce that we have created a new 300x250 Product Pod that is now available for use! Instructions to create your own custom 300x250 Product Pod:

1. Login to your account
2. Go to the Get Content tab at the top of the page
3. Select the Dynamic Assets link
4. In the Product Pods section enter your desired product name into the search box and press GO! Select the exact product of your choice and hit GO again!  After you choose the asset you want, click Get HTML to customize the colors and fonts of your new product pod!

Remember that Product Pods are meant only for compacted products. These assets are perfect for "hard goods" like digital cameras, iPods and GPS, but they will not work with "soft goods" like clothing or health and beauty products. If you have any questions about any of our dynamic assets, please feel free to Contact Us

Shopzilla UK Publisher Program is open for business!

After lots of planning and hard work, the Shopzilla UK Publisher Program is open for business and has begun accepting registrations!  The program invites Publishers with sites geared toward a UK audience to apply. With the rapid growth of the Shopzilla Publisher Program, it was determined that the next step was to expand and create a platform that can be successfully integrated with UK-based websites. 

UK Publishers have several different options for integrating the sponsored shopping content within their website. The Shopzilla UK Publisher Program enters market with our text link, stock asset and FTP Data Feed products. In coming months, more products will be added as the program grows.

To find out more about the Shopzilla UK Publisher Program, please visit their blog, or for those who are ready to apply, we invite you to go directly to the Shopzilla UK Publisher Program registration page.  Please note that even if you are already participating in the Shopzilla Publisher Program in the US, you will need to apply separately for the Shopzilla UK Publisher Program.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have- our UK team is standing by!

New Categories in Women's Jeans

Hey Publishers! 

We have released new categories and atoms in Women's Jeans! 

New Category IDs:
100000945  Women's Cropped Jeans
100000943  Women's Flare Jeans
100000944  Women's Wide-Leg Jeans

New Atoms:
100000940  Women's Cropped Jeans
100000938  Women's Flare Jeans
100000939  Women's Wide-Leg Jeans

IMPACT
XML Feed: There will be new category files representing each new atomID.  There will be fewer offers in related category files as offers are recategorized into the newly created categories.

XML API & Dynamic Content Assets (excluding product pods): If you are making dynamic calls within 'Women's Jeans’, and not specifying a keyword, you may want to consider tuning your specified category to continue displaying your desired results.

Please contact us if you have any questions about our new categories!

Exciting news: Earnings reports are back in business

Hey Publishers,

Previously, many Publishers were experiencing issues with our Publisher Portal reporting features.  Impressions and clicks would display, but their associated earnings were not correct.  These "missing" earnings were tracked properly on our back-end, but not able to be viewed in the Publisher Portal.

We're relieved to announce that your earnings reports are once again displayed on the Publisher Portal 'Home' page and available within the Publisher Portal 'View Reports' tab.   

You may notice this feature is not loving zeros in the instance of whole numbers to the right of the decimal.  Example: If your earnings are $1,252.60, it will be displayed as "$1,252.6".  We'll work on coaxing it, but in the interim, please excuse.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.  Please feel free to contact us should you need any more comprehensive historic reporting than is available in the Publisher Portal.

Thanks!
Shopzilla Publisher Team