Your ultimate guide to scaling affiliate business in Q4 2020! PREMIUM TIPS INSIDE

[zeropark]

Hey guys!

The Holiday Shopping season is here… and this year is going to be like nothing you have ever seen before.

With social unrest, global lockdown, and economic shifts all happening at the same time, people’s focus is about to shift.

The world’s favorite time of the year is upon us and this means one thing and one thing only...

… IT’S SHOPPING TIME! ​

Read the article if you want to learn how to scale your business through Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas shopping frenzy in Q4 2020!

Why is Q4 the hottest time of the year for affiliate marketing?
People shop every day of the year, all over the globe, both online and offline, using mobile and desktop devices, doing big and small shopping… but nothing compares to the marathon the last quarter of every year has in store for us.

Think of all the craziness surrounding the key shopping events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Free Shipping Day, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve… this year most probably joined by Amazon Prime Day, too.

And then think how they’re all squeezed in such a short time-frame, propelled by hectic deal-hunting, fueled with a last-minute Holiday decorating spree, and additionally infused with the prevailing shopping frenzy. There’s no way any marketer or retailer on this planet would miss it. Especially with the 2019 digital global sales reaching a mind-boggling number of $723 billion as Salesforce reports.

Affiliate marketing calendar for Q4 2020 key shopping events!
To help you navigate throughout this hot season have a look at the marketing calendar for Q4 2020 key shopping events!

Let’s just say… there’s a lot more details coming up, soon!

Influence of coronavirus on affiliate marketing in 2020
Covid-19 has changed the world as we know it. Since the beginning of 2020 people all over the globe have been trying to stay safe, adjust to the new normal, and shift their daily habits while implementing necessary measures to cope with day-to-day lives. These measures, among many others, entail adopting the work-from-home model, online grocery shopping, social distancing, or remote networking.

And although these unprecedented times have disrupted the global economy, altered consumers’ habits, expectations, and purchasing behavior… people are more than happy to transfer their entire Q4 shopping online!

Read below for a few selected statistics (out of hundreds... really, just Google it!) that prove this year’s online advertising is going to hugely benefit from the lockdown situation in Q4.

• Almost 30% of global retail sales will be done online in Q4, 2020 according to Salesforce.
• Between 50-60% of the US consumers plan to shop online according to Statista and other sources.
• Similar prognosis can be found for other countries, too. Nearly 40-50% of shoppers globally choose to go online this year due to COVID-19 according to BazaarVoice or eBay.
• Shoppers have no plans to spend less this Holiday season than in 2019 according to MarTechSeries’s article.
• As for the type of gifts, circa 70% of shoppers plan to gift physical products rather than experiences according to BazaarVoice.

Based on Zeropark’s data and what we’ve seen happening since the start of the pandemic, the affiliate marketing business didn’t slow down… it picked up! Especially since the start of the second half of the year. As already proven throughout the years, this business tends to go hand-in-hand with the world’s digital sales trends, hence investigating Q4 insights might be just the element that’s needed for you to scale your Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Holiday campaigns, too!

Affiliate marketing niches to promote in Q4 2020
Digital marketing is full of various verticals so whatever product you’d like to promote, or whatever niche is your favorite, there’s surely something made just for this time of a year. Are you an e-commerce pro, sweepstakes savvy, or gambling enthusiast?

Read below and let us know in the comments section what’s your winning niche to promote during Q4 shopping craziness!

COVID-19 prompted niches
Also, somehow related to e-commerce, but often treated as separate categories are the following verticals. Do remember to extend your e-commerce offer to these niches:

• Food and groceries
• Home and garden
• Health and beauty
• Hobbies and education

E-commerce / Online Shopping
E-commerce is huge. This vertical is all about promoting retail products and various services online. It ensures a wide variety of offers to choose from, ranging from consumer electronics, clothing, home equipment, entertainment, education, and many others.

E-commerce is one of the most reliable and credible verticals. Most of the time, strict compliance rules are required so make sure to follow them to get your ads out there for the people to see and bring you those conversions!

It’s quite stable throughout the year... and then tends to spike like crazy during Q4. The shopping season time, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday, holidays, and post-holiday sales is the time of every e-commerce marketer’s life. Then, after the crazy season ends, it tends to go down a bit, though it manages to go up right back later. As we mentioned right at the start of this article, people shop all year round, all over the globe, no matter the circumstances.

That’s why the online retail industry ensures there’s always supply matching the demand for e-commerce products and services, which, given the current situation, is only growing. There’s always a unique product, promotion, a great deal, or a gift card for advertisers to promote so all that’s left for savvy affiliates right now is to find their winning offer and get ready before Q4 kicks in!

Surveys & Sweepstakes
Have you ever come across a webpage offering you to win an item? Or maybe you’ve received a little push notification? Whatever the means, all those lucky folks who are given such a chance, were targeted by sweepstakes ads.

Surveys & Sweepstake vertical consists of various offers promising users a reward, usually a chance to win an item, upon taking a specific action.

Note that sweeps ads are also commonly called leadgen or vouchers offers and are a perfect fit for the Q4 season, allowing both retailers and consumers to benefit from the offered deals.

Also, there two major benefits to this vertical:

• you can promote virtually everything with Sweeps & Surveys;
• and people simply love winning free items so will never skip a chance to spin that wheel! Who doesn’t love a free iPhone giveaway?

Gambling
Gambling is one of the most prominent verticals in online marketing. It consists of various smaller categories like:

• online casino games (slots, lotteries, roulette, card games, or online poker, which is a huge part of the niche).
• betting, including also sports betting or… bingo games.
• fantasy gambling, which covers fantasy sports betting or wager.

The global online gambling market was worth almost 53.7 billion dollars in 2019 and is expected to grow significantly in the next years. With spending budgets getting bigger in Q4, people being especially prone to impromptu decisions, and eager to take risks for quick profits, this number is bound to grow especially during the Holiday Season.

Also, high adoption and widespread use of mobile devices for online entertainment drive the online gambling market’s growth. At the same time, easy access to online gambling and growing legalization contribute to its popularization. If adjusted to match the Holiday Mood — it’s a recipe for success.

Dating
The dating vertical has been on the market since the beginning of digital marketing and has never stopped growing. It’s an ever-green vertical allowing affiliates to capitalize on dating offers despite any seasonal or occasional market swings. Simply put, dating vertical never stops.

What falls into the dating vertical category is many dating websites, apps, games, platforms, and lots of dating-related content. The number of dating niches keeps on evolving and new possibilities are being continuously added to the vertical.

An important distinction should be made between mainstream and adult dating. Mainstream dating includes websites, apps, and any other content related to casual dating. While adult dating includes websites, apps, and any other content related to dating for sexual purposes.

Most importantly, though, the potential of the dating vertical is huge and attracts many advertisers making it one of the top advertising angles in the industry.

Get ready for Black Friday and beyond — 2020 CHECKLIST
The below steps are divided into four phases: preparation, getting creative, testing, and optimization. Have a look and make sure you include all these points to maximize your profits in the last quarter of 2020!

Phase #1 — Preparation time! ⏱

• Have a look at last year’s campaigns and analyze their performance.
• Do your research — read industry articles, search community forums, spy on your competitors, do your keyword research.
• Follow the latest advertising trends.
• Make sure you know what mistakes to avoid this year!

Phase #2 — Getting creative!

• Prepare positive reviews or user comments to add a better sense of credibility.
• Match the language with the country so the audience can understand your offer.
• Loading speed is of utmost importance — the faster, the better.
• Creating a sense of urgency helps prompt users to action.
• Icons imitating unread messages are great elements for engaging users.
• Test your creatives to find the best-performing one.
• Rotate your creatives to avoid creative fatigue!
• Icons or simple images convert better (especially with smaller graphics, like push ad creatives) than a cluttered image.
• Images of people tend to perform better rather than cartoon-like visuals.
• You can always test your creatives using images of men vs. women to see which works better.
• Adjust the theme per seasonal trend.
• Keep your ad visuals according to the policy guidelines or nobody will ever see them.

Phase #3 — Launching your campaigns!

• Choose the vertical you want to go for like e-commerce, sweepstakes, gambling, dating or adult niche.
• Find yourself that winning offer.
• Use available resources to help yourself launch your ad campaigns, whether these are push, domain redirect, in-app or pop ads you decided to go for.
• Think of your advertising budget and how much money you can spend on it.
• Then consider the targeting type, device, and country of your choice.
• Test your landing pages, ad creatives, and ad copy, as well as headlines and CTAs to choose the best-performing setup.

Phase #4 — Optimization time!

• Again, go through the metrics and analyze collected data and see what areas need improvement!
• Analyze and work on your CTR.
• And fight any ROI issues that occur on the way.
• Remember about creative fatigue and fight it right away.
• Finally, use whitelists and blacklists to maximize your performance!

Read the full article to learn about affiliate marketing trends for Black Friday & the Holiday Season:

• When to start promoting Q4 ads?
• What to advertise?
• Where to advertise?
• How to choose angles?
• Copy examples
• ...and more!

CLICK HERE

​

That’s not all this time, though! There are so many events in Q4 that we can’t leave you guys without more tips and recommendations.

We’ve got a lot in store and whether you’re a complete beginner or an experienced affiliate you might appreciate the incoming content updates.

So, if you need help making the most of the Q4 shopping craze, subscribe to this thread and let us guide you through all the exciting money-making events coming in October, November and December!

..well, subscribing isn’t necessary, but do come by every now and then, we promise it’ll be worth it!

Magda

 

[T J Tutor]

Another awesome thread jam packed with value and direction!

Thanks zeropark!

 

[shimato]

A+=. Thank you for the awesome guide Zero Park!

 

[zeropark]

Hey guys!

Here’s the first update!

You’re probably aware that digital advertising is the go-to solution for all kinds of businesses in 2020. You also must’ve heard that e-commerce profits are expected to go over the roof this year.

That’s why, with the Black Friday and Cyber Monday craze about to hit upon us, the key to success is getting ahead of your competition while preparing for whatever opportunities this season brings forward.

So, read the article below for detailed insights about each event and learn how to tap into consumer demand during this Holiday season and beyond.

☞ The (almost) complete list of key shopping events for Q4 2020

​

️ October 1st — International Coffee Day
Although the initiative was first introduced in 2015 in Milan to raise awareness around the situation of the coffee-farming community, many brands certainly know how to use it for their marketing purposes. But hey, helping spread the word is a great way to raise awareness, too!

October 12th — Canadian Thanksgiving
Well… it’s Thanksgiving, so it has to be a great occasion to use as a marketing angle, right? Please note, though, that it's the CANADIAN edition of the holiday so your target audience is going to be limited, which can actually act to your advantage.

Also, the Canadian Thanksgiving might serve as a great chance to test the performance of your campaigns and see what works best before you target the US region a few weeks later.

October 13/14th — Amazon Prime Day
Amazon Prime Day, happening on October 13th, is going to make a great start to the Golden Quarter season. It also means that Amazon is getting way ahead of its competitors by triggering the holiday shopping mode earlier than usual. Especially that its biggest competitors would recently launch Prime Day-like promos in July, too. No surprise here, both Target (Deals Days, October 14/15th) and Walmart (Big Save, October 11-15th) have announced their own October sales.

October 31st — Halloween
It’s a wonderful occasion for brands, retailers, and advertisers to capitalize on the Halloween festivities. Last year, people spent almost $8.8 billion dollars on Halloween in the US alone! And this year, despite the COVID-19 situation, numbers are still growing.

That gives advertisers of all kinds an endless list of products or services to promote specifically for this event. Though it’s been already announced that home decorations are going to win this year’s most sought after Halloween items. We all want to add some color and fun to the lockdown situation, right? Costumes, gadgets, treats, and party supplies are naturally in demand, too.

​

November 11th — Singles’s Day
Do anything you’d normally do for Valentine’s Day or holiday shopping season… only tune it to match the theme. Physical products, services, experiences (well...maybe except for travels this year), anything that can come as a gift or treat will work. Remember that by November 11th people are already well into the crazy shopping mood!

November 14th — Diwali
Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, is one of the most important holidays in India. Festivities last five days and are meant to celebrate the victory of good over evil. But most importantly, Diwali gathers whole communities together, allows them to pay respects to family members, and give thanks for past year’s events.

Decorations, gifts, accessories, clothes, and home appliances are very much in demand while preparing for the big event. If done with respect and sensibility, Diwali can help advertisers find a great advertising angle with a highly motivated audience.

November 19th — International Men’s Day
A noteworthy initiative with many accompanying events (pretty sure Movember rings a bell!) that celebrates all the men and boys in the world! This event is meant to bring forth the value of men to their families, communities, and the world, in fact. Also raising awareness on men’s well-being and positive role models.

As for affiliate advertising, this is surely going to be a time when various kinds of gifts will be sought after. Items, experiences, services… anything that’s meant for the fine men of this world. Why not help people find those perfect gift ideas by using the event’s angle to match your offer to the occasion? Especially with the event taking place in Q4 and Christmas shopping being on the run, too!

November 26th — Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving, celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November, is the biggest national holiday in the US. Thanksgiving preparations start months before November and festivities continue until New Year’s Eve. Once the American beloved family day is here, people all over the world know that the Holiday season has truly begun. Definitely, a day the whole of the US awaits for… as well as marketers all over the world.

Though this day is unique to the American culture, it has a strong and direct influence on the advertising and e-commerce industry globally. It used to mark the beginning of the hot sales season, though now it’s more appropriate to describe it as its peak — especially given the day after Thanksgiving, the Black Friday.

November 27th — Black Friday
Black Friday is actually the Friday following Thanksgiving, which is always celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. This year Black Friday takes place on November, 27th.

Most importantly, it’s not a US event only anymore. It’s a global shopping day at this point, with sales hitting staggering numbers of $7.4 billion dollars in the US alone! Given the other countries’ input into the global Black Friday economy, we’re talking tens of billions of dollars total. All made on one day alone — and there’s Cyber Monday still ahead of us!

November 30th — Cyber Monday
If Black Friday alone is not enough, there comes the last day of the Black Weekend — the Cyber Monday!

Cyber Monday comes on November 30th this year and the online world couldn’t be more excited. This day has been created primarily to promote online sales after Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend. What may have come as a surprise a few years back, Cyber Monday has at some point surpassed the Black Friday and hit a record $9.4 billion in profits in the US only. As in the case of Black Friday, think of the amount of money it brought to the e-commerce business globally!

With nearly all of the shopping events moved online this year, Cyber Monday might be a life-time opportunity for many digital advertisers and affiliate marketers out there!

◦◦◦​

That’s not all, as you might have noticed. There is still December with the culmination of Holiday gift shopping.

☞ So, if you want to know:

• More tips and tricks to advertise for every Q4 event;
• What are the main December events and how to use them to your advantage;
• Black Friday campaign tips and recommendations...

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL BLOG

​

Magda

 

[azgold]

October 12th — Canadian Thanksgiving
Well… it’s Thanksgiving, so it has to be a great occasion to use as a marketing angle, right? Please note, though, that it's the CANADIAN edition of the holiday so your target audience is going to be limited, which can actually act to your advantage.

Well, we do have a fairly big population now. Our numbers increased a lot over the years, eh.

 

[Graybeard]

I have written of the retail season for this year --the economy is disappointingly lackluster.
The margins will be very thin --most people are broke or conserving their money right now.
Halloween parties and door to door trick-or-treating is not advisable during a pandemic.
Swapping spit with strangers -- i.e. dating sites is lackluster too from what insiders are telling me.

Myself, I am working on home schooling and study courses. Stay at home activities should do OK too. Household needs (retail) should be OK. I think guns, ammo and body armor are hot items in the US --there are shortages of all of these right now

We are trying to survive in a very restricted world globally --there are over 1 million COVID-19 dead
view-source:https://coronavirus-19-api.herokuapp.com/countries

 

[zeropark]

Hey @Graybeard, you do have a point with the economic struggles, however, the data shows that despite the big drop in spending at the beginning of the pandemic, the shopping season definitely isn't canceled. Our advertisers are already increasing their budgets and since most holiday sales are moved online, we're predicting that the holiday shopping season this year will have similar results as the previous years.

Halloween parties and door to door trick-or-treating is not advisable during a pandemic.

That's why we wrote about home decorations in particular. Homes will still be decorated, inside and outside and despite the lack of big parties, families are still probably gonna dress up and have their own in-house parties

Swapping spit with strangers -- i.e. dating sites is lackluster too from what insiders are telling me.

The thing with dating is that people stuck at home are particularly bored and lonely and that's why online dating is working quite alright at the moment.

I think guns, ammo and body armor are hot items in the US --there are shortages of all of these right now

Where are people gonna use those, since everyone is stuck home anyway Also, we are an ad network and that type of advertisement isn't permitted in ad networks.

Magda

 

[T J Tutor]

You consistently give us awesome recommendations, direction, and opportunities
zeropark! BIG THANK YOU!

 

[zeropark]

You consistently give us awesome recommendations, direction, and opportunities
zeropark! BIG THANK YOU!

We're very happy you're enjoying the content!

So, here's another update

This year’s shopping season comes early, there’s no doubt about that. With Amazon Prime Day just around the corner, COVID-19 turbulences, and the majority of the world’s population moving their holiday shopping online, this Golden Quarter is going to be like nothing we’ve ever seen before.

E-commerce retailers, affiliate marketers, or deal-hunters... regardless of the occupation, we’re all going to have a blast!

Read the article and learn how to capitalize on the Prime Day hype and make the most of your affiliate efforts in Q4 2020.

☞ What happens on Amazon Prime Day?
Amazon Prime Day first took place on July 15th, 2015. The e-commerce giant decided to celebrate its 20th birthday by hailing the day a prime day, as well as offer unique deals to its most dedicated customers — the prime membership subscribers.

But it’s much more than that. Since its first edition, Amazon Prime Day has evolved into a key shopping event, a 48-hour long shopping spree, and a unique deal-hunting opportunity for all willing to participate. Yes, it’s no longer valid only for those who subscribe to Prime membership. Though not all deals are available, there are hundreds of bargains for other customers, too.

Only huge success comes with huge competition. That’s why it didn’t take long before Amazon’s competitors, both big and small, decided to have a piece of that cake, too. Hailed a July version of Black Friday, Amazon Prime Day attracts not only bargain-seekers but also clever marketers who make a wise decision of launching their promos around the same time. To give you a couple of examples, Target has already announced its Deals Days for October 14-15th, and Walmart is about to launch Big Save promotion between October 11-15th.

☞ Is Amazon having Prime Day 2020?
As already mentioned, Amazon Prime day has been often called a July version of Black Friday. This year, though, things are different. Given the global pandemic and the fact we are all forced into lockdown, the event couldn't take place during its usual timeframe.

In fact, many had been asking whether Prime Day 2020 was going to happen at all. And Amazon itself did a great job keeping us on our toes, wondering until the very last minute. But fear not, the official announcement has been made and all those bargain seekers can take a deep breath now.

️ Amazon Prime Day 2020 will commence on October 13th and will last for 48 hours until the end of October 14th.

That gives us two full days to complete our July wishlist. What’s more interesting actually, is that this year’s Prime Day means the very beginning of the holiday shopping frenzy. Quite a clever move, isn't it?

☞ How to benefit from Amazon Prime Day as an affiliate marketer?
So, how to stand against a marketing and sales giant like Amazon, as well as other big names in the e-commerce industry?

✘ Don’t.

Instead, capitalize on the hype while leveraging the affiliate channel!

Advertisers across all categories report revenue increase in Q4. Given events like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve, there’s always a profit-making angle that can be applied to whatever products affiliate advertisers help to promote. That’s quite a universal rule, really. Simply put, there are numerous ways to drive conversion increases around the time of big shopping events — and Prime Day is one of them.

With October 13th around the corner, have a look at these few hacks affiliate marketers can use to capitalize on consumer excitement. Use the global trend that Q4 key shopping events have already become and drive shoppers to conversion this Prime Day and beyond!

​

☞ Amazon Prime Day 2020 — key insights and statistics.
As could to be expected of Amazon, these guys like to keep certain things for themselves. That's why they never disclose the total gross sales made on Prime Day. That doesn't stop the industry from investigating and preparing their own reports or analysis of various sorts. Given the lack of data coming directly from Bezos’s team, we’re grateful to those tediously measuring the market.

So, here’s a quick roundup of numbers and items that made it big on Amazon Prime Day 2019, and those that can potentially kill it this year.

• More than 175 million items were sold in 2019. That’s significantly more than compared to 2018 when circa 100 million products were sold.
• That change was mainly caused by extending the event’s duration from 36h to 48h. This year the 48h time-frame applies.
• Digital sales grew by over 70% in 2019.
• The first wave in 2019 sales was estimated at 2 pm ET, and the second at 6 pm ET. This year may differ as many consumers won’t be affected by the commute or traffic hours if operating in the WFH mode.
• Countries like Spain, Mexico, UAE, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Turkey, and Singapore are among Amazon’s fastest-growing markets during the pandemic. These GEOs and regions they’re located in can make a great targeting decision for affiliate campaigns, too.

☞ What are the most popular products for Amazon Prime Day 2020?
As for top searched products, the following categories are said to win the 2019 edition. These can grow in popularity especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdown causing new trends in, for example, gift or hobby ideas for the season.

• Electronics
• Smart devices
• Home/kitchen appliances,
• Gaming gadgets,
• Music gear,
• Toys and games,
• Health and beauty,
• Clothing and accessories

And in case you’re wondering what items exactly are said to become top-selling products during this year’s Amazon Prime Day, just keep checking what’s being offered as both early deals and during October 13th-14th!

​

There is a lot more you can learn! If you want to know:

• How do e-commerce retailers benefit from Amazon Prime Day?
• Detailed insights on how to scale your campaigns with Amazon Prime Day.
• Amazon Prime Day Big dilemma: act now or wait until Black Friday?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL BLOG

Magda

 

[azgold]

Awesome tips, as always, @zeropark! Obviously there are still lots of opportunities for everyone if they take advantage of them.

 

[T J Tutor]

Amazon Prime offers loads of opportunities for some creative marketing!

 

[AmNovice]

Amazon Prime offers loads of opportunities for some creative marketing!

I am getting more into content marketing so I think there will be load of opportunites for amazon stuff to promote via great content!! As others have recommended on this forum, it's good to take a look at trending items in the past 24hrs to see what's hot and get ideas on what can be promoted with a creative angle! I'm excited.

 

[Honeybadger]

I needed this info so thank you for posting it

 

[zeropark]

Hey guys!

Now that you know the trends and best verticals to run during Q4 2020, it’s time to start the preparations.

☞ Do you need some help planning your campaigns?

If you’re looking for inspiration, new angles, and tool recommendations, look down to find the creative resources that will help you scale your campaigns.

How to prepare for running ads in Q4? Creative resources cheat sheet.
If you want to make your campaigns pop, you need a lot more than just a campaign and a tracker. As much as offers tend to be of the utmost importance, people won’t get to the offer page if you don’t attract them with your creatives.

Once you get inspiration from spy tools, blogs, forums, and anything else that comes to your mind, it’s time to think about giving yourself a creative outlet. You’ll surely need some extra tools to design a high converting landing page.

Besides designing the page itself, you need to choose appropriate, eye-catching pictures, you need to create a grammatically correct copy without any types and quite often you’ll need to have it translated into the language of your ad recipients. Regardless of what ad format you choose to go with, you might find these recommendations useful.

✍︎ Copywriting
Copywriting skills needed in affiliate marketing depend entirely on what kind of ad you’ll be running. If you’re going with something simple like sweepstakes, leadgen, and vouchers, it’s usually enough to check the spelling and grammar and use the commonly present formulas.

Take a look at your chosen spy tool and see what CTAs are commonly used by other affiliates. Want to create your own and need some tips? You can check out our article on 7 Winning CTA & Headline Formulas For Affiliate Marketers and learn how to create your unique call to action! As a bonus, there’s a list of 100 ready-made CTA examples waiting for you inside!

If you’re running finance, nutra, or gambling offers, your potential clients might need some more convincing. In that case, advertorials are the way to go. They generally require a lot more copywriting skills than push notifications.

As much as writing skills are not something you gain overnight, you can help yourself by using Grammarly. Making sure your copy is error-free raises the credibility of your text, which is of the utmost importance in advertorials.

If you’re struggling with the headline, we’ve got you covered. You can use Sharethrough’s headline analyzer to see if there are any quick improvements to be made. A strong headline is essential to introduce the topic in an attention-grabbing manner.

Lastly, the content of the advertorial should appeal to the needs and worries of the public. You can choose to do the research on your own, or you can let us help you. We’ve recently gathered valuable resources that can be used for keyword research, which, as you should already know can significantly improve the performance of your campaigns. You can read about it in this article.

★ Ad creatives
When it comes to creatives, there isn’t much to talk about here. All you need is a general idea, a photo, and a basic resizing/cropping tool. We can, of course, drop some suggestions.

Here are tried and tested tips on what works best in push ads creatives:

• Always use simple images.
• Choose icons whenever possible.
• Include the color green.
• Keep your images clean.
• Use cute images that evoke warm feelings.

And here’s a couple of things you should avoid:

• Don’t use cluttered images.
• Never put text in your icons.
• Avoid using suggestive images with partial nudity.
• Stay away from the color red.
• Don’t try to fit too many details into small pictures.

Luckily for affiliate marketers, there are plenty of free stock image websites with thousands of photos up for grabs. Whether you need a good resolution image of a lady drinking tea for your nutra advertorial, or a small push ad that will make everyone look forward to Christmas, we’ve got you covered.

▶︎ Take a look at this list of websites offering free downloadable images:

• Google images
• Pixabay
• Pexels
• StockSnap
• BURST
• Picjumbo

All you need to do now, is make the right choice, crop it, and pair it with a good copy. Speaking of cropping… the image editing tools available these days can be really powerful. You don’t need Photoshop to make your images look good. It’s enough if you use a basic online tool such as PicResize to meet the upload requirements and have a crispy looking push image.

★ Translation services
Sooner or later in your affiliate marketing career, you will need translation services. At first, Google Translate might be enough. But as soon as you find that one offer with great potential and you want to expand it to more countries, you might look for professional translating services.

Alternatively, you might just want to make sure that your proven offer has a top-quality lander to maximize your profits. Either way, here is a list of community-approved translation services:

• DeepL (this one is free!)
• Transey
• One Hour Translation
• Fiverr
• Upwork
• Gengo

★ Landing page builders
Is your copy written, translated, proofread, and ready to grab attention? Good! Now it’s time to make use of everything you’ve found and put it together to create a compelling landing page.

If you take the easy road (even though you shouldn’t) and rip a landing page from a spy tool, the least you can do is edit it so that it matches the offer page and utilizes some of the seasonal trends. Using consistent design throughout the funnel makes your ads look significantly more professional which, in turn, raises their credibility.

There are a lot of different options when it comes to landing page builders. There are more and less advanced choices, suited for affiliates specializing in different niches. We’ve covered the basics and the recommendations in our recent article on How to combat creative fatigue in affiliate marketing – Top 9 Landing Page Builders.

Lastly, let’s not forget about those with a technical background or a particular interest in the more advanced aspects of landing page building. After all, there are plenty of ways you can build a lander and there are many useful scripts to add.

If you feel up to the challenge of learning the basics of coding, just to be able to take better control of your landers, you can use popular free learning websites. They are highly recommended for beginners and are bound to add plenty of new possibilities to your campaign creation process. Check them out:

• SoloLearn
• StackOverflow
• CodeAcademy

☞ Do you need more inspiration? You can read the full article to find out:

• What blog articles are worth reading in preparation for Q4 2020?
• How can you find inspiration and free resources on affiliate marketing forums?
• How to use spy tools to tap into the current market demand?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL BLOG ​

Magda

 

[T J Tutor]

Do you need some help planning your campaigns?

This always what helps the noobs get their feet wet and feeling comfortable with getting their groove on.

 

[zeropark]

Hey guys!

We're still not done dropping tips to prepare you for Q4 as best as we can

So... mobile usage keeps growing worldwide. And the Q4 shopping craze will rely heavily on mobile advertising, including both smartphone and tablet devices.

If you want to become an expert running mobile ads just in time for Q4 2020, read the article below and learn how to fine-tune your mobile advertising campaigns!

Mobile advertising vs. desktop advertising
Before we get into trends and optimization tips, it’s essential to understand the key differences between mobile and desktop advertising. Despite being seemingly alike, both means have a rather distinct user orientation and functionality. Here’s what’s different:

☞ User reachability
Both desktop and mobile devices get their fair share of screen time on a daily basis. However, it is mobile devices that we have on us basically 24/7. That’s why mobile advertising tends to perform well all day round. Wherever we are, whatever we do, our phones are with us and they are ready to entertain. Overall, mobile targeting does mean higher user reachability than desktop targeting.

☞ Device purpose
While advertising nutra, finance, and learning opportunities on desktop gives you a higher chance of tapping into the currently trending demand, advertising games and apps for mobile devices (via the push format or pop ads) is the perfect move, too. It’s about choosing the right channel of communication for the right product.

Of course, nothing has been the same since the pandemic had started, so double-checking the latest stats and facts would be recommended. Luckily for affiliate marketers, the results of the lockdown have been positive for mobile marketing. Not only did mobile usage increase, but the mobile e-commerce spend during COVID-19 also surpassed that of the holiday shopping season.

Seems like shopping apps and e-commerce might just be the right thing to promote!

☞ Audience size
Not only do mobile users offer a huge audience, but it also presents unique and granular targeting opportunities. OSes, OS versions, and different mobile carriers allow for more accurate targeting. This opens a lot of opportunities. You can, for example, have a very specific offer or an affiliate program that’s restricted to one particular carrier.

Additionally, we could say that mobile audience size is made up of many small audiences. Targeting above mentioned small chunks of traffic makes optimization easier and more precise.

☞ Audience engagement
Lastly, there is a significant difference between mobile and desktop user engagement. While CTR on mobile devices (including tablets) is significantly higher than desktop, there is also a higher bounce rate.

The low popularity of mobile ad blockers plays to your advantage, however, loading speed and landing page optimization are more important than ever. Overall, users are highly likely to engage with your affiliate ads on mobile devices, but it’s not as easy to keep them in the funnel. People clicking on your mobile-friendly ads and dropping out of your funnel shortly after may indicate that the ad creative is good, but the landing page just doesn’t live up to the clicker’s expectations. That, in turn, leads to creative fatigue and a struggling campaign.

Remember that it’s just as easy to get a click as it is to lose engagement, so your mobile campaigns might require more optimization.

What to advertise on mobile in Q4?
In order to make the most of that shopping season, you need to prepare for running all kinds of campaigns. It’s highly advisable to split desktop traffic and mobile traffic into separate campaigns. Despite their similarities, the cost of mobile vs. desktop traffic usually differs enough to perform best at completely different bids.

In general, mobile advertising follows regular Q4 trends with minor adjustments. If you want to read up on the end of year predictions, you should check out this article with all the insights you need to advertise in Q4 2020. Now, back to the best vertical choices.

☞ E-commerce
October, November, and December are filled to the brim when it comes to all kinds of shopping events. Despite the questionable economic situation and the pandemic that doesn’t seem to be ready to disappear just yet, the online shopping industry is truly seeing it’s best year.

There are also smaller verticals that aid the e-commerce craze, like sweepstakes and vouchers. Remember that the e-commerce vertical, despite being the most likely to earn money around this time of year, is not for everyone. Beginners don’t have to throw themselves in at the deep end. They can start small and offer users a chance to win gifts or vouchers instead.

☞ Entertainment
Games, learning through fun, organization, working out… there’s an app for everything and Q4 is all about filling your phone with things that help you forget that the outside world is still in a bit of a crisis. The push format might be the ideal means to an end.

Let’s not forget the hit of every year’s fourth quarter – shopping apps. Not quite e-commerce, but just like sweepstakes and voucher offers, they are riding on the shopping craze wave. App shops are bound to be hot, too!

☞ Gambling
Gambling has been especially popular since the appearance of COVID-19. Having our phone on us all the time, we tend to engage in more or less compelling activities. Some people do it because they’re bored, and some because they could use some extra cash.

Either way, gambling does work great on mobile. If you tune into the Christmas spirit and offer the wonderful possibility of suddenly having a much bigger shopping budget, you are bound to attract plenty of hopeful gambling enthusiasts.

☞ Dating
Despite the social distancing rules, or perhaps because of them, online dating is a good vertical to promote in Q4 2020. Although dating is usually associated with meeting people in real life, the online branch is not at all less popular.

Lockdowns, restrictions, and clear directives on avoiding social interactions, all make people feel lonely and isolated. And what brings joy to big families but saddens people who live alone?

That’s right, it’s the Holiday season.

As an affiliate marketer, you can make use of the holiday spirit, and attract clicks with the promise of companionship.

Do you want to find out:
- how to advertise on mobile in Q4 2020?
- useful mobile advertising tips and tricks?
- more about what verticals are the perfect choices?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

Magda

 

[T J Tutor]

What to advertise on mobile in Q4?

HUGE HUGE HUGE

My mobile traffic has increased BIG these past two weeks!

 

[zeropark]

Hey guys!

31st of October 2020 will surely be different from the past year’s Halloween celebrations. Luckily for affiliate marketers, this means you will only be able to make even bigger profits than usual.

Despite social distancing and all the safety precautions, people are still able to figure out a safe and healthy way to get spooky on Halloween weekend. Don’t let such an opportunity go by untapped.

Read the article to learn 5 affiliate marketing hacks to monetizing Halloween in 2020!

1. Research how COVID-19 affects consumer behavior this Halloween.
It has already become evident that Q4 2020 is going to be like nothing we have ever seen before. With the coronavirus pandemic still on, and not going anywhere anytime soon, people all over the world moved their holiday shopping online. And although it's not the Black Weekend or Christmas just yet, Halloween is the time for parties and celebrations all the same.

Millions of consumers still declare their plans to get involved in Halloween activities this year. Yes, experts do admit that Halloween spending is expected to be lower than 2019, going from almost $8.8 billion to ca. $8 billion in 2020. Nevertheless, people still plan to spend an average of $90 per person to celebrate the 31st of October as the National Retail Federation reports.

What's important for affiliate marketers, though, is that they will most likely spend it online.

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2. Spy on your competition… always.
Market research is an important part of a campaign building process. Once you've researched the seasonal trends, it's time to spy on your competition and see what they're up to before launching your ads. Remember that the bigger the picture, the better you'll be prepared to make the most of your advertising efforts. That's why spy tools might be just the thing you need at this point.

Since nothing comes without effort, in order to succeed, you need to always be one step ahead of the competition. To do just that, you need to know what they’re up to, how they do what they do, as well as use the best tools offering advanced features that will help you do all that. So if you’re still not sure what spy tools are, how or why to use them, or which ones to choose, here’s an article that’s surely worth having a look at this time of year.

3. Target your ads where Halloween is a blast!
Every successful affiliate marketing campaign depends on finding the best converting CPA offer… and knowing where to target it. That way, with an abundance of offers available out there, it might be wise to focus on the vertical and GEO first. Looking at Zeropark’s historical data, we were able to identify a set of niches that tend to perform especially well around Halloween.
Top-performing verticals for Halloween:

• E-commerce
• Surveys and Sweepstakes
• Gambling
• Gaming
• Downloads
• Dating

4. Find the best CPA offers for Halloween [BONUS INSIDE]
Affiliate marketing is full of opportunities and everyone can find something for themselves. But the most important thing is to know what you’re looking for and then go find it.

With so many choices available out there, it’s no wonder the abundance of offers makes it sometimes impossible to pick the winning one right away. That’s why we’re here to help you and give you a heads up with a few of Zeropark recommendations. As a trusted traffic source we know these are credible choices, bringing you a wide portfolio of profitable options for all kinds of verticals and niches that can be monetized during Halloween hype.

To do a bit of research on the subject before talking to any representatives, we’d advise you to have a look at this article explaining the details, comparing the pros and cons of joining affiliate networks or programs, as well as listing examples of the top industry choices.

Then, if you’re our customer already, all you need to do is log into your account and check out the Offer Wall section. If you’re not a Zeropark customer yet, then look below for a trick… or treat!

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5. Research top Halloween advertising ideas & get spooky with your creatives! ‍
Honestly… tuning up your creatives to match the Halloween mood is the simplest task ever.

If you’re not into thorough research and following the meticulous tips covering the latest trends and money-making hacks, just Goole ‘Halloween ad ideas’. What you’ll get is an endless list of Halloween-themed visuals.

But since we know you’re better than that, here’s our compilation of creative tips that will make your ads ROI go over the roof…

• All creatives should appear both credible and appealing to users. Poor quality visuals will only deter potential customers.
• Remember to match the flow of your ads so users won’t feel that much of the difference when going through the funnel. Match your ads, pre-landers, and landing pages to help customers carry on their journey until that spooky conversion is made!
• Work on your translations and adjust the language to the given country! You want your audience to understand the offer, even if the image says it all.
• Loading speed is of the utmost importance! Less is more.
• Creating a sense of urgency is always a good idea. It prompts users into action and helps you close the deal. A Halloween countdown will surely catch your customer’s attention!
• If we’re talking push ads, the icons imitating unread messages are always a great element for engaging users.
• In general, real photographs work better than cartoon-like visuals. And with the abundance of free stock Halloween images, finding the eeriest, spookiest, scariest photographs is easy peasy pumpkin squeezy.
• When it comes to push notification ads, don’t go too crazy though! There’s too little space so you need to keep it clear and visible
• Colors are very important with Halloween ads — use black, gold, orange, green, red, violet, or pink.
• Include typical themes: pumpkins, spiders, black cats, ghosts, witches, bloody fingers, mummies, and all that Halloween decor portfolio.
• Since emojis tell stories, and there’s a wide selection of Halloween themed ones, do include them into your message,
• Always test your creatives to find the best-performing items.
• Rotate them frequently to avoid creative fatigue and reuse already made projects.
• Icons or simple images convert better (especially with smaller graphics, like push ad creatives) than a cluttered image.
• We suggest testing creatives using images of men vs. women to see which works better.
• Another tip, a sexy Halloween theme always works, especially for the dating vertical!
• Do use spy tools for research purposes — but don’t just copycat content.
• Keep your ad visuals according to the policy guidelines or otherwise, in the scariest and most terrifying scenario ever, they’ll get rejected and nobody will ever see them!
• Prepare for running ads in Q4 with these creative resources cheat sheet!

If you want to learn about:

• Top-performing GEOs for Halloween;
• Halloween offer examples;
• More on choosing affiliate offers vs. programs;
• How to spy on Halloween offers?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

​

Magda

 

[T J Tutor]

zeropark is bringing us some of the best advice and copy this year. Everyone needs to take the time to absorb all of this great info!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN zeropark!

 

[zeropark]

Hey guys!

Are your Q4 e-commerce campaigns running already?

If not, they should be! The shopping season has already begun.

If push is your ad format of choice, read the article below, and find out how to break the bank running e-commerce push ads in Q4 2020.

Be direct and effective – Push ads are the way to go.
The last quarter of every year is a very special season for affiliate marketers all over the world. Regardless of what holidays people celebrate in each region, October, November, and December are filled with advertising opportunities. Even during those trying times, people don’t seem to be losing their holiday spirit.

Consumers are still very excited about the autumn vibes and Halloween celebrations. They were all having a blast during this year’s Amazon Prime day. The most important thing for the affiliate industry is that nobody has forgotten this is indeed a special season and people are still on the lookout for bargains.

And that’s exactly where push ads come into play. Hunting for bargains doesn’t always mean pulling all-nighters researching the web. Sometimes it means checking out every single opportunity that appears on the horizon… or on your smartphone’s screen in the form of a push notification.

Push ads are the most direct form of advertising. They appear straight on users’ personal devices and are almost impossible to miss. While e-commerce in its purest form excels with other ad formats such as search ads and injection pop ads, push ads are ideal for hyping up the shopping craze with sweepstakes and giveaways.

No matter what ad format you go for, this is a very lucrative season for any shopping and buying related vertical.

Don’t forget about sweepstakes and shopping vouchers!
E-commerce works well on push. But there are other related verticals that work even better. We’re speaking, of course, about sweepstakes and shopping vouchers.

While the shopping craze rages on, the need or desire for freebies is stronger than ever. Budgets are almost always limited yet there are so many bargains, special occasions, and sales, that it’s hard to decide which ones to focus on.

And this is exactly why shopping vouchers and sweepstakes are, overall, the best verticals for push ads in Q4. Who wouldn’t want to win a brand new flagship phone during the holidays? And who wouldn’t want to win a local supermarket shopping voucher to really splash out on those Holiday dinners?

The opportunities here are endless, so just make sure to add some sweepstakes and vouchers campaigns to your big e-commerce affiliate marketing plans for Q4!

Push ads angle ideas for e-commerce advertising in 2020
Now, the key to successful e-commerce (or sweepstakes and vouchers) Q4 campaigns is to make the right ad copy. Since you know you are competing against thousands of other shopping campaigns, you need to use as many tricks as you can gather up your sleeves.

The Q4 season can be characterized by distinct shopping events appearing one after the other. That’s why you should highlight your ads using the following angles:

• End-of-season sale – Q4 is the end of the year. Various big e-commerce shops will be preparing for the shopping craze with end-of-season sales, bargains, buy one to get one free, 50% off, and all the other promotional tactics to get rid of their last year’s inventory. This is a good train to get on board, though. The fear of missing out will push people to act soon.
• Special promotions – Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Thanksgiving, Halloween, or any other occasion calls for a special deal of some sort. People don’t want to miss out on those things so being up to date and always making sure to mention a holiday when presenting a new deal
• New collection – the Golden Quarter is the perfect time to advertise end-of-year sales… because the new collections are already in. Whether it’s clothing, gadgets, or electronics, fanboys and fangirls all over the world will be waiting for those brand new releases. “Brand New” is a keyword that just won’t go unnoticed.
• Brand anniversary – When you hear a “brand anniversary”, doesn’t a special deal come naturally to mind? Because it does for us. Companies tend to celebrate their birthdays by presenting once-in-a-year kind of amazing deals. It’s worth remembering that these sorts of deals last for an extremely short time and that’s exactly why they attract those clicks like nothing else.

The e-commerce craze will keep people on their toes and any angle that promises a bargain will be eye-catching and intriguing. Would be a shame if you missed that chance to try e-commerce.

Push ads creative ideas for e-commerce in 2020
Angles are important but they’re just the base on which you build your ads. The creatives and the copy are the real deal! It’s a pretty popular topic and we’ve talked about push notification copy before. We’ve also prepared a couple of fresh tips to help you make your ads stand out.

☞ Simplicity is the key!
Your copy needs to be focused on something. Make it short, concise, and straight to the point so that your audience will have no problem understanding it. Whether it’s laziness or busyness, people won’t bother reading a short detailed, and convoluted description of why they should click on your ad.

☞ The fear/regret of missing out is real!
Spending money on discounted things makes us feel like we’re saving and not spending at all. And if an offer is “today only” you wouldn’t want to miss it, would you?

☞ Opinions are influential!
Recommendations are always good. Yes, we do mean landing pages as well. Adding some comments, reviews and a statement about the number of satisfied users will make your ad significantly more attractive.

☞ Emojis are eye-catching!
Not only are emojis eye-catching, but they also modify the tone of the message. From a dull and emotionless incentive, you can make a happy promise of lucky winnings and unique purchases.

☞ Personalization is the key!
It’s rather difficult to highly personalize ads on ad exchange platforms, unlike on social media. What you can do, however, is focus on location, language, and time of day. Night sale, for campaigns run during late hours, mid-day special deals, and landers with vouchers for local supermarkets will make your audience feel like these ads are made especially for them.

Don’t forget to hit that e-commerce craze from every angle. Shopping apps, vouchers, sweepstakes, gifts, and products should all be advertised during the Q4 season. As long as you feel comfortable stretching out your horizons, you should increase the variety of your campaigns to reach as many people as possible.


If you want to learn more about:

• Why is it a special season for affiliate marketers?
• How do consumers benefit from the e-commerce craze?
• Examples of push ad creatives that need improvement.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

​

Magda

 

[T J Tutor]

Push is sooooooo hot right now and everyone is earning nicely with it. This is all great info as usual from you zeropark!

Guys and Gals, jump on this, give it a whirl, kick the tires, and come back to tell us what you earned!