Ready made 'content units' - are these helpful?

[D-Mac]

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Hi everyone

Is there much demand for ready made content units amongst affiliates? E.g. a ready made HTML table with product pics, descriptions etc. Perhaps top 10 best selling products?

From a technical perspective, is it best if the dimensions/colour scheme, etc are user definable, or is it preferable for the merchant to fix these aspects.

Thank you for any feedback.

[borntoloaf]

Aye, these are great for tech dunderheads like me! I can just about manage to change colour schemes and sizes, so these are great options. It would be nice to be able to choose the number of products as well so that they can fit in differing pages.

[D-Mac]

Thanks borntoloaf

Would being able to select which products you want to display be useful, or is it generally easier to rely on the merchant's expertise in their marketplace to decide which products should be used?

[borntoloaf]

I'm far too idle to choose products David! I'd happily add a content unit that auto displayed best selling and best valued products.

[Barry]

Does it make me a 'loafer' if I mention that I just love content units as well.

Especially if the merchant keeps updating it with their best selling products and offers etc etc - It really does make it easier to keep websites fresh (look no hands!)

Ideally I would like the merchant to login into my site and do a quick write up for me - and also upload their own banners, so I can put my feet up! - But seriously, content units in my opinion are great - especially if you can keep them updated.

[lakrasia]

Hi,

Great idea. Not sure how feasible this is for you, but it might be useful if they could be grouped by type - e.g. top blood pressure monitors or top skincare products. Easier for affiliates to find something to fit in with the theme of their site that way.

[D-Mac]

Thanks for the feedback.

We're working on something at the moment that will enable affiliates to display highly editable dynamic units. The idea being that affiliates can easily achieve the look and feel they require. We will also have 'off the shelf' units that plug straight in with no editing necessary.

One of the main problems that merchants face with content units is the problem of having to manually keep them up to date. We think we have found a solution to this..

Linda, thanks for the comments about grouping. We have initially decided to group content units by product types as you suggest, and also by customer types. E.g. if your affiliate web site is targeted at 18-24 year old males we will have a section containing content units suitable for this market. If your site is aimed at women over 60 we will have units targeted at them. Jess touched on this issue a few months ago, so thanks for the inspiration

[Azam.net]

Sounds great David. Will certainly encourage us - and many more affiliates - to promote Express Chemist. Auto-updating Content Units are a big time saver for affiliates, who don't have time to update links for each affiliate program manually.

[WillD]

Hi Guys

We have flirted with this – see latest below, but would love some feedback.

1, what is the best size
2. Do you want pretty colours or just a white background?
3 What are good ones?
4. Any tips would be appreciated!
5. do you just want a quick and easy product feed format?

Thanks for your help

Will

<img src="http://speedera.figleaves.com/uk/images/eng-gbr/promotion/trends/blue/trend_blue.jpg" width="750" height="300" border="0" usemap="#Map" />
<map name="Map" id="Map">
<area shape="rect" coords="87,137,202,254" href="$$&url=http://www.figleaves.com/uk/product.asp?product_id=ALE-232330&src=trdddl99310304" target="_blank" alt="Allumette: Giza " />
<area shape="rect" coords="202,137,317,255" href="$$&url=http://www.figleaves.com/uk/product.asp?product_id=OVL-901980&src=trdddl99310304" target="_blank" alt="Occhi Verdi by La Perla: Cocktail" />
<area shape="rect" coords="317,137,431,255" href="$$&url=http://www.figleaves.com/uk/product.asp?product_id=PX-155243&src=trdddl99310304" target="_blank" alt="Playtex: Embrace" />
<area shape="rect" coords="432,138,547,254" href="$$&url=http://www.figleaves.com/uk/product.asp?product_id=FRA-AA3111&src=trdddl99310304" target="_blank" alt="Freya: Tallulah" />
<area shape="rect" coords="548,139,662,254" href="$$&url=http://www.figleaves.com/uk/product.asp?product_id=PE-3251A&src=trdddl99310304" target="_blank" alt="Panache: Superbra New Tango II" />
<area shape="rect" coords="3,278,746,297" href="$$&url=http://www.figleaves.com/uk/nsf/newstylefinder.asp?on_sale=&match=exact&fid=1&attr ibute=12m&brand=&size=&colour=Blues&Attribute=&Att ribute=&price=&Attribute=&x=34&y=12&src=trdddl9931 0304" target="_blank" alt="Shop By Size" />
</map>

[jess1]

Hi Ya

Content units are a god send for some affiliates... and take almost no time at all to upload onto the website.
For merchants, they will need to keep these units updated which could be time consuming unless you can get it automated in some way. Top best selling products will work well....

You could be really creative and design a complete page for affiliates... the only downside to this is that, the links need to be dynamic which means that search engines may have problems picking up meta tags, unless there is a way around this now?

[D-Mac]

Does anybody know of any merchants or networks that currently offer affiliates the facility to resize and edit the appearance of content units?

Thanks

[Graham@Buyagift]

MyTights have a content unit generator here , which I think is what you're looking for.

I'd be interested to know of any others as this is certainly something I'd be keen to implement going forward.

Graham

[julie29]

i like that would make life easyer shame they dont have more then one colum i like the way that currys have their partner creative's so you can pick and choose the ones you want and they update them.

[amanda1]

We've been getting tons of great feedback about our Banner Generator, the best part is that it is automatically updated with prices and new products from the site.

We are most definitely willing to work on any design suggestions. So let me know what columns you want, etc.

On top of our Banner Generator, I also would like to create just some easy to upload HTML pages for Affiliates helping customers to know more about our products and services. Hopefully cutting out time for Affiliates to upload us to their site so they can start earning immediately. Will this be helpful as well?


Amanda Hayes

[Supercod]

Originally posted by D-Mac
Does anybody know of any merchants or networks that currently offer affiliates the facility to resize and edit the appearance of content units?

Yes Paid On Results, only the beta testing Affiliates have access right now but in about 2 weeks time everyone will have access, however I have to point out right now, if you don't know basic HTML or how to use something like Dreamweaver/Frontpage then you won't have a hope making your own fully custom ones but you can pick ready made ones as they become available.

Should add, it works for all merchants that have data feeds and will work with merchants that don't even supply content units also you be able to mix and match products from multi-merchants so no longer will you have to have just one content unit for one merchant