Happy 4th of July to each and every one of you! In fact, I am extremely honored to be the author of today’s blog, due to the fact that today is my favorite holiday! I have so many beautiful memories of time with family and friends, BBQ’s, Poolside Fun, Summer games I’d play with my sister & cousins and best of all… Fireworks! Such a simple Holiday that brings people together to celebrate our Independence with good food, drinks, games, company and lights in the sky! My Mom even simplified my life as a kiddie by dressing me in red, white and blue! (Yes… I know… I couldn’t believe the outfit choice either. Thanks Mom…)
Maybe that’s why I always believed that life was about the simple things! Why complicate anything if you don’t need to? This brings me to today’s Building Blocks Post: What is a text link?
Link text is, quite simply, the words on a webpage that are also a hyperlink to another page.
It sounds simple enough, right? A text link, is a hyperlink with only text that navigates you to a different area within a document or separate web page. Why would I want to write a blog post about such a simple concept? Well… I’m glad you asked!
There’s so much more to a text link creative than just ‘some words that send you to another page’. Text links have proven to have some of the best conversion rates and amount of sales for an entire program!
When you go to upload a Text-Link, (My Creatives > Add Creative > Upload A Text Link), you come to a page where you have the opportunity to enter 4 pieces of data.
- URL of the page you’d like it to go to
- The Text that will be advertised – available for your affiliate to advertise
- Name of the Creative
- Category in which you’d like to put this creative in (optional)
I know what you’re thinking… what do you mean ‘what type of ad?’ Just like a banner creative, although maybe not as colorful (unless you really like Blue), Text can be used to grab someone’s attention by what it says. Here are some of the different types of text ads you can promote!
Traditional Ads – This is the type of text creative everyone thinks of when we say ‘text link’. Either sending a consumer to your default homepage by having the text be your URL or Store Name. Example: www.ShareASale.com or ShareASale.
Category Focused – Do you have popular categories related to your site? You can create text links that cater to those categories! For Example, Fanatics, Inc (Merchant ID #7124) is the leading online retailer of officially licensed sports merchandise. The Blackhawks just won the 2013 Stanley Cup! (Whoo Hoo!!! Go Blackhawks!!!) A great example of a category focused text link is “Shop 2013 Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Champs gear at Fanatics!” Not only do they advertise the category “Chicago Blackhawks” & “Stanley Cup” but also include their Brand. Great job Fanatics!
Product Focused – Do you have any best or popular selling products? You can create targeted text creative for these individual products! Wisconsinmade.com (Merchant ID #40465), an e-commerce gourmet food and gift store has excellent Product Focused Text Links to give you an idea of how to utilize this option.
Seasonal / Holiday Focused – This is one of the largest opportunities! Create seasonal or holiday specific text links! 4th of July (today!), Birthday Gifts, Halloween Costumes, Back to School Supplies, Mother’s/Father’s Day Specific, and who could forget the Holiday featuring Santa and his Reindeer!! Funsational, Inc (Merchant ID #3373) provides deliverable and printable party games for everyone and does a stellar job advertising seasonal & holiday text links! Some examples include:
Fun Halloween Games
Deluxe Christmas & New Year’s Games Collection
Couples & Co-Ed Printable Bridal Shower Games
Hot Summer Games!
Also, for reference and if applicable to your program, text links also have the ability to have Deep Landing Pages. As most of these examples show, they do not go to the main homepage of the site but the page tailored for that specific creative. Targeted creative with deep landing pages in an excellent way to give your consumers a positive experiencing in getting exactly what they clicked on!
The most common trouble with advertising is that it tries too hard to impress people.
So go back to the simple idea of ‘less is more’ and take a look what you can do to improve those text links offered to your Affiliates and in turn, your consumers. You might be surprised all of the simple yet creative ways to utilize this tool. And remember… Always check your spelling!
Happy 4th of July!!
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