Category: Network News

Updates from Affiliate Networks

The 6 Best WordPress Plugins for Affiliate Marketing in 2021

Pretty Links

Pretty Links is a WordPress affiliate marketer’s best friend as it includes several helpful features for perhaps the most important component of your promotion: your affiliate links.

Here’s just a few things you can do with this plug-in that will simplify your affiliate life.

Easily add links to your postsMake your URLs more concise, marketableEnable auto-linking so that links are added for specific keywordsAnalyze detailed link reports

It also gives you the ability to add redirects to your links so your audience will never find themselves on a 404 page if a link becomes comprised for any reason.

Download Pretty Links

SEM Rush

If you use WordPress to run your affiliate site/page and rely at least partially on organic traffic, a great SEO plugin is simply a must-have.

SEM Rush offers a slew of SEO features including a top-notch keyword research tool that allows you to analyze your own rankings, track keywords, and discover what others are doing.

Its most powerful ability may be the comprehensive analysis it can perform on competing sites. This can provide you with TWO significant benefits:

Gain a better understanding of what niches/verticals are currently lucrative for other affiliates. This can give you new ideas on how to pivot your own promotions.

Discover pages your competitor’ rankings while receiving actionable tips as to how you can beat them.

Its simply a versatile, all-around SEO plug-in that automatically transform you into a more knowledgeable affiliate.

Download SEM Rush

Monster Insights 

Another mandatory plug-in for your affiliate arsenal is one that is going to provide you with expanded insights and analytics. MonsterInsights will achieving that goal and then some.

This plug-in pairs with Google Analytics to provide you expansive real-time reporting right in your WordPress dashboard. It also simplifies the process of setting up Google Analytics, requiring zero coding.

Here are some of its standout features:

Link tracking feature to monitor URLs, ads, and any outbound linksIn-depth reports to help you determine your best performing pagesCompatible with other plug-ins, providing additional insightsHighly-regarded customer support team

Download Monster Insights

AdSanity

This is a great ad-management plug-in if you are an affiliate who acquires traffic through display ads you place on your site. It will help to both organize and optimize your various ad placements

Some of the things you can with AdSanity include:

Manage your affiliate campaign ads right on your WordPress DashboardPlace ads anywhere on your site through easily accessed shortcodes, tags and widgets.Assign ads designated times to display on your blog

Another unique feature that is more relevant than ever is the ability to inform visitors that they need to disable ad block to view your content. This can help you retain visitors that you might have otherwise lost.

Download AdSanity

Constant Contact

Just because someone visits your website and leaves without clicking on an offer link does not mean they are no longer valuable. If you can at least capture their email, they could become future business for you down the line.

Constant Contact excels at being a two-in-one service. Not only can you capture visitor emails but their service also gives ­you the ability to create custom newsletters then you can then send to those leads.

You can use their Email Template Builder or just choose from hundreds of pre-made mobile-optimized templates.

Whether your objective is getting those visitors back to your site or promoting campaigns to them directly through email, Constant Contact can help you achieve both goals.

Robust real-time reporting and analytics rounds out this valuable plug-in’s features.

Download Constant Contact

WP-Rocket

A slow site can be a major problem for two reasons:

Your visitors may leave before any of the hard work you put into your site has the chance to entice them.Faster competing sites will be ranked more favorably.

Luckily there are several plug-ins available that can help you increase your site’s speed. WP-Rocket might be the best.

What makes this plugin so great is that it starts working as soon as its activated. Your site’s speed should immediately improve as it automatically begins caching your pages.  

It will also ensure the images on your page(s) only load once a visitor scrolls to them. This will reduce the weight of your HTML, CSS, etc. and further increase your site’s speed.

Download WP-Rocket

The post The 6 Best WordPress Plugins for Affiliate Marketing in 2021 appeared first on MaxBounty Blog.

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Embracing the LGBTQIA+ online community as part of your advertising strategy

As consumers demand inclusiveness from brands, ShareASale shows how the affiliate channel can facilitate equal representation while protecting brand safety.

Brand authenticity and inclusiveness  

According to a 2019 Adobe survey, 62% of US consumers expect brands to be inclusive. Since this finding, there has been an increased cultural awareness and introspection of issues such as race, religion, gender and LGBTQIA+ rights. Society’s acceptance and appreciation of diversity and inclusiveness continues to evolve, particularly as Millennials and Gen-Z play a greater role in these social changes. That said, in 2021 it’s likely a larger proportion of consumers demand inclusiveness from brands. 

June marks Pride season, a celebration of LGBTQIA+ culture. Brands often participate in the month-long event by incorporating the Pride rainbow flag into their logos and products. Several brands link their Pride campaigns to LGBTQIA+ charities. However, in research conducted by YouGov in 2019, 50% of Americans said that if a company debuts special Pride-themed gear or content, they’re likely to see that decision more as a marketing tactic than as a genuine reflection of the company’s values.

Advertising’s exclusion of the LGBTQIA+ online community 

This is a topic that impacts all aspects of advertising and marketing. But as brands capitalize on the powerful Pride season, there is a deeper issue within advertising and marketing affecting LQBTQIA+. The LGBTQIA+ online community struggles with being able to fund their content. The impact is felt by LGBT+ media sites, YouTube creators, influencers and user communities. Part of the reason for this is that campaigns are set up within automated channels where some advertisers, in the interests of perceived brand safety, may put topics like “gay,” “drag queen” “lesbian,” “transgender,” “queer” or other terms associated with LGBTQIA+ communities in excluded terms lists. This does offer some protection against certain adult content, but the blanket ban lowers the demand for ad inventory on non-adult LGBTQIA+ content, reducing the ability to monetize the sites where content is hosted. 

This has contributed to the disappearance of several LGBTQIA+ online content outlets: Gay Star News closed in 2019, LGBT dating app Grindr dropped its editorial staff from its publication Into, and Pride Media made cuts due to unpaid ad placement and commission. LGBTQIA+ creators struggle to get visibility on social media, with it being widely reported that hashtags associated with the community often get restricted or marked ineligible for ads. The moderation of sites like Instagram has also been criticized for treating LGBTQIA+ content more harshly, with the #DeserveToBeHere movement highlighting that content by Trans creators was being restricted more often when compared to similar content by cisgender (non-transgender) individuals. Lastly, Cheq reports that 73% of online LGBT+ news has been flagged by RTB brand safety lists. 

A flexible, partner-driven solution 

The affiliate model focuses on curated partnerships with network compliance ensuring brand safety persists. The nature of this model allows for more personal relationships, with the ability to review publishers and develop meaningful and bespoke campaigns. From the publisher side, there is the ability to seek partnerships through ShareASale’s merchant search, applying to brands that align with your content and values. Tools like the custom link tool and product discovery bookmarklet have also made it easier to monetize links. A number of LGBTQIA+ media publications already work with advertisers through the affiliate model, including GAY TIMES and Pink News. The rise in performance influencer activity within the channel has also helped by enabling a more diverse set of content creators earn for their activity. 

Uniting consumer identities and brand values 

Research commissioned by GAY TIMES in partnership with Karmarama and YouGov reported that only 36% of young people (aged 18 – 24) identify as “exclusively straight.” In the next age bracket of 25-34, only half of adults identify as “completely heterosexual.” Brands should embrace the LGBTQIA+ community to be inclusive and accepting as society evolves, but they should also recognize the commercial opportunity if they are to engage better with this audience.  

This Pride season, if you are on an advertiser team, make sure you consider how your digital strategy is reaching all areas of the community and ensure your affiliate approvals process doesn’t exclude LGBTQIA+ sites. Alternatively, if you are an LGBTQIA+ creator or run a publication, consider affiliate marketing as a way to combat the issues with display and social ad revenue declines, ensuring the web remains open, accepting and full of LGBTQIA+ voices. 

If you’re interested in working with ShareASale, you can apply to join our network as an advertiser here or publisher here.  

The post Embracing the LGBTQIA+ online community as part of your advertising strategy appeared first on ShareASale Blog.

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