Also, if you go to search.twitter.com, you can type in #LSW2010, and get the full stream of all the people using that hash tag.  Also don’t forget to follow @linkshareblog to get other information also that could be of importance.

Hope you all have a great time at #LSW2010!

LinShare Symposium West 2010

What does this mean for LinkShare?  LinkShare is the affiliate marketing platform for Rakuten, so everywhere they go, we go with them.

We look forward to delivering access to new markets to our partners, and looking at additional ways we can provide our customers with the benefits of our global footprint.  You can read more about the partnership on Rakuten’s web site.

1/25 Update - The PMA has posted a podcast dedicated to the tax issue.  Guests include Rich Cleland, Assistant Director for the Division of Advertising Practices at the Federal Trade Commission, and Tom Cohn, an attorney specializing in FTC regulation compliance.

The key things to be aware of are that -

1. The Linkbuilder icon will be gone from the Advertiser Details Page
2. Linkbuilder as a link type will be called “Deep Links” in Reporting

You’ll find the new Deep Linking Interface in the Publisher Dashboard here, and here’s our post on how to use the new Deep Linking Interface.

Ian Rosenwach, Product Manager

Key Trends Shaping Online Retail
Scott Silverman, Executive Director, Shop.org

New technologies and innovations and new twists on existing topics force online retailers to continually adjust their strategies. Scott Silverman, Executive Director of Shop.org, will provide a big picture view of the key trends shaping online retail. Silverman’s presentation will feature new data from Shop.org research including its State of Retailing Online Report, now in its 13th year.

The Open Brand: How Twitter is Pushing Radical Transparency in Brand Management
Joey Shepp, Founder Earthsite.net

Hear about recent corporate case studies in Twitter use and learn about key strategies and best practices in using Social Media and how the Affiliate Marketing channel can play a key role in open brand strategies. Presented recently at the Twitter 140 conference, Joey Shepp’s presentation on Open Brands received the most votes for “Favorite Presentation”.

The Mobile Commerce Juggernaut: Are You Ready For The Next Revolution in Online Retail?
Panel Discussion

After a slow start there are signs that Mobile Commerce is poised for explosive growth in the US. Those who get their mobile strategy in place first stand to win the battle for customers. In this lively discussion hear from Mobile Commerce experts and early adopters. Bring your questions!

Learn more or register today!

Sara Gorlick, Manager Trade Shows & Events

About Scott Silverman:

Scott Silverman was named Executive Director of Shop.org in 2001. Previously, he had served as Vice President, Internet Retailing, for the National Retail Federation. He directs a number of internal  and multichannel retailing initiatives and works closely with Shop.org’s Board of Directors, a committee of online retail’s most prominent executives.

Silverman speaks frequently to retail executives and the press and has been quoted in major news outlets including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, NPR, BusinessWeek, and The Washington Post. He has also appeared on CNN’s American Morning, CNBC’s Squawk Box, and Fox News to discuss online retail trends.

As the Symposium approaches, we invite you to not just attend, but become a part of this event. Follow us on our Twitter and share your thoughts by using hash tag #LSW2010.

Register by December 15, 2009 and save $100–Click here to register.

If you are already attending, don’t forget to book your room at our discounted rate by Dec. 30th! Click here for hotel and travel information.

Sara Gorlick, Manager Trade Shows & Events

Format for a Web Service call for all Black Friday offers available to you:

http://feed.linksynergy.com/coupon?token=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX&promotiontype=30&network=1

Format for a Web service call for all Cyber Monday offers available to you:

http://feed.linksynergy.com/coupon?token=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX&promotiontype=31&network=1

The new parameters added to the API are ‘promotiontype’ codes:
Black Friday = 30
Cyber Monday = 31

Replace the token=XXXXX with your Web Services token found in the dashboard, and you’ll be ready to go!

You can find more information on the LinkShare Coupon Web Service in the help center.  Please note you have to apply to access the Coupon Web Service. You can apply in the Web Services section of the Publisher Dashboard here, select Coupon Web Service.

Happy Holidays!

Nicole Prodoehl, Network Development Manager

We are seeing much earlier click activity in the Network, as holiday shoppers are trying to research and get the best deals possible this holiday season.  As you can see from the graph below, the increase in click activity is coming a full week earlier than in 2008.   Many retailers are offering special discounts earlier this year in an attempt to entice shoppers to buy before the big sales days of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Here’s a look at top merchant categories (click growth year-over-year):

Looking at traffic to categorized merchants, we can witness a few notable trends -

• Strong growth from the Sporting Goods/Outdoors merchants as the winter season begins
• Traffic growth to “necessities sites” such as Children’s Stores and Beauty & Personal Care.
• Gift merchants are beginning to gain traction with the 2009 holiday crowd.
• Apparel & Shoes stores are seeing increased traffic due to the cold weather and the approaching holidays.
• Big ticket items, while showing strong growth, continue to lag other categories in traffic growth (Computers & Technology, High-End/Luxury Stores and Jewelry stores all with similar growth).
• Toy & Game merchants have not shown significant traffic growth yet early in the season, possibly due to the cost cutting measures taken by several large department stores.

Our Holiday Offers 2009 page in the Help Center makes it easy for Publishers to find the right offers to target their traffic this holiday season!

* Data does not include Department Store Merchants
* Data QTD to Nov 9 2009

Alex Czurylo, Director of Analytics

We’ve updated our LinkGenerator bookmarklet to include options for you to send to Twitter or Facebook directly from the bookmarklet link page - all done without logging in to the Dashboard.

Here’s a step-by-step guide for how to use our new SOCIAL LinkGenerator bookmarklet:

1. Install the bookmarklet.  Once you’ve completed this you’ll have a LinkGenerator bookmark on your browser.  
   
2. In the browser, navigate to an Advertiser page that you’d like to create a tracking link to.

3.  Select the LinkGenerator text and a pop-up window will display.  This window contains a regular tracking link to that page, a shortened link to that page, and options to share on Facebook or Twitter.

4.  Grab the regular link, shortened URL, or share on Twitter or Facebook!

You can install the LinkGenerator bookmarklet and watch a demo video in the Bento Box.

Ian Rosenwach, Product Manager

Imagine an online Twitter mini-mall, where consumers can find the best deals, cool products and Publishers can even make money. With more than 50 million live Twitter accounts, the online community represents a consumer base eager for information from people they trust – what to buy, where to buy it, how to find the best deals, etc.  Just today eMarketer came out with a report on how social shopping is becoming  more important to retailers.

We’re excited to announce a new Bento Box feature called the #tweetshop tool. It enables Publishers to find products to recommend from their Advertisers, and send them to their Twitter followers - all from a single interface.

Using the #tweetshop tool is easy -

1. Input your LinkShare token (what’s this?)
2. Enter your Twitter user name and password
3. Search for products. You can search within a single Advertisers or across all your partners.
4. Choose a product and shorten the link
5. Customize the tweet and send it!

Additionally, Twitter users can filter posts that contain the #tweetshop hash tag to see products that people have recommended.   We hope that the community embraces this hash tag and works together to build a virtual Twitter mini-mall!

If you’re not on Twitter, it could be a great way to reach customers. Here are a few Publishers who are active on Twitter today:

• http://twitter.com/shopathomewild
• http://twitter.com/stylefeeder
• http://twitter.com/TheFind
• http://twitter.com/savingsdotcom

You can find the #TweetShop tool here.

While we’re on the topic of Twitter, here are a few tips on how to optimize your tweets for search engine visibility (SEO).

Top Five SEO Tips for Twitter

Optimize front of your tweet with keywords

• The first few characters (48-62) are likely to show up in the title tag

Add a retweet (RT) to the end of the tweet

• The front part of your tweet is precious landscape so don’t waste the landscape up front

Include keywords in hashtags

• Optimize, optimize, optimize. If you’re on Twitter talking about a topic use the appropriate hashtag
• Hash tags provide unity to conversations and people can go to search.twitter.com and enter the hashtag to see who else in talking about that topic

Communicate immediately with someone on Twitter

• You’re tweet might have a higher chance of being noticed if you go out and engage to someone immediately
• If you communicate with them regularly, go ahead and ask within a DM (direct message) if they would be so kind to RT
• Don’t abuse your people on Twitter, so be selective when doing A and B

Include keywords in URL shorteners

• Using URL shorteners, there are some out there that let you customize them
• Use keywords you wish to target in your URL

Here is a quick demo video to show you how #tweetshop works:

Ian Rosenwach, Product Manager