PART I: The Ultimate Black Friday and Cyber Monday Guide for Affiliates

If you’re waiting for Black Friday & Cyber Monday weekend to kick off the shopping season, then we’re sorry to say you may be late to the party – but have no fear!  We are here to give you some valuable tips and best practices to help you during the holiday season!

TIP #1:  Start posting about deals and offers…NOW!

Holiday shoppers are wasting no time scoring their favorite deals this shopping season. In fact, 57% of those shopping for the holidays have already started knocking items off their list. Undoubtedly, retailers are still holding back their deepest discounts and most spectacular offers, but shoppers are looking to line up their targets to go full throttle on the big day.

Let your readers know which Merchants are rumored to have the biggest deals and help them pare down their list of prospective targets. Start posting previews and sending emails featuring your top Merchant partners, outlining the exact time you will have deals active on the big day so they can streamline their shopping process. It is best to make the connection now when people’s inboxes are quieter versus trying to cut through the noise on Black Friday weekend.

Resource: Sign up for the ShareASale Dealsbar and get access to a dynamic, customizable deals banner featuring rotating offers from your favorite Merchants.

Resource: Check out ShareASale’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals Database!

Tip #2:  Find Inspiration by Searching & Joining New Affiliate Programs

During the rest of the year, Affiliates are always thinking about their readers – by now, you are probably very familiar with what Programs do well on your website.  However, you need to change your mindset for Black Friday/Cyber Monday.  You need to focus on who your readers are shopping for, not the readers themselves.  So, think about who is on your readers’ gifting lists.  Are your readers parents in need of toys for kids or are they college students buying gifts for their friends?

Do you need help searching for new programs to join?  Help is here!

• ShareASale Product Search
• Product Discovery Tool
• Library of Merchant Catalogs
• ShareASale Gift Guides Series
• ShareASale Deals Database

When choosing a Merchant to work with, it is especially important to look at a merchant’s up-time history, creative inventory, datafeed accuracy and contact information!

Resource:  How Do I Search For and Join Merchant Programs?

TIP #3:  Subscribe to Important ShareASale RSS Feeds

If you are an Affiliate on ShareASale, you need to subscribe (RIGHT NOW!) to a few very handy RSS Feeds.  These feeds are a handy way to get updates, in real-time, about Merchants and deals – subscribe and you will never miss out!

1.  Offline/Online Merchant RSS Feed
Gives you immediate notification if a Merchant goes offline.  Typically the Merchant will go back online right away, but if that doesn’t happen, you can remedy the situation quickly.  If you don’t, you might lose out on some potential commissions!  Whomp whomp!

2.  ShareASale Deals Database RSS Feed
This feed sends you, in real time, coupons and deals posted by ALL MERCHANTS, not just those who you are a part of.  Keep your eyes out for relevant and alluring deals that your readers will love!  You never know when or where inspiration will strike.

Affiliate’s Checklist for Black Friday & Cyber Monday

Your success on Black Friday/Cyber Monday is all about preparation.  To help you prepare, we’ve created this checklist which gives you tons of things to take into consideration – take a look!

Read the full ULTIMATE GUIDE series: