VigLink

Helping Money Crashers Earn Some Well-deserved Money

April 8, 2013


This post is part of our Customer Showcase series, where we profile successful online publishers. Our goal is to help publishers learn from the experts and grow their business.

moneycrashers

Driven by a “passion for learning how money and our society work and an interest in helping others with their finances,” twentysomething Andrew Schrage co-founded the informational website Money Crashers as a resource to guide readers to make financially sound decisions. Combining his knowledge gained as an Economics major at Brown University and experience acquired while working at a hedge fund, Andrew and his team strive to educate individuals about credit and debt, investing, education, real estate, insurance and spending.

It turned out his site idea was a good one: Money Crashers now has nearly 20,000 subscribers and has been featured in national media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, US News & World Report, Yahoo Finance, MSNBC, Business Insider, CBS News, NBC News, and Forbes. So how did he do it? By focusing on the three Bs that drive success: building a brand, to bond with the audience and ultimately drive real business accomplishment.

 

Building the brand

The team at Money Crashers has a concrete and unique goal: to provide readers with high-quality, factual content based on 11 principles meant to guide financial decisions. They also ensure that guidance is truly part of the brand by focusing on the readers and their needs. “One thing that I believe sets Money Crashers apart from other websites in our niche is that we take a genuine interest in our readers and do our best to respond to each and every comment. Many other websites proclaim to do this, but we feel we do a phenomenal job of connecting with our readers.”

Bonding with the audience

By making comment responses a priority, the team at Money Crashers not only connects with readers, but also encourages further discussion that is often initiated and sustained by the readers themselves. Facebook, Twitter and video posts provide additional means of bonding with the audience, as do contests and giveaways that essentially reward readers for their engagement.

The site’s most popular articles include a feature on extreme couponing and a list of the best new bank account promotions. Because these topics are clearly important to the audience, Money Crashers publishes an update of the bank account promo article each month and tries to integrate coupon advice in other articles whenever it makes sense.

Making it a business

Hard work, focus and audience engagement has paid off: “Money Crashers is a full-time gig for me and I feel lucky to be doing it as my job. I truly love what I’m doing each and every day.” The site’s primary revenue sources include banner advertising and VigLink Insert (which inserts new links when VigLink technology detects a merchant, brand or product reference in content across the site).

For Andrew, VigLink not only provides an additional source of earnings, but it also helps his readers who are seeking more information or details about products mentioned in Money Crashers articles. “It seems as though content-driven commerce is the wave of the future. As long as the content is factual and the consumer is directed to a reputable e-commerce website, it’s only natural to blur the lines between content and commerce. In fact, we’ve had positive feedback from our readers about the direct product links inserted by VigLink because it helps them find exactly what they are looking for without spending additional time on a web search.”

 

 

Posted in Customer Showcase

Introducing the New VigLink.com

April 1, 2013

You’ve probably noticed we’ve added a fresh coat of paint, and a few new pictures to brighten up the place. We’re proud to welcome you to the new VigLink.com! Allow us to show you around.

VigLink.com

Our goal was to make it easier for everyone to understand what we do and who we do it for. We now have new pages dedicated to the many different kinds of publishers that choose to work with us. Whether you’re a blogger, a forum owner, or a mobile app developer, we’ve got a page explaining how VigLink works for you and a tool to let you preview VigLink on your site without an account (find this by scrolling down to the bottom of the How it Works page).

Meanwhile, the new VigLink works just as it always has. We’ve just created some new product names to help make what we do a bit easier to understand. VigLink now offers three products:

VigLink Convert automatically converts existing links into monetized links.

VigLink Insert automatically inserts new links when our technology detects mentions of products, brands, or stores. This can be enabled by visiting your settings. When turned on, publishers typically get more than half of their earnings from VigLink Insert.

VigLink Anywhere, previously known as the link wrapper, allows anyone to post a link that earns anywhere on the web, including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

You can always sign in to adjust your settings, check your dashboard, or edit your account information. Don’t forget to stop by the new referrals page to grab some new banners and earn 35% of our commission for the first year with any new account you sign up.

VigLink referral program

We hope you love the new VigLink.com and give us a shout @VigLink if you need anything.

 

 

Posted in News and Updates

This is the Future of Advertising

March 13, 2013

Wharton School (the business school at the University of Pennsylvania) runs the Wharton Future of  Advertising Program. The mission of this program is to “Act as a catalyst for deeper insights, bolder innovation, and broader positive impact of advertising.” Under this umbrella, they’ve recently launched Advertising 2020 in a bid to source “Knowledge for Action” to address the key challenges facing the future of the advertising industry.

This global endeavor invited over 150 expert contributors from all fields to share their insights on what could or should advertising look like in 2020. The program stimulates conversations and debates, producing a set of concrete actions which will help advertising achieve its potential.

Oliver Deighton, our Vice President of Marketing and former Product Marketing Manager for Google’s advertising business, has joined the other invited international innovators, visionaries and thought leaders to share his perspective on a future of advertising. Dubbed ‘The Link Economy’ Oliver articulates a future reliant on a fundamental underpinning of the Internet, the very ‘H’ of HTTP, and sophisticated personalised optimization algorithms to maximise value for all involved. You can see Oliver’s concise contribution here and offer your own comments.

To read the other insightful and compelling perspectives and add your voice to the future of advertising debate visit the platform now at http://wfoa.wharton.upenn.edu/ad2020/

Posted by Lucy Bartlett, Marketing Manager

 

Posted in News and Updates, Relevant Reading

Blogs Drive Purchase Intent

March 12, 2013

We knew it. You knew it. Now here’s the proof.

Last week a new report published by Technorati, the 2013 Digital Influence Report, showed that blogs are more likely to influence consumer purchase behavior that any other independent online media. More than Twitter, Facebook, even online magazines, consumers reported that blogs ranked behind only the retail and brand sites themselves. Consumers continue to rate blogs one of the most overall trustworthy sources of information on the internet.


The report pointed out that ‘brands spending is not fully aligned with how and where consumers are seeing value and being influenced’. Despite this, bloggers reported that e-commerce and affiliate links were the most acceptable forms of monetization.


Consumers value bloggers to guide their the purchase decisions and as a source of inspiration and clarity, cutting through the noise. Bloggers want to get compensated for this by using monetization methods that connect them directly to the purchase decisions they shape. We have said this all along and have created the tools to capture your value.

Posted in Content-Driven Commerce, News and Updates, Relevant Reading

A Blogger’s Guide to Earning More

March 4, 2013

You’ve built a following. You’re working hard to create unique, compelling, and engaging material that your followers love to read. So how do you grow your revenue? Surely it doesn’t mean resorting to plastering your blog with banner ads. Does it mean degrading your editorial integrity and selling your posts? It doesn’t mean either of these, we promise.

The old mode of online retailing – going to the store and figuring out what you want to buy – is increasingly outdated. These days it’s about finding and listening to your chosen and trusted experts – friends, forum communities, and, yes, you.  It’s bloggers like you who provide the most trusted advice: you are the muse and the inspiration. Indeed, it is your content that is increasingly driving sales (2x faster than overall e-commerce). So how can you capitalize on your value?

The solution is native monetization – a method of generating revenue in a way that’s organic to your site and maintains (or even improves) the user experience. This is the opposite of traditional monetization that degrades and distracts the user. Using the humble hyperlink and our technology, anyone can turn their content into revenue without having to wallpaper your blog with ugly, outdated and often irrelevant banner advertising.

In this guide, we lay out how you can take your blog from being average, to being a top earner. It’s all about the Three Bs: Brand, Bond and Business. We steer you through the key steps to develop and optimize your brand, the bond you build with your followers, and the business you aim to drive. The guide helps you leverage your influence and your audience to turn your click-throughs into commerce. In just 5 easy and concrete steps, VigLink can help you to earn more, much more, through what you do best – blogging.

Download your copy now

Content-driven commerce is changing the way consumers buy, merchants sell, and publishers earn. Make the most of it!

 

Posted in Content Monetization, Content-Driven Commerce, Publisher Best Practices

The Truth Behind SEO and Paid Links

February 26, 2013

Recently, another storm blew up around SEO, advertorials, and links. At the center of the storm were Google and Interflora, a popular UK-based flower retailer. In an effort to promote themselves in the run up to Valentine’s Day, Interflora sent bouquets to bloggers. The idea was simple: send bloggers flowers, bloggers blog about flowers, readers like, click and buy. Seems like a good marketing plan, no?

Not quite. Google decided the flowers were intended to boost PageRank and consequently annihilated Interflora’s search ranking.

Exchanging flowers for links is tantamount to buying links and Google has a long-standing policy against paid links that masquerade as “organic” links. I emphasize ”masquerade” because that part is all too often forgotten. Paid links are fine; Google earns a few billion dollars every month from paid links. The issue hinges on trying to pass paid links for natural links.

Was that really Interflora’s goal? I don’t know. What I do know is that their reaction was to call all the bloggers who got flowers and ask them to take the links down in an attempt to salvage their reputation with Google. That was the wrong move in my opinion – it’s throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Interflora could have avoided this situation entirely with one simple snippet of code:

rel="nofollow"

By reminding bloggers to include this simple code in their Interflora links, Google would have rightly ignored the links for purposes of passing PageRank to Interflora and no SEO cliff-of-doom would have transpired. Here’s how it looks in HTML: 

<a href="interflora.co.uk" rel="nofollow">Interflora</a>

Instead of asking bloggers to delete the URLs entirely, Interflora could have simply asked bloggers to add the nofollow, keeping the links up and the clicks (and sales) coming.

Even better would have been to recruit these bloggers into their affiliate program. Google’s Matt Cutts is on record making it clear that the vast majority of affiliate links are handled correctly. This means Google’s PageRank automatically ignores affiliate links, and you don’t need to include a nofollow (though it can’t hurt). With affiliate links handled properly by Google, there’s no risk of penalty.

If asking bloggers to include nofollow in their links or signing them up individually to an affiliate program sounds too arduous, well, I agree. The whole notion of manually tagging paid links is antiquated. After all, that’s exactly the problem VigLink technology solves. And just like every other affiliate link, Google handles our links correctly.

Bloggers who use VigLink avoid these paid link SEO scandals, don’t risk their own search rank or that of their favorite merchants, and never lose another commission rightly earned. As of this writing, VigLink users earn $6 for every sale they drive to Interflora. That beats an SEO cliff of doom any day.

Posted by Oliver Deighton, Vice President, Marketing

 

Posted in Merchant Best Practices, Publisher Best Practices, Relevant Reading

Where’s my 1099-Misc?

February 25, 2013

Don’t worry, it’s not missing! It turns out we didn’t send 1099′s this year. You’ll either got one from PayPal already or can look up your 2012 payments from your PayPal payment history.

In 2012 the IRS changed their requirements for corporations preparing 1099-Misc forms. Payments made using third parties such as PayPal should now be reported to the payee directly by PayPal with a 1099-K. You can find this form on PayPal by logging into PayPal and navigating to the History > Tax Documents menu.

However, PayPal is only required to prepare a 1099-K in cases where payees meet a threshold of 200 payments and $20,000 per year. The IRS requires that tax payers report miscellaneous income, but if you are paid via PayPal and have not crossed the 1099-K threshold you will not receive a 1099-K from PayPal (or a 1099-Misc from us).

If you don’t get the 1099-K you can still report your earnings – your PayPal account provides a payment history for 2012 payments from VigLink. We are also happy to help if you are unable to access the PayPal information.

Posted in News and Updates

Need Content-Driven Commerce be So Complicated?

February 5, 2013

Two articles recently hit our radar that speak to the opportunities, but also the challenges, of capturing the real value created by content that drives commerce:

AdWeek dove into the recent efforts of some traditional publishers such as Harper’s Bazaar to drive e-commerce. Meanwhile, eMedia Vitals profiled Dwell’s efforts to move into “contextual commerce.”

In both of these articles, the reporters point to media companies taking some extraordinary steps to connect with shoppers and expand their revenue sources beyond traditional advertising. They cite Thrillist purchasing flash deal site JackThreads “after seeing the enormity of the JackThreads warehouse operation.” They cite Dwell partnering with AhaLife to make a fully “shoppable” magazine using a mobile app complete with augmented reality technology.

These are creative ideas, yes, but they are also remarkably difficult (not to mention expensive) to execute. Should media companies really start taking on merchandise inventory and the real estate to house it? Should magazines look beyond the reader adoption of specific smart-phone apps tied to a single retailer?

As you might have guessed, we think there’s an much easier way to capture the value of contextual commerce at scale: The hyperlink (as monetized by VigLink, of course). From QR codes in print to plain old webpages, the hyperlink is ready and willing to convert the purchase intent created by media into a sale, and a sale into a commission, across thousands of retailers.

 

 

Posted in Content Monetization, Content-Driven Commerce, Relevant Reading

Playing Cupid Pays: Consumers will Spend about $3.4B Online for Valentine’s Day

January 31, 2013

People celebrating V-Day will shell out an average of $125, according to 2012 data from the National Retail Federation. The holiday is about “wants” instead of “needs,” so people are looking for creative ideas. They’ll turn to publishers, forums, and blogs for inspiration.

Here are a few more facts about Valentine’s Day purchases:

  • Half will buy candy
  • 19% will buy jewelry
  • 36% will buy flowers (and we’re now offering 18% commission from 1-800-Flowers.com!)
  • 5.6% will treat someone to a nice evening out
  • Men spend twice as much as women
  • People buy for their pets (seriously!)
  • 13.3% will buy gift cards

Stats aside, the most successful publishers will think outside the box for nontraditional gift ideas as well – those that match their “voice” as an expert and speak to their audience.

This brings up a good point about thinking like a retailer: V-Day is a shopping opportunity, one that retailers know how to promote and package. Shouldn’t you do the same with your site?

The calendar has opportunities for content-driven commerce all year long. Valentine’s Day now, followed by Spring Break season (a great opportunity to showcase travel accessories, fashion and stuff to keep the kids busy), Spring Fashion season, Mother’s Day, graduation…you get the idea.

Make it work today to maximize your revenues:

  • Stay a bit ahead to find items that inspire your audience.
  • Time your content to appear when your audience is in a buying frame of mind. (Hence the timing of this post.) Too early and they’ll hesitate; too late and they’ll miss.
  • Browse VigLink’s Merchant Explorer tool to find merchants that monetize and the best commission rates.
  • Visit VigLink Insider to find the latest offers and commission increases (and we’ve got a ton for Valentine’s Day)
  • Want to go further? Developers can use the VigLink API Product Catalog to capture product images, compare prices, find deals, and offer coupons to drive purchase intent and significantly increase click-through rates.

More to come: Check back for our soon-to-be published “Think Like a Retailer: A Publisher’s Guide Maximizing Revenue.”

 

 

Posted in Content-Driven Commerce, Publisher Best Practices

Publishers: You’re in the Driver’s Seat of E-commerce — and Driving Twice as Fast

January 24, 2013

Our analysis of comScore’s recently reported holiday e-commerce figures shows that while holiday e-commerce as a whole grew 14% over 2011, “content-driven commerce” —  defined as e-retail sales linked from blogs, forums and social curation sites (aka your world)  – grew more than twice as fast, at 31%. (See our related press release for details.)

Congratulations — it’s a pretty big achievement for VigLink publishers. What does this really mean to you?

  1. You are the driver of consumer spend in the e-commerce equation. Your influence – your brand – is changing buyer behavior. Content-driven commerce is real and growing. In a recent BlogHer survey about women and their social media habits, 81% of women representing the general U.S. population said they trusted blogs most to learn about new products, to read product recommendations and make purchase decisions. For forums, the influence is tangible, as well: More than 53% of respondents in a survey from Huddler (a fellow VigLink customer) reported that they had made purchases in the past 12 months as a direct result of doing research on enthusiast communities. Social curation apps like Wanelo, ranked in the top 50 on iTunes’ App Store, and similar sites are exploding as a means of personal/consumer expression.
  1. Consumers want to shop through your “vision” — and merchants want to tap into your influence to reach them. Consumers are tired of intrusive, distracting, and generally irrelevant advertising in traditional forms. Brands and e-retailers are realizing that affiliation with a curated blog or community that has a loyal audience is much more cost efficient and effective than banner and pop-up ads. Once garnering a click through rate (CTR) as high as 78%, today display ads generate a CTR of just 0.09%. Your context is valuable, results in strong commission rates and true audience engagement.
  1. Our momentum pays off for you directly. In 2012, we quadrupled our publisher base and more than doubled our merchant base, now capturing over 90% of the affiliate programs within the Internet Retailer Top 500. As more publishers use VigLink, the network’s value to merchants grows, enabling higher commissions.

We’ll continue to analyze the power of content-driven commerce, giving you stats and practical advice on how to “merchandise” your influence to greatest profits. (In the meantime, check out some tips inspired by Shauna Miller of PennyChic fame, here.)

How are you measuring your impact? In followers, revenues, or both? Tell us! We’re only a tweet away.

 

Posted in Content-Driven Commerce, News and Updates

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →